When it comes to carbon pricing, there is one slightly confusing element that should be clarified. Carbon taxes are sometimes expressed as a price per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2), and sometimes as a price per tonne of carbon. One tonne of carbon is equivalent to 3.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide. As such, a price of $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide is equivalent to a price of $36.70 per tonne of carbon.
The reason for this is basic. One mole of carbon weighs 12 grams. (A mole is a quantity of matter equivalent to 6.02 x 10^23 molecules or atoms. It is like a much bigger version of a dozen.) Each oxygen in a molecule of CO2 contributes 16 grams. As such, a mole of CO2 weighs 44 grams, while a mole of carbon weighs 16. The ratio is 3.67 to one.
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Three of my photos were included in a Canada Day roundup on the The Globe and Mail website:
Trees, fog, light: Dam Mountain, North Vancouver
Pier in North Vancouver, with Burrard Inlet and downtown Vancouver behind
Bridge over the Rideau Canal, Ottawa
Larger versions of all three are on my photo.net page.
7 July 2008
CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas, and greenhouse effects are not the only CO2 problem
RealClimate