Perpetual Innovation

Category: GHG

  • A frosty G20 puts global warming on ice – Comment – Voices – The Independent

    A frosty G20 puts global warming on ice – Comment – Voices – The Independent:

    Great article. Like many such meetings, the major part of the the G20 meeting gets diverted to North Korea or Egypt or Syria. Too bad, there’s a lot the the G20 can do, besides putter with the politics that’s taken over the news today.

    Surprisingly, there was movement on making progress on the very best places to push hard related to our impact on the environment, greenhouse gases (GHGs) and global warming.

    Most people who don’t focus on sustainability don’t realize what a wicked impact hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) have on the (atmosphere) environment. Most HFCs are released into the atmosphere from Freon, the gas that has an ugly impact on the Ozone layer in the atmosphere. But the other problem with florine-based gasses is that they last in the atmosphere for centuries, not decades. Look at the global warming potential of various gases here: GWP at INTCCC and wikipedia GHGs.

    So continuing to use Freon is a gift for the future that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving.

    The approach to CFCs is one of the great success stories of our time. Starting with the Montreal Protocol in 1987 the international community has banded together to address and reduce CFCs. Most countries, that is. Progress has been especially strong because of the progress in alternative refrigerants that are still cheap and efficient. Not so much so, the progress in other greenhouse gases.

    As you can see, the GHGs of carbon dioxide and the noxious oxides are increasing in the atmosphere unabated. Methane seems to be slowing down a little. Remember that these increased levels are above and beyond the levels that the atmosphere has become accustom to. Longer duration graphs are equally as telling.

    But as you can see, CFC emissions have plateaued, but not necessarily reduced. The problem is that several countries, apparently, have not bothered to make the leap to replacement FREON  refrigerants, namely India and Brazil. One of the best, easiest, cheapest and greatest-impact methods to address GHG issues is to pressure those rogue countries to join the rest of the world on HFC reduction.

    Turns out the G20 meeting, lead by China and USA, are looking to “encourage” these rogue countries to pick up the pace on HFCs.

    Making progress on the most important things first, is a great approach to sustainability. HFCs is a great place to push. Even the G20, and the UN that don’t agree on much, have taking this approach.

    EE is probably the greatest place to focus, however. Energy efficiency (EE) and similar types of inefficiencies are the great untapped places to save money, energy and the environment. Everybody wins, except, maybe the power companies. But that’s the focus of other books and blog posts.

    ‘via Blog this’

  • Rising levels of acids in seas may endanger marine life, says study | Environment | The Guardian

    Rising levels of acids in seas may endanger marine life, says study | Environment | The Guardian

    Ouch!

    This has been a growing concern. The rapid increases in the CO2 levels — blasting past 400ppm as we speak — that has several scary consequences.

    First, there’s the greenhouse gas (GHG) thing and the rising temperatures of the air and land.

    Second, the excess CO2, at least some of it, is absorbed into the oceans. This increases the acidity of the oceans. Higher acid levels could wipe out shell fish, coral reefs and other things/animals that are critical for the health of the oceans (and of the planet).

    Here’s what the article and the scientists said:

    Hans Poertner, professor of marine biology at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, and co-author of a new study of the phenomenon, told the Guardian: “The current rate of change is likely to be more than 10 times faster than it has been in any of the evolutionary crises in the earth’s history.”
    Seawater is naturally slightly alkaline, but as oceans absorb CO2 from the air, their pH level falls gradually. Under the rapid escalation of greenhouse gas emissions, ocean acidification is gathering pace and many forms of marine life – especially species that build calcium-based shells – are under threat.

    Ouch!

  • Sea levels set for a ‘continuing rise’ for generations…The Daily Climate … Like baking a cake.

    Sea levels set for a ‘continuing rise’ for generations — The Daily Climate:

    So here’s the story. It’s already baked into the cake.

    The current setting has sea levels rising for decades. Even if we all went to carbon neutral tomorrow.

    The basics are that greenhouse gasses will persist in the atmosphere for decades, even centuries. The most prevalent is Carbon Dioxide (CO2) which will stay in the atmosphere for 70 years, maybe 100.

    So, we can expect temperatures to rise 2, 3, maybe 4 or 5 degrees C. And, as the ocean waters warm, the water expands (thermal expansion). If the oceans are about 2 miles deep, on average, the heat expansion really makes a difference. We’re talking yards here, not feet.

    Some estimates seem to show only the top, maybe the top 10% of the oceans heating and expanding. But that’s because they are using a short planning horizon. If you wait another 50 to 100 years, you should expect far more of the oceans to warm, and expand.

    That is, the heating is already “baked into the cake”… Or in our case, baked into the atmosphere, which will eventually bake into the oceans, which will eventually…

    Well, you get the picture.

    Make no doubt, I’m looking and hoping that this scenario is not the most likely to play forward.

    We do have lower solar and volcanic activities which should serve as a cooling damper for the atmosphere.

    But we appear to be overshadowing that offset. At least from all I can see.

    As always, the best and first place to start is conservation and efficiency.

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  • Why Won't Yahoo! Let Employees Work From Home? – Businessweek

    Why Won’t Yahoo! Let Employees Work From Home? – Businessweek:

    Boy Mayer is gonna cause a lot of shake here with the everyone-has-to-travel-to-work policy.

    Apparently (Today Show) she now as a nursery set up next door to her office for her new convenience. That helps new parents, maybe, but not the ones with kids in school or those people who live a longer way from the office.

    But Mayer is shaking it up.

    There has long been the debate about the down side of work-at-home (WAH). And a tech leader like Yahoo  might just be a place to face-to-face interaction that is lost from WAH.

    But, I fear that making everyone drive to work is a major setback to telecommuting efforts that are so very beneficial to the efforts of sustainability.

    Studies show that the true costs of telecommuting are far closer to $40,000 per year than to the $5,000 cost of gas. Most of that savings goes to the employer. Closer to $45,000 if you want to include the less-tangible costs of externalities such as infrastructure and greenhouse gases (GHGs).

    Key words:  WAH, telecommuting. Work-at-home, sustainability, carbon footprint, GHG, teleworking, remote working, time shifting.
    First posted at www.SustainZine.com. Repeated here.
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  • Why Won’t Yahoo! Let Employees Work From Home? – Businessweek

    Why Won’t Yahoo! Let Employees Work From Home? – Businessweek:

    Oh boy, Mayer is gonna cause a lot of shake up  here with her everyone-has-to-travel-to-work policy.

    Apparently (Today Show) she now as a nursery set up next door to her office for her new convenience. That helps new parents, maybe, but not the ones with kids in school or those people who live a longer way from the office.

    But Mayer is shaking it up.

    There has long been the debate about the down side of work-at-home (WAH). And a tech leader like Yahoo  might just be a place to face-to-face interaction that is lost from WAH.

    But, I fear that making everyone drive to work is a major setback to telecommuting efforts that are so very beneficial to the efforts of sustainability.

    Studies show that the true costs of telecommuting are far closer to $40,000 per year than to the $5,000 cost of gas. Most of that savings goes to the employer. Closer to $45,000 if you want to include the less-tangible costs of externalities such as infrastructure and greenhouse gases (GHGs).

    ‘via Blog this’