NOAA reports that carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere continued its rapid rise in 2019, reaching the highest recorded levels in 61 years of observation last month. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/atmospheric-co2-record-high-may-2019…
Tag: CO2
Arctic Permafrost Melting 70 Years Sooner Than Expected, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report The Weather Channel: Scientists studying climate change expected layers of permafrost in the Canadian Arctic to melt by the year 2090. Instead, it’s happening now. A new study published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters revealed that unusually warm summers in the Canadian High Arctic between 2003 and 2016 resulted in permafrost melt…
Researchers Propose Solar Methanol Island Using Ocean CO2
A PNAS paper published this week outlines a plan to establish 70 islands of solar panels, each 328 feet in diameter, that sends electricity to a hard-hulled ship that acts as an oceanic factory. “This factory uses desalinization and electrolysis equipment to extract hydrogen gas (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the surrounding ocean water,” reports Ars Technica. “It then uses…
Training a Single AI Model Can Emit As Much Carbon As Five Cars In Their Lifetimes
In a new paper, researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, performed a life cycle assessment for training several common large AI models. They found that the process can emit more than 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent — nearly five times the lifetime emissions of the average American car (and that includes manufacture of the car itself). MIT Technology Review…
Could fracking with carbon dioxide instead of water be greener?
Using CO2 to fracture rocks for oil and gas is being touted as a more environmentally friendly approach to fracking, but it may not be greener overall Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204939-could-fracking-with-carbon-dioxide-instead-of-water-be-greener/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Nuke Retirements Could Lead To 4 Billion Metric Tons of Extra CO2 Emissions, Says IEA
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns world leaders that — without support for new nuclear power or lifetime extensions for existing nuclear power plants — the world’s climate goals are at risk. “The lack of further lifetime extensions of existing nuclear plants and new projects could result…
Significantly Large New Emissions From Banned CFCs Traced To China, Say Scientists
Solandri writes: In 2014, scientists began detecting plumes of CFC-11 in the atmosphere. The compound had been banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol after it was discovered that it was contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from ultraviolet radiation. Unfortunately, the releases were detected using global monitoring equipment, so the origin could not be…
Turning CO2 into animal feed could make it greener for us to eat meat
A start-up is converting carbon dioxide into high-protein animal food, with the hope of eventually denting the environmental impact of agriculture Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203968-turning-co2-into-animal-feed-could-make-it-greener-for-us-to-eat-meat/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…