Carbon Emissions Reduction Plan
Posted by Pixelhead
Just got an email from Co-op America, which “is a not-for-profit membership organization” with a Mission “to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.” The email I recieved was about Co-op America’s 12 Steps to Curbing Climate Change. The twelve steps are listed below.
1. Increase fuel economy for the world’s 2 billion cars from an average of 30 mpg to 60 mpg. (Current US averages are a woeful 22 mpg.)
2. Cut back on driving. Decrease car travel for 2 billion 30-mpg cars from 10,000 to 5,000 miles per year, through increased use of mass transit, telecommuting, and walking and biking.
3. Increase energy efficiency by one-quarter in existing buildings and appliances. Move to zero-emissions plans for new buildings.
4. Decrease tropical deforestation to zero, and double the rate of new tree plantings.
5. Stop soil erosion. Apply “conservation tillage” techniques to cropland at 10 times the current usage. Encourage local, organic agriculture.
6. Increase wind power. Add 3 million 1-megawatt windmills, 75 times the current capacity.
7. Push hard for solar power. Add 3,000 gigawatt-peak solar photovoltaic units, 1,000 times current capacity.
8. Increase efficiency of coal plants from an average of 32 percent efficiency to 60 percent, and shut down plants that don’t meet the standard. No net new coal plants; for new plants built, an equal number should close.
9. Replace 1,400 gigawatts of coal with natural gas, a four-fold increase in natural gas usage over current levels — a short-term step until zero-emissions renewable technologies can replace natural gas.
10. Sequester carbon dioxide at existing coal plants. Sequestration involves storing carbon dioxide underground, an unproven technology that may, nonetheless, be better than nothing.
11. Develop zero-emissions vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles powered by renewable energy.
12. Develop biomass as a short-term replacement for fossil fuel until better carbon-free technologies are developed — but only biofuels made from waste, and made without displacing farmland and rainforests.
These are some pretty good guidelines which would help to reduce carbon emissions, which is one of the leading causes of global warming, which in many peoples opinions, is the number one problem facing modern society.
Written by Pixelhead on January 23rd, 2007 with
11 comments.
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#1. February 2nd, 2007, at 4:49 PM.
I already do as much as I can as an individual. How do I get decision-makers like coal companies and agribusinesses or whatever to take the above steps? Lobby my government? Harrass the companies? Start my own company? What else can the average citizen do?