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UrduWetlands occupy about 6% of the Earth’s surface but store one-third of global soil organic carbon. Increasing evidence shows that climate warming is altering the function and service of wetland ecosystems.
Tag: Carbon Emissions
A vicious circle: Climate change affects greenhouse gas emissions from stream networks
Natural greenhouse gas emissions from streams and lakes are strongly linked to water discharge and temperature according to a new study led by Linköping University, Sweden.
Partnership seeks greener mining of critical minerals
Greeshma Gadikota, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, will partner with Stillwater Critical Minerals to develop environmentally rigorous techniques to help the company extract elements.
Pioneering study shows flood risks can still be considerably reduced if all global promises to cut carbon emissions are kept
Annual damage caused by flooding in the UK could increase by more than a fifth over the next century due to climate change unless all international pledges to reduce carbon emissions are met, according to new research.
Economic crises can accelerate decarbonization
Crises can accelerate structural change and spur an absolute decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth.
Biogas produced with waste from apple juice making can minimize use of fossil fuels in industry
Scientists at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the Federal University of the ABC (UFABC) in São Paulo state, Brazil, have successfully produced biogas from apple pomace, the pulpy residue remaining after the fruit has been crushed to extract its juice.
Human activity has degraded more than a third of the remaining Amazon rainforest, scientists find
The Amazon rainforest has been degraded by a much greater extent than scientists previously believed with more than a third of remaining forest affected by humans, according to a new study published on January 27 in the journal Science.
Leveraging machine learning to help predict ship exhaust gas emissions
Ships are a major means of commercial transport, contributing to 80% of global goods and energy trade. However, they emit exhaust gases—from the engines when they are sailing, and from the engines and boiler when they dock in ports.
Scientists find iron cycling key to permafrost greenhouse gas emissions
The interaction of elemental iron with the vast stores of carbon locked away in Arctic soils is key to how greenhouse gases are emitted during thawing and should be included in models used to predict Earth’s climate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists found.
Media Tip: Scientists enhance recyclability of post-consumer plastic
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) have developed a new method for recycling high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
An integrated, net-negative system captures carbon and produces ethylene
Engineers have built a machine that captures carbon from flue gas and converts it to ethylene. The device integrates a carbon capture system with an ethylene conversation system for the first time.
Post-lockdown auto emissions can’t hide in the grass
University of California scientists have a new way to demonstrate which neighborhoods returned to pre-pandemic levels of air pollution after COVID restrictions ended.
Reliable planning tool for the emissions path to achieving the Paris temperature goal
The central aim of the Paris climate agreement is clear: Limiting man-made global warming to well below 2°C. This limit requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to net zero.
Earth’s many new lakes
The number of lakes on our planet has increased substantially in recent decades, according to a unique global survey of 3.4 million lakes that the University of Copenhagen has taken part in.
Ceramics that breathe oxygen at lower temperatures help us breathe cleaner air
Although much of the discourse on reducing vehicle emissions centres on electric vehicles (EV), their sales remain low – with EV vehicles accounting for a mere 1% of car purchases in Japan in 2021.
New Report: Countries’ Climate Pledges Put Unrealistic Demands for Land Ahead of Emissions Reductions
A new study is the first to calculate that countries collectively need a total of 1.2 billion hectares of land to fulfill the promises laid out in their official climate plans, part of global efforts to meet Paris Agreement goals.
A New Tandem Catalyst Converts Carbon Dioxide into Valuable Multicarbon Products More Selectively
Electrochemical reduction can convert carbon dioxide into multicarbon products for use as a raw material in chemicals and fuels. In this research, scientists improved this conversion process by using a tandem catalyst electrode. The electrode includes a silver or iron-nitrogen-carbon-based catalyst to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and incorporates a second segment that contains a copper catalyst to convert carbon monoxide into multicarbon products. Relative to prior methods, the developed approach more selectively converts carbon dioxide into desired compounds.
Climate change is turning the trees into gluttons
Trees have long been known to buffer humans from the worst effects of climate change by pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Now new research shows just how much forests have been bulking up on that excess carbon.
Tropical soils highly sensitive to global warming, warn researchers
Global warming is likely to cause a decline in the number of species of microbes that live in tropical soils which could threaten the biodiversity of rainforests and increase carbon emissions, according to new research.
Climate extremes: The energy required for adaptation calls for stronger mitigation efforts
A new study published today in Nature Communications by researchers from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the European Institute on Economics and the Environment and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine finds that adapting to climate change will require more energy than previously estimated, leading to higher energy investments and costs.
China’s cities leading the way on carbon reduction – Study
Thirty-eight Chinese cities have reduced their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) despite growing economies and populations for at least five years – defined as proactively peaked cities, a new study reveals.
Unchecked emissions could double heat-related child mortality
If carbon emissions are limited to slow temperature rise, up to an estimated 6,000 child deaths could be prevented in Africa each year, according to new research. A team of international scientists, led by the University of Leeds in collaboration with researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), have shown that thousands of heat-related child deaths could be prevented if temperature increases are limited to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC target through to 2050.
UAlbany Expert in Climate Change, Environmental Law Offers Insight on Supreme Court EPA Ruling
Albany, N.Y. (July 1, 2022) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday limited the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s authority to set climate standards for power plants. The court’s 6-3 ruling – which addressed an Obama-era regulation aimed at coal-fired power…
Including all types of emissions shortens timeline to reach Paris Agreement temperature targets
Instead of focusing on carbon dioxide’s effect on future temperature, new research includes the related human-generated emissions of methane, nitrogen oxide and particle pollution. Expanding the scope increases the amount of future warming that is already guaranteed by past emissions, and shortens the timeline to reach the Paris Agreement temperature targets.
Lights, catalyst, reaction! Converting CO2 to formic acid using an alumina-supported, iron-based compound
Photoreduction of CO2 into transportable fuel like formic acid (HCOOH) is a great way of dealing with CO2’s rising levels in the atmosphere.
Passive solar could furnish a third of home heating needs
Passive solar heating systems collect natural light via skylights or windows and use it to directly heat spaces, without converting it to electricity. Based on a detailed analysis of heating needs and solar energy availability around the United States, such installations could supply a third of residential space heating needs nationwide, researchers found. The findings, which appear in the November issue of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, are the first detailed survey of direct solar heating resources in the U.S.
Urban planning experts aid first US city decarbonizing all buildings
The city of Ithaca, N.Y., is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to decarbonize and electrify all buildings — part of an effort to be carbon neutral by 2030. It’s the first project of its kind in the nation, and…
Hungry caterpillars an underappreciated driver of carbon emissions
A study led by the University of Cambridge has found that periodic mass outbreaks of leaf-munching caterpillars can improve the water quality of nearby lakes – but may also increase the lakes’ carbon dioxide emissions.
Three ways to reduce the carbon footprint of food purchased by U.S. households
Researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology report three ways that Americans can reduce the carbon footprint of their food purchases, without requiring drastic dietary changes.
Carbon neutrality – a new policy brief for municipalities world wide
How to design efficient demo areas for urban carbon sequestration? In the latest policy brief research groups from the University of Helsinki and Aalto University focus on the main principles of urban demonstration areas using biochars for carbon sequestration.
More Carbon Emissions Will Kill More People; Here’s How Many
A just-published study coins a new metric: the “mortality cost of carbon.
Bubbling to the surface: WVU engineers develop new geothermal energy technology
As part of the American-Made Geothermal Manufacturing Prize competition, a challenge designed to spur innovation and address manufacturing challenges in geothermal environments, associate professor Terence Musho and Berry Chair Emeritus Nigel Clark in West Virginia University’s Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, have developed a new airlift approach to optimize current geothermal pump technologies.
EU climate plan faces likely pushback, progress still possible
The European Union has proposed comprehensive climate change legislation that would include a tax on aviation fuel, a carbon border tariff, emission limits for cars and more. Flavio Lehner is a climate scientist and assistant professor of earth and atmospheric…
TRANSFORMING CO2 AND SUGARS INTO BIOFUEL
With a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), UD Professor Eleftherios (Terry) Papoutsakis is developing a system to produce bioenergy from a mix of microbes that can convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals.
Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise from Antarctic Melting is Possible with Severe Global Warming
The Antarctic ice sheet is much less likely to become unstable and cause dramatic sea-level rise in upcoming centuries if the world follows policies that keep global warming below a key 2015 Paris climate agreement target, according to a Rutgers coauthored study. But if global warming exceeds the target – 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) – the risk of ice shelves around the ice sheet’s perimeter melting would increase significantly, and their collapse would trigger rapid Antarctic melting. That would result in at least 0.07 inches of global average sea-level rise a year in 2060 and beyond, according to the study in the journal Nature.
Biden Climate Pledge Advances ‘Faster, more Equitable Energy Transition’
President Biden is expected to announce a U.S. commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030, as the administration pushes for other nations to make aggressive commitments to fight climate change. Flavio Lehner, a climate scientist…
New U.S. Carbon Monitor website compares emissions among the 50 states
Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2021 — Following last year’s successful launch of a global carbon monitor website to track and display greenhouse gas emissions from a variety of sources, an international team led by Earth system scientists from the University of California, Irvine is unveiling this week a new data resource focused on the United States.
Carbon uptake in regrowing Amazon forest threatened by climate and human disturbance
Large areas of forests regrowing in the Amazon to help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, are being limited by climate and human activity.
Paying for emissions we’ve already released
The planet is committed to global warming in excess of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6°F) just from greenhouse gases that have already been added to the atmosphere. This is the conclusion of new research by scientists from Nanjing University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Texas A&M University, which appears in the latest edition of Nature Climate Change.
Michigan Tech remote sensing, ecology experts available to speak to wildfire carbon emissions, climate-related ecosystem changes
Michigan Technological University has remote sensing and ecology experts available to speak to wildfire carbon emissions, climate-related ecosystem changes, and the effects of wildfires on peatlands — which act as huge carbon sinks and when burned release an incredible amount…
EU building renovations plan ‘bold’ example of green recovery
The European Union is set to announce a large-scale building renovation project on Wednesday — an effort to cut carbon emissions and energy costs across the 27-nation bloc, while stimulating an economy struggling with the effects of COVID-19. The plan…
New Theory to Calculate Emissions Liability—”A Profound Business Risk for Some Companies”
A new study by Michigan Tech researchers questions conventional methods of calculating carbon emissions liability based on point source pollution by introducing new “bottleneck” theory.
Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Global Climate Change Mortality Study
New Brunswick, N.J. (Aug. 3, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Robert E. Kopp is available to discuss a major study released today on the global consequences of climate change on death rates. The study by the Climate Impact Lab,…
By the numbers: carbon emissions, energy flow charts for all U.S. states
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has updated its energy flow charts to include state-by-state energy use for 2015-2018. It also has released carbon emissions charts that depict a breakdown of all 50 states’ carbon emissions from 2014-2017.
What Happens in Vegas, May Come From the Arctic?
Climate records from a cave in the southern Great Basin show that Nevada was even hotter and drier in the past than it is today, and that one 4,000-year period in particular may represent a true, “worst-case” scenario for the Southwest and the Colorado River Basin — and the millions of people who rely on its water supply.
New international analysis narrows the range in sensitivity of climate to CO2
The most advanced and comprehensive analysis of climate sensitivity undertaken has revealed with more confidence than ever how sensitive the Earth’s climate is to carbon dioxide.
This new research finds that the true climate sensitivity is unlikely to be in the lowest part of the 2.7-8.1˚F range. The analysis indicates that if atmospheric carbon dioxide levels double from their pre-industrial levels and are maintained, the world would be likely to experience eventual warming from 4.1-8.1˚F. There would be less than 5 percent chance of staying below 3.6˚F and a 6-18 percent chance of exceeding 8.1˚F.
Geoengineering is Just a Partial Solution to Fight Climate Change
Could we create massive sulfuric acid clouds that limit global warming and help meet the 2015 Paris international climate goals, while reducing unintended impacts? Yes, in theory, according to a Rutgers co-authored study in the journal Earth System Dynamics. Spraying sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere at different locations, to form sulfuric acid clouds that block some solar radiation, could be adjusted every year to keep global warming at levels set in the Paris goals. Such technology is known as geoengineering or climate intervention.
How to Tackle Climate Change, Food Security and Land Degradation
How can some of world’s biggest problems – climate change, food security and land degradation – be tackled simultaneously? Some lesser-known options, such as integrated water management and increasing the organic content of soil, have fewer trade-offs than many well-known options, such as planting trees, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Global Change Biology.
More grocery stores means less food waste — and a big carbon cut
One strategy for reducing food waste’s environmental impact is as counterintuitive as it is straightforward: Open more grocery stores.
California can become carbon neutral by 2045
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have identified a robust suite of technologies to help California clear the last hurdle and become carbon neutral – and ultimately carbon negative – by 2045. This groundbreaking study, “Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California,” was conducted as part of LLNL’s expansive energy programs work and the Laboratory’s Carbon Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to identify solutions to enable global-scale CO2 removal from the atmosphere and hit global temperature targets.