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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 3, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1990

REPORTS...
GENERAL

Item #d90oct28

Confronting Climate Change: Strategies for Energy Research and Development, U.S. Nat. Res. Council, Aug. 1990. Nat. Acad. Press, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20418 (800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313); $17.95.

Requested by the U.S. Congress and funded by the Department of Energy (DOE), this study was executed by a committee appointed by the National Research Council. For the near term it recommends that DOE devote $300 million annually to programs on topics such as energy efficiency that would both help reduce greenhouse emissions and be economically attractive independent of current climate change concerns. The funds should be reallocated from existing DOE programs on magnetic fusion and fossil fuel technologies. If the nation commits itself to significant reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050, billions of dollars per year should be devoted to development of new technologies that will meet this need. (See related article in Chem. Eng. News, pp. 16-17, Sep. 10, 1990). A summary of key findings is available from the DOE Off. Public Inquiries, Rm. 1E-206, Forrestal Bldg., Washington DC 20585; 202-586-5575.

Item #d90oct29

Climate Change: Implications for Water and Ecological Resources, 340 pp., 1990. Available from Dept. Geography, Univ. Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G1, Can.; CAN$20.

Includes presentations and recommendations from an international symposium/workshop (Waterloo, Ontario, March 1990). The first part of the meeting examined fundamental constraints and assumptions of general circulation models (GCMs), and included the formal release of the Canadian Climate Centre GCM. The second portion dealt with the wide range of potential impacts suggested by GCM results in five working groups: water resources; wetlands, wildlife and fisheries; energy and transportation; agriculture and forests; and conservation strategies. The groups developed recommendations for research, modeling, and planning and managing environmental responses to climatic change, as well as for monitoring, risk assessments, policy development and information dissemination.

Item #d90oct30

The Statehouse Effect: State Policies to Cool the Greenhouse, D. Lashoff et al., July 1990. Available from Pub. Dept., Natural Resources Defense Council, 40 W. 20th St., New York NY 10011; $15.99.

An analysis of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide indicates that ten states, led by Texas, account for over half the emissions, although two of the ten (California and New York) have the lowest per capita emissions. Policy action by state government is needed in the absence of federal leadership, and states have the principal responsibility for regulating utilities, building codes (for energy efficiency), and land-use planning. A range of specific recommendations to be implemented by states is detailed.