Changing Climates: The Future
Assesses the alternatives to fossil-fuel-powered energy sources and their potential to alleviate climate change.
150 years of global industrial development, powered by carbon-based fuels like coal, oil and gas, have been the driving force behind the world's changing climate. Reducing the 'Greenhouse Effect' caused by carbon in our atmosphere will require a global shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels. This Earth Report in the Changing Climates season looks into the future to assess the alternatives - both large and small scale, and finds that around the world, there's no shortage of innovative technological solutions: wave energy in Scotland; wind power in the Netherlands, and the Philippines; large scale solar power in Spain and Germany, and small scale solar suited to the needs of rural South Africa. But perhaps the real challenge for the future will be bring these clean energy technologies into the mainstream - if we don't succeed the world will remain trapped in the carbon age.