Carbon Tracker

Target Global Warming


Sierra Round Table Policy Recommendations preceded recommendations from the IPCC in their recently released Synthesis Report, and the former target U.S. policy to offset global disasters from climate change. By and large, such admonishments are being ignored by U.S. policy-makers.

Coal-fired electric power plants comprise the single biggest source of CO2 emissions in the world. The fastest increase in CO2 emissions is being witnessed in the transportation sector. The rise of CO2 corresponds to the rise in global temperature and loss of arctic ice mass.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropogenic GHG. Its annual emissions grew by about 80% between 1970 and 2004. Because unequivocally anthropogenic emissions contribute to climate change, monitoring of CO2 has increased. In 2007 NOAA (the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) launched CarbonTracker.

CarbonTracker

“A global carbon cycle modeling tool that converts surface-based global greenhouse gas observations into best estimates of global distribution in the atmosphere and the net air-surface exchange of carbon dioxide.”

Global Anthropogenic GHG Emission, 1970-2004

The WMO (World Meteorological Organization) Global CO2 and CH4 Monitoring Network is a comprehensive climate network recognized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. According to Green Car Congress1, the WMO warns that measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4 ) are higher values than those in pre-industrial times.

According to the just-published, 2006 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin2, while the mixing ratio of methane (CH4 ) remains almost unchanged at 1782 ppb, globally averaged concentrations reached new highs for CO2 at 381.2 ppm and N2O at 320.1 ppb In 2006,

WMO prepares the Greenhouse Gases Bulletin in cooperation with WDCGG and the Global Atmosphere Watch Scientific Advisory Group for Greenhouse Gases with the assistance of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory (NOAA-ESRL).

Accurate atmospheric observations made globally by some 44 WMO Members are archived and distributed by the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG), located at the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The alarming growth rates in 2006 of CO2 and N2O gases are a continuation of what has been occurring in recent years. The long-term trend of declining CO2 emissions per unit of energy supplied reversed after 2000. According to the IPCC Synthesis Report, the most important time-critical action needed to avert climate disasters concerns coal. A surge in global coal use in the last few years has converted a potential slowdown of CO2 emissions into a more rapid increase.

Comparison of the greenhouse gases emitted by biofuels


Advocates claim that the optimized diversion of manure to bio-gas production by means of anaerobic digestion results in a negative value for production and is the only alternative fuel to do so. Thus, when bio-gas is upgraded to Bio-CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), it has the lowest grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilometer traveled of any alternative fuel used for transportation. CNG already is a valued transportation fuel, even though containing less energy value than other fossil fuels, since its combustion produces far fewer emissions than the combustion of diesel oil or petrol.

Methane growth has slowed during the past decade, which is a critical improvement, since methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global heating. On the other hand, if we lose the tundra, then we lose a livable climate.

After water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the three most prevalent greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere respectively.

The 36% rise in CO2 since the late 1700s has largely been generated by emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. Around one third of N2O discharged into the air is a result of human activities such as fuel combustion, biomass burning, fertilizer use and some industrial processes. Human activity such as fossil fuel exploitation, rice agriculture, biomass burning, landfills and ruminant farm animals account for some 60% of atmospheric CH4, with natural processes including those produced by wetlands and termites responsible for the remaining 40%.

Continue reading here: Push for More Wind Power Where Most Needed

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