28/11/2010 by admin.

According to the World Meteorlogical Organization, 2009 (the latest year they have figures for) reached record levels for the greenhouse gases.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is now 386.8 ppm (pre-industrial era level was 280 ppm)

Methane (CH4) is now 1803 ppb (pre-industrial era level was 700 ppb)

Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is now 322.5 ppb (pre-industrial level was 270 ppb)

You can see all the details in the WMO document here.

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27/11/2010 by admin.

NASA are saying that 2010 looks likely to be the hottest year on record.

The British Met Office thinks it will be the second hottest year, but is very confident that it is down to man-made global warming. The previous record was for 1998, when there was a strong El Nino event, but this has been much weaker this year.

More information can be found on the BBC News website, and the Telegraph website. 

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25/11/2010 by admin.

The Centre for Alternative Technology has created a web-based Solar PV Calculator for the UK.

You enter basic information such as Panel Size, Location, and Roof Orientation and Slope, and it gives rough figures for the amount of energy generated and savings produced. You can find the calculator here.

This calculator is based on a more detailed European version, PVGIS, which can be found here.

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25/11/2010 by admin.

There have been a few reports on carbon emissions this week.

Because of the recession, carbon emissions actually dropped in 2009, but not by as much as had been predicted.

Overall, global emissions dropped by 1.3% in 2009, but in previous years had been growing at about 3%/year, and is now expected to carry on growing at that rate. More details can be found here.

Under the Copenhagen Accord, 80 countries agreed to cut emissions by 2020. However, even if ALL these cuts are met, it will only provide about 60% of the cuts that are needed to stop temperatures rising by 2C. In fact, we could be on course for temperatures to increase by 4C by the end of the century.

Global emissions are currently running at about 48 GIGATONS/year.

If countries just carry on as normal, this will increase to 56 gigatons by 2020.

If all the pledges are met, this will result in emissions of 49 gigatons by 2020.

However, if we want to keep the temperature rise to 2C, emissions will have to fall to just 44 gigatons by 2020….

More info can be found on the BBC News website and the Daily Telegraph website.

Finally, shops have been criticised for leaving their doors open with the heating on, and using twice as much fuel for heating as necessary. More information can be found here.

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