Reaching Net Zero

Bill Fletcher retired as a Senior Vice President at Rockwell International Corporation responsible for corporate R&D and business planning. Most of his career involved business planning and international operations for large companies. He served as an officer and engineer in the navy working on the design and operation of nuclear powered ships, and was an engineer involved with the design and construction of commercial nuclear power plants. Later, he focused on industrial development and automation. His international experience includes an assignment in Saudi Arabia planning the large Jubail industrial development project on the Persian Gulf, with additional expatriate assignments in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Canada.Craig Smith retired as a President and Chairman, DMJM H+N, a subsidiary of AECOM Technology Corporation, an international engineering and construction management firm. He began as an Assistant Professor of Engineering at UCLA, where he was also the Assistant Director of the Nuclear Energy Laboratory. After UCLA, he cofounded ANCO Engineers, Inc., an engineering consulting firm in Los Angeles, later joining AECOM as the Vice President of Daniel Mann, Johnson, and Mendenhall (DMJM). He subsequently became the senior vice president, executive vice president, and COO. In 1999, he became the President of Holmes and Narver, Inc. He has been broadly involved in the field of energy and power, responsible for design and construction management, tests, and research on most types of electrical generating facilities.

"Reaching Net Zero: What it takes to solve the global climate crisis is a compendium of everything anyone would ever need to know about climate change. It is written in very readable prose and is readily accessible due to its excellent Content and Index pages. Climate change is a global crisis and this book brings it home in understandable ways with Intelligent, positive suggestions for corralling the problem. It is an outstanding resource." - Joe Genshlea, Attorney, Sacramento, CA"Reaching Net Zero is an excellent resource for understanding the anthropogenic causes and effects of climate change. It provides numerous figures and charts of data showing evidence of global warming and other climate consequences that have taken place since the industrial revolution and have accelerated in recent decades. The data is well sourced and thoroughly cited. As a person who has worked in the energy industry for several decades and studied many research papers and voluminous reports on climate change, I really appreciate the concise presentation of the key evidence in a single, easy-to-read book. It is a must-read for anyone who has questions about humankind’s influence on global warming, and is a valuable resource for people already well versed in the subject. One of the most important aspects of the book is its practical solutions and realistic expectations for what can be accomplished to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next thirty years. Now, let’s get to work! "- Kelly E. Parmenter, Ph.D., Principal Energy Engineer, Applied Energy Group"This is an amazing book! In Reaching Net Zero, authors Fletcher and Smith have produced a well-organized, clearly written, easily understood, and authoritatively supported resource that every government official, policy maker, politician, economist, journalist, college professor, student, and business leader should have and make use of – if he or she is seriously interested in life on this planet, doing something about it, and motivating others. Here you will find technical, economic, engineering and scientific findings, coupled with authoritative background data, assembled for the purpose of fact-based clear and decisive thinking, communications, and action plans on the intertwined, and all too often confounded, issues of: life on this planet, global warming, the problem with carbon, greenhouse gasses, energy sources, energy conversion and use, land use, economics, economies, and technologies." - Steve Westfall, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Tradeline, Inc., Orinda, CA"This is the most reasoned, careful, accurate, documented study I have seen on this global crisis. 　Fletcher’s and Smith’s book comes at this draconian problem from so many sides: 　science, environment, economic, politics, government; plus the anguished point that it is hard to teach people anything if it will, even temporarily, hurt their monetary income...Thanks so much for this superstar book!" - Robert Baker, Ph.D., Professor, University of Southern California

• 1. Introduction2. Addressing global warmingPart One3. The earth as a system4. Fundamental drivers of global warming5. How do we know global warming is real?6. How do we know man-made CO2 is the issue?7. What are the effects of global warming?8. International efforts to address global warmingPart Two9. What would it take to reach net zero?10. Energy alternatives11. Unique problems of major contributors to global warming12. Why is global warming such a difficult problem to solve?13. Some successes and failuresPart Three14. Action plan: efficiency, power, transportation, and land use15. Can it be done?16. The way forwardPart Four — Appendices