Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
Mark Z. Jacobson, exposes a serious oversight in current cap-and-trade proposals
Everyone knows that carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving climate change, is a global problem. Now a Stanford study has shown it is also a local problem, hurting city dwellers’ health much more than rural residents’, because of the carbon dioxide “domes” that develop over urban areas. That finding, said researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, exposes a serious oversight in current cap-and-trade proposals for reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, which make no distinction based on a pollutant’s point of origin. The finding also provides the first scientific basis for controlling local carbon dioxide emissions based on their local health impacts.
“Not all carbon dioxide emissions are equal,” said Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering. “As in real estate, location matters.”
His results also support the case that California presented to the Environmental Protection Agency in March, 2009, asking that the state be allowed to establish its own CO2 emission standards for vehicles. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
- People Will Forgo Luxury for Green Products When Status Is Involved
Carbon Emissions ‘Outsourced’ to Developing Countries
China is by far the largest "exporter" of carbon dioxide emissions, as seen in this map of the net flow of emissions embodied in trade among the major exporting and importing countries. Arrows indicate direction and magnitude of flow; numbers are megatons (millions of tons). (Steven Davis/Carnegie Institution for Science)
A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, “outsource” over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.
“Instead of looking at carbon dioxide emissions only in terms of what is released inside our borders, we also looked at the amount of carbon dioxide released during the production of the things that we consume,” says co-author Ken Caldeira, a researcher in the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology.
Caldeira and lead author Steven Davis, also at Carnegie, used published trade data from 2004 to create a global model of the flow of products across 57 industry sectors and 113 countries or regions. By allocating carbon emissions to particular products and sources, the researchers were able to calculate the net emissions “imported” or “exported” by specific countries. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Chemists Create Synthetic ‘Gene-Like’ Crystals for Carbon Dioxide Capture
UCLA chemists Omar M. Yaghi and Hexiang Deng led a team that created three-dimensional synthetic DNA-like crystals that have a sequence of information which is believed to code for carbon capture. The discovery, published in the journal Science, could result in a new way to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions and could lead to cleaner energy. (CNSI, UCLA–Department of Energy Institute of Genomics and Proteomics)
UCLA chemists report creating a synthetic “gene” that could capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming, rising sea levels and the increased acidity of oceans.
The research appears in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Science.
“We created three-dimensional, synthetic DNA-like crystals,” said UCLA chemistry and biochemistry professor Omar M. Yaghi, who is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA and the UCLA–Department of Energy Institute of Genomics and Proteomics. “We have taken organic and inorganic units and combined them into a synthetic crystal which codes information in a DNA-like manner. It is by no means as sophisticated as DNA, but it is certainly new in chemistry and materials science.”
The discovery could lead to cleaner energy, including technology that factories and cars can use to capture carbon dioxide before it reaches the atmosphere.
“What we think this will be important for is potentially getting to a viable carbon dioxide–capture material with ultra-high selectivity,” said Yaghi, who holds UCLA’s Irving and Jean Stone Chair in Physical Sciences and is director of UCLA’s Center for Reticular Chemistry. “I am optimistic that is within our reach. Potentially, we could create a material that can convert carbon dioxide into a fuel, or a material that can separate carbon dioxide with greater efficiency.” (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Catastrophe Denied: The Science of the Skeptic’s Position
by Warren Meyer, climate-skeptic.com
Once upon a time, Al Gore had a PowerPoint deck. Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that Gore’s presentation was deeply flawed, so I made my own PowerPoint deck in response, and have been updating it ever since. Here is the most recent version
Catastrophe Denied: The Science of the Skeptics Position (studio version) from Warren Meyer on Vimeo.
Then, Al Gore made a movie from his PowerPoint deck. He won an Oscar and a Nobel prize for his movie. Those are a bit out of my reach, so I will have to settle for actually being right. My previous movie showed my PowerPoint deck presented to a live audience, and can still be found online here. I felt the sound quality could be improved and the narration could be tighter, so I went into the “studio” to create a tighter version. The product of this is what I believe to be my best effort yet at explaining, in a comprehensive but simple manner, the science of the skeptic’s position to laymen.
Warren Meyer is the author of the web-site climate-skeptic.com, a site he originally started to help report climate developments in layman’s terms, particularly the science of the skeptic’s position. Warren has a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, where his studies focused on the control and stability of dynamic systems, issues at the very heart of the climate debate. He also has extensive experience with forecasting of dynamic and complex systems, with an MBA from Harvard University and years of experience with planning and forecasting at several Fortune 50 companies. Currently Warren runs a company called Recreation Resource Management, based in Phoenix, whose business is the private management of public parks and recreation.
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Effects of Forest Fire on Carbon Emissions, Climate Impacts Often Overestimated
This stand replacement fire on Cache Mountain burned in the central Oregon Cascade Range in 2002, killing nearly all the overstory trees. By 2007 other non-tree vegetation began to grow back, however, somewhat offsetting the carbon releases from dead wood decomposition. (Photo by Garrett Meigs, Oregon State University)
A recent study at Oregon State University indicates that some past approaches to calculating the impacts of forest fires have grossly overestimated the number of live trees that burn up and the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result.
The research was done on the Metolius River Watershed in the central Oregon Cascade Range, where about one-third – or 100,000 acres – of the area burned in four large fires in 2002-03. Although some previous studies assumed that 30 percent of the mass of living trees was consumed during forest fires, this study found that only 1-3 percent was consumed.
Some estimates done around that time suggested that the B&B Complex fire in 2003, just one of the four Metolius fires, released 600 percent more carbon emissions than all other energy and fossil fuel use that year in the state of Oregon – but this study concluded that the four fires combined produced only about 2.5 percent of annual statewide carbon emissions.
Even in 2002, the most extreme fire year in recent history, the researchers estimate that all fires across Oregon emitted only about 22 percent of industrial and fossil fuel emissions in the state – and that number is much lower for most years, about 3 percent on average for the 10 years from 1992 to 2001. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Measuring Carbon Dioxide Over the Ocean
The Norwegian weather ship Polarfront is equipped with a battery of instruments to measure wind speed, humidity and carbon dioxide. (Margaret Yelland /NOCS)
Reliable measurements of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide – an important greenhouse gas – are needed for a better understanding of the impact of ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate. A new method developed by researchers at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) working in collaboration with colleagues at the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research (Bergen, Norway) promises to make this task considerably easier.
Infrared gas sensors measure carbon dioxide based on its characteristic absorption spectra and are used to evaluate the air-sea flux of the gas. So-called closed-path sensors precondition air before measurements are made, while open-path sensors can be used to measure the air in situ.
One advantage of using open-path sensors at sea is that wind measurements can be taken contemporaneously in the same place. Moreover, because they are small and don’t use much power they can be used on buoys.
“Open-path sensors have the potential greatly to increase our understanding of the variability of air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes,” said PhD student John Prytherch of the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science at NOCS.
However, a long-standing concern has been that the values from open-path sensors do not tally with those from closed-path sensors, or with measurements made using other techniques. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Urban ‘Green’ Spaces May Contribute to Global Warming
Amy Townsend-Small, Earth system science postdoctoral researcher, found that management of urban "green" spaces emits more greenhouse gases than the plots take in and store. (Photo by Steve Zylius / University Communications)
Dispelling the notion that urban “green” spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found – in Southern California at least – that total emissions would be lower if lawns did not exist.
Turfgrass lawns help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it as organic carbon in soil, making them important “carbon sinks.” However, greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production, mowing, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices are four times greater than the amount of carbon stored by ornamental grass in parks, a UC Irvine study shows. These emissions include nitrous oxide released from soil after fertilization. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that’s 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, the Earth’s most problematic climate warmer.
“Lawns look great – they’re nice and green and healthy, and they’re photosynthesizing a lot of organic carbon. But the carbon-storing benefits of lawns are counteracted by fuel consumption,” said Amy Townsend-Small, Earth system science postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, forthcoming in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Echinoderms Contribute to Global Carbon Sink
Echinoderms such as brittle stars bury significant amounts of carbon at the seabed when they die and decay. (SERPENT)
The impact on levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere by the decaying remains of a group of marine creatures that includes starfish and sea urchin has been significantly underestimated.
“Climate models must take this carbon sink into account,” says Mario Lebrato, lead author of the study. The work was done when he was at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and affiliated with the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES); he is now at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Science in Germany.
Globally, the seabed habitats occupy more than 300 million million square metres, from the intertidal flats and pools to the mightiest deep-sea trenches at 11,000 meters. The benthos – the animals living on and in the sediments – populate this vast ecosystem.
Calcifying organisms incorporate carbon directly from the seawater into their skeletons in the form of inorganic minerals such as calcium carbonate. This means that their bodies contain a substantial amount of inorganic carbon. When they die and sink, some of the inorganic carbon is remineralised, and much of it becomes buried in sediments, where it remains locked up indefinitely. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Overwhelming Majority of Americans Support Global Warming Action in Poll
The overwhelming majority of Americans support action to limit carbon pollution and move the U.S. toward a clean energy future, according to a new poll released today by National Wildlife Federation.
“The American people can’t be more clear when it comes to solving global warming: they want the U.S. to be Rudolph out in front of the sleigh, leading the world toward a clean energy future,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of NWF. “There is overwhelming public support for the Senate to pass legislation with firm limits on carbon pollution that will stimulate massive new investments in clean energy technologies.”
American voters demonstrate a strong desire for the U.S. to transition toward a low-carbon economy, with strong support among Independents.
• Strikingly, 82 percent voters and 80 percent of Independents, support the U.S. government increasing investment in clean energy sources. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
What Green Lessons Can We Learn from COP15?
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, known as “COP15,” faced a simple problem – how do you hold a global conference on the environment without increasing greenhouse gas emissions, wasting paper and otherwise being un-green?
Not surprisingly, the Climate Change Conference answered all these questions correctly and more, producing a successfully green conference of an enormous magnitude. What can we take away from the UN’s success? The knowledge that if a large scale operation can be green, there is no reason that businesses can’t act similarly on a smaller scale.
First, start with a green city for the summit. The Economist Intelligence Unit just completed a survey of 30 European cities and found Copenhagen was the greenest based on: CO2 emissions; energy; buildings; transportation; water; air quality; waste and land use; and environmental governance.
Second, plan it to be green. The Danish Foreign Ministry said, “COP15 is organized following BS8901, a sustainable management standard. BS8901 was developed for the sustainable organization of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.” What was done and what effects it had will be published in March 2010 as the Copenhagen Sustainable Meetings Protocol. This will be a case study that future meetings can use as a guide. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Exposures to Metals and Diesel Emissions in Air Linked to Respiratory Symptoms in Children
- Glimpsing a Greener Future
Global Temperatures Could Rise More Than Expected, New Study Shows
Mark Pagani, associate professor of geology and geophysics at Yale.
The kinds of increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide taking place today could have a significantly larger effect on global temperatures than previously thought, according to a new study led by Yale University geologists. Their findings appear December 20 in the advanced online edition of Nature Geoscience.
The team demonstrated that only a relatively small rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was associated with a period of substantial warming in the mid- and early-Pliocene era, between three to five million years ago, when temperatures were approximately 3 to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today.
Climate sensitivity—the mean global temperature response to a doubling of the concentration of atmospheric CO2—is estimated to be 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius, using current models.
“These models take into account only relatively fast feedbacks, such as changes in atmospheric water vapor and the distribution of sea ice, clouds and aerosols,” said Mark Pagani, associate professor of geology and geophysics at Yale and lead author of the paper. “We wanted to look at Earth-system climate sensitivity, which includes the effects of long-term feedbacks such as change in continental ice-sheets, terrestrial ecosystems and greenhouse gases other than CO2.” (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Climate Projections Underestimate CO2 Impact
The climate may be 30–50 percent more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide in the long term than previously thought, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience this week.
Projections over the next hundreds of years of climate conditions, including global temperatures, may need to be adjusted to reflect this higher sensitivity.
“Climate change is affecting water supplies for cities and farms; leading to more severe droughts, hurricanes, and floods; contributing to more intense forest fires; and putting coastal communities at risk,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who is on his way to the global climate change conference convening this week in Copenhagen. “This study and the ongoing work of our USGS scientists will help us continue to build more precise long-term projections and to prepare for the impacts of climate change on our world.”
A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol and including the U.S. Geological Survey, studied global temperatures 3.3 to 3 million years ago, finding that the averages were significantly higher than expected from the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at the time.
These underestimates occurred because the long-term sensitivity of the Earth system was not accurately taken into account. In these earlier periods, Earth had more time to adjust to some of the slower impacts of climate change. For example, as the climate warms and ice sheets melt, Earth will absorb more sunlight and continue to warm in the future since less ice is present to reflect the sun. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Engineering Bacteria to Turn Carbon Dioxide into Liquid Fuel
James C. Liao, Chancellor's Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA and associate director of the UCLA–Department of Energy Institute for Genomics and Proteomics.
Global climate change has prompted efforts to drastically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels.
In a new approach, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified a cyanobacterium to consume carbon dioxide and produce the liquid fuel isobutanol, which holds great potential as a gasoline alternative. The reaction is powered directly by energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis.
The research appears in the Dec. 9 print edition of the journal Nature Biotechnology and is available online.
This new method has two advantages for the long-term, global-scale goal of achieving a cleaner and greener energy economy, the researchers say. First, it recycles carbon dioxide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Second, it uses solar energy to convert the carbon dioxide into a liquid fuel that can be used in the existing energy infrastructure, including in most automobiles.
While other alternatives to gasoline include deriving biofuels from plants or from algae, both of these processes require several intermediate steps before refinement into usable fuels. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Layered Graphene Sheets Could Solve Hydrogen Storage Issues
- Team of Scientists Reports Discovery of a New Planet
- Mastery of Rare-Earth Elements Vital to America’s Security
- Princeton Scientists Say Einstein’s Theory Applies Beyond the Solar System
- New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues
Fragmented Tropical Forests Store Less Biomass and Carbon Dioxide
by Tilo Arnhold
Around 88 per cent of the coastal rain forest Mata Atlantica in Brazil has already been cleared. Sometimes just tiny forest fragments are left over. (Dr. Henning Steinicke/UFZ)
Conserving continuous forests is important for mitigation of climate change.
Deforestation in tropical rain forests could have an even greater impact on climate change than has previously been thought. The combined biomass of a large number of small forest fragments left over after habitat fragmentation can be up to 40 per cent less than in a continuous natural forest of the same overall size. This is the conclusion reached by German and Brazilian researchers who used a simulation model on data from the Atlantic Forest, a coastal rain forest in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, around 88 per cent of which has already been cleared. The remaining forest fragments are smaller, so the ratio between area and edge is less favourable. The reason for the reduction in biomass is the higher mortality rate of trees at the edges of forest fragments, according to the results published by researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the University of São Paulo in Ecological Modelling. This reduces the number of big old trees, which contain a disproportionately high amount of biomass.
Altered wind conditions and light climate lead to a general change in the microclimate at the forest edges. Big old trees are particularly vulnerable to these factors. With the help of FORMIND, a forest simulation software developed at the UFZ, the researchers modelled different sizes of forest patches left over after landscape fragmentation. The smaller a patch of forest is, the worse is the ratio between edge and area. Simulation results suggest that a natural tropical forest of our study area contained approximately 250 tonnes of aboveground biomass per hectare, a forest fragment measuring 100 hectares has around 228 tonnes of biomass per hectare, while a patch of rain forest measuring one hectare has only 140 tonnes of biomass per hectare. In other words, the biomass in the forest remnants in this study fell by as much as 40 per cent. “This finding is of great significance for the function of rain forests as a biomass store. It is important to be clear about the fact that we are losing more than just the deforested areas. Even the remaining forest is thinned out as a result. It is a mistake to think only in terms of total area. We have to start thinking in terms of the spatial configuration of the remaining forest fragments as well,” says Dr Jürgen Groeneveld of the UFZ, explaining the significance of the study for climate policy. As well as the biomass yield per hectare, these fragmentation-related spatial (edge) effects also have impacts on climate balance and biodiversity, i.e. on several dimensions of sustainability.
Coastal rain forest Mata Atlantica in Brazil. Compared to a natural tropical forest, the results of a study suggest a falling biomass of up to 40 per cent for fragmented forests. (Dr. Christoph Knogge/UFZ)
The simulation integrated results from other researchers who are conducting unique long-term experiments on fragmentation in Amazonas. However, a large number of questions remain unanswered: Are the edges stable? Can the forest regenerate or does the degradation continue inwards? The researchers therefore view the figures as a preliminary, cautious estimate. “But if it is confirmed, it is a really fundamental finding,” adds Dr Sandro Pütz of the UFZ. “Forest fragments cannot perform in the same way as continuous forests.” The researchers therefore intend to investigate the long-term effects over the coming years to find out how the rain forest remnants develop in the long term. The results of this study will also have fundamental consequences for forest conservation, at least in terms of the carbon balance: “In any case, in terms of carbon storage, it is better to protect 100 continuous hectares than to protect 100 one-hectare patches,” says Jürgen Groeneveld.
The data used in the model come from the tropical coastal rain forest in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The Atlantic Forest was severely deforested in the second half of the 19th century for construction timber, charcoal and grazing and arable land. Although only around an eighth of the original forest area remains, these remnants are still regarded as international biodiversity hot spots, since they are home to an as yet not fully recorded, but impressive number of endangered animal and plant species that are not found anywhere else. Since 2003, Brazilian and German researchers have therefore been investigating the long-term effects of landscape fragmentation on habitats in the Atlantic Forest, which used to stretch along the whole of Brazil’s east coast and is today one of the most endangered rain forests in the world.
The new findings from the ecological modelling experts led by Andreas Huth and Klaus Henle are also relevant for negotiations at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. Under the heading REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), the conference will be discussing a mechanism for including the forests in climate protection. Forests bind carbon dioxide. Deforestation or degradation of forests leads to a further release or less fixing of carbon dioxide per unit area, thereby increasing the greenhouse effect. Around 20 per cent of total global CO2 emissions comes from the destruction of forests.
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Important Contribution of Waste Sector to Reduce Substantial CO2 Emissions
The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) calls the attention of the delegates of the UN COP15 to the important contribution of the waste sector to reduce substantial CO2-emissions.
In its White Paper on Waste & Climate Change (December 2009, www.iswa.org) ISWA confirms that significant CO2-emission reductions can be achieved through the better management of solid wastes (i.e., residential and commercial rubbish). Investments in waste management in developed countries can lead to net emission savings of up to 20% (this includes reduced emissions plus the avoided emissions from recycling materials and energy recovery).
For example, in the European Union it is estimated that municipal waste management activities alone can potentially account for 18% of the Kyoto CO2 reduction target set for the EU-15. These reductions can be achieved solely through investments in accepted practices and proven solid waste management techniques. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Atmospheric CO2 Mixing Ratios Over China
Trucks and pedestrians share a road in Linfen, China. Linfen has been named by some organizations as the dirtiest city in the world.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas regulated by the Kyoto Protocol. Human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and land use change, are major emitters of CO2, which is widely recognized as drivers of global warming and climate change. In the past decades, the field campaign and research program were only conducted at a few sites in China by different agencies. However, none of those measurements could effectively document spatial and temporal distributions of atmospheric CO2 and provide essential information for our understanding of regional differences and distributions over China. Thus, it is essential to establish a long-term observational network at multiple sites and carefully calibrate on internationally agreed reference scales with better quality controls.
Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Beijing initiated network observation at the four Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) stations in China: Waliguan (36.29ºN, 100.90ºE, 3816m asl) in remote western China, Shangdianzi (40.39ºN, 117.07ºE, 293.9m asl) in northeast Beijing, Lin’an (30.3ºN, 119.73ºE, 138m asl) in Yangtze Delta, and Longfengshan (44.73ºN, 127.6ºE, 310m asl) in northeastern China. It shows for the first time the atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios and regional differences based on internationally recognized weekly air sampling data from September 2006 to August 2007. The study is reported in Issue 52 (November, 2009) of Science in China Series D: Earth (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Earth More Sensitive to Carbon Dioxide than Previously Thought
The temperature response of the Earth (in degrees C) to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from pre-industrial levels (280 parts per million by volume) to higher levels (400 parts per million by volume). (a) shows predicted global temperatures when processes that adjust on relatively short-term timescales (for example sea-ice, clouds, and water vapour) are included in the model. (b) includes additional long-tem processes that adjust on relatively long timescales (vegetation and land-ice).
The Earth’s temperature may be 30-50 percent more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide than has previously been estimated, reports a new study published in Nature Geoscience this week
In the long term, the Earth’s temperature may be 30-50% more sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide than has previously been estimated, reports a new study published in Nature Geoscience this week.
The results show that components of the Earth’s climate system that vary over long timescales – such as land-ice and vegetation – have an important effect on this temperature sensitivity, but these factors are often neglected in current climate models.
Dan Lunt, from the University of Bristol, and colleagues compared results from a global climate model to temperature reconstructions of the Earth’s environment three million years ago when global temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations were relatively high. The temperature reconstructions were derived using data from three million-year-old sediments on the ocean floor. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
The End of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?
Daniel Nepstad, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center and the study's lead author
A new article in the December 4 issue of Science addresses how the combined efforts of government commitments and market transition could save forest and reduce carbon emissions in Brazil. The Policy Forum brief, entitled “The End of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon” was authored by contributors from the Woods Hole Research Center, Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia (IPAM), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Aliança da Terra, Environmental Defense Fund, University of Florida, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and the Universidade Federal do Pará.
According to Daniel Nepstad, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center and the study’s lead author, “market forces and Brazil’s political will are converging in an unprecedented opportunity to end deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon with 80 percent of the forest still standing.”
Brazil has lowered deforestation rates 64 percent since 2005. This remarkable achievement was possible through a government crack-down on illegal activities in the region. It was helped by a retraction of the cattle and soybean industries, and a growing effort to exclude deforesters from the beef and soy markets. The article describes how Brazil could build upon this progress to end forest clearing by the year 2020, and the additional funding that will be required to reach this goal.
The study estimates that $6.5 to $18 billion will be needed from 2010 to 2020 to achieve the end of deforestation, resulting in a 2 to 5 percent reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions. The steps include the support of low-deforestation livelihoods for forest peoples and smallholders; identifying and rewarding responsible cattle ranchers and farmers; improved enforcement of environmental laws; and investments in protected area management. This estimate utilizes a sophisticated economic model of the Amazon region that estimates and maps the value of forgone profits from ranching and soy farming that are associated with forest conservation. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Oceans Absorbing Carbon Dioxide More Slowly, Yale Scientist Finds
The world’s oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide (CO2), a Yale geophysicist has found after pooling data taken over the past 50 years. With the oceans currently absorbing over 40 percent of the CO2 emitted by human activity, this could quicken the pace of climate change, according to the study, which appears in the November 25 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
Jeffrey Park, professor of geology and geophysics and director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, used data collected from atmospheric observing stations in Hawaii, Alaska and Antarctica to study the relationship between fluctuations in global temperatures and the global abundance of atmospheric CO2 on interannual (one to 10 years) time scales. A similar study from 20 years ago found a five-month lag between interannual temperature changes and the resulting changes in CO2 levels. Park has now found that this lag has increased from five to at least 15 months.
“No one had updated the analysis from 20 years ago,” Park said. “I expected to find some change in the lag time, but the shift was surprisingly large. This is a big change.” (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
CO2 Emissions Continue Significant Climb
WHOI chemist Scott Doney led a team that developed ocean-model simulations for estimating the historical variations in air-sea CO2 fluxes. (Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
The annual rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has more than tripled in this decade, compared to the 1990s, reports an international consortium of scientists, who paint a bleak picture of the Earth’s future unless “CO2 emissions [are] drastically reduced.”
These CO2 emissions increased at a rate of 3.4% per year from 2000 to 2008, in contrast to 1% each year in the previous decade, scientists from the Global Carbon Project report in the current issue of Nature Geoscience. The team comprises some 30 researchers from around the world, including Scott C. Doney, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Richard A. Houghton, senior scientist and acting director of the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC).
Since 2000, the scientists documented an overall increase of 29% in global CO2 emissions. They attributed the rise to increasing production and trade of manufactured products, particularly from emerging economies, the gradual shift from oil to coal and the planet’s waning capacity to absorb CO2.
Doney led a team that developed ocean-model simulations for estimating the historical variations in air-sea CO2 fluxes.
“Over the last decade, CO2 emissions have continued to climb despite efforts to control emissions,” Doney said. “Preliminary evidence suggests that the land and ocean may be becoming less effective at removing CO2 from the atmosphere, which could accelerate future climate change.” (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Intensive Land-Management Leaves Europe Without Carbon Sinks
In order to compute whether European landscapes store or release greenhouse gases, climatologists have for the first time also considered methane and nitrogen oxide emissions from livestock farming and intensive agriculture. The bottom line is that forests, grasslands and agriculture fields, particularly in central Europe, freely release greenhouse gas (in carbon dioxide equivalents / red colouring in diagram). In this way they balance out the effect which Russian forests have as a source of carbon dioxide storage (blue colouring), almost completely.
Of all global carbon dioxide emissions, less than half accumulate in the atmosphere where it contributes to global warming. The remainder is hidden away in oceans and terrestrial ecosystems such as forests, grasslands and peat-lands. Stimulating this “free service” of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is considered one of the main, immediately available ways of reducing climate change. However, new greenhouse gas bookkeeping has revealed that for the European continent this service isn’t free after all. These findings are presented in the most recent edition of Nature Geoscience (Advanced Online Publication, November 22, 2009).
Researchers from 17 European countries cooperating in the EU-Integrated Project CarboEurope, led by Detlef Schulze, of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany have compiled the first comprehensive greenhouse gas balance of Europe. They made two independent estimates: one based on what the atmosphere sees and one based on what terrestrial ecosystems see. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Green Heating and Cooling Technology Turns Carbon From Eco-Villain to Hero
Professor Bob Critoph, University of Warwick
Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a novel way to miniaturise a technology that will make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars.
Most domestic heating and automotive air conditioning requires a lot of energy. Domestic space heating and hot water account for 25% of energy consumption in the UK. Across the EU, vehicle air conditioning uses about 5% of the vehicle fuel consumed annually, and within the UK it is responsible for over 2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
To combat global warming, new technologies to reduce these emissions are vital. Researchers at the University of Warwick have been working on practical solutions for many years and are now developing new energy saving technologies.
In houses, the best condensing boilers are about 90% efficient. There are electric heat pumps on the market that use electricity to extract heat from the outside air or the ground to heat homes more efficiently, but the electricity used still incurs large CO2 emissions at the power station. Researchers have long been aware of a much more energy efficient way to drive heat pumps (or air conditioners) using adsorption technology. This uses heat from a gas flame or engine waste heat to power a closed system containing only active carbon and refrigerant. When the carbon is at room temperature it adsorbs the refrigerant and when heated the refrigerant is driven out. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Iron Controls Patterns of Nitrogen Fixation in the Atlantic, Affecting CO2 Sequester Ability
This is the experimental set-up on the Royal Research Ship Discovery. (Dr Mark Moore (NOCS))
Scientists including researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and the University of Essex have discovered that interactions between iron supply, transported through the atmosphere from deserts, and large-scale oceanic circulation control the availability of a crucial nutrient, nitrogen, in the Atlantic. Their findings have potentially important implications for understanding global climate, both past and future.
Nitrogen is an essential element for life, but in its gaseous form (N2) cannot be used by most organisms. To be useful, nitrogen has to be ‘fixed’ by combining it with other chemicals to form compounds such as ammonium. ‘Diazotrophic’ microbes such as the blue-green bacterium Trichodesmium are equipped with the enzymes needed to perform these energy-demanding transformations. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
- The Environmental and Social Impact of the ‘Livestock Revolution’
- Urban CO2 Domes Increase Deaths, Poke Hole in Cap-and-Trade Proposal
- Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
- Reconstruction of Historical Climate Record in Kansas Shows Warming Trend
Interactions with Aerosols Boost Warming Potential of Some Gases
By Adam Voiland
This map shows the distribution of methane at the surface. New research shows that methane has an elevated warming effect due to its interactions with other substances in the atmosphere. (NASA/Goddard)
For decades, climate scientists have worked to identify and measure key substances — notably greenhouse gases and aerosol particles — that affect Earth’s climate. And they’ve been aided by ever more sophisticated computer models that make estimating the relative impact of each type of pollutant more reliable.
Yet the complexity of nature — and the models used to quantify it — continues to serve up surprises. The most recent? Certain gases that cause warming are so closely linked with the production of aerosols that the emissions of one type of pollutant can indirectly affect the quantity of the other. And for two key gases that cause warming, these so-called “gas-aerosol interactions” can amplify their impact. (more…)
Possibly Related Posts:
- Layered Graphene Sheets Could Solve Hydrogen Storage Issues
- Team of Scientists Reports Discovery of a New Planet
- Mastery of Rare-Earth Elements Vital to America’s Security
- Princeton Scientists Say Einstein’s Theory Applies Beyond the Solar System
- New Asteroid Threat Reports Highlight Legal and Institutional Issues
Loading... 
