THE CARBON QUANDARY
ing hundreds of new coal- and
gas-fired power plants, and are
poised to keep nudging global
warming emissions rapidly upward over the century to come.
By some estimates, global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are expected to reach 45 billion metric tons annually by 2040,
according to data published by the
U.S. Energy Information Administration in July. For some perspective, that’s approaching 200
times the amount of CO₂ naturally
released by all of the planet’s landbased and undersea volcanoes
combined in any given year.
Given all of this, atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide
have recently passed 400 parts
per million, a milestone that many
scientists consider worrying. Such
concentrations of CO₂ have not
been seen on Earth for millions of
years, and the rate at which these
levels have risen over the last
several decades is almost unprecedented in recorded history. Given
the planet’s continued reliance on
fossil fuels, there is currently no
indication that this upward trend
will stop anytime soon. And while
scientists remain divided over the
precise character and timing of
global warming’s finer impacts,
HUFFINGTON
09.15.13
the odds of more severe, destructive and costly weather patterns
increases inexorably with the rising tides of CO₂.
“We are a society that has inadvertently chosen the doubleblack diamond run without having
learned to ski first,” says Dr. Gavin
Schmidt, a climatologist and climate modeler at NASA’s Goddard
“At the moment, the
cost of emitting
carbon, for all practical
purposes, is zero.”
Institute for Space Studies, referring to the 400 ppm milestone. “It
will be a bumpy ride.”
Tackling the problem can be
achieved by any number of means.
Some observers, assuming that
humanity won’t soon abandon
the convenience and energy density of fossil fuels, put their faith
in geoengineering — a catch-all
term for sci-fi solutions like seeding clouds or oceans with reflective particles to cool the entire
planet. But these are untested and
tend to have the air of a desperate,
last-ditch effort that most experts
hope dearly to avoid.
Ahead of that, improvements
in energy efficiency — stretching
every kilowatt further — com-