Home / Environment / Opinions Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
Global warming threat from coal
Adjust font size:

Researchers and officials concerned about global warming have focused on oil usage, but scientists say liquefied coal could have a greater effect on global climate change.

Global warming scenarios are based on oil reserves, but those reserves will have less impact on global climate than the extent to which liquefied coal replaces oil and gas, scientists said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

"Oil and gas by themselves don't have enough carbon to keep us in the dangerous zone for very long by themselves, but that's assuming we do something about coal," Pushker Kharecha, a researcher for the United States space agency NASA and Columbia University in New York.

Estimates vary, but coal is the most abundant fossil fuel, and countries such as China and the United States are looking at liquefaction technology. Many industries in South Africa already use liquefied coal.

In 2007, the then Illinois Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning introduced legislation that would set the stage for large-scale production of transportation fuels from coal. Bunning and Obama come from states with prodigious coal supplies.

Liquefied coal releases 40 percent more carbon dioxide than oil when burned, said Ken Caldeira, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "Addressing the climate problem means addressing the coal problem," he said. "Whether there's a little more oil or a little less oil will change the details, but if we want to change the overall shape of the warming curve, it matters what we do with coal."

Caldeira said his climate models show that if all oil used in the world is replaced with liquefied coal, global temperatures will rise 2 degrees Celsius by 2042, three years sooner than if oil remains a staple.

If oil is replaced with solar, wind, or nuclear power, temperatures will rise 11 years later.

Many scientists believe high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to warming and effects such as melting glaciers, thawing permafrost, ocean acidification and latitudinal shifts in climate.

Current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 385 parts per million (ppm) and rising at a rate of about 2ppm a year as a result of burning coal, oil, and gas, the researchers said. The generally accepted threshold for atmospheric carbon dioxide is 450ppm. But scientists said yesterday that number should be 350ppm.

Climate change is a slow process, Kharecha said, and the effects may take decades and centuries to show up. "There are currently more than enough fossil fuels and coal to push us well past safe atmospheric CO2 levels," he said.

(Shanghai Daily via Agencies December 19, 2008)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read Bookmark and Share
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous

China Archives
Related >>
- Greenpeace exposes hidden cost of China's coal
- Thawing permafrost likely to boost global warming
- G8 must take steps now to fight global warming
- Energy ministers focus on oil prices, global warming
- Global warming threat
- China calls for technology sharing mechanism for anti-global warming efforts
NGO Events Calendar Tips
- The Eco Design Fair 2009
- Environmental English Training (EET) class
- Hand in hand to protect endangered animals and plants
- Changchun, Mini-marathon Aimed at Protecting Siberian Tiger
- Water Walk by Nature University
More
Archives
World Fights A/H1N1 flu
The pandemic fear grips the world as the virus spreads from Mexico to the US, Europe and as far as China.
Panda Facts
A record 28 panda cubs born via artificial insemination have survived in 2006.
South China Karst
Rich and unique karst landforms located in south China display exceptional natural beauty.
Saving the Tibetan Antelopes
The rare animals survive in the harsh natural environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
More
Laws & Regulations
- Forestry Law of the People's Republic of China
- Meteorology Law of the People's Republic of China
- Fire Control Law of the People's Republic of China
- Law on Protecting Against and Mitigating Earthquake Disasters
- Law of the People's Republic of China on Conserving Energy
More
Links:
State Environmental Protection Administration
Ministry of Water Resources
Ministry of Land and Resources
China Environmental Industry Network
Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base