Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Sources 2010: 1)Combustion of Fossil Fuels: Fossil Fuel + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water Vapour + Heat 3)Deforestation 2)Cement Production Limestone (CaCO 3 ) + Clay or SiO 2 heated to produce “clinker” CO 2 Combustion of fossil fuels:8.7 Gigatonnes of carbon (10 9 kg C) Cement production:0.4 Gigatonnes of carbon (10 9 kg C) Cumulative emissions from 1850 to 2010: Fossil fuel combustion + Cement Productions: 365 Gigatonnes of carbon (10 9 kg C) Deforestation & land use emissions: 162 Gigatonnes of carbon (10 9 kg C) Today deforestation has contributed 1/3 of the problem Tomorrow reforestation can contribute 1/3 of the solution Land Use Change:0.9 Gigatonnes of carbon (10 9 kg C)
Aerial photograph of part of the Amazon Part of the Amazon in 1975 in 1975today
Fossil Fuel & Cement CO 2 Emissions Peters et al. 2011, Nature CC; Data: Boden, Marland, Andres-CDIAC 2011; Marland et al Growth rate % per year Growth rate % per year Growth rate % yr Growth rate % per year + -
Trends in Emissions
Fossil Fuel CO 2 Emissions (Production and Consumption) Peters et al. 2011, Nature CC
CO 2 Emissions by Fossil Fuel Type Updated from Le Quéré et al. 2009, Nature Geoscience; Data: Boden, Marland, Andres-CDIAC 2011 Time (y) Oil 34% Coal 41% Gas Cement CO 2 emissions (PgC y -1 )
USA has produced ~30% of total cumulative anthropogenic CO 2 emissions since 1900 with only 4.5% of the global population! Combustion: Fuel + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water Vapour + Heat
The Path to Decarbonization C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C HH H H H H H H H H H H Coal C/H = 2.0 C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H C H H HH Oil C/H = 0.5 C H H C H H C H H HH Propane C/H = C H H HH Methane C/H = 0.25 HH Hydrogen C/H = 0 Not only less CO 2 produced with decreasing C/H but more energy too.
Trends in Emissions
Updated from Le Quéré et al. 2009, Nature Geoscience CO 2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel (FF) and Land Use Change (LUC) ( ) Current LUC emissions ~10% of total CO 2 emissions
Emissions from Land Use Change ( ) R.A. Houghton 2010, personal communication; GFRA Tropical Temperate CO 2 emissions (TgC y -1 ) Time (y)
Emissions from Land Use Change ( ) R.A. Houghton 2010, personal communication; GFRA Latin America S & SE Asia Tropical Africa CO 2 emissions (Tg C y -1 ) Time (y)
Trends in Atmospheric CO2 Concentration
Anthropogenic Radiative Forcing