China’s bid to rein in exports roils aluminum stocks and prices
China’s cancellation of tax relief on exports has left the aluminum industry scrambling to assess the impact on supply flows.
Global carbon dioxide concentrations have reached a new “benchmark” of 400 parts per million, a level unprecedented in at least a million years, data released this week shows.
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the monthly global average concentration of CO2 in March was the highest since scientists began tracking this greenhouse gas in the global atmosphere.
“This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global [CO2] concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times,” said Pieter Tans, lead scientist of NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network.
Carmen Boening, a scientist in the Climate Physics Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted that, in theory, levels this high have only been reached during the Pliocene era, when temperatures and sea level were higher.
According to the World Coal Association, coal currently supplies about 30% of the world’s main energy needs and over 40% of its electricity.
However, consumption of the fossil fuel in China — the world’s biggest consumer— is dwindling. The figure fell in 2014 for the first time in 14 years as the nation works towards banning coal use in smog-cloaked Beijing by 2020.
Yet some top coal producers including Glencore (LON:GLEN) — the world’s No. 1 exporter of coal used in power stations— are optimistic about the future of coal.
Last month, chief executive Ivan Glasenberg said governments would fail to implement measures to cut carbon emissions, such as forcing miners keep its reserves in the ground, adding that growing demand for cheap energy would secure demand for fossil fuels.
Noaa collects its data on global carbon dioxide concentration on air samples taken from 40 sites around the world, including some remote islands.
13 Comments
Jeff Blackmon
Carmen Boening needs to do some research. Although previously reached CO2 levels may have last been above 400 ppm in the Pliocene, it has frequently exceeded 400 ppm in pre-human earth history. Also using the word “fact” associated with anthropogenic cause and effect is quite arrogant. No doubt we are contributing but to dismiss long term natural cyclicity as part of the equation is just bad science.
Nordbird
The atmosphere is a greenhouse, and carbon dioxide is 0.04% of this (400 ppm). Ozone doesn’t even make the trace gas list, except that it is the killer component in the Lake Ontario Smog Basin (e.g. Toronto) that kills 12,000 people per year according to the Ontario Medical Association.
Burning coal has been known to be a stupid idea for at least 500 years, but attempts at attaining the “power of the sun” (nuclear fusion) have been thwarted by the “environmentalists” since the 1960s.
Send the bill to Greenpeace. Also consider the other 99.96% of the atmosphere, with up to 5% water content (clouds) that might have some impact.
Also consider a single solar flare that could easily incinerate the earth, or at least toast it, if it was closer to the sun.
The only thing missing from this argument is common sense, and too much thinking from the left side of the brain.
brian
What’s is science’s biggest fail of all time? Forget about global warming..
I nominate everything about diet and fitness.
Read more: http://blog.dilbert.com/post/109880240641/sciences-biggest-fail#ixzz3Zeql0RBa
Science has no credibility – Dilbert
brian
Remember, you’re trying be logical with irrational people (global warmers.) I prefer ridicule, something like the French Soldier’s taught from the Holy Grail is always appropriate: I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! LMAO!!
Honheree
This is great news! This means there should be continuing bumper harvests as the planet continues greening with continued increase in the necessary plant food CO2.
I believers in CO2 causing global warming are becoming frenetic in rieir strident aanouncements. Just recently Jan-Gunnar Winther on TV news that went around the world, from the NORWEGAN Arctic in a first of its kind study, stated that the Arctic is at its lowest level in ice cover (he also was one of the IPCC authors, so really trustworthy 😉 ). While the Arctic is at its lowest extent, down 6.3% on the 1981-2010 average. ( since SATELLITE records (ie since only1980)
http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/uploads/images_db/CSIC_figure2.png
the Antarctic is at its GREATEST extent 44.6% HIGHER than the 1981-2010 average, breaking a previous record set in 2008 by 220,000 square miles.
http://www.rtcc.org/2015/02/19/antarctic-sea-ice-soars-as-arctic-coverage-diminishes/
Also on http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ (National Snow and Ice Data Centre)
it is mentioned quietly at the end … “data indicate that Arctic sea ice thickness in the spring of 2015 is about 25 centimeters (10 inches) THICKER than in 2013” consistent with sun entering hibernation and cooling of earth. Also, mentioned but not emphasized “Sea ice was slightly more extensive than average off Newfoundland, in the Davis Strait, and in the Labrador Sea. The Labrador Sea is an important breeding area for harp and hooded seals in early spring. More extensive ice in this region favors more seal cubs being fully weaned before the ice breaks up, increasing their chance of survival.”
CO2 is good for the planet as is warmth but the cooling period we are entering with sun’s hibernation will be more devastating and there is nothing we can do about it….ie the sun.
Honheree
It is amazing how believers of CO2 Global warming caused by humans use fallacies like farts (onemansopinion) and pseudo prose (donald links) and avoid facts and/or ‘ADJUST’ data like those below to push their religion and avoid discussing facts like Gore with arrogant cowardly defenses “no need to debate, the science is overwhelming’…when there are 37,000 scientists who have signed protests against human induced global warming caused by CO2 and scientists who were on IPCC and resigned and renounced the IPCC, including the founder of Greenpeace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1XkbRYuQlI
Onemansopinon for example states that 25% of Global warming is due to CO2 implying it is caused by humans (that is what they do .. imply things to make it look that we are the cause). CO2 has increased from an estimated 288 ppm pre-industrial level to 403 ppm (NOAA &Scripps) of which of the total only 3.22% is attributable to humans ie 13 ppm. Does anyone know how infinitesimally small that is? That is a speck on a speck of fly s”^t.
They avoid the obvious which is the sun which caused the Medieval warming (time of plenty and wealth) ,which by the way, was computer manipulated by the CO2 religious cult to make it disappear on graphs, and the hibernating sun which caused the Maunder minimum that froze the Thames etc (time of disease and famine). They ignore the fact that the recent winters have been extremely cold, breaking records and to maintain their faith blame the COLD on Global warming! They ignore the fact that the Antarctic has increased in size 44% since 1980 and the Arctic has increased most recently, 2015, though still below its recent 35 year average.
I would ask onmansopinion should we reduce CO2 (if we could ) back to 288 ppm and thus reduce the greening of the planet that is taking place and associated plant yields ? Or should we try to reduce it to <200 ppm (again if we could) and start to totally kill off all plant life? Perhaps he could tell us what is a safe level for the planet taking all life into consideration.
Mike Failla
CO2 is increasing? No wonder the weeds in the yard are so green and healthy!
william duran
PLANT A TREE OR TWO AND MOVE ON.
Conodo Mose
The level of misinformation promoted concerning the CO2 issue, intentional or otherwise, with a response causing unjustified fear, and stupidity has reached an all-time high. The level of CO2 has indeed reached an all time high, BUT the major sources of CO2 are not due to fossil fuels, not from human sources, not from population centers, and not from anthropogenic sources but emanate from natural sources. The carbon cycle and well known solubility of CO2, well supported by evidence over the decades make this quite clear. In fact the largest single source of CO2 is from the ocean, mainly from tropical oceans, explained by CO2 solubility, far from human sources, as now proven by data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite launched in 2014 with other major sources coming from a range of biologic sources, microbial sources, including decay of organic matter which are responsible for more than 65% of all CO2 emanations, and then with insect activity, volcanic emanations, forest fires, and mammals responsible for most of the remaining releases of CO2. Also, the temperature is indeed warming, but the warming started more than 400 years ago, and today continues slowly as we climb out of the Little Ice Age of the early 17th century. In fact human, fossil fuel and anthropogenic sources are responsible for only 3%, or less, on average, and outside population centers far less of all sources of CO2 (Voison, 2014; Bozhinova, 2014). The contribution of CO2 from natural sources is so large and is increasing at a much larger rate that the natural component of CO2 easily overwhelms the tiny contribution from all human or fossil fuel sources in less than five years. So learn about this issue. Don’t accept every new reason for unjustified panic as the exaggerations far exceed the facts. I lecture on and have conducted research on this issue and closely follow the research.
☢ Leftwithrightbrain ☢
The isotopes of O and C in the atmosphere render your diatribe to junk science and simple vacuity. Totally beyond me why anyone would be so proud of being completely scientifically illiterate. Most people would be embarrassed but not you deniers, you put it right out there for all to see. FYI: the LIA was not global and the natural climate cycle is currently one of cooling. Picked up a physics textbook yet? You can get a good used one inexpensively on Amazon.
bob ashworth
There are no real scientists anymore it seems. All gases and dust in our atmosphere cool our planet they don’t warm it. More radiant energy from the sun is reflected away from the earth by our atmosphere than is reflected back to the earth from our atmosphere. The greatest so-called greenhouse gas is water vapor. Most of us feel cooler on a sunshiny day when a cloud goes over and shades us, but apparently not the IPCC and EPA pseudo-scientists – they must feel a lot warmer when that happens. Hello, wake up America!!!
CFC destruction of ozone caused the stratosphere to cool 1.4C from 1965 to 2000 and the earth to warm 0.5C. Anyone remember the Montreal Protocol? CFC production in developed nations was stopped in 2000 – no warming since then! It will take until the year 2100 before stratospheric ozone fully recovers. Most scientists don’t even recognize this either and therefore are not worthy of being called scientists. We are in the Age of Lies!
Brian Masters
To me the science is indeed settled. The really shameful episode of the silencing of Dr Bjorn Lomborg by the WA “university” casts a really dark shadow on the global warming “science”, the quality of Australian universities as well as on the science and quality of education created there. The fact that there is such hysteria when somebody not aligned with the global warming religion like Dr Bjørn Lomborg is placed in the public eye is a clear proof to me that the climate warming priests know very well their religion is fake and they are scared to death by a dissenter who gets public exposure. It certainly makes me seriously also doubt their often mentioned statement that 99% of scientists approve their global religion. This is a clear example of what happens if somebody dissent to this religion, so there is a clear incentive for any career scientist to align with the rest, which is not how real science is made. The point is also that even if Lomborg is wrong, the fact that a university does not accept somebody who speaks differently from the conformists tells volume of the lack of free spirit and the stiffling of this debate. Shame on any of these “professors”, and I think any other “believer” should have a real introspection.
Brian Masters
Even this article is an example of the global warming absurd propaganda. “However, consumption of the fossil fuel in China — the world’s biggest consumer— is dwindling. The figure fell in 2014 for the first time in 14 years as the nation works towards banning coal use in smog-cloaked Beijing by 2020.” Consumption of coal in China is dwindling ??? This is absolutely incredible to state, and says everything about the rest of information and what is going on inside these priests’ “brain”.