180kg CO2 – equivalent to the amount emitted in a 45-mile car journey
1,444 kg – close to the impact of one person taking a return flight to New York

The Building Research Establishment Trust study took data from sites across Manchester, Lerwick and Portsmouth and analysed the likely performance of three models of turbine. In Manchester two-thirds of the 96 different options studied for siting turbines produced a carbon dioxide impact that could never be paid back. Building, installing and maintaining the units would, on balance, exacerbate global warming. The same was true in a third of cases in the coastal city of Portsmouth. 

The likely output of a micro-wind turbine on a pitched roof house in a large city such as Manchester would be less than 150kWh a year; 2% of the energy consumption of an average house.

You’re not likely to be able to find the CO2 emissions involved in the manufacture of a micro-wind turbine if you are considering buying one to try and help the environment, but here are some calculations to consider because you might end up hurting the environment. Remember, though, this is about CO2 emissions, not financial investment. Most people buying a micro-wind turbine would buy it for the latter reason, but hopefully, many are also buying it for the former.

Note 1 kg CO2 = 1.42 kWh, from Stat 0110 (with math conversion to kg CO2 rather than kWh bases).

If you have a very small micro-wind turbine, you might incur 200 kg CO2 emission in its purchase and usage, which is 284 kWh, so you would only need to generate 14.2 kWh per year to be carbon neutral. This isn’t a lot but pending their size and location, these micro-wind turbines might not generate a lot, either.

If you’ve got a larger micro-wind turbine, you might incur 1,591 kg CO2 emissions, although not to suggest CO2 emissions are proportional to size but there’s bound to be some rough correlation. That emission is equivalent to about 2,260 kWh or 112.8 kWh per year for 20 years. That is still only about 1.5% of a typical British household (use your own numbers for comparison).

Remember, this is for 20 years’ lifespan, meaning it’d not only have to last that, but if you sold your place and leave it there, the new owner would also leave it there. That’s not a statistic I’m generally comfortable with assuming for most cases but I’ll leave it.

If you’re in a windy coastal town or city with access to a lot of wind where you put your micro-wind turbine, you can get 3,000 kWh per year so your investment would pay back within a year, and many micro-wind turbines would pay for themselves in about 7 years, the study says. However, its sampling also indicated in some denser areas, the majority of micro-wind turbines will never be able to pay back their CO2 emissions footprint required to manufacture, install and maintain them.

In the end, I know this article isn’t particularly of huge use to anyone for their lack of ability to identify a micro-wind turbine’s CO2 footprint unless they have the study, and that’s unlikely they’d purchase it (£30, see link below) to read it anyway. But it might just warrant an intuitive assessment of your access to wind where you will anticipate installing a micro-wind turbine before deciding whether or not to buy one.

Minh Tan
Envirostats author

- Study (£30) by the Building Research Establishment Trust  via The Guardian, Nov 30 2007

B20 is a mix of 20% biofuel and 80% petroleum diesel fuel.

Use of biodiesel will enable the City to achieve significant reductions in diesel exhaust, a toxic air contaminant linked to an array of serious health problems. Biodiesel usage also greatly reduces carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, toxic air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The San Francisco Bay Area is second only to Los Angeles in the health impacts from diesel pollution.

In addition to the implementation of biodiesel for its municipal fleet, the City has worked for more than a year on other biodiesel projects through the City’s Biodiesel Access Task Force, including the opening of the first viable biodiesel fueling station in San Francisco at the Olympic station at 2690 Third Street.

Earlier this month, San Francisco launched SFGreasecycle, a citywide program to collect waste grease for conversion to biodiesel, the first program of its kind in the country. The aim is for this program to one day serve to fuel the entire City municipal vehicle fleet. Upon full implementation of the program, the City anticipates collecting approximately 6 million pounds (or 1 million gallons) of grease annually. This will translate to nearly 1 million gallons of biofuel.

I don’t usually post future forecasts except quite predictable ones because I don’t believe humans are very good at predicting the future. However, this is annual planning for just one year ahead and is heavily based on past records so I’m pretty confident in it to post it.

However, be aware that B20 biodiesel still has 80% diesel, and diesel comes with environmental and health problems. Of course, going to B20 is a big step towards reducing diesel impact, but it is hardly the entire solution. I know that diminishing returns will make 100% biofuel unfeasible for some time to come, and also at some percentage short of 100%, the diesel impact will start to become “acceptable”, but I do want to make it clear while B20 is applaudable, it isn’t the end of the story. 

There were an estimated 13 million diesel engines in the US, although it was not certain from what year this statistic was compiled. The source page at the Clean Air Task Force had a copyright 2005 in the frame but 2007 at the bottom, although the statistic would be for 2004 and 2006 as a result. That’s a minor detail, though. It’s a lot of diesel engines. [Envirostats author]

- San Francisco Office of the Mayor press release, Nov 29 2007

- Diesel soot health impacts FAQs at the Clean Air Task Force

- US state diesel soot health impacts at the Clean Air Task Force

This is a collection of links to great green gift ideas to start off your holiday season now that it is December and by my books, fair time to start Christmas shopping. I’m not into the consumerism hoopla that is Christmas, but I’m not a grinch, either. The list here is the same as the page on this blog I just created called Green Gifts, found at the top menu bar. As a result, the lists will be for Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year. However, green gifts can be given all year round, though at the caution of consumption. So please, enjoy your holidays responsibly in as many ways as you can!

Minh Tan
Envirostats author
.

10 great gifts for the eco child 
It’s a tough job to keep the kids happy and save the planet, but the following should do the trick.
(The Independent)

10 great gifts for the green woman
Racking your brains for something suitably stylish, yet planet-friendly?
(The Independent)

10 great gifts for the green man
A selection of presents to the keep the eco-warrior in your life at the top of his game.
(The Independent)

10 great organic christmas drinks
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t go local or organic with your festive tipples.
(The Independent)

Green Christmas getaways
Let someone else worry about the cooking while you take a break in the lap of eco-luxury.
(The Independent)

Alternative green Christmas activities
activities for nature-lovers where family fun is high on the agenda.
(The Independent)

10 green new year’s resolutions
From buying local to saving water, Laura Smith offers 10 ways to make 2008 an ecologically sound year.
(The Independent)

Environmental Defense Christmas List 
Annual roundup of earth-friendly ideas.
(Environmental Defense)

This statistic is here because bicycling is quickly becoming a favoured form of alternative transportation (USA Today), and one that has to be a lot safer and user-friendly if we’re going to hit the tipping point to make it really mainstream and common. 

As a whole, the headline is a bit of a “depending on what studies you choose” sort of argument, but it makes good food for thought and discussion. Please check out the source article at the end if you are interesting in knowing more.

There were 785 bicycling fatalities on American roadways in 2005 to 4,881 pedestrian to 43,443 automotive fatalities. [The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and The National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (NASS GES), 0.4 MB off-site]

Despite far more automotive deaths, there were far more km driven than biked and walked so that was why the “rate” averages were so different for biking and driving, but I don’t think anybody would challenge them. The same argument is how air travel is easily crowned the safest despite its accidents being gruesome, and like how shark attacks are so feared despite being so rare. [Envirostats author]

- Freakonomics blog, Oct 18 2007

Don’t worry if that statistic does not make a lot of sense to you like it didn’t to me. It’s all you need to know regarding why countries are switching to digital cable because it’s all about efficiency. And here I had thought it was just another new hi-tech gimmick in the ever faster evolving world of electronics, with an additional box for better picture I could do without given my 20/16 or better vision. In the name of efficiency was the topic of rest of the source story from where this statistic came.

Finland completed the switch to digital cable in August and was the first nation to do so.

That’s right, no more analog cable in Finland. How cool is that but how uncool and ironic is it they are doing this and are home to Nokia, but yet failed to introduce an EU law banning the use of some heavy metals and other hazardous materials in electronic equipment into their national rulebooks?

Whitehaven, England, in the NW corner of the country is the first town in the region to go all digital there, with the rest of the country to be off analog digital by 2012.

The United States is expected to have full shut-off by end of 2009, starting in Feb 2009.

Canada is expected to have full shut-off by Aug 31 2011. However, until then, cable companies can shut off analog signals if over 85% of subscribers have digital cable. As well, automatic shut-off will only affect free over-the-air broadcasts and not necessarily to cable television subscribers. Canada’s largest cable provider, Rogers Communications Inc., now has more than 50% of customers on digital and is expected to surpass that threshold in 3-4 years.

So there doesn’t seem to be any hurry, but let this be your warning. [Envirostats author]

Coincidentally, Best Buy, one of the largest consumer electronics chains in North America, pulled all analog televisions off store shelves on the date this posting was made, Oct 17 2007. Flat-panel and high-definition screens have taken their place.

- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Oct 15 2007

- Best Buy notice in Globe & Mail, Ot 17 2007