Going Carbon Neutral:
The Village Surveys
What’s the problem?
• We saw in the film
how carbon dioxide
(CO2) levels in the
atmosphere are
rising.
Measured atmospheric concentrations
of CO2 – Mauna Loa, Hawaii
Increasing CO2
Too much
here
• More CO2
– disrupts the natural
carbon cycle
– increasing the
Greenhouse Effect
Source:http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/images/carboncycle_jpg_image.html
The Greenhouse Effect
• A natural effect that
warms the Earth by
30C - life depends
on it!
• But putting more CO2
into the atmosphere
means it warms up
more - leading to
Climate Change
Source: www.defra.gov.uk
What can we do?
• To slow down the warming we can try to
re-balance the carbon cycle by:
– putting less carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere
– and taking more out
• The film presents us with a challenge
• What’s our response?
Carbon budget
• We can start by looking at what we are
doing locally
• We can calculate a carbon budget ~ a
bit like using a bank account ~ to see
what we are putting in and what we are
taking out
A carbon budget for
Ashton Hayes
• Within the village we need to know where we
are now - a baseline survey to calculate
Sources of CO2 - activities that put CO2 into the
atmosphere
Sinks of CO2 - activities that take CO2 out of the
atmosphere
CO2 Sources
Use of household refrigerator
for 1 year = 112 kg CO2 (0.11 t CO2)
Use of car for 1 year
= 4023 kg CO2 (4 t CO2)
Use of kettle for 1 year
= 74 kg CO2 (0.073 t CO2)
A return flight London to Paris
= 112 kg CO2 (0.11 t CO2)
Source: Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (2000) Estimates of Emissions for Selected Items and Activities, ECCM Technical Document No 4.
CO2 Sinks
• Plants absorb CO2 as they grow so the more
trees we grow the more CO2 is absorbed - a
way of ‘off-setting’ CO2
Hardwood trees
sequester 7417 kg
CO2/ha/year (7.3 t )
Conifer trees
sequester 11176 kg
CO2/ha/year (11.0 t )
To offset the CO2 emissions of all UK
residents for 1 year would need
51 million ha forest
– twice the land area of the UK!
Sources: Cannell, M. (1999) Growing trees to sequester carbon in the UK: answers to some common questions, Forestry, 72 (3), 237-247.
Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (2002) Estimation of Carbon Offset by Trees, ECCM Technical Document No 7. Broadmeadow,
M. & Matthews, R. (2003) Forestry Commission Information Note: Forests, Carbon and Climate Change: the UK Contribution.
The balance
• To become carbon neutral we need to
balance our inputs and outputs
• We don’t know our current position but it may
be …
Sources
Sinks
We need to find out….
The Village Surveys
• In May/June some students from the
University of Chester will be in the
village carrying out surveys of our
sources and sinks of CO2
• They will wear sweatshirts with the
University and Going Carbon Neutral
logos so they will be easy to identify
Surveying the sources
• The students will conduct house to house
surveys asking questions about:
– Energy use and travel patterns
– Interest in planting trees, using solar panels, using
small, quiet wind turbines
– Using alternative forms of transport
• We will be working closely with EEAC, EST
and Cred and we aim not to duplicate
questions
• This information will help us to calculate
sources and how we might reduce them
Surveying the sinks
• The students will try to assess sinks by:
– Using aerial photos and satellite images to
map vegetation in the village
– Field survey e.g. counting trees
– The household survey will also ask about
trees.
Land Cover Mapping
Ashton
Hayes
Source: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Land Cover Map 2000
Compiling the budget
• The survey results will be used to calculate
equivalent values of CO2
• We can then compile a budget and work out
how much we have to do to get to:
Sources
And thus
=
Carbon Neutral
Sinks
Feedback and Development
• The students will produce a written report of
their findings and also make a presentation of
them to the village.
• In future years we will survey the uptake of
energy efficiency measures, rates of tree
planting etc and recalculate the budget so
that we can monitor our progress.
• Look out for the sweatshirts in May!!