Find Out Here If Our Earth Natural Resources Are Inexhaustible

<div class="MsoNormal"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdxhk3EwFyZw0Y2aO4iMb3SMhIrtgg63koRnSRCXAKsXJzhLKdd0-_6TnKOw0JeISUjfXDgvR1JXFIy9_TafklfYOmL7sx9_cTVZ68VN01kTIgdKg_JDweDswa67UlNVnZjxQeCUKWcER/s1600/solor.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdxhk3EwFyZw0Y2aO4iMb3SMhIrtgg63koRnSRCXAKsXJzhLKdd0-_6TnKOw0JeISUjfXDgvR1JXFIy9_TafklfYOmL7sx9_cTVZ68VN01kTIgdKg_JDweDswa67UlNVnZjxQeCUKWcER/s1600/solor.PNG" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> <br /> The natural resources (metals -uranium, thorium, gold and precious stones-diamonds, sapphires, topazes), hydrocarbons (gaseous, liquid, solid) and geomaterials (rocks, sands, aggregates) are not renewable. As the international economy is primarily constrained by geology, the result is an unequal distribution of the Earth's wealth and a struggle to appropriate it, requiring technological development to increase recoverable volumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> Some even bet that future natural resources will be taken on other planets, on asteroids; teams are already working on it. In the meantime, let's take stock of the current situation: are there still enough resources on our planet? For how long? Estimate their ultimate volume is quite easy thanks to more and more efficient exploration, but predicting their duration of the operation is another pair of sleeves as it depends on random economic and political factors as well in the short and medium terms. Reserves can only evolve over time depending on the means and declaring them is a political and economic activity of great importance.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Fossil Fuel Resources<o:p></o:p></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> For more than 15 years the oil and gas peaks have been regularly reported as affected by natural disasters. Yet, it is clear that it is not. As proof, proven reserves of both conventional and sub-conventional and unconventional oil and gas are steadily increasing. The same goes for world production, which has always been able to satisfy demand even when it was supported.  <o:p></o:p><br /> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> Will there be a worldwide peak or a long plateau with or without minor peaks? Is this the right question? Should not we rather speak of adequacy between supply and demand? This problem is of prime importance, we have depended for more than a century on more than 80% of fossil energies and the actors of the energy world do not foresee major modifications by 2030, and even 2050, the period during which the demand of Primary energy will increase.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> And again, with the world's population increasing every day by 200,000 people, and the standard of living of emerging countries rising continuously! However, technological progress, energy efficiency, and environmental considerations will, probably in the medium term, lead to a gradual reduction in demand.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Of course, fossil fuel reserves are not infinite, but new reserves are discovered, old fields are optimized, technological progress (prospecting techniques, horizontal drilling, and improvement of the primary recovery rate.) This makes it possible to valorize all hydrocarbon resources. Of a conventional oil resource estimated at 6,000 billion barrels (GB), at least 1,200 GB have already been produced (today at a rate of nearly 32 GB/year, or just over 85 million b/day, or about 1000 b/second - 1 barrel = 159 liters).<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> What remains to recover? For pessimists, about 1,200 to 1,500 GB, for optimists 2,000 to 3,000 GB, the range is broad and mainly driven by the economy (the price of a barrel) and politics (geostrategy). Added to this are (i) unconventional oil (at least the equivalent of 7,000 GB), including oil shale, oil shale, shale oil or shale oil, tight sands, tar sands, and so on, and (ii) conventional and unconventional gas (shale gas and clathrates), also more abundant than conventional oil.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Also, let us add the most abundant fuel, coal, with reserves proven to be three times higher than those of conventional oil. Excluding environmental considerations, these fuels are still usable for a very long time (at least 70 to 100 years for the whole) and we will leave probably the era of the oil while it will remain, in the same way, that the prehistoric man did not leave the Stone Age for lack of stones.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> All the better because we do not have in the short term substitutes for airplanes and carbochemistry, the same goes for uranium! Nearly 100 years of constant consumption reserves, then the possibility of producing nuclear energy from thorium, three to four times more common than uranium.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> And Mineral Resources<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Metals are everywhere, more than twenty in our smartphone the weight of these extracted resources reaches more than 60 Gt/year, more than all the sand displaced on the planet by rivers. Since their exploitation is linked to the improvement of extraction and purification techniques, it is, therefore, possible to increase reserves since low-grade deposits become profitable.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> Of course, we started with natural resources that were both extensive and high-grade. Today, it is mostly small to high-grade deposits and others much larger, but with low grades that are exploited. These deposits require huge capital and heavy investments (evacuation of large volumes of rock and consumption of large amounts of water and energy).<o:p></o:p></div> </div> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> Once again, it is difficult to estimate precisely the reserves of metals or precious materials, especially as for technological reasons. All the deposits were only started in the most superficial part of the earth's crust: the deepest mine in the world mines gold in a 3.5 billion-year-old thin quartz vein at a depth of 3.9 km near Johannesburg.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> There are no geological reasons for such gold veins or deposits of other metals not to continue at greater depths. The drainage of volcanic or non-volcanic submarine deposits is under study. As with oil, the environmental impact is important with deforestation, groundwater and so on.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Nature reserves are diversified and still abundant. Their farms, when poorly managed, deteriorate the environment, these reserves actually correspond more to an economic concept than to a physical concept. Their qualification as reserves depends on the prices and efforts we are willing to make to recover them.<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> Until now we have remained invigorated energy-hungry, what fossil energy and various metals (fuels and materials) in the 24,000 aircraft carrying 500,000 people around the world at any given moment! This is also part of the question. The reserves are classified into three categories according to the degree of knowledge that one has: reserves 1P or proven (90% of probability of recovering them), reserves 2P or probable (50% of probability) and 3P or possible (10% of probability).<o:p></o:p></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Lastly, any element of our natural environment, such as soil, water, forests, minerals, and what have you, which humans can use to enhance their well-being can be identified as a natural resource as well. Oil and conventional gas represent hydrocarbons trapped in reservoir rocks, unconventional hydrocarbons have remained in source rocks. The sub-conventional hydrocarbons are trapped in reservoirs located in more than 300 m of water and are inexhaustible out there. </span>

Find Out Here If Our Earth Natural Resources Are Inexhaustible

The natural resources (metals -uranium, thorium, gold and precious stones-diamonds, sapphires, topazes), hydrocarbons (gaseous, liquid...

Read more »

Carbon sequestration in forests as a the long-term solution for climate change mitigation

<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwKXZ7b8NBNxm2HKaXzmvY88KzHI1ymIF907bG3Cok9PPft4jbXqS-ETGm2yfu9ZiHky1EiI0fswXlpNN3KciesFnVzIr3JGtRK6JxEeCN2Ya7UvKaJprvVfchWhvZer-5OS2xPXwndvO/s1600/natural-climate-solutions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguwKXZ7b8NBNxm2HKaXzmvY88KzHI1ymIF907bG3Cok9PPft4jbXqS-ETGm2yfu9ZiHky1EiI0fswXlpNN3KciesFnVzIr3JGtRK6JxEeCN2Ya7UvKaJprvVfchWhvZer-5OS2xPXwndvO/s640/natural-climate-solutions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The increase in the level of the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has contributed to global warming which is the increase in temperature of the earth’s near-surface air and oceans(Ramachandran et al., 2008) and other associated impacts including sea ice melting and sea level rise during recent decades.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Carbon dioxide has become a major contributor to the greenhouse gas effect despite other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Thereby lowering the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is set out as one of the essential global targets. The continued increase in its concentration in the atmosphere is believed to be accelerated by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (IPCC, 2007). One of the major approaches for the lowering atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is carbon (C) sequestration in the forests, a process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in the trees.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">According to the Kyoto Protocol (KP), carbon sequestration in terrestrial sinks can be used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Forests have a higher Carbon density compared to other ecosystems types (Bolin et al., 2000). Forest ecosystems store more than 80% of all terrestrial aboveground carbon and more than 70% of all soil organic Carbon (Six et al., 2002a).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The amount of carbon dioxide sequestered in the forest ecosystem products is greater than the amount of carbon dioxide released through the decomposition and combustion of biomass (Flugsrud et al. 2001). The annual Carbon Dioxide exchange between forests and the atmosphere via photosynthesis and respiration is nearly 50 Pg C/yr. It is 7 times greater than the current anthropogenic carbon emission.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">IPCC has been concluded that the cumulative amount of carbon that can be preserved and sequestrated during the period of 1995-2050 by lowering the deforestation and promoting reforestation in the tropics, associated with the implementation of a global forestation program is about 67-80 GTC(Browns et al., 1996).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Due to an unexpected population growth associated with economic development, intensifying deforestation and degradation of existing natural forest cover, arising demand for forest products as well as non-timber forest products including medicines and fuelwood and accelerated carbon dioxide emissions from anthropogenic sources have declined the global warming mitigating the potential of the forests. So the deforestation is needed to be lower and the reforestation has to be promoted.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">According to the IPCC (2006), there are five carbon pools of a terrestrial ecosystem involving biomass including above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and the dead mass of litter, woody debris, and soil organic matter. </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> The above-ground biomass of a tree constitutes the major portion of the carbon pool. It is the most important and visible carbon pool of the terrestrial forest ecosystem. Any land use change like forest degradation and deforestation has a direct impact on this component of the carbon pool. The below-ground biomass which is comprised of all the live roots plays an important role in the carbon cycle by transferring and storing carbon in the soil. Both the above and belowground components of terrestrial ecosystems have sequestered 20–25 % of the carbon globally from fossil fuel combustion and cement production between 2000 and 2008 (IGBP/GCP 2010).</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">    </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Soil organic matter is also a chief contributor to the carbon stocks of forests, next only to the above-ground biomass and soils are a major source of carbon emissions following deforestation. The dead mass of litter and woody debris are not a major carbon pool as they contribute merely a small fraction to the carbon stocks of forests</span></div>

Carbon sequestration in forests as a the long-term solution for climate change mitigation

The increase in the level of the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has contributed to global warming which is the increase...

Read more »

Carbon Trading

<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T9ZODYlAwDu1TCxsx1WFd37T-mp7v8Vftrax4bcmM9d9VGft8ApzbRGlUCM2DzQ-n8L138GWacV5jA4PaoXcPxbxKJmDilqnnLvTuSDSRYgYFtJKfgfVNqvqgnmCMxzQtd_FQooWapBZ/s1600/principle-emissions-trading.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="1000" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7T9ZODYlAwDu1TCxsx1WFd37T-mp7v8Vftrax4bcmM9d9VGft8ApzbRGlUCM2DzQ-n8L138GWacV5jA4PaoXcPxbxKJmDilqnnLvTuSDSRYgYFtJKfgfVNqvqgnmCMxzQtd_FQooWapBZ/s640/principle-emissions-trading.png" width="640" /></a></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 100%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 100%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%;">Carbon trading is an approach used to control carbon dioxide pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions reductions. The use of market mechanisms, in the form of carbon trading, has emerged as a key narrative in the international response to climate change formalized in the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Carbon trading was first proposed to the Second Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in 1996  and was later enshrined in the CDM of the Kyoto protocol of 1997.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are two main forms that carbon trading takes: ‘cap and trade’ and offsetting. Under cap and trade schemes, governments or intergovernmental bodies set an overall legal limit on emissions in a certain time period (‘a cap’) and then grant industries a certain number of licenses to pollute (‘carbon permits’ or ‘emissions allowances’). Companies that do not meet their cap can buy permits from others.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Carbon offsets are based on ‘emissions-saving projects’ that are created to ‘compensate’ for continued pollution in industrialized countries in the North. Offsets’ under the Kyoto A protocol is referred to as emissions reductions not covered by the cap in an ETS. Pollution continues at one location and equivalent emissions saving or increasing the capacity such as sink (such as forests or soils) will happen elsewhere beyond ‘business as usual’. Offsets are also now widely traded outside the Kyoto-compliance market, including by individuals and firms voluntarily aiming to offset their GHG emissions.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <br /></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Under Kyoto offset projects fall under either the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Joint Implementation (JI) and create credits called certified emission reduction (CER) and emission reduction unit (ERU) respectively. Currently CDM projects are the major source of Kyoto offsets and occur in industrially developing countries falling outside any Kyoto emissions limits. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">JI refers to projects based in industrialized countries, typically Eastern Europe. Kyoto offsets support industrialized countries with greater flexibility in meeting their caps whilst achieving sustainable development and are also referred to as ‘flexibility mechanisms’. These offsets do not require a polluting source to reduce its emissions, but instead, allow them to increase emissions and offset them elsewhere. They could just as sensibly be called certified ‘emission increase’ units. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Growing trees are important components for carbon trading which happens under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the Kyoto Protocol United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Carbon trading allows developed countries to offset some of their carbon emissions by investing in climate-friendly projects, such as tree planting under forestry CDM projects, in developing countries.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">While net global emissions reductions should occur for source offset, where sink offsets are involved the total scale of systemic GHG cycling will be expanded (e.g. via more sources justified by more sinks). Such a process seriously risks further enhancing the Greenhouse Effect. <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Offsets also have several problems as following. The amount of carbon emitted by the source is not always equivalent to the amount of carbon offset by the sinks. The amount of carbon sequestration in trees and soils varies greatly depending on the local environmental conditions, skills of foresters, management practices and enforcement of regulations. Forestry can also be subjected to disturbance and soil erosion resulting release of the stored carbon. <o:p></o:p></span></div> <br />

Carbon Trading

Carbon trading is an approach used to control carbon dioxide pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions redu...

Read more »