OK- In part one, I said I hadn’t calculated my flying CO2 footprints for 2007-2008-2009. Now I have… and yikes!
All those 2009 airplane trips to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend to an ill and dying parent add up in CO2 emissions.
So, here are the raw numbers:
2007 Airtravel: 14,581 miles 3755 lbs CO2
2008 Airtravel: 4740 miles 2245 lbs CO2
2009 Airtravel: 14,799 miles 6496 lbs CO2
You’ll notice that the miles traveled in 2007 and 2009 are only 218 miles different, but that the CO2 emitted is roughly half. Why? Because in 2007, nine thousand seven hundred of the 14,485 miles were from a one-shot, round trip to Copenhagen, Denmark as opposed to numerous short-hop trips to the Bay Area to take care of my Dad in 2009. Long-haul jet travel emits less CO2 than short hops, as the bulk of the tailpipe emissions occur at take off and landing.
2008 represents a more typical flying year for me- three or four short hops to the Bay Area and maybe one vacation trip somewhere in the continental US, whereas the 2007 Europe Trip and the 2009 year-of-Dad-dying, with lots of miles and/or many trips (14 air trips in 2009 alone… and folks wonder why I am burnt out)
I can’t change the trips past nor change the fact that my mother is still in the Bay Area. But I can root, root, root for more fuel- efficient planes, the building of high-speed rail (oh, but that we were like Europe and Japan!) I can opt to drive to CA at least once this year , lieu of flying, in my fuel-efficient Honda Civic instead of taking the plane, and lastly, buy carbon off-sets, as I have done, to try and make up the difference.
Some websites I used to make my calculations:
www.terrapass.com
www.treehugger.com
(Like I said, yikes!)
OK-so the whole point of this blog is to force me to not merely talk about reducing my carbon footprint, but to actually *do* it. And I am proud to say that I have cut my driving and household CO2 emissions by nearly half since 2007!
Follows are the details:
Hyper-miling, getting an electric car and walking more are what have caused this significant drop in gallons used.
A solar hot water system, a new, triple-stage Energy Star efficient TRANE furnace, and insulating the basement (!) are what have caused *this* significant drop in natural gas usage! Can you imagine a December gas bill totalling only $11.71? It’s true!
Please note that this chart reflects Jan-Feb-Mar, when the basement project was imcomplete, and the old furnace still roared. With a Dec (and an already similar January 2010) bill so low an amount has me looking forward to next year’s chart like you wouldn’t believe! I can already tell you that in January of 2010, the therm usage at my house was 1.1 therms for the whole month. It was *60.0* therms in January 2oo9!
I am lucky to live in Seattle, WA, where the bulk of our electricty is produced by hydro-power, a clean, mostly CO2-less method. Seattle City Light claims to be the first zero-carbon city utility in the country.
However, they also mention that about 1.3 percent of their energy production *does* come from coal. (The rest is hydro, nuclear, wind and solar). Thus, despite the very low percentage of coal-produced power, the fact there *is* some, tells me that we’re not quite 100% carbon neutral. Close, yes, very close, but not quite.
Even if were were, though, I still track my energy usage, although I have not included what is a small amount of CO2 outpout in my General Outputs Chart. I still do not have a reliable source of mathematical information that tells me exactly how much or not how much CO2 is produced (one formula I have, whose source I have forgotten and thus cannot cite, said that hydropower in fact, does produce a bit of CO2- .008 lbs – tiny amount, yes, but existing.)
Please note that I said “household and driving CO2 emissions” at the beginning of this post for a reason: I regret that my gains in lessening my output were unfortunaltye negated by multiple airline flights this year that were out of my control, as I had to travel back and forth from Seattle to San Francisco to care for an ill and dying parent.
I plan to post the CO2 outputs from those flights in my next post…since I did make them… however, be it known that I *have* purchased a pile of carbon off-sets from Terra Pass to try and make up for the airline CO2, (whether or not I am convinced that carbon off-sets are the right thing to do…)
________________________________________________________
Formula source: “I Wanna Go Green: Show Me The Math!”
http://www.scientificblogging.com/science_mom/i_wanna_go_green_so_show_me_the_math
Just saying “hello” to all those in Deb Goes Green-land.
Not much going on- except for a side sewer replacement at the end of July.
OK-that *was* a big job and not an expected one, on top of all the other remodeling.
And while everyone needs a working sewer, this is not particularly a “green’ thing.
(OK- I take that back!)
Anyway, we can all flush at my house now…
August 13th, 2009 in
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Deb with Washington Governor Christine Gregoire
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 was a proud day for Washington State and a historical day as well: House Bill 1481: Regarding Electric Vehicles was signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire at a signing ceremony held at the Seattle Aquarium.
In attendance were Representative Deborah Eddy, the sponsor of the bill, Representative Reuven Carlyle, Senator Jean Kohl-Wells, Senator Fred Jarrett, SEVA Member Jeff Finn (who brought EV’s to Rep. Eddy’s attention), SEVA President Steven Lough, Plug-In America President Daniel Davids, Jim Johnson, Owner of MC Electric Vehicles, Pamela Burton and Jeremy Smithson, Owners of Puget Sound Solar, and many others from the House Transportation Committee and Senate counterparts.
Oh, yes, and yours truly in the green paisley jacket…do remind me to take off my fanny pack next time for the shot…what a dork…
But I am an excited and happy dork, who is elated that her time spent lobbying for building electric car charging stations and infrastructure across the beautiful state of Washington bore fruit.
(The fanny pack was OFF during the public hearings!)
Hurrah for Washington State! And TRIPLE HURRAHS for all the dedicated legislators, lobbyists, utility companies and professionals who stepped up to the plate to make this happen.
PLUG IN and GO!!!
House Bill 1481 Signing Ceremony
Meet the NEVs: Compact quiet Neighborhood Electric Vehicles are moving in
By Scott McCredie
Special to NWautos/Seattle Times, Sunday, May 9, 2009
You may have spotted one on the road: a micro-sized, slow-moving, nearly silent car, about as tall as a Mini Cooper, but shorter. It’s an NEV — a relatively new class of transportation that stands for Neighborhood Electric Vehicle.
“This is my favorite feature,” says Deb Seymour, a Ballard Web designer who has owned a Zenn NEV for about six months. Its license plate reads: “OHM GIRL.” She flips open a cap on the side of the car to reveal an electrical outlet, to which she plugs in a standard extension cord to recharge the lead-acid batteries. An eight-hour charge, she says, gives the car enough juice for 30 to 40 miles of driving.
NEVs are surprisingly zippy, thanks to the characteristic instant power of electric motors. And because of the car’s small size, you feel like you’re going faster than you are.
Washington state law mandates that NEVs not exceed 35 mph, which is adequate for most in-city driving. The vehicles could easily go faster, says Steven Lough, spokesman for the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association. But because NEVs are not crash-tested and don’t have airbags, state and federal governments require that governors be placed on the motors to limit their output.
“The car weighs 1,200 pounds, so it’s more vulnerable if somebody in a 6,000-pound Escalade runs into you,” says George Robertson, a Beacon Hill architect and Zenn NEV owner. He says the 80 percent reduction in his carbon footprint over using a gasoline-powered car is worth the reduced safety. The 50 cents’ worth of electricity that it costs to recharge his batteries comes mostly from hydroelectric power, a relatively clean source of energy.
When Robertson bought his car last year for about $18,000 (other models can be had for as low as $10,000), he knew it was a good way to conserve energy, but he wasn’t sure how much he would use it day to day. His initial expectation was that maybe a third of his trips could be made with the Zenn. Instead, he was surprised that the car fulfills roughly 90 percent of his and his wife’s driving needs.
Driving an NEV requires a shift in thinking, according to owners. Becky Beemer, of Bainbridge Island, says the 20-mile range and other limitations of her Miles NEV force her to plan out her day a little more carefully. For instance, she says, she has “specific pull-out points on the way to work to let cars pass on the hills.”
Robertson says he has “learned all the back ways, the non-freeway ways, to get to places.”
Scott MacGowan, who owns a landscaping company in Seattle, uses a Miles NEV truck to haul gravel, dirt and plants around the city. He’s impressed with the size of the payload, but says that carrying extra weight reduces the vehicle’s range. Once, running low on electricity, he had to pull over and knock on a stranger’s door to ask for a charge.
Despite the drawbacks, NEVs seem to fill a useful transportation niche in their owners’ lives. They’re ideal for people who want to “go green” on short jaunts around town. “It’s shockingly good at meeting most of our transportation needs,” Robertson says.
Standards for NEVs
- A 1998 federal law stipulated that the gross vehicle weight for NEVS be less than 3,000 pounds. Most are much lighter than that.
- They can’t go faster than 25 or 35 miles per hour, depending on state laws, which means no freeway driving. With these restrictions, NEVs have no requirement for crash testing or airbags. They are, however, equipped with windshield wipers, horns, headlights and tail lights, turn signals and seat belts.
TRANE XC95 Gas Heating Furnace-3 Stage
OK- so, while it might seem as if I am doing nothing but electric cars, electric cars, electric cars…in fact, much other greening activity has been happening in Deb’s World, right here at home:
April 30, 2008:
-Old 88,000 single-stage BTU Natural Gas Furnace (Ran at 100% or 0% meaning “on” or “off”)
-Programmable Thermostat, but only for different times of day
-Un-Insulated Basement
-End-Cap missing from a basement heating duct (Oops! Didn’t know!)
-Average daily temperature: 45 degrees
-Therms used for the month: 31.1
-Average daily use: 1.1 therm
-Gas Bill: $59.11
April 30, 2009:
-New 60,000 BTU TRANE XC95 3 Stage Natural Gas Furnace (runs at 40%, 75 % and 100% as needed)
-New thermostat, programs for different times of day & for different schedules on different days of the week
-Basement walls insulated
-New End Cap
-Average daily temperature: 47 degrees
-Therms used this month: 1.1
-Daily Average use: too low for PSE to bother calculating (0.036 terms, according to my calculator)
-Gas Bill: $12.97 (this mostly covers taxes and fees for PSE as opposed to actual gas)
WHAT THE FRIG’ WAS I THINKING ALL THESE PAST YEARS? Yikes!
[FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES, April 24, 2009 6:25 PM]
Posted by Jennifer Sullivan
A measure that pushes the use of electric cars and the construction of plug-in stations across the state passed the Legislature today and now goes to the governor for final approval.
The bill is considered a crucial element in the state’s interest in transforming Interstate 5, from the Canadian border to Mexico, into a “green freeway.” Here’s an earlier story about the green freeway proposal.
House Bill 1481, sponsored by Kirkland Democratic Rep. Deb Eddy, passed the House 65-29. It passed the Senate earlier. The bill requires state agencies to transition 40 percent of its fleet into running electric or biofuel vehicles by June 1, 2013. By the end of 2015 the state must install electrical charging outlets in its fleet parking and maintenance facilities.
The bill also authorizes local governments to adopt incentive programs to encourage the retrofitting of existing structures with outlets capable of charging electric vehicles. The measure also provides tax incentives for the creation of an electric vehicle infrastructure.
Jeff Doyle, director of public-private partnerships at the Washington State Department of Transportation, has been working with the Oregon and California transportation departments for months in developing the green freeway plan. Under the plan, which is supported by Gov. Chris Gregoire and her counterparts in Oregon and California, motorists would eventually would be able to stop at a number of rest stops to charge, or swap out, their electric-vehicle batteries or fill their tanks with biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen or compressed natural gas.
Read the orignal blog at the Seattle Times Blog
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/politicsnorthwest/2009/04/24/electric_vehicle_plug-in_infra.html
The Electric Ladies Go To Olympia!
THEY’RE STARTING TO WRITE THE TALK IN WASHINGTON STATE!!!
On January 29, 2009, the first public hearing of Proposed House Bill 1481 (legislation as related to to vehicle electrification ) was held in Hearing Room B at the State Capitol in Olympia, WA.
And, of course, Deb was there in the middle of it all, touting the Wonders of Electric Vehicle Driving, and showing off photos of the wonderful Zoe ZENN Car
(www.myspace.com/zoezenncar_debseymour)
Can you say “Z-A-P-P-E-D”?
The proposed legislation will:
1. Provide tax incentives for electric vehicles, batteries, and installation of electric vehicle infrastructure;
2. Promote the use of electric vehicles by fleets operated by the States’ governmental units;
3. Require the installation of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure;
4. Promote education of a workforce capable of maintaining electric vehicles and the infrastructure.
(See *full text* of bill at: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx.)
The Results Of The Hearing?
Firstly:
A *thousand* kudos to fellow Seattle Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA) member Stephen Johnsen, who was asked by the House Tech Committee *only 48 hours prior*, to present a 12-minute PowerPoint presentation on Electric Cars and charging stations. Stephen gave a clear, concise, well-put together and thoughtful show. Stephen also bought along a type of charging station typical of existing Marinas and RV Parks (talk to him for details- I get lost in the tech-speak) but it illustrated to the House Committee that charging stations are already out there.
Kudos also to SEVA member and Plug-In America! board member Dan Davids who co-presented with Stephen, bringing in an example of a current lithium ion battery pack (again- I’m lost with the tech-specs, so you’ll have ask him) to show the House Committee that lithium ion packs are not the cumbersome, explosive devices of days past.
SEVA Legislative Committee organizer Jeff Finn (owner/project manager of the “Volt Runner” ) was ill and unable to attend, the hearing but gave his support via email the night before, helping to massage some legislator-appropriate language into the presentation. He was not only missed by us, but also by representative Deb Eddy, D-Kirkland out loud in front of everyone “Get Well Jeff!”, she said to all from the podium 
Secondly:
Every person or group that testified at the hearing was basically in support of the bill! This included those who have some concerns about particular sections and/or wording, namely lobbyists and representatives from the construction and real estate worlds. But even they all expressed interest in very much wanting to work with the HB 1421 Committee to see the bill actually happen!
Thirdly:
Every House Committee member has now heard me gush greatly over Zoe ZENN car and now has a copy of my Infamous Christmas Card of last month: the one with me in my Santa hat leaning on Zoë ZENN car , swinging the extension cord and saying “Hope You Get A Charge Out Of Your Holidays!” I really got a kick out of testifying as a Regular-Person-Who-Just-Happens-To-Drive-An-NEV-Daily-In-Washington-State!
Lastly:
KIRO-TV was there, taping the whole hearing and wound up following me to a meeting I had also scheduled for the same day with Dave Kois and Gene Seymour (no relation- but he’s still a nice guy! who have an electric car conversion company in Olympia, WA called Powered By DC to do a piece on their company and take a ride in their fabulous Toyota RAV4. Dave and Gene want to change the way the world drives- one conversion at a time, and are targeting the SUV market. Definitely check out their website: www.poweredbydc.com.
Is this all awesome news for EV’s or what? OHM, GIRL!
February 4th, 2009 in
Deb's Electric Car,
Electricity,
Green Energy Legislation,
Miscellaneous | tags:
Electric Vehicles,
House Tech Committee,
Legistation,
Neighborhood Electric Vehicles,
OHMGIRL,
Powered By DC,
Seattle,
SEVA,
Washington State,
ZENN Cars |
1 Comment
"Twisted!"
OK…so, a year ago in January, I changed out a bunch of incandescent light bulbs to CFLs, starting with the lights I use the most. (Makes sense).
I soon found myself bragging that I’d changed over 75 % of my bulbs.Then someone *actually* (can you believe it?) *asked*: “So… just *how* many light fixtures *do* you have, Deb? Did you *really*, actaully count them *all*?” “Of course!”, (says I, full of bravado)…”…not!” 
FAST FORWARD to January 11 2009, (a *year* later…) GOOD GRIEF! I have fifty-five (!) regular light fixtures/lamps in my house! WHODDATHUNKIT? And this doesn’t even count the chandelier and the overheard foyer lamp with the little-round-weirdo bulbs! And *just* how many of these screw-ins had CFL’s prior to today? *Twenty-Nine* , meaning fifty-two percent. (29/55= 52%) Oops! So-as of an hour ago, now *forty-one * light bulbs are changed. 41/55=74%.
“Ah, grasshopper! You move so fast!” YABETCHA! *Now* I can brag that 75 % (oops! OK! 74!) of my lights are changed..and that I’ve presumably off-set 880 pounds of C02 from the atmosphere over the lifetime of each bulb.Of course, this is also presuming that each bulb is on 5 or more hours a day (which most aren’t), and that each CFL is rated *exactly*the same in watt-hours, ampules, blah-de-blah (all that silly techno-babble!), and that *of course* I purchased the *exact* same brand of CFL light bulbs, the *exact* same size, the *exact* same watts, twist-age , etc, …(*”but of course I did!” …*not*
Well, hey: I may not know exactly how much this is going to help, but at least I can say
That THIS year, I’m 12 bulbs ahead ..and there ain’t a-one dim!
