Michael B. McElroy

Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences; School of Engineering and Applied Sciences;
e-mail: mbm@io.harvard.edu (Tel: 617-495-4359 Fax: 617-495-4551)

 

Current Research |

Research Group

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Curriculum Vitae

| Publications

 

  NEW Paper!
Challenges for Environmental Science and Engineering (pdf) , in press at Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering in China as a featured article

 

 NEW Book!

Energy: Perspectives, Problems, and Prospects

Oxford University Press, USA (Nov. 30, 2009). For more information, please visit Amazon or Oxford University Press.
Table of Content
1 Introduction (pdf) 3
2 From hunter gatherers to English factories 19
3 Energy: what is it and how do we measure it? 75
4 Wood, photosynthesis, and the carbon cycle 93
5 Coal: origin, history, and problems 105
6 Oil: properties, origin, history, problems, and prospects 123
7 Natural gas: origin, history, and prospects 149
8 Energy from water and wind 163
9 Nuclear power 191
10 Steam power 215
11 Electricity 241
12 Automobiles, trucks, and the internal combustion engine 277
13 The challenge of global climate change 299
14 Prospects for carbon capture and sequestration 325
15 Ethanol from biomass: can it substitute
for gasoline? 		347
16 Current patterns of energy use 371
17 Vision for a low-carbon energy future 383
  Index 401
     

 

Research Areas

  1. Applied Physics: Oceans, Atmospheres, and Geophysics
  2. Environmental Sciences and Engineering: Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Modeling
  3. Environmental Sciences and Engineering: Energy and Technology
  4. China Project

Research Profile

The atmosphere is an important resource, an indispensable component of the global life support system. Human activity can change its composition, altering climate, air quality, and radiation reaching us from the sun.

Michael McElroy studies changes in the composition of the atmosphere with an emphasis on the impact of human activity. His research includes investigations of processes affecting the abundance of ozone in the stratosphere and factors influencing the chemical composition of the troposphere. It explores the manner in which changes in the composition of the atmosphere affect climate.

It seeks to place the impact of contemporary human activity in a larger context by studying large-scale changes in the environment that occurred in the past. His research addresses also challenges for public policy posed by the rapid pace of industrialization in developing countries such as China and India while exploring alternative strategies for more sustainable development in mature economies such as the United States.

 

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