Fresh Loaf

There was some confusion last week about a recent Brookings Institution study that calculated the carbon footprints of 100 metropolitan areas in the United States. Mainly, it revolved around the news that metro Atlanta had shown improvement in 2000-2005 and actually lessened its impact on the environment whereas other metropolitan areas did not. This was surprising because the region hasn’t expanded its public transit system, made sweeping advances in energy-efficiency, or seen drastic changes in land-use planning.

After the jump, view the methodology with emphasis added.

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Gather ’round, Atlanta, Marietta, Sandy Springs — according to the Brookings Institution, your carbon footprint is shrinking. Everybody gets a gold star.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has released a study of the carbon footprint from transportation and residential energy uses of 100 metropolitan areas. The three-city survey conducted from 2000 to 2005 in our neck of the woods shows that our impact has decreased 4.75 percent while that of the average metropolitan areas and nation has increased 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent during this time, respectively. In all the rankings, the three cities hovered in the middle.

Hard to believe, eh? I know what you mean. That could be chalked up to the fact that the areas are more-or-less near one another, that a lot of other metro Atlantans travel from as far off as Gwinnett and Hall County to work in the city core, etc. The output surely hasn’t reduced because of public transit. With how sprawling metro Atlanta is, the three cities selected may not be suitable samples.

The study also doesn’t take into account our food supply, which according to a consultant with Mayor Shirley Franklin’s Sustainable Atlanta initiative, makes for up to a quarter of our carbon footprint that’s often overlooked.

What are the solutions? Researchers say:

Federal policy could play a powerful role in helping metropolitan areas—and so the nation—shrink their carbon footprint further. In addition to economy-wide policies to motivate action, five targeted policies are particularly important within metro areas and for the nation as a whole:

• Promote more transportation choices to expand transit and compact development options
• Introduce more energy-efficient freight operations with regional freight planning
• Require home energy cost disclosure when selling and “on-bill” financing to stimulate and scale up energy-efficient retrofitting of residential housing
• Use federal housing policy to create incentives for energy- and location-efficient decisions
• Issue a metropolitan challenge to develop innovative solutions that integrate multiple policy areas

Marilyn Brown of Georgia Tech, considered one of the leading researchers in energy policy, co-authored the study. After the jump, feast upon the numbers. To view the full study, click here.

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Yo! Satan called and wanted to let everyone know that Hell’s getting frigid.

According to the Washington Times, the venerable right-leaning publication owned by a verifiable God, the Bush administration may push the U.S. Congress to pass a bill this week calling for action on global warming. The article says it wouldn’t be toothless resolution either, but a specific proposal aimed at reducing the nation’s contribution to the phenomenon. Better late than never?

So sayeth the paper of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon:

Bush administration officials have told Republicans in Congress that they feel pressure to act now because they fear a coming regulatory nightmare. It would be the first time Mr. Bush has called for statutory authority on the subject.

“This is an attempt to move the administration and the party closer to the center on global warming. With these steps, it is hoped that the debate over this is over, and it is time to do something,” said an administration source close to the White House who is familiar with the planning and who said to expect an announcement this week…”

Still, Republican members of Congress who were briefed last week let top administration officials know that they think the White House is making a mistake, according to congressional sources and others familiar with the discussions. Opponents said Mr. Bush could be setting off runaway legislation, particularly with Democrats in control of Congress.

Rumors vary as to whether it’ll be sector specific — say, forcing utilities to adopt a cap-and-trade system similar to that used in Europe — or a broad sweeping plan. Critics quoted in the article claim that the United States is already at the front of reducing CO2 emissions — something I find hard to believe — and that because of Europe’s system, the nation has been plucking manufacturing jobs because its less-regulative milieu is less harmful to the economy.

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NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy just released a map of U.S. C02 emissions:

Metro Atlanta is chock-full-o-carbon-belching coal power plants, hence its relatively high C02 output compared to other similarly-sized metro areas.

If you look carefully at the map, you might be able to see a black dot over CL’s office. That’s from the C02 cloud created by the approximately three dozen cans of Diet Coke CL staff writer Thomas Wheatley opens at his desk each day.

(tip of my coal miner’s helmet to Wired Science)

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Tons of CO2 emitted in 2007 by Plant Scherer, a coal power plant outside Macon: 27,200,000

Since 2002, number of states with lower increase in CO2 emissions than Georgia: 48

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by replacing three incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs: 300

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by inflating your car tires correctly: 250

Pounds of CO2 emission stopped annually by setting your thermostat two degree cooler in winter and warmer in summer: 2,000

Pounds of CO2 emissions stopped annually by switching from average American diet to a vegetarian diet: 3,000

Minimum number people, businesses and municipalities turning off all lights for one hour on March 29 for Earth Hour: 160,000

U.S. home fires caused by candles between 2000 and 2004: 16,400

Sources: Environmental Integrity Project, National Fire Protection Association, www.earthhour.org, International Herald Tribune, www.stopglobalwarming.org

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While leaders and scientists debate the pros and cons of setting long-term goals to lower carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming continues to rise. According to the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit environmental group, carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants climbed 2.9 percent in 2007, the biggest single-year increase since 1998. The electric power industry’s carbon dioxide emissions have risen 5.9 percent since 2002 and 11.7 percent since 1997, the group says. Carbon dioxide emissions from power generation are predicted by the U.S. Department of Energy to increase 19 percent between now and 2030. The EIP used data from the Environmental Protection Agency to compile its findings.

In Georgia, the report says, CO2 emissions from power plants have risen 20 percent, or by 16.8 million tons, in the last five years, second to Texas. Last year, the Southern Co.-owned Plant Scherer outside Macon emitted 27.2 million tons of CO2 in 2007, up roughly 2 million tons since 2006. The facility is the country’s foulest coal-fired power plant.

From the report, here’s where Georgia ranks:

• The top 10 states that emitted the most CO2 in 2007 (measured in total tons) are: Texas, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and West Virginia.

• The top 10 states with the largest increases in CO2 emissions over the last five years (between 2002 and 2007) are: Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

• The top 10 states with the largest increases over the past ten years between 1997 and 2007) are Texas, Arizona, Georgia, California, Illinois, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

So, what can we do?

The EIP recommends the nation’s oldest coal-fired power plants, some of which were constructed 50 years ago, need to be retired and replaced with cleaner sources of energy, such as wind and solar power. Problem (from my point of view): A 2007 study by Georgia Power and Georgia Tech concluded that wind power could be generated along the state’s coast, but the capital costs associated with the technology are expensive.

Second, the EIP says that we have to start constructing more energy-efficient buildings. Since the study pegs utilities as the biggest contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, if we lessen our demand, we’ll lighten the load on energy the plants have to produce. Problem (again, from my point of view): Energy-efficient homes, while becoming more affordable, are still not affordable to everyone. Especially the segments of the population who face the most severe burden from high energy bills.

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