CO2 emissions reduction

[struggle4progress]

... The role of population growth as a determinant of the projected rise in CO2 emissions appears to be substantial. It accounts for 35 percent of the global increase .. between 1985 and 2100 ...
http://www.cnie.org/pop/bongaarts/popgrowth/b.htm

... According to UN data, deforestation accounts for around 25 percent of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide -- roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by the United States, the world's largest polluter ...
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1210-fao.html

... In 1999, in the US, more than 30 percent of fossil fuel related carbon dioxide emissions were a direct result of transportation. With about two-thirds of this being from petrol consumption by motor vehicles and the remainder coming from diesel and jet fuel use in lorries and aircraft, respectively ...
http://www.ghgonline.org/co2transport.htm

... There is huge scope to raise the efficiency in which energy is provided and, more particularly, used. Over 60% of primary energy is, in effect, wasted - and over 60% of that in end uses ...
http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/edc/scenario.asp

... The opportunities for using biomass to reach CO2 reduction targets for the UK are significant ...
http://www.rcep.org.uk/news/04-05.htm

... Just one modern wind turbine will save over 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually ...
http://www.bwea.com/energy/myths.html

... The supplier of the solar-thermal dish generators, Stirling Energy Systems Inc. in Phoenix, won a major commitment from Southern California Edison Inc. (EIX ) (SCE): For 20 years the utility will buy all the electricity that Stirling Energy can generate at a 500-megawatt solar energy farm that Stirling will build in the Mojave Desert near Victorville, Calif. This could be the biggest solar installation in the world -- equal to a typical coal-fired plant. And if local power lines can be upgraded to handle more juice, Stirling could enlarge the facility to 850 MW -- and SCE would take all of that, too ... http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_37/b3950067_mz018.htm

... Smith and Van Leeuwen determined that nuclear generation produced about a third as much CO2 per kWh as conventional mid-sized gas-fired electricity generation ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1595894,00.html

[amitten]

1. Nothing is impossible. Any problem created by humans can be

solved by (smarter) humans. Cheer up.

[McKenzie]

2. except for the fact that we depend upon oil

for our current way of life. Sure, there are alternative sources of energy. None will allow us to keep on using cars the way we do though. And that means...don't buy a McMansion 20 miles from work. As for the paradigm of "it'll get sorted by human ingenuity"...it won't...not even slightly so.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

[amitten]

3. Well, it won't if we don't try. Giving up is not the answer. And

neither is expecting everyone to just magically change their habits. Because that will NEVER happen. The only deterrent people ever give in to is financial strain. Short of that, good luck trying to change anyone. If human ingenuity won't work, rest assured nothing else will, short of some kind of bizarre miracle.

[skids]

4. I would have voted "so screwed"...

...But I think it's within our power to ameliorate the effects. So I decided to be more optimitic than I really am.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Got to go with "screwed"

Fixing the problem is well within our abilities, but people as a whole are too ignorant, self-centered and dumb to do anything.

I would just like to comment on the Granuiad's article, that nuclear power is evil and releases CO2 because uranium has to be mined & refined. Presumably they are also against the use of iron, aluminium, copper, gold, platinum, titanium, etc etc and so on and so forth, as they are all mined & refined as well.

In case they win and we do revert to the neolithic, here is some useful information on wattle-and-daub construction. It may come in handy: Alternatively, we could use non fossil fuel for mining - or it that too obvious?

[phantom power]

6. Anybody seen a "flint-knapping for dummies" manual?

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Since you ask...

...is this what you're after?

:D

[phantom power]

9. I should have known.

[Dead_Parrot]

10. Sorry. I have a passion...

...for Start-With-Nothing technology. Things like:

How to make a sheep and a tree into a bar of soap;
Making a bow out of a tree and a chicken; or
DIY gunpowder (you need a tree, a volcano, and a barrel full of shit. Ask Gale Norton to give a speech if you're short of the latter).

I have the eriee feeling it'll be useful stuff to teach my daughter...

[phantom power]

11. I'm glad somebody is planning :-)

Let's see if I can guess: Burn some tree to render sheep fat. Mix the ash with the rendered fat for soap. Use chicken guts for the string of a bow. To make gunpowder, the tree provides carbon. The volcano provides sulfur, and the barrel of shit provides saltpeter. Somehow.

[Dead_Parrot]

12. 8/10... :-)

As well as rendering the fat, you also need to make lye (potassium carbonate/KOH in solution) which is readily obtained from wood ash: Put the ashes in a pot, add water, allow to stand, then filter off the solution. That's where the word "Potash" comes from...

Here is a humorous account of making saltpeter. Don't read while eating...

[YankeyMCC]

7. Stopping Deforestation is near and dear

but by this point it's to late for that alone so it'll have to be a mix.

I have to think we're no "totally screwed" yet because I don't see a plan to quickly terraform Mars and move everyone there in the works ;)