Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffC
The zero sum equation is correct in some ways; in that what was extracted from the atmosphere in the very recent past is being released back. Hence biomass stations that use, for instance wood - are really only releasing what was there when those trees were growing. In climatological/geological time- scales this was yesterday.
The difference with oil, gas and coal is that the Co2 locked up in these reservoirs are from millions of years ago.
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And there is
no practical difference in the
effects of releasing that CO2.
The critical factors are the amount released and the rate of release, not the age of the material releasing it.
There are good reasons in the case of things like coal to find other fuel sources like biomass, given the processes used to
get the coal, but that's a different matter.
X amount of CO2 is X amount of CO2, regardless of the age of the material providing the carbon.
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Dennis