Feature Article

Success at the latest climate talks will be a recognition by the world’s nations that incremental change will not do the job, says Johan Rockström.

Leaders must come together on a solid agreement at the United Nations climate conference — and then get to work at home by meeting commitments and finding new ways to reduce emissions. (Editorial)

Original Source

Exports of pellets from the United States(US) are growing significantly to meet the demand for renewable energy in the European Union. This transatlantic trade in pellets has raised questions about the greenhouse gas(GHG)intensity of these pellets and their effects on conventional forest product markets in the US. This paper examines the GHG intensity of pellets exported from the US using either forest biomass only or forest and agricultural biomass combined.

Direct catalytic conversion of ethanol to hydrocarbon blend-stock can increase biofuels use in current vehicles beyond the ethanol blend-wall of 10–15%. Literature reports describe quantitative conversion of ethanol over zeolite catalysts but high C2 hydrocarbon formation renders this approach unsuitable for commercialization. Furthermore, the prior mechanistic studies suggested that ethanol conversion involves endothermic dehydration step.

Regardless of the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels on global climate other energy sources will become more important in the future because fossil fuels could run out by the early twenty-second century given the present rate of consumption. This implies that sooner or later humanity will rely heavily on renewable energy sources. Here we model the effects of an idealized large-scale application of renewable energy on global and regional climate relative to a background climate of the representative concentration pathway 2.6 scenario.