Vermont Environmental Consortium

And

BRATTLEBORO REFORMER

October 2, 2007
Statistics Portray a Country, a World, in Transition
by
Daniel Hecht

The following numbers arrived at my desk from diverse sources during the last few weeks, providing some chewy food for thought. To save space, I am not citing all the sources, but will gladly do so on request.

20% more: Carbon emissions the U.S. has told the U.N. it will emit in 2020, relative to 2000
400,000: Large wind turbines the world must build in the next 10 years to attain 1 billion metric tons of carbon reduction by 2057 (one of the 15 Pacala-Socolow stabilization wedges)
1.3 or .85 to 1: Net energy gain of corn-derived ethanol relative to the amount of energy required to make it, depending on research data source
2.5 to 1: Net energy gain of biodiesel relative to the amount of energy required to produce it
Between 2 and 36 to 1: Net energy gain of cellulosic ethanol relative to the energy required to produce it, depending on feedstock and production method
60 versus 5,000: Number of gallons of biodiesel produced from one acre of soybeans compared with one acre devoted to algae production (estimated)
13.7%: Growth rate of the number of jobs created in environmental industries in Canada, 2000 – 2004, compared with 8.4% in the rest of the economy
$250 million: funding committed to renewable energy development in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s leading oil producers
150: Wild mountain gorillas alive in Congo today, up 17% since 1989 thanks to ranger patrols controlling poaching
25,000: Elephants alive in Kenya today, up from 16,000 in 1989 thanks to economic opportunity initiatives and ranger patrols that limit poaching
150: Rangers killed in active service to protect elephants since 1989
16,000: Species at risk of extinction among the 40,000 monitored by the World Conservation Union
12: Square miles of storm-buffering wetlands in Louisiana lost yearly due primarily to sedimentation caused by levees and dredging to create new channels
500 more: Number of calories that the U.S. food supply system provides for each citizen each day, up 24% from the 1970s
10% more: Average American adult’s weight in 2003 compared with the 1980s
22 inches: Standard width of movie seats in America today, up from the 19 inches standard for the first 90 years of cinema
26 inches: Standard casket width in 2006, up from 22 inches in the 1970s
500 pounds: Gain in weight of the average motor vehicle made in the U.S. between 1996 and 2006
20%: Percentage of new homes in the U.S. built with three-car garages, up from 10% in 1991
893 square feet: Area per family member in the average house built in the U.S. in 2003, up from 290 in 1950, an increase of 308%
4.5: Pounds of solid waste produced daily by the average American, a 150% increase since 1960
54 cubic miles: Volume of polar ice lost in Greenland in 2005, up from 22 cubic miles in 1996
10%: Amount of electrical energy converted to light in a standard incandescent bulb (90% is converted to heat)
85%: Percentage of the two billion light bulbs sold in the U.S. each year that are incandescent bulbs
$30: Savings an average consumer can expect from each compact fluorescent (CFL) installed, over the lifetime of the bulb
800,000: Equivalent environmental impact, in number of cars removed from the road, if every household in the U.S. installed just one CFL
100 million: Annual sales of CFLs, established as a goal by Wal-Mart, up from 40 million
151: Number of conventional coal plants now at various stages of development in the U.S.
10: Days’ worth of carbon dioxide emissions from one medium-size coal plant that would be offset if Home Depot achieves its goal of planting 300,000 trees
4: Number of coal plants whose carbon dioxide emissions would be offset if the national Campus Climate Challenge achieves its goal of having every college campus in the U.S. attain zero emissions
13: The number of coal plants whose GHG emissions would be offset if the 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative achieves its goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2014
540: The number of households one utility-scale wind turbine can provide power for, while also avoiding GHG emissions equivalent to 4,800 cars
$37.1 million: The amount of money saved by Efficiency Vermont’s 2005 investment of $15.7 in energy efficiency improvements
7: Years elapsed between President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech proclaiming America’s goal of sending a manned space flight to the lunar surface and the 1969 landing of Apollo 11 on the moon

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Daniel Hecht is a novelist and executive director of Vermont Environmental Consortium. For more information on any Green Grapevine topic, contact vec@norwich.edu.

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