Princeton professor offers solutions to carbon crisis, maps out Rhode Island's 'footprint'

12/03/08 - Humans have an obligation and ethical commitment to reduce current carbon dioxide levels, according to professor Robert Socolow of Princeton University.Last night, Socolow, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, gave the final lecture of the Honors Fall Colloquium Series in Edwards Auditorium. Entitled "The Challenge of Climate Stabilization," his presentation encompassed issues addressing possible solutions to the current global carbon emission problem.

The final colloquium presentation wll be a coastal cabaret entitled, "It's a Shore Thing," written by professor Judith Swift.

Socolow said there are approximately 3,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He compared that amount to the quantity present in Earth's atmosphere during the pre-industrial and glacial periods.

"About half of the carbon we burn stays in the atmosphere for centuries," Socolow said. The ocean surface and the land biosphere are the two storage drains of carbon dioxide that has accumulated on Earth. According to his research, the United States emitted approximately six billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 1950. Today, we are responsible for the release of 30 billion tons of it.

"If we do nothing, in 50 years the carbon dioxide emissions will be double that of today's emissions," Socolow said. "We'll be lucky if we can keep afloat."

Various studies he has conducted indicate that the average American consumes 20 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The average global per-capita emissions rate is only four tons of carbon dioxide per year.

"It's all too easy to meet your global quota today," he said.

Julie Reiske, a freshman double-majoring in marine biology and conservation biology at the University of Rhode Island, thought Socolow's lecture was an important addition to this year's lecture series.

"He put into perspective how much URI['s] and my carbon footprint really is," Reiske said. "It made me think about how much energy URI uses itself. It's probably ridiculously high, unnecessary and it can be reduced."

Socolow presented a potential method to reduce carbon emissions over a 50-year time span from zero to four gigatons of carbon dioxide per year, known as "wedges."

The six categories within the wedge proposal are energy efficiency, decarbonized electricity, decarbonized fuels, fuel displacement by low-carbon electricity, extra carbon in forests, soils and oceans and lastly, methane management.

"The Wedge Model is the iPod of climate change: you fill it with your favorite things," David Hawkins, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center, said.

According to Socolow, the efforts put toward each part of the Wedge Model are based upon ethics pertaining to the effects they will have on poorer countries. The first priority should be to implement a 25 percent decrease in electricity use by the year 2056, specifically targeting commercial, multi-family buildings and single-family houses, he said.

The second priority he recommended would be to cease the construction of coal plants.

"Coal is nearly pure carbon," Socolow said. "The higher the fraction of carbon in the fossil fuel, the worse it is for the atmosphere."

To go about solving the issue, Socolow proposed several solutions, the first one being the introduction of more wind farms in offshore areas. He pointed out that Rhode Island is in the process of allowing the creation of a wind farm.

There are currently about 100,000 wind farms globally.

Ben Negrete, a freshman double-majoring in marine biology and psychology, appreciated the reference to Rhode Island.

"Socolow talked a lot about how Rhode Island is working on many environmentally-friendly projects, such as the wind farms," Negrete said. "Even student groups on campus promote recycling, saving energy, the 'go green' bottles, the re-usable bags and other stuff."

Photovoltaic power, solar paneling, nuclear electricity and coal with carbon capture and storage systems were also all potential efforts.

In regards to the nuclear energy solution, Socolow warned that the dry caste storage method that is currently implemented is only good for 100 years and does not meet the criteria of the nuclear waste disposal contract.

"We have a problem. Today all efforts are towards keeping the plants running," Socolow said.

He also discussed how Americans are nursing old power pants, while other innovative countries are building new ones.

Two facts he addressed pertained to how climate change cannot be managed without the participation of the developing countries and the fact that the global poor do not emit that much carbon dioxide.

"The poor people's emissions don't add up to much, even when you can define them as 40 percent of the planet," Socolow said. "The richer ones have higher emissions."

In his opinion, developing countries should be granted the use of and encouraged to use fossil fuels.

"I think they still need room to develop industrially, but I think that they should be pushed away from fossil fuels and should use more eco-friendly fuel sources," Reiske said.

According to international agreements, all countries have "common but differentiated responsibilities, developing countries have an indefinite pass and developed countries are required to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," Socolow said.

For Negrete, the most memorable aspect of the lecture was the professor's ending remarks: "What has seemed too hard becomes what simply must be done.