Greenhouse Gases - SweetLightning

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Greenhouse Gases

A collection of 22 posts

An assortment of European coins.

Moral Hazard

Do we make riskier climate decisions when someone else bears the cost of failure?

A false-colour image in the neighbourhoods of Abilene and Lubbock, Texas, showing high methane emissions from petro-industry sites.

Methane: Still messing up the planet AGAIN

The first SweetLightning article was about methane ... and how it's messing up the planet. Methane use is increasing. So we're going to mention it again.

A silhouette of unknown people ... perhaps relatives from the future.

Letter to the Grandkids

To be opened July 2076 (written July 2026)

Clip-art type simple drawing of a silouetted figure leaning back too far in a chair so it is about to fall over.

Positive Feedback and Tipping Points

A couple of geeky explanations for why things might get worse than you think. All the more reason to act.

AI-generated image of a container ship cut in half, with both halves floating on the ocean

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Shipping by Half

A ship-borne system employing accelerated weathering of limestone to capture carbon dioxide from exhaust gas is better and cheaper than land-based systems.

A building linked to its ghostly digital twin by flows of data

Paid-members only

Digital Twins, Enabled by Technology Advances, Lower Carbon Footprints

A hot side on the left, cool side on the right, radiating fins surrounding a central mechanism. Obviously not an engineering drawing. See below for that!

Elastocaloric Cooling

Cool new tech for refrigeration without refrigerants or compressors.

Photo of the low sun just above a small treed island in a calm sea, the whole mostly obscured by thick fog

Paid-members only

Greenhouse Gases

The Greenhouse Gas No One Talks About

Insulation and claddidng being added to a large cylinrical steel tank that is under construction

Greenhouse Gases

Sand Batteries

A company in Finland has brought on line a high-temperature heat storage installation, using crushed local soapstone, to store off-peak and renewable energy for use during peak demand periods

A giant clump of electrical transmission hardware. Looks a little like Dr. Frankenstein's setup, TBH.

Greenhouse Gases

Efficiency Gains via Electrification, or Why We Should Electrify Everything We Can

Decarbonizing the economy by electrifying everything in it will mean we need less total energy.

Trees

Trees are beautiful and maybe more. Updated: July 2, 2025

Methane leaks: It's the little ones that'll get us in the end

Methane leaks: It's the little ones that'll get us in the end

Intense debate

Intensity measurements have a particular use, but we shouldn't rely on them as barometers of progress.

Solar panels form a background to a coal power plant, contained in a drop of water.

EU greenhouse gas emissions continue to drop

The EU met its 2020 emissions goals at least 10 years early, and had remarkable success in its 2023 reductions.

China's CO2 Flattens Out

Greenhouse Gases

China's CO2 Flattens Out

Chinese carbon dioxide emissions seem to have levelled off.

Satellites are Pooka spotters in a global crisis

Satellites are Pooka spotters in a global crisis

Penguins emit laughing gas

Penguins emit laughing gas

A hoax

Meet the in-laws

Meet the in-laws

🍁Oh, Cap an' Trade!

Greenhouse Gases

🍁Oh, Cap an' Trade!

Coal: On its dirty little way out

Greenhouse Gases

Coal: On its dirty little way out

Methane: Still messing up the planet

Greenhouse Gases

Methane: Still messing up the planet