Posts Tagged ‘Greenhouse’
Waste Management
May 7, 2013 | 
Author Waste Management
Waste management companies exist to assist companies with the challenge of industrial waste. As you can imagine some industries generate more waste than others and those that generate a lot in the course of their business usually find it more cost effective to have someone else deal with it.
This topic covers a broad spectrum. It is a term often used to describe the management of a variety of waste, usually collected, treated, processed, recycled, reused or disposed of by a department of the local authority.
As people produce more and more waste, partly as a result of more and more packaging being used for our produce, our waste management services are becoming more sophisticated and better able to deal with the problem.
In industry there is a growing need for waste management services, some specialising in certain aspects of it and others attempting to be all things to all companies. Those who specialise in certain areas tend to deliver a better service as they can fine tune their expertise into a narrow and clearly defined area.
Industries such as the oil industry or chemical industry need waste management services who can respond to a given situation 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Often their waste management needs involve coping with an unexpected emergency, an oil or dangerous chemical spill, for example.
Waste management services trained and expert in dealing with the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste is invaluable to these industries. They will most likely have licensed facilities for the treatment and transfer of contaminated waste and the personnel trained and experienced to carry out the operation.
The first line of defence against an emergency spill can be the use of skimming equipment to try and recover the spill. Booms and dispersants as well as absorbents and may also be used. Waste can be transferred from the site to a holding facility using appropriate waste transfer vehicles.
The industries that can suffer heavily by a serious waste problem rely heavily on the expertise and experience of professional waste management services. Their emergency response teams can contain, collect and treat hazardous waste in the fastest possible time, thereby rendering the situation as safe as possible as quickly as possible.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive all give useful guidance on the regulations governing the storage of hazardous waste in the UK. All service providers have to operate under these regulations and each one should be a registered waste carrier and usually also having a facility with an appropriate permit for accepting and treating hazardous waste, as well as its possible disposal.
Waste management services provide an invaluable backup service to a variety of industries that have come to depend on them for the necessary support and assistance they need when it comes to collecting, recovering, treating, recycling, reusing and disposing of waste. Waste has paradoxically become big business for the companies who have chosen to specialise in it.
Who handles your waste management?
From October 2010 SEPA can now request the waste management records of all business, from the accountants office to the North Sea oil companies.
At Be Seen Go Green we can help on a variety of environmental issues which may affect you, including your compliance responsibilities.
To find out more contact us www.beseengogreen.eu
Posted in Carbon footprint, Carbon management, computer recycling, Edinburgh Recycle, Edinburgh WEEE, eee, Food Recycling, Food Waste, glasgow eee, glasgow recycling, Glasgow waste, glasgow weee, landfill, Packaging Waste, Recycle Edinburgh, Recycle UK, recycling, Skip Hire, UK Recycle, UK WEEE, Waste management, weee, WEEE Edinburgh, WEEE UK, wheelie bin | 
Tags: computer recycling, Disposal, edinburgh recycle, Edinburgh Recycling, Efficiency, electrical waste recycling, Emissions, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, Footprint, glasgow recycle, glasgow recycling, glasgow weee, Global, Green, Greenhouse, Management, Recycling, Reduce, Renewable, Services, Solutions, Treatment, Waste | 
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How Can ISO 14001 Benefit My Business?
Environmental Concerns are now of paramount consideration by company directors, owners and employees worldwide.
Since the 14001 Environmental management system includes everyone in the business and all aspects of the organization that affect the environment, it can improve an organization’s environmental performance in many ways. This improved performance comes at a cost to the organization, a cost which can be recovered by aggressively seeking benefits.
Some of those benefits are as follows:
All environmental policies and procedures are now in the same format
All documents are now easily accessible to employees so compliance has improved
Regularly scheduled EMS reviews are ensuring both legal and ethical obligations are met in a timely fashion.
Increased Profits
The quantity of materials and energy required for manufacturing a product may be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the product, material handling costs, and waste disposal costs.
An EMS can help reduce incidents of pollution and the associated expense of recovery.
Recycling manufacturing waste and unused inputs could increase revenues. Recycling need not be within the same facility, but with another one that can use the waste as input to their production.
Employee health and safety can be improved, thereby improving productivity, decreasing sick days, and reducing insurable risk.
Insurance claims may be reduced, thus reducing the costs of coverage and settlements.
This is just a sample of the benefits available to business; the list of benefits and potential benefits is considerably larger.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Carbon Reduction Commitment, Climate Change, CO2, CSR, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions, Iso14001, Social Responsibility | Tags: Benefits, Business, carbon reduction, Change, Climate, Corporate, CSR, EMS, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, environmental management system, Global, Green, Greenhouse, ISO 14001, Management, Money, Social, Social Responsibility, Solutions | No Comments »
What Makes a Home a Green Home?
What Makes a Home a Green House?
One of the hottest topics today is about being environmentally friendly. There are many ways to become environmentally friendly about the home including water preservation and energy reduction. This not only helps with a positive action by reducing your impact on the environment, but will also save you money!
Lets take a look at what makes a home green.
Reduced Energy Use
Energy comes in many forms such as electricity, natural gas, oil, etc. The creation or use of this energy results in greenhouse gas emissions that affect our planet in a negative way.
Methods of Reducing Energy Usage
Insulation, One of the best things that you can do to make a green house is to ensure that the walls, windows, attic, and floors are all well insulated and draft free. The majority of the energy used in a home goes towards heating the house. Good insulation will prevent the air temperature from escaping the home and save you money on your utilities.
Energy Star Appliances When one of your appliances has reached it’s end of life, or when you are building a new home, consider installing an appliance that meets energy star requirements. This will ensure that it will use over 30 percent less electricity or fuel than a typical appliance of that type.
Other options include advanced mechanical Systems On demand tankless water heaters, geothermal HVAC equipment, and even solar power is a great way to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted to run the plumbing, heat and air, and electrical systems in the home. While they can have a higher upfront cost than a typical unit of its kind, tax incentives from the government can offset a good deal of the extra cost and allow you to make the money back within a few years time.
Reduced Water Use
Water is another essential resource that can be preserved in our day to day use around the house.
Low Flow Fixtures Many low flow shower heads and toilets developed a bad reputation in the past because they could not live up to their less efficient counterparts. Fortunately, todays better engineered models and aerators allow you to experience the luxury and ease of use that you prefer, while additionally using a significantly lower amount of water.
Efficient Clothes Washers Many of the newer front loading clothes washers use as little as half of the water of a typical top loading washer. For families who are constantly putting in a new load of dirty clothes, this can lead to a significant savings in cost and water usage over time.
Use Rain Water For Irrigation For those who want to really cut down on water usage, storage tanks that collect rain water during a storm for latter use to water the garden and lawn can save thousands of gallons over the span of a summer.
These are just a few of the many ideas out there that will help ensure that your home is green. Environmentally friendly decisions in the home can lead to wallet friendly results over time and allow for the satisfaction of knowing you are reducing your negative impact on the planet.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, carbon reduction, Climate Change, CO2, computer recycling, CRC, CSR, Edinburgh Recycle, Edinburgh WEEE, eee, Energy, Environmental accounting, Food Recycling, Food Waste, Footprint, ghg emissions, glasgow eee, glasgow recycling, Glasgow waste, Green IT, landfill, Packaging Waste, Recycle Edinburgh, Recycle UK, recycling, UK Recycle, UK WEEE, Uncategorized, Waste management, weee, WEEE Edinburgh, WEEE UK, wheelie bin | Tags: Change, computer recycling, eco house, edinburgh green home, Edinburgh Recycling, Efficiency, electrical waste recycling, Emissions, Energy, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, Footprint, Glasgow green home, glasgow recycling, Global, Going, going green, Green, green home, green house, Greenhouse, Home, House, London green home, Makes, Management, Money, Power, Responsibility, warming | No Comments »
Why By Eco Products – Climate Change And The Greenhouse Effect
Climate change has been hotly discussed and debated in the last few years with recent summits of world leaders not providing agreement on what can be done to halt the rising temperature and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
However, whilst the politicians continue to argue, more and more people are turning to eco friendly products to help reduce their impact on the environment by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
But there is often a lot of confusion around climate change and the greenhouse effect leaving people unsure about what products to buy and how they can help reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
But climate change is relatively straightforward. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, which occur naturally in the environment have been increasing due to pollution humans have been pumping into the environment; from cars, aeroplanes, power stations, factories and our homes. These gases insulate the earth, preventing the warmth generated by the sun’s light from escaping hence warming the planet – just like a greenhouse.
As carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas emitted by man, slowing its output and reducing our carbon footprint is perhaps the most direct way we can slow the effects of climate change. And as most of the carbon dioxide is generated through energy production, from power plants that heat our homes to the exhausts of motor cars that drive us to work – reducing our energy consumption will is the simplest way we can do this.
And there is a vast range of energy saving gadgets and energy efficiency products in the eco friendly market. From electricity monitors to help you discover where you are consuming and wasting energy to radiator panels that boost the efficiency of your heating system.
Heatkeeper radiator panels reduce emissions by improving heat output
Anything that can help you reduce energy consumption will go a long way to cut down on the greenhouse gases that are emitted by your energy use and help to reduce the effects of climate change.
The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme – A Review
We are now well on the road to the end of the first year of the CRC.
We’ve had the scare stories, the organisations failing to register, or less organisations registering than were first thought. Early estimates from the Government suggested 5000 plus organisations would be full participants with a further 20,000 as information disclosures.
We’ve had just over 3,700 full participants register, what does this tell us?
For me, based on my research, it tells me that a lot of organisations didn’t understand what they needed to do. For example, a car dealership, an example DEFRA used in their literature, if that dealership was a single franchise, SEAT for example, then if a single SEAT dealer anywhere else in the UK had a half hour meter then ALL SEAT dealerships and SEAT companies were in, under the banner of SEAT, who had the responsibility of collating this information. That’s nice and simple, until you then look at if that same dealership had say SEAT and VW at the same premises, they’re out? Add to that the ability to register independently so the SEAT brand did not have to account for everything that traded under its name . . . confused . . . therein lies the problem!
At least the Con/Dem co-alition government has pushed back the full implementation of phase 1 of the CRC by 12 months, the same for Phase 2.They are also looking at making the scheme simpler, firstly by making it a Tax, no payments from the pot for those that reduce emissions the most, Good or Bad?
For me it’s a bit of good and bad, organisations no longer being rewarded for reducing emissions will need to find some other motivation to reduce emissions! The good side is that it is giving these organisation more time to get to grips with the scheme, however, as experience has shown, a lot of organisation left it to the last minute before registering for the CRC, will they do the same again?
Initially Phase 1 reporting is primarily about Scope 1 & 2 emissions, Scope 1 being based on energy you produce, for example if you had a wind turbine and selling electricity back to the grid, Scope 2 is for energy you purchase.
However Phase 2 of the CRC is interesting, as it suggests that Scope 3 emissions will be included in a company’s declaration, a good way of introducing mandatory emissions reporting for all via the back door. Scope 3 covers everything from Travel to Suppliers.
If we look at suppliers for a large organisation, this could easily be in the thousands, a local authority I recently met with, have in excess of 5000 suppliers, under phase 2 they will need to liaise with all 5000, collate the emissions data for those 5000 and submit under the local authorities umbrella.
This will be an administrative nightmare for the unprepared, both the supplier and the large organisation. This will mean that for those who tender for work from larger organisations it will no longer be just a tick box exercise for environmental policy, such as ISO14001, it will be a detailed report on emissions and those not able to submit such a report, will ultimately, not win any business.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Carbon Reduction Commitment, Climate Change, CO2, CRC, CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, CSR, Edinburgh CRC, Energy, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions, Glasgow CRC, Global Warming, Iso14001, London CRC, UK CRC | Tags: Business, carbon reduction, Change, Climate, Corporate, Edinburgh CRC, edinburgh recycle, Efficiency, Emissions, Energy, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, Footprint, Glasgow CRC, Greenhouse, London CRC, Management, Power, Reducing, Renewable, Responsibility, Social, the CRC energy efficiency Scheme, UK CRC, warming | No Comments »
Going Green Is Not Just For Big Business-You Can Grow Profits, Too!
The world of big business is making daily headlines by “going green” after discovering that what’s good for the planet is also proving good for business.
IBM recently announced “Project Big Green,” a $1 billion initiative to reduce energy consumption by offering new lines of energy-efficient IT products.
Wal-Mart is adding solar power to more than 20 stores.
PepsiCo is buying renewable energy certificates to offset its carbon footprint. Even major banks and energy firms are being asked by shareholders to prove that they, too, are going green.
It’s not just the biggest businesses that are attracting new customers and shareholders and reaping huge profits by “going green.” Small businesses also are growing eco-profits by embracing surprisingly inexpensive strategies to add value to their products, services and brand.
Consider these innovative examples:
- Bob Smith of Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, California, has attracted positive publicity (and new customers) by promoting his efforts to reduce his small firm’s waste output and take other environmentally conscious steps. In turn, he has received welcome positive publicity from the press. “What PR budget? That is our PR budget,” he told the Albuquerque Tribune about “going green” to market his business.
- In Florida, Natalie Kelly formed Home Therapy Cleaning Services, which uses only nontoxic, all-natural cleaning products for her home cleaning business. She used to sell aromatherapy candles from her home, she told the St. Petersburg Times, but today uses an aromatherapy baking soda blend to freshen carpets.
Here’s what you can do:
- Two inexpensive ways any small business or solo entrepreneur can go green are to change light bulbs to energy-efficient bulbs and use biodegradable cleaning products.
- With that done, tell your customers and the media about these simple ways to go green. You will have just earned instant credibility as a green business, and also as a media resource for simple, effective ways to “go green.”
- Many communities online and offline are forming networks to exchange energy-saving ideas for home and business. Form your own energy network, enlisting neighborhood businesses that will welcome another opportunity to show they’re going green, too. The plus for you is that you will have just positioned yourself and your business as a community environmental leader.
-Write a “green” article on simple ways you are going green and submit it to one of the dozens of “green” Web sites and blogs that invite reader contributions. It’s a great way to market your smart ideas and your business!
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Carbon Reduction Commitment, Climate Change, CO2, CRC, CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, CSR, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions, Glasgow CRC, Green IT, London CRC, Social Enterprise, Social Responsibility, UK CRC | Tags: Business, BusinessYou, carbon reduction, Change, Climate, Emissions, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, Footprint, Going, Green, Greenhouse, Grow, Just, Management, Profits | No Comments »
Mandatory Emissions Reporting: A step closer following Defra report
Mandatory Emissions Reporting: A step nearer following Defra report
The case for government legislation to force businesses to report
carbon emissions has been boosted by new research which found more than half of
companies voluntarily measuring carbon emissions claimed it led to a net
benefit for business.
Cost savings, improved green credentials and better relationships with
investors and customers were among the additional bonuses experienced by
companies that actively tried to reduce greenhouses gases.
Research carried out on behalf of the UK’s Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) found firms were using emission
measurements to set future targets for reduction and to influence wider
business plans.
The majority of companies, 53 per cent, admitted that regular emission
reports had been instrumental in triggering a change in behaviour within
their own organisation and raised interest in environmental matters to
boardroom level.
Businesses reported that being seen to be green by actively reporting
their own emissions and setting targets to reduce them had strengthened
their brand in the eye of investors and customers ,as well as creating
estimated energy savings ranging from £200,000 to £60 million over five
years.
“I am pleased to see that the many companies already voluntarily
involved in reporting GHG emissions are finding the process beneficial
to their business and investors. I am also delighted to see that the act
of reporting is encouraging attempts to reduce emissions,” said Lord
Henley, UK Environment Minister.
“The next steps for Government will be to consider the findings of the
report. We’ll be announcing a way forward in early 2011.”
The positive results from this latest research will help inform the
Government’s decision on whether to make GHG reporting mandatory and an
announcement is due to be made early next year. The Climate Change Act 2008
requires government to introduce legislation for mandatory reporting by 6 April
2012, or explain why this hasn’t happened.
“It is encouraging to find that many companies see GHG reporting as
beneficial to their business. The emission figures seem to act as a
catalyst for other changes within the company resulting in wide ranging
benefits for both the environment and the business,” said Bob Watson,
Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government.
“Tackling climate change is something we need to do together so it’s
great to see the positive contribution being made by many British
companies.”
However, before the government introduces mandatory emissions reporting
experts have called for a unified approach to how reporting is done.
“There are already a number of existing schemes, such as the EU
Emissions Trading Scheme, the Carbon Reduction Commitment and Climate
Change Agreements, which are used by firms to report their emissions and
plan for reductions,” said William Dick, Director of Be Seen Go Green
Environmental Consultants.
“There needs to be a simple and unified approach which will make life
easier for businesses and encourage more to measure their emissions and
make behavioural changes within organisations.
“When you consider that the cost of instigating a measurement procedure
is around £50,000 for most big companies and the average savings are a
minimum of £200,000 then it should be a fairly easy decision to make yet
many companies still need to be convinced to make the first move. This
research will help.”
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Posted in Carbon accounting, carbon emissions, Carbon footprint, Carbon management, carbon reduction, Climate Change, CO2, CSR, Energy, Environmental accounting, Footprint, ghg emissions | Tags: Benefits, Business, Change, Climate, co2 reporting, Corporate, CRC, Efficiency, Emissions, emissions reporting, EMS, Enterprise, Environment, ENVIRONMENTAL, environmental management system, Footprint, Global, Green, Greenhouse, ISO14001, Management, Money, money saving, Power, Reduce, Reducing, Responsibility, ROI, Social | No Comments »
Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
We all know that energy from the sun is required for sustaining life on earth. The outer atmosphere deflects approximately 30% of the sunlight that comes to the earth and this light is then scattered back in space. Remaining sunlight reaches the surface of the earth and gets reflected upwards in the form of slow moving energy known as infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases absorb the heat caused by the infrared radiation like CO2, water vapor, methane and ozone, due to which it becomes difficult for the gases to escape the atmosphere.
According to experts, only 1% of the earth’s atmosphere is made up of greenhouse gases and these gases regulate the climate through heat trapping. This is known as the ‘greenhouse gas effect’. According to climate change experts, without the greenhouse gas effect, the average earth temperature will be colder by 30 degrees Celsius. This temperature will be too cold for the sustenance of our ecosystem. Therefore, the greenhouse effect is very much required for the earth; however it must be in a controlled manner.
How are we contributing to the greenhouse effect?
There is no doubt that the greenhouse effects is required for the ecosystem but it becomes a problem when the natural process gets distorted and accelerated by human activities and more greenhouse gases are created in the atmosphere which increase the temperature of the earth more than required. When we burn oil, coal, natural gas and gasoline the level of CO2 increases in the atmosphere. The level of harmful gases like nitrous oxide and methane also increases due to farming methods and changes in the use of land. Dangerous and long lasting industrial gases are produced from factories. These gases don’t occur naturally yet they contribute to global warming and speed up the greenhouse gas effect.
The more greenhouse gases will be emitted in the environment, the more infrared radiation will be trapped and held. This in turn will increase the temperature of earth in a gradual manner, posing threat to the existence of mankind. Some scientists accept global warming as a serious issue while some don’t. But one certainly can’t deny the fact that climate change is here and it will cause more damage in the coming years.
Carbon Credits – Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Protecting the Planet!
Without a doubt you have heard the avid discussions about global warming and the consequences it has when it comes to the climate. It is true that our planet is slowly melting and that every day more greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, which combined with the increased level of infrared energies lead to the rise of the global temperatures. Polar ice caps are melting and temperate climates are changing to 2-season climate patterns. The fauna and flora are suffering from all those changes and we have to ask ourselves: how can we stop our planet from a certain death? Well, there are many solutions presented by global warming activists and one of the most relevant is that of carbon credits.
Given the fact that we live in age where more and more industries are created, increasing the level of pollution worldwide, the concept of carbon credits was well received. It was meant as an initiative to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and even though at the beginning, attained a certain level of success. Today, the Internet is practically filled with companies that provide the possibility to buy carbon credits and most importantly each provider is involved in different projects. Those who are interested in carbon credits must know what are the carbon projects provided by these companies and thus be able to make a serious-minded comparison. After all, most of the companies that are interested in such services know that they contribute to the problem of global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases (especially methane and carbon dioxide) and they need to take action, even if that means only buying carbon credits.
Companies like Carbonfund and Terapass have understood the importance of carbon credits and they have developed various carbon projects that will reduce some of the greenhouse gases suffocating the atmosphere. A carbon credit equals with the reduction of one ton of carbon dioxide and it is indeed one of the most practical measures that can be taken against global warming by individuals and companies. It also increases awareness when it comes to such problems, many companies feeling stimulated when they are given an incentive in order to decrease the level of carbon dioxide produced. The question is: where is the best carbon credit project to be found and why would I want to go to this specific provider and not to someone else? What are the rules when it comes to selecting the right provider for a carbon credit? Actually, if you want to reduce your own carbon footprint then you should know that there are no better providers than others. Still, their projects are different especially when it comes to their quality. This is why you need a service that allows not only the comparison of various carbon credit providers but also has the possibility of rating that specific provider.
We are talking about climate change and thus reducing even just a tone of carbon dioxide is extremely important. All companies and businesses out there should take part in fighting the climate change and reduce the level of greenhouse gases that affect the atmosphere. Apart from informing ourselves on the subject of global warming, we should also try and find a reliable provider for carbon credit projects using the comparison services provided by the Internet. As we cannot stop the greenhouse gases that have already been released in the atmosphere, we can take action by preventing the quantity of gases that will be released in the future. There are many carbon reducing projects out there, all meant to stimulate and help people contribute. Some examples include: wind power farms, renewable energy and also reforestation. Just make sure that you bring your own contribution – if each person does the same, we will certainly have a greener and healthier planet!
Posted in Carbon accounting | Tags: Carbon Accounting, Credits, Emissions, Greenhouse, Planet, Protecting, Reducing | No Comments »
Climate Change Fact – The Greenhouse Effect
You cannot plan effectively for your future until you understand what climate change holds for you. If you decided to do that then the Greenhouse Effect would be the first thing you would want to master. It’s not difficult and you will own it by the time you finish this page.
About 30% of the light arriving from the sun hits our atmosphere and bounces off, back out into space. The balance of the sun’s light continues on, toward the planet’s surface, where it will encounter something that is either light or dark in color . When the surface is light in color, it reflects the sun’s light back through the atmosphere and then on out into space. If the incoming light from the sun encounters a dark colored surface, it is absorbed and then converted into infra red – infra red is heat. The infra-red then rises into the atmosphere where a very small portion of it will bump into molecules of greenhouse gas, such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2). When that collision occurs, the greenhouse gas (GHG) molecule begins to vibrate slightly and then it tosses the infra red heat back toward the planet’s surface. That’s the greenhouse effect.
If the greenhouse effect did not happen, every night when the heated side of the planet turned away from the sun, the heat collected that day would all escape into space and earth would be turned into an icy and mostly lifeless planet.
You may have already figured out that the quantity of heat that gets reflected back toward earth, depends entirely on how many molecules of greenhouse gas (GHGs) are up there in the atmosphere. The levels of GHGs in the atmosphere are always changing – slowly. Over the past few million years the levels of CO2 (the principal GHG) have ranged from a low level of 180 parts per million (ppm) to a high of 280ppm. It takes about 20,000 years for the GHG levels to rise from that low point (180ppm), to the high point of 280ppm and about 100,000 years to return to the low point. Then it starts over.
The quantities of CO2 involved are very small -180ppm expressed as a percentage of the entire atmosphere looks like this: 0.018% or, eighteen one thousandths of one percent. That still amazes me that’s a very small amount of stuff to be controlling something as important as the temperature of earth. Historically, at Antarctica where the measurements just mentioned were taken, the temperature increased or decreased 1ºC (1.8ºF) for every 10ppm change in the level of CO2. For perspective, the current increase in mean temperature being attributed to human additions of CO2 to the atmosphere, is about 0.6ºC. For me, these numbers are so small and take so long to change, that this greenhouse effect looks like a very sensitive system indeed, with very small additions and subtractions (10ppm change caused a 1ºC change in temperature, plus or minus) of GHGs causing profound changes in the natural environment. As of 2009, we have added 110ppm of CO2 to the normal level of CO2 to the atmosphere – the level is now 390ppm and rising. Breathtaking, don’t you think?
Posted in Climate Change | Tags: Change, Climate, effect, Factoid, Greenhouse, series | No Comments »