Tag: greenhouse effect

U.S. Consumers are taking into account companies’ actions on climate change when purchasing

 
According to a recent report from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, since 2008, approximately 25% percent of U.S. consumers have either rewarded or punished companies for those companies’ actions related to climate change. The report, “Americans’ Actions to Limit Global Warming in September 2012” (available online), indicates that a significant portion of the consumer market continues to care about the position of companies on climate change. The report also concludes that individuals who have not used purchasing power to either reward or punish companies in the past year plan to increase personal acts of consumer activism in the next year.

The report indicates that in the 12 months leading up to the September 2012 survey, about one in three adults rewarded a company that took steps to reduce emissions.  In addition to rewarding companies for taking actions to reduce climate change impacts, 24% of those surveyed in September 2012 indicated that they had at some point in the past year chosen not to purchase products by companies that oppose steps to reduce climate change.

When asked to contemplate future behavior, 52% of individuals surveyed expressed the intent to either reward or punish companies sometime in the next year for the companies’ action or inaction to reduce climate change. Since researchers from Yale and George Mason began collecting data four years ago, slightly more than half of Americans have consistently reported plans to use purchasing power to either reward or punish companies. In November 2008, consumers indicated the greatest willingness (58%) to either buy or not buy based on a company’s actions on climate change. In the economic recession of 2010, willingness to utilize purchasing power to support global warming action fell to 51%. Since then, consumer support for utilizing purchasing power has remained at just over half of the surveyed American adults.

The Yale and George Mason researchers also studied three other prongs of climate actions by citizens: (1) saving energy, (2) citizen behavior, and (3) communication behavior. Even though a majority of American adults report that they always or often set their thermostats below 68 degrees and take other actions like replacing traditional light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs, the researchers noted a decline in Americans’ belief that certain energy-saving actions can reduce climate change. Americans are less confident today than four years ago that their individual actions will reduce their contribution to climate change. While Americans may be less optimistic about their individual impact on global warming, the report’s authors observed that a growing number of Americans say they contacted a government official in the past year to support mitigation of climate change. In the next year, the report indicates that more Americans intend to urge government officials to take action on climate change.

Overall, the Yale and George Mason polling data indicate that Americans continue to be concerned about global warming and are willing to use political and consumer activism to push for action on global warming.



 



	


	





	

		
		
What are Greenhouse Gases?
	


	
	
	

		
 

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases or GHGs.  When sunlight reaches the Earth’s surface, it can either be reflected back into space or absorbed by Earth. Once absorbed, the planet releases some of the energy back into the atmosphere as heat (also called infrared radiation). GHGs like water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) absorb energy, which slow or prevent the loss of heat in to space.  This process is commonly referred to as the “greenhouse effect”, whereby GHGs act like a blanket, making the Earth warmer than it would otherwise be.


Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750, human activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. These GHG emissions have increased the greenhouse effect, leading to rises in the Earth’s surface temperatures. According to the National Research Council (Advancing the Science of Climate Change, 2010), atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased by almost 40% since pre-industrial times, from approximately 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in the 18th century to 390 ppmv in 2010.  The current CO2 level is higher than it has been in at least 800,000 years.  The primary human activity affecting the amount and rate of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.


The main GHGs directly emitted by humans include CO2, CH4, nitrous oxide (N2O), and several others:


    

  • Carbon dioxide (CO2):  CO2 is absorbed and emitted naturally as part of the carbon cycle through animal and plant respiration, volcanic eruptions, and ocean-atmosphere exchange. Human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, release large amounts of carbon to the atmosphere, causing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere to rise.
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  • Methane (CH4):  Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
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  • Nitrous oxide (N2O): Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste.
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  • Fluorinated gases or F-gases: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) are synthetic, powerful GHGs that are emitted from a variety of industrial processes. F-gases are often used in coolants, foaming agents, fire extinguishers, solvents, pesticides, and aerosol propellants. F-gases are also sometimes used as substitutes for stratospheric ozone-depleting substances. These gases are typically emitted in smaller quantities, but because of their potency, they are sometimes referred to as “High Global Warming Potential” gases. F-gases have a long atmospheric lifetime and some of these emissions will affect the climate for many decades or centuries.
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  • Tropospheric ozone (O3): Tropospheric ozone has a short atmospheric lifetime, but it is a potent GHG. Chemical reactions create ozone from emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds from automobiles, power plants, and other industrial and commercial sources in the presence of sunlight. In addition to trapping heat, ozone is a pollutant that can cause respiratory health problems and damage crops and ecosystems.
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  • Water vapor: This is the most abundant GHG and significant in terms of its contribution to the natural greenhouse effect, despite having a short atmospheric lifetime. While some human activities can influence local water vapor levels, the concentration of water vapor on a global scale is controlled by temperature which influences overall rates of evaporation and precipitation. As a result, the global concentration of water vapor is not substantially affected by direct human emissions.
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The effect of GHGs on climate change depends on three main factors: (i) the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere; (ii) the length of time that GHGs stay in the atmosphere; and (iii) the impact of GHGs on global temperatures.


The concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere is measured in parts per million, parts per billion, and sometimes parts per trillion. One part per million is equivalent to one drop of water diluted into about 13 gallons of liquid.


With respect to the length of time that GHGs stay in the atmosphere, each GHG can remain in the atmosphere for different amounts of time, ranging from a few years to thousands of years. All of these gases remain in the atmosphere long enough to become well mixed, meaning that the amount that is measured in the atmosphere is roughly the same all over the world, regardless of the source of the emissions.


In terms of the impact of GHGs on global temperatures, the two most important characteristics are how well the gas absorbs energy (preventing it from immediately escaping to space) and how long the gas stays in the atmosphere. Some GHGs have a stronger impact than others on global temperatures. For each GHG, a Global Warming Potential (GWP) has been calculated to reflect how long it remains in the atmosphere, on average, and how strongly it absorbs energy. The GWP for a gas is a measure of the total energy that a gas absorbs over a particular period of time (usually 100 years), compared to CO2.  Gases with a higher GWP absorb more energy, per pound, than gases with a lower GWP, and thus contribute more to changes in global temperatures. For example, methane’s 100-year GWP is 21, which means that methane will cause 21 times as much warming as an equivalent mass of carbon dioxide over a 100-year time period.


Accurate reporting and monitoring of GHG emissions is fundamental to reducing greenhouse gases and taking meaningful action to combat climate change. After all, you cannot manage what you do not measure.




 



	


	





	

		
		
RinkWatch Initiative brings the Climate Change issue right into Canadian backyards
	


	
	
	

		
 

Researchers at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario have launched an initiative involves to help track climate change by recruiting volunteers to report on their outdoor rinks. RinkWatch (rinkwatch.org) is an innovative citizen science-driven project that has already signed up hundreds of volunteers since the web site was launched in early January 2013.


In 2012, scientists in Montreal warned that there will be fewer outdoor skating days in the future. Their predictions are based on the results of data taken from weather stations across Canada over the last fifty years. In some regions, scientists warn that one day, there may be no more backyard rinks at all. This is particularly poignant for those who remember the story of how Wayne Gretzky learned to play hockey on the backyard rink his father made for him in Brantford, Ontario.


This warning prompted a group of geographers at Wilfrid Laurier University to create RinkWatch, where outdoor rink enthusiasts across North America and around the world can tell the geographers about their rinks.  The web site asks volunteers to pin the location of their rinks on a map, and then each winter record every day that they are able to skate on it.  The geographers will then gather all the information and use it to track the changes in our climate. The RinkWatch web site will provide regular updates on the results. Participants will also be able to compare the number of skating days at their rink with rinks elsewhere.


Robert McLeman, an associate professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfred Laurier explained the rationale behind the project: “Everyone understands what’s going on in their backyard. The winters are different now than they were 20, 40, 60 years ago, and these [rinks] are things that they make a connection with personally.” McLeman says the project was modeled on the efforts of birdwatchers, who have been conducting backyard bird counts for many decades.


While volunteers may not think of it as science, that is exactly what they will be doing – making regular, systematic observations about environmental change in their own backyards. These efforts will not only help science achieve a broader understanding of the effects of climate change, but it will engage the public in climate changes issues at a very grassroots level.




 



	


	





	

		
		
GHG
	


	
	
	

		
What is greenhouse gas? or What are the greenhouse gases?


 


GHG is the acronym widely used to refer to “Greenhouse Gases”.


They are relevant in the context of their role in the greenhouse effect. GHGs in the atmosphere absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. In colloquial terms, they trap heat under the atmospheric cover of our planet.


The most important ones for GHG accounting are:


Carbon Dioxide (C02)

Methane (CH4)

Nitrous Oxide (N20)

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Hydrofluoroethers (HFEs)

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3)

Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)