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Tracking CO2 emissions from space could help support climate agreements

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NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite can make precise measurements of global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from space. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Ray Nassar, University of Toronto

The central objective of the Paris Agreement is to limit Earth’s warming to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels, but preferably 1.5 C.

This challenging task will require policies and tools to enable every sector of society to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to eventually reach net-zero.

Enacting the most effective and efficient strategies to reduce emissions starts with knowing in detail where, when and how much of these greenhouse gases we are emitting, followed by implementing emission reduction policies and tracking our progress.

Is it possible to track carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and emission reductions from space? New research from my group shows that it is.

Why CO2 matters

CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas driving climate change. Burning fossil fuels for electricity generation, heating buildings, industry and transportation has elevated the CO2 in our atmosphere well beyond natural levels.

Currently, CO2 emission reporting is mainly done by accounting for the mass of fossil fuels purchased and used, then calculating the expected emissions — not actual atmospheric CO2 measurements. The finer details about exactly when and where the emissions occurred are often not available, but more transparent monitoring of CO2 emissions could help track the effectiveness of policies to reduce emissions.

Today GPS satellites help us to get around, meteorological satellites track weather systems and communication satellites relay TV, internet and telephone signals. It is time we use satellites to help tackle the biggest challenge that humanity has ever faced — climate change.

Satellites for measuring CO2

A global network of ground-based CO2 measurements began in 1957 and now consists of over one hundred stations around the world. Accurate and precise measurements from these stations have revealed a lot about changes in global atmospheric CO2 and Earth’s overall carbon cycle, but we can’t place these stations everywhere on Earth.

Satellites can observe the entire planet. Those that measure CO2 in the lower atmosphere near Earth’s surface (where CO2 emissions and CO2 uptake by plants happens) first began making measurements in 2002. Since then, they have been getting better and better at doing it, but there have been setbacks along the way.

About a decade of effort by NASA went into developing the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite to make precise measurements of atmospheric CO2 across the Earth.

NASA's OCO undergoing development prior to launch
NASA developed the Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite to make precise measurements of atmospheric CO2 across the Earth. (NASA/JPL), Author provided

In 2009, OCO was lost due to a launch problem. After sustained advocacy for a rebuild of this important climate mission, NASA secured new funding to launch the OCO-2 satellite in 2014 and OCO-3 to the International Space Station in 2019.

The OCO missions were designed to improve our understanding of vegetation’s CO2 absorption, also known as the land carbon sink. But what about fossil fuel CO2 emissions?

A new way to verify CO2 emissions

In 2017, I led a research team that published the first study showing that we can quantify CO2 emissions at the scale of an individual power plant using OCO-2 observations.

Since OCO-2 was not designed for this purpose, its coverage and infrequent visits were inadequate for operational global CO2 emission monitoring, but we can still quantify emissions in select cases when the satellite passes close enough and gets a good cloud-free view.

OCO-3 is very similar to OCO-2, but has an additional pointing mirror that enables it to better map CO2 around targets of interest like the Bełchatów Power Station in Poland, Europe’s largest fossil fuel burning power plant and CO2 source.

A Power Station
Bełchatów Power Station, Europe’s largest fossil fuel burning power plant. (Shutterstock)

With ten clear views of CO2 emission plumes from Bełchatów imaged by OCO-2 and OCO-3 from 2017-2022 analyzed in our new study, we were able to determine emissions on those days.

European power plants report hourly power generation but only annual CO2 emissions. Power generation fluctuates with electricity demand and generating unit shutdowns (for maintenance or decommissioning) and CO2 emissions are expected to exhibit proportional fluctuations.

We confirmed this using OCO-2 and OCO-3 in our recent paper, which showed that satellite observations can track changes in facility-level CO2 emissions. This means that satellites can be used to verify (or refute) reported CO2 emission reductions that result from climate change mitigation — like mandated efficiency improvements, carbon capture and storage technology, etc.

OCO-3 observations of a CO2 emission plume from the Bełchatów Power Station in Poland on April 10, 2020 overlaid on Google Earth imagery.
A plume of high CO2 resulting from coal burning is evident down wind from the Bełchatów Power Station in OCO-3 observations. (Ray Nassar), Author provided

Emissions monitoring for the Paris Agreement

Our approach can be applied to more power plants or modified for CO2 emissions from cities or countries with OCO-2 and OCO-3. We can also try integrating the satellite observations with CO2 monitoring from the ground or aircraft.

While we are already working on this, advances will only be incremental until the launch of the European Commission-funded Copernicus Anthropogenic CO2 Monitoring Mission or “CO2M”. CO2M is comprised of two satellites, aiming to launch in late 2025.

These satellites will provide about 50 times as much coverage as OCO-2 and OCO-3 combined and will form the space component of Europe’s system for CO2 emissions Monitoring, Verification and Support (MVS).

CO2M will be a major advance, but just like successful global climate action, requires contributions from many countries. The long-term robust operational global monitoring of GHG emissions will need a constellation of satellites contributed by multiple countries as part of an integrated global observing system.

Hopefully, with new, more detailed and transparent tracking of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to assess and guide us toward the most effective policies, society can achieve the emission reductions needed to reach net-zero in time.

Ray Nassar, Research Scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Adjunct Professor in Atmospheric Physics, University of Toronto

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The Future of The Internet Radio Hobbyist

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This year there has a been a twist in the Pro’s and Internet Radio Broadcasters  story. The once Reliable and Affordable Licensing company named Stream Licensing stopped paying ASCAP and there has been talk of them not reporting info to other PROs such as B.M.I.and Sound exchange. They claim the ASCAP issue is due to overpayment and they stopped paying them due to such, to me this is irresponsible and is a disservice to the clients they represent.  They are Doing some nice dodging and weaving through emails promising things that are not realistic such as buying a radio station which they owned for some time prior and that is not licensed and talking about  ownership options etc.

I have read a post stating a former SL client filing complaints to the Law officials in Florida and some complaints possibly going to the FCC as well about the situation. Do I think Streamlicensing.com part of Stardom Media is being fraudulent? I can not tell you since there is always more to the story than you can find. But I do find it quite unethical to not pay the ASCAP fees and not let us know when they began doing so, they waited almost 6 to 8 months before notifying us and it was mainly due to ASCAP sending out emails.

Ok That said at the moment I would suggest avoiding SL until they get their records and licensing in order. This only leaves most of us hobbyists with a few options, paying ascap directly and forking out 200+ dollars.(outside of my budget) Moving to live365.com and be very restricted far as how you can listen to the music (all web based no direct link for Media Players etc.) and pay about the same amount and have to go with their broadcast servers, Radionomy which is a pain to keep going and you must meet quotas to keep the station up along with they are only web based or app. based in the USA. Then the next to last option of playing only Creative Commons Music, which I love but it limits what listener base  you will receive.

The only 2 options left are Closing down the Station or go through the painstaking process of contacting each record company, artists etc. to get a waiver to play their music. Their may be many artists who would sign waivers to keep their exposure up via the internet streaming since mainstream radio stations don’t play them often since they are not the popular bands or of the popular genres.

The thing is I went legal out of my desire to not only be legit but to support those artists, songwriters etc. they do deserve money for their works, but the amount that we must pay in internet streaming is quite high, and since advertisers are not too willing to support internet streams unless they are owned by some big media corp. etc. it makes it hard to even make any revenue to offset the cost of playing the music we all love.

I think one thing that really makes me mad is how many PRO’s there is and how complicated it is to get covered and to be legal, you would think that they would get together and form a one stop  shop for licensing and make it affordable and a monthly payment.  They would have more on board being legal for one thing and they wouldn’t have issues like they are at the moment with such places like Stream Licensing.

Now I Call out for Artists, Songwriters, Composers and Record companies to get into the game and try to find a solution that can help the broadcasters within the new media category become the new way to get artists exposure and raise capitol along with making it an affordable venture for the small broadcasters. There must be some way all the PRO’s and those associated with the Music industry can work together and find a way to make it good for all of us involved.

I really Hope Stream Licensing gets their act together and do what is right by their clients, after this month I may just move on to live365, play Creative Commons Licensed music  or  Even kill the station . Sad But its a Fact of life when your just a guppy in a ocean of sharks and whales I guess.

Feel free to leave comments on the Stream Licensing situation as well as the options out there for the little guppy broadcasters 😀

God Bless

Raymond Barbier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green Issues, Random Thoughts, Thought of the day, Thought's on World Issues

Put our minds and hearts together

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English: Poverty Русский: Нищенство

Between Mass media and the world-wide web it seems we are becoming a global minded society. Nothing wrong with being global minded as long as we never forget we live in our own small community as well. If we keep our minds distracted with the news of overseas conflicts and international problems we tend to forget the problems we face in our home towns. We should start at home when it comes to helping the needy, impoverished and those who can not fend for themselves. Though I fully support helping the less fortunate on a global scale as well I believe our hometowns should be our first priority. There are hungry, homeless, handicapped and many who can not do for themselves in every town and city in our great nation. Food stamps, welfare are good as temporary solutions in helping those who are able to work and is the right idea for those who are truly physically or mentally incapable of working.

We need to focus on offering those able to work training to do jobs and also offer them state and/or federal jobs doing community service. At least they will be on the right track back to being independent and self efficient individual. Most of those who are on some kind of governmental assistance usually prefers to work for their living but find it hard to get a job which pays enough to support themselves or their family. So if we offered them training and/or a job with the government doing something constructive for their money they would gladly accept one if not both options.

In the Appalachian region a lot of coal miners are finding themselves unemployed due to the greener America movement and the lack of permits being issued for mining. The idea of greener technologies and alternative energies is a great idea, but if you get a greener America at the cost of the jobs of Americans then how will that be a better America? We need to bring in more industries and jobs into the region and retrain coal miners to do the new jobs before we start forcing coal mining to shut down.  It doesn’t only affect the coal miners and their families it affects the whole community and the communities surrounding it. Food stores, shopping malls, restaurants and many small business will get hit hard by the loss of coal mining jobs. They rely on the coal miners for their income and business.

This is just some of the issues happening here in our own back yard and for some their front yard as well. It is time for communities to start coming together as a community and start dealing with the problems here at home. Together we can overcome any challenge as long as we put our minds and hearts together . Turn off that television, radio, mp3 player and any  other time-consuming distraction device  and tune in to what is going on in your own town for a day. Take a little time to help out your neighbors and your fellow citizens and see how just a little help can go a long way.

Ray Barbier

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The transition between traditional and green energy tech

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© Guerito 2005

It amazes me, with the technological level of present day that we are still using carbon based fuels. You would think by now solar, wind and hydropower technologies would have advanced enough to become our primary sources of energy. Though I believe a lot of the problem is the greed of the corporations that supply the carbon based fuels, they can not monopolize the sun, wind or water and can not make enough profit off of such abundant and renewable energy sources. Unfortunately greed and the lust of power still plagues our world in both the private and governmental sectors. I understand the need for profit, but not at the expense of the earth or the species that live on it.

English: PS20 and PS10 in Andalusia, Spain

If our president wants to make a change towards greener energies then let us invest in the current technologies and help advance them to the point of making them more efficient. Solar power is one of the most promising energy technologies we have, if we can improve the percentage of the sun’s power we can harvest with solar panels from approximately 7% to around 25% or 30% it could make solar the best choice for green energy. Combine solar, wind and hydropower and we could cut down or eliminate the need for less eco-friendly energy sources. One of the downsides of going green is it will eliminate the need for coal as a main fuel source in generating energy which in turn will put countless coal miners out of work along with many small businesses that rely on the coal industry and its workers for an income. So if we are going to move towards greener technologies we must remember to put the industries involved in green tech creation in the areas that rely on coal as an economical source in order to supply new jobs for those that will be lost.

Coal

In the end we will either have to go green tech or alternative energy tech of some sort because there is only so much coal, oil and natural gas on this planet.  I just hope we remember the people who will be negatively affected by the closing of coal mines and other industries during the transitional period. If we cause economical distress during the transition between traditional and green energy tech we will do more harm than good. Until solar, wind and hydropower technologies are advanced enough to replace our present power sources we need to at least invest in clean coal technologies in order to make our energy creation more earth friendly.

Just a few thoughts on the problems at hand..

Ray Barbier

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.
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Our children and grandchildren will inherit a toxic planet if we don’t stop

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IMG_1077 While Scientists argue over what is causing the climate change we pump toxic gases into our air. As they debate how little man influences our environment more and more toxic waste is buried in the ground and illegally dumped into our water sources.  Regardless what they say we affect our environment negatively with our chemicals, gasses and poisonous by-products. So what if the sun is part of the reason to the temperature increase it is not the only thing effecting our environment. Birth defects, mysterious diseases and health problems increasing in our world. Too much evidence to our negative influence on our environment to ignore. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a toxic planet if we don’t stop mistreating our home. All of this is put aside in the name of profit, the mighty dollar seems more important than the health of future generations, the water and food we consume and the human race’s survival. Seems silly to put greed before survival as well as the wellbeing of your future generations but that is the message the big companies are sending along with our government. When they do attempt to do something to help the environment they do it in a way that it causes job loss and an economic decline in the towns that rely on the industry. Coal is one example, they limit the amount of new coal permits which causes coal companies to lay off workers. They need to first offer job re-education programs and help get new industries in the areas that will be effected by the closing or slowing of the coal industry. So that the coal miners and related workers can find new employment locally to support their families. Once there is new jobs and the coal workers are trained and placed in the new jobs the coal industry can be shut down. Though I don’t see how we can actually discontinue coal use for energy at this point in time, but in the decades ahead we may find a safer alternative to coal besides nuclear. Natural gas, wind and solar are viable replacements but solar and wind are still not as efficient or economical as of yet.  It would definitely would be a phase out in a decade or two kind of plan so to give time to get new industry in the areas and retrain the workers.

 

In the end we need a clean and renewable energy source. We need to find less toxic ways to manufacture our goods and make more recyclable products. We can not continue on this disposable product path, we need to make everything as recyclable and reusable as possible. The public and commercial sectors need to become even more green minded than they already are. Maybe give tax breaks to families and business that go green and recycle. Just a thought anyway…

 

Lets all go Green, Renewable, Recyclable and reusable .

Raymond Barbier

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Only god knows and only time can tell.

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IMG_1078fb Where do we go from here? The world is suffering from earthquakes and extreme weather while there is civil unrest happening across the globe. Governments being toppled by both protests and warfare. The people want change from east to west and they starting to act upon their desires. Luckily here in the U.S. we can do it through political channels and also we can create change by utilizing all the media avenues available. The internet gives the people a power to express their concerns and to assemble as a political force like never before. So with all the sever weather, earthquakes and civil unrest in the world, where are we heading?

Seems we are at some kind of crossroads and which way we go depends on the choices the people in power make. With the fact oil is becoming less attractive as a fuel/energy source we desperately need to invest in alternative fuels and energy sources. Solar is the cleanest choice for energy though the current solar cells are still only capture a fraction of the sunlight’s energy. Still a viable energy source but the technology needs to be improved so we can capture higher percentages of the energy coming from the sun. Wind power works well but only when there is sufficient wind speed. Hydropower is the best out of the lot due to rivers are continuously flowing allowing for a constant energy source. This leads to the fact that batteries used to store energy also need to be improved so solar and wind power both can be good alternative energy sources.

The fact all three of the before mentioned power sources are renewable energy sources unlike oil, natural gas or coal they are the best bets for our future energy sources. We still face the problem of transportation and their use of combustible carbon based fuels. Besides the growing cost due to higher demand and that eventually the oil deposits will run dry, the toxic fumes the exhaust of such vehicles is harmful to both earth and the life that lives on it. The only alternatives at this time to petroleum-based fuels are Electric powered vehicles  or using natural gas, hydrogen or a synthetic fuel. Though I have heard of a compressed air powered vehicle being built-in the U.K.

If we survive the present problems in this world we just might figure a more efficient and less toxic or wasteful way to power our homes and  a better way to propel our vehicles. Maybe the civil unrest will bring  more of a positive change than a negative one. Only god knows and only time can tell.

Just a collection of random thoughts.
Raymond Barbier

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The Voices of the Many and the Few

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The Earth flag is not an official flag, since ...
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  As we sit in our houses and buildings made of stone,brick,wood and steel looking out the windows seeing a concrete jungle surrounding us we miss out on all the wonders of nature and the beauty of this world we live in. Species after species of animal fade into extinction along with their habitats as mankind builds more and more cities. Progress and industry overrides the survival of both man and animal in this modern world we live in. So much we have lost on our journey through civilization and towards modernization. So much is missed and so little saved in the name of progress and conquest.

  The once plentiful forests and bountiful oceans our grandparents enjoyed are slowly becoming diminished and are heading to the point of no recovery. No recovery in mankind’s timeline that is, once our natural resources are gone man will either become extinct by his own hand or will have to venture out into the cold of space in search of a new home. We can however save and or slow the devastation of our home called planet earth. This will of course not be an easy task and many decisions will have to made that may not be the most economical or popular. In the long run the choices will become an economical boom and benefit all that live here on this planet.

  As a precaution maybe mankind should gear up our space exploration and concentrate on finding another inhabitable planet or invest in the technologies that would make it possible to implement terraforming. Space stations are fine for a starting point but to be able to sustain life for any length of time in such an environment would be a hard task due to limited resources available in the emptiness of space. Mankind’s number one priority should be the survival of his race and then the preservation of his home. Though the likeliness of another inhabitable planet in the universe is highly probable, with the lack of technologies to reach such a planet in a human lifespan makes it an unlikely option for the time being.

  The human race is a very inventive and adaptable species so we have a good chance of escaping total extinction if we are wise enough to be aware of such a danger. The biggest obstacle in the way of true human progress is our inability to cooperate with each other for any given length of time. Our difference of beliefs and opinions stands in our way for the most part, The differences we have also make us a very unique and gave us our ability to thrive. So that which makes us strong also can be our worst enemy if we do not learn to cooperate for the common good of our species.

  So the natural world of earth slowly changes and dies as we adapt our environment to suit our liking. We ignore the facts and take no responsibility for the damage we have done nor the consequences that we will have to face. It is this ignorance and arrogance of mankind that may be our undoing. Luckily not all of mankind is blinded by ignorance and arrogance, but unfortunately the ones that are usually are the ones in power. The destination of mankind is in the hands of the people not the few in power. The voices of many will eventually overpower the voices of the few.

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Environment or Independence?

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Today I am going to talk about Green and Renewable Sources of energy and how it is not only about the environment as much it is about fuel and energy independence for the United States. The fact is a major part of our income is spent fueling our cars, trucks, SUVs and other motorized vehicles both commercial and recreational. The fuel is derived from crude oil that we buy mostly from foreign sources and a small percentage is from our own oil reserves along with bio-fuels and or ethanol. Our energy such as electricity is mainly fueled by local sources of fuels but they are both bad for the environment and non renewable. Eventually we will run out of coal, crude oil and even the large deposits of natural gas to fuel our transportation and our power plants. Of course there is Nuclear power but then you have the radioactive waste to consider along with the slight chance of a incident similar to Chernobyl or three mile island etc.

Many avenues are being researched such as bio-fuels derived from algae and the more common corn alcohol ethanol as viable supplements or replacements. Some have ventured into Hydrogen Fuel Cells as a possibility for transportation yet it still is not financially nor environmentally feasible at the current level of technology. Wind and Solar are nice supplemental sources for electricity if there is enough solar exposure and wind speed to generate the power needed. Both those technologies are still quite expensive at this time but are becoming less expensive as the technologies are refined and used. Hydro Power  is one of the more cost effective ideals in generating energy but it does cause some problems for the wildlife that inhabit the rivers and also can increase erosion along with changes the ecology of the surrounding area of the river.

Recently it was brought to my attention that at the University of St. Louis they have created a Fuel Cell that utilizes Sugar to create energy. The main Byproduct is water yet they are still refining the process and at this time they have proven it can recharge maybe a laptop or cell phone using this Bio Fuel Cell. There always seems to be some sort of cost to the creation and utilization of fuels and electricity. We just have to figure out the most efficient and less costly way to both keep the lights on and get us where we need to go. One thing myself would love to see is the glass bottle coming back as the container of choice for water and beverages. Glass is a very recyclable container and we sure don’t have a shortage on sand. Plus to me glass seemed to have no effect on the taste of a beverage when I still can taste the plastic when drinking beverages.

Well enough of my Tree Hugging and American Independence Babbling for Now.
Peace to All  R. Barbier

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