Thursday, December 31, 2009

Capture Methane as a first priority

This link is to a Wall Street Journal article entitled "A Fast, Cheap Way to Cool the Planet". The gist of it is that methane is a much more potent greenhouse than CO2, it is relatively short-lived, so what is already in the atmosphere will disappear quickly, AND it is relatively easy to capture  methane with existing technology of modest cost. The approach certainly makes sense, and is presented by two authors with excellent credentials. A recommended article, which you may need to log in to read.

"Scientific studies, such as the EPA's June 2006 report, "Global Mitigation of Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases," conservatively indicate that we could eliminate 1.3 gigatons of annual CO2 equivalent emissions—that's half the U.S. power industry's emissions—just by targeting landfills, coal mines, and oil and gas leaks."

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GREENLAND - Will probably be the focus of near term sea level rise

Greenland is almost all covered by a very thick glacial ice cap. If all of Greenland's ice either melted or slid into the oceans, sea le...