Demonstrations of Carbon Dioxide Quantities and Related Issues

Hi Stephan,

We use the analogy of the equivalent number of cars travelling on the road for a year. In Victoria the average car emits 4.33 tonnes of CO2 per year. If an energy saving initiative is undertaken at a given site and reduces CO2 emissions by say 1,000 tCO2/year this is equivalent to permanently removing 1000/4.33 = 231 cars from the road. We find that people easily comprehend this comparison. From statistics for your state you will be able to obtain the number of cars and the amount of fuel they use and so determine their average annual CO2 emissions for use in the manner given above. Another means we have used in TV advertisements is the "black balloon" campaign. It takes about 50gm of CO2 to fill a balloon and so the use of a car at 4.33 tCO2/yr is illustrated by 86600 black balloons floating into the atmosphere. See our web site below for more details.

Regards
John

John Osborne 
Renewables,
Sustainability Victoria
T: 03 8626 8783
F: 03 9663 1007
Level 28, Urban Workshop,
50 Lonsdale Street,
Melbourne 3000
www.sustainability.vic.gov.au

How do you know how much CO2 the average car in Victoria emits? I've been looking for estimates such as this. We have a community inventory under development but I'd like to find some general references like this to use until the inventory is ready.

Thanks,
Terri

I've been thinking about visual demonstrations of Carbon Dioxide production too. I haven't done this, but here's what I think might work. You can create this demo for under US$100.

Materials

1) Heavy gloves for handling the dry ice.
2) A 1 pound chunk of "dry ice" (solid CO2). The density of dry ice is 29 pounds/Cubic foot
3) 35 collapsible cardboard Storage Boxes. In the US these are 12" x 10" x 15", or just over 1 cubic foot in size
4) 28 pounds of bricks
5) A small pan of water
6) 1 can black spray paint

Preparation

1) Spray one long side and both short sides of the boxes black. Do the same to the top and sides of 7 of the lids.
2) Put the bricks into one of the boxes. This box should be painted black on all 5 sides.
3) Put the pan of water on top of the bricks

Demonstration

1) Stack the empty boxes into a "wall" that is 7 boxes long and 5 boxes high. The long side of each box (painted black) faces the audience. The box with the bricks is reserved, leaving a gap on the top row.
2) Wearing gloves, show the dry ice to the audience, and explain that it is CO2 {insert short lecture here about carbon dioxide production}
3) Toss the dry ice into the pan of water (remember, it's in the box with the bricks), and put a black-painted lid on the box. The gas will turn to vapor, appearing as "smoke" coming out of the handholds of the box.
4) Ask an audience member to (or all audience members) to lift the box to see how heavy it is. It weighs 29 pounds, just as if it were full of dry ice, even though most of the weight comes from the bricks.
5) Have someone put the box into the gap in the wall.
6) Point out that if each box were full of carbon dioxide pollution in solid form, each box would weigh 29 pounds and all 35 boxes would weigh just over 1000 pounds (half a ton).
7) Explain how long it takes the average American/Australian/Canadian etc. to generate 1000 pounds of CO2 pollution.
8) Talk about the steps people can take to cut their CO2 production. If anyone actually tries this, please let us know how it works and how itcan be improved. In particular, if anyone knows how to make the CO2 vapor appear dark gray or black instead of white, that a big improvement from my perspective.

Best Regards,
Bruce Karney

[email protected]
+1 650 450-0332 (mobile)
+1 650 964-3567 (home office)
+1 650 903-0954 (fax)
833 Bush St.,
Mountain View, CA 94041 USA

Hi Stephen,

You could check out the State Government of Victoria's "You Have the Power - Save Energy" campaign http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1525-you-have-the-power-save-energy.asp?intSiteID=4, which uses black balloons as a visual prop that represents emissions. Anecdotally, it seems to have been quite successful in communicating the link between energy use and emissions, and in enabling people to understand the concept of emissions a little more easily.

Regards,
Anna Strempel

Household Program Coordinator
Moreland Energy Foundation Ltd
PO Box 276 Brunswick VIC 3056
Ph: (03) 9381 1722
Fax: (03) 9381 1733
www.mefl.com.au

The CO2 from gasoline is 19.5 lbs/gallon. Combusted diesel fuel is 22.38 lbs/gallon. The average CO2 in your area would be a function of the average mpg of cars there. Your Department of Environmental Protction or similar agency might have that info.

Hope this helps.
George F. Hoguet

Director,
Mid-Atlantic Operations
NativeEnergy, LLC
P.O. Box 1463 Media, PA 19063
(610)566-1332
www.nativeenergy.com

Has anyone compared the carbon content of a ton of coal to the acres of new forest land that would have to be created and maintained in place to absorb and sequester as biomass the CO2 from that ton of coal, newly introduced to the biosphere? This would be a way to visualize what it would take to stabilize CO2 through expanding the earth's biomass while continuing to burn fossil fuels. A quick web search indicates that the northern temperate and boreal forests hold an average of around 16-25 tons of carbon per acre in total biomass, and that in recent years (as atmospheric CO2 has been growing rapidly) that average biomass density has been increasing by about 1/5 ton (400 lb) per acre per year. So, with a carbon content of about 50% - 80%, it seems we can conservatively estimate that burning 100 typical tons of coal releases 50 tons or more of C to the atmosphere * equivalent to the total biomass of about 2 acres of forest land. How many tons of coal are burned per day world-wide, and roughly how many acres of new forest land would have to be created per day (and maintained indefinitely) to sequester the carbon from that coal as biomass?

Bill Carter
[email protected]

Hi Terri,

To estimate how much CO2 the average car emits we got the total number of registered cars from the Victorian vehicle registration office and from the Bureau of Statistics we obtained estimates of the total amount of petrol (gasoline) sold in the state and calculated the fuel use per car in litres per year. The CO2 emission for petrol sold in Australia is 2.8 tCO2/kL. The average fuel consumption was about 1547 L/yr, so 1.547 kL x 2.8 tCO2/kL = 4.33 tCO2/yr per car.

Regards
John Osborne

Bill asked, "How many tons of coal are burned per day world-wide, and roughly how many acres of new forest land would have to be created per day (and maintained indefinitely) to sequester the carbon from that coal as biomass?" From the EIA website the world coal consumption is is 6098 million short tons (close to metric tonnes). Based on your numbers, that's 3049 Million tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of 122 million acres or 191000 square miles (an area 436 miles x 436 miles). That's 334246 acres, 522 square miles (an area 23 miles x 23 miles) per day!! The other way is to find out how much electricity is used (sometimes easier to obtain), make an estimate about the percentage generated by coal and work from typical CO2 generation figures (1 to 1.4 kg CO2 per kWh which translates to 0.27 - 0.38kg Carbon per kWh). If you want a very rough global figure simply multiply the kWh by 0.3 to account for the different fuel mixes to get the total Carbon in kg and then translate that into acres or hectares. For instance Australia uses 220TWh which translates to 66Mtonnes of carbon, equivalent to 2.64 million acres or 4125 square miles per year. That's almost 6000 acres (more than 11 square miles) per day!

Cheers
MOC

For those doing (or desiring to do) environmental educating where it concerns the calculation and visualization of air pollutants the below might help you get started or come up with ideas.

1) First, calculate the volume of your favorite air pollutant. Use the following equation: _454 grams_ x _1 mole_ x _22.4 liters_ = liters of gas / pound 1 pound "X" grams 1 mole In explanation, approximately 454 grams constitute a pound. You'll then need to multiply that ratio by the ratio of the number of grams of your favorite air pollutant in a mole.  To get this number use values from the Periodic Table of Elements (click on element to get additional info). If our favorite pollutant happens to be CO_2, a compound comprised of 1 atom of carbon and 2 atoms of oxygen, then "X" will be 44 (12 (atomic weight of an atom of carbon or 12 grams per mole) + 32 (atomic weight of 2 atoms of oxygen or 2 x 16 grams per mole). All gases have the same molar volume of 22.4 liters (at standard atmospheric pressure). Multiply the ratio by the product of previous multiplication exercise and you will have converted the pound of your favorite gas into an equivalent number of liters.

2) Second, calculate the number of containers (I'll use 2-liter bottles) you need to contain the volume for the display. Use the following equation: _volume of 1 pound of your pollutant _ = total # of 2 - liter bottles 2 liters If the pollutant is CO_2 (231 liters per pound using the formula in Step 1), divide 231 by 2 liters. The result is 115.5 two-liter bottles! Combustion of a gallon of gasoline results in 20 pounds of CO_2 , perhaps visualized by* *a whopping 2311 two-liter bottles (the volumetric equivalent of 20 pounds of CO_2 .

Stephan

Hello, Stephan,

"Combustion of a gallon of gasoline results in 20 pounds of CO2, perhaps visualized by a whopping 2311 two-liter bottles (the volumetric equivalent of 20 pounds of CO2. " I would love to use this great visual in my talks and classes, but you've used a mixture of metric and imperial units which will confuse the folks I talk to because New Zealand is totally metric. I lived in the US for 40 years so I'm familiar with US gallons, and 2 liter bottles, but should I presume you're using imperial gallons? Two-liter bottles are very common here, so that's a valuable reference, but I don't want the effect of the visual to be lost in a cloud of mental calculations (or not) in my audience. Sigh.

Thanks for your help.
Sandra D. Eckert

Recycling Promotion Officer
Environua Trust
Levin New Zealand
[email protected]

Sandra,

Combustion of 1 litre of petrol results in the generation of 2.3 kg of CO2. Using Stephen's method we get (2300g / 44) x 22.4 = 1171 Litres or 585 two-litre bottles You can compare other fuels such as LPG (1.5kg/L) or diesel (2.7kg/L) but remember to take into account fuel economy as well when talking about transport.

Cheers
MOC