Here’s why you need to start worrying about the world’s frozen peatlands

Aug16
by on August 16, 2020 at 11:00 am
Posted In: syndication, world


Peatlands cover just a few percent of the global land area but they store almost one-quarter of all soil carbon and so play a crucial role in regulating the climate. My colleagues and I have just produced the most accurate map yet of the world’s peatlands – their depth, and how much greenhouse gas they have stored. We found that global warming will soon mean that these peatlands start emitting more carbon than they store. Peatlands form in areas where waterlogged conditions slow down the decomposition of plant material and peat accumulates. This accumulation of carbon-rich plant remains has been…

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6 hours of streaming Netflix may be the equivalent of burning 1L of petrol

Aug15
by on August 15, 2020 at 9:00 am
Posted In: syndication


Coronavirus lockdowns have led to a massive reduction in global emissions, but there’s one area where energy usage is up – way up – during the pandemic: internet traffic. Data-intensive video streaming, gaming, and live streaming for business, university, and school classes is chewing up energy. Estimates can be notoriously difficult and depend on the electricity source, but six hours of streaming video may be the equivalent of burning one litre of petrol, due to emissions from the electricity used to power the data centres which deliver the video. In fact, the energy associated with the global IT sector –…

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