[OKC] NASA Study Illustrates How Global Peak Oil Could Impact Climate

[Shauna Struby]

NASA Study Illustrates How Global Peak Oil Could Impact Climate

 

The burning of fossil fuels -- notably coal, oil and gas -- has accounted
for about 80 percent of the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide since the
pre-industrial era. Now, NASA researchers have identified feasible emission
scenarios that could keep carbon dioxide below levels that some scientists
have called dangerous for climate.

When and how global oil production will peak has been debated, making it
difficult to anticipate emissions from the burning of fuel and to precisely
estimate its impact on climate. To better understand how emissions might
change in the future, Pushker Kharecha and James Hansen of NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies in New York considered a wide range of fossil
fuel consumption scenarios. The research, published Aug. 5 in the American
Geophysical Union's Global Biogeochemical Cycles, shows that the rise in
carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels can be kept below harmful levels as
long as emissions from coal are phased out globally within the next few
decades.

"This is the first paper in the scientific literature that explicitly melds
the two vital issues of global peak oil production and human-induced climate
change," Kharecha said. "We're illustrating the types of action needed to
get to target carbon dioxide levels."

 

More here ::: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=35278 

 

::: shauna lawyer struby

 

 

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