4 ms·

Why? I thought Carbon Dioxide was one of the most innocuous oxides released by engines, both in environmental and health effects.

aardvark291 10y ago
That's true. As a pollutant, carbon dioxide is almost entirely innocuous, except for its behavior as a greenhouse gas. In that role, carbon dioxide is the most significant driver of global warming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Natural_and_anthropogenic_sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Natural_and_ant...
- pfarnsworth 10y ago
  Methane is worse.
  - aardvark291 10y ago
    A methane molecule is 72 times worse than a CO2 molecule in terms of "global warming potential" over a 20 year time scale and around 7 times worse over a 500 year time scale). However, we put a lot more CO2 into the atmosphere than we do methane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Global_warming_potential https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Global_warming_...
    - mikesmith112 10y ago
      Doesn't that indicate methane is the low hanging fruit? I guess that assumes it's the same cost to prevent / recapture 1 molecule of methane vs. CO2... But if the next 20 yrs are the most crucial, methane sounds like a great target. seems likely; after that, technology will hopefully have stabilized our energy sources
CydeWeys 10y ago
The total volume of emitted carbon dioxide, of which land vehicles are a major contributor, is a significant factor in global climate change. An insufficiently specific headline that can be read to imply otherwise is thus misleading.
usrusr 10y ago
Gram for gram or tonne for tonne, most other stuff is much worse. But mile for mile and kWh for kWh, the relative quantity of CO2 more than makes up for its relative harmlessness. (Except maybe in dirty ships where there is much more of the nasty stuff per tonne of CO2 than in the exhaust gases of any other mode of transportation - they are basically using the skies over international waters to dispose of refinery waste that would be impossible to legally burn anywhere else)

aardvark291 10y ago

That's true. As a pollutant, carbon dioxide is almost entirely innocuous, except for its behavior as a greenhouse gas. In that role, carbon dioxide is the most significant driver of global warming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Natural_and_anthropogenic_sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Natural_and_ant...

pfarnsworth 10y ago
Methane is worse.
- aardvark291 10y ago
  A methane molecule is 72 times worse than a CO2 molecule in terms of "global warming potential" over a 20 year time scale and around 7 times worse over a 500 year time scale). However, we put a lot more CO2 into the atmosphere than we do methane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Global_warming_potential https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Global_warming_...
  - mikesmith112 10y ago
    Doesn't that indicate methane is the low hanging fruit? I guess that assumes it's the same cost to prevent / recapture 1 molecule of methane vs. CO2... But if the next 20 yrs are the most crucial, methane sounds like a great target. seems likely; after that, technology will hopefully have stabilized our energy sources

CydeWeys 10y ago

The total volume of emitted carbon dioxide, of which land vehicles are a major contributor, is a significant factor in global climate change. An insufficiently specific headline that can be read to imply otherwise is thus misleading.

usrusr 10y ago

Gram for gram or tonne for tonne, most other stuff is much worse. But mile for mile and kWh for kWh, the relative quantity of CO2 more than makes up for its relative harmlessness. (Except maybe in dirty ships where there is much more of the nasty stuff per tonne of CO2 than in the exhaust gases of any other mode of transportation - they are basically using the skies over international waters to dispose of refinery waste that would be impossible to legally burn anywhere else)