Narrow Results

Some people think that carbon and sustainable development are not compatible. This textbook shows that carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and bio-carbon from biomass are our best allies in the energy transition, towards greater sustainability. We pose the problem of the decarbonation (or decarbonization) of our economy by looking at ways to reduce our dependence on fossil carbon (coal, petroleum, natural gas, bitumen, carbonaceous shales, lignite, peat). The urgent goal is to curb the exponential increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Figures 1.1 and 1.2) that is directly related to our consumption of fossil carbon for our energy and materials The goal of the Paris agreement (United Nations COP 21, Dec. 12, 2015) of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees (compared to the pre-industrial era, before 1800) is becoming increasingly unattainable (Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), report of Aug. 6, 2021). On Aug. 9, 2021 Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, declared that coal needs to be consigned to history to limit global warming. CO₂ has an important social cost…

The chirality (of Greek χείρ, ch[e]ir: hand) is a fundamental symmetry property of three-dimensional objects. Your two hands are not superimposable. They are mirror images of each other. They are therefore chiral (Figure 10.1). The chirality of your right hand can be seen by trying to put it in a glove for your left hand. The same can be seen by trying to put your left hand into a glove for your right hand. The same experience can be done while putting on shoes. Normally you are not comfortable after exchanging the shoe for the left foot with the one for the right foot…