How Molecular Modelling Tools Can
Help in Mitigating Climate Change
Lourdes F. Vega, Daniel Bahamon, Ismail I. I. Alkhatib, Wael A. Fouad,
Felix Llovell, Luis M. C. Pereira, and Oriol Vilaseca
1 Introduction
According to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) -NASA-, the global
temperature anomaly of the Earth surface has been increasing since the beginning of
the twentieth century (see Fig. 1), with a sharp increase since 1950 until nowadays
[1]. This is one of the consequences of the global warming, attributed to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Changes in the climate are not new, the Earth’s
climate over the past 650,000 years has shown seven cycles of glacial advance and
retreat, with the last ice age dated 7,000 years ago coinciding with the birth of the
human civilization. However, the current warming trend is of special importance as
its majority is a consequence of human activity, and it is progressing at an unprecedented rate over the last decades, with most of the warming taking place in the past
35 years, and with the five highest temperature years happening as of 2010 [2–5]. In
the 2014 International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report, it is clearly stated
L. F. Vega (B) · D. Bahamon · I. I. I. Alkhatib
Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and H2 (RICH), and Center for Catalysis and Separation
(CeCaS), Khalifa University, 127788 Abu Dhabi, UAE
e-mail: lourdes.vega@ku.ac.ae
L. F. Vega · D. Bahamon · I. I. I. Alkhatib · L. M. C. Pereira
Chemical Engineering Department, Khalifa University, 127788 Abu Dhabi, UAE
L. F. Vega · D. Bahamon · O. Vilaseca
Alya Technology and Innovation SL, C/ Republica 42, 08202 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
W. A. Fouad
Department of Chemical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran
31261, Saudi Arabia
F. Llovell
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Escola Tècnica Superior
d’Enginyeria, Avinguda dels Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
E. J. Maginn and J. Errington (eds.), Foundations of Molecular Modeling
and Simulation, Molecular Modeling and Simulation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6639-8_8
181
Help in Mitigating Climate Change
Lourdes F. Vega, Daniel Bahamon, Ismail I. I. Alkhatib, Wael A. Fouad,
Felix Llovell, Luis M. C. Pereira, and Oriol Vilaseca
1 Introduction
According to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) -NASA-, the global
temperature anomaly of the Earth surface has been increasing since the beginning of
the twentieth century (see Fig. 1), with a sharp increase since 1950 until nowadays
[1]. This is one of the consequences of the global warming, attributed to the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Changes in the climate are not new, the Earth’s
climate over the past 650,000 years has shown seven cycles of glacial advance and
retreat, with the last ice age dated 7,000 years ago coinciding with the birth of the
human civilization. However, the current warming trend is of special importance as
its majority is a consequence of human activity, and it is progressing at an unprecedented rate over the last decades, with most of the warming taking place in the past
35 years, and with the five highest temperature years happening as of 2010 [2–5]. In
the 2014 International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report, it is clearly stated
L. F. Vega (B) · D. Bahamon · I. I. I. Alkhatib
Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and H2 (RICH), and Center for Catalysis and Separation
(CeCaS), Khalifa University, 127788 Abu Dhabi, UAE
e-mail: lourdes.vega@ku.ac.ae
L. F. Vega · D. Bahamon · I. I. I. Alkhatib · L. M. C. Pereira
Chemical Engineering Department, Khalifa University, 127788 Abu Dhabi, UAE
L. F. Vega · D. Bahamon · O. Vilaseca
Alya Technology and Innovation SL, C/ Republica 42, 08202 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
W. A. Fouad
Department of Chemical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran
31261, Saudi Arabia
F. Llovell
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili Escola Tècnica Superior
d’Enginyeria, Avinguda dels Països Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
E. J. Maginn and J. Errington (eds.), Foundations of Molecular Modeling
and Simulation, Molecular Modeling and Simulation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6639-8_8
181