Man-made Greenhouse Gas Emissions Research Articles

Decarbonizing Maritime Transport through Green Fuel-Powered Vessel Retrofitting: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Addressing the urgent global challenge of man-made greenhouse gas emissions and climate change necessitates collaborative action between shipping lines and government regulatory agencies. Aligning with the International Maritime Organization’s emissions reduction strategy, this paper presents a novel bi-level programming model that unifies these stakeholders. On the upper level of the proposed bi-level model, a number of shipping lines optimize retrofitting plans for their vessels to maximize economic benefits. On the lower level, the regulatory agency responds to the carbon reduction efforts by setting retrofitting subsidies and emission penalty rates. This framework represents a multi-leader–single-follower game involving shipping lines and the regulatory agency, and its equilibrium is determined through an equilibrium problem with equilibrium constraints (EPEC). The EPEC comprises multiple single-leader–follower problems, each of which can be formulated as a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). The diagonalization algorithm (DM) is employed for its solution. Simulation studies performed based on a ten-year planning period show that the proposed approach can effectively promote vessel retrofitting and the use of green fuels, which leads to an annual emission reduction of over 50%.

Jaringan Advokasi Transnasional dalam Upaya Pelestarian Kawasan Arktik Dari Eksplorasi Minyak di Norwegia Tahun 2016 - 2018

Climate change is a global commons problem. Its causes man-made greenhouse gas emissions and impacts are distributed and felt across the earth, transcending traditional boundaries and jurisdictions of the states of the international system. In the case of Norway, the country has been a vocal pioneer for climate action in international forums and has made specific policy progress in that areas. Yet there is significant cognitive dissonance as the country fails to address the impact of its oil and gas extraction, instead facilitating new exploration that is incompatible with global carbon budgets, and indeed undermines global efforts to reduce emissions. For a country so dedicated to its environmental goals, Norway must also decide whether oil and gas investment makes climate sense. Greenpeace Nordic and Nature & Youth (Natur og Ungdom) together with its networks were creating a global movement The People vs. Arctic Oil unites against the state of Norway with the purpose of keeping the world within its environmental boundaries in order to safeguard all life on Earth and to secure a peaceful and sustainable future for the Arctic due to government’s plan to opening new oil excavations in the Arctic breaches in 2016. The idea of communication revolution we find ourselves in may also be changing the power itself, shifting the balance way of view and into the hands of many. This advocacy networks has the ability to create truly transnational movements that has the potential to affect change. This research aims to describing in more depth the concept of Transnational Advocacy Networks by Keck and Sikkink through the case study of strategies that has been used by this advocacy networks in order to reach their goals in advocating the issue regarding their attempt to preserve the Arctic from Norway’s plan to do an Arctic oil exploration.

Efficiency of Low-Carbon Technologies Implementation at Non-Ferrous Metallurgy Enterprises under the Conditions of Carbon-Regulation Development in Russia

Carbon markets are highly relevant to the need to regulate man-made greenhouse gas emissions. As the world faces the dangerous effects of global warming, reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become a critical priority for governments, corporations and individuals around the world. Carbon markets offer a way to incentivize and encourage emissions reductions and facilitate a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy. Low-carbon development is possible by building transparent and understandable organizational and economic conditions for the operation of carbon regulation. This article considers the feasibility of introducing energy-efficient technologies at Polymetal International PLC enterprises located in Khabarovsk region, engaged in the mining and processing of non-ferrous and precious metals (gold, silver and copper) in light of the country’s growing attention to the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions. The objective of this study is to model the organizational and economic conditions of the carbon market and estimate the economic and climate outcomes from the implementation of energy-efficient technologies at Polymetal International PLC. This study analyzes the current energy-consumption structure of non-ferrous metallurgy enterprises in Russia and identifies potential areas for the use of energy-efficient technologies. An important aspect is the assessment of government policies and incentives that could facilitate the introduction of low-carbon technologies. It is important to assess the impact of prospective carbon-management plans in Russia on the economic performance of steel companies. The results of this study suggest that the introduction of low-carbon technologies has the potential to significantly reduce energy consumption, lower operating costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from non-ferrous metal companies in Russia. However, the successful implementation of these technologies will require significant investment, stakeholder cooperation and political support from the Russian government.

Carbon Neutral Fuels and Chemicals from Standalone Biomass Refineries

The urgency to eliminate man-made greenhouse gas emissions and achieve energy security/independence by all countries justifies an energy policy that considers the major role of renewable biomass as a source of organic feedstock for producing adequate organic chemicals and biofuels on a sustainable basis and economically. This paper investigates a three-stage thermochemical process to convert wet biomass into a tailored mix of syngas for producing green methanol, hydrogen, and Fischer-Tropsch products. The three-stage thermochemical process involves the torrefaction of wet biomass using hot carbon monoxide gas, pyrolysis of torrefied biomass to produce biochar, and final gasification of the pyrolysis gases by auto thermal reforming up to 1400o C temperature. The proposed process is suitable to utilize a wide variety of biomass materials such as freshly harvested biomass without field drying, agro waste, forest/plantation litter, organic municipal solid wastes, sludge from sewage water treatment plants, solid biomass rejects from anaerobic digesters, bagasse from sugar or first-generation ethanol plants, organic solid rejects from second-generation ethanol plants, waste glycerides from biodiesel plants, industrial organic waste, etc. The proposed process offers valorization of biomass so that the net income of farmers is enhanced a fewfold by selling freshly harvested biomass. The economic analysis found that carbon-neutral hydrogen, methanol, etc can be produced below the prevailing costs of such products derived from fossil crude oil or natural gas without considering carbon credits. It is feasible in a standalone biomass refinery to use any biomass as only one bulk raw material/feedstock without any harmful emissions to water bodies or the atmosphere except carbon neutral carbon dioxide gas if not sequestrated.

The Eco Ladder for energy management: a literature review of economic driving and energy management

Transport accounts for nearly 25% of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, and goods transport by road accounts for 45% of the total energy consumption in transport. Measures within goods transport will therefore be a good starting point for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Existing research shows that trucking companies’ measures to facilitate an economic driving style can achieve between 5% and 10% reduction in fuel consumption. They can probably reduce their energy consumption even more, by focusing on factors additional to driving style. However, existing recipes for such measures (e.g., ISO: 50001) seem to be relatively complicated, resource-intensive, and to a small extent adapted to transport. Previous research shows low implementation of such management systems in trucking companies, because most of them are small (<5 employees), and probably have few resources when it comes to economy, time and expertise. The aim of the study, is therefore to develop a research-based model of how trucking companies can work with economic driving and energy management at the organizational level. The model is based on a systematic review of measures for economic driving and energy management in trucking companies. The model is referred to as the Eco Ladder for energy management, and describes an approach with gradual introduction of specific measures. Companies must start with the measures that are assumed to have the greatest effect, and which are easiest to implement, before moving on to the next level. Based on existing research, we discuss expected effects for economy, emissions, traffic safety and working environment.

Carbon Reduction Program Implementation Strategy on Product Tanker Fleet Against the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) Decreasing Target

Emissions of gases released into the atmosphere by various human activities on earth cause a greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), methane (CH4) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). One activity that increases greenhouse gases is shipping. Shipping is a cost-effective and energy-efficient form of bulk transportation, but currently international shipping operations account for approximately 2.5% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions globally [1]. Therefore, in 2018, IMO's initial strategy was adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by at least 40% by 2030 and targeting a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 70% by 2050. And reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions from ships by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008 [2]. To reduce the impact of these activities, IMO issued regulation 28 MARPOL Annex VI if ships with a capacity of 400 Gross Tonnage (GT) or more receive a D rating for three consecutive years or an E rating, corrective action is required to achieve an annual operational CII. er to achieve the desired rating in 2025.

An experimental investigation on concrete blocks using Ferrock as a green binding material

Environmental pollution is one of the greatest concerns humankinds has faced in the recent decade due to unprecedented usage of resources and subsequent waste generation in tandem with industrialization, which has had a huge impact. Among the activities humans do, construction is one of the most vulnerable, which creates large quantities of pollution due to the production of various construction wastes during the production of ingredient materials and their usage. Concrete is usually used in the construction of buildings and infrastructure. Concrete, one of the most widely used construction materials, necessitates the use of cement, which is one of the major polluters. The cement industry is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. The cement industry produces nearly 8% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Industrial industries are becoming increasingly interested in reducing concrete-related carbon emissions. Many studies have been performed on the development of green concrete by substituting other renewable and sustainable materials for cement. Ferrock is used as a substitute for cement in this study to create Ferrock Concrete. Ferrock is a mixture of iron dust, fly ash, lime powder, metakaolin, and oxalic acid that is used as a binder. It reacts with CO2 and water, producing iron carbonates thanks to the action of an oxalic acid catalyst. During the hardening process, ferrock concrete absorbs carbon dioxide. The specific objective of this study is to design a Ferrock concrete and compare it with M25 grade of conventional concrete. Parameters including workability, compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength are compared with conventional concrete to obtain its real performance.

Study of patched ternary blended concrete using fiber glass wire mesh

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials. The cement industry is one of the main sources of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas. The cement industry produces nearly 8% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Industries are becoming increasingly interested in reducing concrete-related carbon emissions. Many studies have been performed on the development of green concrete by substituting other renewable and sustainable materials for cement. In the current study, the traditional concrete has been replaced by a special concrete called Ternary Blended Concrete. Ternary Blended Concrete is mixture of three different cementitious materials combined with aggregates. In this concrete, cement was fragmentally replaced by silica fume and GGBS. Silica fume and GGBs are added at different proportions. Cylinders and cubes are casted for the final mix and tested for Split Tensile Strength, Compressive Strength and Flexural Strength.The presence of silica fume at 8%, 10% and 12% shows increase in compressive strength by 8.70%, 15.11% and 1.41% and GGBS at 25%, 30% and 35% shows increase in compressive strength by 0.60%, 9.85% and 0.26% when compared to compressive strength of control concrete. The split tensile strength of silica fume at 8%, 10% and 12% shows increase by 0.02%, 3.22% and 2.05% and GGBS at 25%, 30% and 35% shows increase by 0.29%, 2.34% and 0.87% when compared to control concrete.

Insights in overcoming the non-adoption of voluntary agricultural ghg mitigation measures in Ireland

Agricultural Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in Ireland are projected to increase up to 21 Mt CO2eq by 2030 mainly driven by increased dairy cow numbers and increased nitrogen fertiliser use. In response to the growing public awareness of the GHG emissions' environmental impact, the Irish government published the Climate Action Plan in 2019, which identifies the agricultural sector's leading role in reducing GHG emission and increasing carbon removals to achieve the national GHG emission targets by 2030. Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MACCs) on Irish GHG emissions have projected the total technically feasible mitigation potential for the Irish agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU) sector to be sufficient enough to achieve the set targets by 2030. Although these mitigation measures are available and when implemented, would mostly lead to a win-win situation, the voluntary adaptation rate by farmers is low. This study addresses the most significant determinants of voluntary adoption of mitigation measures by systematically examining existing literature on how and to what extent non-price determinants affectthe voluntary adoption rate of technically feasible mitigation measures in the Irish afolu sector. The main identified nonprice determining factors were the degree of farmers' awareness regarding man-made GHG emissions, receiving agrienvironmental advice, implementation costs, profitability and size of farms, land quality and the type of farm enterprise. Integrating the gained results in the former macc analysis enabled us to adopt the implementation rates of the cost-efficient afolu mitigation measures accordingly. The non-price determinants impact the voluntary uptake rate of AFOLU mitigation measures to the extent that the adjusted total Irish AFOLU abatement potential is 47% lower than technically feasible. Considering that 51.6% of the total estimated AFOLU abatement potential in 2030 is offset through Irish forestry, which at current afforestation rate will turn into a net carbon source by 2035, a significant gap occurs to any potential Irish and EU GHG reduction targets. To substantially help bring the nexus between agricultural development and GHG emission targets in Ireland closer together, policy measures, that differentiate between the different type of AFOLU mitigation measures, need to be implemented to enhance the uptake rate of cost-beneficial and cost-effective measures. This would have the potential to reduce the level of agricultural GHG emissions by 2030 in a way that it would converge towards possible EU and Irish GHG emission reduction targets.

Efficient Reconstructions of Common Era Climate via Integrated Nested Laplace Approximations

Paleoclimate reconstruction on the Common Era (1-2000AD) provide critical context for recent warming trends. This work leverages integrated nested Laplace approximations (INLA) to conduct inference under a Bayesian hierarchical model using data from three sources: a state-of-the-art prox database (PAGES 2k), surface temperature observations (HadCRUT4), and latest estimates of external forcings. INLA's computational efficiency allows to explore several model formulations (with or without forcings, explicitly modeling internal variability or not), as well as five data reduction techniques. Two different validation exercises find a small impact of data reduction choices, but a large impact for model choice, with best results for the two models that incorporate external forcings. These models confirm that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are the largest contributor to temperature variability over the Common Era, followed by volcanic forcing. Solar effects are indistinguishable from zero. INLA provide an efficient way to estimate the posterior mean, comparable with the much costlier Monte Carlo Markov Chain procedure, but with wider uncertainty bounds. We recommend using it for exploration of model designs, but full MCMC solutions should be used for proper uncertainty quantification.

MON-112 Home Haemodialysis (HHD) with low dialysate volume (LDV) – The green benefit

Man-made greenhouse gas emissions have impacted climate changes significantly. This has adversely affected human health presently and has serious implications for future generations. Healthcare industry itself contributes towards these carbon footprints. In England, 3.2% of the total CO2 emissions are accounted for by the healthcare industry alone producing 18 million tons CO2eq emissions. National Health Services (NHS) England CO2 emissions exceeds the total emissions from all aircraft departing from Heathrow, the largest European airport. Dialysis patient care accounts for 62.5% of the carbon footprint of a renal service. In UK, the prevalence rate of dialysis patients is 440 patients per million population, that is 25,261 haemodialysis (HD) patients in 2016. 1256 patients received dialysis at home. In-centre HD undertaking dialysis 4 hours 3 times/week, consumes more than 55,000 Litres of water/patient/year and contributes 3,818 kgCO2eq to the carbon footprint. A LDV system may have less emissions compared to traditional machines. This footprint is influenced more by frequency of treatments rather than duration. On average in Europe, patients using NxStage System One (NSO) dialyse 5.7 times for 2.6 hours/week with 24.3 Litres of dialysate/session to deliver a 2.61 stdKt/V. Based on manufacturers data, we calculated fluids volume, weight and energy required with NSO and we compared with requirements to deliver 3 times/week HD or the same clearance with traditional machines (3.5 times/week to deliver a 2.6 stdKt/V in the same patient). Reduced water usage NSO with PureFlow allows to prepare dialysate in-situ. It includes deionization technology and converts 1 Litre source water to 1 Litre of ultrapure dialysate as against traditional osmosis water systems which have a conversion rate of around 50%. Frequent therapy as above utilizes 7377 Litres of source water/year, only 13% of the 56,160 Litres of water used in centre HD and 12% of the 59,717 Litres of water required to deliver the same clearance with a traditional system. Low shipping volume of dialysate concentrates Fluids is the main contributor to shipping volumes in dialysis supplies. PureFlow system allows a minimal shipping volume of 422 Litres of concentrate including buffer per patient-year vs. 702-780 Litres of acid concentrate (dilution 1/43 or 1/35) in conventional HD or 819-910 Liters to deliver the same clearance as with NSO. PureFlow concentrate equals 1.5ton and 0.8m3 per patient-year. Conventional therapy equals 0.9-1.1 ton and 1.4-1.7 m3 (dilution 1/43 or 1/35) of acid concentrate. Delivering the same clearance with a traditional system equals 1.0-1.2 ton and 1.6-2.0 m3. Less energy consumption NSO with PureFlow utilizes 8.2-10.7 kwh to deliver 6 sessions/week. This is 28% less than 29.6-52.9 kwh to deliver 3 sessions/week with a traditional system. If one includes the energy used for water treatment which amounts to 32.5-63.2 kwh/week without heat disinfection, PureFlow usage is less than 20% of this. Despite increased frequency, HHD with LDV is a much greener option for dialysis patients and significantly reduces the carbon footprint. Such systems are the order of the day where one is constantly looking for effective greener options in delivering treatments for our patients.

A critical review of organic manure biorefinery models toward sustainable circular bioeconomy: Technological challenges, advancements, innovations, and future perspectives

Total livestock emissions account for up to 14.5% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Counteractive measures, such as circular economy concepts and negative emission technologies are necessary to limit global warming below 1.5 °C. Possible treatment options for organic manure include anaerobic digestion, combustion, gasification, hydrothermal liquefaction and composting. The choice of treatment varies depending on the economics, the requirement of a specific product, and sociocultural factors. Commercialization of these treatments needs a blend of appropriate technology, feasible economics, policy support and agreeable socio-cultural conditions. Key findings of this study include the following: 1. Increasing scientific awareness about manure management and treatment; 2. Building a sustainable cooperative model to commercialize technologies; 3. Creating a market for manure recycling products; 4. The role of policy in supporting technologies and consumers; and 5. The codigestion of substrates for better efficacy. Current trends show minimal actions in place as opposed to the high-rate of acceleration that is necessary.

A Study on Air Pollution and Environmental Challenges in Chennai City

Environmental pollution is a severe issue in both developed and developing countries. Pollution is defined undesirable state of natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities. There is clear relationship between the growth manmade green house gas emissions and observed environmental climate change are claimed by policymakers. The most important causes of air pollution are human economic activities such as use of vehicles and industrial operations mainly in Chennai city. Air pollution is various types such as noise, water, air. It causes damages that are normally inflicted in society at large rather than on those directly responsible. In several city air is already polluted that it has been causing illness and deaths among elderly people and children. The high pollution density has placed great strain on available infrastructure and major problem for environmental in major cities of Tamil Nadu. It is recognized that climate change due to global warming going to important threat safety of millions of people not only living near coastline but also impacts on changing cyclones. The aim of the study focuses on objectives to environment in Chennai city to estimate the problems of air pollution environment in Challenge in Chennai city and suggest health cost of vehicular pollution and to suggest the Government measure to control air pollution in environment Chennai city.

Crack Growth Resistance in Fibre Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete Exposed to Sustained Extreme Temperatures

Portland cement concrete (PCC) is now second only to potable water in per capita consumption. And notwithstanding its numerous benefits, Portland cement itself is responsible for between 4 to 5% of the world’s manmade greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, geopolymer concrete is a promising alternative, wherein the Portland cement binder is replaced entirely by supplementary cementitious materials triggered by alkaline activators. Relatively little is known on the fracture response of this system, especially when exposed to extreme temperatures. The study reported here focused on the crack growth response of such a system prepared with Class F fly ash and reinforced with steel and polymeric fibres up to 1% volume fraction. The geopolymerization was effected with a blend of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate to achieve a compressive strength of 30 MPa at 28 days. The resulting geopolymer concrete was subjected to temperatures between-30 oC to 300 oC, sustained for 2 hours. A fibre blend of steel to polypropylene in the mass ratio of 4:1 was incorporated. Based on the results, four different stages for fracture behaviour were identified with superior fibre efficiency seen at sub-zero temperatures.

High-resolution imaging and characterization of a CO2 layer at the Sleipner CO2 storage operation, North Sea using time-lapse seismics

L arge-scale underground storage of industrially produced carbon dioxide is the most effective way of keeping cumulative man-made emissions of greenhouse gases within safe limits (IPCC, 2005). The CO2 injection operation at Sleipner, in the central North Sea between the UK and Norway, commenced in 1996 and is the world’s longest-running industrial-scale storage project. It is also the first example of underground CO2 storage arising as a direct response to environmental legislation (Baklid et al., 1996). CO2 separated from natural gas produced at the Sleipner field is being injected into the Utsira Sand, a regional saline aquifer of late Cenozoic age, in excess of 200 m thick in the Sleipner area (Figure 1a). The aquifer comprises mostly clean unconsolidated sand of high porosity (> 0.3) and high permeability (> 1 Darcy). A number of thin intra-reservoir mudstones, typically 1-2 m thick, are evident from geophysical logs acquired in wells around Sleipner (Figure 1b). The CO2 is injected in a dense phase via a deviated well at a depth of 1012 m below sea level, approximately 200 m beneath the top of the reservoir. Injection commenced in 1996 at a roughly constant rate, with around 16 million tonnes of CO2 stored by 2015. A comprehensive deepfocused monitoring programme has been deployed of which time-lapse seismic has proven to be the key tool (Arts et al., 2008). A baseline 3D survey was acquired in 1994, with repeat surveys in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. The plume is imaged on the seismic data as a tiered structure some 200 m high comprising a number of bright sub-horizontal reflections (Figure 2a). These are interpreted as reflections from thin layers of CO2 trapped beneath the intra-reservoir mudstones which are partially but not wholly sealing. The reflective layering had formed by 1999 with each individual reflection traceable on all of the subsequent surveys. As a general rule the middle and upper reflections in the plume have increased in amplitude and lateral extent on successive time-lapse surveys, whereas the lower layers have ceased growing, in some cases shrinking and dimming. A key objective of the monitoring at Sleipner is to demonstrate that geological storage of CO2 is a safe and viable technology. One aspect of this is to quantitatively verify or constrain predictive flow simulations of plume development. However, because the injection well is near-horizontal, no wellbore penetrates either the CO2 plume or the exact stratigraphy that the plume now occupies, and quantitative analysis is challenging.

Global Increase in Climate-Related Disasters

Intense climate-related disasters — floods, storms, droughts, and heat waves — have been on the rise worldwide. At the same time and coupled with an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, temperatures, on average, have been rising, and are becoming more variable and more extreme. Rainfall has also been more variable and more extreme. Is there an ominous link between the global increase of these hydrometeorological and climatological events on the one side and anthropogenic climate change on the other? This paper considers three main disaster risk factors — rising population exposure, greater population vulnerability, and increasing climate-related hazards — behind the increased frequency of intense climate-related natural disasters.In a regression analysis within a model of disaster risk determination for 1971–2013, population exposure measured by population density and people’s vulnerability measured by socioeconomic variables are positively linked to the frequency of these intense disasters. Importantly, the results show that precipitation deviations are positively related to hydrometeorological events, while temperature and precipitation deviations have a negative association with climatological events. Moreover, global climate change indicators show positive and highly significant effects. Along with the scientific association between greenhouse gases and the changes in the climate, the findings in this paper suggest a connection between the increasing number of natural disasters and man-made emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The implication is that climate mitigation and climate adaptation should form part of actions for disaster risk reduction.

Climate-Related Disasters in Asia and the Pacific

Natural disasters are on the rise worldwide. There are more and more intense natural disasters — which are defined to cause at least 100 deaths or to affect the basic survival needs of at least 1,000 people — resulting from floods and storms as well as droughts and heat waves. The Asia and the Pacific region has experienced some of the most damaging disasters in recent decades, with alarming consequences for human welfare. At the same time, the climate in the region has been changing. Temperatures have been higher, on average, and also more variable and more extreme. Rainfall has also been more variable and more extreme. Is there a relationship between these changes in climate and the increase in natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific? This paper considers three main disaster risk factors — rising population exposure, greater population vulnerability, and increasing climate-related hazards — behind the increased frequency of intense natural disasters. In a regression analysis within a model of disaster risk determination, the most significant association is between the increase in natural disasters and population exposure, represented by population densities. Population vulnerability also matters, but increasing incomes seem to be associated first with greater and then lesser vulnerability. Finally, there is a notable association between climate-related hazards (greater precipitation linked to floods and storms and especially higher temperature linked to droughts and heat waves) and the frequency of intense natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific and its subregions during 1971-2010. Along with the scientific association between greenhouse gases and the changes in the climate, the findings in this paper suggest that there is a link between increasing natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific and man-made emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Reducing the carbon footprint of hospital-based care.

Climate change, driven by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, is a major threat to the health of this and future generations. Hospital-based healthcare generates large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare requires direct action to reduce waste and energy use, but also requires radical reform of care pathways so that the only patients who come to or stay in hospital are people whose healthcare cannot safely be delivered closer to home. Achieving these reforms without major structural changes to the financial flows in the NHS will be extraordinarily difficult.

Reducing the carbon footprint of hospital-based care

Climate change, driven by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, is a major threat to the health of this and future generations. Hospital-based healthcare generates large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare requires direct action to reduce waste and energy use, but also requires radical reform of care pathways so that the only patients who come to or stay in hospital are people whose healthcare cannot safely be delivered closer to home. Achieving these reforms without major structural changes to the financial flows in the NHS will be extraordinarily difficult.

Trend analysis from 1970 to 2008 and model evaluation of EDGARv4 global gridded anthropogenic mercury emissions

The Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) provides a time-series of man-made emissions of greenhouse gases and short-lived atmospheric pollutants from 1970 to 2008. Mercury is included in EDGARv4.tox1, thereby enriching the spectrum of multi-pollutant sources in the database. With an average annual growth rate of 1.3% since 1970, EDGARv4 estimates that the global mercury emissions reached 1287tonnes in 2008. Specifically, gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) (Hg0) accounted for 72% of the global total emissions, while gaseous oxidised mercury (GOM) (Hg2+) and particle bound mercury (PBM) (Hg-P) accounted for only 22% and 6%, respectively. The less reactive form, i.e., Hg0, has a long atmospheric residence time and can be transported long distances from the emission sources. The artisanal and small-scale gold production, accounted for approximately half of the global Hg0 emissions in 2008 followed by combustion (29%), cement production (12%) and other metal industry (10%). Given the local-scale impacts of mercury, special attention was given to the spatial distribution showing the emission hot-spots on gridded 0.1°×0.1° resolution maps using detailed proxy data. The comprehensive ex-post analysis of the mitigation of mercury emissions by end-of-pipe abatement measures in the power generation sector and technology changes in the chlor-alkali industry over four decades indicates reductions of 46% and 93%, respectively. Combined, the improved technologies and mitigation measures in these sectors accounted for 401.7tonnes of avoided mercury emissions in 2008. A comparison shows that EDGARv4 anthropogenic emissions are nearly equivalent to the lower estimates of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s mercury emissions inventory for 2005 for most sectors. An evaluation of the EDGARv4 global mercury emission inventory, including mercury speciation, was performed using the GEOS-Chem global 3-D mercury model. The model can generally reproduce both spatial variations and long-term trends in total gaseous mercury concentrations and wet deposition fluxes.