Carnegie Mellon researchers to curb CO2...( PITTSBURGHCarnegie Mellon Universi...)

PITTSBURGHCarnegie Mellon Universitys Chris T. Hendrickson and H. Scott Matthews along with Alex Carpenter and Heather MacLean of the University of Toronto challenge Canadian officials to take the lead in eliminating dangerous carbon dioxide emissions that fuel global warming.

The researchers found that farming and power generation are the largest sources of Canadian carbon dioxide emissions per dollar output, according to research by Carnegie Mellons Green Design Institute and the University of Torontos Department of Civil Engineering.

This new modeling tool shows the dominance of electricity generation and it means that Canadians need to put a higher priority on our strategy for supplying our electricity needs, said MacLean, an associate professor at the University of Toronto. Burning more coal without carbon capture and storage will just increase our greenhouse gas emissions, taking us in the wrong direction.

To help keep the world on the right path for energy conservation and reduced emissions, the international Kyoto protocols of 1997 asked the industrialized nations of the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Because burning coal creates power and releases gases that help drive global warming, scientists are trying to develop alternative fuels and solutions to stem the tide of global warming that threatens to disrupt lives everywhere.

We developed an environmental impact model that will enable Canadians to see what can be done to meet the Kyoto protocol as well as examining the environmental implications consumers choose to make, said Hendrickson, a professor in Carnegie Mellons Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and co-director of the Green Design Institute, a major interdisciplinary education and research effort to impact environmental quality through green design.

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