Slaughter of Australian Camels (Off Topic)

When burnt doesn’t methane become just carbon dioxide and water ? We should fit cattle and camels with afterburners and condensers.

Tony

1 comment to Slaughter of Australian Camels (Off Topic)

  • Andrew Taylor

    Tony, your science is correct but don’t expect to patent the concept we already burn (flare) methane emissions from rubbish dumps & landfills in some places where it is not practical to capture and use them.

    Methane release into the atmosphere also finishes up as CO2+H20 over a period of decades which is why methane is potent greenhouse gas only on short timescales (our lifetimes). CO2 remains in the atmosphere for centuries.

    A herbivore doesn’t have to release methane – its a consequence of the microbial ecology in their gut. Laurie mentioned kangaroos produce little methane. CSIRO and others have looked at changing (innoculating) the gut flora in sheep&cattle to improve meat production & reduce methane emission.

    Most birds have mucher simpler guts than ruminants and much lower methane emissions – alhough somewhere in Canberra there are public servants who should have been listening in biology class. Forced to estimate emissions/kg from farmed ostriches&emus for our national greenhouse inventory they assumed they were similar to cattle not poultry.

    Andrew ===============================

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