Quantum computers, making greenhouse gases useful, COVID-19 infection from droplet spread and water security were some of the most popular engineering stories in 2020.
If atmospheric carbon dioxide levels double from their pre-industrial levels and are maintained, the world would probably experience eventual warming from 2.3 – 4.5°C, rather than the previously estimated 1.5 – 4.5°C range.
As the world warmed from the last ice age, a rise in carbon dioxide levels stalled for nearly 2,000 years. That's always puzzled scientists, but now they think they know what happened.
Making catalysts to convert waste carbon dioxide into useful industrial products has been expensive and complicated – until now. UNSW engineers show it’s as easy as playing with Lego.
Carbon dioxide concentrations in seawater could reach levels high enough to make fish “intoxicated” many decades earlier than previously thought, with serious implications for the world’s fisheries.
Global average temperatures will rise at least 4°C by 2100 if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced, according to new UNSW research published in Nature.
Carbon dioxide levels have risen above 400 parts-per-million, but geoengineering is no alternative to reducing emissions, writes Professor Steve Sherwood.
A carbon price of between $50 and $100 per tonne would make coal-fired and gas-fired power less economical than renewable electricity, a UNSW study shows.