New Gas: MIT Researchers Identify Potent New Greenhouse Gas
March 11, 2009
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/03/11/new-gas-mit-researchers-identify-potent-new-greenhouse-gas/
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/03/11/new-gas-mit-researchers-identify-potent-new-greenhouse-gas/tab/print/
The unintended law of consequences strikes again. The 20-year old campaign to save the ozone layer has led to the widespread industrial use of a greenhouse gas 4,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol was established to limit emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and other gases that deplete the ozone layer, the big worry in the 1980s. One of the targeted compounds was methyl bromide, which was widely used in fumigation to kill weevils and mice and other pests that threaten food supplies. Methyl bromide was phased out in 2005.
Dow Chemical´s AgroSciences unit came to the rescue, dusting off research on an old compound called sulfuryl fluoride, which has now become the standard fumigant.
Just one problem, say researchers at MIT: Sulfuryl fluoride lasts a lot longer in the atmosphere than expected and is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The good news is that the concentration of Dow´s new fumigant in the atmosphere is still tiny. The researchers will publish their findings, which were compiled with the help of Dow AgroSciences, tomorrow in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
When Dow was pressing for EPA approval of sulfuryl fluoride in 2002 (eventually given in 2004), it didn´t think the new compound presented any global warming threat. In a technical bulletin published then, Dow said:
The relatively small amounts of sulfuryl fluoride released are calculated to have virtually no impact on the global atmosphere. Standard atmospheric modelling indicates that sulfuryl fluoride will have an insignificant contribution to global warming because of the low sulfuryl fluoride to carbon dioxide ratio (< ;0.0001).
The new findings may cause dismay for an industry that just finished complying with one environmental imperative only to find that the cure might have been worse than the disease. But at least the new findings come soon enough to make changes without too much pain, said Ron Prinn, director of MIT´s Center for Global Change Science and a co-author on the new paper. It´s "a new frontier for environmental science - to try to head off potential dangers as early as possible, rather than wait until it´s a mature industry with lots of capital and jobs at stake," he said in a statement.
And making the first switch from methly bromide to sulfuryl fluoride hasn´t exactly kneecaped the fumigation business-the new compound is cheaper and more effective than what it replaced, meaning the environmental imperative also carried business benefits.
The whole imbroglio does underscore how tough it is to foresee the consequences of wide-reaching environmental regulations. The Montreal Protocol proved very effective at curbing ozone-killing emissions. It also proved surprisingly effective-five times more than the Kyoto Protocol-at reducing emissions of known greenhouse gases, which it wasn´t even meant to do.
But saving the ozone layer may slightly exacerbate some aspects of global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found. Some ozone-depleting gases lead to warming, and some-like methyl bromide in particular-help cool temperatures.
Showing posts with label issue: greenhouse gas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label issue: greenhouse gas. Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2009
Friday, October 31, 2008
China Says Greenhouse Gases Catch up with US
China says greenhouse gases catch up with U.S.
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley
Wed Oct 29, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE49S0GB20081029
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE49S0GB20081029
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's greenhouse gas emissions have caught up with the United States and will not fall any time soon, a top Chinese official said on Wednesday, while warning of a huge economic blow from global warming.
The comments from Xie Zhenhua, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission who steers climate change policy, marked China's first official acknowledgement that it could already be the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluter.
Many experts believe China's output of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from burning fossil fuels, has already outstripped the United States, for over a century the world's biggest emitter.
Until now, however, Chinese officials have hedged on the issue and have released no new government data on emissions growth for the past 14 years. Nor did Xie give specific numbers.
"Based on information we have at hand, our total emissions are about the same as the United States," he told a news conference to release a government paper on climate change.
"Whether or not we have surpassed the United States is not in itself important," he added, noting that rich countries during their own economic take-offs had produced nearly all the greenhouse gases from human activity already in the atmosphere.
Official acknowledgement that China could be the biggest emitter is unlikely to shift Beijing's position on climate change. But it underscores the giddying expansion of the nation's power plants, factories and vehicles, and may add international pressure on it as the world enters an intense phase of negotiations over a new global warming pact.
Even several years ago, scientists expected China to surpass the United States in CO2 emissions only in 2019 or later.
The U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has estimated the United States emitted 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon from burning fossil fuels in 2007, compared to China's 1.8 billion tonnes.
Total world emissions were about 8.5 billion tonnes.
UNEASY IMPERATIVES
Beijing has said it wants to combat climate change yet ensure China's economic take-off is not dragged down. Xie's comments and the government "white paper" reflected the uneasy fit between those concerns.
China faces shrinking harvests, worsening droughts in some regions, worsening floods in others, and melting glaciers as average global temperatures rise, the report warns.
"Climate change has already brought real threats to China's ecological system and economic and social development," said Xie.
But the report released by Xie also says China will nonetheless increase emissions of carbon dioxide, as it seeks to lift hundreds of millions of its poor into prosperity.
"China will strive for rational growth of energy demand," it states. "However, its coal-dominated energy mix cannot be substantially changed in the near future, thus making the control of greenhouse gases rather difficult."
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap solar radiation, threatening to heat the atmosphere to levels that scientists warn could unleash disastrous disruption.
China will be at the heart of efforts to forge a successor to the current Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. Governments hope to reach agreement by the end of 2009.
Under the current Protocol, poor nations do not assume targets to curb emissions. But the European Union wants developing nations to sign on to firmer goals, and Washington has refused to ratify Kyoto partly because it says the treaty is ineffective without Beijing's acceptance of mandatory caps.
Xie pointed out that China's per capita emissions of its 1.3 billion people remain much lower than rich countries', and about a fifth of the U.S. average per person.
He also said about a fifth of the country's emissions came from making goods for export, and called on consumer nations to shoulder some responsibility for this.
On Tuesday, a Chinese official said developed countries should devote 1 percent of their economic worth to helping developing countries combat climate change.
Xie offered a more precise estimate of how much money China expects rich countries to give poor ones to fight climate change.
"I think it would be okay if at least 0.7 percent of developed countries' GDPs is used to help developing countries respond to climate change," he said.
This would mean a total $284 billion a year if all members of the OECD (Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development) paid up based on the size of their economies in 2007.
By Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley
Wed Oct 29, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/
http://www.reuters.com/
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's greenhouse gas emissions have caught up with the United States and will not fall any time soon, a top Chinese official said on Wednesday, while warning of a huge economic blow from global warming.
The comments from Xie Zhenhua, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission who steers climate change policy, marked China's first official acknowledgement that it could already be the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluter.
Many experts believe China's output of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from burning fossil fuels, has already outstripped the United States, for over a century the world's biggest emitter.
Until now, however, Chinese officials have hedged on the issue and have released no new government data on emissions growth for the past 14 years. Nor did Xie give specific numbers.
"Based on information we have at hand, our total emissions are about the same as the United States," he told a news conference to release a government paper on climate change.
"Whether or not we have surpassed the United States is not in itself important," he added, noting that rich countries during their own economic take-offs had produced nearly all the greenhouse gases from human activity already in the atmosphere.
Official acknowledgement that China could be the biggest emitter is unlikely to shift Beijing's position on climate change. But it underscores the giddying expansion of the nation's power plants, factories and vehicles, and may add international pressure on it as the world enters an intense phase of negotiations over a new global warming pact.
Even several years ago, scientists expected China to surpass the United States in CO2 emissions only in 2019 or later.
The U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has estimated the United States emitted 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon from burning fossil fuels in 2007, compared to China's 1.8 billion tonnes.
Total world emissions were about 8.5 billion tonnes.
UNEASY IMPERATIVES
Beijing has said it wants to combat climate change yet ensure China's economic take-off is not dragged down. Xie's comments and the government "white paper" reflected the uneasy fit between those concerns.
China faces shrinking harvests, worsening droughts in some regions, worsening floods in others, and melting glaciers as average global temperatures rise, the report warns.
"Climate change has already brought real threats to China's ecological system and economic and social development," said Xie.
But the report released by Xie also says China will nonetheless increase emissions of carbon dioxide, as it seeks to lift hundreds of millions of its poor into prosperity.
"China will strive for rational growth of energy demand," it states. "However, its coal-dominated energy mix cannot be substantially changed in the near future, thus making the control of greenhouse gases rather difficult."
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap solar radiation, threatening to heat the atmosphere to levels that scientists warn could unleash disastrous disruption.
China will be at the heart of efforts to forge a successor to the current Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. Governments hope to reach agreement by the end of 2009.
Under the current Protocol, poor nations do not assume targets to curb emissions. But the European Union wants developing nations to sign on to firmer goals, and Washington has refused to ratify Kyoto partly because it says the treaty is ineffective without Beijing's acceptance of mandatory caps.
Xie pointed out that China's per capita emissions of its 1.3 billion people remain much lower than rich countries', and about a fifth of the U.S. average per person.
He also said about a fifth of the country's emissions came from making goods for export, and called on consumer nations to shoulder some responsibility for this.
On Tuesday, a Chinese official said developed countries should devote 1 percent of their economic worth to helping developing countries combat climate change.
Xie offered a more precise estimate of how much money China expects rich countries to give poor ones to fight climate change.
"I think it would be okay if at least 0.7 percent of developed countries' GDPs is used to help developing countries respond to climate change," he said.
This would mean a total $284 billion a year if all members of the OECD (Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development) paid up based on the size of their economies in 2007.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Ready for Another Greenhouse Gas? Study Finds Chemical's Emissions Are Much Higher Than Thought
Ready for another greenhouse gas?
Study finds chemical's emissions are much higher than thought
By Andrea Thompson
LiveScience
Thurs., Oct. 23, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27345432/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27345432/print/1/displaymode/1098/
A potent greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than was previously estimated, a new study reports.
Using new analytical techniques, a research team in California made the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride, which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal amount of carbon dioxide (though carbon dioxide is much more prevalent, and therefore still the key greenhouse gas of concern in terms of global warming).
In 2006, the amount of nitrogen trifluoride in the atmosphere, which could not be detected using previous techniques, was estimated at less than 1,322 short tons (1,200 metric tons).
The new research, funded by NASA and detailed in the Oct. 31 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the actual amount was 4,630 short tons (4,200 metric tons) in 2006. Currently, about 5,950 short tons (5,400 metric tons) is estimated to be in the atmosphere. The estimates indicate that the amount of gas in the atmosphere is increasing by about 11 percent per year.
Emissions of nitrogen trifluoride were thought to be so low that the gas was not considered a significant contributor to global warming. It was not covered in the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement signed by 182 countries to reduce greenhouse gases.
Nitrogen trifluoride is about 17,000 times more powerful at trapping heat than is carbon dioxide, though current emissions of the gas only contribute about 0.15 percent of the total global warming effect contributed by human-produced carbon dioxide emissions.
Nitrogen trifluoride is one of several gases used during the manufacture of liquid crystal flat-panel displays, thin-film photovoltaic cells and microcircuits. Many industries used it as a replacement for perfluorocarbons, another type of potent greenhouse gas, because it was thought that only about 2 percent of the nitrogen trifluoride used escaped into the atmosphere.
Scientists have recently recommended adding nitrogen trifluoride to the list of greenhouse gases regulated by Kyoto in response to its growing use and concerns that its emissions are not well known.
"From a climate perspective, there is a need to add nitrogen trifluoride to the suite of greenhouse gases whose production is inventoried and whose emissions are regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, thus providing meaningful incentives for its wise use," said study leader Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.
Study finds chemical's emissions are much higher than thought
By Andrea Thompson
LiveScience
Thurs., Oct. 23, 2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27345432/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27345432/print/1/displaymode/1098/
A potent greenhouse gas is at least four times more prevalent in the atmosphere than was previously estimated, a new study reports.
Using new analytical techniques, a research team in California made the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride, which is thousands of times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal amount of carbon dioxide (though carbon dioxide is much more prevalent, and therefore still the key greenhouse gas of concern in terms of global warming).
In 2006, the amount of nitrogen trifluoride in the atmosphere, which could not be detected using previous techniques, was estimated at less than 1,322 short tons (1,200 metric tons).
The new research, funded by NASA and detailed in the Oct. 31 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the actual amount was 4,630 short tons (4,200 metric tons) in 2006. Currently, about 5,950 short tons (5,400 metric tons) is estimated to be in the atmosphere. The estimates indicate that the amount of gas in the atmosphere is increasing by about 11 percent per year.
Emissions of nitrogen trifluoride were thought to be so low that the gas was not considered a significant contributor to global warming. It was not covered in the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement signed by 182 countries to reduce greenhouse gases.
Nitrogen trifluoride is about 17,000 times more powerful at trapping heat than is carbon dioxide, though current emissions of the gas only contribute about 0.15 percent of the total global warming effect contributed by human-produced carbon dioxide emissions.
Nitrogen trifluoride is one of several gases used during the manufacture of liquid crystal flat-panel displays, thin-film photovoltaic cells and microcircuits. Many industries used it as a replacement for perfluorocarbons, another type of potent greenhouse gas, because it was thought that only about 2 percent of the nitrogen trifluoride used escaped into the atmosphere.
Scientists have recently recommended adding nitrogen trifluoride to the list of greenhouse gases regulated by Kyoto in response to its growing use and concerns that its emissions are not well known.
"From a climate perspective, there is a need to add nitrogen trifluoride to the suite of greenhouse gases whose production is inventoried and whose emissions are regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, thus providing meaningful incentives for its wise use," said study leader Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.
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