Geoengineering, or how not to reduce CO2 emissions!
Saturday, 15 December 2007,
Written by Julien
World leaders are gathering in Bali, trying to agree on how to reduce CO2 emissions and how to limit climate change. Even if the talks result in an agreement setting a cap on emissions by 2020, the reduction of C02 in the atmosphere is a long term issue.
Other options are being developed to prevent climate change much quickly, by engineering the planet. Those geoengineers have many ideas such as injecting CO2 into oceans, storing CO2 in empty gas reservoirs, shielding the planet from the sun...
The more the planet heats, the less those options will seem surrealistic. The following video explains how to create sulfur clouds above the poles to reduce global warming, and explains how this could be integrated in an overall plan against climate change:
China already uses missiles to concentrate rains on Beijing. I guess they could easily propose their skills to reduce the impact of their emissions and to keep focusing on economical growth.
I went on this website to have a look on the huge fires in California. It is really impressive to see that the smoke is spreading all over the southern part of the state.
I also discovered that another hazard listed is the haze over Northern China:
Interestingly, there is not only haze (we are quite aware of that!) but there is also carbon monoxide:
Carbon monoxide is "odorless, colorless, and still toxic, and can be lethal in large amounts. Smaller amounts can cause fatigue, impaired vision, and nausea. Carbon monoxide additionally acts as a precursor smog and ground-level ozone."
Complètement ouff ce blog ! Trop stylé !
Sérieux, ça devient irrespirable ici, on peut même plus manger un morceau de bambou tranquillement, posé sur son petit bout de caillou sans étouffer... [more]
Why Linux is good for environment?
Friday, 31 August 2007,
Written by Julien
Looking for solutions against pollution, I found a new one: using Linux and other free software! Now that Linux is user friendly, it is a real alternative for companies and individuals.
Linux has the following qualities for environment preservation:
No need for useless shiny boxes and manuals, every thing can be downloaded over internet,
No need for changing PCs every three years, latest version of Linux can easily run on 10 years old computers,
Reduce the energy consumed by computers, as Linux uses less system resources (less bugs, no anti virus, no virus and spyware...), less energy is required to run processes and to cool down PCs,
Reduce the transportation required for maintenance, almost everything can be maintained over network,
No need for big houses and 5 meter long cars for developers, Linux is still mainly made by geeks coding during their free time,
No advertisement, how many tons of paper were consumed to launch Windows Vista? Did you see anything for the release of Ubuntu during the same period?
So Linux means less computers and less energy consumed, and in addition it is FREE.
In term of environment preservation, do you know any drawback for using Linux?
Links:
Want to learn more about Linux, contact the Beijing Linux User Group,
A very user friendly Linux distribution, Ubuntu(free of course),
I do not want to compare Linux and Windows in term of usability. Some people prefer fighting against viruses and system instabilities. Others prefer understanding how computers work. That's a personal choice. Apple computers use BSD operating system (Unix family) and are quite optimized to reduce energy consumption. However, they are still developed by energy consuming developers and Apple use lots of paper for marketing.
Greetings!
Good topic here. I also think that there are many reasons the Linux OS and the free software family can be understood to decrease one's impact on the environment. I'd like to r... [more]
Thanks for your precision on Mac (I edited the post).
Regarding APIC, I have no general data. However with my laptop running Ubuntu, I have no major issues to suspend and I enjoy a longer a... [more]
Thanks,bro.Linux put normal user out of misery.Windows are get used to
the product of the man.Becuase of Im a computer newbie that Linux is my best choice.
First on Google!
Thursday, 30 August 2007,
Written by Julien
What a surprise today: when you look for "pollution china" on Google, the very first result is this website!
As I have done absolutely no effort to increase my ranking, I guess Google considered my blog as useful and relevant!
Please give me your comments to further increase the quality of this blog!
I had a discussion tonight with a friend, who was arguing that my notebook (I mean an antique notebook made with paper) was not good for environment, compared to a laptop used for the same things. He said something like:
"Haaah! You use a notebook! How many trees did you destroy for that? How can you say you want to protect environment? You should use modern tools such as a notebook on your laptop!"
I was quite sure it is better to use a notebook for the things I use it for: at any time, writing meeting notes, keeping my todo list, writing some ideas...
I missed some striking arguments, so I had to go deeper in investigations and calculations. Now, the result is clear:
If I was taking notes on my laptop instead of on my antique notebook, I would emit 5500% more CO2!
It is a bit surprising still, because computers are often presented as the solution against paper consumption! What do you think?
Nice.
But your blog won't stay long ranking high on Google if you invite us to favor the use of notebooks/magazines/newspapers rather than laptops !!
By the way, when you'll have to move b... [more]
Adrien wrote :
This just proves that you can prove anything and the opposite with statistics. Here's more data : there are 22 working days a month (let's say 20). Your notebook lasts 4 months, which means ... [more]
xuedi wrote :
I think its not really about CO2, the permanent environment destruction to get te materials is much more important.
Notebook:
The wood grows and take back the same CO2 as it produce if y... [more]
xuedi wrote :
compare to the
Laptop:
Your Source: Empreinte écologique du papier, Bolloré, might be correct for the CO2 fact, BUT if you thing about how this 1000 differed materials get produced, the c... [more]
I was preparing it for quite a long time and it is finally ready: you can now use this website to compare the pollution in Beijing with the pollution indexes in other parts of the world. For now, you can "translate" Beijing air quality using the indexes of:
Austria,
Belgium,
UK,
France,
Madrid,
and the USA.
If you want additional cities or places, tell me which city and possibly the link to the website on which I can find the pollution indexes.
An upcoming evolution is also to add more Chinese cities.
Yes, there is a national standard for air index that applies for all the U.S.. You can find more information on this page: ... [more]
Mike Rainer, BJ wrote :
Do Belgians in Ostende (heavy industries), Americans under the influence of Atlanta airport emissions, or Parisians living close the busy ring road breath air of better quality than most of ... [more]
It is clear that average pollution is much much higher in Beijing than in most cities in Europe or in the US. I do not know for Atlanta or Ostende, but in whole Paris, the maximum of particl... [more]
Nt13 wrote :
pollutionchina, maybe get your facts straight? 232 isn't considered slightly polluted. There is a whole database that I just checked and it can be traced back for years and years. The index... [more]
Life reduced by 40% because of the pollution
Monday, 20 August 2007,
Written by Julien
That's what happens to traffic cops in China. According to Chinese media, life expectancy of traffic cops in China is 43 years, mainly because of pollution, plus other factors such as stress, noise and standing for long periods. In Guangzhou, 90% of the cops that underwent a checkup had infections.
For at least a month, Beijing Government has been announcing a pollution-free drill for this week-end, to prepare for the Olympics. The main element of the plan was to cut by half car traffic (car with odd number plates being forbidden on Friday and Saturday, even numbers forbidden on Sunday and Monday).
As a result, we were all expecting to enjoy this wonderful blue-sky day to enjoy Beijing. Unfortunately, here below is the view I have now... not even light blue!
This summer something quite unique happened in the fight against air pollution. For the first time, automakers accepted to compensate the damages of cars on people health.
Because cigarets are sold, i should start smoking??
well... i'm not sure this would sensibilize people not to use their car(s) so often or to use public transports... anyways, we're all vic... [more]
Back to (blue?) Beijing!
Wednesday, 15 August 2007,
Written by Julien
I did not spend so much time in Beijing this summer, trying to escape a bit from its traffic and from its pollution. After spending so much time in pollution-free mountains (France, Switzerland and Tibetan Plateau), I expected to suffocate back here!
But no. Sky is blue, air is almost clean. Such a difference compared to June (the most polluted month for years!). It seems the measures government took for the Olympics drills can be somehow efficient... But well, who knows how long it will last? Beijing cannot stop moving forever...
