Carbon emissions database of global electric power plants

November 14, 2007 4:19 PM

CARMA, released today, is a map/database that shows the carbon emissions of more than 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies in every country on Earth, showing not only the worst but the best. Find out how much CO2 comes from electricity plants in a particular city, county, congressional district, company, town, ZIP code, or an individual plant.
posted by stbalbach (13 comments total)

I looked up 97520 (Ashland, OR) and it says The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is an energy provider. So I don't know how much salt I need to take with this.
posted by parmanparman at 4:48 PM on November 14, 2007

parmanparman:

I'm glad you stumbled across that. It turns out that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is home to a 5 kW solar PV array. Apparently it powers the festival and several local government buildings. So, no salt needed. :)
posted by nzero at 5:03 PM on November 14, 2007

Whoa, cool, thanks!
posted by salvia at 5:06 PM on November 14, 2007

That's like cheating to include hydroelectric plants.
posted by smackfu at 5:07 PM on November 14, 2007

My carma ran over my dogma.
posted by nickyskye at 5:08 PM on November 14, 2007

I thought you said CAMRA.

Damn.

Though I guess we need the world if we're going to keep making beer.
posted by eriko at 5:29 PM on November 14, 2007

Very interesting, stbalbach, where do you find these things?! This is a great resource.

However, the way they compute "Intensity" is misleading. What they are doing is dividing the Total CO2 emissions by the total energy produced, *regardless of the source*. So, if you use alternative methods, you are allowed to pollute more, overall. This makes a difference: for example, according to their analysis, Greece produces CO2 with higher intensity than ...China, woot!, and France with 14 times less intensity than the US! China leads the US substantially if you use their current method, but almost ties US if you take into account %Fossil. I do not think I am nitpicking here; if someone, somewhere over the rainbow, lets say in Bali in December, proposes new UN policy based on these numbers, we are going to have quite some fun. Now, I wanna to go to Bali, dammit.
posted by carmina at 6:47 PM on November 14, 2007

Interesting database, but worth noting that it only addresses CO2 emissions from power generation. While that is helpful information, it isn't the whole picture and can lead to some hasty conclusions if you don't read the data carefully. The Yahoo article notes that Australians produce 11 tons of CO2 per capita from power production, versus only 9 tons per person in the US. But when you include a broader array of sources, Australia comes in at about 16 tons per capita versus more than 20 tons per capita in the US (source: US Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center via UN Statistics Division, 2004 data).

What makes up the difference? One huge source in the US is automotive fossil fuel consumption. That issue isn't captured in this database, but if we're going to get a handle on global warming, we'll need to tackle it.

I just raise this to remind people to look at the whole picture of global warming pollution sources and the differences around the world in the relative impact of those sources -- and the need to consider different responses in each country to make sure that we're targeting the whole problem. I am definitely not at all trying to disparage this very useful tool. More data, in more formats, is what citizens around the world need to start pressuring our elected leaders to, well, show some leadership on this issue.
posted by wick47 at 7:59 PM on November 14, 2007

Welcome South Brother. Plants Scherer and Bowen are notorious down here in Georgia. Ain't going to change, either. The Southern Company flat out owns the state legislature. Doesn't stop some from trying though.

Freedom is on the march!
posted by intermod at 8:29 PM on November 14, 2007

carmina, it's front page news on the Beeb and other places. Go Australia, we're number 1! (per capita). In other news, climate change is happening faster than predicted!
posted by wilful at 9:08 PM on November 14, 2007

beeb beeb the beeb beeb.

climate change is happening faster than predicted
Maybe in Australia, here it doesn't!
/jk
posted by carmina at 9:48 PM on November 14, 2007

I never would have imagined Australians spout three times as much shit as the British. That's a completely unexpected surprise that nobody could have seen coming.
posted by vbfg at 5:30 AM on November 15, 2007

I wanted weather patterns laid over these google earth maps. I know Texas doesn't have a massive cloud of ozone toxins over it, but someplace does.
posted by fook at 12:29 PM on November 15, 2007