International agreements to limit greenhouse gas emissions require verification to ensure that they are effective and fair. Verification based on direct observation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations will be necessary to demonstrate that estimated emission reductions have been actualized in the atmosphere. Here we assess the capability of ground-based observations and a high-resolutio...

Emissions trading systems as a means of air pollution control have been developed in recent years to address some important limitations of traditional command and control environmental regulation. Trading systems address many of the inefficiencies of command systems and may promote cost-effectiveness by introducing flexibility and providing incentives for sources with lower control costs to und...

Total uncertainty in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions changes over time due to “learning” and structural changes in GHG emissions. Understanding the uncertainty in GHG emissions over time is very important to better communicate uncertainty and to improve the setting of emission targets in the future. This is a diagnostic study divided into two parts. The first part analyses the historical change ...

Introduction The objective of our research has been the development of advanced sensors that have the potential to: (1) minimize the environmental impact of energy conversion via control of combustion-generated pollutants such as NO, CO and unburned hydrocarbons; (2) reduce greenhouse gas (CO2) by improving combustion efficiency; and (3) monitor the fugitive emissions from greenhouse gas seques...

This paper discusses results from the MATTER project (MATerials Technologies for greenhouse gas Emission Reduction). The goal of the project is to provide more insight into the potentials to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Western Europe through changes in the production of materials and the use of materials. GHG emission reduction is one of the key environmental problems for the susta...

Global warming that occurs due to emissions from a country or a country group was studied from two different points of view. Firstly, warming effect caused by Finnish emissions from 1900 to 2100 was assessed using a model that describes removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by pulse response functions, and calculates the radiative forcing caused by an increase in atmospheric concentra...

This study estimates the life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production of Marcellus shale natural gas and compares its emissions with national average US natural gas emissions produced in the year 2008, prior to any significant Marcellus shale development. We estimate that the development and completion of a typical Marcellus shale well results in roughly 5500 t of carbon dioxid...

Emissions of a broad range of greenhouse gases of varying lifetimes contribute to global climate change. Carbon dioxide displays exceptional persistence that renders its warming nearly irreversible for more than 1,000 y. Here we show that the warming due to non-CO(2) greenhouse gases, although not irreversible, persists notably longer than the anthropogenic changes in the greenhouse gas concent...

Climate change occurs as a result of absorption of infrared radiation which heats the atmosphere. Greenhouse gas emissions can increase the earth’s average temperatures since the majority of greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2). Fossil fuels have historically played a major role as the world’s primary source of energy and will continue to assume that role for at least the next few decades....