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Dear friends, I am currently writing a public education book on climate change and am looking for a calculation which can help people to think in a different way about climate change. The question is this- when we release a ton of carbon dioxide, how much additional energy will that hold in the atmosphere in watts. My thinking is this- I would like to find a way for people to think of their emissions as direct heat. For example, if we can say: the overall warming produced by your car emissions in one year is like a one kilowatt bar fire pumping heat into the atmosphere forever. And the next year you set off another one, and just think how many you are setting off. My logic on this is that people feel a strong sense of the psychology of heat when it is related to small personal heaters. However wasteful people are, they are still attuned to the idea of leaving fires on as waste. And I like the idea that people realise that with climate change you can't turn anything off. Whenever you burn fossil fuel energy you add energy to the entire globe forever. So what I am looking for is a single ratio. 1 tonne carbon/co2/equivalent = x watts Can anyone provide it? Best to reply directly to me rather than the list. but I will share the results and thinking with the whole list. Thanks very much George -- George Marshall, Executive Director, Climate Outreach Information Network, 16B Cherwell St., Oxford OX4 1BG UK Office Tel. 01865 727 911 Mobile 0795 150 4549 (I will call you back to save you the high charge of calling mobiles) E-mail: [log in to unmask] Website: http://www.COINet.org.uk The Climate Outreach Information Network is a charitable trust with the objective of 'advancing the education of the public in the subject of climate change and its impact on local, national, and global environments'. Charity registration number 1102225 Please join our discussion-free announcements lists by sending a blank e-mail to: NATIONAL EVENTS- [log in to unmask] OXFORD EVENTS - [log in to unmask] COIN NEWS- [log in to unmask]