Carbon emissions at record high: report
Pylons near cooling towers at the Golfech nuclear power plant, southwestern France. Carbon emissions are at their highest ever levels, stoking fears of a global temperature rise over the "dangerous" two degrees Celsius threshold, according to data cited by the Guardian newspaper.
Carbon emissions are at their highest ever levels, stoking fears of a global temperature rise over the "dangerous" two degrees Celsius threshold, according to data cited by the Guardian newspaper.
Unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency revealed that the world economy's return to growth in 2010 coincided with a 1.6 gigatonne rise in carbon dioxide emissions, the highest ever recorded jump.
"This is the worst news on emission," IEA chief economist Faith Birol told the British newspaper.
"It is becoming extremely challenging to remain below two degrees", he added. "The prospect is getting bleaker. That is what the numbers say."
Scientists believe that a temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius would represent "dangerous climate change".
The IEA has warned that annual energy-related emissions should be no higher than 32Gt by 2020.
The latest figures estimate that 30.6Gt of carbon dioxide were emitted in 2010.
Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics, the author of an influential report into the economics of climate change, predicted dire consequences unless emissions were reined in.
"These figures indicate that (emissions) are now close to being back on a 'business as usual' path," he told the paper.
According to... projections, such a path ... would mean around a 50% chance of a rise in global average temperature of more than 4C by 2100," he added.
"Such warming would disrupt the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people across the planet, leading to widespread mass migration and conflict," he added.
Around three-quarters of the rise was attributed to emerging economies.
(c) 2011 AFP
-
From lemons to lemonade: Reaction uses carbon dioxide to make carbon-based semiconductor,
32 comments
-
Thioridazine kills cancer stem cells in human while avoiding toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments,
3 comments
-
SpaceX private rocket blasts off for space station (Update),
42 comments
-
Climate scientists say they have solved riddle of rising sea,
31 comments
-
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update),
2 comments
-
Hypothetical desert earth
9 hours ago
-
More human population = greater mass?
May 25, 2012
-
Conversion from aircraft bearing to normal degrees
May 23, 2012
-
Interpretation/Analysis of the Lab results(HEPA filter)
May 22, 2012
-
Has anyone here attended the The Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology?
May 22, 2012
-
Earthquakes: Mag 6 N. Italy and Mag 5.6 W. Bulgaria
May 21, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Earth
More news stories
SpaceX capsule has 'new car' smell, astronauts say (Update)
SpaceX's Dragon cargo vessel smells like a new car, said astronauts at the International Space Station after opening the hatches Saturday following the spacecraft's landmark mission to the orbiting lab.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
23 hours ago |
4.5 / 5 (21) |
2
Australia hails surprise super-telescope decision
Australia has hailed a surprise decision giving it a role in a radio telescope project aimed at revolutionising astronomy, vowing to draw on its decades of experience in space science.
23 hours ago |
5 / 5 (4) |
2
Astronomers seize last chance in lifetime for Venus Transit
Astronomers are gearing for one the rarest events in the Solar System: an alignment of Earth, Venus and the Sun that will not be seen for another 105 years.
23 hours ago |
5 / 5 (3) |
2
Astronauts enter world's 1st private supply ship
(AP) -- Space station astronauts floated into the Dragon on Saturday, a day after its heralded arrival as the world's first commercial supply ship.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
23 hours ago |
5 / 5 (6) |
0
Sophisticated simulations predict future warming
The chances of our planet being hit by a global warming of 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 is as likely as it being hit by an increase of 1.4 degrees, new research shows. Presented in the journal Nature Geoscience, the British study ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 22, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
51
Nvidia trumpets Tegra 3 phone design wins for 2012
(Phys.org) -- Nvidia’s competitive war paint has a name, Tegra 3. On the heels of Nvidia announcements about lowering costs of its Tegra 3 processors and Nvidia-enabled tablets running Android Ice Cream ...
Browser wars flare in mobile space
The browser wars are heating up again, but this time the fight is for dominance of the mobile Internet.
Scientist: Evolution debate will soon be history
(AP) -- Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.
Dell tablet leak: 10.1-inch display, two-battery choice
(Phys.org) -- Headline after headline talks about vendors’ tablets in the wings as likely number-one contenders for the iPad. Such claims have justifiably been taken with a grain of salt, considering ...
SpotterRF debuts Radar Backpack Kit (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) -- SpotterRF has announced a special radar backpack kit designed to enhance situational awareness for soldiers on the ground. The company says its special radar is designed for warfighters as part ...
Thousands of shellfish found dead in Peru
Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday.
May 30, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (5)
May 30, 2011
Rank: 2.1 / 5 (11)
Fear evoking?
Anyway the link between CO2 and global warming is tenuous at best.
Serious studies of climate change show dominant control by Earth's heat source - the Sun [1-5].
1. Suns motion and sunspots, Astron. Journal 70, 193-200 (1965)
2. "Solar rotation, impulses of the torque in the Sun's motion, and climatic variation", Climatic Change 12, 265-295 (1998)
3. "Super-fluidity in the solar interior: Implications for solar eruptions and climate", Journal of Fusion Energy 21, 193-198 (2002)
http://arxiv.org/.../0501441
4. "The Sun Kings: . . ." by Stuart Clark [Princeton Press, 2007] 211 pages
Swww.stuartclark.c...un-kings
5. "Earth's Heat Source - The Sun", Energy and Environment 20, 131-144 (2009)
http://arxiv.org/pdf/0905.0704
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
May 31, 2011
Rank: 3 / 5 (6)
In fact it is so Un-tenuous that the relationship was computed by hand on the back of a paper napkin by Lord Kelvin over 100 years ago.
And he didn't even have the advantage of knowing - as you do - that the sun is made out of iron.
Ahahahahahahah... Poor Tard ... Pooor, Poor, Tard..
May 31, 2011
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
May 31, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (3)
If the experimental evidence of CO2-induced global warming existed, research data from the University of Virginia and the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia would be made available to the public.
Instead, these institutions refused to honor Freedom of Information requests.
Why hide data that the public paid for?
That's not science!
Jun 01, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
95% of it was publicly available from a host of different sources. The 5% that was not, was available from the MET for a fee.
So once again the Conservative Denialist claim is found to be a nothing more than a lie.
"Instead, these institutions refused to honor Freedom of Information requests." - OmaTard
Since the information being requested was publicly available there was no need to respond to the 60 or so requests they were receiving from QuackTards like you who wouldn't know what the data ment even if they had it.
And again, the truth is not how the Conservative Denialist portrays it.
I have never encountered a Conservative who wasn't a perpetual and congenital liar.
Jun 01, 2011
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Supplying Lying Quack Tards with every detail of your data and every step in it's analysis is what the Quack Tards demanded.
They know nothing of how science is conducted, and despite their ignorant whining, providing such data and analysis has never been part of science.
Poor Tards.....
Jun 01, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
The AGW game is over; Western economies may survive!
CO2-induced global warming is a scam, not science [1].
Cyclic changes in Earth's heat source - the Sun - induce changes in Earth's climate [2,3].
Why?
Solar wobble shifts the dense, energetic neutron star inside the Sun's diffuse, globe of waste products - the photosphere [4]
1. "Earth's Heat Source - The Sun", Energy & Environment 20, 131-144 (2009)
http://arxiv.org/pdf/0905.0704
2. "Did Quiet Sun Cause Little Ice Age After All?" Science (May 26, 2011)
news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/did-quiet-sun-cause-little-ice-a.html?ref=hp
3. Science: Solar Wobble/Global Cooling (31 May 2011)
www.suite101.com/...Nx6K4CXS
4." Neutron Repulsion"
http://arxiv.org/...2.1499v1