Medio ambiente y cambio climático

The 2021 Emissions Gap Report published by The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and eloquently titled "The heat is on," shows that this century's global temperature rise is expected to be at least 2.7° C, and projected emissions by 2030 will be reduced by only 7.5%, while 55% is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C. According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented 5.4 percent reduction in carbon...

In 2021, the international research organization Global Footprint Network updated The National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts providing data from 1961 to 2017 for more than 200 countries, territories and regions. Due to the fact that 2017 is the most recent year with complete datasets for most countries from the United Nations and the International Energy Agency, the 2021 edition does not reflect the impact of the global...

Every year, tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere. These large amounts of greenhouse gas have the potential to warm the temperature of the earth by 1.5°C until 2040. If the serious consequences of climate change are to be avoided, these emissions need to be reduced. In the fight against global warming, negative emissions technologies (NETs) to remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere might play an...

The World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership and the U.S. The Energy Information Administration published several papers throughout 2020 presenting statistics and technological advances in the area of associated petroleum gas utilization. This topic is of importance as methane is the most prevalent active greenhouse gas, with current levels of emissions dangerously high. The combustion of methane in controlled volumes is a...

Since 2005 The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) from NGOs Germanwatch and the NewClimate Institute has been monitoring and comparing the climate protection performance of 57 countries and of the European Union (EU), which together are responsible for about 90% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The index, which is designed to increase transparency of international climate policy, enables comparison of climate change...

The 2020 edition of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI-2020), traditionally released every 2 years by Yale and Columbia universities, ranks 180 countries on environmental and ecosystem performance. Refining its metrics, in comparison to previous editions, the 2020 EPI introduces eight new performance indicators within 11 categories, including waste management, carbon dioxide emissions from land cover change, and emissions of...

Great quantities of hydrocarbon fuels will be needed for the foreseeable future, even if electricity-based energy carriers begin to partially replace liquid hydrocarbons in the transportation sector. Fossil fuels and biomass are the most common feedstocks for production of hydrocarbon fuels. However, if you use renewable energy, carbon dioxide and water can be recycled into sustainable hydrocarbon fuels in non-biological processes...

One of the greatest problems of the efficient deployment of renewable energy systems is that they are prone to experiencing fluctuations. To counteract this problem scientists have designed energy management systems (EMS) that collect energy measurement data from the field and make it available to users through graphics, online monitoring tools, and energy quality analysers for the management of energy resources. These systems,...

The 2020 edition of the annual Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI-2020) published by Germanwatch, the New Climate Institute and the Climate Action Network ranks 57 countries and the EU within four categories that were established in 2017: greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy. CCPI evaluates the performance of the countries on their way to 2030 targets and the well-below-2°C compatibility. The...

Today, heat pumps are increasingly developing into a sustainable and efficient alternative to furnaces in climates with moderate heating and cooling needs. Heat pumps are systems that move heat from one place to another by using a compressor and a circulating structure of liquid or gas refrigerant, through which heat is extracted from outside sources and pumped indoors. As heat pumps only move heat, heat pumps enable space conditioning...