households

Driving Electric Is Cheaper For Almost Everyone | Earth Wise

February 24, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A study by University of Michigan researchers found that about 90% of U.S. households would save money on fuel costs by owning an electric car rather than a gas-powered car. So apart from the environmental benefits of electric cars, there are real economic benefits as well.

Both the price of gasoline and the price of electricity vary considerably across the country, so there are differences by location. The study found that 71% of U.S. drivers would see their fuel expenses cut at least in half by driving an electric car.

Drivers in California, Washington, and New York would see the largest fuel savings as well as the biggest emissions reductions from a new electric car. Those states have cleaner electric grids and a bigger gap between the cost of electricity and the cost of gas.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, only looked at fuel costs and did not take into account the purchase cost of new cars. Generally speaking, plug-in cars have higher sticker prices than gas-powered cars but multiple studies have shown that over their lifetimes, electric vehicles end up being cheaper to own than comparable gas-powered vehicles because of lower maintenance costs on top of the fuel savings. The price gap between equivalent gas and electric cars continues to narrow in any case as the cost of batteries continues to decline. On top of that, the recent expansion of federal tax credits on electric cars is making the vehicles cost-competitive right at the point of purchase.

Gasoline prices have come down considerably from their peak a year ago, but for almost everyone, it is still much cheaper to drive on electricity.

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Seven in 10 U.S. Drivers Could Halve Their Fuel Costs by Going Electric, Study Finds

Photo, posted April 23, 2022, courtesy of Pedrik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Big Year For European Solar Power | Earth Wise

February 2, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The installed solar capacity in the European Union grew by 34% in 2021. This means that Europe is on pace to quadruple its solar energy generation by 2030.

During 2021, the 27 countries of the European Union installed 25.9 gigawatts of new solar capacity, compared with 19.3 gigawatts in 2020. This was the biggest year yet for solar growth, beating out the previous record of 21.4 gigawatts set in 2011. A gigawatt of solar electricity is enough to power about 300,000 homes, so the 2021 installations can produce enough electricity for about 8 million households. The European Union is home to about 450 million people.

SolarPower Europe, an industry trade organization, projects that solar energy capacity in the EU will increase from the current 165 gigawatts to 328 gigawatts in 2025 and as much as 672 gigawatts by 2030.

The EU has the goal of generating 45% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, which is an important milestone in achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Challenges still facing the EU include obstacles to permitting, electricity grid bottlenecks, and assurance of solar panel supplies. Much of Europe’s supply of solar panels comes from China. The EU wants to boost its own production of solar panels to 20 gigawatts per year by 2025.

The US currently has about 113 GW of installed solar capacity and is projected to install about 300 gigawatts of new capacity over the next 10 years.

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For the European Union, 2021 Was a Banner Year for Solar Power

Photo, posted May 3, 2007, courtesy of Bernd Sieker via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Crops Threatened With Extinction | Earth Wise

January 4, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Crop variety and diversity are critically important for global food security as well as for the livelihoods of millions of people. This diversity entails both the different species of food crops as well as the so-called farmer varieties of crops that in many cases have been cultivated and safeguarded for millennia.

It is well-known that many of these crops and varieties have been rapidly disappearing, but data has been scarce on just how many have been lost, how many we are losing, and which ones are the most threatened going forward.

A new study utilizes a methodology known as the Varietal Threat Index, which was developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. The study assessed about 600 farmers from seven Indian states, covering five different agroecological areas. The farmers were selected based on their knowledge of crops and varieties across the 17 study sites.

The farmers listed the crops and varieties grown in their households, noted their uses, and indicated their spread and abundance, including information on varieties grown during the previous ten years which were no longer grown.

The results of the study showed that while there is a significant diversity of landraces – which are local varieties of species developed over time – more than 50% are threatened. The trend is that crops and varieties mostly used for consumption are most often under threat, whereas varieties with multiple uses are less likely to be threatened.

Studies of this type can aid the development of targets and indicators to monitor the global status of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and help inform urgent priority conservation actions.

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More than half of surveyed crop varieties are under threat of extinction, according to study in India

Photo, posted February 21, 2014, courtesy of Atibordee Kongprepan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Giant Wind Turbines | Earth Wise

October 19, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Wind turbines keep getting bigger and bigger. The reason is that the power a wind turbine can theoretically generate is proportional to the disk-shaped area swept out by its blades. So, the bigger the blades, the more power can be produced by a single turbine.

That being said, real-world turbines don’t achieve their theoretical power output because they have limitations on efficiency. Things like rotor blade friction and drag, gearbox losses, and generator losses limit the actual power output of a turbine.

Despite all of these things, the latest and greatest wind turbines are absolutely enormous and produce almost unbelievable amounts of power. Chinese manufacturer MingYang Smart Energy has recently unveiled an 866-foot tall, 16-megawatt capacity offshore wind turbine. This narrowly exceeds both the Vestas V236 Turbine announced earlier this year and GE’s Haliade-X Turbine, rated at 15 megawatts and 14 megawatts respectively.

The rotor diameter of the giant Chinese turbine is nearly 800 feet, set by its 387-foot blades that sweep out an area of nearly 50,000 square feet. A single one of these turbines can generate 80,000 MWh of electricity in a year, enough to power more than 20,000 households. (It boggles the mind to consider that just one rotation of the blades of such a turbine can power a couple of homes for an entire day).

Offshore wind farms choose the largest wind turbines in part because of the high cost of installing turbines and transporting the electricity. It is preferable to build fewer turbines because fewer towers, cables, and ground anchoring systems need to be constructed, making the project less complicated.

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This 264-meter tall offshore wind turbine is now the largest of its kind

Photo, posted November 19, 2015, courtesy of Scott Flaherty / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Spending Habits And Carbon Emissions | Earth Wise

September 1, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

According to a new Swedish study recently published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, men spend their money on greenhouse gas-emitting goods and services, such as meat and fuel, at a much higher rate than women.

The study looked at the carbon emissions created by consumption among categories like food, clothing, furniture, and vacations to see if households could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying different products and services. The research team reviewed Swedish government data through 2012 and analyzed the spending habits of households, single men, and single women.

According to the study, single Swedish men spent about 2% more money overall than single Swedish women. But the stuff that the men bought created 16% more greenhouse gases than the stuff that the women bought. That’s because men were more likely to spend money on high-emitting categories, like fuel for cars, while women spent more on less-emitting categories like furniture, health care, and clothing.

For both men and women, vacations were a major source of emissions, accounting for approximately one-third of their total carbon footprint.

While the carbon impact of men’s and women’s diets were nearly equal, men spent more money on meat while women spent more on dairy. Both meat and dairy production are major sources of global greenhouse gas emissions.

The study found single people were responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than married people or people in households.

According to the research team, people could decrease their carbon emissions nearly 40% by making more environmentally-friendly choices, including switching to plant-based foods and traveling by train as opposed to flying or driving when possible.

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Men have a bigger carbon footprint than women, climate study finds

Photo, posted June 17, 2012, courtesy of Stephen Ausmus/USDA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

30 Million Solar Homes | Earth Wise

March 29, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

A national coalition made up of more than 230 organizations has launched an initiative called the 30 Million Solar Homes campaign. The goal is to add enough rooftop and community solar energy to power 30 million homes across the U.S. over the next five years. That would be the equivalent of one in four American households.

The major focus of the 30 Million Solar Homes initiative is to rapidly and massively scale programs that help low-income families benefit from solar power. The coalition lists 15 federal policy initiatives including making solar tax incentives more equitable, providing more reliable low-income energy assistance through solar energy, supplementing low-income weatherization assistance with solar energy, and specifically funding solar projects in marginalized communities.

The federal government spends billions of dollars every year to help families to pay their energy costs, but these efforts only serve less than a fifth of the eligible population. Funding rooftop and community solar access for these households would provide long-term financial relief and reduce the need for annual energy bill assistance.

The more than 230 organizations in the coalition represent organizations focused on energy equity, climate, business, environment, faith, and public health. The coalition estimates that executing the plan would create three million good-paying jobs, lower energy bills by at least $20 billion a year, and reduce total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5%.

Over the coming months, the campaign will seek to educate lawmakers and the Biden-Harris Administration about the benefits of distributed solar energy. The vision outlined by the coalition is an ambitious one to say the least.

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30 Million Solar Homes

Supporters of 30MSH

Photo, posted May 20, 2009, courtesy of Solar Trade Association via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lifestyle And Carbon Footprint | Earth Wise

March 23, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many studies have shown, to no great surprise, that affluent lifestyles lead to larger carbon footprints. Households in Switzerland enjoy a high standard of living and a team of researchers there has been studying the consumption and travel habits of Swiss citizens to better understand the impact of various factors on carbon footprint. Key factors include household composition and income, and whether the households are in the city or the countryside – even though, in the end, people’s lifestyles do not differ greatly from one environment to another.

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzed data from Switzerland’s household budget survey for 2008, 2011 and 2014. They combined that data with an environmentally extended input-output analysis to assess households’ carbon footprints by measuring their direct and indirect emissions.

Overall, households in the countryside have larger carbon footprints than those in the city, mainly because they travel more and use more energy in their homes. But urban households have larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts when it comes to food, clothing, cultural activities and air travel.

A household’s composition directly influences its carbon footprint. A two-person household has the largest per-capita carbon footprint, and it falls as the size of the family grows since many of the same resources are shared by more people.

Income levels play an important role. People consume without much thought because they can afford to and enjoy doing it. But there is a trend towards people becoming more conscious of their levels of consumption and trying to be more responsible in Switzerland. Overall consumption has actually declined over the years studied.

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Our carbon footprint is highly impacted by how we live

Photo, posted December 19, 2017, courtesy of Alexander Kozik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

American Households and Food Waste | Earth Wise

February 12, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Food waste is a big problem. According to the United Nations, approximately one-third of the food produced globally – more than 1.4 billion tons – goes to waste. If food waste was a country adding carbon to the atmosphere, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases – behind only the U.S. and China. All of this food waste takes place in a world where 815 million people – more than 10% of the people on the planet – are chronically undernourished.

A new study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics has analyzed the level of food waste for individual American households. It found that American households waste, on average, nearly one-third of all the food they acquire. This wasted food has an estimated aggregate value of $240 billion annually. Divided by the number of U.S. households, this food waste could be costing the average household about $1,866 per year.

According to researchers, the households with higher household incomes generate more food waste. Those with healthier diets, which include more perishable fruits and vegetables, also waste more food.

Meanwhile, households with greater food insecurity, especially those that participate in the federal SNAP food assistance program, as well as those households with a larger number of members, were associated with less food waste. Households that use shopping lists and those that travel further to reach the grocery store were also associated with lower levels of food waste.

When food is wasted, the resources used to produce food, including land, energy, water and labor, are wasted as well. We have to do better.

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