The book is divided into two parts. Part One, a Brief Overview, is intended to cover everything but only in a superficial manner. It does however contain a host of definitions that are essential to the understanding of Part Two so all readers must be patient and not avoid the Brief Overview. All three possible contributors to global warming are discussed, a random fluctuation in our normal weather, the late influence of a declining ice age, and the greenhouse effect due to an increase in so called greenhouse gases.
The change in weather patterns due to an increase in surface temperature are explained in terms of the global weather conveyor belt. The origins and strength of our hurricanes are given as well as the reasons for the increase in floods and forest fires. The formation of jet streams and how they affect the weather on the surface of the earth is explained. The separate consequence of global warming is the extent to which it will result in an increase in sea levels due to the melting of polar ice caps. The extent of this effect is complicated by positive feed back effects such as the melting of ice, which causes less reflection of the sun's radiation, which in turn leads to more melting
The solution to the global warming problem is to release much less CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which means developing alternatives to the use of fossil fuels for the production of electricity, Solar panels and wind turbines are highlighted as making a significant contribution to future electricity supplies. Nuclear reactors should also make a contribution when they eventually overcome the delays in construction. Hydroelectricity has not yet reached its peak with new dams being built everywhere. The root cause of global warming is the ever-increasing demand for energy and unfortunately several industry sectors will find it difficult to move to clean electricity. These include the aviation industry which will continue to release a lot of carbon dioxide as will the cement and steel industries. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by carbon capture and storage is growing and forestation continues to work as a means of sequestration, but unfortunately the increasing demand for energy in the developing nations, Africa for example, means that our efforts to produce more electricity will not be sufficient to balance the equation and global temperature's are going to rise by 2050 and beyond.
Part Two of the book is indeed a detailed account, with a separate chapter giving a complete explanation of the science involved in all the sectors relevant to our problem. I used the jigsaw approach by painting a picture of each topic so that when I had finished, and put all the pieces together, the complete picture would tell the story and speak for itself. A chapter explains how electricity is produced, managed, and distributed, within the national grid and by means of undersea cables . It also explains the various technologies to store electricity when the supply exceeds the demand. The methods include various types of battery storage, pumping water into reservoirs, and gravitational methods where a large mass is lifted and dropped when electricity generation is needed. The chapter on solar panels explains how they work, the maintenance problems, how silicon is produced, and what other materials are being developed, other than silicon. Wind turbines are now floating in the sea, some of them with blades longer than 100m. The full anatomy of a wind turbine is explained and the physics of how much electricity they are capable of producing. Hydroelectricity is simple technology so the chapter on dams tells stories about how they were constructed, and how the problems were overcome.
There are many books covering some of the aspects of global warming. I have tried to cover everything, particularly the science of the greenhouse effect and the physics of the three main alternatives to fossil fuel.
