Fresh Loaf

Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, Atlanta’s city government emits every year: 540,000

Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, the city will emit in 2012 if it meets its carbon-reducing goal: 502,200

Percentage of the city’s carbon footprint that comes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: 28

Number of energy-efficient light bulbs that will be distributed to West End homeowners as part of a pilot program: 26,041

Amount, in dollars, the bulbs will save homeowners in energy costs: 2.3 million

Atlanta’s rank, nationwide, among cities with the highest number of energy-efficient buildings: 3

Percentage of Emory University’s transit system powered by recycled cafeteria cooking oil: 50

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of air quality: 42

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of metro street congestion: 45

Source: Sustainable Atlanta inaugural report, SustainLane

Bookmark It

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.

(more…)

Bookmark It

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.

(more…)

Bookmark It

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)

Bookmark It

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

Bookmark It

Taking MARTA not only saves money, it helps keep the air clean. A study released by the American Public Transportation Association shows that taking public transportation has a 10 times greater impact on reducing carbon dioxide in the air. For example, if a member of a household opts to hop on the train rather than sit in gridlock, he or she can reduce that household’s “carbon footprint” by 10 percent. Switch to public transit altogether and you can reduce your daily carbon emissions by more than 4,800 pounds a year. (Calculate your carbon footprint here.)

Atlanta’s largest transit provider in metro Atlanta removes approximately 185,000 vehicles off the city’s roads every day. Last year, MARTA recorded 147 million passenger boardings — a 6.6 percent increase from the previous year. So it doesn’t just take people to Braves games.

One question: What is MARTA’s carbon footprint?

Bookmark It