Climate change carbon dioxide

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, Metz, B., Davidson, O., de Coninck, H., Loos, M., and Meyer, L., Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. 

Currently, ethanol is produced from sugar beets and from molasses. A typical yield is 72.5 liters of ethanol per ton of sugar cane. Modem crops yield 60 tons of sugar cane per hector of land. Production of ethanol from biomass is one way to reduce both the consumption of erode oil and environmental pollution. Domestic production and use of ethanol for fuel can decrease dependence on foreign oil, reduce trade deficits, create jobs in rural areas, reduce air pollution, and reduce global climate change carbon dioxide build-up. 

A secondary benefit is that efficiency gains in fossil fuel generation also reduce all types of harmful emissions, even carbon dioxide—the greenhouse gas suspected by many as a major culprit of climate change. A 45 percent efficient plant releases approximately 40 percent less COn per megawatt-hours of electricity produced than a 25 percent efficient plant that it might be replacing. 

Concerns about global climate change have led to extensive research and high-level international debates about the need for targets and timetables to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Some policymakers believe that current uncertainties in how to approach the issue do notjustify an all-out effort to reduce carbon dioxide emission, while others feel that this is a crisis needing immediate attention. 

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is the division of NOAA that conducts and directs oceanic and atmospheric research. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and fossil fuels are the leading generator of carbon dioxide, the work of the twelve Environmental Research Laboratories and eleven Joint Institutes of OAR to describe, monitor, and assess climate trends are of great interest to all parties interested in the affect of energy use on climate change. 

Carbon Balance in Northern Ecosystems and the Potential Effect of Carbon Dioxide Induced Climate Change Miller, P. C., Ed. CONF-8003118. National Technical Information Service Springfield, VA, 1981. 

Wigley, T. M. L. (1983). The pre-industrial carbon dioxide level. Climat. Change 5,315-320. 

Turning to the other major areas, the picture is clearer, at least in terms of the direchon of the impact. Nuclear power can help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thereby lessen the severity of predicted climate changes. It can also help ease the difficulties that will arise from the conflict between the shrinking of fossil fuel supplies and the rising material aspirations of a growing world population. 

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