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International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control Tackles Timely Issues
Greenhouse gas control technology is critical in the fight against global warming. An ever-increasing amount of research focusing on this technology is being commissioned, and government and industry funding to support this research is growing exponentially. These developments make Elsevier's launch of the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control in early 2007 particularly timely and important. John Gale, a manager with the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme headquartered in Gloucestershire, England, serves as editor-in-chief of the new journal and gives us the inside track on it.
John Gale
How has this journal come into being?
The need for a peer-reviewed journal for articles on greenhouse gas control technology was identified while IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme members were writing the IPCC Special Report on CO2 Capture and Storage, which was published in November 2006. IEA GHG members then submitted to Elsevier a proposal which was eventually taken up, and Elsevier is publishing the journal in print and electronically on ScienceDirect as of early this year.
What is the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme?
Founded in 1991, this is an initiative sponsored by the International Energy Agency. It is a major international research collaboration that assesses technologies capable of achieving deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Besides supporting research, the initiative offers conferences and reference material on issues such as climate change and the need for emission reduction for the agency’s members which include 16 countries, the European Commission and 18 multinational industrial sponsors.
You've said the new journal will add academic weight to CO2 reduction efforts. Please, can you elaborate?
At present there are a lot of research and development efforts underway plus conferences and workshops being held but no focal point for technical information being generated. What high-quality literature is being produced is dispersed over a number of journals which are not in all cases directly relevant to the topic.
By developing this journal, we hope to bring the information together into a central repository that is readily accessible and recognizable to those interested in the topic. In so doing we hope the journal stimulates more scientists to publish their work and so creates a database of high-quality literature on this topic.
Who is this journal aimed at?
The journal is aimed at scientists and academics primarily but will also be relevant to industry, governmental and nongovernmental organizations as a source of superior
reference literature on this rapidly growing subject.
What sorts of real-life impacts do you see the journal as having?
The big impact I see for this journal is that it will encompass all facets of the carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) system under one cover. Other publications only focus on specific components like capture or storage. People reading the journal will therefore get an impression of the whole topic area which hopefully 
will broaden the individual specialist’s perspective on the CCS system.
How does one get a new journal like this going?
The IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme already organizes conferences on this topic. Known as the Greenhouse Gas Control Technology (GHGT) conferences, they’ve been running since 1992. The last conference, GHGT-8, was held in Norway in June 2006 and attended by 960 people. Some 400 papers were presented orally or as posters. During development of the journal, we’ve been extremely fortunate to have this base to draw upon. From the GHGT-8 conference, we selected some 50 papers and invited their authors to submit papers to a special issue of the journal.
You've mentioned contributions are expected from researchers in engineering, energy, geology, chemistry, chemical engineering and environmental science. When addressing greenhouse gas control, why is it important to hear from experts in so many fields?
Greenhouse gas control is the most interdisciplinary field of any I have previously worked in. Essentially the topic covers emissions generation in the power sector, manufacturing sector and transmission sector, as well as oil and gas drilling and exploration. Research in this area requires all the components to be put together in one package and therefore requires the different groups to understand the needs and demands from each component and how they interact with each other.
What's your personal interest in this journal?
I am passionate about the environment. I don’t want to pass onto my heirs the legacy of a dying planet. As far as the journal is concerned, I’ve been active from the outset in getting this off the ground and look forward to seeing the first issues in print and realizing I’ve achieved something I can be proud of.
When you look at our collective future, what do you see in terms of the environment?
I hope that within the next 10 years we have a broad international commitment from all the world’s leading polluters to tackle climate change and by 20 years on we are actively doing something across the globe.
IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme: www.ieagreen.org.uk
ScienceDirect: www.sciencedirect.com
