Earth’s climate is a complex system of interacting natural components. These components include the atmosphere, the ocean, and the continental ice sheets. Living things on earth—or, the biosphere—also constitute an important component of the climate trends system.
Numerous factors influence Earth’s climate system, some of them natural. For example, the slow drift of continents that takes place over millions of years, a process known as plate tectonics, influences the composition of the atmosphere through its impact on volcanic activity and surface erosion. (more…)
Scientists study Earth’s climate not just from observation but also from a theoretical perspective. Modern-day climate models succe ...
Since preindustrial times, ambient concentrations of the greenhouse gases have exhibited substantial increases, inter alia CO2 ...
Still hotly debated by some, human-induced global warming is now accepted in the scientific community. Earth’s average yearly tempe ...
Options for dealing with the threats of climate change include both adaptation to inevitable changes and mitigation, or lessening, ...
Since the early 1960s, climate change and air quality have become major and often controversial issues in many countries and am ...
Options for dealing with the threats of climate change include both adaptation to inevitable changes and mitigation, or lessening, of those changes that we can still affect. One possible adaptation would be to adjust our agricultural practices to the changing regional patterns of temperature and rainfall. Another would be to build coastal defenses against the inundation from sea-level rise. Only mitigation, however, can prevent the most threatening changes. (more…)
Earth’s climate is a complex system of interacting natural components. These components include the atmosphere, the ocean, and the ...
Scientists study Earth’s climate not just from observation but also from a theoretical perspective. Modern-day climate models succe ...
Although some scientists and critics still dispute that human caused greenhouse gases are causing climate change, the majority of s ...
Still hotly debated by some, human-induced global warming is now accepted in the scientific community. Earth’s average yearly tempe ...
Addressing global warming, however, is a highly complex and daunting endeavor. Many climate experts have urged the world to stabili ...
The age of industrialization came into full force through the modern exploration and use of fossil fuels. As one of its most striking phenomena, the rapid expansion of cities throughout the late 19th and the 20th centuries was a direct outcome of the fossil fuel energy economy as well. (more…)
The aim is to work with cities in advancing renewable energy technologies and systems and to help promote the renewable energy indu ...
The Solar City approach originally emerged from a new generation of International Energy Agency (IEA) energy research and developme ...
In the absence of useful and established patterns of practice, a search is under way for new means of reconciling local government’ ...
As a reaction to these historical perspectives, the building industry has witnessed a certain rise in design responses to regio ...
Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emiss ...
Nuclear energy has some distinct advantages in strengthening the external dimension of energy supply security. These include:
• Nuclear power plants produce electricity domestically. Their capital and labor inputs are also provided domestically. With more than 90% of its inputs in terms of value sourced domestically, it can be considered a largely domestic source of energy and electricity.
• Of course, a majority of OECD countries import part or all of their requirements of uranium plutonium. (more…)
Nuclear fission and fusion Research and Development continues to account for nearly half of the total spending by IEA countries, al ...
The continuous availability and affordability of energy and, in particular, electricity supply is an indispensable condition fo ...
Geopolitical risk refers almost always to primary energy carriers (oil, gas, coal, uranium or renewable energy) since their loc ...
Within the coming years, fossil fuel will be failed back its main role as the ultimate main energy sources. Fossil fuels has kn ...
Following the recent completion of three nuclear power plants, there is now some 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity in the United Kingd ...
Geopolitical risk refers almost always to primary energy carriers (oil, gas, coal, uranium or renewable energy) since their location depends on the vagaries of geology and climate. Production and energy consumption are thus often physically far apart and take place in countries and regions with different histories, cultures and values. Apart from oil & gas exploration and production, all other steps of the energy chain such as refinement or enrichment, energy conversion and distribution can be moved physically closer to the final customer or are, like consumption, directly under the latter’s control. (more…)
Nuclear energy has some distinct advantages in strengthening the external dimension of energy supply security. These include:
...
The continuous availability and affordability of energy and, in particular, electricity supply is an indispensable condition fo ...
For years it was out of desperation that observers have advised and viewed of American energy policy and geopolitical risks regardi ...
The entire concept of energy independence revolves around using the resources within a country. Simply put, it's "Stay within ...
Following the recent completion of three nuclear power plants, there is now some 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity in the United Kingd ...
Although the focus of many policy studies of climate change is on establishing the causal links between anthropogenic systems, emissions of greenhouse gases climate change, the line of causation also runs the other way. Short-term fluctuations in climate conditions, particularly in the temperate zones on the planet, affect energy consumption. If the popular expectation that the climate will become warmer becomes a reality, we can expect winters and summers that are warmer than those of the past. (more…)
Establishing the impact of climate change on energy demand requires a measure of heating and cooling requirements. In the United St ...
Here, the sensitivity of energy demand to climate is measured two ways. The first method uses elasticities that provide simple summ ...
To determine the effects of past climate trends on global energy consumption, the econometric equations providing the degree day el ...
Energy is consumed by various segments of the economy, including households, commercial establishments, manufacturing enterpris ...
Scientists study Earth’s climate not just from observation but also from a theoretical perspective. Modern-day climate models succe ...
The quantification of the actual reduction in green house gases sourcess emissions resulting from the substitution of fossil fuels with energy from waste biomass requires a complete lifecycle assessment (LCA). A systematic framework for estimating the net Green House Gases emissions from bioenergy systems and comparing them against the fossil fuel reference system that it would replace has been developed. The major considerations of the life cycle assessment approach to quantifying the greenhouse impacts of bioenergy are as follows: (more…)
Bioenergy produced from biomass is sometimes called a carbon-neutral energy source, because the same quantity of carbon released wh ...
Climate change caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect is one of the most significant global environmental issues. Increased emiss ...
To date, most discussion and research relating to the various of biomass role in mitigating CO2 emissions has been focused around i ...
Estimation of the future technical potential of biomass as an energy source is dependent on assumptions with respect to land av ...
The accumulation of carbon within a forest growth cycle can be considered in four stages. The initial establishment stage involves ...
Biomass has been a main energy sources in the world since the beginning of civilization. It has been important in development processes, including early stages of industrialization in several countries. In Sweden, for example, the first concerns about preservation date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, resulting from the recognition of the central role played by forests in energy provision. Biomass was also essential in the initial development of the iron industry in Sweden and, later on, the same happened in Brazil, where charcoal is still largely utilized in iron reduction. Biomass remains a major source of energy in many countries. (more…)
Over the last decade, the number of countries researching the potential of biomass and bioenergy for energy services rose rapid ...
The convention aims not only at stabilizing CO2 emissions in developed countries but also at ultimately reducing man-made CO2 e ...
Indoor air quality (IAQ) research deals with the presence, levels, health effects, and control of physical, chemical, and biologica ...
The relationship of gross national product per capita to energy consumption per capita for most countries of the world correlat ...
Bioenergy produced from biomass is sometimes called a carbon-neutral energy source, because the same quantity of carbon released wh ...
