View Large SizeTotal global emissions grew 12.7% between 2000 and 2005, an average of 2.4% a year. However, individual sectors grew at rates between 40% and near zero, and there are substantial differences in sectoral growth rates between developed and developing countries.
This chart shows emissions growth by region in four select sectors: electricity & heat, transport, industry, and building use. Emissions growth in every sector is primarily attributable to developing countries, which now account for the majority of emissions from electricity & heat, as well as industry. However, developed countries still account for a majority of emissions in the transport and building use sectors.
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Could some one please tell
Could some one please tell me the break down in percentages, of the total of co2 in the atmosphere. I have been informed that man made co2 only accounts for 2-3 0/0 of the total co2, and that natural/ animal co2 accounts for around 20-25 0/0 of the total. If this is true then tinkering with cars, fuel etc is just that, tinkering; when looked at from a global position.
Merddyn: Current CO2
Merddyn:
Current CO2 concentration is about 388 parts per million, (ppm) so in percentage terms, that comes to about 0.04%. The concentration was about 300ppm back in 1900; the nearly
50% increase30% increase (corrected per comment below—thanks!) since then is almost entirely man-made. So if you were attributing the total CO2 amount to their sources, something like 23% of CO2 currently in the atmosphere is attributable to human activities since 1900, and the rest to natural processes.But the important point is not the total amount, which in percentage terms can look small, but the net impact that that increase has on the climate. You can’t use 0 as a baseline, because if there was no CO2 in the atmosphere Earth would be frozen. The more useful baseline is 300ppm, which represents an atmosphere largely free of the influence of human development.
Also, different greenhouse gases have different impacts on climate change. Methane (CH4) is much less prevalent in terms of atmospheric concentration—about 2ppm—but it has 25 times the heat-trapping effect. Many industrial gases such as hydroflourcarbons (HFCs) are several thousand times more powerful.
I take acception to your %
I take acception to your % figures and that only. If CO2 in 1900 was 300ppm and today is about 388ppm that is not a 50% increase. Last time I checked that was about 29%. That's a far cry from 50%. It is this type of dramatization or sensationalism that give global warming naysayers something to discredit. It would be much better to say that CO2 has been around since the beginning of time. And that number is debatable 100,000 or 1,000,000 years. Who cares it's been a long long time. A 29% increase in just over 100 years is alarming. The fact that ice sheets are disappearing at an alarming rate is not debatable. What we need are just the facts Mame. No sensationalism the true facts are sensational enough.
I cannot understand this
I cannot understand this fixation of CO2 being a "pollutant" and a greenhouse gas. Nothing could be more GREEN than CO2, without it no plant life and hence no animal life (as we know it). We learnt all this at school. What has changed? CO2 has previously been at 3000 ppm and there are no signs that this incinerated the planet. As to CO2's contribution as a (misnamed) greenhouse gas, at very worst it is tiny and certainly very controversial.
It will take some serious scientific fact to convince me that CO2 is a pollutant and will cook the planet in due course.
Peter - you're right that
Peter - you're right that CO2 is essential for life. Not only is it needed for photosynthesis but it also prevents the heat we get from the sun from escaping into space. Without CO2 in the atmosphere it would be too cold for crops to grow. This has been long understood by science, and the only disagreement now is about whether the amount of greenhouse gas produced by human activity is enough to upset the natural balance and cause global warming. Mainstream science says it is and unfortunately only a few scientists disagree. Global warming won't incinerate the Earth, but it will make life pretty unbearable for most species, including us. The choice we all have is whether to ignore the science and carry on with business as usual or accept it and make big changes fast.
Steve