The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has unleashed their Special Report on the impact of global warming reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
“This IPCC report is set to outline a rescue plan for humanity,”
“1.5°C is the new 2°C,”
If we stick to Paris Climate Agreement commitments, we could still see a global warming of about 3°C by 2100.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Modern concrete, including the vital ingredient Portland cement, is a major emitter of greenhouse gasses, accounting for around 5 percent of human-induced emissions. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider the vast and increasingly successful efforts to replace larger sources with clean technologies. Yet a world run on renewable energy and electric cars could still be brought undone if our ever-growing thirst for carbon-emitting concrete eats up our remaining carbon budget.
https://www.iflscience.com/chemistry/x-ray-studies-hint-at-the-romans-secret-to-stopping-climate-change/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Based on their data, China contributed to 27 percent of the total emissions for the year, followed by the US with 11.4 percent, India at 6.6 percent.
China Greenhouse Emission Exceed 37 High-Income Countries Combined New Report Claims
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/china-greenhouse-emission-exceed-37-highincome-countries-combined-new-report-claims/
A new report from the American advisory firm Rhodium Group states that in 2019 China released more emissions than the 37 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which include the US, and many members of the European Union among several other countries across the world.
Based on their data, China contributed to 27 percent of the total emissions for the year, followed by the US with 11.4 percent, India at 6.6 percent, and the European Union with 6.4 percent. Across the OECD countries, the quantity of emissions has remained roughly constant across the last three decades, with China only steadily climbing across the same time until 2019 when it moved ahead.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/science-and-future/plastic-eating-enzyme-sustainable-innovation-523952.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amateur detective uses tiny tracking devices hidden in bins to prove recycling in South London is being chucked in an incinerator
After the undercover operation, Merton Council has admitted that up to 80 per cent of recycling collected in public bins isn’t actually recycled
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/dustbin-detective-uses-tiny-matchbox-20600651
Tomi Engdahl says:
Giving oxygen to the question of air quality
Volatile alkanes can rapidly acquire oxygen atoms in a free radical chain reaction, a process significant for fuel combustion and air pollution.
https://discovery.kaust.edu.sa/en/article/1091/giving-oxygen-to-the-question-of-air-quality?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cpub-2021Q2&fbclid=IwAR3U64MCIbCIIXaOlBP2vll4imo-0U4BMPBJ4-yMOi4cioKoM-1ge2q-MIU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not good. Not good at all.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Shrinking The Stratosphere, Study Finds
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/greenhouse-gas-emissions-shrinking-stratosphere/
BY BENJAMIN TAUB
17 MAY 2021, 12:08
The thickness of the stratosphere has decreased by around 400 meters (1,312 feet) since 1980, and scientists fear that this contraction could reach 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) by 2080. Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the authors of a new study confirm for the first time that the stratosphere has been thinning on a global scale, and that greenhouse gas emissions are primarily responsible for this.
The stratosphere is a vital component of the atmosphere that extends from roughly 20 to 60 kilometers (12.4 to 37.3 miles) above the Earth’s surface, and contains the ozone layer. As such, it plays an important role in absorbing the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays – yet previous measurements have hinted at the fact that this crucial atmospheric layer may be thinning in places.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why flood defences can ignore the people they’re meant to protect
How flood protection can paradoxically put people at risk
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-flood-protection-can-paradoxically-put-people-risk.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=floodWhy
Governments who build defences against rising seas can actually increase their citizens’ risk of being flooded – if they fail to take account of the ‘safe development paradox’, according to a flood defence expert.
Professor Jeroen Aerts, a hydrologist at the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije University in The Netherlands, says that when a city builds a defensive wall or dyke, it can make its citizens feel so secure that they actually flock to live or to develop businesses in the protected area. What’s more, they don’t bother to install their own flood protection.
This means that when rare – but inevitable – extreme flooding occurs the damage can be colossal.
It is just one way in which flood protection modellers may be underestimating – and sometimes overestimating – the true consequences of sea level rise, says Prof. Aerts. And it is happening because physical scientists are failing to integrate human behaviour into their models.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suomen kasvihuonepäästöt vähenivät pandemiavuonna 9 prosentilla https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/art-2000007992389.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210507-the-myths-that-hint-at-past-disasters?ocid=fbfut
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Microsoft, Accenture, GitHub, ThoughtWorks, and Linux Foundation launch the Green Software Foundation, aiming to make software engineering more sustainable
Microsoft, the Linux Foundation, and others team up to make software sustainable
Meet the Green Software Foundation.
https://www.engadget.com/green-software-foundation-microsoft-build-linux-github-accenture-150050755.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGVjaG1lbWUuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEfmR_HgL4yKWumrtBiXpFE-ikmzhbkpwuwBGzBrscR_GbWVDyRJwXZYcEBpCOPmCA6jFCp7tlCngVb0Tqb17u_IHHp5APWf1RxMJETGKSsY1n1J2IZ9SJ3HC7a5kow16E2EpD2Y-oIlIhdywjrkRcm9Fe8cSV789ivG7iT4Ex0V
Microsoft is still working to go fully carbon negative by the end of the decade, but effectively grappling with climate change isn’t just one company’s responsibility. As part of its virtual Build developer conference, the folks in Redmond — along with Accenture, GitHub, ThoughtWorks and the Linux Foundation — have announced the launch of the Green Software Foundation to help make software engineering more sustainable.
“The scientific consensus is clear: the world confronts an urgent carbon problem. It will take all of us working together to create innovative solutions to drastically reduce emissions,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a press release. “Today, Microsoft is joining with organizations who are serious about an environmentally sustainable future to drive adoption of green software development to help our customers and partners around the world reduce their carbon footprint.”
Code by itself has virtually no intrinsic environmental impact, but the hardware that it runs on does. Data centers currently account for roughly 200 terawatt-hours — or about 1 percent — of overall global electricity demand, and that figure is expected to rise steadily over the next decade. (One set of forecasts published recently in the journal Applied Energy predicts data center energy needs will range between 353 and 1,287 terawatt-hours by 2030.)
While the GSF does not appear to have any specific energy use goals of its own, Microsoft’s press release notes that the organization aims to help the “Information and Communications Technology sector’s broader targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030.” To do that, the foundation has designed its mission around three areas of focus: establishing new sustainable software industry standards, encouraging green software research and the development of open-source projects based on sustainable principles, and industry-wide advocacy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Landmark Case Sees Dutch Court Order Shell To Cut Carbon Emissions By 2030
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/landmark-case-sees-dutch-court-order-shell-to-cut-carbon-emissions-by-2030/
For the first time in the world, an oil company has been court-ordered to cut its contribution to the climate crisis. The decision on its own should lead to the prevention of hundreds of millions of tonnes of CO2 reaching the atmosphere, and the implications could be much bigger if courts elsewhere follow suit.
Royal Dutch Shell extracts and sells 665 million barrels of oil each year. Although it has never engaged in the funding of climate-change-denying groups on the scale of Exxon-Mobil or the Koch Brothers, it has a long record of more subtle discouragement of climate action. Nevertheless, Shell has an official target of “becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050”.
Those currently on the board will likely be long retired by the time it comes to deliver, and this pledge may have been more than enough in many countries. However, courts in the Netherlands, have ordered their own government to adopt some of the fastest cuts to emissions in the world. Now they have done the same thing to Shell, with a ruling that by 2030 the company’s emissions must be 45 percent below 2019 levels. Something about having a third of your country already below sea level probably focuses the mind on the importance of the oceans not rising too much.
“Severe climate change has consequences for human rights, including the right to life,” Judge Jeanette Honee said. “And the court thinks that companies, among them Shell, have to respect those human rights.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
You produce fewer carbon emissions burning natural gas than coal, but sporadic leakages of gas tend to offset the gain. We can solve the problem—and reduce global warming.
Natural Gas Is (Mostly) Good for Global Warming
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/fossil-fuels/natural-gas-is-mostly-good-for-global-warming
natural gas is usually a mixture of the lightest alkanes, which are hydrocarbons of the CnH2n+2 series. Methane (CH4) dominates (between 85 and 95 percent), followed by ethane (C2H6, typically 2 to 7 percent by volume), small amounts of propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10), and pentane (C5H12), and traces of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other gases. Gas processing removes most of these things before the final product, about 95 percent methane, reaches consumers.
Natural gas is abundant, low-cost, convenient, and reliably transported, with low emissions and high combustion efficiency. Natural-gas-fired heating furnaces have maximum efficiencies of 95 to 97 percent, and combined-cycle gas turbines now achieve overall efficiency slightly in excess of 60 percent. Of course, burning gas generates carbon dioxide, but the ratio of energy to carbon is excellent: Burning a gigajoule of natural gas produces 56 kilograms of carbon dioxide, about 40 percent less than the 95 kg emitted by bituminous coal.
This makes gas the obvious replacement for coal. In the United States, this transition has been unfolding for two decades.
Meanwhile, the 82 GW of coal-fired capacity that U.S. utilities removed from 2012 to 2020 is projected to be augmented by another 34 GW by 2030, totaling 116 GW—more than a third of the former peak rating.
So far, so green. But methane is itself a very potent greenhouse gas, packing from 84 to 87 times as much global warming potential as an equal quantity of carbon dioxide when measured over 20 years (and 28 to 36 times as much over 100 years). And some of it leaks out. In 2018, a study of the U.S. oil and natural-gas supply chain found that those emissions were about 60 percent higher than the Environmental Protection Agency had estimated. Such fugitive emissions, as they are called, are thought to be equivalent to 2.3 percent of gross U.S. gas production.
Headlines decried natural gas as unnatural, painting it blacker than coal.
In its detailed 2020 assessment of life-cycle emissions resulting from natural-gas and coal supply, the International Energy Agency concluded that “an estimated 98 percent of gas consumed today has a lower life-cycle emissions intensity than coal when used for power or heat.”
Moreover, a 2019 assessment found that about three-quarters of today’s methane emissions from the oil and gas industry can be controlled by deploying known technical fixes—and, most significantly, that about 40 percent of those emissions could be avoided at no net cost.
Even the most efficacious drugs have undesirable side effects; even the best technical fixes have downsides. To think that the supposedly greenest alternatives, photovoltaics and wind turbines, make no fossil-fuel footprint and bring only benefits is to ignore reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Burning Iron for Fuel Sounds Crazy. It’s Also the Future.
The most surprising renewable yet could power plenty of industries.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a34597615/burning-iron-powder-fuel-renewable/
Tomi Engdahl says:
We could soon crash past the Paris agreement limits.
World Could Cross 1.5ºC Warming Danger Threshold Within Five Years
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/world-could-cross-15c-warming-danger-threshold-within-five-years/
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released an updated assessment of the world’s global climate trends and it’s a shock for those who think human-induced climate change is an issue for the distant future. They predict there is a 40 percent chance that one of the next five years will breach the 1.5ºC hotter than the pre-Industrial average set out to avoid in the Paris Climate Agreement. There is plenty of evidence rising temperatures are already doing local damage to many ecosystems, but 1.5ºC above baseline has been assessed as the point where the danger becomes global.
Looking just at the 2021-2025 period the report gives a 90 percent chance one year will be the hottest on record, exceeding the current record-holder, 2016. Annual temperatures experience cyclic fluctuations based on the El Niño/La Niña oscillation, as well as other more subtle variations. For all the disasters 2020 brought with it, its second half saw the Pacific in a La Niña phase, which is associated with lower global temperatures. Nevertheless, 2020 still managed to be the third hottest year on record, 1.2ºC above preindustrial levels. Once another El Niño occurs the annual record will almost certainly be broken, quite possibly taking the 1.5ºC barrier with it. Even future cool years are expected to be 1ºC above the baseline.
“These are more than just statistics,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas in a statement. “Increasing temperatures mean more melting ice, higher sea levels, more heatwaves and other extreme weather, and greater impacts on food security, health, the environment and sustainable development.”
The 40 percent chance given to exceeding 1.5ºC is double that in the same report last year. Most of the difference is a result of an improved understanding of exactly what preindustrial temperatures were.
Most of the negative effects of a hotter world are gradual, with every fraction of a degree making them just a little worse. There may be tipping points, where major consequences such as melting glaciers or rainforests turned to savannah become almost impossible to reverse. However, even drawing on the expertise of 11 nations’ climate scientists the WMO can’t pinpoint where these will occur. Acknowledging all this, the world has set 1.5ºC above preindustrial temperatures as the threshold below which global temperatures need to stay. The number is written into the Paris agreement, but national commitments do not get close to meeting that goal, and it seems we will cross it, even if only temporarily, alarmingly soon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
On average 37 percent of all deaths in which heat played a role are attributable to the effects of the climate crisis.
Human-Induced Global Warming Causes More Than One-Third Of Heat-Related Deaths
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/humaninduced-global-warming-causes-more-than-onethird-of-heatrelated-deaths/
Over the last three decades, human-induced global warming has caused more than one-third of all heat-related deaths. The finding, published in Nature Climate Change, looked at deaths between 1991 and 2018 from 43 countries around the world. On average 37 percent of all deaths in which heat played a role are attributable to the effects of the climate crisis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Since the 1950s humans have created more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic – that’s the weight of around a billion elephants – most of which has gone to landfill. Here are some new ways of recycling that aim to cut plastic waste.
Car parts, ski boots and boxes: How broken or used plastic is being given new life
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/car-parts-ski-boots-and-boxes-how-broken-or-used-plastic-being-given-new-life.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=plastic
Since the early 1950s, humans have produced more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic – the weight of around a billion elephants. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in a landfill or in the natural environment, according to the UN Environment Programme, but that pattern may start to change as repair and recycling technology gathers pace.
‘Worldwide, the challenge (for a circular economy) remains to establish innovative processes for recycling plastic waste,’ said Costas Charitidis, a professor at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just A Few Leaky Oil Wells Release Much Of America’s Methane, NASA Reveals
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/just-a-few-leaky-oil-wells-release-much-of-americas-methane-nasa-reveals/
An airborne survey has shed light on one of the most important questions in atmospheric science; how much methane leaks during oil and gas extraction? Most sites leak very little, but a few “super-emitters” release terrifying amounts of gas. The positive side of this is that plugging a small number of leaky wells should be easier than dealing with a larger number that aren’t quite as bad. First, however, the companies responsible need to care.
Methane concentrations in the atmosphere have been rising rapidly since 2005 after a decade of flatness. Since methane is the second most important global warming gas, that’s very bad news. Disturbingly, we know little about why – there are so many methane sources and sinks in the world that working out which ones are responsible for the recent increase has posed a challenge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In fact, the planet has not seen this level of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere for around 4 million years.
Carbon Dioxide In Earth’s Atmosphere Hits Highest Levels In Human History
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/carbon-dioxide-in-earths-atmosphere-hits-highest-levels-in-human-history/
Despite the slight slump in emissions seen in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere are the highest they’ve been throughout the whole of human history. In fact, the planet has not seen this level of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere for around 4 million years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego have just announced the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory saw a record concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, peaking in May 2021 with a monthly average of 419.13 parts per million.
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/carbon-dioxide-in-earths-atmosphere-hits-highest-levels-in-human-history/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why is one-third of our food wasted worldwide?
How stopping food waste can help feed a growing population
https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/why-is-one-third-of-food-wasted-worldwide
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suomen autokanta ei ole erityisen saastuttava
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12272-suomen-autokanta-ei-ole-erityisen-saastuttava
Autoalan tutkimusjärjestö JATO Dynamics on laatinut vankan raportin eurooppalaisen henkilöautoliikenteen päästöistä. Tulokset näyttävät kumoavan myytin Suomen saastuttavasta autokannasta. Suomi kuuluu JATOn vertailussa lähes parhaaseen A-ryhmään.
Liikenne aiheuttaa noin viidenneksen Suomen kasvihuonepäästöistä. Henkilöautot tuottivat vuonna 2018 noin kuusi miljoonaa tonnia CO2-päästöjä (hiilidioksidiekvivalenttia). Tätä määrää halutaan nyt eri toimin vähentää reilusti. Keinoina ovat sähköautoilun suosiminen ja polttomoottoriautoilun hankaloittaminen verotuspäätöksin.
JATOn mukaan kuva Suomen liikennepäästöistä ei kuitenkaan ole niin synkkä kuin millaiseksi sen moni haluaisi maalata. Olemme yksi kuudesta EU-maasta, jossa henkilöauton keskimääräiset päästöt jäävät alle sataan grammaan kilometriä kohti.
Sähköautojen yleistyminen näkyy suoraan EU:n alueen henkilöautojen päästöluvuissa. Vuonna 2019 henkilöauto EU:n alueella aiheutti keskimäärin 121,6 gramman päästöt kilometrillä. Viime vuonna lukema putosi 106,7 grammaan kilometrillä eli 12 prosenttia edellisvuotta pienemmäksi.
Vaikka meillä sähköautojen osuus uusista henkilöautoista on edelleen marginaalinen, henkilöautomme tuottavat keskimäärin 99,6 grammaa päästöjä kilometrillä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cement, steel and chemicals are currently responsible for around 17% of EU emissions
How carbon-intensive industries can scale up CO2 recycling
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-carbon-intensive-industries-can-scale-co2-recycling.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=g
New technologies that capture and recycle carbon dioxide from industrial processes such as steel and cement making will be vital if the EU is to meet its goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and down to zero by 2050. However, while solutions are emerging, more work is needed in order to roll them out at scale, experts say.
Some of the biggest polluters — the steel, cement and chemicals industries that account for more than two-thirds of all industrial carbon dioxide emissions in the EU — have already made some progress, cutting emissions by nearly 30% between 1990 and 2018. This was in part thanks to the EU’s flagship climate policy — the Emissions Trading System — which follows the ‘polluter pays’ principle, in which certain industries pay for a (capped) emissions allowance for each tonne of CO2-equivalent they inject into the atmosphere.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Biodiversity on farms is crucial to make crops resilient to climate change, but changing farming requires overcoming a ‘huge’ gap between science and practice
Farmers urgently need to diversify, but they cannot do it alone
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/farmers-urgently-need-diversify-they-cannot-do-it-alone.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=diversify
Boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security, but it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed producer to consumer, agronomists say.
Many solutions exist for ways to increase the diversity of plants grown on farms – from planting different varieties of the same crop, and different crops on the same land, to combining trees, crops and livestock on the same farm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This century-old technology could be the key to unlocking America’s renewable energy future
Pumped storage hydro once propped up coal and nuclear power. Now it’s essential for a clean, growing grid.
https://www.popsci.com/story/energy/pumped-hydro-storage-renewable-energy-goals/?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Self-Healing Concrete Uses Enzyme Found in Blood to Slash Greenhouse Emissions
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/new-selfhealing-concrete-uses-enzyme-found-in-blood-to-slash-greenhouse-emissions/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland leads in UN global sustainable development comparison
Finnish PM Sanna Marin said the country still had “a lot to do” to fully achieve its sustainable development goals by the end of this decade.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finland_leads_in_un_global_sustainable_development_comparison/11981569
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nowhere was the #heatdome-induced strain in WA, OR and western Canada more apparent than when Portland Streetcar stopped running Sunday. The system was only designed to handle maximum 43C/110F temps. Climate resiliency is increasingly crucial.
When Infrastructure Confronts a Searing Heat Dome
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/transportation/infrastructure/how-heat-domes-can-cripple-trains-power-grids
Tomi Engdahl says:
Miami condo collapse prompts questions over role of climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/29/miami-condo-collapse-questions-climate-change
Experts suggest vulnerability of south Florida to rising seas could lead to destabilization of further buildings
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineers: You Can Disrupt Climate Change
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/engineers-you-can-disrupt-climate-change
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analysis: When do electric vehicles become cleaner than gasoline cars?
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/when-do-electric-vehicles-become-cleaner-than-gasoline-cars-2021-06-29/
DETROIT, June 29 (Reuters) – You glide silently out of the Tesla (TSLA.O) showroom in your sleek new electric Model 3, satisfied you’re looking great and doing your bit for the planet.
But keep going – you’ll have to drive another 13,500 miles (21,725 km) before you’re doing less harm to the environment than a gas-guzzling saloon.
That’s the result of a Reuters analysis of data from a model that calculates the lifetime emissions of vehicles, a hotly debated issue that’s taking center stage as governments around the world push for greener transport to meet climate targets.
But estimates as to how big that carbon gap is when a car is first sold and where the “break-even” point comes for EVs during their lifetime can vary widely, depending on the assumptions.
The Tesla 3 scenario above was for driving in the United States, where 23% of electricity comes from coal-fired plants, with a 54 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery and a cathode made of nickel, cobalt and aluminum, among other variables
It was up against a gasoline-fueled Toyota Corolla weighing 2,955 pounds with a fuel efficiency of 33 miles per gallon. It was assumed both vehicles would travel 173,151 miles during their lifetimes.
But if the same Tesla was being driven in Norway, which generates almost all its electricity from renewable hydropower, the break-even point would come after just 8,400 miles.
If the electricity to recharge the EV comes entirely from coal, which generates the majority of the power in countries such as China and Poland, you would have to drive 78,700 miles to reach carbon parity with the Corolla,
The Reuters analysis showed that the production of a mid-sized EV saloon generates 47 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per mile during the extraction and production process, or more than 8.1 million grams before it reaches the first customer.
By comparison, a similar gasoline vehicle generates 32 grams per mile, or more than 5.5 million grams.
Michael Wang, senior scientist and director of the Systems Assessment Center at Argonne’s Energy Systems division, said EVs then generally emit far less carbon over a 12-year lifespan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sähköautot viedään käsistä, mutta liikenteen päästöt junnaavat paikallaan – nyt EU haluaa liikenteelle oman päästökaupan
Sähköautojen myynti kaksinkertaistuu joka vuosi, mutta se ei vielä riitä. Suomen pitäisi puolittaa tieliikenteen päästöt vuoteen 2030 mennessä, mutta keinot uupuvat vielä.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11997208
Tomi Engdahl says:
Upcoming Western U.S. Heat Wave Could Be Hottest Ever Recorded On Earth
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2021/07/07/upcoming-western-us-heat-wave-could-be-hottest-ever-recorded-on-earth/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie&sh=486faf7beee1
The U.S. is set to deal with yet another scorching heat wave, but this one could be the hottest yet, with Las Vegas expected to flirt with its all-time record high, while more remote areas deal with heat that could rewrite the record books for the whole world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The makers of Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche were reprimanded by the European Union for sharing information about emissions technology used on diesel cars and denying consumers the option of buying greener vehicles.
German Carmakers Fined $1 Billion For Conspiring To Hold Back Green Emissions Tech
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/07/08/german-carmakers-fined-1-billion-for-conspiring-to-hold-back-green-emissions-tech/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie&sh=2db9cb8f5289
The European Commission fined German carmakers €875 million (around $1 billion) for colluding to limit the development and use of clean emissions technology in their diesel cars, the bloc’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said Thursday, the first time the bloc has levelled antitrust powers for just restricting technological development.
The makers of Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche “possessed the technology to reduce harmful emissions beyond what was legally required” in the EU, but collectively decided not to compete and improve it, Vestager said.
Over the course of five years—between June 2009 and October 2014—the companies shared technical information on the technology used to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel cars, the EU said, denying customers the opportunity to buy cleaner cars had they competed.
The Volkswagen Group—which makes Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche—will pay the majority of the fine, €502 million, while BMW will pay the remaining €373 million.
Daimler, which would have been in line to pay around €727 million, received full immunity for revealing the cartel to the Commission.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
The decision is the first in the EU based solely on technological development, not price fixing. “Today’s decision is about how legitimate technical cooperation went wrong,” Vestager said. “We do not tolerate it when companies collude… Competition and innovation on managing car pollution are essential for Europe to meet our ambitious Green Deal objectives.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
#TBT: Remember Enron? Deregulation enabled the power-trading company’s market manipulations. But a free market also boosted investment in solar and wind power, according to this 2010 article by Seth Blumsack, a Penn State economist who studies electricity markets.
How the Free Market Rocked the Grid
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/policy/how-the-free-market-rocked-the-grid
Tomi Engdahl says:
Biden’s new Cold War with China will result in climate collapse, progressives warn
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/07/biden-china-climate-collapse-progressives-498588
A political fight is brewing among wings of the Democratic Party over Beijing’s help in curbing climate change versus curbing its human rights abuses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/lapland-bakes-in-33c-heatwave-hottest-temperature-in-a-century/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huge Part of Amazon Rainforest Has Now ‘Flipped’ to Emitting More CO2 Than It Absorbs
https://www.sciencealert.com/much-of-the-amazon-now-emits-more-co2-than-it-absorbs-study-shows?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencealert-latestnews+%28ScienceAlert-Latest%29
Climate change and deforestation have flipped a large swathe of the Amazon basin from absorbing to emitting planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2), a transformation that could turn humanity’s greatest natural ally in the fight against global warming into a foe, researchers reported on Wednesday.
Terrestrial ecosystems worldwide are crucial as the world struggles to curb CO2 emissions, which topped 40 billion tonnes in 2019.
Over the last half century, plants and soil have consistently absorbed more than a quarter of those emissions, even as CO2 pollution increased by 50 percent.
The Amazon basin contains about half of the world’s tropical rainforests, which are more effective at soaking up and storing carbon than other vegetation.
If Amazonia – with 450 billion tonnes of CO2 locked in its trees and soil – were to become a consistent source rather than a “sink” of CO2, tackling the climate crisis would be vastly more challenging.
Since 1970, the region’s tropical forests have declined by 17 percent, mostly to accommodate pasture for raising cattle and the crops that feed them.
Forests are generally cleared with fire, which both releases vast amounts of CO2 and reduces the number of trees available to absorb it.
Climate change itself is also a key factor.
Dry-season temperatures have risen by nearly 3 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, triple the global year-round average.
Tomi Engdahl says:
total health and climate consequences of the American food system cost three times as much as the food itself
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/16/true-cost-of-american-food-system/
A new report provides a roadmap to creating a post-pandemic food system with greater fairness, fewer adverse climate impacts and better health outcomes.
The U.S. spends $1.1 trillion a year on food. But when the impacts of the food system on different parts of our society — including rising health care costs, climate change and biodiversity loss — are factored in, the bill is around three times that, according to a report by the Rockefeller Foundation, a private charity that funds medical and agricultural research.
“Realizing a better food system requires facing hard facts. We must accurately calculate the full cost we pay for food today to successfully shape economic and regulatory incentives tomorrow,” asserts the introduction to the report, written by the foundation’s food research group.
Health impacts are the biggest hidden cost of the food system, with more than $1 trillion per year in health-related costs paid by Americans, with an estimated $604 billion of that attributable to diseases — such as hypertension, cancer and diabetes — linked to diet.
“We’re at a tipping point. People widely recognize that the food system is broken,” Mozaffarian said, adding that most current public policies around food and agriculture are based on the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health. Yet, 52 years later much of it doesn’t make sense.
“The priority in the 1950s was to get calories into the world, because the world population had quadrupled. At the same time, the best nutrition information we had was about vitamins. Vitamin deficiencies have largely disappeared; we were successful. But we didn’t anticipate the explosion of obesity,” he said.
According to the report, if U.S. rates of diet-related diseases were reduced to similar rates in countries like Canada, health care costs could be reduced by $250 billion per year.
“We created the food system with a particular objective — low-cost and abundant calories
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nasan tutkimus: Maapallon energiatasapaino poskellaan – kotipallomme varastoi nyt lämpöä dramaattisesti
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/nasan-tutkimus-maapallon-energiatasapaino-poskellaan-kotipallomme-varastoi-nyt-lampoa-dramaattisesti/8193222#gs.689tcf
Uudet tutkimustulokset kertovat selvää kieltään ilmastonmuutoksen etenemisestä.
Ilmakehää ja meriä tutkivan yhdysvaltalaisen NOAAn ja avaruushallinto Nasan tutkijoiden mukaan maapalloon varastoituu vuosittain nyt yli kaksi kertaa enemmän lämpöä kuin vielä 15 vuotta sitten. Aiheesta kirjoittaa Science Alert -tiedesivusto.
Suuri osa Maan saamasta energiasta tulee Auringon säteilynä. Osa säteilystä heijastuu pois esimerkiksi pilvistä. 90 prosenttia Maahan varastoituvasta energiasta sitoutuu meriveteen
Tutkijat kartoittivat maapallon energiatasapainoa. Nasan tekemät satelliitimittaukset ja NOAAn suorittamat meritutkimukset kielivät samasta asiasta: Maa imee itseensä nyt dramaattisesti enemmän energiaa kuin vielä joitakin vuosia sitten.
Tutkijoiden mukaan Maan energiaepätasapainoon on kaksi pääsyytä: Ensimmäinen on se, että maapallon pilvien ja merijään määrä ovat vähentyneet, joten samalla valkoinen, energiaa avaruuteen heijastava pina-ala on vähentynyt.
Toiseksi syyksi tutkijat toteavat ihmisten tuottavat kasvihuonekaasut, jotka puolestaan estävät lämmön pakenemista avaruuteen.
Earth’s Atmosphere Is Retaining Heat Twice as Fast as It Did Just 15 Years Ago
https://www.sciencealert.com/our-atmosphere-s-storing-energy-twice-as-fast-as-15-years-ago
These days it seems you can’t walk through a bookstore without bumping into a book or magazine pointing out the negative consequences of climate change. Everything from the hottest years on record to ruining astronomy can be tied to climate change.
Now some new science lays another potential problem at climate change’s feet – Earth is retaining more than twice as much heat annually as it was 15 years ago.
A team from NASA and NOAA found that Earth’s “energy imbalance” doubled between 2005 and 2019. The energy imbalance is simple to understand but complex in its causes and impacts. It is the difference between the amount of energy absorbed by Earth and the amount of energy emitted by it.
Any increase in the energy imbalance means the overall Earth system is gaining energy, causing it to heat up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The exact date and severity of the event is still in question, but the clues all point to things bottoming out around the year 2050.
Mini ice age? Why the Sun will lose 7% of its power in about 30 years
https://bigthink.com/news/the-solar-minimum-is-coming-in-about-30-years-what-will-it-do?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1626459185
A new scientific study has just been published that illustrates a phenomenon known as the solar “grand minimum.”
Also, known as the “prolonged sunspot minimum,” it’s a period when the Sun’s magnetic pull will diminish, sunspots will be much less frequent, and less ultraviolet radiation will make it to planet Earth — all due to random fluctuations in the Sun’s magnetic field. All of that can mean unusually cool temperatures for us, and it’ll also make the Sun appear dimmer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What are the environmental consequences of a space tourism industry likely to be?
Space Tourism: Rockets Emit 100 Times More CO₂ Per Passenger Than Flights – Imagine A Whole Industry
https://www.iflscience.com/space/space-tourism-rockets-emit-100-times-more-co-per-passenger-than-flights-imagine-a-whole-industry/
The commercial race to get tourists to space is heating up between Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. On Sunday 11 July, Branson ascended 80 km to reach the edge of space in his piloted Virgin Galactic VSS Unity spaceplane. Bezos’ autonomous Blue Origin rocket is due to launch on July 20, coinciding with the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Though Bezos loses to Branson in time, he is set to reach higher altitudes (about 120 km). The launch will demonstrate his offering to very wealthy tourists: the opportunity to truly reach outer space. Both tour packages will provide passengers with a brief ten-minute frolic in zero gravity and glimpses of Earth from space. Not to be outdone, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will provide four to five days of orbital travel with its Crew Dragon capsule later in 2021.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds
Carbon emissions, ocean acidification, Amazon clearing all hurtling toward new records
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/27/global-heating-critical-measures-tipping-point-study
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiesitkö? Vain murto-osa voimalaitoksista on ”supersaastuttajia”, jotka tuottavat jopa 73 % päästöistä – Niihin keskittymällä päästöt voisivat puolittua
Martti Ranta27.7.202114:00|päivitetty28.7.202109:18ENERGIAYMPÄRISTÖILMASTONMUUTOSTEOLLISUUSSÄHKÖ
Tutkijoiden mukaan ilmastonmuutosta vastaan kannattaisi taistella keskittymällä pahimpiin päästäjiin.
https://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/uutiset/tt/628b3bda-d707-40ce-a5b7-4651ab57d970?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1627391041
Voimalaitosten saastuttavimmat 5 prosenttia tuottavat jopa 73 prosenttia maailman sähköntuotannon hiilidioksidipäästöistä, uudessa tutkimuksessa väitetään. Tulokseen päädyttiin, kun tutkijat Coloradon yliopistosta syynäsivät yli 29 000 voimalaitosta 221 eri maasta ja selvittivät niiden päästöt.
Niin kutsutut ”supersaastuttajat” olivat tutkimuksen mukaan myös energiatehottomia kautta linjan. Tutkijat laskivat, että jos näihin 5 prosenttiin kuuluvat voimalaitokset kasvattaisivat tehokkuuttaan globaalin keskiarvon tasolle, päästöt laskisivat 25 prosentilla.
Polttoaineen vaihtaminen hiilestä tai öljystä maakaasuun taas laskisi päästöjä 30 prosentilla ja teknologioiden kehittäminen hiilen sieppaamista varten 50 prosentilla
Maailman sähköntuotannon päästöt voisi siis jopa puolittaa keskittymällä vain supersaastuttajiin.
Tomi Engdahl says:
VAATETEOLLISUUS on yksi suurimmista ympäristön saastuttajista. Tekstiiliteollisuus tuottaa vuosittain yhtä paljon päästöjä kuin lentoliikenne ja laivaliikenne yhteensä.
Thunberg arvostelee nimenomaan pikamuotia, mutta samankaltainen brändäys kuuluu myös huippumuotiin, josta Vogue on lehtenä perinteisesti kertonut. ”Muotiteollisuus on suuri myötävaikuttaja ilmasto- ja ympäristöhätätilaan”, Thunberg sanoo lehden haastattelussa.
https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000008185179.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Record-breaking heat waves, mindboggling melting events, and immense infernos this northern summer were not isolated incidents.
July 2021 Was Earth’s Hottest Month Since Records Began
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/july-2021-was-earths-hottest-month-since-records-began/
Record-breaking heat waves, mindboggling melting events, and immense infernos this northern summer were not isolated incidents. Global temperatures have been measured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 1880 – and July 2021 stands as the hottest month recorded.
At 0.93°C (1.67°F) above the 20th-century global average, it breaks a record that was set in July 2016 and matched twice since.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tuhansia kertoja CO2:ta voimakkaammat kasvihuonekaasut yleistyvät mystisesti ilmakehässä – Tutkimus paljasti pääsyyllisen olevan Kiinassa
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/tuhansia-kertoja-co2ta-voimakkaammat-kasvihuonekaasut-yleistyvat-mystisesti-ilmakehassa-tutkimus-paljasti-paasyyllisen-olevan-kiinassa/
Voimakkaiden kasvihuonekaasujen tetrafluorimetaanin ja heksafluorietaanin määrät nousevat ilmakehässä kovaa tahtia, ja kaasujen nykyiset pitoisuudet ilmakehässä ovat suurempia kuin viralliset päästötilastot antavat ymmärtää. Kyseisten nopeasti kasvaneiden kaasupäästöjen lähde on ollut nykyhetkeen asti epäselvä, mutta nyt kansainvälinen tutkijaryhmä esittää, että pääsyyllisiä olisivat Kiinan alumiinisulattamot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ilmastoraportti: 1,5 asteen tavoite vaatii hiilineutraaliutta vuoteen 2050 mennessä
https://www.tiede.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/ilmastoraportti-15-asteen-tavoite-vaatii-hiilineutraaliutta-vuoteen-2050-mennessa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reducing CO2 emissions by targeting the world’s hyper-polluting power plants
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac13f1
Tomi Engdahl says:
The tough calculus of emissions and the future of EVs
From materials and batteries to manufacturing, calculating the real carbon cost of EVs is just getting started
https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/22/the-tough-calculus-of-emissions-and-the-future-of-evs/?tpcc=ECFB2021
Investors and politicians embracing a vision of an all-electric car future believe that path will significantly reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. That’s far from clear.
A growing body of research points to the likelihood that widespread replacement of conventional cars with EVs would likely have a relatively small impact on global emissions. And it’s even possible that the outcome would increase emissions.
The issue is not primarily about the emissions resulting from producing electricity. Instead, it’s what we know and don’t know about what happens before an EV is delivered to a customer, namely, the “embodied” emissions arising from the labyrinthine supply chains to obtain and process all the materials needed to fabricate batteries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/less-meat-consumption-air-travel-necessary-net-zero-world-report-says/