The Science of Climate Change

It has long been recognized that science is the pursuit of knowledge, knowledge is power, and power is political. However, the fantasy of science being apolitical is a hallmark legacy of the enlightenment era, an era that romanticized pursuit of knowledge, disconnected from the baggage of power, politics, and dogmatic assertions. Yet, while the age of information has exponentially increased our access to knowledge, we can see, as clearly as ever, that scientific knowledge is neither apolitical nor dogma-free, and it certainly is not disconnected from power. It is hard to imagine another era when the separation between science and politics has been this blurred as it is today. At the same time, it is true that no other topic than climate change has been so politically charged,  with one side dominating the scientific narration and branding anyone opposing the mainstream as a “climate change denier,” and the other standing in staunch defiance that climate change exists. In an age of political and scientific turmoil, how can we navigate out way to coming towards a more objective understanding of the scientific issues surrounding the climate change debate?

This book presents the current debate of climate change as scientifically futile, on both sides of the scientific, and often, political, spectrum. The climate change debate has become like obesity, cancer, diabetes or opioid addiction, which is to say that the debate should not be if these maladies exist, but rather, what causes them. Instead of looking for the cause and making adjustments to remove those causes from our lifestyle, a combination of the capitalist drive towards mass production and a lack of identifying the roots of the problems, new solutions, or substitutes, have been proposed as "quick fixes" to the problems. This book identifies the root causes of climate change and shows that climate change is real and it is also preventable, but that it can be reversed only if we stop introducing pollutants in the ensuing greenhouse gases. The book brings back common sense and grounds scientists to the fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, while at the same time disconnecting politicking and hysteria from true scientific analysis of the phenomenon of global climate.

M. R. Islam, Ph.D. is the President of Emertec Research and Development Ltd. and an adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University, where he was Canada's first Killam Chair in petroleum engineering from 2000 to 2005. Prior to this, Professor Islam was the first NRCan (Natural Resources Canada) professor of engineering at the University of Regina, where he was the program leader of petroleum engineering. He was instrumental in establishing the Petroleum Technology Research Center (PTRC) and the Greenhouse Gas Technology Center (GTC) in Regina. In the 30+ years of his professional career, Professor Islam has held faculty positions with seven different universities and supervised over 150 research students and post-doctoral fellows. He is also the author of dozens of books and hundreds of scholarly papers, in a variety of fields and areas.

M.M. Khan, Ph.D., P.Eng. is a pioneer of zero-waste engineering. He received his PhD from University of Alberta, M.Sc. from Dalhousie University, and B.Sc. from BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology), in chemical engineering. In his 20 years of professional career, he taught in BUET and held several research positions with government and industry funded projects such as the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF), NSERC, Canadian Centre for Clean Carbon and Mineral Processing Technologies (CMPT), BP Americas, and Schlumberger on the topics of sustainable development, greenhouse gas mitigation, carbon dioxide capture and sequestration, and coal gasification. He has co-authored dozens of research publications and five books on the topics of energy and the environment. He has lectured around the world in conferences and technical meetings. He is a professional engineer, registered with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGA).

Foreword xiii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Opening Statement 1

1.2 Summary 6

1.3 Chapter 2: State-of-the Art of the Climate Change Debate 6

1.4 Chapter 3: Forest Fires and Anthropogenic CO2 8

1.5 Chapter 4: Role of Agricultural Practices on Climate Change 9

1.6 Chapter 5: Role of Biofuel Processing in Creating Global Warming 10

1.7 Chapter 6: Role of Refining on Climate Change 11

1.8 Chapter 7: Scientific Characterization of Petroleum Fluids 11

1.9 Chapter 8: Delinearized History of Climate Change Hysteria 12

1.10 Chapter 9: The Monetization the Climate Science 13

1.11 Chapter 10: The Science of Global Warming 16

1.12 Chapter 11: Conclusions 18

2 State-of-The-Art of the Climate Change Debate 19

2.1 Introduction 19

2.2 The Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC) 20

2.3 The Climate Change as a Natural Process 27

2.4 Conclusions 35

3 Forest Fires and Anthropogenic CO2 37

3.1 Introduction 37

3.2 The Science of Forest Fires 38

3.2.1 Role of Water and Carbon 39

3.2.2 Combustion and Oxidation 42

3.2.3 From Natural Energy to Natural Mass 57

3.2.4 Causes of Forest Fires 68

3.3 Climate Change and Forest Fire 71

3.4 Setting the Stage to Discover a CO2 Effect 89

3.5 Conclusions 101

4 Role of Agricultural Practices on Climate Change 103

4.1 Introduction 103

4.2 Climate-Water-Food Nexus 104

4.3 Biofuel 112

4.4 Pathway Analysis of Biofuels 119

4.4.1 Chemical Fertilizers 119

4.4.2 Pesticides 130

4.4.2.1 Toxin Related to Pesticide 136

4.4.3 The Heavy Metals 142

4.4.3.1 Lead 145

4.4.3.2 Chromium 146

4.4.3.3 Arsenic 147

4.4.3.4 Zinc 150

4.4.3.5 Cadmium 151

4.4.3.6 Copper 151

4.4.3.7 Mercury 152

4.4.3.8 Nickel 153

4.4.3.9 Overall Effect of Heavy Metals on Life Cycle and Ecosystem 153

4.4.4 The Mechanism 165

4.4.5 Bioethanol 176

4.5 Conclusions 180

5 Role of Biofuel Processing in Creating Global Warming 181

5.1 Introduction 181

5.2 The Process of Biodiesel Manufacturing 183

5.2.1 Variables Affecting Transesterification Reaction 185

5.2.1.1 Effect of Free Fatty Acid and Moisture 186

5.2.1.2 Catalyst Type and Concentration 188

5.2.1.3 Molar Ratio of Alcohol to Oil and Type of Alcohol 190

5.2.1.4 Effect of Reaction Time and Temperature 193

5.2.1.5 Mixing Intensity 194

5.2.1.6 Effect of Using Organic Co-Solvents 195

5.2.2 Catalysts 197

5.2.2.1 The Effects of Homogeneous Catalyst in Biodiesel Production 198

5.2.2.2 Effect of Heterogeneous Catalysts 207

5.2.2.3 Future Trends and the Impact on the Environment 225

5.2.3 Greening of the Biodiesel Process 229

5.3 Conclusions 234

6 Role of Refining on Climate Change 235

6.1 Introduction 235

6.2 The Refining Process 236

6.3 Additives and Their Functions 246

6.3.1 Platinum 246

6.3.2 Cadmium 250

6.3.3 Lead 254

6.4 Science of Nanaoscale 258

6.4.1 Connection Between Subatomic and Bulk Properties 264

6.4.2 The Correct Formulation 270

6.5 Zeolite as a Refining Catalyst 277

6.5.1 Gasoline Pool 281

6.5.2 Linear Paraffin Isomerization 282

6.5.3 Isobutane-Butene Alkylation 282

6.5.4 Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) 283

6.5.5 Reforming 286

6.5.6 Hydrocracking 287

6.6 Conclusions 291

7 Scientific Characterization of Petroleum Fluids 293

7.1 Introduction 293

7.2 Organic and Mechanical Frequencies 297

7.3 Redefining Radiation and Energy 298

7.3.1 Radiation 298

7.3.2 Flames and Natural Frequencies of Flames 304

7.3.3 Energy 308

7.3.4 Conversion of Energy Into Mass 319

7.4 Role of Petroleum Sources 324

7.4.1 Organic Origin of Petroleum 325

7.4.2 Implication of the Abiogenic Theory of Hydrocarbon 327

7.4.3 Effect on Reserve 331

7.5 Scientific Ranking of Petroleum 333

7.6 Conclusions 341

8 Delinearized History of Climate Change Hysteria 343

8.1 Introduction 343

8.2 Climate Change Hysteria 345

8.3 The Energy Crisis 349

8.3.1 Are Natural Resources Finite and Human Needs Infinite? 349

8.3.2 The Finite/ Infinite Conundrum 357

8.3.3 Renewable vs Non-Renewable: No Boundary-As-Such 358

8.4 Conclusions 361

9 The Monetization the Climate Science 363

9.1 Introduction 363

9.2 The Nobel Laureate Economist’s Claim 366

9.3 Historical Development 375

9.3.1 Pre-Industrial 377

9.3.2 Industrial Age 377

9.3.3 Age of Petroleum 382

9.3.3.1 High-Acid Crude Oils and Opportunity Crudes 385

9.3.3.2 Oil From Tight Formations and From Shale Formations 386

9.3.3.3 Natural Gas 387

9.3.3.4 Heavy Oil 388

9.3.3.5 Tar Sand Bitumen 389

9.4 Petroleum in the Big Picture 390

9.5 Current Status of Greenhouse Gas Emissions 401

9.5.1 CO2 Release to the Atmosphere 411

9.5.2 Linking with GDP 421

9.5.3 Different Trends in the Largest Emitting Countries and Regions 422

9.6 Comments on the Copenhagen Summit 423

9.7 The Parise Agreement 429

9.7.1 Connection to Nordhaus 429

9.7.2 The Agreement 430

9.8 Carbon Tax: The Ultimate Goal of Climate Change Hysteria 435

9.9 Conclusions 444

10 The Science of Global Warming 445

10.1 Introduction 445

10.2 Current Status of Greenhouse 447

10.3 The Current Focus 456

10.3.1 Effect of Metals 456

10.3.2 Indirect Effects 460

10.4 Scientific Characterization of Greenhouse Gases 467

10.4.1 Connection to Subatomic Energy 467

10.4.2 Isotopes and Their Relation to Greenhouse Gases 471

10.5 A New Approach to Material Characterization 487

10.5.1 Removable Discontinuities: Phases and Renewability of Materials 491

10.5.2 Rebalancing Mass and Energy 491

10.5.3 Energy: Toward Scientific Modeling 493

10.5.4 The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy 495

10.5.5 Avalanche Theory 495

10.5.6 Simultaneous Characterization of Matter and Energy 499

10.6 Classification of CO2 503

10.6.1 Isotopic Characterization 504

10.6.2 Isotopic Features of Naturally Occurring Chemicals 515

10.6.3 Photosynthesis 518

10.6.4 The Effect on Carbon (114C and δ13C) 522

10.7 The Role of Water in Global Warming 527

10.7.1 Water as the Driver of Climate Change 529

10.8 Characterization of Energy Sources 533

10.8.1 Environmental and Ecological Impact 533

10.8.2 Quality of Energy 533

10.8.3 Evaluation of Process 534

10.8.4 Final Characterization 535

11 Conclusions 537

11.1 Concluding Remarks 537

11.2 Conclusions of Chapter 2: State-of-the Art of the Climate Change Debate 541

11.3 Conclusions of Chapter 3: Forest Fires and Anthropogenic CO2 541

11.4 Conclusions of Chapter 4: Role of Agricultureal practices on Climate Change 542

11.5 Conclusions of Chapter 5: Role of Biofuel Processing in Creating Gobal Warming 542

11.6 Concludsions of Chapetr 6: Role of Refining on Climate Change 543

11.7 Conclusions of Chapter 7: Scientific Characterization of Petroleum Fluids 543

11.8 Conclusions of Chapter 8: Delineraized History of Climate Change Hysteria 544

11.9 Conclusions of Chapter 9: The Monetization the Climate Science 544

11.10 Conclusions of Chapter 10: The Science of Global Warming 545

12 References 547

Index 619

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