Talk:Carbon dioxide equivalent

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Should this be merged and redirected into GWP, since they are the same? William M. Connolley 20:17, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Overly complicted and confusing for non-experts

This entry seems to dictate a superficial notation difference between to concepts: CO2e as an equivalent concentration, and CDE as an equivalent emission rate. Problems:

1. CDE is not a recognized standard name or abbreviation

2. CDE is not a quantity but a rate (e.g., ton/year)

3. CO2e is commonly used for both concentrations and rates, depending on the context, and is simply a weighted number based on GWP in both cases.

4. as presented, this is more confusing than helpful to non-experts.

I would recommend:

1. incorporate this under GWP or at least reference GWP.

2. add a better introduction explaining the concept of weighting emissions or concentrations by GWP and why that would be done in simple terms.

3. add a section explaining the time-scale issue and describing the standard 100-year generaly used today.

4. keep the two sections w/o the 'CDE' term -- replace with CO2e

38.96.176.66 (talk)