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Strategies for cutting carbon

Nature volume 395, pages 837–838 (1998)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 03 December 1998

What can be done to slow global warming? Huge new sources of carbon-free power may be needed. But other options also exist, and with so many uncertainties dogging predictions of technology and climate, choosing the best portfolio is hard.

The Earth is getting warmer, probably as a side-effect of human industry. The main culprit is carbon dioxide (CO2), a by-product of burning fossil fuels for energy. On page 881 of this issue1, Hoffert et al. examine one plausible scenario for future energy demand. They conclude that to stabilize the concentration of CO2in the atmosphere at twice pre-industrial levels will require a vast increase in the supply of carbon-free energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear power.

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Figure 1: Global energy consumption in 1996, totalling 135 terawatt hours.
Figure 2: Three ways to curb carbon: nuclear fusion (top left), a carbon-free technology that is still not commercially viable; tree plantations.

JOINT EUROPEAN TORUS KLEIN/HUBERT/STILL PICTURES US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

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  1. the Council on Foreign Relations, 58 East 68th Street, New York, 10021, New York, USA

    David G. Victor

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  1. David G. Victor
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Victor, D. Strategies for cutting carbon. Nature 395, 837–838 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/27532

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