[I’ve included this section because “change your light bulbs” seems like both a mickey-mouse response and incredibly powerful – because each of us holds the power to change the world – with everything we do]
“If every American household changed _one_ light bulb to compact fluorescent we would prevent emissions equivalent to 800,000 cars.” – EPA Energy Star program
Well OK. But what does that mean? Will changing light bulbs solve our problem?
According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there are 210,725,000 cars in the US (2001)
Now 800,000 cars is .4% of the total number of cars on the road (does not include commercial vehicles). So the changing-one light bulb plan is not going to get us there all by itself.
Where is there? What is the goal? Well my own analysis is we should return to our 1950s level of emissions by 2050. Here is a group that says an 80% reduction from 2000 levels by 2050 is the goal. Think really, really big. But don’t panic. We can do it.
OK but lets not shoot out the light bulb idea yet. What if we changed more light bulbs? Well if every home has 32 light bulbs (assuming an average of 4 bulbs/room and 8 rooms) and if every single light bulb were change in every single home (not necessarily practical because some bulb forms don’t lend themselves to compact fluorescent and sometimes compact fluorescent doesn’t emit the right kind of light). But if we did, that is 32 times as much energy savings! So that means we could do the equivalent of 12% of the cars on the road! Now that is a start (kind of like throwing a few lawyers over the cliff…).
Take-away message: Change the light bulbs! Change them all. And as you get that warm fuzzy feeling that you are changing the world – DON’T STOP. Read around on this site and the links for more ideas. And keep doing. The time for analysis has passed. ACT!
What is the goal? Ice records indicate the naturally occurring range of CO2 is 180 PPM (ice age) and 280 PPM (warmest period) www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm
So the goal is less than 280 PPM in the atmosphere. Right now we are at 385 PPM. But the problem is human activity is a problem on the margin. We are not the only source of CO2 (and CO2 isn’t the only greenhouse gas…) – in fact human activity isn’t even the largest source of CO2 – but we are the one we control, and we are the source that is pushing the world to be HOT!
So what are we saying? The annual increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is 1.5PPM. Given an 80% reduction, the greenhouse gas emissions increase in 2050 would be .3PPM. Also during that 40 year period we will need to find a way to reduce from the projected 422PPM because remember the 280PPM baseline is without any industrial revolution effects. It is possible that natural balancing mechanisms may be able to handle an increase of .3PPM/year (they cannot handle 1.5PPM/year). Thus the real goal has to be being carbon neutral/greenhouse gas neutral.
How do we really get there?
Top three actions:
Transportation: Move closer to work/school.Change your commute/double your mileage with your next vehicle. Get a biodiesel/hybrid vehicle (not ethanol! Ethanol is not the answer). Change your life so that you are not vehicle-bound. When you do travel, use a vehicle that gets at least 40 MPG and runs on biodiesel, with solar or wind powered energy as your battery backup.
Buildings: Orient your new construction toward the sun, using proper eaves to shade the summertime and gain solar heat during the winter. This single step is huge!
Go solar! The sun is the source of energy for our planet. Every step you take away from the sun introduces translation inefficiencies. So, for buildings, solar orientation is the first step (the sun heats the building, and we are done). Then solar thermal (heat energy of the sun stored as heat energy in water). Then comes Solar PV – Solar energy becomes electricity. Then comes wind energy (solar heat becomes, wind, then becomes electricity). Then comes burning biomass (trees, switch grass, etc.) for energy (solar energy becomes plants, becomes fuel). Then comes fossil fuel, which is solar energy becomes plant energy, becomes sequestered CO2 (carbon…) then becomes fuel.
Food: Don't transport your food across state lines!
That is it. Eliminate travel, obtain all your energy needs from the sun. Problem solved.