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Application quantifies carbon sequestration of urban trees
December 10, 2008U.S. Forest Service scientists at the Center for Urban Forest Research are providing online software that can show users how much carbon dioxide an urban tree in California has sequestered in its lifetime and the past year.
The Tree Carbon Calculator is free and programmed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides carbon-related information for a single tree in one of six California climate zones. It is the only tool approved by the California Climate Action Registry's Urban Forest Project Reporting Protocol for quantifying carbon dioxide sequestration from tree planting projects.
It can be found at the U.S. Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/topics/urban-forests/
In addition, the tool is available on the Center for Urban Forest Research Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/
Users enter information such as a tree's climate zone, species name, size or age. The program then estimates how much carbon dioxide the tree has sequestered in the past year and its lifetime. It also calculates the dry weight of the biomass that would be obtained if it were removed.
Trees planted near buildings to cut heating and cooling costs require additional inputs because they also reduce the greenhouse gases power plants emit while generating electricity. The Tree Carbon Calculator automatically calculates power plant reductions using emission factors for local utilities.
"The Tree Carbon Calculator is easy to use and provides quantifiable incentives for tree planting and stewardship projects," said Greg McPherson, director of the Center for Urban Forest Research. "Anyone from homeowners to certified arborists can use it."
McPherson and his colleagues measured the size and growth of 5,000 trees in the six climate zones to determine how much carbon dioxide the trees sequestered and stored.
The scientists determined tree shade effects on building energy performance by conducting more than 12,000 simulations that examined combinations of tree sizes, building locations and architectural styles for each zone.
"Microclimates, building characteristics and other factors can vary greatly within the six climate zones," McPherson said. "But, this software demonstrates the feasibility of a tool that quantifies the effect of urban trees on building energy performance."
In 2009, the Center for Urban Forest Research will add data for tree species in climate zones across the nation, McPherson said.
US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
In addition, the tool is available on the Center for Urban Forest Research Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/
Users enter information such as a tree's climate zone, species name, size or age. The program then estimates how much carbon dioxide the tree has sequestered in the past year and its lifetime. It also calculates the dry weight of the biomass that would be obtained if it were removed.
Trees planted near buildings to cut heating and cooling costs require additional inputs because they also reduce the greenhouse gases power plants emit while generating electricity. The Tree Carbon Calculator automatically calculates power plant reductions using emission factors for local utilities.
"The Tree Carbon Calculator is easy to use and provides quantifiable incentives for tree planting and stewardship projects," said Greg McPherson, director of the Center for Urban Forest Research. "Anyone from homeowners to certified arborists can use it."
McPherson and his colleagues measured the size and growth of 5,000 trees in the six climate zones to determine how much carbon dioxide the trees sequestered and stored.
The scientists determined tree shade effects on building energy performance by conducting more than 12,000 simulations that examined combinations of tree sizes, building locations and architectural styles for each zone.
"Microclimates, building characteristics and other factors can vary greatly within the six climate zones," McPherson said. "But, this software demonstrates the feasibility of a tool that quantifies the effect of urban trees on building energy performance."
In 2009, the Center for Urban Forest Research will add data for tree species in climate zones across the nation, McPherson said.
US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
Carbon Sequestration Current Events and Carbon Sequestration News RSSWorld will miss 2010 target to stem biodiversity loss, experts say
The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.
First global scientific conference supporting UN efforts to curb desertification opens in Argentina
As climate change negotiators continue to skirt the role of agricultural land use in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, top scientists working on land management in the world's vast dry areas will gather this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, determined to make the case that thwarting desertification in drylands is viable and also critical to the success of a new climate deal.
Exotic timber plantations found to use more than twice the water of native forests
Ecologists have discovered that timber plantations in Hawaii use more than twice the amount of water to grow as native forests use.
New genomic model defines microbes by diet -- provides tool for tracking environmental change
In line with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) interest in characterizing the biotic factors involved in global carbon cycling, the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) characterizes a diverse array of plants, microorganisms, and the communities in which they reside to inform options for reducing and stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases.
Scientists say climate change mitigation strategies ignore carbon cycling processes of inland waters
In the paper, The Boundless Carbon Cycle, published in the September issue of Nature Geoscience, scientists from the University of Vienna, Uppsala University in Sweden, University of Antwerp, and the U.S. based Stroud™ Water Research Center argue that current international strategies to mitigate manmade carbon emissions and address climate change have overlooked a critical player - inland waters.
Researchers link jellyfish, other small sea creatures to large-scale ocean mixing
The ocean's smallest swimming animals, such as jellyfish, can have a huge impact on large-scale ocean mixing, researchers have discovered.
Forest fire prevention efforts will lessen carbon sequestration, add to greenhouse warming
Widely sought efforts to reduce fuels that increase catastrophic fire in Pacific Northwest forests will be counterproductive to another important societal goal of sequestering carbon to help offset global warming.
Scientists track chemical changes in cells as they endure extreme conditions
One of nature's most gripping feats of survival is now better understood. For the first time, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory observed the chemical changes in individual cells that enable them to survive conditions that should kill them.
Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues
The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages.
A new approach to engineering for extreme environments
Composite materials such as fiberglass, which take on a mix of properties of their constituent compounds, have been around for decades. Now, an MIT materials scientist is taking composites to the nanoscale, where entirely new properties, not found in any of the original compounds, can emerge.
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