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Jun 18, 2009 01:30 PM | 14
Can you say guilt trip? New Yorkers will now be reminded of humanity’s growing carbon footprint as they hustle past Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.
Starting this morning, a 70-foot sign with a 13-character red digital display is tracking the trillions of tons of greenhouse gases roiling the atmosphere.
Climate heavyweights Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University and John Reilly of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were on hand for the rainy unveiling.
The counter is the work of scientists from around the country. But it also serves as an advertisement of sorts for sponsor Deutsche Bank, whose Climate Change Advisors group aims to help various industries profit from a low-carbon economy.
That’s not to say the science behind the counter is anything to sneeze at. Economist Reilly mentioned the technical challenge of creating a real-time counter using economic indicators and other data, which are validated and adjusted as updated gas measurements become available.
The counter takes into account all greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and reports them in carbon dioxide equivalents. It skips the effects of natural cycles, such as the El Niño, and doesn’t factor in aerosols, which are difficult to measure and also exert a cooling effect.
After Reilly left the stage, the counter remained dark as rain pelted the white press tent. Then, Sachs took the mic and cracked the downpour was only appropriate because a recently released government report on climate change forecasts rainier weather in the Northeast.
Finally, the switch was flipped, and the 13-digit number appeared. The last three digits were a red blur. Someone under the crowded tent blurted, “Is it going up?” and the journalists laughed.
Later, ScientificAmerican.com caught up with some locals for their reaction. A busy umbrella hawker said he wasn’t interested in the carbon counter, even after we told him rising greenhouse gases might help his business.
David Roberts, a managing partner at a company that makes software for book publishers, was impressed and humbled by the clock. “That’s startling,” he said, “How do you miss that?”
Under a nearby awning, Shawna Unger, a 35-year-old employee of publisher McGraw-Hill, was having a quick smoke. She was unaware of the clock until we mentioned it to her, but she said rising greenhouse gases worry her. Is she going to do anything about climate change? “I have those long-lasting light bulbs,” she said, “The long twirly fluorescent ones.”
UPDATE (16:10): According to Deutsche Bank, the counter is carbon neutral and its power consumption is offset with Certified Emission Reductions, or CERS. It contains 40,960 energy efficient light emitting diodes, which use 83 percent less power per pixel than the news ticker Dow Jones installed in Times Square in 1997. The counter is powered from the city grid, but representatives did not have information on its total power consumption. Also, when this article was originally posted it provided an incorrect estimate of the height.
Image of carbon counter by Brendan Borrell/Scientific American
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14 Comments
Add CommentHow much carbon gets pumped into the environment to power the counter?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHELLOOO! Do any of you highly educated people understand that Nature has this whole thing figured out - trees and plants of all kinds take in CO2 and give off Oxygen. What will happen when you manage to reduce CO2 so much all the plant life dies off?????? You see, photosynthesis is The Plan so we and all livings things can survive on the planet. I just don't buy this global warming, climate change thing. Its an expensive unnecessary, effort. Try picking up all the garbage thoughtless people throw out their car windows- now there is something worthwhile to educate the public on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHELLOOO! Do all you well educated people out there understand that all trees and plant life take in CO2 and give off OXYGEN?? Its called photosynthesis. That is why after millions of years this Earth still sustains life. All this global warming, climate change stuff is a waste of money when if all you did was campaign to educate people not to throw trash out their car windows, would go a longgg way to cleanin g up the environment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSometimes the most educated and degreed people can have no common sense.
IT SEEMS AS THE EGGHEADS WERE ASLEEP DURING CLASS WHEN THE CARBON CYCLE WAS EXPLAINED TO THEM.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisClimate change and the rapid rise of carbon emissions are important issues. The attention and awareness that Deutsche Bank is bringing to them is a helpful development.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlways keep in mind the ultimate objective behind the growing efforts to reduce emissions: to stabilize the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases at a safe level in the atmosphere. World-leading climate scientists tell us that means getting atmospheric CO2 down to 350 parts per million.
To see the worlds most recent data for atmospheric CO2, visit Earths CO2 Home Page at http://co2now.org (hosted from servers powered directly by solar panels). Or add one of the free CO2Now widgets to your site the world's first and only source for widgets that keeps current CO2 on display far and wide.
Atmospheric CO2 was 390.18 ppm in May 2009, the latest data available when the Deutsche Bank carbon counter widget was launched. Based on this almost-real time data, measured by NOAA scientists directly from the atmosphere, we can see that the concentration of atmospheric CO2 continues to accelerate upward from decade to decade.
Consider placing an emissions widget and an atmospheric CO2 widget side-by-side. The emissions level needs to be seen together with the atmospheric concentration, not in isolation.
In the most recent SciAm I recieved it was stated that Global Warming is a reality, not opinion. 31,000 scientist, 9,000+ PhD's disagree. If this is the best SciAm can offer. Cancel my subscription. This is not science it is agenda. Less than 25 years ago scientist pushed by the political machine were screaming New Ice Age... they even hatched plans like painting the Arctic ice BLACK to WARM the earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRecent information (yesterday) in a story shows that in America the Global Warming elected officials own much of the Green Energy Stock while they sit on the brink of passing/enacting legislation and regulations that have no scientific proof and are despite magazines and media reports hotly contested and disagreed with. This is the best science we can expect? If so no wonder past administrations were not kind to granting money to research. It is not a reality and people are waking up to that fact. Study it for certain. Gather information analyze and discuss. But do not sit there and state for a fact it is a reality, when it is nothing more than bad science. It is a discredit to the word science and if this is the best SciAm can give may as well start reading the bible and believing that hogwash too.
what then is the safe level for CO2? and if the world goes down to this level, will the clock display green instead of red?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt does not matter if you believe in climate change caused by humanity or not. What I believe everyone can agree on is; we need high paying jobs and we need to stop paying big bucks for energy. Now is the time to exploit space power and resources. Sunlight is available in high Earth orbit 24/7, 365 days a year. We have had the technology since the late 60’s to transmit via microwave all the energy we could ever use, to Earth, from orbit. The material for constructing the space end of the system is available on the near Earth asteroids and the Moon. We the people need the government to fund the project just as the government funded World War II. Our survival as a people with liberty was threatened by mad men with weapons during WWII. Today our survival is threatened by mad men with oil. If we as a people shrink from the task at hand we will lose our liberty.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey should be placing their silly carbon counters in places like India and China. The U.S. is no longer here to save the world at the expense of our economy. The world has to step up and save itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey should place their silly carbon counters in India and China. The U.S. is no longer here to save the world at the cost of our economy. The world has to step up and save themselves. Cap & Trade, how about Crap & Trade.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell intended quickdraw (especially with the do not litter comment) but you're forgetting a simple analogy that the most educated and degreed people haven't.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile drinking water is good for you, drowning in it isn't. Likewise, if you are familiar with farming, then you would also know that while nitrogen is essential for plants, too high of a nitrogen content will cause the plants to burn up.
The same is true with carbon and all living things on the planet. There is an ideal range of CO2 levels. Anything too low and organisms A, B and C die off. Anything too high and organisms X,Y and Z die off. Like most mammals, humans are an X,Y or Z --> while most plants might be ok with a higher level of CO2, you won't be.
Plus a petition of 31,000 scientists? Yea, I can check a box that says I have a PhD. It doesn't mean that I spent 5+ years in graduate school.
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Wow, online polls provide such concrete evidence!
who Governs the Carbon Credit and how many Carbon Credits have been issued
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow many Carbon Credits have been issued throughout the world. who controls the distribution of carbon credits and what standard backs them up (Gold?)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes anyone know how I can contact Brendan Borrell to obtain permission to use a photo of hers in a publication?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this