Gt - FL USA
Update 7/31/2013
Carbon footprint or cfp:
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Recently we had to update our 68 year old house in Central Florida, the work included: new low-E glass windows, attic-insulation and a new AC system. Over the last 6 months we had a 48% reduction in our electric consumption compared to the same periods in previous years. Our driving has been reduced from the average 12,000 miles a year to about 6,000 miles/y (after the calculations I divided this result in half since my wife and I share one vehicle)
Using a few of the free web based carbon footprint calculators like the one from the EPA, I estimated my individual home and vehicle cfp to be about 3 1/4 tones of CO2 per year.
My air travel cfp for this year is 5,823 lbs of CO2 or slightly less than 3 tones of CO2.
So my projected carbon footprint, is about 6 tones of CO2 for this year. Hopefully I won't do much flying in the near future since that alone nearly doubled my cfp, which was kind of self defeating.
Last Update Oct 10, 2014
Other interesting articles:
The Meteorologist’s Meltdown: Eric Holthaus on Deciding to Quit Flyingquits flying
Oct, 1, 2013
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/01/the-meteorologist-s-meltdown-eric-holthaus-on-deciding-to-quit-flying.html
Nov. 10, 2013
Who bears the cost of airline emissions?
Aviation is today responsible for some 2% of the planet’s man-made CO2 emissions. But when the effects of nitrogen oxide emissions, water vapour, soot and sulphates, contrails and enhanced cirrus cloud formations are also factored in, the best scientific estimates put aviation’s overall contribution to global warming at 4.9%.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has forecast that CO2 emissions from international aviation (about 60% of total aviation emissions) will grow from approximately 400 million tonnes in 2010 to 650 million tonnes by 2020. Unchecked, there may be a 274% increase in the fuel used by airlines by 2050, measured against 2006 levels.
Put plainly, the aviation industry bears a share of responsibility for the accelerated drought-flood cycle that climate change will bring to countries such as India.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columnsothers/who-bears-the-cost-of-airline-emissions/article1-1147628.aspx
Aug. 9, 2013
The climate
impact of travel behavior: A German case study with illustrative mitigation
options
Borgar
Aamaasa, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding
author, Jens Borken-Kleefeldb, Glen P. Petersa
a Center
for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO), PB 1129
Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway
b IIASA –
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, 2361
Laxenburg, Austria
Abstract
Global greenhouse gas mitigation should include the growing share of emissions from transportation. To help understand the mitigation potential of changing travel behavior requires disaggregating the climate impacts of transportation by transport mode, distance, and travel behavior. Here we use disaggregated data on travel behavior to calculate the climate impact of Germans traveling nationally and internationally in 2008 and develop some illustrative mitigation options. We include all relevant long-lived greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers and use global temperature change for 50 years of sustained emissions as the emission metric. The total climate impact is determined almost entirely by car (∼46%) and air travel (∼45%), with smaller contributions from public transportation. The climate impact from the highest income group is 250% larger than from the lowest income group. However, the middle classes account for more than two thirds of the total impact. The relatively few trips beyond 100 km contribute more than half of the total impact because of the trip distance and use of aircraft. Individual behavioral changes, like shifting transport modes or reducing distance and frequency, can lead to useful emission reductions. However, a comprehensive package of mitigation options is necessary for deep and sustained emission reductions.
Some links:
List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita
EPA Household Carbon Footprint Calculator
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/ind-calculator.html
CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)
Report: Carbon markets offer 'cheap' aviation emissions cuts
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2285663/report-carbon-markets-offer-cheap-aviation-emissions-cuts
Image added 9/6/2013 from:
ECO PRESERVATION SOCIETY
The Human Footprint from National Geographic.
http://ecopreservationsociety.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/the-human-footprint-from-national-geographic/
Interesting articles added October 2, 2013
SEP 30, 2013 BY LINDSAY ABRAMS
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/30/one_meteorologist_explains_why_he_wont_fly_again/
THE NEXT THING WE NEED TO DO ABOUT CARBON
OCTOBER 2, 2013 BY LAWRENCE KRAUSS
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/10/the-next-thing-we-need-to-do-about-carbon.html
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