The Sky Isn’t Falling! The Sky Isn’t Falling!
August 17th, 2012 - 11:40 am
Something must be done to… I dunno, save some phony-baloney green jobs:
In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the United States has fallen dramatically, to its lowest level in 20 years.
Government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
Damn those unintended consequences!
Something doesn’t pass the smell test here. I can see how natural gas would reduce the amount of non-CO2 pollution, but how can it reduce the amount of CO2? In both cases you are burning carbon to CO2. How can natural gas give more energy per carbon atom than coal?
Bill N @1:
Coal is almost pure carbon (C), so burning it is 1C+2O=1CO^2. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH^4), so burning it is 1C+2O=1CO^2 and 4H+2O=2H^2O. Much more energy output per C atom.
Since Dihydrogen oxide (H^2O) is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO^2, I expect it will soon be declared a pollutant also.
Yes, the climate models which take into account future market-driven and technology-driven growth somehow failed to take into account…market- and technology-driven growth. But the models are totally accurate.
[Cosby] Riiiight. [/Cosby]
harrummph, harrumph!