What is the “Carbon Law”?

Climate change is a serious problem. It’s considered by most as the biggest threat to humanity and its rapid acceleration won’t slow or stop until we change our ways. It’s often overwhelming, however, facing the prospect of overcoming such a huge problem. But with a new “Carbon law”, scientists suggest they have created a simple yet rigorous formula to eliminate climate change altogether.

Computing meets climate…

While there are a number of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, CO2 is no doubt the most notable. It gets the most attention, and for good reason. Carbon dioxide has contributed to climate change more than any other gas and looks set to continue this trend. We know that to slow and eventually stop the effects of man-made climate change, we need to reduce carbon emissions. The question is by how much.

A new carbon law has been devised based on Moore’s law from the field of computing. Moore’s law is simply an observation and projection of the number of transistors in an integrated circuit. It was observed that they double every two years as a result of innovation, and was proven to be true over the course of fifty years.

Moore’s Carbon law?

So how does this transfer to carbon? Quite simply, researchers have proposed a “carbon law” which sees green energy double every five years, while carbon emissions halve each decade. Using this rigorous plan, it’s expected coal would no longer be used by 2030 and oil would disappear by 2040.

Is it a groundbreaking method to halt climate change? No. But it doesn’t claim to be. According to the authors, the paper simply provides a straight-forward and much-needed roadmap to decarbonisation, “It is both a tale of extreme urgency, reminding the world community of what was agreed [in Paris], and also saying it’s not more difficult than it was establishing Moore’s law in IT which came through investment, innovation and economies of scale,” explained Professor Schnellnhuber, co-author of the paper.

Monitoring greenhouse gases

As mentioned, carbon dioxide isn’t the only greenhouse gas. It’s simply the most common. The second most prevalent greenhouse gas is methane, which contributed around 11 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions based on 2014 data. And for the most part, it comes from agriculture – the primary source of methane emissions. ‘Monitoring Methane Emissions from Agriculture and Dairy Farming’ explores the environmental impact of methane and how we can better monitor the gas.