From
YES Magazine
Spring
2008: Climate Solutions
How
to Get Carbon-Free in 10 Years
by
Brooke Jarvis and Doug Pibel
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2287
Beyond
Lightbulbs: The Jones Family Goes Carbon Free. YES!
Meet
the Joneses. They're an average American family—Mom,
Dad, one kid—who decide to be part of the climate solution. The Joneses
are just made-up, but this scenario shows that an average family can
get
carbon-free in 10 years, without turning their lives upside-down. A
decade from
now, maybe the Joneses new way of life will be the new American average.
Introduction
The
Joneses are your average U.S. energy consumers. They haven't
yet upgraded to energy-efficient appliances, their house needs better
insulation, and they keep the place as cool in the summer and warm in
the
winter as most Americans do. The two adults commute 30 miles each per
day, in
separate cars with average fuel efficiency, and every year they each
drive an
additional 4,500 miles running errands and taking their child to soccer
games
and violin practice. The family takes one vacation trip per year,
flying to
visit grandparents 1,350 miles away. How much CO2 do their house and
cars
produce? We figure it at 60,000 pounds, or 10 tons for each family
member.
Lately,
though, the Joneses have been reading about climate
change, and theyÕre getting worried. Ecological crisis has never
felt so urgent
before. Even little Joey Jones is talking greenhouse gases—he learned
at
school that scientists are predicting a worldwide climate catastrophe
that will
change the rest of his life, unless we stop the worst effects by making
big
changes in the next ten years. The Joneses decide: change is necessary,
and
they're ready to do their part. But how much can they really do? A lot,
it
turns out.
In 10 years, without sacrificing their way of life, the Jones family eliminates the CO2 emissions that their home and transportation used to create—the bulk of their carbon footprint.
Count Your Carbon
Want
to keep up with the Joneses? Here are the numbers we used.
Use them to find—then shrink—your own carbon footprint.
JonesÕ
Carbon Calculator
Gallon
of gas 19.36
Gallon
of fuel oil or diesel 22.38
Kilowatt
hour of electricity 1.43
(national
average)
Therm
of natural gas 11.71
Gallon
of propane 12.67
Per
passenger:
Airplane
mile 1.28
Train
mile 0.42
Long-distance
bus mile 0.18
Local
mass transit mile 0.50
Electric
bike mile 0.02
YEAR
1
The
family starts off with easy changes: They wash clothes in cold
water and air dry them in the summer, replace incandescent bulbs with
compact
fluorescents (CFLs), turn off their computer when not in use. That's an
instant, virtually free savings of 6,200 pounds of CO2. They make one
simple
transportation change: One of the adults commutes by bus three days a
week—enough to see whether it can be done, but keeping the second car
just in case. That's worth another 2,200 pounds. They're down to 51,600
pounds
and it hasn't cost them anything but the price of the CFLs and a
clothesline.
They're actually saving money.
60,000
lbs
-8,400
51,600
lbs
YEAR
2 Home
Improvement
The
Jonses make home improvements to stop donating so much heat to the
outdoors: attic and basement
insulation, sealing and insulating heat ducts, and patching the large
air leaks
typical of standard construction saves them a whopping 7,100 pounds.
These
savings aren't free up front, but the savings in heating and cooling
bills will
repay the cost over time. Besides, Mrs. Jones is handy with home
repair, and
does a lot of this work herself. Down to 44,500 per year.
51,600
lbs
-7,200
44,500
lbs
Year
3 House and
Car
The
bus commute's gone well, so Mr. Jones now buses to work all
the time. They've worked on consolidating trips outside work, and find
they can
do without the second car altogether. That's 5,900 pounds gone. They
finish
weatherproofing their house: beefing up wall insulation, weatherizing
doors and
windows, and upgrading to high performance windows. Another 1,800
pounds
disappear. They're at 36,800.
44,500
lbs
-7,700
36,800
lbs
YEAR
4 Shed Carbon
on Vacation
Instead
of flying for their annual vacation, the Joneses take the
train: a leisurely way to save 7,200 pounds every year. (If they took
the bus,
they'd save even more.) They're at 29,600 pounds per year—halfway there
a
year early.
36,800
lbs
-7,200
29,600
lbs
Year
5 Car upgrade
Time
to replace the car. Thanks to consumer demand, electric cars
have become widely available, and they buy one. Even charging on dirty
power,
they save 9,000 pounds. Household total is now 20,600.
29,600
lbs
-9,000
20,600
lbs
Year
6 Hot and
Cold
They
improve their water system, including insulating their hot
water heater and their pipes, and also lower the temperature of their
water
heater: 1,000 pounds down. When the old refrigerator kicks the bucket,
the
Joneses buy a new energy-efficient one and finally unplug a second
fridge in
the garage, knocking off another 1,300. Total remaining: 18,300.
20,600
lbs
-2.300
18,300
lbs
Year
7 Close to
Home
Grandma
and Grandpa retire and move nearby. The Joneses now
vacation within the range of their electric car, saving 3,300 pounds of
CO2
each year. The city converts its bus fleet to clean electricity, which
saves
another 1,200 pounds. They're down to 13,800.
18,300
lbs
-4,500
13,800
lbs
Year
8 A Few More
Things Around the House
An
efficient clothes washer saves carbon on its own, and saves
dryer time. With all the money they're saving, they decide it's time to
invest
in a solar hot water system. Total: 2,000. Leaving 11,800.
13,800
lbs
-2,000
11,800
lbs
Year
9 Electric
Bikes
While
the Joneses have been on this journey, their town has
responded to citizen pressure and gone bike friendly. The new bike
paths make
it easy for both to ride to work. To ease the hills, they buy electric
bikes.
There are four months of the year when they can't bike, so they
continue their
usual commute patterns then. Savings: 3,500.
11.800
lbs
-3,500
8,300 lbs
Year
10 Green
Power
The
Joneses' furnace has been groaning and working overtime. They
replace it with an electric heat pump, which also cools the house in
summer.
They also buy certified green, renewable power from their electric
company, and
the switch from coal plants eliminates the remaining 8,300 pounds of
CO2
produced by the electricity for their house and car.
8,300 lbs
-8,300
0
The
Rest of the Story
The
Joneses only changed their housing and transport habits. How
can you go further?
Eat
meatless.
Skip
meat regularly once a week or more: for
every day of the week you skip meat, you'll save 215
lbs. per year.
Buy
local.
Most
food eaten in the U.S. has traveled 1,500 miles to your
plate.
Be
a low-impact consumer.
Choose
local products, reduce the stuff you buy, and save embedded
energy by buying used.
Reduce
waste.
Stop
junk mail, reduce packaging, and reduce the 2,020 lbs. each
American's waste produces annually.
Avoid
the McMansion.
A
smaller house saves a lot of carbon: on average, 11.4 lbs. of
CO2 per square foot per year.
A
Big Difference from Small Changes
Brooke
Jarvis & Doug Pibel wrote this article as part of Stop
Global Warming Cold, the Spring 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Brooke is
editorial assistant and Doug is managing editor of YES! Magazine.
Reprints/Reposts
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