[IslandCrow]

The BBC has a fun educational tool about power generation

The electricity calculator gives you the opportunity to choose how you would like the UK’s electricity to be generated in 2020.
Once you have made your choice, the calculator will work out the possible impact in terms of carbon emissions, whether you managed to keep the lights on and how it will affect people’s annual bills.
Remember the calculator does not give precise forecasts, it is just a guide, but it is based on the best data available to us

BBC's electricity calculator

[MrMambo]

The calculator is totally bonkers.

When I set to meet demand with a combination of nuclear and renewables i get an equal size electricity bill in the future. But when I choose to reduced demand in addition (since that is KNOWN as the cheepest way to get more available energy) i instead get a much much higher electricity bill.

This calculator acts as some sort of warning against efficient use of electricity since it gives a false message of significantly increased costs as a result of efficiency.

It also assumes that electricity demand will not be higher in the future, something I think is deeply flawed, since there will be a shift towards electrified transportation instead of combustion engine fuel driven transportation.

[strider3700]

hmm I exceeded demand. had zero emmissions, no nuclear, didn't reduce consumption at all and only doubled the current energy costs. If it was that easy the world should be happy doing it.

[snax]

Well that seems to be a completely useless calculator.

[Loki]

Population: link

Energy consumption (including oil): link

Cartograms by M. E. J. Newman.

[Newsseeker]

The US sure looks nice and plump and happy there all swelled up and everything.

[Bas]

Besides being very informative, those work on my laughing nerves too with it's bloated and shrunk countries/continents

[Zardoz]

Africa's shriveled state on the energy consumption map is amazing, as is Russia's on the population map.

Note also that South America is virtually the same on both maps.

[eric_b]

Look at how Africa nearly disappears on the energy use map. America of course looks quite fat.

[Loki]

Africa is being sucked of its energy by the west and europe.

Funny, that's what I thought, too, when I first saw these maps. It's like Europe had a straw stuck in Africa, sucking out its vitals and leaving a shriveled husk.

For more cartograms similar to the ones above, check out Worldmapper. Here's one that shows the increase in energy use (defined here) between 1980 and 2001.

[jdumars]

Those scientists in Antarctica are obviously using waaaaaay too much energy based on that cartogram. We need to shut them DOWN!

[pea-jay]

I'd like to see their cartogram on the IEA's projected energy usage for 2030... China and india would cover like half the earth almost.

[Baldwin]

I'd like to see their cartogram on the IEA's projected energy usage for 2030... China and india would cover like half the earth almost.

And the Chindians shall inherit the Earth. (keep it...YOU solve the Aids crisis)

[lateralus]

And the Chindians shall inherit the Earth.

I agree with you on that one Baldwin.

So it is written, so it shall be...

[I_Like_Plants]

According to Some Guy On NPR, California's pollution etc requirements have resulted in energy use per capita in the Friendly Fascist state to level off since about 1980, where in the rest of the US they've gone up 50%.

I personally think what we've seen since 1980 is rather confortable people leave in droves starting with the recession that started around 1980, and lots of 3rd worlders move in, as well as us X'ers etc settle for a much lower standard of living. To give you an idea of lower, I was a skilled tronics tech in SoCal living just outside Newport Beach, and that rather "good" job and location got me a rented tiny mobile home, with a toilet system that accepted #1's ok (actually the lawn did!) and deposited #2's on the lawn to brown in the sun! Rather startling the first time, finding an "old friend" sitting there. ..... like... oops. Transpo was a used motorcycle, shopping meant goodwill, etc. I guess I was fairly happy but it was a far cry from a 20-something skilled tronics tech of say the mid 1960s, who'd be buying a house and driving a car.

So, was it energy use leveling off per capita or socioeconomic status falling per capita?

[Plantagenet]

Loki's map and the links were really interesting.

http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=120

They show that, in spite of all the hoopla about the Kyoto treaty, the reality is that Europe and Japan are showing high rates of growth in their energy use, while the US (not just California, but the entire US) has shown much less growth in energy use.

Of course, to limit Greenhouse warming due to CO2 production, actual reductions in energy use would have to occur.

[Graeme]

What’s your carbon footprint and where does it come from?

When I learned for the first time that an average European is responsible for emissions of almost 10 tons of carbon dioxide per year (and an American double that amount) I was really shocked.

I wanted to know how much of this carbon footprint is related to particular activities: heating, riding a car, flying a plane, food and goods production, home electricity consumption etc. I wanted to know how my carbon footprint relates to the average in my country, in the United States, China or India. Was my emissions level safe for the Earth or maybe it looked like the trace of Godzilla? And most of all – I wanted to know what changes in my life will have a real impact, not just improve my good feeling. I strived to reduce my carbon footprint, so this information was critical for informed decisions.

If you have similar thoughts, the best way to answer them is to use a Personal Carbon Footprint Calculator, official tool of Polish Ministry of Environment for UN COP14 climate conference (there is also a local version of the calculator - you can download it here, installing Adobe AIR first). The calculator will translate your lifestyle into your total carbon footprint, divided into several categories and displayed in a clear graphical form.

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