Fact: A tree absorbs 30% of any precipitation event in its leaves and another 30% in its root system reducing the need for drainage infrastructure.
October 30 2009 - Archive
Fact: Trips under 5 km are the most polluting because the engine and the pollution control system never reach peak operating temperature. Combining several trips into one can cut fuel use and emissions by 20% to 50%.
Fact: From 1890-1990, the total amount of available Nitrogen has increased by 9 times due to the use of N fertilizers - N is a major greenhouse gas with 300x the warming effect of CO2!
Fact: Overall, the world’s forest ecosystems are estimated to store more carbon than the entire atmosphere, but forest area has decreased by 0.18% per year for the past five years!
Your Pet May Have a Bigger Footprint than your Car
Posted on October 27 2009 by zerofootprint and filed in
Wallet Pop
Oct 26th 2009 at 1:00PM
Your pet has a bigger carbon footprint than your car?
Tom Barlow RSS Feed
My neighborhood is full of people who drive Priuses to haul their Labrador Retrievers to the park for a run. According to two New Zealand researchers, the beloved pet they are hauling has twice the carbon footprint of a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Fact: Over the past 30 years, Arctic sea ice has decreased by 8% - an area larger than Norway, Sweden, and Denmark combined.
Southwest Airlines Features Greener Planes
Posted on October 26 2009 by zerofootprint and filed in Technology + Design
Environmental Leader Online
October 22, 2009
Southwest Testing ‘Green Plane’
If adopted, the new “green plane” undergoing tests by Southwest Airlines would save the company about $10 million a year in fuel costs, while reducing emissions. The airline also is kicking off a more robust onboard recycling program Nov. 1.
Green Building Accounts for $2-4 Billion Dollars
Posted on October 26 2009 by zerofootprint and filed in Lifestyle + Culture, Technology + Design
Environmental Leader Online
October 23, 2009
‘Green’ Building Retrofits To Be 20-30% of Commercial Projects By 2014
Green building currently accounts for five to nine percent of the retrofit and renovation market activity by value, which equates to a $2 billion to $4 billion marketplace for major projects, according to a new report from McGraw-Hill Construction.
Sweedish Look to Reduce Emissions with Carbon Labels for Food Products
Posted on October 26 2009 by zerofootprint and filed in Carbon Emissions, Food + Agriculture
The New York Times Online
Published: October 22, 2009
By Degrees
To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
STOCKHOLM — Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.”
“Right now, I don’t know what this means,” said Ms. Bergstrom, a pharmaceutical company employee.
But if a new experiment here succeeds, she and millions of other Swedes will soon find out.
Fact: Livestock are responsible for around 18% of global emissions, so eating less meat will reduce personal carbon footprint.
Zerofootprint congratulates the 16,400 students from around the world who have used the iEARN Youth Calculator. Together, you have pledged to reduce your personal carbon emissions by over 10,000 tonnes - a remarkable achievement!
