Sun activity and climate change: no link
Climate change sceptics have long argued that the increase in global temperatures is being driven by changes in the sun’s activity, rather than the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Mike Lockwood of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, and Claus Frölich of the World Radiation Center in Davos, Switzerland, decided to test this theory by looking back at 40 years of direct satellite measurements of solar activity and comparing them with global temperature data.
They used a number of different indicators of solar activity, including the number and distribution of sunspots, the intensity of the sun’s magnetic field and measurements of the sun’s brightness, but none of them correlated with the exponential increases in global temperature. Indeed, their analysis of sunspots suggested that solar activity mysteriously peaked in 1960 and again between 1985 and 1987 before beginning to decline.
The results of the study also suggest that even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had overestimated the influence of solar activity on global climate.
Trial to reduce energy consumption
Forty thousand homes across the UK have been selected to take part in a £20million trial aimed at cutting domestic energy use.
Rises in the cost of electricity and gas have had little effect on domestic consumption, so the government has teamed up with the energy supply industry to look for new ways to convince people to lower their energy use.
Some 15,000 homes will be fitted with smart meters that will enable homeowners to monitor the consumption of individual appliances in their homes from a central screen. A further 8,000 homes will be fitted with systems that monitor their home’s overall energy usage and cost, while another 17,000 homes will
receive advice and information on how best to improve energy efficiency.
‘Changing consumer habits is vital if we are to cut our energy use and reduce the impact of climate change,’ said John Hutton, the business and enterprise secretary. ‘The results of the trials will provide valuable evidence to support the future roll-out of displays and smart meters; helping to cut consumer bills and our carbon emissions.’
Gas emissions from livestock to be addressed
Scientists from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth have discovered that a carefully controlled diet can significantly reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from cows and sheep.
The £770,000 study, commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, found that the introduction of certain plant varieties, such as birdfoot trefoil, white clover and perennial ryegrass, to a cow’s diet can help to improve its digestive efficiency from a typical rate of 20 per cent to 34 per cent. This could not only reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere, but could also cut levels of nitrate pollution from excrement reaching the water table. A carefully managed diet could also benefit milk production, the scientists found.
A single cow produces between 100 and 200 litres of methane during a single day (mostly from the front end) and collectively, ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of ‘man-made’ methane gas emissions worldwide.
September 2007
They used a number of different indicators of solar activity, including the number and distribution of sunspots, the intensity of the sun’s magnetic field and measurements of the sun’s brightness, but none of them correlated with the exponential increases in global temperature. Indeed, their analysis of sunspots suggested that solar activity mysteriously peaked in 1960 and again between 1985 and 1987 before beginning to decline.
The results of the study also suggest that even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had overestimated the influence of solar activity on global climate.
Trial to reduce energy consumption
Forty thousand homes across the UK have been selected to take part in a £20million trial aimed at cutting domestic energy use.
Rises in the cost of electricity and gas have had little effect on domestic consumption, so the government has teamed up with the energy supply industry to look for new ways to convince people to lower their energy use.
Some 15,000 homes will be fitted with smart meters that will enable homeowners to monitor the consumption of individual appliances in their homes from a central screen. A further 8,000 homes will be fitted with systems that monitor their home’s overall energy usage and cost, while another 17,000 homes will
receive advice and information on how best to improve energy efficiency.
‘Changing consumer habits is vital if we are to cut our energy use and reduce the impact of climate change,’ said John Hutton, the business and enterprise secretary. ‘The results of the trials will provide valuable evidence to support the future roll-out of displays and smart meters; helping to cut consumer bills and our carbon emissions.’
Gas emissions from livestock to be addressed
Scientists from the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth have discovered that a carefully controlled diet can significantly reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from cows and sheep.
The £770,000 study, commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, found that the introduction of certain plant varieties, such as birdfoot trefoil, white clover and perennial ryegrass, to a cow’s diet can help to improve its digestive efficiency from a typical rate of 20 per cent to 34 per cent. This could not only reduce the amount of methane released into the atmosphere, but could also cut levels of nitrate pollution from excrement reaching the water table. A carefully managed diet could also benefit milk production, the scientists found.
A single cow produces between 100 and 200 litres of methane during a single day (mostly from the front end) and collectively, ruminant animals are thought to be responsible for up to a quarter of ‘man-made’ methane gas emissions worldwide.
September 2007
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