Tag: CO2

It is clearly in the interest of shipping to minimise its CO2 output The shipping industry remains firmly behind the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as the architect of change when it comes to regulating shipping's CO2 emissions,according to Peter Hinchliffe, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).While it is clearly in the interest of shipping to minimise its CO2 output by reducing fuel consumption, recently agreed amendments to Annex VI of IMO's MARPOL Convention which - on a global basis - will make the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) mandatory for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) mandatory for existing vessels, were 'absolutely' what had been hoped for by ICS.Addressing delegates attending a special Guest Lecture at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Mr Hinchliffe said: "The EEDI is a non-prescriptive requirement, as the decision over which technologies to use within a specific ship design are left to the industry. So long as the required energy-efficiency level is achieved, naval architects and ship builders may employ whichever solutions they deem fit. The new regulations are also being presented as a vehicle for technical cooperation and the transfer of ...

Wildfires increase in frequency and size along Alaska's North Slope In a study published in this week's issue of Nature, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Gauis Shaver and his colleagues, including lead author Michelle Mack of the University of Florida, describe the dramatic impacts of a massive Arctic wildfire on carbon releases to the atmosphere.The 2007 blaze on the North Slope of the Alaska's Brooks Mountain Range released 20 times more carbon to the atmosphere than what is annually lost from undisturbed tundra.As wildfires increase in frequency and size along Alaska's North Slope, the team contends the disturbances may release large amounts of the greenhouse gas CO2 to the atmosphere and accelerate the transformation of the frozen, treeless tundra of today into a different kind of ecosystem less capable of storing carbon. Together, the impacts could have profound implications on atmospheric carbon and climate.Arctic tundra landscapes store huge amounts of carbon in cool, wet soils that are insulated by a layer of permanently frozen ground, or permafrost. Fire has been almost nonexistent in Alaska's North Slope for thousands of years and the effect of fires on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems is largely unknown.However, with warming temperatures over ...

Ship owners need to start taking measures now to lower the carbon footprint Industry opinion among those closely watching the development of maritime CO2 regulation suggests that the IMO's approval of mandatory EEDI and SEEMP measures is only the beginning of an evolving era of greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGs) regulation for shipping. Forward thinking ship owners and operators would do well to start taking measures now to lower the carbon footprint of their fleets and reduce their exposure to rising future compliance costs, they argue.The IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) decision this month to adopt mandatory energy efficiency measures in design and operation of ships is set to come into force at the beginning of 2013. It will see new ships having to meet index benchmarks requiring ever more fuel efficient ships over the next two decades.A compromise won by developing nations means flag states could seek a waiver for their obligations, delaying their compliance for up to six years beyond 2013. But this may not turn out to be much consolation for ship owners hoping to forestall the impact of a new layer of environmental regulation. And now that IMO has after many years come to an agreement to ...

New standards will save the industry more than 220 mill tonnes of CO2 The NGO Carbon War Room (CWR) said that it welcomed the IMOs announcement to mandate energy efficiency ratings for the international shipping fleet.The CWR said that the IMO resolution signals a key shift in the regulatory landscape of shipping, which has hitherto not required, even at the national level, any improvement in the sectors footprint, currently growing at between 3% and 4% a year.Peter Boyd, Carbon War Room COO, said: The IMO has an outstanding record in developing international agreements on safety and has drawn on this to make the first steps towards reducing the industrys carbon footprint. We applaud the work of the secretariat here in finding agreement in the international climate change debate.The CWR said that it had consistently argued that widely available energy efficiency ratings offer a proven means of instituting best practice design in energy-intensive applications.In December 2010, the organisation launched shippingefficiency.org , which made energy efficiency ratings for the 60,000-strong oceangoing fleet freely available for the first time, using the IMO-developed methodology.Peter Boyd added: There is a $70 bill subsidy for environmental improvement in shipping, called fuel savings from more efficient vessels. ...

A promising new innovation in geothermal technology A promising new innovation in geothermal technology, that offers a novel solution to climate change, has been created by two researchers from the University of Minnesota's Department of Earth Sciences. The technology focuses on tapping heat from beneath the Earth's surface. By using high-pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of water to extract the heat, the system has the potential to produce significantly more efficient renewable energy. At the same time, by sequestering CO2 deep underground, it actively reduces atmospheric CO2. It's being hailed as a two in one solution for climate change.The approach, coined the CO2-plume geothermal system (or CPG) was discovered by Earth sciences faculty member Martin Saar and graduate student Jimmy Randolph, in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering. They first struck the idea in 2008 whilst driving to northern Minnesota together to conduct unrelated field research on geothermal energy capture and geologic CO2 sequestration."We connected the dots and said, 'Wait a minute - what are the consequences if you use geothermally heated CO2?'" recalled Saar. "We had a hunch in the car that there should be lots of advantages to doing that." They submitted their idea to ...

Efforts to keep climate action on track The World Bank will suggest a global levy on jet and shipping fuel in recommendations to G20 governments later this year on raising climate finance, a senior official said on Sunday, Reuters reported.Developed countries have already written off chances of agreement on a new binding deal at a U.N. conference in Durban this year, placing a new focus on piecemeal efforts including fund-raising.Binding targets under the Kyoto Protocol cap the greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 40 industrialized countries but expire in 2012 and now look unlikely to be extended in time.The World Bank is focusing on a levy on shipping and jet fuels in a report to G20 finance minister in October, among other efforts to keep climate action on track.The Bank estimates the extra cost to help the developing world prepare for more droughts, floods and rising seas at $100 billion annually. Various sources put the extra cost of cutting carbon emissions at $200 billion or more annually.Andrew Steer, World Bank special envoy for climate change said he was disappointed by the pace of a U.N. climate process which launched talks in 2007 to find a Kyoto successor.The U.N. talks are stalled ...

Results of increasing CO2 emissions and ocean acidification A natural experiment in tropical waters off Papua New Guinea suggests that with increasing CO2 emissions and ocean acidification some marine organisms will benefit, but many more will lose out.Climate scientist, Dr Janice Lough of the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences in Townsville and colleagues report their findings today in the journal Nature Climate Change."Even aside from thermal stress and bleaching we're going to get progressive acidification of the oceans and this study demonstrates that is not good for maintaining healthy coral reef ecosystems," says Lough."Although there are a few winners as you get higher CO2 there are many more losers."Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels lead to an increase in ocean acidity as the ocean absorbs some of this CO2."About a third of the extra CO2 that we've put into the atmosphere has been absorbed by the oceans and that changes the ocean chemistry," says Lough.The IPCC predicts that with atmospheric levels of at least 750 parts per million by 2100, ocean pH levels will drop from 8.1 to 7.8.Short-term laboratory experiments suggest this will change the chemistry of the ocean and make it harder for coral and other organisms to form calcium ...

Need of oil and CO2 free energy supply Alternative fuels have the potential to gradually replace fossil energy sources and make transport sustainable by 2050, according to a report presented to the European Commission by the stakeholder expert group on future transport fuels. The European Union (EU) will need an oil-free and largely CO2-free energy supply for transport by 2050 due to the need to reduce its impact on the environment and concerns about the security of energy supply. According to the EU, the expert group has for the first time developed a comprehensive approach covering the whole transport sector. Expected demand from all transport modes could be met through a combination of electricity (batteries or hydrogen/fuel cells) and biofuels as main options, synthetic fuels (increasingly from renewable resources) as a bridging option, methane (natural gas and biomethane) as complementary fuel, and LPG as supplement. "If we are to achieve a truly sustainable transport, then we will have to consider alternative fuels," said Vice-President Siim Kallas, who is also responsible for transport. "For this we need to take into account the needs of all transport modes." The Commission is currently revising existing policies and the report will feed into the ...