Responding to climate change will take massive reinvention

To avoid the worst effects of climate change like the disastrous floods we experienced in Iowa in 2008, we must totally reinvent our energy systems, infrastructure and environment. Doing so will create an economic engine for high-quality jobs, prosperity, and a cleaner, healthier living space for humans and ecosystems alike. In a nutshell, ten “solutions” are already emerging which will ensure a more sustainable world.

1. Electrify almost everything.

2. Employ wind and solar energy to produce the electricity.

3. Improve and expand the “smart” grid to carry the electricity.

4. Store intermittent renewable power in advanced batteries.

5. Create a “Circular Economy” for batteries and other materials.

6. Regenerate agriculture to sequester carbon and to mitigate greenhouse gases.

7. Achieve security in Food, Energy, and Water.

8. Restore forests, prairies, wetlands, and degraded lands.

9. Adapt to climate change by employing innovative infrastructure.

10. Respect one another. We are all in this together.

Electrify almost everything. Why? Because burning coal, oil and natural gas for energy releases powerful greenhouse gases which threaten our very existence. Electric vehicles (EVs) are already replacing gasoline internal combustion engines. Sustainable wind and solar energy is much cheaper, more natural, and less polluting. Following years of research and innovation, land-based wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are now the cheapest forms of electricity on the planet. That is why we must keep fossil fuels in the ground forever. However, we may still need some liquid fuels for certain applications such as aviation and shipping. Those can be supplied by growing trees and grasses, cellulosic feedstocks, to be processed in biorefineries, a real opportunity for Iowa farmers and entrepreneurs.

Employ wind and solar energy. Renewable electricity will be produced by wind power and solar photovoltaics, both on roof-tops and from larger solar installations. Already Iowa has prospered mightily from wind power, which supplies almost 60 percent of Iowa’s electrical needs. Solar power is the missing link in Iowa, and we should build it out rapidly. Solar power complements wind beautifully because wind blows strongest in the winter and spring when there is not much solar insolation, while solar energy supplies peak demand and air-conditioning during the summer when the wind doesn’t blow.

Improve and expand the “smart” grid. If we are going to “electrify almost everything” and convert our transportation fleet to electric vehicles, we will need a much better grid to carry all that electricity. The storage batteries in electric vehicles can become a part of the national grid – vehicle-to-grid, V2G -- by supplying power to the system during high demand (peak shaving) and recharging at night during low demand (valley filling). Smart metering and pricing will encourage customers to use power during off-peak hours. Microgrids, capable of supplying electricity to neighborhoods and commercial/industrial enterprises, can assist by adding capacity and reliability to the grid in the event of power interruptions. Furthermore, microgrids can aid in the security of our electricity network, helping to restore it in the face of cyberattacks or weather-related black-outs.

Advanced batteries. The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Intermittent renewable energy makes constant, reliable, dependable electricity a real challenge. Storage in advanced batteries can overcome that problem. Prices on battery storage have declined rapidly such that the Duane Arnold Solar II photovoltaic project plans for 150 MW of solar panels backed by 75 MW of 4-hour battery energy storage. Today, six major utility scale solar PV projects are planned in Iowa and several may be complemented by battery storage.

Circular Economy for batteries and other materials. Mine-produce-use-discard has been standard protocol since the beginning of the industrial revolution. But if we are to respond to climate change, we must find a way to reduce, reuse, and recycle key materials towards a sustainable economy. Developing a closed-loop system of recycling batteries at its Gigafactory plant in Nevada, Tesla is making some progress on circularity. As of 2021, it recycled only 60% of its batteries, but it claims it can ultimately reuse or recycle 92% of the total battery weight. Expensive metals such as cobalt, nickel, and copper are prioritized, while lithium hydroxide has received less attention until recently. Sadly, the wind power industry has a similar challenge to recycle tens of thousands of wind turbine blades, each as long as a football field and consisting of incredibly resistant composite materials (fiberglass, carbon fiber, and polymeric resins). Circular is better.

Regenerate agriculture and sequester carbon. I always loved the Iowa license plate motto from some years ago, “Iowa – a place to grow.” But it’s true… Iowa is the best place to grow crops (and perhaps children) of anywhere I’ve lived. But we lost half of our organic carbon from rich Iowa soils via wind and water erosion since the beginning of European settlement, while during the same time interval, humanity added 50 percent more CO2 to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Why not address both problems at once? Answer: regenerative agriculture. Iowa is, indeed, the best place to grow things perhaps in the world. With regenerative agriculture, we can restore the soil and water quality, practice no-till, crop rotation, cover crops, buffer strips, put animals and biodiversity back on the land, AND sequester carbon out of the atmosphere into deep roots and soil.

Food/Energy/Water. All nations deserve food, energy, and water security. But let’s recognize distinct tradeoffs among them. Can we afford to degrade Iowa soil and water quality while growing food, feed and fuel? Can we afford to deplete our aquifers and drinking water quality? Here we have the opportunity to phase-out coal-fired power plants and become the leading state in the US in production per capita of renewable energy. We have an opportunity to become a leader in sustainable agriculture, to recharge our aquifers, and to restore pristine water to Iowa streams.

Restore Forests, Prairies and Wetlands. Iowa has plowed 99 percent of its prairie, drained 95 percent of its wetlands, and cut 70 percent of its forests since European settlement. Imagine the benefits in water quality, soil quality, biodiversity and greenhouse gas mitigation if we could restore even a small fraction (1 percent?) of those 36 million acres to their original state. Worldwide, the toll is even more staggering. Earth has lost over 3.6 billion acres of forests to desertification and degraded lands. Fortunately, ambitious programs are underway by the African Union to restore forests at the edge of the Sahara desert in African Sahel, and in China to restore hundreds of millions of acres near the Gobi desert (the Great Green Wall of China). Prairie restoration and massive reforestation is the most effective natural, green solution to remove CO2 from the atmosphere (a.k.a., negative emissions).

Innovative Infrastructure. Climate change is here, and we need to prepare for more floods, droughts, extreme weather events (like the derecho in 2020), sea level rise and wildfires. That means building flood walls, restoring wetlands and ponds, raising bridges and roads, moratoriums on building in the flood plain, and flood-proofing buildings. Much has been accomplished in Eastern Iowa already. Unfortunately, due to the long time lags in the climate system, global warming is going to get worse before it gets better. We are not on target to achieve the U.N. goal of less than 2 oC (3.6 oF) warming over the next few decades. We must decrease global emissions very soon. Only then will greenhouse gas concentrations begin to decline, followed by slowly recovering temperatures on land and in the sea. Meanwhile, we must continue to adapt our infrastructure.

Respect one another; be kind. Once people realize we are all on the same team with no Planet B, we will join together locally and globally to end climate change. Many people taking positive action with purpose is a powerful force. Efforts to transition to this new economy simply must accelerate. The stakes could not be greater: cleaner air, purer water, richer soils, better health and restored ecosystems – a truly historical transition out of the fossil fuel age to renewable, sustainable living. We must listen to each other, really listen, and find the common ground to overcome this defining challenge.

I am blessed to have lived a long time and to be a grandfather with 4 marvelous granddaughters. I regret that I will not be here to see all the positive changes outlined in this article because the climate system responds slowly. I predict that global emissions will begin to decline in the next couple of years. And then, improvements will appear over the next few decades – lower CO2 concentrations, declining temperatures, and less severe weather events. Action today will result in a much better world for my granddaughters and for all future generations.

Jerald Schnoor is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER) at the University of Iowa.