Jeffrey A. Amelse, Desalegn Yayeh Ayal, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro, Henri-Count Evans, Inga Grinfelde, José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra, Jasenka Gajdoš Kljusurić, João Carlos Correia Leitão, Chunlan Li, Newton R. Matandirotya, Bethwel Mutai, Gustavo J. Nagy, Thierry Razanakoto, Jame Schaefer, Goran Trbic, Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga, Sane Pashane Zuka, Charles Galdies, Adriana Consorte-McCrea, Francisco Platas, Mittul Vahanvati, Pedi Obani, Safwatun Nida, Lucas Gabriel Zanon, Mayara Régia Sousa de Melo, Renato da Costa dos Santos, Alison Glover, Roman Vakulchuk
A “micromodule” on global warming, renewable energy, and decarbonization has been offered several times via the Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal participation in the ECIU. The original intent of the ECIU was to offer it to everyone including students at any university and those in the industry seeking continuing education. The course begins with an examination of global energy sources (petroleum, natural gas, coal, renewables, and nuclear) matched to energy-consuming sectors (transportation, industrial, residential and commercial, and electric power). A realistic assessment of where we are and where we need to go is provided. Technologies for reducing net CO2 emissions can be placed into three categories: (1) those that reduce future emissions from continued use of fossil fuels, (2) those that can remove CO2already in the air, and (3) renewables (no net change in atmospheric CO2). A windmill built today will reduce emissions from the generation of an equivalent amount of electricity from a natural gas or coal-fired power plant in the future but will not reduce CO2already in the air. Bioethanol from corn is often listed as renewable. Bioethanol itself is renewable. The bioethanol process produces CO2 as a byproduct. If captured, this could add a Category 2 contribution. However, few US corn ethanol plants currently capture this CO2. Since complete elimination of fossil fuels will not be possible while supplying the energy needs of a growing population, techniques in the second category are needed. Technology details in all categories are discussed, including methodology, current capacity, growth, limits to their contribution to total energy, advantages, and challenges. Those in the first category include biofuels; electric vehicles (EVs); wind; solar; hydrogen (blue and green); “cleaner” coal; carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS); batteries; cement, steel, and aluminum; biomass fast pyrolysis for bio-oil feed to refineries; and bioenergy with CCS (BECCS). Those in the second category include direct air capture (DAC), enhanced rock weathering, adding minerals like olivine to reverse ocean acidification, biochar, and Terrestrial Storage of Biomass (TSB, also known as biomass burial). © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava, Latvia; Center for Sustainable Development (Greens), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; School of Urban and Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Kgotso Development Trust, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Centre, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; CERED, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar; Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States; University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Land Economy, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Blantyre 3, Malawi; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Academy for Sustainable Futures, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom; Casa de Cultura de la UAEMéx en Tlalpan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico; School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom; Science Education Department of Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil; State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil; Universidade do Contestado-UNC, Mafra, Brazil; The Open University, Cardiff, United Kingdom; Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, Norway; Department of Chemistry, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Center for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa Univesity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; The Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Eswatini, Manzini, Kwaluseni Campus, Matsapha, South Africa
