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
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