There has been a great deal of discussion about bovine emissions. Ruminant mammals are the scourge of the earth and our obsession with eating them is the cause of global ills. But until recently the concern has been focused on backend “greenhouse” gasses. What about the front of the beast?
ZELP (Zero Emissions Livestock Project) is currently testing various prototypes of the cattle masks, according to Agrarheute. These are already able to filter around 30 percent of the methane emitted by ruminants. In the future, this value should be increased to around 60 percent.
The highlight: ZELP was awarded the climate protection prize “Climate Design Award” for the “revolutionary” idea, which was created by WEF figurehead Prince Charles and designer Sir Jony Ive. The cattle mask was one of four winners and received a cash prize of the equivalent of 58 000 euros. Prince Charles supports face masks for cows to fight climate change.
Based on our experience with “experts” and people masks, I predict that there will be Zero interest in whether this is bad for the cattle. A problem that will need to trigger the animal rights zombies to be properly addressed.
As for climate, masking advocates claim that the moos are exhaling methane and it is damaging the biosphere. I’m wondering how. Cows make up an infinitesimal portion of the biological mass of the world. Ruminants in total contribute very little of whatever you want to claim they emit. But that’s not the most amusing matter in this quest to force UK farmers to pay for cow masks.
According to Physicist Dr. Tom Sheahen, “Water vapor has already absorbed the very same infrared radiation that Methane might have absorbed.”
Water vapor accounts for somewhere between 1% and 4% of the atmosphere. Methane, 0.00017%, Carbon Dioxide 0.04% so water vapor blows them away and is the most abundant “greenhouse” gas. And it is because of this “abundance” that we need to ask questions before masking cows.
If water vapor is already absorbing the threat posed by methane, what’s the problem? According to Dr. Sheahen, “there is really nothing to worry about, scientifically. The main thing to worry about is over-reacting politicians and another layer of unnecessary government regulations.”
Further along we get to the details that reference this graph.
“…methane (CH4) has narrow absorption bands at 3.3 microns and 7.5 microns (the red lines). CH4 is 20 times more effective an absorber than CO2 – in those bands. However, CH4 is only 0.00017% (1.7 parts per million) of the atmosphere. Moreover, both of its bands occur at wavelengths where H2O is already absorbing substantially. Hence, any radiation that CH4 might absorb has already been absorbed by H2O. The ratio of the percentages of water to methane is such that the effects of CH4 are completely masked by H2O. The amount of CH4 must increase 100-fold to make it comparable to H2O.
Because of that, methane is irrelevant as a greenhouse gas. The high per-molecule absorption cross section of CH4 makes no difference at all in our real atmosphere.
I feel certain that Prince Charles has internet access but for reasons we cannot begin to guess, he’s all in on a program to convince farmers to fork over the equivalent of $45.00 US per cow, per year, to mitigate the exhaled gas from a beast that according to the physicist is incidental to the problem he claims to be addressing.
So, Prince Charles’ solution is a lot like Prince Charles himself. An expensive accessory whose absence would make no difference whatsoever in the end.
HT | WUWT
