You Can See How Well Cap and Trade Works From Space

February 25th, 2011 by Susan Kraemer

In the 20-state area that participates in a cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions of nitric oxide (NOx) from power plants, NOx emissions have declined dramatically.

The reduction is visible even from space, scientists reported as long ago as in 2006, in satellite images of the Northeastern United States. The hard numbers for the emissions drop has been even more extreme, according to biochemist William Schlesinger, writing at NRDC’s OneEarth.

A full 32% drop in NOx emissions has occurred since 1997, when NOx regulation began.

The reasons for regulating NOx were to prevent acid rain which was destroying forests. Nearly thirty years ago, scientists established that NOx produces Ozone in the atmosphere. Now the health effects of NOx regulation is even more apparent. Ozone levels affect the rate of heart disease.

Long-term records showed the increasing ozone in the eastern United States and rising contents of nitric acid in rainfall, as a result of a series of chemical reactions in the atmosphere, and legislation was passed cutting the pollutant, with a cap and trade plan.

But, just as it is hard now to get coal plant operators to accept the regulation of greenhouse gas pollutants, back when scientists were advocating for ozone reductions, coal plant operators objected, on the grounds that NOx releases come from soil microbes too.

Now they (and their useful idiot spokesfolks) claim that breathing out will soon be forbidden if carbon dioxide emissions are regulated – forget that no human being could breathe out a 25,000 ton carbon dioxide regulatory trigger in several lifetimes.

When even visiting aliens from outer space can see how well cap and trade works from miles above the planet, you have to wonder, when will we be able to see that cap and trade works, too?

Image: NASA
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

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About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

Gerald Clarke

Hi
I am a conservative, a scientist, and have some doubts about all the CapNTrade stuff – What does your picture really show? the graphic is not well documented –
Even if C&T works, and if it does I would support it (It has not worked well in Europe) but I don’t think Our industries can compete with the world and it will drive many industries out – and kill the coal power industry with nothing currently available to replace it
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  On the contrary, cap and trade definitely has worked in Europe – it is now a decade ahead of us in the solar and wind sectors because it signed Kyoto and implemented cap and trade. Do we have an Iberdrola, an Abengoa? All the biggest renewable companies are now EU companies. Cape wind had to switch from (US) GE to (German) Siemens because we are so far behind, we cannot make big enough turbines for efficient offshore wind capture.
  
  There have been lots of studies, that have definitively shown the difference it has made, getting GHG emissions down further than Kyoto requirements, (even before the 2008 economic collapse) that we have covered here: this story includes links to studies of many of these cap and trade successes, both in the EU, and ours (for acid rain, ozone, getting lead out of gasoline).
  
  http://cleantechnica.com/2010/11/26/cap-and-trade-works-eu-replaces-coal-power-with-wind-energy/