An e-book on climate change (science, adaptation, and mitigation)

Australia's national science agency CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) is providing their latest e-book on climate change science and policy at no charge (in pdf and ePUB formats).
Although this book is primarily written for Australian readers, its eye-catching figures and kind readings lists of latest literature at each chapter's end will be very helpful to foreigners as well.

Cleugh, H., Smith, M. S., Battaglia, M., & Graham, P. (Eds.). (2011). Climate Change: Science and Solutions for Australia. Collingwood, Australia: CSIRO Publishing.
[Full-text pdf at http://j.mp/Climate_Change_pdf; full-text epub at http://j.mp/Climate_Change_ePUB]

Contents
Foreword .................................................... v
Megan Clark
List of authors ........................................... vii
Acknowledgements ......................................... viii
Introduction ............................................... ix
Bruce Mapstone
Chapter 1. Observations of global and Australian climate .....1
Karl Braganza and John A Church
Chapter 2. Climate and greenhouse gases .....................15
Michael Raupach and Paul Fraser
Chapter 3. Future Australian climate scenarios ..............35
Penny Whetton
Chapter 4. Climate change impacts ...........................45
Kevin Hennessy
Chapter 5. Adaptation: reducing risk, gaining opportunity ...59
Mark Stafford Smith and Andrew Ash
Chapter 6. Adapting to heatwaves and coastal flooding .......73
Xiaoming Wang and Ryan RJ McAllister
Chapter 7. Adapting agriculture to climate change ...........85
Chris Stokes and Mark Howden
Chapter 8. Greenhouse gas mitigation: sources and sinks in
agriculture and forestry ....................................97
Michael Battaglia
Chapter 9. Mitigation strategies for energy and transport ..109
Jim Smitham, Jenny Hayward, Paul Graham, and John Carras
Chapter 10. Reducing energy demand: the imperative for
behavioural change .........................................127
Peta Ashworth
Chapter 11. Responding to a changing climate................135
Helen Cleugh, Mark Stafford Smith, Michael Battaglia, and 
Paul Graham
Endnotes ...................................................139
Index .............................. .......................153

U.S. Utilities: In Two Ns, We Trust (Even After Fukushima)

According to an energy consulting company Black & Veatch's survey of 530 plus utility respondents, the U.S. energy companies still rely on two Ns (nuclear and natural gas) for their future to comply with environmental regulations. The survey was conducted after tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ich nuclear power plants. But their creed didn't change:

Q. Where do you believe the industry should place its emphasis on environmentally friendly technologies?

A. (The bigger the number, the more emphasis the utility respondents place upon the technology)

1) Nuclear Energy    3.87

2) Natural Gas       3.81

3) Hydroelectric     3.48

4) Solar Energy      3.37

5) Coal Gasification 3.27

6) Wind Power        3.18

7) Other             3.07

8) Biomass           3.01

9) Tidal Generation  2.93

They are not so sure of renewable energy's reliability. They even don't trust future of energy storage. How do I know that? Read the following Q&A.

Q. Do you have plans to implement any energy storage systems at a commercial scale?

A.

Yes 21.5%

No  78.5%

Sadly, now I acknowledge that Texan journalist Robert Bryce was right when he argued the "real fuels of the future" are the two Ns (he called the 2-N energy strategy "N2N", that is, 'natural gas first, and nuclear eventually') even before the Fukushima nuclear accident. (And recently, in the New York Times.)

Is two-N reliance or N2N strategy inevitable? I hope not. (Yeah, another 'hope,' I uttered. However, I will find any convincing science and policy that can persuade these utility respondents.)

Sources:

Black & Veatch Corporation. (2011). 2011 Strategic Directions Survey Results: Managing the Transition in the Electric Utility Industry. Overland Park, KS: Black & Veatch Corporation. [Full-text at http://j.mp/BV_Survey_2011]

Bryce, R. (2010). Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. New York, NY: PublicAffairs. [Book homepage at http://j.mp/Power_Hungry]

Bryce, R. (2011, June 7). The Gas Is Greener. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08bryce.html