Daily living and production of GHGs
Further to my letters of energy use in our 1,000-square-foot bungalow (March 8) and its greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions (April 24), I herein report the additional GHGs produced by our air and car transport and food consumption.
In 2018 our Honda Civic drove 13,000 kilometres, estimated at 7,000 km in city and 6,000 km on highway. At a consumption rate of 6 L/100 km on highway and 7 L/100 km in city, we burned some 850 litres of gasoline. This process produced 19.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) not including the GHGs of methane and nitrogen gases.
In 2018 we had two flight destinations. One of us flew Calgary/Vancouver return and this seat contributed 0.26 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) which includes other GHGs (Flight Emission Calculator). Our other single flight Calgary/Halifax return, with one stop-over, produced 1.4 tonnes of CO2e. Therefore, for combined car and air travel we produced 21.21 tonnes of GHGs.
Add to this the GHGs produced with home heating and electricity of 6.83 tonnes for 2018 (letter of April 24) gives a total of 28.04 tonnes GHGs produced by two seniors in a small bungalow.
This total does not include the GHGs produced to grow, process, package, transport and retail (refrigeration for last three processes) the food we ate in 2018. We do not know how many tonnes of food we consumed in 2018. For example, eating two to three bananas per week will contribute 14 kilograms and eating two hamburgers a week will contribute 650 kg to the annual GHGs production (Climate Change Food Calculator). Let us use a conservative estimate of eight tonnes of GHGs produced for our food in 2018. So our total GHGs production was 36.00 tonnes in 2018. Well, how much is that really?
Our 2003 Honda Civic four-door weighs 1.6 tonnes. Therefore, the combined weight of 22.5 Hondas represents the total weight of GHGs produced by us in 2018. It is now 2019 and on we go. Some GHGs degrade faster than others GHGs. The residence time for CO2 in the air is 39 years. Methane, another potent GHG, when released only half of it will degrade within seven years. So we are adding daily to an ever-growing pool of GHGs. The thawing of permafrost and its release of GHGs is ongoing as is the steady increase of CO2 measured in the atmosphere. Evidently removal of GHGs by vegetation and oceans cannot keep up with our global additions. Klaus Jericho
Lethbridge