Chemistry and climate change.

Summary The back cover states: "Global warming is a reality that has been identified as a major threat to the population of the Earth. There are two imperative reasons to change our way of life: to limit the warming of the atmosphere and to adapt to the inevitable climate changes. To do this, we need to understand the causes of this climate change, which are complex: from the intensity of solar radiation, linked to long-term astronomical variations, to gaseous emissions into the atmosphere, of natural (volcanoes) or anthropogenic (industry, transport) origin. It is then necessary to understand how these factors modify the climate, to predict the evolutions, to anticipate the changes in order to try to avoid the main damages. The gases sent into the atmosphere create, through a complex chemistry, aerosols that modify the intensity of solar radiation, or, like carbon dioxide, inhibit the evacuation of energy from the Earth through the greenhouse effect. Through complex chemical mechanisms, warming affects life on Earth: plant or animal, land or sea, in short everything that makes up the human environment and must be understood and anticipated. To adapt to these inescapable vital changes, chemistry has mobilized its skills. Since "renewable energies" are intermittent, chemistry is providing the means to store them (new batteries). Since transportation must be oil-free, it is proposing other fuels (hydrogen, biofuels). it is developing new materials for lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. it is proposing to use carbon dioxide as a raw material for a new organic chemistry or to grow microalgae, which could themselves provide interesting biofuels. This book presents the research, understanding and innovations of high-level professionals, active in these fields in industry or public research. Its reading facilitates the understanding of these considerable changes that we are living".