Global Warming Roulette » The Foundry- Global Warming Talk

A few years ago the upper limit on carbon dioxide was 450 parts per million (ppm), which meant an 80 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Reaching 350 ppm would require a 97 percent reduction in emissions, entailing a complete conversion to renewable energy systems by mid-century, with the world economy virtually free of carbon emissions. Since it's impossible to capture all the wind, a more realistic number is 3 terawatts, or 1 million state-of-the art turbines, and even that requires storing the energyâ"something we don't know how to doâ"for when the wind doesn't blow. And Marlo Lewis at the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out that âsacrifices required of developing countries would be immense, because 90% of the growth in global CO2 emissions is expected to occur in developing countries. MITâs Richard Lindzen Yong-Sang Choi recently published a study that says the impact of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels may affect the global temperature far less than originally thought. It also goes to show how capping carbon dioxide emissions could strangle the global economy and adaptation could be a much less costly but much more effective approach to dealing with climate change. read more

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