2.3 Attempts to Solve the Climate Change Problem by Technological Innovation
Efforts to solve the climate change problem by technological innovation have also come up short so far due to cost and unavailability of technologies. GHG emissions are produced from and spread across a variety of both point and non point sources and from mobile and stationary sources. Unless all sources are dealt with, the problem will not be solved.
Transportation accounts for almost 20% of the anthropogenic GHG forcing to date, mostly due to carbon dioxide emissions from burning of gasoline with some caused by nitrous oxide, ozone and halocarbons. Efforts to replace internal combustion or diesel engines with hydrogen fuel cells that are 3 times more efficient (up to 100 mpg) are decades away from success because of the cost of the Pt catalyst used in the fuel cell, the fact fuel cells cannot operate below the freezing point of water and because the production, transportation and storage of hydrogen for fuel cells are all daunting problems with no solutions in sight.
Electric motor hybrids (gasoline engines with large batteries) have recently been introduced (50 mpg). However these vehicles cannot compete with SUVs (<20 mpg) and also cost more than conventional vehicles of the same size (30 mpg). Some in the automotive industry consider them to be a transitional vehicle on the way to fuel cell vehicles. Because of these problems and the 20-year life cycle for passenger vehicles, it is unlikely that fuel cell vehicles will replace conventional vehicles before 2060.
Electric power generation accounts for about 20% of GHG forcing, again mostly due to carbon dioxide from burning of coal and natural gas. Renewable energy sources like wind or solar power are still too expensive to compete with fossil fuels and nuclear is considered both too expensive and dangerous. Fuel cells for power generation have many of the same limitations as for transportation.
Carbon management, in which the carbon dioxide emitted from power stations is captured and disposed underground or in the deep ocean, is being considered, but the costs are too high, $100-300/metric ton of carbon. This would add at least 30-60% to the cost of electricity. The U.S. DOE has set a
