Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I'm thinking of the coal plant activated to process ethanol

Which adds to the CO2 levels in our atmosphere:
A new study by an international team of scientists has found that carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the Earth's atmosphere have risen almost 35 percent faster than expected over the last few years since 2000.

Researchers at the Global Carbon Project, the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey said that the indiscriminate use of coal-firing stations and other fossil fuels accounted for a 17 percent rise in CO2 levels.

Coupled with this the natural ability of land and oceans to soak up excess levels of the gas declined leading to an 18 percent increase in the CO2 levels since 2000. The study says that natural sinks are no longer able to absorb excess CO2 released in the atmosphere.

"The decline in global sink efficiency suggests that stabilization of atmospheric CO2 is even more difficult to achieve than previously thought. We found that nearly half of the decline in the efficiency of the ocean CO2 sink is due to the intensification of the winds in the Southern Ocean," said report co-author Dr Corinne Le Quéré of the University of East Anglia and British Antarctic Survey.

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