Understanding and accurately measuring urban carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is critically important as countries and cities worldwide take steps to reduce the greenhouse gases that are affecting our climate. LCGC recently sat down with Felix Vogel, PhD, to discuss an experimental setup used by his group as well as efforts to establish a global network for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions.
After the COP21 hold in Paris end of 2015, countries around the globe are taking action to reduce their Greenhouse Gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in order to limit future global temperature increases to below 2°C. As 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, with an ever-accelerating trend in emerging countries, it is clear that we need to understand how the urban lifestyle affects per capita emissions. Dense population can be efficient, thanks to public transportation or modern heating systems in high-rises. On the other hand, continuously congested roads can be hotspots of CO2 emissions and also have negative effects on air quality. In order to successfully implement policies, it is crucial to understand which process/activity of urban life is responsible for the current CO2emissions.
