Idling time costs

A survey of 10,076 households conducted by the NPD Group Inc in the US found that computers switched on at homes sit idle for 54 per cent of the time. The Sierra Club, a group of environmentalists, has estimated that a computer running for more than three hours a day is responsible for 200 pounds of carbon dioxide (C02 ) emission every year. This is two per cent of the annual C02 emission by a car - which is actually doing something (Tomorrow. Global Environment Business, Vol 7, No 3).

Falling frontiers

Forests help maintain the environmental conditions that make life possible, from regional hydrologic cycles to global climate. Frontier forests, large, ecologically intact and relatively undisturbed natural forests, are particularly important as they store tremendous amounts of carbon. Without these forests, this carbon would go straight into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Protecting and responsibly managing our last frontiers will help countries avoid paying the

Getting warmer

More than 80 per cent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are caused by industrial activity - burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, and cement manufacturing, which creates CO2 during limestone processing. Industrial emissions of CO2 have more than tripled in the past 40 years, prompting fears of increased global warming. Carbon dioxide accounts for almost 55 per cent of the greenhouse gases - gases responsible for trapping heat inside the atmosphere.

Power of sun

A prototype solar device that produces enough hot air from the sun's rays to drive the turbines of a 50 kw power station has brought the prospect of cheap, solar-generated electricity a step closer. The solar energy collector has been successfully tested by Israeli researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Jerusalem. Many modern power stations use hot gas to drive the turbines that produce electricity. The gas must be between 1,200 and 1,350 c and must reach pressures of between 10 and 30 bar.

Austerity plan

THE Japanese cabinet recently approved an energy-conservation programme which aims at making drastic reductions in carbondioxide (CO2) emissions. The energy package includes 66 plans including one which would restrict the number of cars allowed into heavy traffic zones. The plan seeks to achieve zero growth in energy consumption by the year 2000, which would enable the country to meet its target of cutting CO2 emissions. In urban areas, drivers will be required to leave their cars in parking lots on the outskirts of cities, and

Pollution sensor

Monitoring the effect of rising carbon dioxide (CO) concentrations and climatic changes on Europe's forests is the aim of a collaborative project across eight European countries and Australia. The project is jointly funded by the Forestry Commission of UK and the European Union under the Environment and Climate Programme 1994-1998. Presently, researchers are observing the effect of increased C02, ozone and drought on the growth of oak, ash and Scots pine at Headley Nursery in Hampshire, UK. They am measuring photosynthesis in the saplings of these plants, which are

Positive impact

climatologists have always regarded carbon dioxide (co2) as dangerous since it is supposed to be one of the principle causes of global warming. But then co2 also performs the valuable function of enhancing floral growth.

Weeded problem

"Nitrogen enrichment is pushing us towards a weedier world," says David Wedin of the University of Toronto, Canada. Burning fossil fuel releases nitrogen oxides, which ecologists believe could act as fertilisers and promote luxuriant growth of weeds. This shift in vegetation could hinder the earth's ability to moderate global warming, Wedin warns. Ecologists hoped that exuberant plant growth would pull in more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and put a brake on global warming.

Clean Dude

Bhutan could help absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and curb global warming as greenhouse gas emissions by the country is reportedly insignificant. Results of a study on climate change conducted by two Danish consultants showed that in a completely forested area the per capita CO2 emission was 19.6 tonne, in a normal forest 1.5 tonne and 4.4 tonne in a depleted forest area.

False promises

environmental commitments made by most nations at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, five years ago, have remained on paper even as carbon dioxide emissions soared and forests and animal species continued to vanish. These are the findings of a report prepared by the Earth Council, a Washington-based international environmental organisation which was set up to monitor the implementation of commitments made by 178 nations at Rio.