Helmholtz Blogs: Got it? #59 Dr. Greenhouse (German)
German comic on CE.
Monat: Dezember 2018
Reynolds, J. (2018): The politics and governance of negative emissions technologies
Reynolds, J. (2018): The politics and governance of negative emissions technologies. In: Glob. Sustain. 1. DOI: 10.1017/sus.2018.13.
„It is well known that the Paris Agreement aims to keep climate change – perhaps the greatest current challenge to global sustainability – to within 2 °C of warming, and to strive for 1.5 °C. Many people point toward the scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and conclude that this is feasible if only our leaders had the political will to do what’s necessary. However, it is less widely known that these scenarios assume the use of technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at very large scales.“
Lu, L.; et al. (2018): Wastewater treatment for carbon capture and utilization
Lu, L.; Guest, J.; Peters, C.; Zhu, X.; Rau, G.; Ren, Z. (2018): Wastewater treatment for carbon capture and utilization. In: Nature Sustainability 1 (12), S. 750–758. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-018-0187-9.
„This Review summarizes alternative wastewater treatment pathways capable of simultaneous CO2 capture and utilization, and demonstrates the environmental and economic benefits of microbial electrochemical and phototrophic processes. Preliminary estimates demonstrate that re-envisioning wastewater treatment may entirely offset the industry’s greenhouse gas footprint and make it a globally significant contributor of negative carbon emissions.“
Yuan, N.; et al. (2018): Extreme climatic events down-regulate the grassland biomass response to elevated carbon dioxide
Yuan, N.; Moser, G.; Mueller, C.; Obermeier, W.; Bendix, J.; Luterbacher, J. (2018): Extreme climatic events down-regulate the grassland biomass response to elevated carbon dioxide. In: Scientific reports 8 (1), S. 17758. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-36157-x.
„Terrestrial ecosystems are considered as carbon sinks that may mitigate the impacts of increased atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]). However, it is not clear what their carbon sink capacity will be under extreme climatic conditions. In this study, we used long-term (1998–2013) data from a C3 grassland Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment in Germany to study the combined effects of elevated [CO2] and extreme climatic events (ECEs) on aboveground biomass production.“
Project: Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) Advisory Committee
„The SCoPEx research team has sought external advice from a range of stakeholders for governing SCoPEx. We […] have decided to establish an independent Advisory Committee to provide advice on the research and governance of SCoPEx.This Advisory Committee will be established under the auspices of the Harvard Dean of Engineering, Frank Doyle, and the Harvard Vice-Provost for Research, Richard McCullough, who will work as mediators between the Advisory Committee and the SCoPEx research team. The Advisory Committee will provide advice to the Harvard Dean of Engineering, the Harvard Vice-Provost for Research, and the SCoPEx Principal Investigator, Frank Keutsch.“
The Wire: Geoengineering: Should India Tread Carefully or Go Full Steam Ahead?
„Solar geoengineering doesn’t help reduce carbon emissions, and is founded on reckoning with the distressing possibility that reduction strategies won’t be enough.“
Earther: Geoengineering Is Inevitable
„Here’s what’s going to happen: Every year for the foreseeable future, scientists, activists, and citizens concerned about climate change will have a discussion in one form or another about geoengineering.“
Possner, A.; et al. (2018): The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli
Possner, A.; Wang, H.; Wood, R.; Caldeira, K.; Ackerman, T. (2018): The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli. In: Atmos. Chem. Phys 18 (23), S. 17475–17488. DOI: 10.5194/acp-18-17475-2018.
„We show that a spatially coherent cloud perturbation is not evident along the emission line. Yet our model simulates an increase in domain-mean all-sky albedo of 0.05, corresponding to a diurnally averaged cloud radiative effect of 20 W m−2, given the annual mean solar insolation at the VOCALS-REx site. Therefore, marked changes in cloud radiative properties in precipitating deep open cells may be driven by anthropogenic near-surface aerosol perturbations, such as those generated by ships.“
Reynolds, J. et al. (2018): Governance of Highly Decentralized Nonstate Actors: the Case of Solar Geoengineering. Discussion Paper
Reynolds, J.; Wagner, G. (2018): Governance of Highly Decentralized Nonstate Actors: the Case of Solar Geoengineering. Discussion Paper.
„While solar geoengineering has the potential to greatly reduce climate change, it has generally been conceived as centralized and state deployed. Potential highly decentralized deployment moves the activity from the already contested arena of state action to that of environmentally motivated nongovernmental organizations and individuals, which could disrupt international relations and pose novel challenges for technology and environmental policy. We explore its feasibility, political implications, and governance.“
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine (2018): A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine (2018): A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. DOI: 10.17226/25279.
„Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA).“