Global Warning
Which molecule is the straw that breaks the camel's back?

By Roy McAlister, President, American Hydrogen Association

According to most scientists who study the matter, global warming is a fact and it is correlated to the increased concentration of carbon dioxide (along with the increased concentrations of many other types of greenhouse gas molecules) in the global atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide has exponentially increased during the last century to more than 30% over the concentration that remained stable for more than 160,000 years before the fossil-fuel dependent Industrial Revolution.

Methane concentration has increased more than 100% since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Of the various types of greenhouse gases, water vapor is in greatest concentration and causes more solar energy to be trapped in Earth's atmosphere than any other gas species. This is because water vapor is constantly evaporated from the oceans and green plants that have been stimulated by the increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide have not able to keep with CO2 increases for more than a century. This outcome is not helped by the continuous destruction of forests worldwide. Comparison of which molecule does more greenhouse warming by triggering more evaporation of the oceans shows that a molecule of methane is over twenty times more harmful than a molecule of carbon dioxide. Halogenated hydrocarbon molecules are even more harmful.

But facts do not prevent persons, who are paid to ignore facts, to think of ways to obfuscate the matter and encourage American consumers to keep on polluting and foolishly wasting the profit potential of carbon. Most durable goods benefit by the addition of carbon. Instead, we are burning hydrocarbon fuels adding CO2 and other pollutants to the atmosphere and we leave biomass and other carbon-rich substances to breakdown into methane and carbon dioxide.

Sea Level Rise

In criticizing Kyoto Mr. Bedard's efforts are amateurish. Look at the record of the lawyer lobbyists from oil companies who assiduously re-write scientific reports on greenhouse gas warming. Phil Cooney, former chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, (now employed by ExxonMobil), edited Dr. James Hanson's reports on NASA's findings about causes of global warming.

In spite of his slanted statements Mr. Bedard is right about Kyoto being ineffective. Kyoto delegates were unable to do much about global warming because the United States of America, the world's leading polluter, refused to endorse the Kyoto requests to reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Bedard, who claims to know all about motor vehicles, is seemingly so intent on obfuscation that he neglected to mention that one way to move a 3,000 pound automobile is to get out and push it … compared to pushing with only one foot (and almost no effort) on the accelerator. This is analogous to the carbon dioxide build up from petrol burned in 800 million engines being “the push” on the accelerator to increase evaporation of the oceans, which causes the majority of greenhouse gas and resulting global warming.

Which molecule from which vehicle's tailpipe will break the camel's back? A 3,000 pound vehicle that averages 25 mpg to travel a little over 100 miles per day and uses 30 gallons of petrol per week will dump about 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. More, including considerable methane, if petroleum production, refining and transportation emissions are included.

SOLUTION: Gasoline and diesel fuels are made of carbon and hydrogen. When these hydrocarbons are processed into carbon for making lighter and stronger vehicle components and hydrogen for use as fuel, vehicles will last longer, perform better, and actually clean the air. But there are other carbon-rich resources that can be processed into carbon products and hydrogen including sewage, garbage, farm wastes, and forest slash.

If you want to get something relevant from Car and Driver, write to the editor and request that Car and Driver sponsor an expedition by Mr. Bedard and Mr. Cooley to RESTORE Greenland’s glaciers that are falling into the ocean two times faster than a decade ago.

Greenland's Glaciers
Losing Ice at Faster Rate

Ask the Editor of Car and Driver for scientifically founded articles on the question of whether anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases are causing global warming. Ask for Car and Driver to get an expert to address whether we should have an economy that is based on petroleum that must increasingly come from places that do not want us to have it.

If you want safer cars with higher performance and an economy that provides opportunities for full employment without inflation, ask the editors of ALL publications you read to get this worthy debate in print. 

This article originally published at:  http://www.clean-air.org/Global%20Warning.htm     To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.clean-air.org/