This paper defines the ‘2 C capital stock’ as the global stock of infrastructure which, if operated to the end of its normal economic life, implies global mean temperature increases of 2 C or more (with 50% probability). Using IPCC carbon budgets and the IPCC’s AR5 scenario database, and assuming future emissions from other sectors are compatible with a 2 C pathway, we calculate that the 2 C ca...

This paper demonstrates a systems framework for assessment of environmental impacts from 'green initiatives', through a case study of meso-scale, anthropogenic-biogenic interactions. The following cross-sectoral green initiatives, combining the emerging trends in the North East region of the United Kingdom, have been considered - increasing the vegetation cover; decarbonising road transport; de...

[1] Significant interannual variations in the growth rate of atmospheric CH4 justify the development of an improved methodology for landfill emissions, the largest anthropogenic source in many developed countries. A major problem is that reliable solid waste data often do not exist, especially for developing countries where emissions are increasing. Here we develop and apply a new proxy method ...

A general energy structure system dynamics model is constructed applying the systematic dynamics theories and techniques.This mode is applied to predict the demand of energy and CO2 emissions by applying the situation analysis. The results reveal that a 58% reduction was found in the carbon intensity compared with the 2005 level, and we will realize the CO2 emission-reduction target in the bett...

We analyse the influence of climate on average life satisfaction in 87 countries using data from the World Values Survey. Climate is described in terms of ‘degree-months’ calculated using an optimallyselected base temperature of 65°F (18.3°C). Our results suggest that countries with climates characterised by a large number of degree-months enjoy significantly lower levels of life satisfaction. ...

A popular scenario for electron acceleration in solar flares is transit-time damping of low-frequency MHD waves excited by reconnection and its outflows. The scenario requires several processes in sequence to yield energetic electrons of the observed large number. Until now there was very little evidence for this scenario, as it is even not clear where the flare energy is released. RHESSI measu...

Telework has been proposed as a possible remedy to traffic and air pollution problems. This paper presents a model of telework’s direct air pollution implications by quantifying personal and public transportation, office and home electronic equipment use, lighting, heating and cooling effects. An example scenario is created based on data from the National Telework Survey to assess the environme...

Top-down and bottom-up models have been use to sustain climate policy decisions and evaluate the costs of achieving a certain level of abatement. However, due to their different concepts the costs estimated by the two approaches usually differ, with top-down calculating higher costs. These divergences can also contribute to the definition of different strategies of reduction based on the model ...