How Corporations can Reduce Carbon Emissions
China & U.S Reach Impasse in Climate Talks - China Refuses Verification of Treaty Complian
Berkeley Lab Creates New Energy Consumption Model For Chinese Cities
World's Largest Cow Manure Biogas Project in China will use GE Jenbacher biogas engines
EPA Names Top 20 Green-Powered Schools
China Announces Focus on Renewable Energy and Nuclear Power
Cloud Computing Reduces Carbon Emissions 30 - 90 Percent
Suntech Opens First U.S. Solar Module Production Facility in Arizona
US Seeks More Clean Energy Market Access in China
Legislation may bring Japan's Low-Carbon Future a step closer
Copenhagen Climate Conference Riot - Police Beat Protesters as Talks Inside Deadlocked
Green Cement – The Next Step in Environmentally Conscious Construction
U.S. Expected to Lead World in Electric Vehicle Production
Mexico Considers 10 Nuclear Power Plants to Reach Clean Energy Mandates
U.S to soon get Wave of Clean Power from the Ocean with First Wave Power Farm
Measuring a Different Type of Outsourcing: CO2 Emissions
Analysts have debated for years how to measure greenhouse gas emissions that occur when items are manufactured in one location, and imported into another. Should the responsibility for environmental impact rest on the shoulders of the exporter or the importer?
Two scientists from the Carnegie Institution For Science, a think tank founded by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900s, have attempted to measure the outsourcing of CO2 by producing a database that analyzes environmental impact based on where the product is used. Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira estimate one-third of emissions associated with consumption in developed countries are actually produced outside those countries. The study, presented in December and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tries to provide hard data regarding local carbon dioxide consumption versus how much is included in imported goods.
Although China emits large quantities of CO2 due to coal-fired power, many of its products end up in the United States and European Union countries, where power usage if more efficient. About 25% of emissions went toward production of exported goods, most of which ended up in Western Europe and the US. The study also attempts to measure per capita consumption, showing the US leading China, which follows in second place. Per capita consumption is higher in developed countries and lowest in third world nations.
“Sharing responsibility for emissions among producers and consumers”, David and Caldeira suggest, “could facilitate international agreement on global climate policy that is now hindered by concerns over the regional and historical inequity of emissions.”
Recommended for Further Reading:
- How Corporations can Reduce Carbon Emissions
- China & U.S Reach Impasse in Climate Talks - China Refuses Verification of Treaty Complian
- Berkeley Lab Creates New Energy Consumption Model For Chinese Cities
- World's Largest Cow Manure Biogas Project in China will use GE Jenbacher biogas engines
- EPA Names Top 20 Green-Powered Schools
- China Announces Focus on Renewable Energy and Nuclear Power
- Cloud Computing Reduces Carbon Emissions 30 - 90 Percent
- Suntech Opens First U.S. Solar Module Production Facility in Arizona
- US Seeks More Clean Energy Market Access in China
- Legislation may bring Japan's Low-Carbon Future a step closer
- Copenhagen Climate Conference Riot - Police Beat Protesters as Talks Inside Deadlocked
- Green Cement – The Next Step in Environmentally Conscious Construction
- U.S. Expected to Lead World in Electric Vehicle Production
- Mexico Considers 10 Nuclear Power Plants to Reach Clean Energy Mandates
- U.S to soon get Wave of Clean Power from the Ocean with First Wave Power Farm
Measuring a Different Type of Outsourcing: CO2 Emissions http://t.co/BKg1I2Fr #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy
Measuring a Different Type of Outsourcing: CO2 Emissions http://t.co/BKg1I2Fr #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy
Measuring a Different Type of Outsourcing: CO2 Emissions http://bit.ly/9WuC4z #eco #cleantech #greenbuilding #renewableenergy
[...] Poisoning Children to Keep Them Fire-SafeDemo Air Net – Simple Solution to Indoor Air PollutionMeasuring a Different Type of Outsourcing: CO2 EmissionsAntarctica Glacial Melting another indication of Unsafe Atmospheric Carbon levelsgoogle_ad_client = [...]
[...] Carnegie Institution for Science writers Steven Davis and Ken Caldeira are studying "carbon flow" through the global economy. Not surprisingly, the net effect for the U.S. is that we "outsource" about 11% of our [...]