What works and what doesn't.

To begin, the methanogenesis of rice paddies is somewhat self-limiting. The anaerobic conditions are limited to the growing season.

...On average, (click here) the rice paddy soil is only fully waterlogged for about 4 months each year. For the rest of the time methanogenesis is generally much reduced and, where the soil dries out sufficiently, rice paddy soil can become a temporary sink for atmospheric methane....

...there is the great potential for improved varieties of rice, able to produce a much larger crop per area of rice paddy and so allow for a cut in the area of rice paddies, without a cut in rice production. Finally, the addition of compounds such as ammonium sulphate, which favour activity of other microbial groups over that of the methanogens, has proved successful under some conditions.

There is what is coined by the USDA as an amendment to the soil for rice paddies, called "Biochar." The stuff works. (click here) But, the production of Biochar is just about as polluting as the rice fields. Its process takes 'biomass' and creates charcoal and by-products. The charcoal substance is considered the "Biochar" product that is stated to last thousands of years in the soil. Now, call me crazy, but, any product that stays in the soil for thousands of years doesn't sound like a good product to me.

Besides the charcoal it produces another by-product is a bio-oil. ???? I think it can be used in replacement of oil for burning for heat. It is sometimes called "biocrude." Get the picture?

The other by-product is 'syngas.' It is burning to the right in that picture. It doesn't burn blue like methane, but, it still releases CO2. Syngas is known to the petroleum industry and contains as much as one third hydrogen (which burns orange), 15 percent CO2, 42 percent CO, 1.5 percent methane, 18 percent Hydrogen Sulfide, ppmv, 36 percent Carbonyl Sulfide, ppmv and heat into the air.

There needs to be an answer to the methane emissions from rice paddies, but, let it be from processes that are developed with the environment and soil in mind.

California Rice (click here)

Nowhere in the world is rice production more advanced than in California. Careful attention to every step in the cropping cycle and milling ensures that rice produced in our warm Mediterranean climate meets-and often exceeds-customers' expectations for great rice.

Field Preparation

In March, farmers begin to prepare their fields for planting. First, fields are carefully leveled with precision, GPS or laser-guided grading equipment. Level fields allow rice farmers to conserve water. Fertilizer is then added, and shallow furrows are rolled into the field. By April, the fields are ready to be planted....

Let's keep this in perspective.

This is a Iowa State University publication. It uses the IPCC data that dates back to 1994.

The point is there is dearly little anyone in the current administration is going to do or say that will change the minds of most Americans. The data is set, the records incredibly logged into archives and there are states in this United States that have already conquered the knowledge of the climate crisis. This did not happen yesterday. This is an extensively investigated aspect of life on Earth.

Rice cultivation was estimated at 5% of all methane emissions in 1994. I am sure it is more today. In a "Scientific American" article in 2002 it was estimated the percentage was more like 15% and dependent upon the success of the crop. (click here)

Central (click here) to any study of climate change is the development of and participation in an emission inventory process that identifies and quantifies a country's primary sources and sinks of greenhouse gases.(Endnote 1) This process is important because: (1) it provides a basis for the ongoing development of a comprehensive and detailed methodology for estimating sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, and (2) it provides a common and consistent mechanism that enables all signatory countries to the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) to estimate emissions and to compare the relative contribution of different emission sources and greenhouse gases to climate change. Moreover, systematically and consistently estimating emissions at the national and international levels is a prerequisite for evaluating the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of pursuing possible mitigation strategies and adopting emission-reduction technologies.

This document provides information on green house gas sources and sinks, and estimates of emissions and removals for the United States for 1990 1993, as well as the methods used to calculate these estimates, and the uncertainties associated with them. Although estimates are provided for all four years, the 1990 estimates are considered the base year, since under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries are to submit inventories of greenhouse gas emissions for the year 1990.

The emission estimates presented here were calculated using the IPCC Draft Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC/OECD, 1994) to ensure that the emission inventories submitted to the FCCC are consistent and comparable across sectors and between nations. In order to fully comply with the IPCC Draft Guidelines, the United States has provided a copy of the IPCC reporting tables in Annex D of this report. These tables include the data used to calculate emission estimates using the IPCC Draft Guidelines. The United States has followed these guidelines, except where more detailed data or methodologies were available for major U.S. sources of emissions. In such cases, the United States expanded on the IPCC guidelines to provide a more comprehensive and accurate account of U.S. emissions. These instances have been documented, and explanations have been provided for diverging from the IPCC Guidelines (IPCC/OECD, 1994)....

Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research

Vol. 63, February 2004, pp. 101-115

March 15, 2017

February 2017 (click here) was the second warmest February in 137 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

Last month was 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean February temperature from 1951-1980. The two top February temperature anomalies have occurred during the past two years.

February 2016 was the hottest on record, at 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the February mean temperature.

February 2017's temperature was 0.20 degrees Celsius cooler than February 2016....

February 2016 was 1.3 degrees C warmer. (2.3 degrees F)

February 2017 was 1.1 degrees C warmer. (1.98 degrees F)

Often people laugh and state there is a lot of fuss over nothing, but, those are global temperatures. The entire Earth's troposphere is hotter, not just the house here you live. That results in melting glaciers and an uncomfortably warm climate. These temperatures cause severe storms and droughts. This is not a minor temperature shift, this is a shift in the entire troposphere of Earth. That is an enormous about of heat.

Kindly notice in 1880 as the Industrial Revolution was just in it's beginnings. The climate was very different. This heating is dangerous. The forests of the 1880s were different, too. They existed and were allowed to grow to enormous size.

Left: Lake Maggiore, Italy

In 1776, Alessandro Volta (click here) ran some experiments on combustible air that was reported to him by a friend, Father Carlo Campi. On a little boat in Lake Maggiore he started to poke and stir the bottom of an area covered with reeds. Upon doing this, Volta noticed a lot of air emerging and decided to collect some in a large glass container. Upon analysis of the air he noted that it burned a beautiful blue flame. It wasn't for nearly a century that firm evidence was collected that showed that the methane formation in these habitats was a microbial process.

The discovery of methanogens helped produce the idea for the kingdom Archaeobacteria, that would include methanogens, some extreme halophiles, and some extreme thermophilic sulfur-dependant organisms....

All this over little microscopic organisms. They are little organisms that produce methane, a dangerous tropospheric greenhouse gas. The reactions below are those found in the natural world, in places like swamps and mogs. But, they are also found in a cultivated place called a rice paddy. These are the reactions that need to be interrupted.

Reaction		δ Go (kJ/mol CH4)
1. 4 CH3OH	→ 3 CH4 + CO2 + 2 H20	-106
2. CH3OH +H2	→ CH4 + H2O	-112.5
3. 4 CH3NH2 + 2 H2O	→ 3 CH4 + CO2 + 4 NH3	-76.7
4. 2 (CH3)2NH + 2 H2O	→ 3 CH4 + CO2 + 2 NH3	-74.8
5. 4 (CH3)3N + 6 H2O	→ 9 CH4 + 3 CO2 + 4 NH3	-75.8
6. 2 (CH3)2S + 2 H2O	→ 3 CH4 + CO2 + 2 H2S	-52.1
7. 4 (CH3)SH + 2 H20	→ 3 CH4 + CO2 + 4 H2S	-51
8. (CH3)SH + H2	→ CH4 +H2S	-69.3
9. 4 H2 + CO2	→ CH4 + 2 H2O	-130.4
10. CH3COO- + H+	→ CH4 + CO2	-36
11. 4 CO + 2 H20	→ CH4 + 3 CO2	-211

July 8, 2017

It turns out your skin is crawling with single-celled microorganisms (click here) – ­and they’re not just bacteria. A study by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Medical University of Graz has found that the skin microbiome also contains archaea, a type of extreme-loving microbe, and that the amount of it varies with age.

The researchers conducted both genetic and chemical analyses of samples collected from human volunteers ranging in age from 1 to 75. They found that archaea (pronounced ar-KEY-uh) were most abundant in subjects younger than 12 and older than 60. Their study has been published in Scientific Reports (a Nature journal) in an article titled, “Human age and skin physiology shape diversity and abundance of Archaea on skin.”

“The skin microbiome is usually dominated by bacteria,” said Hoi-Ying Holman, director of the Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology (BSISB) Programand a senior author on the paper. “Most of the scientific attention has been on bacteria, because it’s easier to detect. Based on the literature, six years ago we didn’t even know that archaea existed on human skin. Now we’ve found they’re part of the core microbiome and are an important player on human skin.”

The study was a joint effort of Holman, Berkeley Lab postdoctoral fellow Giovanni Birarda (now a scientist at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Italy), UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Alexander Probst (now associate professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany), and Christine Moissl-Eichinger, the corresponding author of the study. Moissl-Eichinger and her team at the Medical University of Graz in Austria and at the University of Regensburg in Germany analyzed the genetic features of the skin microbiomes.

In addition to the influence of age, they found that gender was not a factor but that people with dry skin have more archaea. “Archaea might be important for the cleanup process under dry skin conditions,” said Moissl-Eichinger. “The results of our genetic analysis (DNA-based quantitative PCR and next-generation sequencing), together with results obtained from infrared spectroscopy imaging, allowed us to link lower levels of sebum [the oily secretion of sebaceous glands] and thus reduced skin moisture with an increase of archaeal signatures.”...

Scientists don't make this up as if they wanted something new for it's politics.

These classifications are seriously considered. The need to bring about a different classification system is because it BECOMES EVIDENT it is necessary.

No one said, "Let's come up with a special kind of organism intended to make the petroleum industry crazy. That does not happen."

...By the 1970s, (click here) a system of Five Kingdoms had come to be accepted as the model by which all living things could be classified. At a more fundamental level, a distinction was made between the prokaryotic bacteria and the four eukaryotic kingdoms (plants, animals, fungi, & protists). The distinction recognizes the common traits that eukaryotic organisms share, such as nuclei, cytoskeletons, and internal membranes.

The scientific community was understandably shocked in the late 1970s by the discovery of an entirely new group of organisms -- the Archaea. Dr. Carl Woese and his colleagues at the University of Illinois were studying relationships among the prokaryotes using DNA sequences, and found that there were two distinctly different groups. Those "bacteria" that lived at high temperatures or produced methane clustered together as a group well away from the usual bacteria and the eukaryotes. Because of this vast difference in genetic makeup, Woese proposed that life be divided into three domains: Eukaryota, Eubacteria, and Archaebacteria. He later decided that the term Archaebacteria was a misnomer, and shortened it to Archaea....

Humans, along with all other animals are considered metazoans. According to Merrium-Webster, a metazoan any of a group (Metazoa) that comprises all animals having the body composed of cells differentiated into tissues and organs and usually a digestive cavity lined with specialized cells

It is unfortunate extremists will take House seats from Congressmen that understand the needs and priorities best for the country.

March 21, 2017

By Nadja Popovich, John Schwartz and Tatiana Schlossberg

...In every congressional district, (click here) a majority of adults supports limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. But many Republicans in Congress (and some Democrats) agree with President Trump, who this week may move to kill an Obama administration plan that would have scaled back the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Nationally, about seven in 10 Americans support regulating carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants — and 75 percent support regulating CO2 as a pollutant more generally. But lawmakers are unlikely to change direction soon.

Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, warned that committed activists — like the Tea Party — can shape politicians’ approaches to issues like climate change. “Those are the ones who can take you out at the next primary,” he said. Mr. Inglis lost his primary in 2010 to Trey Gowdy, a Tea Party candidate who attacked his climate views....             

Recognize the characteristics associated with methanogenesis

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) or acetic acid (CH₃COOH) are the most commonly used electron acceptor in methanogenesis.
• Microbes capable of producing methane are called methanogens. They have been identified only from the domain Archaea - a group that is phylogenetically distinct from eukaryotes and bacteria.
• The production of methane is an important and widespread form of microbial metabolism. In most environments, it is the final step in the decomposition of biomass.
• Methane is a major greenhouse gas. The average cow emits around 250 liters of methane a day as a result of the breakdown of cellulose by methanogens. Therefore, the large scale raising of cattle for meat is a considerable contributor to global warming.
• cofactor
  A substance, especially a coenzyme or a metal, that must be present for an enzyme to function.
• fermentation
  Any of many anaerobic biochemical reactions in which an enzyme (or several enzymes produced by a microorganism) catalyses the conversion of one substance into another; especially the conversion (using yeast) of sugars to alcohol or acetic acid with the evolution of carbon dioxide.
• methanethiol
  A colourless gas, a thiol with a smell like rotten cabbage, found naturally in plants and animals.

Methanogenesis is a form of anaerobic respiration that uses carbon as a electron acceptor and results in the production of methane.











Exactly!

Coal industry jobs are minimal in the USA and that won't change.

The USA has, in the past, been a net exporter of coal, but, it isn't the kind of coal one uses to for household energy to heat rooms. The coal the USA exports is metallurgical coal. Metallurgic coal is also called "coking coal" and it is used for metal production plants such as steel. I think the export numbers are something like 16% of the world's needs. 

The map below is from 2015. There is probably even less coal used today around the world. Coal is a fossil fuel and it is not a desirable form of energy anymore. It just isn't. It pollutes far too much. The demand is not there anymore.

It isn't a matter of being cheap, because, no fossil fuel is cheap. Fossil fuels cause major damage to Earth's climate in the form of greenhouse gas emissions. Those rising emissions are causing climate damage to the lands people live on. In causing climate damage the cost of using coal becomes extremely expensive for any government in the world to take it's use lightly.

Additionally, the price of coal as a commodity has been dropping. The USA does not have a winning strategy to increase coal production, thus increase coal jobs. The demand is not there. The article immediately below is from May 2017. This year. This is not fiction. Coal and it's supposed jobs are a myth and nothing more than political rhetoric. Coal production in the USA is a utility for when it is needed, but, the switch to using coal as an energy source was flipped OFF awhile ago.

May 8, 2017
By Frik Els

The price of coking coal plunged (click here) again on Monday with the industry benchmark price tracked by the Steel Index dropping 6% or $12.40 to $199.40 a tonne as the impact of supply disruption following tropical storms in Australia appears to have been less than previously thought....

USA Republicans need to change their rhetoric. It is ancient, anti-economy, anti-worker, anti-union, anti-middle class and most of all anti-clean water and air. They need to value what current generations embrace and stop trying to kill people.

There was a euphoria at the beginning of 2017 when Cyclone Debbie hit Australia causing a shut down of it's metallurgic coal mines. That is easing and the price job is receding along with Australia's recovery from Cyclone Debbie.

July 9, 2017
By Michael Mackenzie

This week marked three months (click here) since Tropical Cyclone Debbie slowly hit the coastline of Queensland carrying windspeeds of 260kph.

That part of Australia is used to cyclones, but Debbie's destructive force refused to move on, hovering for hours over places like Daydream Island, Airlie Beach and Proserpine before moving slowly south.

And though months have passed, Debbie's impact is still being felt — from tropical North Queensland down to the flood-ravaged communities of northern NSW....

Also, China is getting very serious about the climate and is looking to domestic resources for any of it's coal needs.

2 December 2016
By WU Lixin, QIN Rongjun & REN Shihua

Our new study, (click here) An Analysis of Coal Price Trends in China, shows that the rapid increase in China’s coal prices since June 2016 was mainly driven by shrinking domestic supply due to China’s effort to cut overcapacity in the coal industry.

In order to stabilize coal prices, the Chinese government is taking measures to increase supply and is encouraging coal and power companies to sign long-term supply contracts.

In the long term, China’s coal demand will stabilize at around 4 billion tonnes, which can be fully met by domestic supply. As China reaches a balance in domestic coal demand and supply, the coal price and coal imports will decline....

As far as the climate crisis and China's resolve, this movement in policy by China regarding coal is hopeful. Good governance requires a country to stabilize the current market, learn it's impacts and then begin a strategy to change the impact of that market commodity to the country's commodity. I believe China is correct in stabilizing it's coal needs and RESTRICTING that need to domestically produced coal. This is the beginning of China's independence from coal as energy.

The era of coal is over. There is just no way coal is going to increase it's use of energy. I don't know if there is a good substitute for coking coal, but, my guess is somewhere in the world is an Eon Musk working on it.

18.11.2015

PEAK. (click here) Today, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) publishes a landmark report. As it circumnavigates the major economies using coal to generate electricity, the organization concludes that the peak of coal production has been reached in 2013. In 2014, the decline was 0.7%, A data that the IEEFA has borrowed from the world energy statistics elaborated for 64 years by the oil tanker BP. By 2015, the decline is expected to increase with a forecast of between 2 and 4%. "This new analysis illustrates that a change in the era is taking place on the overall use of coal, mainly under the influence of technological innovations," said Tim Buckley, director of financial studies at 'IEEFA. "China, Japan and India are the three biggest importers of coal, and what we see is that their imports peaked in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively." Today, only India and Australia continue to consume more and more coal. What are the national reasons for this?

There is something one doesn't see everyday; a scientist on the currency of his homeland country. That is the 10 thousand lira currency.

This is Alessandro Volta (click here). As one might guess he is the inventor or the first battery. He also identified methane.

November 1776, he found methane at Lake Maggiore, and by 1778 he managed to isolate methane.

It's Sunday Night

"Gas" by Skooly (click here for website where he is featured - thank you)

[Verse 1: Skooly]

My partner stuck behind the wall so he taking work
I found a plug inside the wall so I make it work
I know that’s one hell of a fall if you face it first
So don’t make it worse, try to make it work, take your Perc
We in the club with the Act, we had to sneak out the back
I got your bitch in the back, I’m tryna beat down her back
I feel like a phantom, I hop in the Phantom, the camera it see out the back
She got the goodies like Ciara, she see me counting, it be [?]
You pussy niggas need ER
Oops, I done killed all the DRs
You pussy niggas need tiaras, came a long way from the Miata
I bought my mama a Fiat, it’s good on gas
I’m in the hood on gas

[Hook: 2 Chainz]

Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Chilling at the moment
Winning at the moment
Women at the moment
Who with me at the moment?

Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Chilling at the moment
Winning at the moment
Women at the moment
Who with me at the moment?

[Verse 2:Skooly]

They screaming out Skooly in the bleachers
Might as well call me a teacher
These niggas scared to do features
How much for a feature?
Look, you might just pay him a 40
But that nigga spit like a 40
See you can just give me a ten
I’mma spit like an FN
I promise these niggas ain’t none of my friends
My flow is never gon’ end
I’m in this shit till the end
I never slip up again
Now look, I hope I never acquire the fucking desire to ever go fucking retire
I want this shit here forever
I want them diamonds and bezels
And all of you niggas that didn’t put the effort
Look right back at me and left me
I know you’re gonna regret it
I promise you’re gonna regret it
I come in this bitch like it’s Belly
To take my shit back, hope you ready
And hop in the Jag, and give it some gas
And hand you the gas, you might need a mask

[Hook: 2 Chainz]

Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Chilling at the moment
Winning at the moment
Women at the moment
Who with me at the moment?

Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Gas gas gas gas gas gas
Chilling at the moment
Winning at the moment
Women at the moment
Who with me at the moment?