The Costs of Climate Change Mitigation Innovations: A Pragmatic Outlook

The notion that humanity may be too late to alter climate change could potentially lead to fear and therefore the advocacy of implementing radical strategies and/or hastening the execution of certain measures to the extreme. There is evidence that extensive and intensive implementation of some climate change solutions can significantly alter the environment and ecosystems in unintended ways. For example, the microclimate of a field in the proximity and downstream of a closely packed array of wind turbines can be noticeably altered by the modified lower atmospheric fluxes caused by the turbines, which can then negatively affect crop yields. Additionally, some studies have found that large-scale solar fields can result in the modulation of atmospheric circulation, leading to changes in regional precipitation. The Costs of Climate Change Mitigation Innovations: A Pragmatic Outlook provides a forum for discussion on the long-term consequences of various climate strategies. It promotes our striving toward minimizing the potential negative impact of new interventions by performing objective, holistic analyses. The bottom line is that we do not want today’s solutions to become tomorrow’s problems.

David S-K. Ting studied Combustion and Turbulence, followed by Convection Heat Transfer and Fluid-Structure Interactions, prior to joining the University of Windsor. Dr. Ting is the founder of the Turbulence & Energy Laboratory and a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering. Professor Ting supervises students on a wide range of research topics including Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy. To date, he has co/supervised over ninety graduate students, co/authored more than one hundred and sixty journal papers, authored five textbooks, and co/edited more than twenty volumes.

Jacqueline A. Stagner is the Undergraduate Programs Coordinator in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Windsor, and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering. Dr. Stagner co-advises students primarily in sustainable energy in the Turbulence and Energy Laboratory. Prior to working at the University of Windsor, she attained a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, a Master of Business Administration, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. She also worked as a release engineer in the automotive industry for six years. She has co/edited ten volumes.