June 12, 2008: Algae

[spudcon]

snip" The United States still has a vast lead in carbon dioxide emissions per person. The average American is responsible for 19.4 tons." snip
!9.4 tons per person per year? per minute, per lifetime? Is that CO2 counting exhalation? And who's been here measuring my CO2 anyway. If I can make 19.4 tons float in the atmosphere, I don't think we have an energy crisis anymore. I think this is just more nonsense, trying to make America look bad because we succeed more than any other system out there, and have been for 200 years.

[Imigo Jones]

Originally Posted by spudcon

snip" The United States still has a vast lead in carbon dioxide emissions per person. The average American is responsible for 19.4 tons." snip
!9.4 tons per person per year? per minute, per lifetime? Is that CO2 counting exhalation? And who's been here measuring my CO2 anyway. If I can make 19.4 tons float in the atmosphere, I don't think we have an energy crisis anymore. I think this is just more nonsense, trying to make America look bad because we succeed more than any other system out there, and have been for 200 years.

Since the thrust of the article was on annual national totals, spudcon, it might be assumed that the per capita figures were annual, too, but that sure seems like a lot. I don't disagree that much of the world likes to do what they can "to make America look bad because we succeed," but let's see what the numbers seem to mean:
19.4 tons/year = 38,800 pounds / 365.25 days = 106.23 pounds/day

Since this is carbon dioxide, not pounds of solid coal equivalent or something, it seems preposterously high. Let's see what the figures would mean if applied to an 80-year lifetime:
19.4 tons / lifetime = 38,800 pounds / 80 years = 485 pounds/year = 1.33 pounds/day

That seems more like it--good catch, spudcon. (I wanted to give you a gold star, but the closest thing in the smiley list is the Vietnamese flag.)



It's be nice if the Times appended a clarification to the online article sometime soon.

I sure wouldn't doubt, though, that relative to the other nations listed, the U.S. per cap average is really, really high, as suggested by the numbers, lifetime or whatever. Much of this production represents an amazing benefit to the whole world, and the rest of the world doesn't seem to say, "I love you," enough. They might be grudgingly thinking it every now and then, like when another pop tart springs out into the world from Disney like Athena from the head of Zeus.



A star is born--from the minds of Imagineers--to benefit an impressed mankind.

Still, it'd be nice to hear those three little words every now and then.

Maybe they do try to tell us, but our "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" chant drowns out their tender, attractively accented whispers. One has to admit, in any case, that a lot of American production and consumption is a colossal, screeching waste of, of, everything. I hate to see a jillion rampantly materialistic Chinese surpassing that as a whole, or start to approach it per capita.

[HungLikeJesus]

That data seems to be tons/person/year.

Here's CO2 emissions data for about 40 countries for 2002, along with GNP per capita.