C9 Carbon Footprints (page 159) Flashcards
What are carbon Footprints?
Carbon footprints are basically a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses released over the full life cycle of something.
That can be a service (3.g. the school bus), an event (e.g. the Olympics), a product (e.g. a toastie maker) - almost anything.
Why is measuring the total carbon footprint of something really hard, or even impossible?
its because there are so many different factors to consider
for example: you would have to count the emissions released as a result of sourcing all the parts of your toastie maker and in making it, not to mention the emissions produced when you actually use it and finally dispose of it. very complicated.
Still a rough calculation can give a good idea of what the worse emitters are - so that people can avoid them in future.
You can’t always measure a carbon footprint exactly, but there are always methods to try and reduce it.
Anything that reduces the amound of greenhouse gasses (e.g. carbon dioxide or methane) given out by a process will also reduce its carbon footprint.
What things can be done to reduce it?
Renewable energy sources or nuclear energy could be used instead of fossib fuels.
Using more efficient processes could conserve energy and cut waste. Lots of waste decomposes to release methane, so this will reduce methane emissions.
Governments could tax companies or individuals based on the amount of greenhouse gasses they emit - e.g. taxing cars based on the amount of carbon dioxide they emit over a set disstance could mean that people choose to buy ones that are more fuel-efficient and so less polluting.
Governments can also put a cap on emissions of all greenhouse gassed that companies make - then sell licences for emissions up to that cap.
There’s also technology that captures the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels before it’s released into the atmosphere - it can then be stored deep underground in cracks in the rock such as old oil wells
It’s easy saying that we should cut emissions but actually doint it - that is a different story.
Explain why this is difficult?
there is still a lot ofwork to be done on alternative technologies that result in lower CO2 emissions.
Governments are also worred that making these changes will impact on the economic growth of communities - which could be bad for people’s well-being. This is particularly important for countries that are still developing.
Not everyone is on board, so its hard to make international agreements to reduce emissions. Most counries don’t want to sacrifice their economic development if they think that others won’t do the same.
Individuals also in devloped countries need to make changes to their lifestyles. But it migh be hard to get people to make changes if they don’t want to and if there isn’t enough education provided about why the changes are necessary and how to make them.
State two things governments can do to try to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of businesses (2 marks)
Governments can put a cap on the amount of greenhouse gasses that a business can emit and issue licences for set amounts of emissions up to this point (1 mark). They can also impose taxes on companies according to the amount of greenhouse gasses that they emit to encourage them to cut down on emissions (1 mark)
