Pollution Credits Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 

Does it actually help the atmosphere when you let people auction off pollutants as if they were antiques? It's already working in the United States to fight acid rain. Now the world's leaders are considering this approach, often called cap and trade, to help keep the greenhouse effect under control. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook.

The idea is to limit the total amount of pollutants in a certain category. For instance, right now in the US, each power company that uses coal-fired plants has an allowance for emitting sulfur dioxide, which is a key ingredient in acid rain. The company can keep emitting its sulfur dioxide until it reaches its limit, or it can clean up its act and sell its extra emissions allowance to another company on the open market. Since the total number of US allowances is capped, the emissions stay the same or actually decrease. In fact, according to the EPA, the nation's sulfur dioxide emissions in 1995 were reduced almost 40% below requirements.

In last fall's Kyoto summit on global warming, the countries that were present agreed to consider such a plan for carbon dioxide, where nations could trade the rights to emit CO2. But this time, the buying and selling will be far more complicated. There are only a few hundred major power plants in the US producing sulfur dioxide, but almost everyone in the country owns something that emits CO2, so the bookkeeping is a challenge. Also, how do you figure out a fair way to start each country off in the new system when some countries already produce far more carbon dioxide than others?

It'll be months before the US and other countries take action on the Kyoto proposal. One thing's for sure -- there will be plenty of stuff to put on this auction table. Each year, the world adds more than 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the air.

Thanks to contributing writer Bob Henson and for additional information on pollution credits, visit our website at weathernotebook.org. The Weather Notebook is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive with major support provided by the National Science Foundation.