Real Global Temperature Trend, p21 – Science is ruthless. We have ‘about zero’ years of emissions to stay below 1.5 degrees

That is if you correct for one important piece of scientific criticism to the below graph. But even if you prefer to ignore what may seem the nitty gritty of climatology and accept a maximum global carbon budget of 8.9 … Continue reading

Real Global Temperature Trend, p11 – Under agreed 1.5 degrees target world has 8 years of emissions for rest of century

And that understanding has just ended the Age of Coal. Thank you coal – it’s been great fun. We’ll have to leave the rest of you where you’ve been for the previous millions of years. In our quest to uncover … Continue reading

#BreakFree2016 – If 6 countries would stop exporting coal, that would be very helpful

Just 6 countries: The United States, Colombia, South Africa, Russia, Indonesia and Australia. If somehow we could sprinkle (perhaps shake) a little common sense, the rest of the world would be deprived of imports of the most polluting and CO2-intensive fossil fuel … Continue reading

Climate change lowers production of nuclear and coal-fired power plants

Warmer water and reduced river flows in the United States and Europe in recent years have led to reduced production, or temporary shutdown, of several thermoelectric power plants. For instance, the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama had to shut down more than once last summer because the Tennessee River’s water was too warm to use it for cooling.

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New carbon capture technique is highly energy efficient

metal-organic frameworks (MOF)

Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) (Credit: Texas A&M University)

Ask Texas A&M University chemist Hong-Cai “Joe” Zhou to describe his research in simple terms, and more often than not, he’ll draw on a favorite analogy from childhood: playing with LEGOs.

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Natural and human-made CO2 differentiation possible thanks to new monitoring technique

A large diversity of gasses in the atmosphere influence air quality, climate change and the recovery of the ozone layer. Measuring the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere is quite straightforward. But pinpointing wether the gasses are a natural … Continue reading

How buying dirty fossil fuels can benefit the climate: it’s all about economics

Environmental policy has historically been driven by a demand-side mindset — attempting to limit consumption of precious fossil fuels through pollution permits, taxation, and multi-national climate change treaties. However, new research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University suggests that actually buying coal, oil and other dirty fossil fuel deposits still in the ground could be a far better way to fight climate change.

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Not recession but gas prices responsible for reduction in US carbon emissions

When the economic recession hit the US in 2009, at least one good thing seemed to have come from it: a reduction in carbon emissions to levels not seen since 1996. But as it turns out, the recession wasn’t the … Continue reading

CO2 highlights of new IEA report

We already know the downturn of 2009 led to a 4 day CO2 emissions pause and (thanks to another IEA release) that 2010 brought a new fossil fuel CO2 emissions record (of 30.6 Gt) – which contributed to a record-high … Continue reading