What is the current CO² Rates?

Answer 1

The current level of CO2 is 383 parts per million by volume (ppmv), seasonally adjusted. The pre-industrial level was 280 ppmv.

By the way, Mike G.'s numbers are totally wrong. Currently there are 3067 gigatons of CO2 in the atmosphere. The total amount released by human fossil-fuel burning since the industrial era began is 1118 gigatons of CO2.

(sigh). Baypoint's numbers below are totally wrong too. He's talking about the mass of carbon, not the mass of CO2; and even then he's wrong by a factor of 1000. It's 7 gigatons of carbon, or 7000 megatons, which was the total annual production during 2002-2003.

Answer 2

Sorry Mike, but I agree with Trevor

"CO2 is absorbed and regenerated annually Trevor. If this is "what you do", you seem to "do it" poorly. If CO2 just collected every year, we would've collected billions of years of CO2 by now . . . which we clearly haven't."

No! SOME CO2 is generated and absorbed naturally each year. The vast majority of the CO2 in the atmosphere is just hanging out, not "recycled" every year.

The fraction of a percent extra each year IS significant. This is on top of the balance that had been going on. The earth doesn't absorb more just because more is emited. So over the course of many years, those fractions of a percent add up.

As an analogy, think of a lake with 1 cubic mile of water. If 0.1 cu mi is added and 0.1 cu mi is released, the level stays the same. And most of the water just stays in the lake. If an EXTRA 0.01 cu mile is added each year, then the level of the lake will slowly but surely go up.

Indeed, the total CO2 level HAVE gone up. The balance has been upset, and the only explanation is human activity.

Answer 3

The amount of a gas in the atmosphere is measured in parts per million by volume (ppmv), the rarer gases in parts ber billion or even trillion.

There are presently 384 ppmv of carbon dioxide - about 0.04% of the atmosphere. As long as humans have been on the planet levels have been between 190 and 310 ppmv, in recent decades the level has dramatically increased. Levels of all other greenhouse gases have also risen.

The current rate of carbon emissions from human sources is 29 billion tons per year. What the previous answer failed to take into account is that this is the amount we produce each year - rather than being an insignificant amount it's a very significant amount, it means that in about 80 years we will emit as much CO2 as there is in the entire atmosphere.

The primary sources of CO2 are power generation, industry, manufacturing, transportation and agriculture.

Answer 4

The total production rate including coal, oil, natural gas, and from cement production, is nearly 7,000 Giga metric tons per year.
A metric tons is 2,200 lbs, or 10 percent more than a regular ton.

The proportion in the air, in parts per million of CO2 in the air is about 280-300, or about the same it has been for 10,000 years.

Answer 5

You're still too high Suspendor.

CO2 accounts for 0.033% of the earth’s total atmosphere. Of that 0.033% of total CO2 in the air, man-made CO2 emissions account for less than 1% of the total CO2.

There is roughly 2.7 Trillion metric tons of CO2 in the atmosphere annually; of which, 24 Billion metric tons of that is from man-made emissions (24 Billion / 2.7 Trillion = 0.0089). 0.0089 x 100 = 0.89% of the total CO2 in the atmosphere is due to man-made emissions.

So we’re talking about a nano-fraction of a micro-fraction of a percent.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/atmos/atmos_intro.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/carbon-dioxide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions#_ref-0

[EDIT for Trevor above] Read the post Trevor, I wrote "annually", you chose to ignore it. You're mistake. Let me write it again:

"There is roughly 2.7 Trillion metric tons of CO2 in the atmosphere annually; of which, 24 Billion metric tons of that is from man-made emissions (24 Billion / 2.7 Trillion = 0.0089). 0.0089 x 100 = 0.89% of the total CO2 in the atmosphere is due to man-made emissions."

CO2 is absorbed and regenerated annually Trevor. If this is "what you do", you seem to "do it" poorly. If CO2 just collected every year, we would've collected billions of years of CO2 by now . . . which we clearly haven't.

I've listed my sources.

Answer 6

Apparantly about 1.3%. And of that 0.3% is our fault.

Wow. How TERRIBLE!!!

Answer 7

about $2.98 a gallon