Do you know your carbon footprint?
For Americans, experts say the average is 17 metric tons a year. Because a ton is 2,000 pounds, that equals to 34,000 pounds. But that includes personal contributions as well as an aggregate of industrial carbon dioxide and methane released from mining, fracking, oil refining, etc.in the United States.
One way to reduce that is to buy an electric car and not support oil and gas. Of course, some electric energy is powered by fossil fuels, so there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
To the naysayers I hear from: Any type of electrification, be it vehicle, water heater, electric range or clothes dryer, will reduce your carbon footprint because electricity is cleaner than gasoline, natural gas, diesel, propane, etc.. And electric power continually gets cleaner, especially in California, which has a mandate to reach 100% carbon-free energy by 2045.
I asked what is Southern California Edison’s rate for renewable energy. Ron Gales of SCE in Rosemead said its base rate is produced with 36% “eligible” renewable energy as categorized by the state. These sources include: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, small hydro-electric, renewable methane (from landfills), ocean wave or thermal and fuel cells using renewable fuels.
About 46% is carbon-free, Gales said, including large hydro-electric dams not “eligible” under the SB100 as renewable but may soon count toward 100% clean electricity.
Putting technicalities aside, driving electric, or taking a bus or train that is all-electric is much cleaner than driving any vehicle burning fossil fuels. Re-charging? We’re close to 50% clean. Soon electricity will be 100% clean — probably well before 2045.
I plugged in some numbers into a website that calculates your carbon footprint called carbonfootprint.c2es.org. My annual footprint came out to 6,951 pounds, 30% lower than the average for people in my area, which is about 10,000 pounds.
One thing I noticed: 4,416 pounds comes from transportation, nearly double the 2,535 pounds from home energy use. Point of fact: Driving our cars is the most polluting thing we do. So skipping your drive and taking the bus, train or your bicycle can put a big dent in your carbon footprint.
Driving my Chevy Volt, which gets 60-plus miles by battery and then has a small gas tank to boost mileage to about 400 between charges, is one way I reduce my carbon footprint and still get out to distant assignments!. In June, I averaged 145 mpg and avoided putting 473 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.
You sometimes hear people say, I can’t make a difference. But that’s not true. Change comes one person, one willful step at a time. What choice do we have? Wait for the earth to heat up another degree or two Celsius? That is dooming our children and grandchildren to a disastrous future.
If you are shopping for a car, buy a plug-in hybrid or a battery electric vehicle (BEV). If you aren’t, then dust off the bicycle, buy a helmet and start riding to work or the Trader Joe’s. Take the train this weekend to Downtown Los Angeles, Chinatown or Little Tokyo to check out a museum, go shopping or enjoy an exotic meal. Leave the car home.
Here are some more tips for reducing your carbon footprint (from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions):
- Replace incandescent bulbs with LEDs or compact fluorescents. (-393 pounds of CO2 a year)
- Unplug wall chargers. Or, use a power strip for all electronics and turn it off when you leave the house or go on vacation. (-470 pounds of CO2)
- Wash clothes in cold water (-247 pounds of CO2)
- Don’t leave air conditioning running when you’re not home. Adjust the thermostat when you leave your house or apartment and when you go to sleep. (-863 pounds of CO2)
- For you outdoorsy types: Plant a tree to shade the south or west side of your home and save AC. (-446 pounds of CO2)
If all 10 million people in Los Angeles County did these things, we, together, could make a difference. Or die saying we tried.
Steve Scauzillo covers public health, environment and transportation for the Southern California News Group. He’s a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @stevscaz or email him at sscauzillo@scng.com.
