Articles

Pachauri, Rajendra (1940)

Rajendra K. Pachauri is an engineer and economist who has served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by the...

Principle 1. Carbon-based fuels dominate global energy use.

Crude oil, coal, and natural gas supply about 85% of the energy used in the world. These fuels are called fossil fuels because they...

Principle 2. Combustion releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Combustion is the burning of a fuel and oxidant to produce heat and/or work.  The theory of combustion articulated by the French chemist Antoine Laurent...

Principle 3. The release of carbon dioxide alters the global carbon cycle.

Through the combustion of carbon-based fuels, humans actively participate in the global carbon cycle, which is the movement of carbon, in its many forms, between...

Principle 4. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

The redistribution of fossil carbon (from fossil fuels) among the atmosphere, oceans, and land is significant from a climate perspective because carbon dioxide is a...

Principle 5. Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are at an 800,000 year maximum.

Since 1751 about 329 petagrams of carbon (PgC) have been released to the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels and the production of cement...

Principle 6: Global warming is caused by rising greenhouse gas concentrations.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the temperature of the Earth increased by about 0.74 °C over the past century. The IPCC also...

Principle 7. Energy technologies vary significantly in their greenhouse gas emissions.

Primary energy sources such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, oil sands and biofuels are converted into wide array of fuels. A typical crude oil...

Principle 8. Huge amounts carbon-based energy remain in the Earth's crust.

A substantial portion of the carbon-based energy remaining the Earth's crust must stay there if society is to avoid the more serious consequences of future...

Principle 9. Carbon capture and storage may “decouple” the energy and carbon components of fossil fuels.

Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) encompasses the processes of capture and storage of carbon dioxide produced from human activities that would otherwise reside in...