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# How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible— plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Review: Climate problem should be solved from where we are, what we can do and with organizational agency. - Bill has gone to a great length to write a very good book on how to avoid a climate disaster. His book is jam-packed with information, (which I think is the best part), the relevant how-to knowledges, the plans to tackle the problems and the exceptional thus required wiggle-rooms around those plans. All of them have to do with how to avoid/cope with climate change and its impending total disaster. His direction is to create the 100% clean energy use and 0% of the carbon emissions. This is because the energy we now use mostly comes from coal, oil, and natural gas and its use creates greenhouse gases; the chief one, which is carbon dioxide. These greenhouse gases cause global warming. My point here is we should create the clean energy movement and not the revolution because the violence and the destruction will not be worth it as will be talked about the how-to in the end. Bill states that right now fifty-one billion tons of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide are added every year into the atmosphere. And as said before, greenhouse gases contribute to greenhouse effect and result in the warming of the earth incrementally. This could create increasing droughts and floods, and as I know, with no intervention, the earth will end up in total extinction of all living-beings or even worse as what Bill would call worst-case scenario. Bill writes in a personal, easy to read style, devoid of stuffiness in academic protocol. It makes his book more interesting to read. He's serious with his writing. He likes science a lot. His knowledges in all fields related are vast and deep. He's also brilliant for example in that he first orchestrates the things we do which are Making things, Plugging in, Growing things, Getting around, Keeping warm and cool and the climax of being smart is the problem of climate change comes from all these five activities and we need solutions in all of them. P.P. 54, 55 For the means to solve the climate change problem, Bill says we need to concentrate on markets, technology, and policy and in order for it to be effective, we need to tackle all of them at once and in the same direction. He also supports specifically nuclear energy which he says: "Nuclear is the only carbon-free energy source we can use almost anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." P. 190 How humans now are approaching the problem, Bill states in his One Last Thought chapter: "Unfortunately, the conversation about climate change has become unnecessarily polarized, not to mention clouded by conflicting information and confusing stories." P. 224 The goal of his writing this book is to spark more fruitful and productive conversations. As a part of that goal, he himself presents the plans which should lead to effective change in meaningfulness and also human adaptation. In various places, Bill seems highly concerned about the underdogs or the poors. As he says: "To sum up: Rich and middle-income people are causing the vast majority of climate change. The poorest people are doing less than anyone else to cause the problem, but they stand to suffer the worst from it. They deserve the world's help, and they need more of it than what they're getting." P. 169 Finally, I have an additional opinion that we should have a directly organized entity that leads the global warming movement. We can use anything such as USA government, or UN, or a big departmental division somewhere or in either of them. It will be good for directly hitting the problem. Bill probably could help leading that organization. He also could be right that we have to start from where we are and what we can do. Conclusion: we should do both, having a direct-hit organization and move forth from where we are. Useful website from the book: breakthroughenergy.org
Review: Useful Approach to Climate Change - How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” is a practical approach to climate change. Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates provides readers with a useful approach to the technical challenges we face in dealing with climate change. This beneficial 256-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. Why Zero?, 2. This will be hard, 3. Five Questions to Ask in Every Climate Conversation, 4. How We Plug In, 5. How We Make Things, 6. How We Grow Things, 7. How We Get Around, 8. How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm, 9. Adapting to a Warmer World, 10. Why Government Policies Matter, and 11. A Plan For Getting to Zero, and 12. What Each of Us Can Do. Positives: 1. Accessible, practical and succinct book. 2. The fascinating topic of climate change from an engineering solution approach. 3. An easy book to follow. Gates does a great job of simplifying terms and focusing on the world of the possible. The tone is hopeful and positive. “This book is about what it will take and why I think we can do it.” 4. A good use of charts and photos to complement the narrative. 5. Provides an early on summary of what it will take to avoid a climate disaster. “To avoid a climate disaster, we have to get to zero. We need to deploy the tools we already have, like solar and wind, faster and smarter. And we need to create and roll out breakthrough technologies that can take us the rest of the way.” 6. The book provides a way forward to avoiding a climate disaster. Gates breaks the book down in a logical manner, which makes it easier to reference at any given time. 7. Provides a brief explanation of why global temperatures are rising. “The reason we need to get to zero is simple. Greenhouse gases trap heat, causing the average surface temperature of the earth to go up. The more gases there are, the more the temperature rises.” 8. Provides a brief history of why energy transitions take a long time and the enormous challenges ahead of us. “To sum up: We need to accomplish something gigantic we have never done before, much faster than we have ever done anything similar. To do it, we need lots of breakthroughs in science and engineering. We need to build a consensus that doesn’t exist and create public policies to push a transition that would not happen otherwise. We need the energy system to stop doing all the things we don’t like and keep doing all the things we do like—in other words, to change completely and also stay the same.” 9. An excellent discussion on how much greenhouse gas is emitted by the things we do. 10. Explains what it will take to keep getting all the things we like from electricity and deliver it to even more people, but without the carbon emissions. “Nuclear fission. Here’s the one-sentence case for nuclear power: It’s the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver power day and night, through every season, almost anywhere on earth, that has been proven to work on a large scale.” 11. Discusses storing electricity and other innovations. “Capturing carbon. We could keep making electricity as we do now, with natural gas and coal, but suck up the carbon dioxide before it hits the atmosphere. That’s called carbon capture and storage, and it involves installing special devices at fossil-fuel plants to absorb emissions.” 12. The biggest culprit of greenhouse gases. “We manufacture an enormous amount of materials, resulting in copious amounts of greenhouse gases, nearly a third of the 51 billion tons per year.” 13. The path to zero emissions in manufacturing. “Electrify every process possible. This is going to take a lot of innovation. Get that electricity from a power grid that’s been decarbonized. This also will take a lot of innovation. Use carbon capture to absorb the remaining emissions. And so will this. Use materials more efficiently.” 14. Borlaug’s impact to the globe. “As Borlaug’s semi-dwarf wheat spread around the world, and as other breeders did similar work on corn and rice, yields tripled in most areas. Starvation plummeted, and today Borlaug is widely credited with saving a billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and we’re still feeling the impact of his work: Virtually all the wheat grown on earth is descended from the plants he bred.” 15. Hard challenges and facts to overcome. “Pound for pound, the best lithium-ion battery available today packs 35 times less energy than gasoline.” 16. The path to zero carbon for heating. “(1) Electrify what we can, getting rid of natural gas water heaters and furnaces, and (2) develop clean fuels to do everything else.” 17. The best way to lower the globe’s temperature without crippling the economy, find out. 18. The impact of government policies. Provides seven high-level goals. “In general, the government’s role is to invest in R&D when the private sector won’t because it can’t see how it will make a profit.” 19. Provides a plan for getting to zero. “When it comes to scaling up new technologies, the federal government plays the largest role of anyone.” 20. Steps on what each one of us can do. 21. Notes and links provided. Negatives: 1. The book is meant to be accessible for the masses so as a result it lacks depth. 2. If you are looking to know what causes climate change, there are far better books out there. This is a big picture look at what technical challenges we face. 3. No bibliography. In summary, I really like this book because the focus is on the big picture technical solutions for climate change. Many books of this ilk focus on trying to compel the reader that climate change is real while Gates that is a given and focuses on the possible and most likely technical solutions. As a recently retired engineer, I prefer this type of focus. The book is brief and gets to the main points but it comes at the price of depth. Overall, this is a very practical and useful book that will provide readers with hope. I recommend it. Further recommendations: “An Inconvenient Sequel” by Al Gore, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants od Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #444,960 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #15 in Environmental Economics (Books) #19 in Climatology #99 in Environmental Science (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 11,313 Reviews |

## Images

![How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71+nWpnDXaL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Climate problem should be solved from where we are, what we can do and with organizational agency.
*by S***L on March 8, 2021*

Bill has gone to a great length to write a very good book on how to avoid a climate disaster. His book is jam-packed with information, (which I think is the best part), the relevant how-to knowledges, the plans to tackle the problems and the exceptional thus required wiggle-rooms around those plans. All of them have to do with how to avoid/cope with climate change and its impending total disaster. His direction is to create the 100% clean energy use and 0% of the carbon emissions. This is because the energy we now use mostly comes from coal, oil, and natural gas and its use creates greenhouse gases; the chief one, which is carbon dioxide. These greenhouse gases cause global warming. My point here is we should create the clean energy movement and not the revolution because the violence and the destruction will not be worth it as will be talked about the how-to in the end. Bill states that right now fifty-one billion tons of greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide are added every year into the atmosphere. And as said before, greenhouse gases contribute to greenhouse effect and result in the warming of the earth incrementally. This could create increasing droughts and floods, and as I know, with no intervention, the earth will end up in total extinction of all living-beings or even worse as what Bill would call worst-case scenario. Bill writes in a personal, easy to read style, devoid of stuffiness in academic protocol. It makes his book more interesting to read. He's serious with his writing. He likes science a lot. His knowledges in all fields related are vast and deep. He's also brilliant for example in that he first orchestrates the things we do which are Making things, Plugging in, Growing things, Getting around, Keeping warm and cool and the climax of being smart is the problem of climate change comes from all these five activities and we need solutions in all of them. P.P. 54, 55 For the means to solve the climate change problem, Bill says we need to concentrate on markets, technology, and policy and in order for it to be effective, we need to tackle all of them at once and in the same direction. He also supports specifically nuclear energy which he says: "Nuclear is the only carbon-free energy source we can use almost anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." P. 190 How humans now are approaching the problem, Bill states in his One Last Thought chapter: "Unfortunately, the conversation about climate change has become unnecessarily polarized, not to mention clouded by conflicting information and confusing stories." P. 224 The goal of his writing this book is to spark more fruitful and productive conversations. As a part of that goal, he himself presents the plans which should lead to effective change in meaningfulness and also human adaptation. In various places, Bill seems highly concerned about the underdogs or the poors. As he says: "To sum up: Rich and middle-income people are causing the vast majority of climate change. The poorest people are doing less than anyone else to cause the problem, but they stand to suffer the worst from it. They deserve the world's help, and they need more of it than what they're getting." P. 169 Finally, I have an additional opinion that we should have a directly organized entity that leads the global warming movement. We can use anything such as USA government, or UN, or a big departmental division somewhere or in either of them. It will be good for directly hitting the problem. Bill probably could help leading that organization. He also could be right that we have to start from where we are and what we can do. Conclusion: we should do both, having a direct-hit organization and move forth from where we are. Useful website from the book: breakthroughenergy.org

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Useful Approach to Climate Change
*by B***K on March 22, 2021*

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” is a practical approach to climate change. Bill Gates, yes that Bill Gates provides readers with a useful approach to the technical challenges we face in dealing with climate change. This beneficial 256-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. Why Zero?, 2. This will be hard, 3. Five Questions to Ask in Every Climate Conversation, 4. How We Plug In, 5. How We Make Things, 6. How We Grow Things, 7. How We Get Around, 8. How We Keep Cool and Stay Warm, 9. Adapting to a Warmer World, 10. Why Government Policies Matter, and 11. A Plan For Getting to Zero, and 12. What Each of Us Can Do. Positives: 1. Accessible, practical and succinct book. 2. The fascinating topic of climate change from an engineering solution approach. 3. An easy book to follow. Gates does a great job of simplifying terms and focusing on the world of the possible. The tone is hopeful and positive. “This book is about what it will take and why I think we can do it.” 4. A good use of charts and photos to complement the narrative. 5. Provides an early on summary of what it will take to avoid a climate disaster. “To avoid a climate disaster, we have to get to zero. We need to deploy the tools we already have, like solar and wind, faster and smarter. And we need to create and roll out breakthrough technologies that can take us the rest of the way.” 6. The book provides a way forward to avoiding a climate disaster. Gates breaks the book down in a logical manner, which makes it easier to reference at any given time. 7. Provides a brief explanation of why global temperatures are rising. “The reason we need to get to zero is simple. Greenhouse gases trap heat, causing the average surface temperature of the earth to go up. The more gases there are, the more the temperature rises.” 8. Provides a brief history of why energy transitions take a long time and the enormous challenges ahead of us. “To sum up: We need to accomplish something gigantic we have never done before, much faster than we have ever done anything similar. To do it, we need lots of breakthroughs in science and engineering. We need to build a consensus that doesn’t exist and create public policies to push a transition that would not happen otherwise. We need the energy system to stop doing all the things we don’t like and keep doing all the things we do like—in other words, to change completely and also stay the same.” 9. An excellent discussion on how much greenhouse gas is emitted by the things we do. 10. Explains what it will take to keep getting all the things we like from electricity and deliver it to even more people, but without the carbon emissions. “Nuclear fission. Here’s the one-sentence case for nuclear power: It’s the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver power day and night, through every season, almost anywhere on earth, that has been proven to work on a large scale.” 11. Discusses storing electricity and other innovations. “Capturing carbon. We could keep making electricity as we do now, with natural gas and coal, but suck up the carbon dioxide before it hits the atmosphere. That’s called carbon capture and storage, and it involves installing special devices at fossil-fuel plants to absorb emissions.” 12. The biggest culprit of greenhouse gases. “We manufacture an enormous amount of materials, resulting in copious amounts of greenhouse gases, nearly a third of the 51 billion tons per year.” 13. The path to zero emissions in manufacturing. “Electrify every process possible. This is going to take a lot of innovation. Get that electricity from a power grid that’s been decarbonized. This also will take a lot of innovation. Use carbon capture to absorb the remaining emissions. And so will this. Use materials more efficiently.” 14. Borlaug’s impact to the globe. “As Borlaug’s semi-dwarf wheat spread around the world, and as other breeders did similar work on corn and rice, yields tripled in most areas. Starvation plummeted, and today Borlaug is widely credited with saving a billion lives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, and we’re still feeling the impact of his work: Virtually all the wheat grown on earth is descended from the plants he bred.” 15. Hard challenges and facts to overcome. “Pound for pound, the best lithium-ion battery available today packs 35 times less energy than gasoline.” 16. The path to zero carbon for heating. “(1) Electrify what we can, getting rid of natural gas water heaters and furnaces, and (2) develop clean fuels to do everything else.” 17. The best way to lower the globe’s temperature without crippling the economy, find out. 18. The impact of government policies. Provides seven high-level goals. “In general, the government’s role is to invest in R&D when the private sector won’t because it can’t see how it will make a profit.” 19. Provides a plan for getting to zero. “When it comes to scaling up new technologies, the federal government plays the largest role of anyone.” 20. Steps on what each one of us can do. 21. Notes and links provided. Negatives: 1. The book is meant to be accessible for the masses so as a result it lacks depth. 2. If you are looking to know what causes climate change, there are far better books out there. This is a big picture look at what technical challenges we face. 3. No bibliography. In summary, I really like this book because the focus is on the big picture technical solutions for climate change. Many books of this ilk focus on trying to compel the reader that climate change is real while Gates that is a given and focuses on the possible and most likely technical solutions. As a recently retired engineer, I prefer this type of focus. The book is brief and gets to the main points but it comes at the price of depth. Overall, this is a very practical and useful book that will provide readers with hope. I recommend it. Further recommendations: “An Inconvenient Sequel” by Al Gore, “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants od Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A for Engineering and B- for Economics
*by N***R on April 15, 2021*

Bill Gates is doing a lot to make the world a better place. He doesn't just write checks. Instead, he literally rolls up his sleeves to solve problems as a generalist. Part of his success is to change his thinking when one approach doesn't work and he finds a better approach. Traditional philanthropy becomes too entrenched to do this. This book reflects his exploration into climate change, what he has done so far, and what we can all do to address it. Let me preface the rest of this review by stating up front I read this book and the corresponding Bjorn Lomborg book back to back with an open mind. My general take is that Gates gets the economics only partly right compared to Lomborg. On the engineering/problem solving they actually share a lot of the same views (even both telling the same story about Nobel prize winner Norman Borlaug's innovations to increase crop yields and prove the modern day Malthusians wrong); however, Gates (the engineer) is more concrete (pun intended) on the engineering issues. Why do I believe that Gates has it somewhat wrong on the economics? On the plus side, he doesn't treat climate change as a religious system along the lines of those parodied so easily by people like Shellenberger. Gates acknowledges the importance of alleviating poverty and improving health outcomes (especially in developing countries). Given his other philanthropy he is obviously concerned about these issues quite a bit. He certainly isn't saying "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" yet he fails to acknowledge that the tradeoffs between economic growth and climate change are as stark as Lomborg. Obviously, we need to assess this tradeoff as we go along (we will have better view of climate, economics, and engineering for the period 2040 to 2050 in 2030 than today) but Lomborg's assessment of the tradeoffs involved in achieving net zero 2050 seem much more compelling to me in arguing against net zero 2050 than Gates arguments in favor after reading both books. For those who haven't read Lomborg, he wants to address climate change but sees net zero as inhumane because of the delays in poverty relief necessary to achieve net zero as well as the potential for adaptation to alleviate some of the impacts. Gates also talks about the importance of adaptation but in a less optimistic manner. In addition, Lomborg talks about the positive effects of climate change that Gates largely omits (e.g., increased crop yields in certain geographies, decreased deaths from cold). These effects don't completely cancel out the negatives but need to be considered. On the engineering side, Gates does a great job explaining the types of decisions involved in addressing climate change sensibly. One could debate whether his view that moving from coal and oil to natural gas on a temporary basis is not a good way to minimize C02 but he explains it well in the context of net zero. Most importantly, he basically calls out as misguided people who only focus on solar, wind, and expensive electric cars made of freshly produced steel and powered by coal fired electricity as the whole solution. Some of the key messages worth heeding in this book are (1) addressing climate change will undoubtedly require cheap, safe nuclear power, (2) using a broader approach that catalogs the sources of CO2 and equivalents and addresses them all to varying degrees rather than a narrower approach only focused on a few sources will have a bigger impact, and (3) and encouraging lots of innovation from the private sector in developed countries can make it achievable and affordable. His chapter on government makes it clear that government can both help solve climate change problems and at the same time cause lots of problems. An example of the former is enabling carbon trading via cap and trade or otherwise and of the latter is locking in specific technologies and thwarting further innovation (as with heat pumps). He seems to be quite aware of the dangers of regulatory capture too. On balance this a good read for someone interested in the topic and he is to be commended for showing optimism for a way forward that will achieve some results.

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