Green house gas measuring system to help UN climate talks

A new emissions measuring system will help efforts at the UN climate talks to accurately record nations’ greenhouse gas inventories, developers say.
Many governmnents across the world have legally binding commitments to cut their CO2 output and many are working toward voluntary targets to do the same but there is currently no effective system in place to actually measure their progress. Developers of the new GHG measuring system say it will go some way towards rectifying the situation.

At present, heavy emitting sectors report their estimated emissions. To prolong the dieting analogy, its like estimating your weight based on last year’s supermarket receipts.

Astrium Services is looking to fill a gap in the market and hope its new greenhouse gas tracking bus could be an answer.

The bus is equipped with sensors to detect carbon dioxide and methane, the two most important greenhouse gases, at street level. When this data is combined with its GPS position, it can map peaks and troughs in climate forcing gas across an entire city.

Most bespoke buses with big screens and white leather sofas installed are probably ferrying boybands and billionaires around the country, this one could be the crucial missing component in the UN climate talks.

Florent Kone of Astrium Services gave me a tour around central London’s major tourist traps in a bus with the above mod-cons, plus its highly sensitive methane and CO2 sensors mounted on the roof.

Astrium trialled three of the four components of its Greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions Measurement Service during the Olympics as it gears up for launch next year.

A combination of data from sensors mounted on cars and planes, together with fixed land monitoring stations and eventually satellite information, will provide the first real-time data on CO2 output.