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Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), are primarily responsible for the roughly 0.8 °C global temperature increase since the industrial revolution. With industrial activity and population expected to increase for the rest of the century, the projected large increases in greenhouse gas emissions are expected to result in additional, potentially substantial, global warming. Using a powerful, PC-based global climate model, global warming is projected for two business-as-usual cases, as well as simple, yet instructive, scenarios in which major programs are initiated to limit CO2 emissions. The paper provides a brief overview of 1) the forces driving CO2 emission increases, 2) how different CO2 emission trajectories could affect temperature this century, 3) required mitigation technologies with a focus on power generation mitigation options, and 4) R&D priorities. While various aspects of this subject are addressed extensively in the scientific literature,, this paper aims to provide a succinct integration of information about the projected warming of the earth in the decades ahead, the emission reductions that may be needed to constrain this warming to tolerable levels, and the potentially available technologies to help achieve these emission reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the state-of-art in the field of retrieval of total vertical columns of trace gases from spaceborne observations. Most retrievals presented in the paper are based on the hyperspectral measurements of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and the SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY). Both GOME and SCIMACHY are currently orbiting the planet and providing a wealth of information on the Earth's atmosphere. In particular, the retrieval of vertical columns of following trace gases are discussed: CO, CO2, CH4, O3, NO2, SO2, and H2O. In addition, the technique to retrieve the particulate matter concentration using satellite measurements is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information related to an activity used to demonstrate snowing process. In this activity one can make one's own snow-forming cloud in a box and show the group what it takes to make snow. Line the inside of the smaller box with black construction paper. Put the smaller box inside the larger box and fill the space between them with small chunks of dry ice. Always handle dry ice with gloves. It is so cold that it can stick to your skin and cause frostbite. Put newspaper over the top layer of dry ice to keep it from evaporating.

Nowadays, the problem of the environment goes worse, it urges people to research and study new energy-saving and environment-friendly refrigerants, such as carbon dioxide, at present, people do research on carbon dioxide at home and abroad. This paper introduces the property of carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, sums up and analyses carbon dioxide refrigeration cycles, and points out the development and research direction in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofuels are fuels produced from biomass, mostly in liquid form, within a time frame sufficiently short to consider that their feedstock (biomass) can be renewed, contrarily to fossil fuels. This paper reviews the current and future biofuel technologies, and their development impacts (including on the climate) within given policy and economic frameworks. Current technologies make it possible to provide first generation biodiesel, ethanol or biogas to the transport sector to be blended with fossil fuels. Still under-development 2nd generation biofuels from lignocellulose should be available on the market by 2020. Research is active on the improvement of their conversion efficiency. A ten-fold increase compared with current cost-effective capacities would make them highly competitive. Within bioenergy policies, emphasis has been put on biofuels for transportation as this sector is fast-growing and represents a major source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Compared with fossil fuels, biofuel combustion can emit less greenhouse gases throughout their life cycle, considering that part of the emitted CO2 returns to the atmosphere where it was fixed from by photosynthesis in the first place. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess the potential environmental impacts of biofuel chains, notably the impact on global warming. This tool, whose holistic nature is fundamental to avoid pollution trade-offs, is a standardised methodology that should make comparisons between biofuel and fossil fuel chains objective and thorough. However, it is a complex and time-consuming process, which requires lots of data, and whose methodology is still lacking harmonisation. Hence the life-cycle performances of biofuel chains vary widely in the** literature. Furthermore, LCA is a site- and time-independent tool that cannot take into account the spatial and temporal dimensions of emissions, and can hardly serve as a decision-making tool either at local or regional levels. Focusing on greenhouse gases, emission factors used in LCAs give a rough estimate of the potential average emissions on a national level. However, they do not take into account the types of crop, soil or management practices, for instance. Modelling the impact of local factors on the determinism of greenhouse gas emissions can provide better estimates for LCA on the local level, which would be the relevant scale and degree of reliability for decision-making purposes. Nevertheless, a deeper understanding of the processes involved, most notably N2O emissions, is still needed to definitely improve the accuracy of LCA. Perennial crops are a promising option for biofuels, due to their rapid and efficient use of nitrogen, and their limited farming operations. However, the main overall limiting factor to biofuel development will ultimately be land availability. Given the available land areas, population growth rate and consumption behaviours, it would be possible to reach by 2030 a global 10% biofuel share in the transport sector, contributing to lower global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1 GtCO2 eq per year (IEA, 2006), provided that harmonised policies ensure that sustainability criteria for the production systems are respected worldwide. Furthermore, policies should also be more integrative across sectors, so that changes in energy efficiency, the automotive sector and global consumption patterns converge towards drastic reduction of the pressure on resources. Indeed, neither biofuels nor other energy source or carriers are likely to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic pressure on resources in a range that would compensate for this pressure growth. Hence, the first step is to reduce this pressure by starting from the variable that drives it up, i.e. anthropic consumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a new monitoring system for carbon dioxide exchange is presented. The mission of the intelligent environment presented in this work, is to globally monitor the interaction between the ocean΄s surface and the atmosphere, facilitating the work of oceanographers. This paper proposes a hybrid intelligent system integrates case-based reasoning (CBR) and support vector regression (SVR) characterised for their efficiency for data processing and knowledge extraction. Results have demonstrated that the system accurately predicts the evolution of the carbon dioxide exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A science experiment to study the growth of yeast and its decomposition of sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol is presented. A list of materials is provided along with specific procedures and safety considerations. It is concluded that gaseous water and alcohol will condense into liquid as they are cooled while water and alcohol in the liquid phase will change to the gas phase as it is heated.

The article presents a science experiment on carbon dioxide testing that would be appropriate for school children. A list of required materials including limewater, small clear container, soda straw and baking soda, is presented. Preparation instructions, safety considerations, specific procedures, and discussion topics are also presented.

The article discusses the process of the generation of carbon dioxide and methane. Topics include the aerobic biological process which occurs during waste composting, the influence of moist waste or soil on biodegradation, the key products of anaerobic degradation and the complex process of methanogenesis.

How vainly men themselves amaze To win the palm, the oak, or bays; And their uncessant labours see Crown'd from some single herb or tree, Whose short and narrow verged shade Does prudently their toils upbraid; While all flowers and all trees do close To weave the garlands of repose. The common aims of plants and animals are the conversion of energy to their own purposes and the perpetuation of their species. All energy in the solar system ultimately comes from the Sun as light emission, and organisms that can use this source directly belong to one of the autotrophic groups, which are independent of outside sources of organic substances. These direct solar energy converters, or phototrophs, are almost exclusively plants, the rare exceptions being found among the bacteria. An example of this latter esoteric group is Halobacterium halobium. But not all plants are autotrophic. A major division, or phylum, of the plant kingdom are the mycophyta, or fungi, which include mushrooms, moulds and yeasts. These heterotrophs are all either saprophytes, obtaining nutriment in solution from the decaying tissues of plants or animals, or parasites. The latter group are important agents of disease, mainly in other plants but occasionally in animals. We will not be concerned here with such plants, and neither will we consider all phototrophic plants. The algae, which are simple photosynthetic plants, were formerly classified as belonging to a single taxonomic division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'tis, we musicians know, the C Major of this life. Paintings and museum reconstructions depicting the activities of medieval alchemists can easily give the wrong impression of the chemical knowledge of that period. Inanimate objects such as crystals are seen sharing shelves with the preserved bodies of small creatures, a common feature of the early laboratory. This could be taken to suggest that the scientists of those days had grasped the unity of chemistry: that in spite of great differences in their external appearance, Nature makes no distinction between chemical combinations in living and dead substances. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The universally held belief was that the matter contained in living organisms possessed an essential extra ingredient, a vital force, the mysterious origin of which was attributable to divine powers. This attitude was epitomized in the succinct classification to be found in the book Cours de Chyme, published by Nicholas Lemery in 1685. His division is still to be found in the standard first question of a popular parlour game: ‘animal, vegetable or mineral?’. By the end of the eighteenth century, the vital force theory was in rapid decline. Antoine Lavoisier, analyzing typical organic compounds, found them to contain inorganic substances such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus. The basic principles that govern chemical change, such as conservation of total mass, were being established during this period, and in 1844 Jöns Berzelius showed that they apply to all matter irrespective of whether it is inorganic or organic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the difficult problems of greenhouse effect and energy resource in short supply, developing a battery system utilizing carbon dioxide and ferrous waste has significant potential in buffering the energy crisis, eliminating the consumption of the fossil fuel and reducing air pollution. According to the mechanism of CO2 corrosion of scrap iron and the electrodialysis principle, a novel battery system combined H2-FeCO3 generation is proposed. The system makes CO2 and scrap iron to be used as a resource, and produce green energy hydrogen and electricity. The battery system is made up of graphite electrode, ferrous waste electrode, proton exchange diaphragm, external electric field. The results showed that the adoption of the proton exchange diaphragm and external electric field can accelerate the reaction rate, increase the electromotance and make the capture of H2 and FeCO3 more easily. Ferrous carbonate can be stripped and heated to ferrous oxide and net CO2 which can be utilized circularly. Ferrous oxide is easily oxidized to ferric oxide which is very important industrial raw material. Based on the thermodynamic analysis of the battery system, the thermodynamic efficiency can reach 97% and the electromotance can reach 0.3151V. According to calculation of the economic benefit of this system, the net contribution of the system is RMB 1, 545 and the neat profit rate is 30.91% when one ton of scrap iron is reused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 16 of the book "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science: 25 More Formative Assessment Probes," Vol. 2, by Page Keeley, Francis Eberle, and Joyce Tugel is presented. It explores the assessment probe used by the teachers to evoke students' ideas about transformation of matter. It highlights the role of carbon dioxide in plants' food production.

The impact of gaseous CO2 and SO2 attains additional importance when examining the processes of alteration and decay in historical buildings made of calcareous stones. We selected the Al-Ghuri complex (Cairo, Egypt) for the study of black crust formation on stone building surfaces due to the presence of carbonaceous materials and sulfatation via CaCO3 conversion to gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O). Under dry deposition, the breakdown of calcareous stones depends on the relative humidity and the presence of catalysts, e.g., O3 and oxides of Cu, Fe and Mn. Depth profile analyses indicated the presence of sulfates to depths of 100 to 1200µm below the stone surface. Sulfatation was usually formed on the stone surface, and sometimes penetrated the outer surface through micro-fractures and pores. NaCl crystals (in cubic form) were precipitated at stone surfaces and pores due to the presence of sewage water via capillary action. Polyhalite [K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4.2H2O] and epsomite (MgSO4.7H2O) were developed as minute crystals up to 121µm. This study reveals the influence of sulfatation and salt formation and microrganismal activities on accelerating the rate of monumental stone degradation. Such processes involve reaction of stone with the pollutants, transformation of CaCO3 to CaSO4.2H2O, and precipitation of NaCl, which under appropriate conditions crystallizes within pores and micro-cavities of stones. One possible consequence is the rupture and spilling of the upper surface of the stone due to crystal pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on improvements at manufacturing plants and operations in the transportation sector in Japan. Environment and energy issues in plants and other manufacturing operations from automobile manufacturing and distribution to processing of expendable launch vehicles; Laws and regulations regarding environment and energy issues in manufacturing; Efforts being done by automobile and auto parts plants to cut down energy consumption, carbon dioxide output, and waste output.