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Greenhouse Gas News Archive 2008

money 14th December 2008 Poznan Ponder
Negotiations at the UN Climate Change summit in Poznan, Poland, have been criticised for slow progress. However, the Climate Change Adaptation Fund should begin to deliver funds next year.

 

tree 14th December 2008 Scotland the Brave
The Scottish Government has announced details of its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In its draft climate change bill it sets a goal of an 80 percent reduction in emissions by 2050.

 

salt 14th December 2008 Chu's Choice
Nobel laureate, Steven Chu, has been appointed by Barack Obama as head of the US Department of Energy. Chu is likely to accelerate implementation of low carbon technologies.

 

coastline 14th December 2008 Flood Defence
Janos Bogardi and Koko Warner of the United Nations University in Bonn, Germany, have called for policy-makers to look at mass migration as a form of climate change adaptation.

 

rock 14th December 2008 Carbon Sink
Peter Kelemen and Jürg Matter of Columbia University have identified a potentially important geological sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide via its reaction with magnesium-rich peridotite.

 

salt 23rd November 2008 Salt and Shake
Steven Bryant and colleagues at the University of Texas have suggested that using brine as the medium for underground carbon dioxide storage may help to reduce leakage.

 

monitoring station 23rd November 2008 Carbon Dating
Ken Caldeira, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in California, has highlighted the very long lifetime of much of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide that is currently being released.

 

dawn 23rd November 2008 People In Greenhouses
Andreas Stohl, of the Norwegian Institute of Air Research, has calculated the greenhouse gas emissions arising from his colleagues' work-related activities, including conference travel.

 

dawn 5th November 2008 Onus on Obama
US President-Elect, Barack Obama, has outlined his plans for tackling climate change. A key target is an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 relative to 1990.

 

bracket fungi 5th November 2008 Fungal Fuel
Gary Strobel and colleagues at Montana State University have isolated a fungus from rainforest trees that can apparently form hydrocarbon fuels similar to diesel.

 

drought 5th November 2008 Canadian Climate
Hannah Hoag has reviewed the future of climate change policy in Canada following the failure of the Liberal Party to depose Stephen Harper on an environmental agenda.

 

ice 10th October 2008 Place Your Bets
Mark Serreze and Julienne Stroeve, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, have highlighted recent losses and outlined the likelihood of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summers to come.

 

algal bloom 10th October 2008 Algal Bloom
Dutch company Algae-Link have developed an improved system for intensive algal growth and biomass production for use as low carbon feedstocks to replace fossil fuels.

 

sun 10th October 2008 CEO Carbon
Valli Moosa, president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, has called for all businesses to have at least one executive director with environmental knowledge.

 

money 10th October 2008 20 by 20
Ed Miliband, UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, has said that the EU's target of reducing greenhouse gas emission by 20 percent by the year 2020 is still achievable.

 

bulb 28th September 2008 Green Jobs
The United Nations has predicted that the demand for low and zero carbon technologies in the next few decades will create millions of new jobs around the world.

 

farm 28th September 2008 Hardy Annuals
The Global Crop Diversity Trust has begun the search for crop varieties with traits that will allow them to better cope with variations in water availability and temperature due to climate change.

 

cows 7th September 2008 Raj Diet
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Integovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has called for a reduction in meat consumption to help reduce emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases.

 

flame 7th September 2008 Clean Coal
The Schwarze Pumpe power station in Germany is about to bring on-line its first oxyfuel boiler to provide CO2-enriched exhaust gas suitable for capture and geological storage.

 

storm surge 7th September 2008 Storm Force
James Elsner of Florida State University, and colleagues, have identified an increase in the strength of the most powerful tropical storms over the last 25 years using satellite data.

 

pc 7th September 2008 Ice Hockey
Michael Mann of Penn State University, and colleagues, have further justified their controversial 'hockey stick' reconstruction of global temperature change over the last 2,000 years.

 

leaves 19th August 2008 Maasai Methods
Leading aid agency Oxfam has suggested that the survival skills of Maasai pastoralists in Africa could help them and others to better adapt to the impacts of climate change.

 

flame 7th August 2008 Four Degrees
Bob Watson, chief adviser to the UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has said that preparations for a 4 degree C rise in average global temperature should be made.

 

pc 13th July 2008 Ghost Gas
Michael Prather, of the University of California, has warned of the rising emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas nitrogen trifluoride. The gas is used in manufacturing semiconductors.

 

phone 13th July 2008 Double Vision
The leaders of the G8 have announced their shared vision for global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 50 percent by 2050. But there remains disagreement over which nations should do most.

 

fish 13th July 2008 Heat Shocks
Alex Rogers of the Zoological Society of London, and colleagues, have warned that up to one third of all coral species are facing extinction due to threats such as climate change.

 

grass 25th June 2008 Fertile Sinks
Dave Reay, of GHGonline.org, and colleagues in the UK, US and Italy, have revealed that increased global nitrogen pollution will have little benefit in terms of reducing carbon dioxide.

 

money 25th June 2008 Bang for your Buck
Joseph Romm, of the Center for American Progress, has argued that efforts to set a global price on carbon would be better spent on the rapid use of low carbon technologies.

 

sun 25th June 2008 British Summertime
UK energy Minister Malcolm Wicks has revealed plans for a concerted push to increase the number of homes with solar water heating. Up to one quarter of all homes could be included.

 

cars 8th June 2008 Pop Go the Targets
Kerri Smith of Nature has highlighted the risk that the projected human population of 9 billion by 2050 will destroy efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.

 

leaves 8th June 2008 Worthy Additions?
The BBC's World Service has revealed that some projects aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Development Mechanism fail the key test of additionality.

 

web 8th June 2008 Filibustered
The Warner-Lieberman Bill, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emission in the US via caps and tax relief, has been blocked in Congress by so-called filibuster tactics.

 

sign 8th June 2008 Fronting Up
Martin Parry and co-authors on the IPCC Impacts Working Group have warned that emissions cuts and adaptation plans must be strengthened to avoid dangerous climate change.

 

gas 17th May 2008 Mounting Methane
NOAA in the United States have revealed that, after almost a decade of stability, methane concentrations in the atmosphere are once again on the rise. The reason for the increase remains unclear.

 

fungi 17th May 2008 Warming Fingerprints
Cynthia Rosenzweig at NASA's Goddard Institute in New York and colleagues from around the world have shown that major changes in Earth's natural systems are being driven by global warming.

 

pc 17th May 2008 Model Answers
Climate modellers from around the world have called for a huge climate prediction project using a dedicated super computer and on the scale of the Human Genome Project.

 

drought 22nd April 2008 Quick Sand
Georg Wohlfahrt of Universität Innsbruck, Austria, and colleagues at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, have revealed that desert areas may act as important carbon sinks.

 

sun 22nd April 2008 Cosmic Correlations
Jon Egill Kristjansson of Oslo University has cast further doubt on the idea that cosmic rays can explain recent variations in Earth's climate. He reports no clear response in cloud formation.

 

ship 12th April 2008 Trading Places
Glen Peters and Edgar Hertwich, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, have highlighted the importance on international trade in global greenhouse gas emissions.

 

sign 12th April 2008 Hell and Hansen
James Hansen, of NASA's Goddard Institute, has said that the target concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere should be 350 parts per million - 30ppm less than the current level.

 

ice 19th March 2008 Glacial Ill
The UN Environment Programme has reported a large increase in the rate of glacial shrinkage around the world. Average rates in 2006 were five times those observed between 1980 and 1999.

 

trees 19th March 2008 Good Wood
Alex Salmond has opened the UK's largest wood-fired power station at a site in Lockerbie, Scotland. The power plant will use nearby forests to provide electricity for 70,000 homes.

 

pc 19th March 2008 Chip and Charge
Graham Whitney of IBM has called for globally-binding greenhouse gas reduction targets for post-2012 to ensure that the world's IT industry invests more in low carbon technologies.

 

gas 4th March 2008 Black Test Bed
Laurus Energy in Montreal are planning to combine coal gasification with carbon capture and storage as a more cost-effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal use.

 

web 4th March 2008 Cool Response
Carl Mears and Michael Schlesinger are among those climate scientists who have responded to claims that recent cold weather is proof against human-induced climate change.

 

money 16th February 2008 Iron, but no Brass
Planktos, the company set up with the aim of fertilising ocean waters with iron to promote algal growth and carbon dioxide drawdown has been unable to raise the funds required.

 

ship 16th February 2008 Double Jeopardy
The International Maritime Organisation has revealed that global carbon dioxide emissions from cargo ships is double that from aviation. Both sectors are outside of Kyoto protocol targets.

 

dave reay 16th February 2008 Climate Engineers
Dave Reay of Edinburgh University and GHGonline.org has highlighted the key role played by microorganisms in the global fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

 

bridge 24th January 2008 Smoking Gun
The council of the American Geophysical Union has revised its position on climate change, stating that the best explanation for recent climate change is human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

 

cars 24th January 2008 Final Countdown
Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission has announced the Europe-wide roadmap for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is for a cut of at least 20 percent cut by 2030.

 

auricaria 8th January 2008 Thin Sink
President Silva of Brazil has revealed a sharp rise in deforestation in the Amazon. More than 1,000 square miles of rainforest were felled in the last 5 months of 2007.

 

grass 8th January 2008 Greenhouse Grass
Ken Vogel and colleagues at the US Department of Agriculture have reported that ethanol derived from switchgrass can cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 90 percent compared to petrol.

 

dave reay 8th January 2008 Happy New Year
Here's wishing everyone a very happy 2008. On a personal note, it should be a busy one - this year sees the launch of our new MSc in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh.

 

 

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