Tag: GHG

The worlds drive to limit emissions and halt temperatures increases are likely to fail The bleak statistics, compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA), will prompt fears the world's drive to limit emissions and halt temperatures increases are likely to fail.Despite a high level push by governments to limit global warming, unprecedented levels of carbon were released into the air over the past 12 months, the unpublished figures have disclosed.The IEA found a record 30.6 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide gushed into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel - a rise of 1.6Gt from the previous year.The agency has calculated that annual emission should not exceed 32Gt by 2020 if the world is to escape the most damaging effects of global warming.Experts said the figures, considered one of the most reliable measures of carbon emissions, showed that attempts to curb global warming were unlikely to succeed.Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA chief economist, said this also meant the goal of preventing temperatures rising more than 2C - considered the threshold for potentially "dangerous climate change" - was likely to be just "a nice Utopia".The disclosures come ahead of a key United Nations talks, involving officials from more than 180 governments, ...

Less than a decade to put in place measures The world now has less than a decade to put in place measures that would prevent damaging and irreversible changes to global climate, a new science-based report delivered to the Australian parliament warns.The report from a government-appointed commission of climate experts tables the latest evidence in climate science and also targets what it says is ill-informed debate that is confusing the public and holding back action.The report's authors conclude there is "strong and clear" scientific evidence of global warming and humans' role in it. The "fingerprints" of greenhouse-gas forcing are increasingly there to see, they argue.In a report entitled The Critical Decade, the report warns that global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must reach their peak as soon as possible if the plus-2-degrees "guardrail" warming limit is to be met to avoid irreversible alterations in the climate that will make it "a struggle to maintain our present way of life".On the latest available science, it argues, if the generally accepted target of peaking emissions by 2020 is followed then steep reductions in emissions of 9 per cent per year will be required thereafter - something that would appear impossible unless economies were ...

Oceans have little or no life due to low levels of oxygen in the water A team of geologists from Newcastle University in the UK have discovered evidence that 'greenhouse oceans' occurred in prehistoric times, resulting in areas of ocean with little or no life due to low levels of oxygen in the water. Their research indicates that the planet could be on the brink of the same phenomenon re-occurring.Professor Martin Kennedy and Professor Thomas Wagner studied sediment samples across a 400,000 year span from the sea floor off the coast of western Africa and discovered that around 85 million years ago, there were mass extinctions of marine life due to what is they have termed 'greenhouse oceans'. High levels of carbon dioxide in the water led to insufficient oxygen to sustain life in many species of marine life.What they noted was layers of deoxygenated sediment from the Late Cretaceous period sandwiched between layers of sediment with visible evidence of life. Thomas Wagner commented on the findings:''We know that 'dead zones' are rapidly growing in size and number in seas and oceans across the globe. These are areas of water that are lacking in oxygen and are suffering from increases ...

ULYSSES project to develop environmentally friendly ultra-slow ships New tankers and bulk carriers built in 2050 could have service speeds of only 5 knots. Partners from nine European countries are working on an EU-funded project called ULYSSES to develop environmentally friendly, ultra-slow ships.The objective of ULYSSES project is to demonstrate, through a combination of ultra slow speeds and complementary technologies, that the efficiency of the world fleet can be increased to a point where the following CO2 targets are met: Before 2020, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent compared to 1990 levels, Beyond 2050, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared to 1990 levels.ULYSSES focuses on bulk carriers and tankers as these produce 60 percent of the CO2 from ocean-going vessels. As bulk carriers and tankers are reasonably similar in design and operation, it is felt that investigating these ships will give the best value for money in terms of potential impact of the project. Additionally, it is more technically challenging to reduce the speed of these ship types as they are relatively slow speed already and therefore it is expected that directional stability and other seakeeping issues will arise. However, the results of the project will be ...