4 ms·

Is it? EU talks a lot about national carbon footprint, and GCP launched carbon calculator https://cloud.google.com/carbon-footprint https://cloud.google.com/car

Is it? EU talks a lot about national carbon footprint, and GCP launched carbon calculator https://cloud.google.com/carbon-footprint https://cloud.google.com/carbon-footprint. Sure, noone asks this in explicit way but given current trends it feels like we are going in this direction very fast.

pelasaco 4y ago
well, EU talks a lot about national carbon footprint and normally the solution is to send the carbon footprint overseas, then the national problem is solved.
- cube2222 4y ago
  This is actually being changed and was discussed here on HN[0]. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33833017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33833017
  - CrazyStat 4y ago
    Have they fixed the wood burning loophole, where you can burn overseas wood without recognizing any carbon emissions because the carbon accounting places the emissions at the place where the wood was harvested? >In 1996, scientists at the United Nations devised a method to measure global carbon emissions. To simplify the process and avoid double counting, they suggested emissions from burning biomass should be calculated where the trees are cut down, not where the wood pellets are burned. >The EU adopted this methodology in its Renewable Energy Directive, allowing energy companies to burn biomass produced in the US without having to report the emissions. >The accounting method– which was never intended to assign national responsibility for carbon emissions, according to climate experts has created a lot of discussion and disagreement among advocates, scientists and policymakers. But ultimately it is not the accounting of carbon that is the problem, it's the emissions. >"It doesn't change the physical reality." said Tim Searchinger, senior research scholar at Princeton University. "A law designed to reduce emissions that in reality encourages an increase in emissions... has to be flawed," he said, referring to Europe's directive. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-biomass-energy-invs/ https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-bi...
    - illys 4y ago
      I don't think wood-burning is a real emission issue since wood growing/burning is a carbon-cycle and not a fossil taken in the ground and injected forever in the atmosphere... As long as the wood is coming from tree plantations, not from deforestation of course, which I expect to be mostly the case in North America and Europe.
      - CrazyStat 4y ago
        Even if the forest is replanted and eventually stores the same amount of carbon as was released in burning the wood you end up behind. You release a bunch of carbon today and it takes decades for the new growth to recapture that. Plus you burn additional fuel for the harvest, processing, and shipping, which is never recaptured. Burning and replanting forests is not carbon neutral. Not even close. It's an accounting gimmick that the EU uses to make themselves look good.
  - pelasaco 4y ago
    I would be careful with "actually being changed". They pushed it to start on 2024, so there is nothing being changed. They still can rollback it because of the war, because of the economy, because we have to protect our kids, because Hungary doesn't like it, you name it. In another hand, it's a market, as stated in their website, "It is the world's first major carbon market and remains the biggest one."[0], so for sure it will be a huge source of income and therefore the countries will have much more incentive to do it. I saw already the same in another countries and the results weren't so spectacular, but instead the whole supply chain just got more expensive, which meant the prices raised to the customers. [0]: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets_en https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-...
    - cube2222 4y ago
      Raised prices are an expected result of these changes. You're paying for the emissions and it becomes part of the cost of production, so in effect raises the price. That's a good thing and helps "green" products compete.
  - pelasaco 4y ago
    The example why "nothing is being changed" just because EU signed a compromise to do it in 2024. https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/10/belgium-extends-life-of-its-nuclear-power-industry-by-10-years https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/10/belgium-extends-life-of-.... Belgium extends life of its nuclear power industry by 10 years regardless of previous European agreements.

pelasaco 4y ago

well, EU talks a lot about national carbon footprint and normally the solution is to send the carbon footprint overseas, then the national problem is solved.

cube2222 4y ago
This is actually being changed and was discussed here on HN[0]. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33833017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33833017
- CrazyStat 4y ago
  Have they fixed the wood burning loophole, where you can burn overseas wood without recognizing any carbon emissions because the carbon accounting places the emissions at the place where the wood was harvested? >In 1996, scientists at the United Nations devised a method to measure global carbon emissions. To simplify the process and avoid double counting, they suggested emissions from burning biomass should be calculated where the trees are cut down, not where the wood pellets are burned. >The EU adopted this methodology in its Renewable Energy Directive, allowing energy companies to burn biomass produced in the US without having to report the emissions. >The accounting method– which was never intended to assign national responsibility for carbon emissions, according to climate experts has created a lot of discussion and disagreement among advocates, scientists and policymakers. But ultimately it is not the accounting of carbon that is the problem, it's the emissions. >"It doesn't change the physical reality." said Tim Searchinger, senior research scholar at Princeton University. "A law designed to reduce emissions that in reality encourages an increase in emissions... has to be flawed," he said, referring to Europe's directive. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-biomass-energy-invs/ https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/07/us/american-south-bi...
  - illys 4y ago
    I don't think wood-burning is a real emission issue since wood growing/burning is a carbon-cycle and not a fossil taken in the ground and injected forever in the atmosphere... As long as the wood is coming from tree plantations, not from deforestation of course, which I expect to be mostly the case in North America and Europe.
    - CrazyStat 4y ago
      Even if the forest is replanted and eventually stores the same amount of carbon as was released in burning the wood you end up behind. You release a bunch of carbon today and it takes decades for the new growth to recapture that. Plus you burn additional fuel for the harvest, processing, and shipping, which is never recaptured. Burning and replanting forests is not carbon neutral. Not even close. It's an accounting gimmick that the EU uses to make themselves look good.
- pelasaco 4y ago
  I would be careful with "actually being changed". They pushed it to start on 2024, so there is nothing being changed. They still can rollback it because of the war, because of the economy, because we have to protect our kids, because Hungary doesn't like it, you name it. In another hand, it's a market, as stated in their website, "It is the world's first major carbon market and remains the biggest one."[0], so for sure it will be a huge source of income and therefore the countries will have much more incentive to do it. I saw already the same in another countries and the results weren't so spectacular, but instead the whole supply chain just got more expensive, which meant the prices raised to the customers. [0]: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-system-eu-ets_en https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-emissions-trading-...
  - cube2222 4y ago
    Raised prices are an expected result of these changes. You're paying for the emissions and it becomes part of the cost of production, so in effect raises the price. That's a good thing and helps "green" products compete.
- pelasaco 4y ago
  The example why "nothing is being changed" just because EU signed a compromise to do it in 2024. https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/10/belgium-extends-life-of-its-nuclear-power-industry-by-10-years https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/10/belgium-extends-life-of-.... Belgium extends life of its nuclear power industry by 10 years regardless of previous European agreements.