Current CO2 concentration in the atmosphere

Simply irreversible

So, one might ask oneself, just how urgent is our climate change situation? Surely it’s not, you know, time to panic or

Global Warming Close to Becoming Irreversible: Scientific American:

The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on . . . → Read More: Simply irreversible

Footprints, always the footprints

Bill Chameides, whose work is always worth your time, has an excellent piece up at The Green Grok, The Carbon Footprint of Oil Sands Oil:

For years, I (and many of my colleagues) most often turned to work by Alexander Farrell and Adam Brandt (then both of the University of California, Berkeley) that was published in 2006 . . . → Read More: Footprints, always the footprints

Water in 2050

Imagine the Louisiana Superdome[1]:

filled with water. This takes a lot of water, obviously, about 3.5 million cubic meters, in fact. In Americanized units, that’s 924,602,183 gallons.

Now consider that you would have to fill the Superdome with water 57,142 times to equal the annual fresh water shortfall by 2050, according to the World Bank.

That’s . . . → Read More: Water in 2050

Latest CO2 numbers

The NOAA has posted the latest graphs showing Mauna Loa and global atmospheric CO2.

The global graph they supplied:

In light of what we know about the consequences of such a high level of atmospheric CO2, this seems a bit truncated, so to speak, so I took the liberty of expanding its horizons:

One can also look at the . . . → Read More: Latest CO2 numbers

Doc alert: US greenhouse gas emissions and sinks

The EPA has just released a draft of the latest edition of its report, “Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks”, covering years 1990-2010.

You can grab the whole (471-page!) report or subsections here.

Please notice that this is a draft version, and comments are due (via e-mail addresses on the above page) by March 28.

I haven’t . . . → Read More: Doc alert: US greenhouse gas emissions and sinks

China about to announce… something…

China CO2 Measurements May Shift, Analyst Says (emphasis added):

An influential Chinese analyst says his country may adjust how it measures carbon emission targets as early as 2020, bringing it more in line with Western governments and signaling a possible opening in international climate negotiations.

Xu Huaqing, a senior researcher for China’s Energy Research Institute, was quoted Friday . . . → Read More: China about to announce… something…

Acceptable EV charge times

Fascinating poll results about what people think a reasonable recharge time is for an EV:

Vehicle Technologies Program: Fact #702: November 21, 2011 Consumer Preferences on Electric Vehicle Charging:

Question: Considering your expected vehicle use, what is the longest time to fully recharge the battery that you would consider acceptable when buying or leasing an electric vehicle?

Damn… and . . . → Read More: Acceptable EV charge times

Do anthropogenic aerosols play an even bigger role?

If anyone here needed further proof that some days it’s not worth chewing through the leather restraints, we have a new Science paper of more than passing interest. A third effect of anthropogenic aerosols on the climate:

In a paper published in the journal Science, Natalie Mahowald at Cornell University reports on a third effect of . . . → Read More: Do anthropogenic aerosols play an even bigger role?

Doc alert: World Energy Outlook 2011

The International Energy Agency released their report, World Energy Outlook 2001, this morning.

The full press release [emphasis added]:

The world is locking itself into an unsustainable energy future which would have far-reaching consequences, IEA warns in its latest World Energy Outlook

See Related Publication or Event

09 November 2011 London — Without a bold change of policy direction, the . . . → Read More: Doc alert: World Energy Outlook 2011

More on those record carbon emissions

You can’t throw a computer mouse without hitting some site or person talking about the big carbon news from last week regarding the record jump in worldwide carbon emissions, in both absolute terms and carbon intensity. And it should be a big topic, frankly, considering the breadth, depth, and severity of the ramifications of stay . . . → Read More: More on those record carbon emissions