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New Ideas Needed to Meet California’s 2050 Greenhouse Gas Targets: Berkeley Lab Study

By Guest PostDecember 2, 2013Environment2050, average fuel efficiency, berkeley lab, berkeley lab study, california, carbon dioxide, co2 equivalent, electricity generation, emissions reductions, ghgis, ghgis model, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas targets, heavy duty vehicles, hydrofluorocarbons, jeff greenblatt, light duty vehicles, methane, new model, nitrous oxide, scenario 1, scenario 2, waste

California is on track to meet its state-mandated targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, but it will not be able to meet its 2050 target without bold new technologies and policies. This is the conclusion of the California Greenhouse Gas Inventory Spreadsheet (GHGIS), a new model developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to look at how far existing policies and technologies can get us in emissions reductions.

A 2005 executive order requires California to reduce its emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases—including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons—to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. “This is quite a stringent requirement, and even if we aggressively expand our policies and implement fledgling technologies that are not even on the marketplace now, our analysis shows that California will still not be able to get emissions to 85 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent per year by 2050,” said Jeff Greenblatt, a Berkeley Lab researcher who created the GHGIS. (more…)

More Potent than Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide Levels in California May be Nearly Three Times Higher Than Previously Thought

By Guest PostDecember 9, 2012Environmentagricultural production, atmospheric measurement, berkeley lab, biogeochemical process, bottom up inventory, california, carbon dioxide, CO2, cycle of emissions, edgar, emission, environmental condition, estimate, factor, fossil fuel, greenhouse gas, laughing gas, level, marc fischer, methane, model prediction, moisture, new method, nitrogen fertilizer, nitrous oxide, noaa, temperature, total n2o, type of soil, walnut grove

Berkeley Lab researchers devise a new method to estimate state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Using a new method for estimating greenhouse gases that combines atmospheric measurements with model predictions, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researchers have found that the level of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, in California may be 2.5 to 3 times greater than the current inventory.

At that level, total N₂O emissions—which are believed to come primarily from nitrogen fertilizers used in agricultural production—would account for about 8 percent of California’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The findings were recently published in a paper titled “Seasonal variations in N₂O emissions from central California” in Geophysical Research Letters. Earlier this year, using the same methodology, the researchers found that levels of methane, another potent greenhouse gas, in California may be up to 1.8 times greater than previous estimates. (more…)

Hearty Organisms Discovered in Bitter-Cold Antarctic Brine

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2012Environmentammonia, anoxic brine, antarctic ice, aquatic environment, brine, cryo environment, earth, east antarctica, ecosystem, europa, extreme environment, frozen environment, hearty microbes, jupiter, lake vida, life, mcmurdo dry valleys, michigan state university, microbial life, microbial metabolism, model, moon, nathaniel ostrom, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, permanent darkness, subzero temperature, sulfur, supersaturated, vacation destination, water, zoologist

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Where there’s water there’s life – even in brine beneath 60 feet of Antarctic ice, in permanent darkness and subzero temperatures.

While Lake Vida, located in the northernmost of the McMurdo Dry Valleys of East Antarctica, will never be a vacation destination, it is home to some newly discovered hearty microbes. In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nathaniel Ostrom, Michigan State University zoologist, has co-authored “Microbial Life at -13ºC in the Brine of an Ice-Sealed Antarctic Lake.” (more…)

Measuring the “Other” Greenhouse Gases: Higher Than Expected Levels of Methane in California

By Guest PostJune 16, 2012Environmentanthropogenic, atmospheric lifetime, berkeley lab, black carbon, california, carb, carbon dioxide, central valley, ch4 emissions, climate pollutant, CO2, coal mines, decomposition, environment policy, fossil fuel, fraction, global warming, greenhouse gas, halocarbon gases, landfills, livestock ranches, man made source, map, marc l fischer, methane, methane emissions, methane signals, natural sources, nitrous oxide, noaa, organic matter, refrigerants, sacramento, seongeun jeong, soot, sound energy, spatial, temporal resolution, united states, walnut grove

Berkeley Lab scientists develop new method for evaluating short-lived pollutants.

New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that levels of methane—a potent greenhouse gas emitted from many man-made sources, such as coal mines, landfills and livestock ranches—are at least one-and-a-half times higher in California than previously estimated.

Working with scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Berkeley Lab scientists Marc L. Fischer and Seongeun Jeong combined highly accurate methane measurements from a tower with model predictions of expected methane signals to revise estimated methane emissions from central California. They found that annually averaged methane emissions in California were 1.5 to 1.8 times greater than previous estimates, depending on the spatial distribution of the methane emissions. (more…)

Ocean Acidification Changes Nitrogen Cycling in World Seas

By Guest PostDecember 22, 20101 commentEnvironmentacidity, ammonia oxidizers, blue whales, carbon dioxide, cheryl emiliane chow, cycle, david garrison, marine ecosystems, michael beman, microbes, nitrification, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, nutrients, ocean acidification, oceanic nitrification, oceans, organisms, proteins, sea water

*New results indicate potential to reduce certain greenhouse gas emissions from oceans to atmosphere*

Increasing acidity in the sea’s waters may fundamentally change how nitrogen is cycled in them, say marine scientists who published their findings in this week’s issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients in the oceans. All organisms, from tiny microbes to blue whales, use nitrogen to make proteins and other important compounds. (more…)

Global Rivers Emit Three Times IPCC Estimates of Greenhouse Gas Nitrous Oxide

By Guest PostDecember 21, 20103 commentsEnvironmentagriculture, atmosphere, atmospheric ozone layer, chelsea crenshaw, denitrification, dinitrogen, global, greenhouse gas, henry gholz, human activities, inert gas, ipcc, jake beaulieu, microbes, microbial process, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, oxide emissions, ozone, river networks, stratospheric, waterways

*Waterways receiving nitrogen from human activities are significant source*

What goes in must come out, a truism that now may be applied to global river networks.

Human-caused nitrogen loading to river networks is a potentially important source of nitrous oxide emission to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and stratospheric ozone destruction. (more…)

Taking Measure of the Greenhouse Effect

By Guest PostOctober 15, 20101 commentEnvironment, Scienceaerosols, andrew lacis, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate models, climate science, clouds, CO2, CO2 emissions, computer simulations, earth, gases, gavin schmidt, goddard institute for space studies, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, heat-absorbing components, heat-trapping gas, methane, mining activities, NASA, nitrous oxide, ozone, planet, reto ruedy, ron miller, trace gases, water vapor

WASHINGTON — Scientists have long known that heat-absorbing components of Earth’s atmosphere, such as clouds and certain gases, prevent our planet from being an ice-covered ball. Now a study, for the first time, comprehensively calculates the relative contributions of the components responsible for that heating, known as the greenhouse effect.

Besides clarifying an important aspect of climate science, the study also demonstrates that rising concentrations of one heat-trapping gas — carbon dioxide — leads to much more greenhouse warming than just the heat the gas absorbs directly itself.

Various studies have looked at the contributions of water vapor, CO₂, and other greenhouse gases. But none had systematically estimated the contributions of each of the main players, says climate scientist Gavin Schmidt of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and lead author of the new research. (more…)

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