Living a low-carbon life

What are Carbon emissions ?
The greenhouse effect : Energy generated on the earth’s surface (like when you switch on your stove) would normally go out of the atmosphere, into space. However, there are gases in the atmosphere  called greenhouse gases which absorb a part of the energy, then radiate it back to the atmosphere towards the surface of the earth. This causes the temperature on the surface and lower atmosphere to be higher than it would be if the sun were to be the only heating mechanism.

Greenhouse gas :  The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone.

Global warming : Warming of the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect, caused by humans increasing the atmospheric greenhouse gases, mainly Carbon Dioxide ( CO2).

Carbon emission :  Carbon Dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere as a result of an activity. The amount of emission is easy to calculate for some activities like driving a car, using a gas stove, etc., but difficult to determine for others.

See : http://co2now.org/

Carbon footprint : The amount of Carbon Dioxide emitted into the atmosphere as a result of your activities.

See http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbonfootprint.html

Carbon emission for various sources of energy

The CO2 per kWh of electricity varies based on the type of power plant.  It’s the highest for coal-based plants, lowest for hydro and wind.

Example 1 : If you drive a car 20 km. and it gives you 10 km. per litre of petrol, you’ve used 4.66 kg. of CO2 for the 20 km. trip.

Example 2 : If you use 1 kWh (the kWh is commonly called a Unit) of electricity in your house from a coal fired thermal plant, your carbon emission is 0.8 Kg. If you use the the same amount of electricity from solar energy, your carbon emission is 0.05 kg.

Example 3 : When you buy an apple imported from Australia, what is the Carbon emission caused by shipping it across in an aeroplane, plus local  transport, packaging, refrigeration, etc. ? Tough answer, but you’ll find approximations on the web.