Climate Change and Energy Supply and Use

Developed to inform the 3rd National Climate Assessment, and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage and conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, Climate Change and Energy Supply and Use examines the known effects and relationships of climate change variables on energy production and supply, including oil, gas, thermal electricity, and renewable energy.

Knowledge of today's available energy forms is constantly surfacing and changing in the face of climate change, making it increasingly important to enhance communication about various energy supplies. This report on energy supply and use summarizes current knowledge, especially emerging findings, about implications of climate change for energy production and supply (oil and gas, thermal electricity, renewable energy, integrated perspectives, and indirect impacts on energy systems). A comprehensive resource for community planners and researchers, it discusses future risk-management strategies surrounding water treatment, heating or cooling, and mitigation that the country can utilize in its energy consumption. The authors analyze findings from their own research and practice to arrive at conclusions about vulnerabilities, risks, and impact concerns for different aspects of U.S. energy supply and use. Global and national policy contexts are informed by these efforts to create energy options and choices.

Rich in science and case studies, Climate Change and Energy Supply and Use offers decision makers and stakeholders a substantial basis from which to make informed choices that will affect energy risk-management in the decades to come.

About the Author: Thomas J. Wilbanks is a Corporate Research Fellow at ORNL and leads Global Change and Developing Country Programs at the Laboratory. The programs that he coordinates have undertaken more than 60 projects in 40 developing countries in the past two decades. Most of these projects are directly concerned with science and technology for sustainability, including enhancing local capacities for S&T innovation and application. In recent years, he has been involved in such activities as the USAID climate change initiative, the NASA-supported Association of American Geographers (AAG) project on Global Change in Local Places, the U.S. National Assessment of Possible Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, and IPCC Working Group II. He is a past President of the AAG and has served on numerous committees of NAS/NRC, including current membership in its committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change. Current activities include the development of tools to facilitate an integrated analysis of climate change impact response alternatives, assessments of climate change vulnerability and responses in developing countries, and potentials for accelerating clean energy technology use in developing countries.