Right now, could you prepare a slice of toast with zero embodied carbon emissions?
Since at least the 2000s, big polluters have tried to frame carbon emissions as an issue to be solved through the purchasing choices of individual consumers.
Yet, right now, millions of people couldn't prepare a slice of toast without causing carbon emissions, even if they wanted to.
In many low-density single-use-zoned suburbs, the only realistic option for getting to the store to get a loaf of bread is to drive. The power coming out of the mains includes energy from coal or gas.
But.
Even if they invested in solar panels, and an inverter, and a battery system, and only used an electric toaster, and baked the loaf themselves in an electric oven, and walked/cycled/drove an EV to the store to get flour and yeast, there are still embodied carbon emissions in that loaf of bread.
Just think about the diesel powered trucks used to transport the grains and packaging to the flour factory, the energy used to power the milling equipment, and the diesel fuel used to transport that flour to the store.
Basically, unless you go completely off grid and grow your own organic wheat, your zero emissions toast just ain't happening.
And that's for the most basic of food products!
Unless we get the infrastructure in place to move to a 100% renewables and storage grid, and use it to power fully electric freight rail and zero emissions passenger transport, pretty much all of our decarbonisation efforts are non-starters.
This is fundamentally an infrastructure and public policy problem, not a problem of individual consumer choice.
Everyone on our ham radio net is discussing the performance (or non-performance) of solar inverters/generators/etc. during the power outages in my part of Ventura County last night. More generators/power backup among our group than the general public. #hamradio#power#grid#PSPS#wildfires#CAwx
Having covertly replaced every light (except one) in the house of the elderly relatives I am staying at now with energy efficient LED bulbs, feeling a lot better we're in here. Need to just replace the one halogen lamp here, which probably is the highest energy user in the house aside from refrigeration. (250W!!!) #energy#power
No, you can't save £30 per year by switching off your "standby" devices
Every few years, a dodgy stat does the rounds claiming you can save £££ if you switch off all your gadgets at the wall. The standby mode of your TV is bleeding you dry!!!
It's been years since the #Mac machines I've owned can sleep properly. I choose sleep from the 🍎 menu, and the screen blanks and comes right back on as often as not. If I let the screen sleep after a period without using the machine, sometimes I'll return an hour later and find the screen on, and unlocked. Total #security and #power management failure.
#TXwx#power#grid "BEXAR COUNTY: Conserve Energy! ERCOT is warning of possible power outages statewide, Bexar County and San Antonio through 10 p.m. today. Be prepared for power outages beginning at 6 p.m. Outages will be in 15-minute intervals. If you are impacted by an outage visit: outagemap.cpsenergy.com Source: 200607,Regional Emergency Alert Network"
And what does it do? My air compressor cannot get above 60 PSI, it should get to 120 psi. I noticed this piece is where I am losing pressure. Can I replace it?...
#MitchMcConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his #power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the #RepublicanParty for ~2 decades, will step down from that position in Nov.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, was set to announce his decision Wed in the well of the Senate….
'Breakthrough' geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power | Engadget (www.engadget.com)
An energy company called Fervo says it has achieved a breakthrough in geothermal technology.
What is this air compressor part called? (i.postimg.cc)
And what does it do? My air compressor cannot get above 60 PSI, it should get to 120 psi. I noticed this piece is where I am losing pressure. Can I replace it?...