Science behind carbon emissions
Scientists have shown in the last two decades that Climate Change (Global Warming) is very real and caused by carbon emissions. There is scientific backing that proves that we, humans, have contributed to this phenomenon. In January 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stated “An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system… There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities,” thus supporting the claim. It has led scientists to believe that there is over 90% certainty that human activities are the cause for global warming by emitting carbon into the atmosphere. Some of the phenomena we have seen are the continual rise of the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, the greater frequency of hurricanes and flooding due to the melting of polar ice caps. We may be seeing just the beginning of the catastrophic damage caused by global warming. Scientists around the world have urged politicians, industries alike to take proper action in diverting this worldwide disaster.
Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), and secondarily the clearing of land, have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping (“greenhouse”) gases (carbon, methane) in the atmosphere which lead to the greenhouse effect. It starts with the 50% of sunlight that is absorbed by the Earth’s surface which radiates energy in the infrared region. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere absorb most of the infrared radiation emitted by the surface and pass the absorbed heat to other atmospheric gases through molecular collisions. The greenhouse gases then radiate in the infrared range downward towards the earth. With increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a greater warming effect caused by greenhouse gas effect leads to global warming.
Much of the carbon dioxide released is due to the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contain carbon from plants and animals that were fossilized over millions of years ago. When the fossil fuels are burned, they interact with the oxygen in the air to release carbon dioxide gas. When the carbon dioxide is released in the atmosphere it emits radiation in the thermal infrared region leading to overall rise in temperatures.
Carbon dioxide’s molecular structure allows for absorption and emission of heat. It consists of one carbon atom with an oxygen atom bonded to each side. When its atoms are bonded tightly together, the carbon dioxide molecule can absorb infrared radiation released by the Earth’s surface. The molecule starts to vibrate and eventually, the vibrating molecule will emit the radiation again, and it will likely be absorbed by yet another greenhouse gas molecule. This absorption-emission-absorption cycle serves to keep the heat near the surface, effectively insulating the surface from the cold of space.
Water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and a few other gases are also greenhouse gases and contribute to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere. They all are molecules composed of more than two component atoms, bound loosely enough together to be able to vibrate with the absorption of heat. The major components of the atmosphere that do not contribute to the greenhouse effect are gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, i.e two-atom molecules that are too tightly bound together to vibrate and thus they do not absorb any heat.
Some of the statistics taken from scientists who have measured the environmental impact of global warming in the past two centuries share some disturbing facts. Measurements from Antarctic ice cores show that before industrial emissions started atmospheric CO2 levels were about 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv), and stayed between 260 and 280 during the preceding ten thousand years.
Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have gone up by approximately 35 percent since the 1900s, rising from 280 parts per million by volume to 387 parts per million in 2009. Carbon dioxide emissions are growing at an alarming rate. Recent data shows that in the 1960s, the average annual increase was only 37% of what it was in 2000 through 2007. The first 50 ppmv increase took place in about 200 years, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to around 1973; however the next 50 ppmv increase took place in about 33 years, from 1973 to 2006. These numbers predict that as the world continues to populate and thrive and there is greater demand for energy, without some form of regulation of carbon emissions.
In short, cap and trade programs for carbon emissions is a market-based policy tool for protecting human health and the environment by controlling large amounts of emissions from a group of sources. The government initiates a cap and trade program by having Congress set a cap, or maximum limit, on all global warming emissions. The cap is intended to be lowered within a set time frame to achieve the eventual goal of lowering emissions. Sources such as electric utilities and oil refineries then receive authorizations to emit in the form of emissions allowances, with the total amount of allowances limited by the cap. These allowances are attained by initial auction or by trading from other sources in the form of carbon credits. A carbon credit is equivalent to a ton of carbon dioxide emissions or equivalent greenhouse gas. There are two distinct types of Carbon Credits: Carbon Offset Credits (COC’s) and Carbon Reduction Credits (CRC’s). Carbon Offset Credits consist of clean forms of energy production, wind, solar, hydro and biofuels. Carbon Reduction Credits consists of the collection and storage of Carbon from our atmosphere through biosequestration (reforestation, forestation), ocean and soil collection and storage efforts.
