Articles tagged with: methane
Posted in Animals, Environment, Gas, Global warming, Go green, Green, concept on 24 August 2008
It might not be good news for Kangaroo lovers like me but a recent study suggests replacing Australia’s beef and lamb with kangaroo meat could reduce the continent’s gas emissions significantly. Quite a drastic solution, it’s asking to phase out some 7 million cattle and 36 million sheep from Australian greenlands. There is a reason too. Apparently, due to the unique gut microbes in Kangaroos, they emit less methane as compared to cattle and lamb. As per George Wilson, of Canberra consultancy Australian Wildlife Services, methane is a far more dangerous gas than carbon-dioxide.
Posted in Animals, Earth, Efficiency, Energy, Environment on 26 July 2008
Cow power could emerge as one of the green and renewable energy sources to generate electricity in future. Till now the manure produced by bovine and livestock animals has been used in farms only (that too to a certain extent). But now, it can be used to generate electricity which might meet upto 3 % energy (read electricity) consumption needs of entire North America!
The research being conducted by scientists at University of Texas (Austin) believe the results of it will imply on all countries with a large number of livestock (including India). Production of biogas from cow dung is not a new thing and it has been used in rural India to cook food and for other heating purposes. But this research stresses upon the anaerobic digestion (a process which helps in compost formation) of manure which yields energy-rich bio-gas potent enough to generate electricity by rotating standard microturbines.
In recent times, the interest and efforts in analyzing and using cow waste for studying its effect on climate change, has seen an upward trend. The IPCC reports that nitrous oxide and methane (both are Green House Gases) produced by naturally decomposing livestock manure heat up our atmosphere many times more than what CO2 does! Hence, the panel recommends proper utilization of this livestock manure. The latter if utilized fully could generate approximately 100 billion kilowatt hours of electricity (a scenario where the Americans will thank cows profusely for providing resources beyond milk and meat!)
Posted in Earth, Environment on 21 July 2008
Scientists and environmentalists from world over have expressed their concerns over the far-reaching devastating effects of rapid destruction and drying of wetlands.
Gathered at the 8th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference (Cuiaba, Brazil), some 700 experts from 28 nations believe that quickly drying up wetlands invariably lead to climate change via global warming.
Wetlands store a vast amount of carbon (in form of CO2). Their complete destruction will lead to massive release of this stored up CO2 into atmosphere, thereby heating it up. Besides, carbon dioxide other greenhouse gases like methane (more potent than the former) will also be released which will further strain our Earth’s atmosphere.
It is interesting to note that, wetlands (including peat bogs, swamps, river deltas, marshes, mangroves, tundra, lagoons and river floodplains cover only 6% of Earth’s land surface. But, they store upto 20% of its terrestrial carbon! According to an estimate these waterlogged areas contain nearly 771 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (this is equivalent to present-day carbon levels found in atmosphere).
Posted in Global warming on 10 July 2008
While scientists and governmental experts worldover are busy in figuring out ways to effectively reduce Global warming, their Argentinean counterparts have embarked on a unique study that critically examines a cow’s fart! This isn’t a bizarre-science expedition but a serious study by researchers, who are trying to understand (clearly) the link between gas produced by cows + other bovine species, global warming and climate change.
A lot of hue and cry has revolved around C02 – the greenhouse gas which is considered to be the culprit behind soaring temperatures around the globe. But now, a beginning is made to understand the role of other GHGs like methane in global warming. A cow’s sluggish digestive system results in a lot of gas (methane) being expelled from it’ behind.
Scientists in Argentina thus collected cow farts in plastic tanks attached to their backs and examined the gas composition. It was revealed in this attempt that more than 30 per cent of the country’s total greenhouse emissions consist of methane from these ruminants. It is a startling fact as Argentina tops the list of biggest beef producing countries with more than 55 million cows grazing in its famed Pampas grasslands. Even more startling is the figure found out by Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology. According to him every cow produces 800 to 1,000 litres of emissions every day! I’m wondering if calculated for our Indian Cows what an astronomical figure it would be?
Posted in Uncategorized on 3 May 2008
From next September should be available in dealerships the Grande Punto Natural Power, which is the version methane fortunate of car Fiat. From what we read on Quattroruote, the engine should be a 1,400 with CO2 emissions below 120 g / km.
The Grande Punto Natural Power complement then Panda, Punto, Doblò and Multipla in the list Fiat, Turin bringing home a first place to offer a range methane.