Global Warming and Other Environmental Consequences of Energy Strategies: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Environmental Protection of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, March 13, 20, and April 26, 1991

Front Cover

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 80 - Change which has as its objective: to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations . . . at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system...
Page 312 - Nissan North America, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nissan Motor Company, Ltd of Japan, the world's fourth largest producer of motor vehicles. We are a company well on its way to becoming a fully integrated US manufacturer.
Page 100 - July 1989, is — achieving balance among our increasing need for energy at reasonable prices, our commitment to a safer, healthier environment, our determination to maintain an economy second to none , and our goal to reduce dependence by ourselves and our friends and allies on potentially unreliable energy suppliers...
Page 49 - These processes are already partially understood, and we are confident that the uncertainties can be reduced by further research. However, the complexity of the system means that we cannot rule out surprises.
Page 81 - CO2 emissions is essential if this limit is not to be exceeded, Industrialized countries, with 25% of the world's population, are responsible for 75% of current global emissions of CO] bom the energy sector.
Page 49 - ... the size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models, but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability. Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming; • the unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect from observations is not likely for a decade or more.
Page 49 - Ecosystems affect climate, and will be affected by a changing climate and by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. Rapid changes in climate will change the composition of ecosystems; some species will benefit while others will be unable to migrate or adapt fast enough and may become extinct. Enhanced levels of carbon dioxide may increase productivity and efficiency of water use of vegetation.
Page 79 - Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war.
Page 48 - The longer emissions continue to increase at present day rates, the greater reductions would have to be for concentrations to stabilize at a given level o the long-lived gases would require immediate reductions in emissions from human activities of over 60% to stabilize their concentrations at today's levels; methane would require a 15 - 20% reduction.
Page 48 - Carbon dioxide has been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect in the past, and is likely to remain so in the future.

Bibliographic information