MIT study on connection between technology development and emissions-reduction policies informs Paris climate negotiations
A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of intense negotiations.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law an amendment to the Clean Air Act that mandated emissions reductions of the harmful pollutant sulfur dioxide, SO2, from coal-fired power plants.
Global production of steel has now reached almost 1.5 billion tonnes each year. The geographic make up of steel production however has changed profoundly in the last decade. In the year 2000 China produced 15% of the world's steel. Today almost half of the world's steel is made in China, with Chinese steel production increasing by over 500% since 2000.
Imagine having a fuel pump in your driveway that uses photosynthesis, the same process plants use to feed themselves, to turn carbon dioxide into fuel for your car. The institute isn’t the only one working to develop artificial photosynthesis technology. Panasonic is working to create formic acid, a fuel that, like methanol, can be synthesized from CO2 and can be used in hydrogen fuel cells. A European team of researchers is developing solar jet fuel. And the New CO2 Fuels program at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science seeks to convert CO2 into fuel.
