Word: carbonization
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That soupy brown air is the result of so-called black carbon expelled into the atmosphere in and around the Indian capital, from the burning of biomass for cookstoves and of black coal for electricity, and the incomplete combustion in the old diesel engines that propel most of the cars and trucks in the city. Breathing here isn't all that good for you - there's a reason the city is home to the "Delhi cough" - and now scientists are discovering that the sooty air isn't good for the climate either. According to some estimates, black carbon...
...Black carbon and CO2 each contribute to global warming in different ways. CO2 intensifies the greenhouse effect, allowing sunlight from space to enter through the atmosphere, then trapping the sun's energy as it bounces off the surface of the planet - like a greenhouse. (Of course, without some greenhouse warming, the earth would be a cold, dead place, but too much CO2 accelerates the effect and could make the earth too hot to be habitable. The temperature on Venus, for instance, where the atmosphere is 96% CO2, is over 400°C, or 750°F.) By contrast, black carbon...
Unlike CO2, which can hang around in the atmosphere for centuries - CO2 that was emitted by the first coal-powered train is probably still in the air, warming the planet - black carbon has a relatively brief life span. It remains just a few weeks in the air before it falls to earth. That's key, because if the world could reduce black carbon emissions soon, it could help blunt warming almost instantly. "You can wait a week or a month and the totals in the atmosphere can be significantly different," says Eric Wilcox, an atmospheric scientist with NASA. Meanwhile...
...fundamentally irrational to buy a Prius. If you want to save the environment, you can buy a Honda Civic or another car that's almost as fuel efficient and way cheaper. With the money you save you can buy a chunk of the rain forest or carbon credits. You don't buy a Prius because you want to do all you can to save the environment; you also want other people to see you in the Prius. You've joined an exclusive club...
...avoid all this, the IEA says the world needs to spend about $10.5 trillion in extra money from 2010 to 2030 to foster new low-carbon energy sources. Expensive, yes. But if the IEA is right, the alternative is far worse...