Tag Archives: greenhouse gases

Gas Prices By State

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One relevant topic to sustainability is the carbon emissions from vehicles into our atmosphere. Recently there has been a United States increase in prices of gas and this can be beneficial for our future. Electric cars are becoming more practical with the ridiculously high gas prices. In the graph below, there are ten different states in the U.S. and their current price per gallon. As we can see, the different states have different prices which can be confusing to people wondering why it isn’t unanimous throughout all states. The data was collected from triple A where they collect data on gas prices daily. As we can see from the graph, California has the highest price per gallon and Texas has the lowest price per gallon. It would be interesting to find a correlation between the gas prices per state and the reason as to why they are all close, but different.

 

https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/

CO2 Emissions by Country

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Of course we know now that emissions of carbon dioxide are incredibly harmful to our earth and the ozone. As one of the most prominent and dangerous green house gasses, limiting carbon dioxide emissions is crucial to saving our planet before it heats up to a point of no return. The graph that I am going to conduct is relatively simple but it will be stats on some of the largest and most industrialized countries in the world and the numbers that relate to their C02 emissions.

 

 

These ten countries make up nearly 70% of the worlds CO2 emissions and of these 10 countries, China make sup 43.6% of the emissions. These countries are all very industrialized and have shown large jumps in population growth. If that growth continues, some policies have to implemented to lower these emissions!

The Dangers of Commuting to Work

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Commuting to work is something that many Americans dread. Depending on the person’s location or job, their commute can be very long or it can be full of rush hour traffic to and from the office. Commuting is not just frustrating, it is also very detrimental to our environment. The average one way commute to work in the United States in 2019 was 28 minutes one way, making a round trip to work a 56 minute hour total commute. This is almost an hour of commuting daily. Almost 3% of Americans walked to work in 2019 and less than 1% rode bikes to work in 2019.  This means that the majority of Americans use vehicles to get to work. Cars release emissions that put fossil fuels into the atmosphere, which is harmful to the planet. Cars and trucks account for nearly one fifth of all US emissions, emitting around 24 pounds of carbon dioxide (and other harmful greenhouse gases) per gallon of gas. There are easy ways to decrease our carbon footprint and negative impact on the environment including carpooling, walking to work or biking to work. Additionally, electronic cars are an excellent way to still commute far distances but at much less of an environmentally damaging cost. Electric cars are an excellent, safe alternative to cars that use gas. There are so many easy ways to reduce our carbon footprint and we can start with altering how we commute daily.

citations: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/car-emissions-global-warming#:~:text=Our%20personal%20vehicles%20are%20a,for%20every%20gallon%20of%20gas.

https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis/resources/earth-day-ff.pdf

Carbon Emissions

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The United States emitted a grand total of 5,222 million metric tonnes of CO2 in 2020, which was an 11% decrease following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this downward trend would prove to be only temporary. However, in comparison to 2005 CO2 emission levels, there was a 21% decrease, which I found to be interesting. In 2020 alone, carbon dioxide accounted for  ~79% of GHG emissions, while nitrous oxide, methane, and various fluorinated gases made up the other 21%. 27% of these emissions were caused by transportation alone, electricity contributed to 1/4 of these emissions, and the rest were sectioned off into industry, commercial usage, and, unsurprisingly, agricultural energy consumption. Ten years prior, the overall emission measurement (circa 2010) fell around 5,594 million metric tonnes, which while not a huge difference, really puts things in perspective. If we could somehow figure out a balance between all the above aspects of everyday life, and managed to cut back on energy consumption in a realistic yet sustainable way, it would be for the better.

 

 

 

 

sources:

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks

https://www.statista.com/statistics/183943/us-carbon-dioxide-emissions-from-1999/

Greenhouse Gases and our Sustainability Efforts

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Greenhouse gases contribute to many dangers in sustainability efforts and these greenhouse gases have been closely monitored by the EPA, with the government organization monitoring the rises and sinks of greenhouse gas emissions and the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.  I believe that sustainability efforts should first and foremost look to reduce the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions that we are placing into the world.  The US emissions totaled 5,222 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents in 2020.  This is an 11% decrease from 2019 with the total change from 2019 to 2020 decreasing from 5796.42 million metric tons to 5222 metric tons.  This resulted in a 574.42 million metric ton decrease in CO2 emissions.  This was largely due to the pandemic  as well as the continued search for more renewable and sustainable forms of energy.

One interesting topic I found regarding sustainability GHG emissions, especially CO2 emissions is electric cars.  While electric cars are better for the environment, the deciding factor on the sustainability is how much is required to produce these electric cars.  An all electric Chevrolet Bolt produces 189 grams of CO2 for every mile, as opposed to a gas fueled Toyota which produces 385 grams of CO2 per mile.  However the challenge comes in the production of electric cars and the energy grid.  It is important to understand that just because a car is electric might not mean it is as sustainable as it seems.  This issue concerning electric cars relates back to my main point earlier about greenhouse gas emissions.  We as people need to look to find the best possible solutions to decrease the harm we are doing to our planet.

 

Works Cited:

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#colorbox-hidden

https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/electric-vehicle-myths

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/climate/electric-vehicles-environment.html

 

 

How humans most contribute to carbon dioxide emissions

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Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas and since the industrial revolution, has been rising in levels in our atmosphere contributing to global warming and climate change.  According to the EPA, as of 2019, carbon dioxide accounts for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions that stem from human activities.  Knowing this, it means that, to reduce these emissions and mitigate global warming, we must be conscious of which activities we do that contribute to carbon dioxide emissions in our atmosphere the most.  Combustion of fossil fuels is by far the human activity most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions; from transportation to energy use, fossil fuels are used often by human beings and are therefore responsible for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions.  Transportation, in 2019, was responsible for 35% of carbon dioxide emissions; as fossil fuels such as diesel and gasoline are combusted to act as fuel for transportation, they contributed the most to carbon dioxide emissions.  From cars to planes to trains, most forms of transportation rely on the combustion of fossil fuels and are the greatest way in which humans contribute to carbon dioxide emissions.  The second and third most important ways in which humans contribute to the aforementioned emissions are through electricity, which is responsible for 31% of emissions, followed by industry at 16%, both also due to the use of fossil fuels for energy.   By adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere through these processes, humans have contributed to an increase in the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.  While this is an issue as it is a main contributor of climate change, to help address this issue, we first need to become aware of what human processes have contributed the most to the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere so we can figure out solutions and alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels.  From this data, we can see that focusing on energy efficiency will be the best solution in regards to mitigating our contributions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

 

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#carbon-dioxide

Fossil Fuels and Human Health

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We talk a lot about fossil fuels, greenhouse gases, and how the impacts they have on the environment. Something that is not often talked about, however, is the impact of fossil fuels on human health. According to an article published by the NYU School of Law, the burning of fossil fuels and the inhalation of the subsequently polluted air contribute to several health conditions, including, but not limited to: asthma, cardiovascular disease, and preterm birth. What’s more, the article states that “if fossil fuels were completely eliminated, the global average life expectancy would increase by 1.1 years”. The article then goes on to describe the effects of burning fossil fuels, and different variations of pollutants. The thing that interested me most about this article was the mention of a study done in Southern California, where diminished levels of particulate matter (mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets) and nitrogen dioxide over a 21 year period lead to 20% fewer cases of childhood diagnoses of asthma. This is just one of many examples of how fossil fuels and greenhouse gases effect both the environment, the world around us, and humanity as a species.

Sources Cited:

https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/state-impact/projects-reports/projects/climate-and-health/health-effects-of-burning-fossil-fuels