Getting Hot

 Look around, Canadians. At first glance, things are great. Is there any place you would rather live? 

Now look again. Heat waves (49.5 °C June 29, Lytton BC, record high for Canada), check. Drought and floods, check, check. Tornados, check. Wildfires, melting glaciers and tundra, oceans encroaching on coastal towns, check, check, check, check. At second glance you can't miss climate change. 

With a third look, put yourself in the picture. If you are alive, you are part of the problem. In Canada, the per capita annual carbon dioxide emission is about 15 metric tons, 20 if you include the CO2 equivalent of other greenhouse gases, still more if you include contributions from changes in land use, deforestation and melting permafrost. 

The fourth look reaches a few decades into the near future. You cannot take a fourth look without wondering how you might reduce your carbon footprint and keep the world from unravelling. Dorothy and I have been working on that. The air conditioner is off here.

The latest report on our electric vehicle says that last month we travelled 456 km, saved 47 L of fuel reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 107 kg. That assumes that the electricity was not produced using fossil fuels. In Ontario, only about 6% is from natural gas generation and the remainder from renewables and nuclear (2019). Unfortunately, the current provincial government is not committed to renewables. However, at our house, we are.

2019 Bolt EV

In March 2018 our rooftop solar array was connected to the electrical grid. Since then we have produced an average of just under 1000 kwh of electricity per month, which is more than we consume, even with an electric vehicle. 

Rooftop Solar Array

To put things in perspective, in a year our ev would save 1000 kg of carbon dioxide (based on 5000 km annual travel) and the solar array would save 4600 kg (compared to generation by fossil fuels). For Dorothy and I, that would be a significant reduction of our annual CO2 emissions. When we consider that the goal is net zero by 2050, we have a long way to go. Still busy with the fourth look.

 The fifth look goes way beyond Dennis and Dorothy. Our personal carbon footprint will for sure be zero by 2050. I know the kids and their kids are taking a look at this. To you from failing hands we throw the torch; I hope you extinguish it before it's too late or switch from gas to solar powered LED.

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My estimates do not include the emissions produced in manufacture of hardware and eventual end-of-life disposal or recycling. See this Youtube presentation at Just Have a Think on life cycle assessment.