Veteran climate scientist calls for wood burning in place of coal

by Rich Bowden - Sep 15 2008, 00:35

One of the first scientists to draw the world's attention to the threat of global warming has called for an end to burning coal, saying trees should be grown and burnt in its place.

Photo:Yallourn W Power Station - Victoria, Australia. Credit: Marcus Wong.

The Independent on Sunday reports that Professor James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has called for an end to carbon emissions from coal, replacing it with a massive programme to grow trees, which would absorb carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, then using them in place of traditional fossil fuels for energy with a form of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) at the point of use to be introduced.Hanson says these methods are needed to bring down current dangerous levels of carbon emissions, which are believed by a majority of scientists to be instrumental in causing global climate change. He said current policies to stabilise CO2 at 450 parts per million (ppm) was "a recipe for global disaster, not salvation," and that present emission levels of 385 ppm had already brought the planet to its current "tipping point"."If we go over the edge we will transition to an environment far outside the range that has been experienced by humanity, and there will be no return within any foreseeable future generation," he said to the UK spreadsheet.Hansen said all coal-fired plants should be phased out by 2030, which would be accompanied by a huge tree planting programme to take the place of coal.He estimates that ending the world's reliance on fossil fuels would stabilise CO2 emissions to 400 ppm, which could be improved by better agricultural practices, to the extent they could be reduced to around 350 ppm by the end of the century.

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temasparapianMay 2nd, 2009 - 22:18:43

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