27 April 2011
CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprints. The idea is to express the impact of each different greenhouse gas in terms of the amount of CO2 that would create the same amount of warming. That way, a carbon footprint consisting of lots of different greenhouse gases can be expressed as a single number.
For example, in 2009, the UK released 474 million tonnes of CO2. But if you include its emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and F-gases, the country's total emissions work out at 566 million tonnes of CO2e. In other words, those extra gases added the equivalent of 92 million extra tonnes of CO2.
Standard ratios are used to convert the various gases into equivalent amounts of CO2. These ratios are based on the so-called global warming potential (GWP) of each gas, which describes its total warming impact relative to CO2 over a set period – usually a hundred years. Over this time frame, according to the standard data, methane scores 25 (meaning that one tonne of methane will cause the same amount of warming as 25 tonnes of CO2), nitrous oxide comes in at 298 and some of the super-potent F-gases score more than 10,000.
The only wrinkle with all this is that 100 years is a fairly arbitrary time frame, and the ratios change significantly if a shorter or longer period is chosen. That's because some gases last much longer in the atmosphere than others. For instance, a tonne of CO2 emissions may warm the planet gently but over many centuries. A tonne of methane emissions, by contrast, creates a strong burst of warming over a much shorter period....
No, methane releases are not more preferable!!!
No greenhouse gases are the preference of future generations!
The standarda are established after much debate. We have our tasks cut out for us the way it is, we don't need any more volatility in forward movement to emissions of fossil fuels. The petroleum is always playing with facts and dialogue. It is amazing how the tobacco industry's model actually turns people into confused political constituents. The entire lying paradigm should be outlawed. I sincerely thought TRUTH IN ADVERTISING MADE THAT ILLEGAL!
