With all the talk about carbon footprint, and with the City of Tallahassee moving aggressively toward reducing our already low carbon footprint through energy conservation, it is time to define carbon footprint in terms everyone can understand.
First, we have reported here that due to the use of natural gas we have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the country. But what does that mean in terms that we can understand?
For each kilowatt hour of electricity generated, approximately 1.2 pounds of CO2 emission is created. A home that uses 1,000 kwh per month would generate approximately 1200 pounds of CO2 emissions per month.
For comparison purposes, lets look at the amount of CO2 emissions generated from automobiles. A gallon of fuel generates approximately 20 pounds of CO2 emissions. A vehicle that averages 20 mpg and drives 1000 miles a month would generate approximately 1000 pounds of CO2 emissions.
The City of Tallahassee electric utility has approximately 90,000 residential customers and the 198,000 people that live in these residences drive approximately 150,000 automobiles. Based on these numbers it would appear automobiles generate more CO2 emissions than our use of electricity. Lets take a closer look.
For one month, on average, the 90,000 residences generate 54,000 tons of CO2 emissions while the automobiles driven generate 75,000 tons of CO2 emissions. These numbers indicate there are more opportunities to further lower our carbon footprint by reducing automobile emissions than emissions generated by the use of electricity.
Given these numbers, maybe public policies should lean toward making it easier to give up our car 3 or 4 times a month versus cutting our electric use by 10%?
What do you think would be easier to give up?
"Kwa mazungumzo yote juu ya alama ya kaboni, na kwa Jiji la Tallahassee kusonga kwa nguvu kuelekea kupunguza alama yetu ya kaboni ya chini kupitia uhifadhi wa nishati, ni wakati wa kufafanua alama ya kaboni katika maneno ambayo kila mtu anaweza kuelewa. """ Kwanza, tumeripoti hapa kwamba kwa sababu ya matumizi ya gesi ya asili tuna moja ya alama ya chini ya kaboni nchini. Lakini hilo lamaanisha nini katika maneno tunayoweza kuelewa? Kwa kila kilowatt saa ya umeme inayotokezwa, karibu pauni 1.2 ya uzalishaji wa CO2 hutengenezwa. Nyumba inayotumia 1000 kWh kwa mwezi itazalisha karibu pauni 1200 za uzalishaji wa CO2 kwa mwezi. Kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano, kwa mfano. Galoni moja ya mafuta hutokeza karibu pauni 20 za uzalishaji wa CO2. Gari ambalo lina wastani wa kilomita 20 kwa mwezi na linaendesha maili 1,000 kwa mwezi litazalisha karibu pauni 1,000 za uzalishaji wa CO2. Jiji la Tallahassee lina wateja wa makazi 90,000 na watu 198,000 wanaoishi katika makazi haya huendesha magari 150,000 hivi. Kwa kuzingatia takwimu hizi, inaonekana kuwa magari yanazalisha uzalishaji wa CO2 zaidi kuliko matumizi yetu ya umeme. Hebu tuangalie kwa karibu zaidi. Kwa wastani, nyumba 90,000 zinazozalishwa kwa mwezi mmoja hutokeza tani 54,000 za CO2, wakati magari yanayotumiwa hutokeza tani 75,000 za CO2. Idadi hii inaonyesha kuna fursa zaidi za kupunguza zaidi alama yetu ya kaboni kwa kupunguza uzalishaji wa magari kuliko uzalishaji unaotokana na matumizi ya umeme. Kwa kuzingatia idadi hii, labda sera za umma zinapaswa kuelekeza kuelekea kuifanya iwe rahisi kuacha gari letu mara tatu au nne kwa mwezi dhidi ya kupunguza matumizi yetu ya umeme kwa 10%. Unafikiri ni jambo gani ambalo lingekuwa rahisi kuacha?