Chemical Engineer Slams Global Warming from CO2

Dr. Pierre Latour, PhD and PE in chemical engineering and PE in process control engineering, has another excellent publication in February 2010's Hydrocarbon Processing magazine. He sent me an advance copy of the article some months ago, and it is good to see it published in such a prestigious journal, especially given prominence in the Editorial section. The article is available here, with a free registration required (email and password). (scroll down to Editorials, and click on "Engineering Earth's Thermostat with CO2") NOTE: HP makes the editorials available for free only for the current month. Previous months' editorials are archived and require a subscription to view.

For those unfamiliar with the world of oil refining and petrochemicals, Hydrocarbon Processing is one of the premier journals for that industry, is read world-wide by many thousands of industry professionals, and is in public and private libraries around the world. It dates back to at least the 1960's. In my world-wide travels during the past 30 years, HP has graced the coffee tables in lobbies wherever I went. Copies are circulated to engineers and management in almost every refinery and petrochemical plant. As a personal note, I have the honor of having an article published in HP in the March 1998 issue.

In his recent HP editorial, Dr. Latour lays out the case for why regulating CO2 in the atmosphere will not cause any change in the earth's temperature. The key quote is

"CO2 only absorbs and emits specific spectral wavelengths (14.77 microns) that constitute a tiny fraction of solar radiation energy in Earth's atmosphere. The first 50 ppm of CO2 absorbs about half of this tiny energy, each additional 50 ppm absorbs half of the remaining tiny fraction, so at the current 380 ppm there are almost no absorbable photons left. CO2 could triple to 1000 ppm with no additional discernable absorption-emission."

Dr. Latour is absolutely correct, and the IPCC and other climate alarmists are wrong. One does not violate the fundamentals of engineering, especially process control engineering. Not even IPCC scientists can do that, mightily though they strive.

A previous article on SLB (found here) discusses Dr. Latour's earlier letters to the editor of Hydrocarbon Processing and why CO2 cannot control the Earth's temperature.

Roger E. Sowell, Esq.

Marina del Rey, California