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Links in the Chain: Global Carbon Emissions and Consumption

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Environmentburning fuels, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon-based fuels, carnegie institution for science, earth’s atmosphere, fossil energy resources, gross domestic product, ken caldeira, national academy of sciences, natural gas, steven davis

Washington, D.C. — It is difficult to measure accurately each nation’s contribution of carbon dioxide to the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon is extracted out of the ground as coal, gas, and oil, and these fuels are often exported to other countries where they are burned to generate the energy that is used to make products. In turn, these products may be traded to still other countries where they are consumed. A team led by Carnegie’s Steven Davis, and including Ken Caldeira, tracked and quantified this supply chain of global carbon dioxide emissions. Their work will be published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of October 17. (more…)

Optimizing Climate Change Reduction

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceaerosols, carnegie institution, carnegie institution for science, carnegie researchers, climate, computer model, earth climate, geoengineering ideas, george ban-weiss, global climate model, global ecology, global sunshade, global temperature, hydrological cycle, ken caldeira, runoff, solar radiation, stratosphere, sulfate, tropical regions, warming planet

Palo Alto, CA — Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology have taken a new approach on examining a proposal to fix the warming planet. So-called geoengineering ideas—large-scale projects to change the Earth’s climate—have included erecting giant mirrors in space to reflect solar radiation, injecting aerosols of sulfate into the stratosphere making a global sunshade, and much more. Past modeling of the sulfate idea looked at how the stratospheric aerosols might affect Earth’s climate and chemistry.

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Main Climate Threat from CO2 Sources Yet to Be Built

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 20102 commentsEnvironmentcarbon dioxide, carbon-free technologies, carnegie institution for science, clean energy, climate change, coal-fired power plant, damon matthews, emissions, energy-efficient, ken caldeira, steven davis

Stanford, CA — Scientists have warned that avoiding dangerous climate change this century will require steep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. New energy-efficient or carbon-free technologies can help, but what about the power plants, cars, trucks, and other fossil-fuel-burning devices already in operation? Unless forced into early retirement, they will emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for decades to come. Will their emissions push carbon dioxide levels beyond prescribed limits, regardless of what we build next? Is there already too much inertia in the system to curb climate change?

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Man-made Global Warming Started With Ancient Hunters

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2010Environment, Scienceadam wolf, agriculture, agu, alaska, american geophysical union, Anthropocene, asia, beringia, betula, birch trees, california, carnegie institution, carnegie institution for science, chris doughty, chris field, climate, ecology, elephants, emissions, geological age, geophysical research letters, global warming, grassland, greenhouse gas, impact on climate, mammoths, NASA, North America, prehistoric farmers, russia, science in Stanford, Siberia, yukon territory

WASHINGTON — Even before the dawn of agriculture, people may have caused the planet to warm up, a new study suggests.

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Tag Archives: carnegie institution for science

Links in the Chain: Global Carbon Emissions and Consumption

Optimizing Climate Change Reduction

Main Climate Threat from CO2 Sources Yet to Be Built

Man-made Global Warming Started With Ancient Hunters