King Coal Main Contributor to Greenhouse Gases - Study Finds
Great article posted by the AP today highlighting some eye opening findings from a recent greenhouse gas study..
some quick highlights:
On a per-person basis, Wyoming spews more carbon dioxide than any other state or any other country: 276,000 pounds of it per capita a year, thanks to burning coal, which provides nearly all of the state’s electrical power.
Yet, just next door to the west, Idaho emits the least carbon dioxide per person, less than 23,000 pounds a year. Idaho forbids coal power plants. It relies mostly on non-polluting hydroelectric power from its rivers.
Texas, where coal barely edges out cleaner natural gas as the top power source, belches almost 1 1/2 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide yearly. That’s more than every nation in the world except six: the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Germany.
As excessive as the report appears, at least we can use these statistics as a baseline moving forward implementing cleaner burning alternatives and follow examples set by Vermont, Idaho, California, Rhode Island banning the use of coal.
Do you live in one of the affected states? How do you feel about this report?
Georgette said,
June 4, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
I do not live in one of the listed areas but i do live in Arizona. Arizona has been affected by global warming by heat. Arizona is naturally hot, but in the past few years we have seen unususally high heat waves, reaching up to 115 degrees, or so reported, and higher. The temperatures causing few deaths, mostle hikers and children trying to cool off from the heat in the swimming pool, or lake, becoming exhausted quicker and confused from dehydration.
dan said,
June 5, 2007 @ 1:42 am
i have seen some interesting data lately and i am searching for valadation. does solar wind tend to shield the earth from cosmic particles, producing less clouds? is co2 the primary greenhouse gas? i am very curious and looking for answers. thanks so much, dan
John Harby said,
June 8, 2007 @ 6:36 am
This site below shows oil supply estimates. Basically it looks like we run out in about 35 years.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/feature_articles/2004/worldoilsupply/oilsupply04.html
My guess is the oil acts as an insulator for the Earth’s core and we are dangerously draining it. Proving this would irrevocably validate Global Warming. I’m not in the field but hearing an explanation of an engine made me think of the analogy.
The bottom line is that we have to think and act fast. What are ways we can exist without oil. For some reason I sense nuclear is not really an option. I am trying to unify knowledge workers via the Teamsters Union to put our heads together and figure this out.
Guillermo A. Nuno said,
June 9, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
I have a “Divice” that was awarded 25% energy savings by:
United States Department of Patents
we can use it for
Global warming protection
EPA protection
Fossil fuel Protection
please feel free to reply
Mona said,
June 11, 2007 @ 4:32 am
i´m a little bit worried about whats happening in our world. i live in sweden and the tempeture is getting REALLY high it´s between 20 celcius and 30 celcius, especially in south of sweden, and in the north their is rain and the temputure is between 5 and 20 celcius. Then I call my cousin in Germany, stutgard (which is´nt far from sweden) and she tells me that it´s snowing there. I write this in hop of getting some answers about hat we can do about this situation.
//Mona
H Duncan said,
June 14, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
Mr. Gore, Why not get mad as hell (”I’m not going to stand for it any longer”) and run as a Democrat for the presidency of the good old USA? The world sure needs you. HD (Canada)
Simon Lüthi said,
June 16, 2007 @ 8:29 am
easy to controll the people with fear, isn’t it?
- the southpole ist getting bigger, not smaller, please do your research.
-Northpole may melt a bit yeah, but it does that every year and then grows back in winter.. you never mentioned that in your film did you? its always ice breaking off, it growing back wouldnt be a good way to shock people, would it? it might grow back less, but its never as dramatic as showed in your movie.
- you mentioned catastrophs in switzerland.. well I happend to be in the swiss army at the time and we went to clean up, even if it was a tragedy, things like this happen every year here. floods can happen if you live in a valley and build your houses to close to a river. Its not that its getting worse, people are getting careless where they settle, because they have the feeling nothing ever happend (as far as they can remember), so nothing ever will happen.
- Catastrophs dont happen more often than years ago, it’s just that the media focuses extremly on them. With all the new commincation possibilites, its much easier and faster to know about storms and what not around the world. Catastrophes like this might have been happening all around the globe in the 1800 century.. but we didnt know then. Now we have the possibilty to know… but that doesnt automaticly make it worse than it was in the centuries before.
-we are still at the end of the last ice age, absolutly normal its still getting warmer.
-the projections about global warming in the next years (temp. rise), differ by over 400% from one study to another. Dont you think if this was the truth, it would somehow be closer togehter?
they are ALL just theories and none proven so far.
-the rise of co2 is the result of the earth warming, not the other way around. The sun is the reason its getting warmer. Go and compare the sun activity over the last decads with the so called global warming. you will find it most interesting.
-What about the co2 the oceans produce every day? ever compared that number with the quantity that humanity produces?
- in ice probs (like you showed in your film) they found co2 levels 27 times higher than we have today. funny you didnt mention that.
-You said in your movie that polar bears have trouble finding ice.. isn’t it kinda weird that nowadays we have a population of about 35′000 polar bears, while a decade or two ago it was ALOT less. go do your research, you will have to agree.
- the climate on earth was ALWAYS changing, its not a thing set in stone. Its not something we can controll, it just happens. Remember that africa was once the corn-silo of the earth?
Now, I agree we should look after our planet and be sure we dont destroy it all. I especially think we should stop polluting rivers (china) or our nature in general, we need it to live from it. But really this doesnt have much to do with global warming. All this panic right now is just not needed. Im I the only one that thinks, the global warming theory is a dogma by now? Isn’t that very dangerous in sience? Shouldnt we spend the money on real problems? like a cure for cancer? or aids? dont you think these things have a much bigger impact on us now?
I guess ill get called a heretic after this because its not allowed anymore to disagree with global warming.
My point is.. we know close to nothing about how our planet works. With trying to save it, we could destroy it just as well, because we can’t understand how our handling this situation will turn out in 300 to 400 years from now.
regards
Simon
from switzerland
btw: sorry for the spelling mistakes
Zvonko Peric said,
June 16, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
This chimney is all factory exhausts.
-Garbage burning facilities and similar.
-Power-plants.
-Cement factories.
Existing factories that have been closed due to the pollution may be revitalized with this Eko system.
This project is substantially less expensive, more efficient,less complicated and healthire for all living beings.
Eko system has a purpose to collect all smog (smoke) in one place, where a new product is made.
It is important to emphasize that this EKO system operates on the principles of ventilation and suction.
The chimeny has to be closed with a corresponding cap. From this cap, which closes the chimney, a pipe comes out, its size depending on the width of the chimney. This pipe has a task to direct all smog downwards,beside the chimney,where a basin with water is located, and this is where the smog ends.
When the water is filled with smog, it becomes thick as mud or silt. By adding sand, gravel and cement, new products are made, such as cement blocks, concrete salbs, railroad ties (for in between the rail tracks) and other products.
These products can have wide use in the building industry, for example; airport runways, underground storage, building foundations, etc.
inventor
Zvonko Peric
GoresANut said,
June 30, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny
June 30, 2007
BY JAMES M. TAYLOR
In his new book, The Assault on Reason, Al Gore pleads, “We must stop tolerating the rejection and distortion of science. We must insist on an end to the cynical use of pseudo-studies known to be false for the purpose of intentionally clouding the public’s ability to discern the truth.” Gore repeatedly asks that science and reason displace cynical political posturing as the central focus of public discourse.
If Gore really means what he writes, he has an opportunity to make a difference by leading by example on the issue of global warming.
A cooperative and productive discussion of global warming must be open and honest regarding the science. Global warming threats ought to be studied and mitigated, and they should not be deliberately exaggerated as a means of building support for a desired political position.
Many of the assertions Gore makes in his movie, ‘’An Inconvenient Truth,'’ have been refuted by science, both before and after he made them. Gore can show sincerity in his plea for scientific honesty by publicly acknowledging where science has rebutted his claims.
For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate reported, “Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame.”
Gore claims the snowcap atop Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro is shrinking and that global warming is to blame. Yet according to the November 23, 2003, issue of Nature magazine, “Although it’s tempting to blame the ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the more likely culprit. Without the forests’ humidity, previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.”
Gore claims global warming is causing more tornadoes. Yet the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in February that there has been no scientific link established between global warming and tornadoes.
Gore claims global warming is causing more frequent and severe hurricanes. However, hurricane expert Chris Landsea published a study on May 1 documenting that hurricane activity is no higher now than in decades past. Hurricane expert William Gray reported just a few days earlier, on April 27, that the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined in the past 40 years. Hurricane scientists reported in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters that global warming enhances wind shear, which will prevent a significant increase in future hurricane activity.
Gore claims global warming is causing an expansion of African deserts. However, the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, “Africa’s deserts are in ’spectacular’ retreat . . . making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa.”
Gore argues Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and that this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, “the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain.” In late 2006, researchers at the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the past two decades were the coldest for Greenland since the 1910s.
Gore claims the Antarctic ice sheet is melting because of global warming. Yet the Jan. 14, 2002, issue of Nature magazine reported Antarctica as a whole has been dramatically cooling for decades. More recently, scientists reported in the September 2006 issue of the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, that satellite measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet showed significant growth between 1992 and 2003. And the U.N. Climate Change panel reported in February 2007 that Antarctica is unlikely to lose any ice mass during the remainder of the century.
Each of these cases provides an opportunity for Gore to lead by example in his call for an end to the distortion of science. Will he rise to the occasion? Only time will tell.
James M. Taylor is senior fellow for environment policy at the Heartland Institute.
Paul Martinez said,
July 6, 2007 @ 11:46 pm
Hello Al Gore this is Paul Martinez from Nacogdoches, Texas. I’v always admired your interest in Globel Warming and yet being a person with an average income I am tied down and force to drive old used cars because of the lack of money to purchase a hybrid automobile and would love to have solar energy and each time I price a solar system it’s far out of my price range. Maybe you know how us average people could enjoy the privalage of having solar energy in our homes. Thank you for your attention and thanks for your interest in saving the world from polution. A faithful admirer Paul Martinez. e-mail paul@etswa.com
Loretta Rosa said,
July 8, 2007 @ 8:49 am
We Love you Al
Loretta Rosa said,
July 8, 2007 @ 8:51 am
We need you in the white house.
It needs a cleanup
Tom Gerosolina said,
July 15, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
If god created the earth, would it not be an insult to God to abuse the earth.
Our environment is a Gift from God and we are abusing this gift; how can we except further blessing from God.
Can we except God take back his creations at any time from the people who abuse it?
Tom Gerosolina
Tom Gerosolina
Chas said,
July 23, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
control through fear???
Hmmm…getting people to live in harmony with nature sounds like a truly diabolical plot to me. Ha!
If I were a profiteer, I’d be really afraid.
-Chas
Ronnie Gregory said,
July 28, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
AL if you and you Hollywood friends are as sincere about saving the earth from all us average Americans polluting so much. prove your concern by selling your big houses and cars and suvs. buy small houses about 1200 to 2000 sq. ft. buy small car and live like a average person then you will have the right to lecture us, but as long as you elite-st waste energy like you Al and your Hollywood bunch of hypocrites . keep your mouth shut. unless you want to practice what you preach you are a true hypocrite.
Mark said,
August 16, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
Zvonko Peric,
I like the idea, however I believe that pumping that smog into water basins could contaminate our water sources. Other than that, it’s not all that bad and sounds very promising.
Here is my idea, for I am an inventor as well.
Go here
.http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g195/RaisnCain/Theory.jpg?t=1187295450
TAISER ABORASHED said,
October 4, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
My activities on all kinds of catastrophs reduction and early warning and environment protection are mighty,and My posts to www.algore.com ,and Mr.Clinton and Mr.Carter foundations still without optimistic or premium response:
On the light of a kind of a communication,continiously since more than 25 years,and up to date or,maybe a kind of the telepathization[I meant in accordance] between me and who are at the screen of my t.v. device,or eithers audio and or visual devices at my space,in direct broadcast and or transcending time:What concludes the possibility to move news or informations on my hands in my time to the persons at the devices at their time.My research paper contains a plenty documents that affirm my activities.Some of my documents were sent to ewc3 and andrews uni,and leiden uni.Seeking posting to us:t_aborashed@hotmail.com, the suitable presentation from algore@algore.com otherwise from any foundation and or certain persons who can assist my action.
Paul Martinez said,
October 27, 2007 @ 12:47 pm
This Is Paul Martinez From Nacogdoches, Texas. Thank You for posting my e-mail But I Must Have Typed The Wrong Web Site. When I Typed My Web Site Now If Someone Clicks My Name Paul Martinez A Pornography Site Comes Up My Web Site Is (www.etswa.com ) Which Means east texas songwriters association. Please Attend This Matter I Don’t Want My Name Associated With Pornography
Thank You Paul Martinez