05-29-2008, 12:41 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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Less Carbon Produced by City Dwellers
Less Carbon Produced by City Dwellers
The Cato Institute
"While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins," reports the Associated Press. "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. ... From 2000 to 2005, carbon dioxide from transportation, electricity use and residential heating in the largest metropolitan areas increased 7.5 percent. For the entire nation, it rose 9.1 percent. The average per capita footprint in those 100 cities rose at an annual rate of 1.1 percent a year, half the average yearly increase of 2.2 percent nationwide."
Cato senior fellow Randal O'Toole comments: "The recommendations of the Brookings Institution's report that American cities should build more transit lines and promote more compact development to reduce their carbon footprints are not supported by the data. Actual numbers reveal that most transit systems produce more greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than the average automobile, and nearly all produce more than a hybrid such as the Toyota Prius. For example, the Washington Metro produces almost 20 percent more CO2 per passenger mile than the average passenger auto. Encouraging people to drive smaller cars will do more to reduce carbon footprints at a lower cost than building new transit lines."
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