Word: carbonizing
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...worked. The Japanese caved, and the conference was on its way to an accord that was as unexpected as it is historic. Almost no one going into the meeting was optimistic about its outcome. There wasn't much disagreement about the basic problem: it's now clear that carbon dioxide and other gases generated by human agriculture and industry are trapping the sun's heat. And while nobody knows for certain what the consequences will be, the worst-case scenarios envisioned by scientists include dangerously rising seas, more powerful storms, drastically altered weather patterns and even outbreaks of tropical diseases...
...that everyone would agree. What happened in Kyoto will not, in and of itself, stave off global warming. The treaty now known as the Kyoto Protocol dictates that by 2012 the average output of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide--generated mostly by the burning of fossil fuels in factories, cars and power plants--must be reduced 5.2% below where it was in 1990. But it would take a 60% reduction to make much of a dent in the greenhouse gases that have been building up in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution...
...issue is very much on the agenda this week as representatives of more than 150 nations gathered in Kyoto, Japan, wrangle over how to cut emissions of man-made carbon dioxide, a culprit in the ominous warming of the global climate. In the U.S., the vehicle population has grown six times as fast as the human population, reaching 176 million cars and trucks. American autos are 90% cleaner than they were three decades ago, but they still account for over a third of urban-area ozone. More than 125 million Americans breathe unhealthy air, and an estimated...
...Europe, Southeast Asia and all sorts of places in between, something remarkable is happening. New, carbon-free energy technologies that do not rely on fossil fuels are moving from experimental curiosity to commercial reality, economically turning sunlight, wind and other renewable resources into useful forms of energy. Although the new devices provide less than 1% of the world's energy, they are advancing rapidly. If the negotiators wrapping up their 10-day meeting in Kyoto this week are looking for an engineering solution to the problems of global warming and climate change, these technologies could provide the blueprint...
TAKE THE T-BIRD AWAY After 80 years of dominance by the internal-combustion engine, a new kind of automobile is on the way. Several major auto manufacturers are designing hybrid electric cars that have twice the fuel economy and half the carbon-dioxide emissions of today's vehicles. The sticker price is admittedly a few thousand dollars higher but is largely offset by lower fuel bills. Toyota plans to bring the first such car to the market in Japan this week, and other carmakers will soon follow suit (see following story...