Emissions and all that... and an astounding fact.

[Mello]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7924080.stm

(Usual nag to car makers to cut emissions) - then read the last bit by Aston Martin chief Ulrich Bez....

20,000! 100 years!!! Bl00dy hell, that puts it into some kind of context.

[Jdavis]

didn't you know, climate change is YOUR fault, not factories/manufacturers. you change car to a battery powered car and the environment will love you. doesn't matter that a ridiculous amount of CO2 has been produced making the electric to power your new car and the impact of manufacturing it, you really can make a difference by changing your car to something more economical.





or not!

[tingymagig]

Jdavis said:

didn't you know, climate change is YOUR fault, not factories/manufacturers. you change car to a battery powered car and the environment will love you. doesn't matter that a ridiculous amount of CO2 has been produced making the electric to power your new car and the impact of manufacturing it, you really can make a difference by changing your car to something more economical.





or not!

no no electric comes from the plug not some dirty great power station somewhere, boris johnson told me

[Orangecurry]

Aston Martin chief Ulrich Bez was more blunt in his call for a broader look at emissions, which are emitted by power generators delivering electricity to households and factories, as well as by cars and airlines.

"England blows £800m per year by not insulating houses," he told the BBC. "That represents more CO2 emissions than the running of 20,000 Aston Martins for 100 years."

[DBRacingGod]

Burping ruminants account for some 14% of CO2 gasses produced each year. Way more than the automotive industry.

However, I do like the way these research bodies are 'urging' the car makers to do something.

That's not exactly a call to arms is it?

"I urge you to get out of the way of that train."

"I urge you to stop that man raping your sister."

"I urge you to try the gravy."

[varsas]

DBRacingGod said:

Burping ruminants account for some 14% of CO2 gasses produced each year. Way more than the automotive industry.

The CO2 'produced' (not really the right word, I would prefer recycled) by burping/farting/breathing etc is done over a very short term. Plants take in Co2, animals eat the plants, break them down and let the Co2 back out. Over the course of the animals lifetime they takes in as much Co2 as it lets out (actually a tiny amount of the Co2 might get locked up somewhere, such as a tar pit or it might be frozen). A cow is carbon neutral.

Cars burn fuel which contains Co2 that has been locked up for tens of millions of years (the tiny amount which built up), it's 'extra' Co2 that has not been in the atmosphere for a very long time, it's a key difference that makes your point invalid.

Edited by varsas on Thursday 5th March 09:50

[otolith]

The problem with burping cows isn't CO2 (although it is often expressed as an equivalence to CO2 for the purposes of comparing the impact on the climate), it's methane.

[VxDuncan]

varsas said:

DBRacingGod said:

Burping ruminants account for some 14% of CO2 gasses produced each year. Way more than the automotive industry.

The CO2 'produced' (not really the right word, I would prefer recycled) by burping/farting/breathing etc is done over a very short term. Plants take in Co2, animals eat the plants, break them down and let the Co2 back out. Over the course of the animals lifetime they takes in as much Co2 as it lets out (actually a tiny amount of the Co2 might get locked up somewhere, such as a tar pit or it might be frozen). A cow is carbon neutral.

Cars burn fuel which contains Co2 that has been locked up for tens of millions of years (the tiny amount which built up), it's 'extra' Co2 that has not been in the atmosphere for a very long time, it's a key difference that makes your point invalid.

Edited by varsas on Thursday 5th March 09:50

And the CO2 expelled by the volcanos hasn't been locked up, like under the earths crust for millions of years? Volcanos - Carbon Neutral.

There's a simple way to define if something is carbon neutral or not.

If it can be taxed.

[RumbleBee]

If the car fuel is made from carbon nuetral sources (biofuel such as the petrol made from sugar and wood that they use in Finland), it would be the same as the cow.

But that would remove the excuse to tax it so much, so we dont do it. And instead pay the farmers to do less.

[otolith]

The carbon cycle argument doesn't apply to methane in quite the same way as the conversion between biomass and CO2, by the way, because methane is about 20 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2, and is effectively taken out of the carbon cycle for a while - it's gradually oxidised to CO2, with a half life in the atmosphere of about 8 years.

[varsas]

VxDuncan said:

varsas said:

DBRacingGod said:

Burping ruminants account for some 14% of CO2 gasses produced each year. Way more than the automotive industry.

The CO2 'produced' (not really the right word, I would prefer recycled) by burping/farting/breathing etc is done over a very short term. Plants take in Co2, animals eat the plants, break them down and let the Co2 back out. Over the course of the animals lifetime they takes in as much Co2 as it lets out (actually a tiny amount of the Co2 might get locked up somewhere, such as a tar pit or it might be frozen). A cow is carbon neutral.

Cars burn fuel which contains Co2 that has been locked up for tens of millions of years (the tiny amount which built up), it's 'extra' Co2 that has not been in the atmosphere for a very long time, it's a key difference that makes your point invalid.

Edited by varsas on Thursday 5th March 09:50

And the CO2 expelled by the volcanos hasn't been locked up, like under the earths crust for millions of years? Volcanos - Carbon Neutral.

There's a simple way to define if something is carbon neutral or not.

If it can be taxed.

Not sure if you are serious or not, sorry if I have misunderstood. Don't get me started on what should/should not be taxed and what the levels should be. It's completely wrong at the moment (fuel for 'planes is not taxed? how is that right?)

Since nothing really 'creates' Co2, it's just made from carbon and oxygen usually by living things then eventually everything is carbon neutral, over a long enough time frame. Even the C02 your car emits used to be in the atmosphere, but a very long time ago. It's not a very good phrase, I meant to explain that I used it to describe things which are short term, e.g. over a cow's lifetime.

You have a valid point about volcanoes, however I can't do anything about them in the same way things can be done about the 'man made' emissions. Just saying there are other sources of C02 (even if they are bigger) is not a good argument. Just because lots of people steal doesn't mean I should do it; just because other things (or people) emit this 'locked up' C02 doesn't mean it's OK for all of us to do it.