09 December 2007

It's Not Easy Going Green

What does "Green" mean?

There are lots of things people have tried or recommended to be more "green". Here is a short list with my comments.

ActionClimate Impact
Walk instead of driveSignificant
Use shared transport instead of driving alone
Significant
Buy a hybrid vehicle
Depends on what mileage it gets and how much you drive (and maybe on what you do with your old vehicle)
Recycle
Negligible? Has anyone done the math on this?
Use recycled products
Depends. Some recycled products could be as energy-intensive as virgin-raw-material products.
Install some CFLs
Helpful but not huge.
Live in California or somewhere where electricity rates have been decoupled
Significant--Californians use significantly less electricity per capita.
Buy carbon offsets
Dubious. Much debate. Impact probably minor. (Anybody have a way to evaluate this?)
Buy locally produced agricultural products
Depends. Distance is a poor measure of emissions per pound in transport. Also need to evaluate energy intensity of production. Roses grown in New York are much more energy intensive than those grown in Colombia, even counting transport (I think).
Use more ethanol (by buying a flex-fuel vehicle and fueling it with E85)
1. Depends on the mileage and use of the vehicle. E85 is still 15% gasoline.
2. Depends on where you are. Ethanol produced from maize in North America probably doesn't reduce greenhouse gas emissions much compared to gasoline. In Brazil using cane ethanol the benefit is clear.
Become a vegetarian
I don't know. Anyone done the math on this one?
Move to Manhattan
Significant. New York City is the most energy efficient city in North America, by some measures.





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2 comments:

Benny said...

What does it mean for energy rates to be "unbundled" in California?

David said...

My mistake. I should have said "uncoupled". More here.