Tag Archives: fossil fuels

13,000 Brits die yearly due to air pollution

In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year.

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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 →

Nanotech helps make plastics without oil

Nearly all chemical products ranging from antifreeze and medicine to plastics and paint are currently made from petroleum. But since it became apparent that the petroleum supply was not as reliable and unending as many had hoped, several techniques have … Continue reading →

E. coli produces commonly used biofuels

Cellulose is the major combustible component of non-food energy crops. Recently ways have been devised to turn it into bioethanol. An important step in a more widespread use of food-friendly biofuels. But as it turns out, besides Brazil and the … Continue reading →

Despite recession carbon emissions keep rising to new records

We knew CO2 emissions reached a new record high in 2010, at 30.6 gigatonnes. Now a new study by CICERO, the Tyndall Centre and other institutes reconfirms the strong rebound after the 2008 global financial crisis – and predicts that … 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 →

IEA World Energy Outlook 2011: ‘we need to invest 10,000,000,000,000 dollars in oil’

On Wednesday the International Energy Agency will release the 2011 edition of the World Energy Outlook. Some energy investment figures from the new IEA report have already been made available though – including a proposed 10 trillion dollar investment in … Continue reading →

Biofuel production from forests increases CO2 emissions

Biofuels are gaining more and more ground as a replacement for fossil fuels. Especially because they are carbon-neutral or even reduce atmospheric CO2, but also because of the need for energy security and oil price spikes. In their search for … Continue reading →