Comments Patrick McCully has made
Jacobson massively underestimates hydro emissions
Jacobson has neglected to include the emissions (mainly methane) from hydropower reservoirs due to the decomposition of biomass. In the tropics these emissions can be very significant - hydro in the Brazilian Amazon averages well over 2000 gC02e/kWh. Measured emissions from Canadian reservoirs average 36 gC02e/kWh. A recent study from a small reservoir in Switzerland found methane emissions of 119 gC02e/kWh. The "life-cycle" numbers for hydro quoted by Jacobson of 17-22 gC02e/kWh cover only construction emissions. For more info see www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/383.
Patrick - internationalrivers.org/blogOn They all crush 'clean coal': Stanford study, part 1 posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago 8 Responses
More massive! More entertaining! package available
Thanks for the compliment and the posting, Gar. If anyone wants even more gory supporting evidence they should check the International Rivers report that the Guardian article is based on - "Bad Deal for the Planet: Why Carbon Offsets Aren't Working...and How to Create a Fair Global Climate Accord."
The report also has an essay by Gristmill's Tom Athanasiou. Its at internationalrivers.org/node/2826.
[And note that the Guardian screwed up the intro to my story - the World Bank does NOT administer the CDM as is stated. A UN secretariat in Bonn does.]
PatrickOn Offset criticisms have not stopped being true posted 1 year, 6 months ago 2 Responses