Jeffrey Langholz - You Can Prevent Global Warming (and Save Money!): 51 Easy Ways

To the members of the next generation,

who must live with the decisions we make today

Contents

Introduction

The Bad News

Its a fact: The Earth is warming. For the first time since the dawn of human civilization, the Earths temperature is rising. Scientists from around the world agree that the burning of fossil fuels contributes significantly to this warming, and they predict that the temperature will continue to rise as long as we keep burning these fuels. Thats because when fossil fuels are burned, they release greenhouse gases, which have a special ability to trap the suns heat inside our atmosphere. The more fossil fuels we burn, the more greenhouse gases there are to trap the suns heatwhich means a warmer planet for us all.

A warmer planet might not sound all that bad to you, especially if youre from North Dakota. The effects of global warming wont stop there, however. A rise in the Earths temperature will cause increasingly severe weather, including more sudden temperature swings, droughts, floods, heat waves, wildfires, and thunderstorms. As a result, our food and water supplies will be threatened and more people will die from events like heat waves and floods. Global warming will also cause the worlds glaciers to melt, making sea levels rise and flooding low-lying areas such as the Mississippi Delta. A warmer Earth will endanger thousands of plant and animal species that cannot migrate to cooler regions. Tropical regions will expand, allowing insects that carry diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and the West Nile virus to spread to places like Florida, Georgia, or even New York. Scientists cannot predict exactly where or to what magnitude the consequences of global warming will occur, but they do know that hints of these effects are already happening.

As far as we know, humans are the most intelligent species ever to have walked planet Earth. However, our wonderful advances in civilizationtransportation, heating, air-conditioning, and electricitycould very well contribute to our demise. The Earths temperature has risen and fallen many times over the last four billion years. For example, many scientists believe that the dinosaurs became extinct after a giant asteroid hit the Earth and dramatically altered its climate. It is not an asteroid that threatens our extinction now, however. This time it is we humansthe inhabitants of Earthwho are altering the planets climate, and we are doing so without fully understanding the consequences.

The Good News

There are easy ways you can prevent global warming and also save over $2,000 a year. Global warming is a colossal problem that is going to require the entire worlds cooperation, but you dont have to feel helpless. Instead, you can help the planet and your wallet by following these 51 tips.

The Goal

We wrote this book for three reasons. First, we wanted to empower concerned citizensto show them easy things they can do locally to help tackle an important global issue. Second, we wanted to put money back in their walletsan average of $2,000 per household. This is especially important during difficult economic times. Finally, we wanted to show that economic growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand. In March 2001, the United States formally withdrew support for the international global warming treaty called the Kyoto Protocol (see Appendix B for more info). An important concern was that trying to reduce our nations greenhouse gas emissions might hurt our economy. This book addresses that concern head on, showing clearly how we can prevent global warming and improve individual households economic outlook. The overall goal is this: If enough people (35 percent of the U.S. population to be exact) follow the suggestions in this book, we can reduce our nations emissions to the level the Kyoto Protocol targeted while improving individuals financial pictures. As governments worldwide continue debating how to deal with global warming, individuals can choose to forge ahead now, helping both the planet and themselves. This book shows the way.

The Finish Line

Reading this book is supposed to be an enlightening experience, not a guilt trip. If you start to feel overwhelmed by all the things were asking you to do, take a break and realize that youve made a difference simply by picking up this book and reading it. Then, flip to the end of the book, where weve put together a suggested order for following the 51 tips. Most of all, enjoy!

Notes on the Text

What We Mean by Energy

We burn the three fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) to provide us with energy: energy to power our cars, heat our homes, and create electricity. All the tips in this book focus on conserving energy, because when you conserve energy (in the form of gasoline, natural gas, or electricity), you reduce the demand for fossil fuels. When we reduce the demand for fossil fuels, less fossil fuel will be burned, and greenhouse gas emissions will decline. So, by telling you how to conserve energy, were telling you how to conserve fossil fuels.

What We Mean by Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

There are 11 main greenhouse gases. In this book, we focus almost solely on carbon dioxide (CO2), although we do mention ways to reduce two other greenhouse gases, methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). We focus mainly on CO2 because it accounts for 52.5 percent of the worlds global warming problemmore than all the other 10 greenhouse gases combined. In terms of global warming, CO2 is measured in pounds or tons (one ton = 2,000 pounds). The following comparisons should help you put pounds of CO2 into perspective:

A barrel of oil thats burned emits 937 pounds of CO 2 .

A typical passenger car emits 12,000 pounds of CO2 a year.

A typical 500-megawatt coal-burning power plant emits three billion pounds of CO a year.

What We Mean by Kilowatt-Hour

Throughout this book we will be talking about various sources of energy, such as natural gas, gasoline, and electricity. Natural gas is measured in therms, and gasoline is measured in gallons. Electricity, however, gets a bit tricky. Youre probably familiar with the term watt . A watt is the measure of how quickly electricity is used at any given moment. For example, a 100-watt lightbulb will use 100 watts of electricity at any given moment. In order to measure how much electricity is used over a period of time , however, you need to add in a measure of time, such as the hour. A watt-hour (Wh) is the measure of how much electricity something (such as a lightbulb) uses in one hour. For example, a 100-watt lightbulb, which uses 100 watts of electricity at any given moment, will use 100 watt-hours of electricity in 1 hour or 200 watt-hours of electricity in 2 hours (or 150 watt-hours in 1.5 hours).

A watt is a very small unit of measure, though. Thats why, in this book, we will be using kilowatts (1 kW = 1,000 watts) and kilowatt-hours (1 kWh = 1,000 watt-hours). Kilowatt-hours are what you see on your electricity bill. To find out how much your utility company charges you per kilowatt-hour, simply divide your monthly bill by the number of kilowatt-hours you used that month. The national average retail price of electricity in 2000 (which is what we used for all this books calculations) was 8.16 cents per kilowatt-hour.