Greenhouse Gases Sources and Climate Change

climate change greenhouse gases
It is of interest to examine potential sources of greenhouse gases sources or atmospheric CO2 by analysis of the global distribution of carbon in all its forms. Atmospheric carbon, which can be assumed to be essentially all in the form of CO2 (i.e., 700 Gt carbon equals 2570 Gt of CO2) comprises only about 1.6% of total global carbon, excluding lithospheric carbon. Obvious greenhouse gases sources of direct or indirect additions of CO2 to the atmosphere are therefore fossil fuel deposits, since portions of them are combusted each year as fuels, and terrestrial biomass. (more…)

Sugar to Ethanol Production

sugar-to-ethanol-production
Brazil produced about 18.5 million metric tones (20.4 tons) of processed sugar in the 2001/2002 harvest, with approximately 9.45 million metric tones (10.4 tons) used domestically and the rest exported. Brazilian sugar is mostly derived from sugarcane, a drought-tolerant tropical and subtropical crop containing about 12 to 17% sugars (90% sucrose, 10% glucose) and 68 to 72% moisture. Brazil grew about 272 million metric tones (300 million tons) of sugarcane in the 2001/2002 season, making it second to India in world cane production that year. In 1975, Brazil adopted a Pro-Alcool Program to convert sugar to ethanol to reduce dependence on petroleum imports that were damaging the economy. (more…)