February 28, 2007
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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999
FROM VOLUME 3, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1990
An Evaluation of the Relationship between the Production and Use of
Energy and Atmospheric Methane Emissions (DOE/NBB-0088P; TR047), D.W. Barns
(Pacific Northwest Lab.), J.A. Edmonds, approx. 280 pp., Apr. 1990. Available
(no charge) from Carbon Dioxide Info. Analysis Ctr., U.S. Dept. Energy, Oak
Ridge Nat. Lab., Oak Ridge TN 37831 (615-574-0390).
Describes a detailed analysis of the various energy-related sources of
methane emissions for use in a model intended to predict future emissions of
this greenhouse gas. Considered are coal mining, natural gas production and
distribution, automotive exhaust, biomass burning and landfill decay. The sum of
the estimated sources is 110 Tg/year, at the low end of the range of similar
Request the following (no charge) from American Gas Assoc., 1515 Wilson
Blvd., Arlington VA 22209 (703-841-8473).
Workshop Findings: International Workshop on Methane Emissions from
Natural Gas Systems, Coal Mining and Waste Management Systems, 16 pp., 1990.
The April 1990 workshop in Washington was sponsored by the U.S. EPA, the U.S.
Agency for International Development and the Environmental Agency of Japan.
Recent preliminary data show that methane emissions from natural gas systems in
developed countries are likely to be less than 1% of throughput; if verified,
natural gas use should be encouraged as one option to counter greenhouse gas
emissions. Emissions from coal mining and waste management are less certain but
thought to be significant. Technical and policy options for reducing all three
sources are enumerated.
The Relative Role of Methane and Carbon Dioxide in the Greenhouse Effect,
R.R. Gamache, D. Golomb (Univ. Lowell, Lowell, Mass.), 25 pp., Jan. 1990. A
spectroscopic data base and an atmospheric radiation model were used to
calculate the infrared absorption ratio of methane compared to carbon dioxide
for a realistic atmospheric column. The result (13.2) illustrates the much
greater global warming effect of additions of methane to the atmosphere, and is
smaller than most other estimates, which range from 6.9 to 31.4. Empirical
measurement of this ratio by satellite radiance spectra is needed.
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