George Monbiot’s Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning is one of the most complete looks at what is required to maintain global warming below catastrophic levels. As opposed to many other books on the subject, which focus on the cause of global warming and the devastation it might cause on our planet, Monbiot focuses on proposing a solution to virtually every aspect of our lives where we emit carbon.
Monbiot’s solution is centred around the idea of an individual carbon ration. He takes some very aggressive emissions targets and translates it into a personal carbon allowance target in 2030 that every citizen will be held accountable to. He uses the very fair, if politically difficult to sell, approach that everyone in the world recieve 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per year in 2030. While westerner’s would be required to reduce their emissions by over 90%, citizens of some developing countries would be allowed to raise their personal emissions to the threshold level.
He advocates for much stricter home building standards, and enforcement of these standards, to ensure that new builds require the smallest amount of energy possible. He also sees the need for programs to tackle the existing fleet of inefficient homes, such as minimum efficiency standards for rentals, and for energy efficient refurbishment to be mandated alongside any proposed renovations to houses.
On the energy front, Monbiot settles on hydrogen. While looking at the virtues of various means of renewable electricity generation, and the means of getting it from there to here, he is aware enough to recognize that huge amounts of energy are used for heating, and that electricity may not be the most cost effective way to provide this. In the short term, hydrogen, generated from natural gas with carbon capture, could be distributed to communities where it is burned for both electricity generation and heat. No longer would electricity be carried far and wide across the countryside, but generated in our back yards.
For transport, he promotes a highly efficient bus network as the way to achieving his goals. We already have the majority of infrastructure in place in the form of roads to deliver this solution, so all we need is a plan and a level of investment that he says would be very small in comparison to what we currently spend on cars. High speed intercity buses would circle the highways, stopping at bus terminals at major exits, not entering the cities themselves. From here a local bus system would transport people into, out and around the cities. Dedicated bus lanes would free up space, and make more efficient usage of the roads we already have.
“We are the most fortunate generation that has ever lived. And we are the most fortunate generation that ever will…”
The only area where Monbiot does not have a solution is air travel. He sees none of the potential technical solutions being proposed as able to meet the carbon reduction goals he has set, and resigns himself to the fact that the days of air travel for everyone may be over.
The one notable absence I see from the book is the consideration of a greatly enhanced power generation system, powering everything from our cars to our heating. This probably stems from Monbiot’s reluctance to see any growth in nuclear or carbon capture and storage beyond what is absolutely necessary, but I believe that any analysis of our options has to take this into consideration. He fails to address diversity in the power generation industry. Putting our hopes on one technology leaves us susceptible to price escalation and fears over fuel security. By diversifying our energy industry to include renewables, fossil fuel with carbon capture, and nuclear, we can set ourselves up for a clean and flexible future.
There are inconsistencies in his data, and it has left me with many questions, but a book of this magnitude can’t be expected to be perfect. Whether his solution is the right one is open for debate, but it’s definitely a good start. More thoughts like these are welcome and necessary.