I have been thinking so much about perspective this week and I thought this blog post was going in a totally different direction. Maybe those thoughts will show up in a future post but today, I landed on the idea of figuring out the reality of an individual’s impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
If you have read any of my posts, you know that living abroad really shaped my trajectory and now being back in the USA I feel there is so much work that can be done. I want to do as much as I can to save the planet for us all, but especially for my teenaged daughter. Since I have been back, my impression is that much of the time and energy being spent on behalf of the planet is focused on legislation, regulations, lobbying, voting, and trying to be heard by political leaders. I have not heard a ton about what we as individuals can do. That has become my focus, my mission, and my personal obsession. My question today is can we get ourselves and our households to climate neutral? What would that look like, and is it even possible?
Exploring this idea requires math, argh!
When I started looking into the Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission numbers for everyday activities, I found examples in pounds, grams, kilos, tonnes (metric tons) and tons, never mind miles, and kilometers and kilowatt hours, etc., etc. To say the least, this has been a fun and frustrating exercise that I have been consumed with for the past couple of weeks. I have been excited by what I have been learning but challenged by trying to present it in a clear and concise way that encourages everyone to engage.
My finished product is made up of examples of which life activities we can focus on to make an impact. None of it is a literal number from your life because you may commute 50 miles to work each day versus the 20 miles that I used for my calculations. Or maybe you work from home for two days and in the office for three days each week. If you want to delve further into the numbers to find your true number, you can find a carbon footprint calculator to help you determine your specific number, but honestly even the very sophisticated calculators must make certain assumptions. What is important, and I hope you can draw it from this blog, is that how we live makes an impact. And most critical, we can make a positive impact on the environment by making changes in our own personal lives.
Yes, we can!
One by one, as we each adjust our lives to be more sustainable those actions will do two things. First, it will add momentum to everyone else in our neighborhoods, cities, and states. It will begin to help the planet by gaining attention and then multiplying by the actions of others who join the movement. Second, businesses will notice that their customers are making different decisions and if they want to continue to be in business they will have to adjust their products and services to fulfill our more sustainable desires and shopping habits. And politicians will notice that our behaviors have changed. They will understand that it is a representation of our thoughts that will ultimately determine our voting choices. They will have to change if they want to continue to serve as an elected official.
Now that we know what we do matters, let’s look at the numbers.
Currently, according to ourworldindata.org, the average US person emits 14.3 tonnes of GHG emissions annually. A tonne is a metric ton and the equivalent of 1000kg. I do not think converting it to pounds helps with this exercise but just in case, 1000 kg is roughly 2200 pounds. And to help to develop the frame of reference, in comparison to the USA, the world’s average person emits 4.7 tonnes, the EU’s average is 5.6. China is at 8.4 per person. I think there is a misconception about China because the population is so large. China’s population is currently at about 1.407 billion while the USA is at 342 million. Obviously more people will create a larger overall emissions number even if the per person number is smaller.
Honestly, I am not sure that all of that should matter. I hope we have not become people focused on comparisons and excuses built on the actions of others! If we have leaned that direction, let’s use our full power to recenter and get ourselves back on the correct path of accountability. I am fully aware of the fact that I cannot control legislation, the voting system in the United States, political campaign funding, and directly who oversees climate action or the government. Or what any individual or association does with their power. I am not suggesting that engaging in the political system is not of paramount importance, I am stressing that I really do not think we should be waiting for someone else to fix a problem that we actually have quite a bit of control over.
We emit three times more than the world’s average person!
According to the United Nations, if we want to keep Earth’s temperature 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, everyone in the world needs to be at 0-2 tonnes of annual GHG emissions by 2050. In the USA, as you now know, we are at 14.3 tonnes of annual GHS emissions per person. To reach the UN’s goal, each of us needs to focus on subtracting 12-14 tonnes. I actually believe we can do it! For every one of us the journey will be different. Maybe you have your own vegetable garden, enjoy hanging your clothes on the clothesline to dry, drive an electric vehicle, and have solar panels to provide your house with energy. Or maybe you eat meat and dairy, drive a gas-powered vehicle, use single use plastics, and travel by plane several times a year. Every one of these activities adds to our personal emission number and points specifically to where we as individuals can place our efforts.
No one is pointing a finger!
I have a feeling that our individual emission number comes more from a greater mix of activities. I am vegetarian, drive an electric vehicle but do my share of airplane travel. We each need to find our area of focus and one by one make the necessary changes to decrease our GHG annual emission number. Forget about what anyone else is doing and just solely focus on where you can subtract emissions to make your number smaller.
I am open to suggestions, success stories, and struggles. Check out the chart for ideas. I have also included my sources and additional information below.
How close can YOU get to ZERO?
Calculations & Assumptions:
- The average American car drives 14,263 miles per year. To keep my math simple, I used 30 miles per day. So, (30 X 365 days = 10,950 miles instead of the source average of 14,263). I assumed a car that gets 30 miles per gallon. 30 miles per gallon, and 30 miles per day, so that would use 1 gallon of fuel per day. Using one gallon of gas creates about 20 pounds of CO2. I used a converter calculator to find that 20 lbs. of CO2 equals .00907185 metric tons of CO2. That is one gallon per day, so .00907185 per day or 3.3112 metric tons annually.
- Commuting daily vs. working remotely was calculated using the information shown below. I assumed a commute of 20 miles round trip. And this being daily, 5 days per week, X 50 weeks = 5000 miles. 30 miles to the gallon = a usage of (166.6666) 167 gallons of gas. A gallon of gas is .00907185 metric tons of CO2 X 167 gallons = 1.51499895 metric tons annually.
- Eco Driving determination based on the fact that optimal driving techniques can cut emissions on a gasoline-powered car. Hard acceleration and braking waste fuel and lower a car’s mileage per gallon. Eco driving can improve fuel efficiency by up to 33%. So, here is my math. 30 miles per gallon plus an increase of 33% = an additional 9.9 miles to the gallon. Annually, that translates to using only 280 gallons. Instead of 365 (30 miles each day, 30 miles per 1 gallon. 1 gallon per day vs. 39.9 miles to the gallon. With a total annual mileage of 10,950. Divide by 39(rounded from 39.9) = 280.769 gallons needed annually with a savings of roughly 85 gallons. 85 gallons X .00907185 = .77110725 metric tons of CO2 annually. I rounded this up to .78.
- Restaurant Eating versus eating at home is based on the following calculation. A source study showed that restaurant eating was an average of 17 kilos of CO2 emissions per meal. Home cooked meal came in at 8 kilos. The difference of 9 kilos X (1 meal out) 2 times per week X 52 weeks per year. This results in 936 kilos of CO2 saved by eating at home. Kilos converted to metric tons is .936.
- The savings by eating 500 calories less came from the following logic. I used the general guidelines are that men need 2000-3000 calories per day, women need 1600-2400 calories per day. If we ate 500 calories less per day that would be the equivalent of 1905 grams of CO2 less. 1905 grams X 365 days = 695,325 grams less per year. 695.325 less kilos per year = .695 less metric tons per year, rounded to .7.
- Mowing the lawn gas-powered or manual. Both a gas-powered “walk behind” or riding mower consume the same amount of fuel per mow. It is approximately 9/10ths of a gallon of gas for an average lawn. This produces roughly 17.6 pounds of greenhouse gas. With an average of 32 weeks of mowing, which is 563.2 pounds converted to .25546322 metric tons of CO2 annually. Rounded to .3
- Try shortening your showers because – a source study showed that the average shower took 13 minutes. I used 15 minutes to simplify my math. 15 minute showers use 5.67 lbs. of CO2 per shower. Multiply this by 365 days = 2069.55 lbs. per year or .9387 metric tons per year. Cutting your showers to five minutes or less and save 2/3rds or 10 minutes. This equals .6258 metric tons annually for each five minute portion. Or is equal to 689.85 lbs. annually, .3129 metric tons annually. You are saving 10 minutes – so 2 of those.
- Your clothes dryer vs. clothesline. Using an electric tumble dryer for 4 loads per week. And assuming 2.5 kwh per cycle. With the average load being 4.76 kg of dry laundry. This is equal to 220.48. kg of CO2 per year, converted to .22048 metric tons annually.
Woohoo!
If you have actually read this far, Woohoo! I have so much more math that I can share. Please just let me know if you want more. Don’t forget to consider other saving activity ideas. There are so many more! Like:
- becoming more of an ingredient household to save on packaging,
- having a home garden or a CSA membership for your fruits and veggies,
- focusing on recycling,
- collecting rain water for your yard and garden,
- skipping the bath and showering instead,
- buying a smaller house,
- making the decision to have fewer children,
- using eco cleaning supplies
- not using any chemicals or pesticides around your home and property,
- sealing cracks, gaps, and leaks, and adding insulation,
- using only cold water for your laundry,
- shutting down all electronics like your computer and tv when not in use,
- setting your thermostat low and refraining from using space heaters,
- turning off your lights when you leave the room and using LED lightbulbs,
- planting a tree,
- and more! There is so much more!
Focus on your annual GHG #!
There are so many little things that will subtract from your annual GHG emissions. Try some ideas and see what you can do! Feel free to reach out if you need suggestions or have ideas! You get extra credit for reading all the way to the end! Happy subtracting!!!
Sources:
https://ourworldindata.org/
https://www.un.org
www.earthday.org
https://palebluedot.llc/
https://www.trustedchoice.com/
https://madfeed.co/
https://theecoguide.org/
https://www.aquatell.ca/
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