Interesting story on a study out of Georgia Tech comparing per capita carbon footprints by city:
While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins.
Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14 percent below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report being released Thursday.
Some highlights:
- Cities with the largest carbon footprints are mostly in the eastern half of the country from Indiana to western Pennsylvania -- areas that rely heavily on coal for electricity production and natural gas for heating.
- Lexington, Kentucky, had the biggest per capita carbon footprint: Each resident on average accounted for 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide in their energy usage. At the other end of the scale was Honolulu, at 1.5 tons per person.
It's tempting to conclude that any carbon reduction policy should target the highest emitters. But that would be faulty logic--or at least bad economics. Efficient policy design requires policies target the least cost reductions. That may or may not be the biggest emitters. The easiest way to guarantee a policy is efficient? Establish a price for carbon and let it be traded--I'll bet you could see that coming a mile away.
