Carbon dioxide

Skipping atomic-scale stones to study some chemistry basics

harminka — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:51:37 -0500

Thought experiment: a carbon dioxide molecule—think of a cheerleader’s baton—comes slanting in at high speed over a dense liquid, strikes the surface and ricochets.

Carbon capture milestone for CSIRO in China

harminka — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:47:24 -0500

Just weeks out from the Olympics, the CSIRO and its Chinese partners have officially launched a post-combustion capture (PCC) pilot plant in Beijing that strips carbon dioxide from power station flue gases in an effort to stem climate change.

Acidification of sea hampers reproduction of marine species

harminka — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:33:20 -0500

By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and from the human use of fossil fuels, the world's seas function as a giant buffer for the Earth's life support system. The chemical balance of the sea has long been regarded as immovable.

Paying to save tropical forests could be a way to reduce global carbon emissions

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:09:35 -0500

Wealthy nations willing to collectively spend about $1 billion annually could prevent the emission of roughly half a billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for the next 25 years, new research suggests.

Amazon outflow is found to power ocean capture of carbon dioxide

harminka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:01:36 -0500

Nutrients washed out of the Amazon River are powering huge amounts of previously unexpected plant life far out to sea, thus trapping atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study. Until now, the areas around the Amazon and other great rivers had been thought to be emitting CO2, so the study may affect climate scientists' calculations of how the greenhouse gas acts.

Coal-generated CO2 captured in Australia - first

harminka — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:00:35 -0500

In a first for Australia, carbon dioxide (CO2) has been captured from power station flue gases in a post-combustion-capture (PCC) pilot plant at Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Molecular mechanisms of starch breakdown in plants

harminka — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:10:45 -0500

Energy from the sun and carbon dioxide fuel photosynthesis in plants and algae, making life on earth possible. Carbon that is fixed by plants is converted to starch and sucrose, which are utilized by plants for energy and to build biomass.

Solution for the global carbon dioxide problem

harminka — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:05:01 -0500

Of the current global environmental problems, the excessive release of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuels and the related global warming is one of the most pressing. In an essay in the journal ChemSusChem , Fritz Scholz and Ulrich Hasse from the University of Greifswald introduce a possible approach to a solution: deliberately planted forests bind the CO 2 through photosynthesis and are then removed from the global CO2 cycle by burial.

New gas sensors for monitoring carbon dioxide sinks

harminka — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:21:42 -0500

A novel gas sensor system makes it possible to monitor large areas cost-effectively the first time. The patented gas sensor is based on the principle of diffusion, according to which certain gases pass through a membrane faster than others. Using a tube-like sensor it is possible to measure an average gas concentration value over a certain distance without influencing or distorting conditions in the measuring environment.

Before fossil fuels, Earth's minerals kept CO2 in check

harminka — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:52:23 -0500

Over millions of years carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been moderated by a finely-tuned natural feedback system— a system that human emissions have recently overwhelmed. A joint University of Hawaii / Carnegie Institution study published in the advance online edition of Nature Geoscience links the pre-human stability to connections between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the breakdown of minerals in the Earth’s crust.

Revolutionary CO2 maps zoom in on greenhouse gas sources

harminka — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:56:23 -0500

A new, high- resolution interactive map of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has found that the emissions aren't all where we thought.

Satellites Help Map Soil Carbon Flux

harminka — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:08:24 -0500

Changes in soil carbon occur with changes in land management. Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and The University of Tennessee investigated quantifying soil carbon changes over large regions. They integrated remote sensing products with a national carbon accounting framework in a project funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Earth Science.