1st Edition

Climate Change Mitigation Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Biochemicals

Edited By Jimmy Alexander Faria Albanese, M. Pilar Ruiz Copyright 2015
    396 Pages 87 B/W Illustrations
    by Apple Academic Press

    396 Pages 87 B/W Illustrations
    by Apple Academic Press

    This title includes a number of Open Access chapters.



    Climate change is a significant threat to humanity's future. Culturally, politically, economically, and personally, however, we are all deeply embedded in a system that continues to send us on a collision course that leads directly toward this threat. At this point, climate change is inevitable. What we must do now is to find ways to prepare—and do all we can to slow our race to disaster. This means that a transition to a lower-carbon economy is unavoidable.





    Biochemical research is vitally necessary for the transition we must make, and it will be an essential component of any climate policy. To that end, the editors have collected within this compendium the most recent and relevant research in this field. Included are:





    • Initial chapters explaining climate change impact and sustainability issues


    • Chapters focusing on biochemicals and biotechnologies that offer potential for offsetting and preparing for climate change


    • A section on the challenges that must be acknowledged, assessed, and overcome


    • A final chapter that offers 12 reasons why safe climate policy is affordable


    These articles do not merely summarize answers that have already been found. Graduate students and scientific researchers will find these chapters also point the way toward future investigations that are still urgently needed. Policymakers and graduate-level environmental policy students will also find much food for thought within this compendium.

    Part I: Introduction

    Climate-Change Impact Potentials as an Alternative to Global Warming Potential; Miko U. F. Kirschbaum

    The Macroecology of Sustainability; Joseph R. Burger, Craig D. Allen, James H. Brown, William R. Burnside, Ana D. Davidson, Trevor S. Fristoe, Marcus J. Hamilton, Norman Mercado-Silva, Jeffrey C. Nekola, Jordan G. Okie, and Wenyun Zuo

    Part II: Biomass in Energy and Chemical Industries

    Biological Feedstocks for Biofuels; Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz, María Pilar Ruiz-Ramiro, and Jimmy Faria

    From Tiny Microalgae to Huge Biorefineries; Luisa Gouveia

    Catalysis for Biomass and CO2 Use Through Solar Energy: Opening New Scenarios for a Sustainable and Low-Carbon Chemical Production; Paola Lanzafame, Gabriele Centi, and Siglinda Perathoner

    Quantifying the Climate Impacts of albedo Changes Due to Biofuel Production: A Comparison with Biogeochemical Effects; Fabio Caiazzo, Robert Malina, Mark D. Staples, Philip J. Wolfe, Steve H. L. Yim and Steven R. H. Barrett

    Biofuel for Energy Security: An Examination on Pyrolysis Systems with Emissions from Fertilizer and Land-Use Change; Chih-Chun Kung, Hualin Xie, Tao Wu, and Shih-Chih Chen

    Energy Potential and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Bioenergy Cropping Systems on Marginally Productive Cropland; Marty R. Schmer, Kenneth P. Vogel, Gary E. Varvel, Ronald F. Follett, Robert B. Mitchell, and Virginia L. Jin

    Streamflow Impacts of Biofuel Policy-Driven Landscape Change; Sami Khanal, Robert P. Anex, Christopher J. Anderson, and Daryl E. Herzmann

    Part III: Biomass Challenges

    Trading Biomass or GHG Emission Credits?; Jobien Laurijssen and André P. C. Faaij

    Indirect Land Use Changes of Biofuel Production: A Review of Modeling Efforts and Policy Developments in the European Union; Serina Ahlgren and Lorenzo Di Lucia

    Part IV: Conclusions

    Safe Climate Policy is Affordable: 12 Reasons; Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh

    Index

    Biography

    Jimmy Faria is senior scientist at Abengoa Research, a R&D division of Abengoa. He is a chemical engineer and obtained a PhD from the University of Oklahoma (USA) in 2012. His research at the School of Chemical, Biological and Material Science at the University of Oklahoma (USA) is focused on the catalytic conversion of biomass-derived compounds in a novel nanoparticle stabilized emulsion system developed in this group, as well as on the synthesis, characterization, and applications of amphiphilic nanohybrids (e.g., enhanced oil recovery).





    Maria Pilar Ruiz-Ramiro is senior scientist at Abengoa Research, a R&D division of Abengoa. She is a chemical engineer and obtained a PhD from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) in 2008. She later worked as research associate with Daniel E. Resasco at the School of Chemical, Biological and Material Science at the University of Oklahoma (USA). Her research is focused on the thermochemical conversion of biomass, synthesis, and characterization of carbon solids (carbon nanotubes, biomass char and soot), and the development of nanostructured catalysts for biofuels up-grading reactions.