A practitioner's guide to a low-carbon economy: lessons from the UK

Drawing primarily on the UK experience, five practical lessons are identified for policy makers who seek to decarbonize their economies. First, decarbonization needs a solid legal basis to give it credibility and overcome time inconsistency problems. Second, putting a price on carbon is essential, but low-carbon policies also have to address wider market, investment, and behavioural failures. This in turn raises issues of policy complexity and coordination. Third, the low-carbon economy is likely to be highly electrified. Clean electricity could be a cost-effective way of decarbonizing many parts of the economy, including transport, heating, and parts of industry. Decarbonization therefore starts in the power sector. Fourth, the low-carbon transition is primarily a revolution of production and not consumption. Both supply-side innovation and demand-side adjustments in lifestyle and behaviour are needed, though the former should dominate. Fifth, the transition to a low-carbon economy is economically and technologically feasible. Achieving it is a question of policy competence and having the political will to drive economic and social change.

Policy relevance

Practically all major GHG emitters now have climate change legislation on their statute books. Given what is at stake, and the complexity of the task at hand, it is important that policy makers learn from each other and establish a code of good low-carbon practice. The main lessons from the UK are distilled and presented. Carbon policy is considered for key sectors, such as electricity, buildings, and transport, and possible decarbonization paths are also outlined. It is shown that the transition to a low-carbon economy is economically and technologically feasible. Achieving it is primarily a question of policy competence and political will. This in turn means that climate change action needs a strong legislative basis to give the reforms statutory legitimacy. Low-carbon policies will have to address a wide range of market, investment and behavioural failures. Putting a price on carbon is an essential starting point, but only one of many policy reforms.     

Application of the principal component analysis on geochemical data: a case study in the basement complex of Southern Ilesa area, Nigeria

The study area occupies a part in southern Ilesa and is located within the schist belt of southwestern Nigeria, which embraces undifferentiated schist, gneisses, and migmatites with pegmatites, schist and epidorite complex, quartzite and quartz schist, granite gneiss, amphibolite, pegmatised schist, granulite, and gneiss. The study is aimed at clarifying the potential source of mineralization dealt with before in regional studies. Sixty-one soil samples were collected and analyzed for identifying these elements: Pb, Fe, Ni, Cd, Cr, Cu, Zn, and Mn. Multivariate analysis was done to obtain the coefficients of principal components from the standardized variables The elemental associations from the principal components analysis that accounted for 85.34% variability of the total variance are: Fe–Mn, Pb–Cr, and Cd–Zn. Comparably, these are equivalent with the previous results in the amphibolites and added the extension of association region to involve the schist and epidorite complex, quartzite, and quartz schist. The metallic association ratio revealed high metallic concentrations and led to the mineralization trend in southern Ilesa.     

Is the Universe a white-hole?

Pathria (1972) has shown, for a pressureless closed Universe, that it is inside a black (or white) hole. We show now, that the Universe with a cosmic pressure obeying Einstein’s field equations, can be inside a white-hole. In the closed case, a positive cosmological constant does the job; for the flat and open cases, the condition we find is not verified for the very early Universe, but with the growth of the scale-factor, the condition will be certainly fulfilled for a positive cosmological constant, after some time. We associate the absolute temperature of the Universe, with the temperature of the corresponding white-hole.     

Plasma electron signatures of magnetic connection to the Jovian bow shock: Ulysses observations

Ulysses plasma electron observations of bidirectional and enhanced unidirectional electron heat fluxes within 4500 R_J (0.8 a.u. or 3 months on either side of closest approach) of Jupiter are presented as evidence for the magnetic connection of the spacecraft to the Jovian bow shock. These bursts of suprathermal electrons (> 30 eV) are observed when the interplanetary magnetic field points roughly parallel or antiparallel to the Jupiter-spacecraft line. Ninety-eight possible connection events were found over the 6 month period centered on the closest approach to Jupiter. The frequency of occurrence peaked with proximity to the bow shock, with most events occurring post-encounter. These are the first observations of backstreaming suprathermal electrons made in the vicinity of the Jovian bow shock.     

Inter-comparison of cosmogenic in-situ He, Ne and Cl at low latitude along an altitude transect on the SE slope of Kilimanjaro volcano (3°S, Tanzania)

Because the intensity and energy spectrum of the cosmic ray flux are affected by atmospheric depth and geomagnetic-field strength, cosmogenic nuclide production rates increase considerably with altitude and to a lesser degree with latitude. The scaling methods used to account for spatial variability in production rates assume that all cosmogenic nuclides have the same altitude dependence. In this study we evaluate whether the production rates of cosmogenic ³⁶Cl, ³He and ²¹Ne change differently with altitude, which is plausible due to the different threshold energies of their production reactions. If so, nuclide-specific scaling factors would be required.Concentrations of the three cosmogenic nuclides were determined in mafic phenocrysts over an altitude transect between 1000 and 4300 m at Kilimanjaro volcano (3°S). Altitude dependence of relative production rates was assessed in two ways: by determination of concentration ratios and by calculation of apparent exposure age ratios for all nuclide pairs. The latter accounts for characteristics of ³⁶Cl that the stable nuclides ³He and ²¹Ne do not possess (radioactive decay, high sensitivity to mineral composition and significant contributions from production reactions other than spallation). All ratios overlap within error over the entire transect, and altitudinal variation in relative production rates is not therefore evident. This suggests that nuclide-specific scaling factors are not required for the studied nuclides at this low-latitude location. However, because previous studies have documented anomalous altitude-dependent variations in ³He production at mid-latitude sites, the effect of latitude on cross-calibrations should be further evaluated.We determined cosmogenic ²¹Ne/³He concentration ratios of 0.1864 ± 0.0085 in pyroxenes and 0.377 ± 0.018 in olivines, agreeing with those reported in previous studies.Despite the absence of independently determined ages for the studied lava surfaces, the consistency in the dataset should enable progress to be made in the determination of the production rates of all three nuclides as soon as the production rate of one of the nuclides has been accurately defined.To our knowledge this is the first time that ³⁶Cl has been measured in pyroxene. The Cl extraction method was validated by measuring ³⁶Cl in co-existing plagioclase phenocrysts in one of the samples.     

Spatial analysis of the invasion of lionfish in the western Atlantic and Caribbean

Pterois volitans and Pterois miles, two sub-species of lionfish, have become the first non-native, invasive marine fish established along the United States Atlantic coast and Caribbean. The route and timing of the invasion is poorly understood, however historical sightings and captures have been robustly documented since their introduction. Herein we analyze these records based on spatial location, dates of arrival, and prevailing physical factors at the capture sights. Using a cellular automata model, we examine the relationship between depth, salinity, temperature, and current, finding the latter as the most influential parameter for transport of lionfish to new areas. The model output is a synthetic validated reproduction of the lionfish invasion, upon which predictive simulations in other locations can be based. This predictive model is simple, highly adaptable, relies entirely on publicly available data, and is applicable to other species.     

Diversity of Mn oxides produced by Mn(II)-oxidizing fungi

Manganese (Mn) oxides are environmentally abundant, highly reactive mineral phases that mediate the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients, contaminants, carbon, and numerous other elements. Despite the belief that microorganisms (specifically bacteria and fungi) are responsible for the majority of Mn oxide formation in the environment, the impact of microbial species, physiology, and growth stage on Mn oxide formation is largely unresolved. Here, we couple microscopic and spectroscopic techniques to characterize the Mn oxides produced by four different species of Mn(II)-oxidizing Ascomycete fungi (Plectosphaerella cucumerina strain DS2psM2a2, Pyrenochaeta sp. DS3sAY3a, Stagonospora sp. SRC1lsM3a, and Acremonium strictum strain DS1bioAY4a) isolated from acid mine drainage treatment systems in central Pennsylvania. The site of Mn oxide formation varies greatly among the fungi, including deposition on hyphal surfaces, at the base of reproductive structures (e.g., fruiting bodies), and on envisaged extracellular polymers adjacent to the cell. The primary product of Mn(II) oxidation for all species growing under the same chemical and physical conditions is a nanoparticulate, poorly-crystalline hexagonal birnessite-like phase resembling synthetic δ-MnO₂. The phylogeny and growth conditions (planktonic versus surface-attached) of the fungi, however, impact the conversion of the initial phyllomanganate to more ordered phases, such as todorokite (A. strictum strain DS1bioAY4a) and triclinic birnessite (Stagonospora sp. SRC1lsM3a). Our findings reveal that the species of Mn(II)-oxidizing fungi impacts the size, morphology, and structure of Mn biooxides, which will likely translate to large differences in the reactivity of the Mn oxide phases.     

Chronic Nutrient Enrichment Increases the Density and Biomass of the Mudsnail, Nassarius obsoletus

In summer 2009, the effects of 6 years of landscape-level experimental nutrient enrichment on the eastern mudsnail, Nassarius obsoletus (formerly Ilyanassa obsoleta), were examined. The experiment was conducted in five tidal creeks (two nutrient-enriched, three reference creeks) in the Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts, USA. (42°44′ N, 70°52′ W). After 6 years of enrichment, N. obsoletus size structure differed between treatment creeks with adult snails on average 14 % larger in enriched creeks. N. obsoletus densities (in individuals per square meter) and biomass (in grams dry weight per square meter) were four times higher in nutrient-enriched versus reference creeks. Nutrient enrichment did not significantly affect the biomass of benthic microalgae (a N. obsoletus food resource), but snail density was significantly correlated with benthic microalgal biomass, suggesting bottom–up control of snails. N. obsoletus is abundant on the east and west coast of North America; thus, N. obsoletus density and biomass may be useful variables for monitoring eutrophication effects on North American estuaries.