Staggering Video of Our Nation Exhaling CO2

Scientists at Purdue university recently did an extremely detailed analysis of the emission of CO₂ in the United States. They included every sector: power generation, manufacturing, transportation, etc., and then they used advanced atmospheric models to track the gas. It's part of a research project they're calling "Project Vulcan," presumably because Vulcan's looking down at our planet would either be unimpressed by our technology, or wonder how an entire planet could breathe.

The result is both staggering and unnerving. Watching our nation wake up in the morning in this way is just plain freaky. The CO₂ swells into the atmosphere, covering more of the nation hour by hour until folks start get home and start relaxing more, and consuming less.

I can proudly declare that my city in western Montana, in fact, remains completely unblemished by CO₂ emissions. Though, it's easy enough to spot the coal-fired power plant in south-east Montana that actually powers my house.

Via Wired Blogs

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that's some serious stuff
written by Lance T, April 09, 2008

Wow... That is unreal. I should definitely move North West, heh. If you look at those saturated areas in the east, and realize that isn't just a representation of CO2 emissions, but all industry pollution, the singular CO2 issue multiplies 1000 fold when considering all pollution contaminants..arsenic, mercury, fluorides etc.

misleading
written by Matt Perry, April 09, 2008

I wouldn't get too exited about the "unblemished areas". Viewed from a different perspective, the per-capita CO2 emmissions for those seemingly pristine rural areas can be considerably greater than cities.

http://www.travelmatters.org/maps/regional/

If you're looking to make a personal choice about how to reduce your own carbon footprint, moving to the city is your best option for a number of reasons.

...
written by Kent Ragen, April 09, 2008

Wow, that is hard core. The 3-D model showed the "cloud" expand and cover almost all areas of the U.S. in the deep summer as the A/C gets cranked up.

right...
written by alan, April 10, 2008

yes, how impressive... and you can move to the areas where the CO2 levels are low nearly all the time.... and raise cattle or something. idaho has some industry, but little impact seen on the mapping. and if 10% of the US population moved there to escape CO2, the unemployment rate would probably hit 95% for all of Idaho, and if industry expanded to hire all those immigrants, the CO2 would go [ahem...] "through the roof."

again, the point is interesting, the mapping is teriffic, and how do we cut down on CO2 emissions? especially in all of the high-density areas that are so obvious on the maps.

oh, yes... and what are the scales, again? are any of the levels high enough to hurt people or other fauna? trees and many other plants grow faster in higher concentrations of CO2.. thus entraining more of it faster.

great demonstration... now, "and the point is?"

i cut my mobile emissions by over 50% by trading my taurus for a prius. i've replaced incandescents and even CFLs in my home with LEDs.

your turn...

Are you kidding
written by Enrique, April 10, 2008

Hank:
Well, There is nobody in Montana.
I can proudly declare that my city in western Montana, in fact, remains completely unblemished by CO2 emissions. Though, it's easy enough to spot the coal-fired power plant in south-east Montana that actually powers my house.

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