Next oil boom: biofuels?

Researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia strongly believe that oil in the leaves and stems of plants as well as the seeds may become a game changer in the global production of renewable oils.

Low carbon technologies are now cost competitive with fossil fuels

The Lloyd’s Register Technology Radar – Low Carbon, analyses the outlook for renewables, nuclear, grid and infrastructure, and energy storage, based on opinions of almost 600 professionals and experts around the world. The report examines the technological future of low carbon across power generation, transmission, distribution and energy storage.

Volcano eruption mitigated sea level rise by quarter of an inch per decade

 

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, which sent tens of millions of tons of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere and caused reflection of solar heat and cooling ocean temperatures, has masked the worsening effects of industrial pollution on global sea levels.

Now we are living in a 400 ppm CO2 world...

September 2016 is a major milestone for the world’s climate change history - according to Mauna Loa CO2 program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the monthly value of atmospheric carbon dioxide failed to drop below 400 parts per million. It means, that 2016 will be the year that CO2 officially passed the symbolic 400 ppm mark, never to return below it in our lifetimes.

Greenland lost 1 trillion tons of ice in just four years

A satellite study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that the Greenland ice sheet lost a staggering 1 trillion tons of ice between the years 2011 and 2014 alone. Combining the satellite observations with modeling the researchers found that the Greenland ice sheet lost mass at an average rate of about 269 billion tons per year.

U.S. researchers: climate change is a significant threat to the human health

New report The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, published by U.S. Global Change Research Program, examines how climate change is already affecting human health and the changes that may occur in the future. Climate change endangers people's by affecting food and water sources, the air we breathe, the weather we experience, and our interactions with the built and natural environments.

Scientists from Iceland convert carbon dioxide into basaltic rock

Turning Carbon Emissions to Stone from Earth Institute on Vimeo.

According to a paper published in the journal Science, carbon dioxide emissions from an   geothermal electric power plant have been captured, pumped underground and solidified. Scientists, working on a project called CarbFix were able to turn CO2 into a chalk-like solid material in two years, while earlier studies suggested it could take thousands of years for large amounts of carbon dioxide to be converted to chalk.

Human impact dominates global mean sea-level rise for last 40 years

Seas rose more than five inches in the 20th century, and it is expected that they may rise a couple more feet in the current century. Study, published in Nature Climate Change by an international team of scientists, presented results of analysis of the sea level rise for the last 3000 years.

EIA forecast: world energy consumption from renewables will double by 2040

In its International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts a raise of total world energy consumption from 549 quadrillion Btu in 2012 to 815 quadrillion Btu in 2040, an increase of 48%. By 2040, almost two-thirds of the world’s primary energy will be consumed in the non-OECD economies.

The Solutions Project shows exactly how world can reach 100% renewable energy

Team of researchers at Stanford developed interactive maps and plans to show how 139 different countries could practically go 100% renewable.

Scientific breakthrough: carbon dioxide and water can be converted into liquid hydrocarbon fuels

Researches from University of Texas have proven that concentrated light, heat and high pressures can be used to drive this type of reaction.The process is simple, inexpensive and environmentally clean - a byproduct of the reaction is oxygen.

Global versus local climate change: revelations of the NASA’s study

A more detailed investigation of the satellite observations and climate models during last 15 years helped the researchers finally reconcile what was happening globally versus locally. Scientists have long known that as Earth warms, it is able to restore its temperature equilibrium through a phenomenon known as the Planck Response.

Climate Central: most interesting climate findings of the year

Climate Central reviewed last year's climate research and studies that are crucial to shaping both what we know about the world we currently live in and what we can expect in the future depending on how we respond to climate change. The list of most interesting and fascinating findings includes:

Scientists in Germany have developed a revolutionary nuclear fusion machine

The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics completed the world’s largest nuclear fusion machine called a stellarator - 16-metre wide machine, which costs US$1.1 billion. The key to a successful nuclear reactor of any kind is to generate, confine, and control a plasma — a gas that has reached temperatures of more than 100 million degrees Celsius.  

How Paris Agreement's "ratchet mechanism" could limit warming below 2°C

According to analysis by Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan, the commitment to review national pledges every five years, starting in 2018, and willingness of nations to offer deeper, earlier emissions cuts at that time and continue progress, projected warming could be limited to 2°C.  Analysis is made with the C-ROADS (Climate Rapid Overview and Decision Support) computer simulation, which is calibrated to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report results.

The former NASA scientist about Paris climate agreement: “It’s a fraud really, a fake”

James Hansen, considered the father and respected voice of global awareness about climate change, criticizes the talks, intended to reach a new global deal on cutting carbon emissions beyond 2020, as ‘no action, just promises'.  According to Hansen, the international celebration is pointless unless greenhouse gas emissions aren’t taxed across the globe, because only this will force down emissions quickly enough to avoid the worst devastating effect of climate change.

Fifty years since the first-ever government report warning of the dangers of climate change

Report prepared by advisory committee and presented  in November 1965 to US President Lyndon B. Johnson warned, that releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere would lead to higher global temperatures, causing ice caps to melt and sea levels to rise rapidly. Report accurately predicted that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would increase by close to 25% over the course of the twentieth century. Another landmark report, the 1979 “Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment”, prepared by the US National Academy of Sciences, estimated that doubling the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would warm the earth by about 3° Celsius – a number that is well confirmed today.

National Geographic: Half of Weather Disasters Linked to Climate Change

Such conclusion was made by researchers who examined 28 weather extremes on all seven continents to see if they were influenced by climate change or were just normal weather. From a deadly snowstorm in Nepal to a heat wave in Argentina that crashed power supplies, at least 14 extreme weather events last year were related to human-caused climate change.

COP21 Climate Change Calculator - online tool for tracking and projecting GHG emissions from major economies

The COP21 Climate Change Calculator  was co-created by the Financial Times and Climate-KIC, and it allows tracking and projecting greenhouse gas emissions from China, US, EU, India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Australia and the Rest of the World (“Others”), over the period 1870 to 2100. Emission values for each country are built into the tool but it is possible to alternate emissions trajectories on a country-by-country basis.

Foods with the biggest carbon footprint

According to the report published by two American research organizations and called the "Meat Eater's Guide to climate change + health", meats are among most carbon intensive foods. Lamb is a leader with 39.2 kg CO2 per kilogram, what is equivalent to  driving about 90 miles on the car with average gas mileage.