Posted on 04/15/2011 10:52:34 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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The article goes on to say:
Climate modelers have long known that households are far bigger contributors to global warming than most laypeople realize. For all the blame tailpipe emissions take for escalating temperatures, homes and office buildings are actually the single largest contributor to greenhouse gasses. One key reason is the 100-plus million refrigerators in America’s 111 million households. According to the Department of Energy, the standard fridge sucks up about 8% of the electricity used by all homes—a pretty big share given the dozens of big and small appliances and electronics that are also drawing juice.
Forget climate modelers, lets look at some real data.
On the other side of the energy and emissions issue, we have this recently released (March2011) report from the US Energy Information Administration (PDF)
Total U.S. anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 were 5.8 percent below the 2008 total (Table 1). The decline in total emissions—from 6,983 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) in 2008 to 6,576 MMTCO2e in 2009—was the largest since emissions have been tracked over the 1990-2009 time frame. It was largely the result of a 419-MMTCO2e drop in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (7.1 percent).
Have a look at CO2 emissions graphically, by energy sector this is from the EIA report:
Now let’s look at CO2 emissions by industrial fuel, still falling fast.
Now here’s the kicker. World Climate Report took the EIA data for total CO2 emissions from the USA, and graphed it against the CO2 emission data for the same period from China:
Figure 1. Annual carbon dioxide emissions from the United States (blue) and China (red), 1990-2009 (data source, EIA).
And these morons at Time magazine are worried about the few extra watts of electrcity used in my electric ice maker and trying to make me feel guilty about it?
I can’t print what I’d like to say.
UPDATE: Some commenters asked about employment -vs-CO2, here’s a graph that is a close proxy for employment, per capita income -vs- CO2.
pppffft. Whatever.
Yes, thanks. I failed to mention that.
Don't give these nitwits any ideas. I'm sure to them that sounds like a good one.
If you don't hate liberals yet, you're not paying attention...
...toilets that won't flush, toxic light bulbs that creep out a room, tasteless french fries, seaweed burgers, liberal 'hate taxes' on cigarettes, booze, etc, eminent domain to take YOUR property for their use, crappy cars, and now ice makers?
Well. Looks like we are in to having horse drawn ice trucks again. Line up to get your block of ice folks. Oh wait. Can’t do that. Horses might pass gas. Sorry folks. Here is a pamphlet prepared by your local Federal Department of Health...in it... you will find instructions as to how to hold your nose while you eat rotten decayed food of all sorts.
Just think of all the CO2 we’d save if the Democrats would just die off.
Um...and in case anyone is concerned...I'm not a drunk, LOL!
Thanks Ernest.
True but irrelevant.
Composting is merely an acceleration of natural decay processes. Everything organic eventually either decays or burns. In either case the carbon in it was recently (usually last year or two) in the air previously and was removed from the air as the vegetation grew.
Composting or burning merely returns this carbon to the atmosphere as part of the carbon cycle. There is zero increase in the amount of carbon in the system.
Burning fossil fuels, OTOH, increases the amount of carbon in the system by adding carbon from plants that grew millions of years ago. A net increase means the % of CO2 goes up.
“True but irrelevant.”
I disagree that it’s irrelevant. The fact is carbon dioxide is produced in all sorts of ways and composting is one. Breathing of course is another. Volcanos are incredible. We live in a closed system and while there can be uneven or irregular amounts of C02 released it all evens out. I am tired of the anti-C02 hysteria.
Did you use a glass and rinse it afterwards? Sorry, no credits for you.
Carbon dioxide is not "produced" by composting.
All composting does is release back into the atmosphere some carbon that had come from the atmosphere.
Think of it this way. When you use a battery, is energy "produced?"
Of course not. All a battery does is store energy, it doesn't produce it.
Similarly all composting, or more normal decay, or burning does is release stored carbon.
Same is true of fossil fuels, actually, except that burning them results in a net increase of carbon in the ecosystem because the carbon was stored millions of years ago and the ecosystem has adjusted.
What the effects of this will be is open to question and anyone who says they know exactly what they will be is lying to you. We have at best a marginal understanding of how our planet works, and here we are thinking we can make accurate projects of the effects of increasing CO2 centuries from now. It's ludicrous.
Well, you start with a premise of millions of years ago, which loses me quickly, as I am of a young earth belief.
Whatever. We’ll see what happens, I guess.
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