A regional interpretation of rules and good practice for greenhouse accounting: northern Australian savanna systems

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Henry ◽  
Chris Mitchell ◽  
Annette Cowie ◽  
Oliver Woldring ◽  
John Carter

Land-use change, particularly clearing of forests for agriculture, has contributed significantly to the observed rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Concern about the impacts on climate has led to efforts to monitor and curtail the rapid increase in concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Internationally, much of the current focus is on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Although electing to not ratify the Protocol, Australia, as a party to the UNFCCC, reports on national greenhouse gas emissions, trends in emissions and abatement measures. In this paper we review the complex accounting rules for human activities affecting greenhouse gas fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere and explore implications and potential opportunities for managing carbon in the savanna ecosystems of northern Australia. Savannas in Australia are managed for grazing as well as for cultural and environmental values against a background of extreme climate variability and disturbance, notably fire. Methane from livestock and non-CO2 emissions from burning are important components of the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with management of savannas. International developments in carbon accounting for the terrestrial biosphere bring a requirement for better attribution of change in carbon stocks and more detailed and spatially explicit data on such characteristics of savanna ecosystems as fire regimes, production and type of fuel for burning, drivers of woody encroachment, rates of woody regrowth, stocking rates and grazing impacts. The benefits of improved biophysical information and of understanding the impacts on ecosystem function of natural factors and management options will extend beyond greenhouse accounting to better land management for multiple objectives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Hao ◽  
Yu Ruihong ◽  
Zhang Zhuangzhuang ◽  
Qi Zhen ◽  
Lu Xixi ◽  
...  

AbstractGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rivers and lakes have been shown to significantly contribute to global carbon and nitrogen cycling. In spatiotemporal-variable and human-impacted rivers in the grassland region, simultaneous carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and their relationships under the different land use types are poorly documented. This research estimated greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the Xilin River of Inner Mongolia of China using direct measurements from 18 field campaigns under seven land use type (such as swamp, sand land, grassland, pond, reservoir, lake, waste water) conducted in 2018. The results showed that CO2 emissions were higher in June and August, mainly affected by pH and DO. Emissions of CH4 and N2O were higher in October, which were influenced by TN and TP. According to global warming potential, CO2 emissions accounted for 63.35% of the three GHG emissions, and CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 35.98% and 0.66% in the Xilin river, respectively. Under the influence of different degrees of human-impact, the amount of CO2 emissions in the sand land type was very high, however, CH4 emissions and N2O emissions were very high in the artificial pond and the wastewater, respectively. For natural river, the greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir and sand land were both low. The Xilin river was observed to be a source of carbon dioxide and methane, and the lake was a sink for nitrous oxide.



Author(s):  
Manuel-Angel Gonzalez-Chapa ◽  
Jose-Ramon Vega-Galaz

Combined Heat and Power systems have been used all around the world due to their effective and viable way of transforming energy from fossil fuel. Indeed, the advantage of lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to those obtained in conventional power or conventional heat generation systems have been an important factor giving CHP systems an advantage over these conventional ones. Certainly CHP has been, and continues to be, a good practice while renewable technologies become more economically. While these technologies emerge it is important to continue minimizing these greenhouse gas emissions from conventional and CHP units as much as possible. This paper deals with the fuel optimization of power, heat and CHP systems including emissions and ambient conditions constraints. Ambient conditions variations are evaluated before solving the optimization and then introduced to the problem to consider their effects.



2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen F. Price ◽  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Felicity Watt

Fire regimes in many north Australian savanna regions are today characterised by frequent wildfires occurring in the latter part of the 7-month dry season. A fire management program instigated from 2005 over 24 000 km2 of biodiversity-rich Western Arnhem Land aims to reduce the area and severity of late dry-season fires, and associated greenhouse gas emissions, through targeted early dry-season prescribed burning. This study used fire history mapping derived mostly from Landsat imagery over the period 1990–2009 and statistical modelling to quantify the mitigation of late dry-season wildfire through prescribed burning. From 2005, there has been a reduction in mean annual total proportion burnt (from 38 to 30%), and particularly of late dry-season fires (from 29 to 12.5%). The slope of the relationship between the proportion of early-season prescribed fire and subsequent late dry-season wildfire was ~–1. This means that imposing prescribed early dry-season burning can substantially reduce late dry-season fire area, by direct one-to-one replacement. There is some evidence that the spatially strategic program has achieved even better mitigation than this. The observed reduction in late dry-season fire without concomitant increase in overall area burnt has important ecological and greenhouse gas emissions implications. This efficient mitigation of wildfire contrasts markedly with observations reported from temperate fire-prone forested systems.



2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Czubaszek ◽  
Agnieszka Wysocka-Czubaszek

AbstractDigestate from biogas plants can play important role in agriculture by providing nutrients, improving soil structure and reducing the use of mineral fertilizers. Still, less is known about greenhouse gas emissions from soil during and after digestate application. The aim of the study was to estimate the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from a field which was fertilized with digestate. The gas fluxes were measured with the eddy covariance system. Each day, the eddy covariance system was installed in various places of the field, depending on the dominant wind direction, so that each time the results were obtained from an area where the digestate was distributed. The results showed the relatively low impact of the studied gases emissions on total greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Maximum values of the CO2and CH4fluxes, 79.62 and 3.049 µmol s−1m−2, respectively, were observed during digestate spreading on the surface of the field. On the same day, the digestate was mixed with the topsoil layer using a disc harrow. This resulted in increased CO2emissions the following day. Intense mineralization of digestate, observed after fertilization may not give the expected effects in terms of protection and enrichment of soil organic matter.



2020 ◽  
pp. 94-110
Author(s):  
N.V. Dvoeglazova ◽  
B.V. Chubarenko ◽  
Y.A. Kozlova

The increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is influenced to a greater extent by a degree of development of industry, a growth of electrification, deforestation, and the burning of fuel for the production of heating and electricity. The contribution of emissions of each of these factors and the ratio of greenhouse gases in them should be taken into account when developing the measures to prevent climate change. According to calculations of emissions from the territory of the Kaliningrad region the burning of fuel and energy resources are supposed to be playing the main role in the greenhouse gas emission from the territory of the Kaliningrad region. In statistical reference books this activity is described as the “activities for the production and distribution of electricity, gas and water.” The usage of this fuel in the energy sector is increasing: from 1742.4 thousand tons of standard fuel in 1991 up to 2193.9 in 2016. Such little increase in total emissions is due to the general technology improvement in the country. Carbon dioxide makes up the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions from the territory of the Kaliningrad region. The percentage of the gases in the total volume is as follows: CO2 - 96.7%, CH4 - 1%, N2 O - 2.3%. Its emissions for the period from 2013 to 2016 varied from 3,757.4 in 2014 to 4,091.7 in 2015 thousand tons of standard fuel, reaching its maximum value in 2015. The estimate presented in this paper is a lower estimate, since it does not take into account emissions from industrial processes, leaks, land use, waste, etc., as well as from some categories of emission sources due to the lack of data on the use of fuel in the Kaliningrad region. Among other things, the calculations of emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from the use of fuel by vehicles in 2016, which have shown to be 1.86 times less than from burning of fossil fuels for the same year (2032.87 Gg CO2 eq. and 3914.79 Gg CO2 eq., respectively) and to account for 34.5% of the total emissions, have been made. Moreover, according to the methodology for calculating emissions the factor of carbon dioxide absorption by the region’s forests has been taken into account. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by forests has shown to be only 11.9% of the emissions of this gas during the combustion of boiler and furnace fuel.



2017 ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Harri Moora ◽  
Evelin Urbel-Piirsalu ◽  
Viktoria Voronova

Waste management has an influence on the greenhouse gas (GHG) formation. The emissions of greenhouse gases vary between the EU countries depending on waste treatment practices and other regional factors such us composition of waste. The aim of this paper was to examine, from a life-cycle perspective, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management in the context of greenhouse gas formation and to evaluate the possible reduction of climate change potential of alternative waste management options in Estonia. The paper summarises the results of a case study in Estonia, assessing the climate change impact by 2020 in terms of net greenhouse gas emissions from two possible management scenarios. As a result it can be concluded that better management of municipal waste and diversion of municipal waste away from landfills could significantly reduce the emissions of GHG and, if high rates of recycling and incineration with energy recovery are attained, the net greenhouse gas emissions may even become negative. It means that these waste management options can partly offset the emissions that occurred when the products were manufactured from virgin materials and energy was produced from fossil fuels. This is especially important concerning the climate change impact.



Author(s):  
S. Mark Howden ◽  
David H. White ◽  
Greg M. McKeon ◽  
Joe C. Scanlan ◽  
John O. Carter


Author(s):  
Lisa Kemmerer

Cheap meat, dairy, and eggs are an illusion—we pay for each with depleted forests, polluted freshwater, soil degradation, and climate change. Diet is the most critical decision we make with regard to our environmental footprint—and what we eat is a choice that most of us make every day, several times a day. Dietary choice contributes powerfully to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and water pollution. Animal agriculture is responsible for an unnerving quantity of greenhouse gas emissions. Eating animal products—yogurt, ice cream, bacon, chicken salad, beef stroganoff, or cheese omelets—greatly increases an individual’s contribution to carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions. Collectively, dietary choice contributes to a classic “tragedy of the commons.” Much of the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by the earth’s oceans and plants, but a large proportion lingers in the atmosphere—unable to be absorbed by plants or oceans (“Effects”). Plants are not harmed by this process, but the current overabundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes acidification of the earth’s oceans. As a result of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, the “acidity of the world’s ocean may increase by around 170% by the end of the century,” altering ocean ecosystems, and likely creating an ocean environment that is inhospitable for many life forms (“Expert Assessment”). Burning petroleum also leads to wars that devastate human communities and annihilate landscapes and wildlife—including endangered species and their vital habitats. Additionally, our consumption of petroleum is linked with oil spills that ravage landscapes, shorelines, and ocean habitat. Oil pipelines run through remote, fragile areas—every oil tanker represents not just the possibility but the probability of an oil spill. As reserves diminish, our quest for fossil fuels is increasingly environmentally devastating: Canada’s vast reserves of tar sands oil—though extracted, transported, and burned only with enormous costs to the environment—are next in line for extraction. Consuming animal products creates ten times more fossil fuel emission per calorie than does consuming plant foods directly (Oppenlander 18). (This is the most remarkable given that plant foods are not generally as calorically dense as animal foods.) Ranching is the greatest GHGE offender.



Author(s):  
Natasha Doyle ◽  
◽  
Philiswa Mbandlwa ◽  
Sinead Leahy ◽  
Graeme Attwood ◽  
...  

This chapter aims to outline the strategy of using feed supplements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in ruminants, including methane (CH4), carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, given that feed intake is an important variable in predicting these emissions. Focus will be given to direct-fed microbials, a term reserved for live microbes which can be supplemented to feed to elicit a beneficial response. The viability of such methods will also be analysed for their use in large scale on-farm operations.



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