Professor of Thermal Sciences Dr. John Abraham wrote a column for the Star Tribune on how businesses can affect climate change.
From the column: I am a climate scientist. I measure how fast Earth is warming because of the greenhouse gases that we emit into the atmosphere. I am also an entrepreneur. These two roles have shown me that the technologies that we need to save the planet are the same technologies that will save us money, power our lives, create jobs and ensure the U.S. is a leader in the clean-energy economy.
Basically, we need two tools to deal with climate change. First, we need to mitigate the problem by developing clean technologies that will reduce our emissions. Solar and wind power are the most cost-effective clean energy sources in Minnesota. Nationwide, costs have dropped dramatically so that wind and solar power are less expensive than coal or nuclear power and are about as expensive as natural gas. While Minnesota can't completely rely upon wind and solar for all of our energy needs, these two energy sources can still deliver a large majority of our energy requirements.
Another important part of mitigation is to use energy more wisely. These savings can extend throughout entire supply chains.
