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It drives me crazy when someone advertises some electronic this-or-that as emissions-free.
Electric cars. Electric lawn mowers.
I use gas powered appliances for work because 1) they're more powerful, getting the job done more efficiently; 2) they are a constant reminder that, despite strides manufacturers are taking, they're noisy polluting beasts.
I don't like that false sense of security, a bit of smug contentment, that comes from using something with zero-emissions (or emissions-free*) products when there's 2.6 million cubic yards of emissions** spread across the landscape in just this one example.
And, as the article goes on to point out, this country generates 129 million tons of coal ash each year, and that's not even counting the emissions that - literally - go up in smoke.
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* I expect these two terms are, once lawyers have gotten a hold of them, not equal and each one implies a particular state of emissions that are neither free nor zero.
** 2.6 million cubic yards. That's approximately 185,715 triple axle dump trucks full. That's 70.2 million cubic feet. For the record, I calculate that out to 6" of stuff over 318.3 acres, which is a lot less than 400 acres covered by up to 6 feet the article mentions, so their math or reporting might be off. Might need more dump trucks! =)
Footnote-the-last: My electricity is not generated by the sun or wind, the only two sources I would prefer to use. This might seem like a typical case of pointing out a splinter in the eye while I carry around a whole lumber yard in my eyeball, however, my point is I don't claim to be running emissions-free or zero-emissions. If you want to, call those products "emissions-free-at-the-point-of-use-but-lord-a-mighty-don't-look-at-where-the-juice-comes-from-and-certainly-don't-look-at-the-factory-where-it's-made-which-uses-a-ton-of-fossil-fuel-power-and-ingredients-and-dumps-toxic-sludge-hopefully-when-no-one-is-looking." See, all I'm after is a little truth-in-advertising. I know it's really too much to ask, but (0) != (>0) and they need to stop pretending it is.
Electric cars. Electric lawn mowers.
I use gas powered appliances for work because 1) they're more powerful, getting the job done more efficiently; 2) they are a constant reminder that, despite strides manufacturers are taking, they're noisy polluting beasts.
I don't like that false sense of security, a bit of smug contentment, that comes from using something with zero-emissions (or emissions-free*) products when there's 2.6 million cubic yards of emissions** spread across the landscape in just this one example.
And, as the article goes on to point out, this country generates 129 million tons of coal ash each year, and that's not even counting the emissions that - literally - go up in smoke.
~ ~ ~
* I expect these two terms are, once lawyers have gotten a hold of them, not equal and each one implies a particular state of emissions that are neither free nor zero.
** 2.6 million cubic yards. That's approximately 185,715 triple axle dump trucks full. That's 70.2 million cubic feet. For the record, I calculate that out to 6" of stuff over 318.3 acres, which is a lot less than 400 acres covered by up to 6 feet the article mentions, so their math or reporting might be off. Might need more dump trucks! =)
Footnote-the-last: My electricity is not generated by the sun or wind, the only two sources I would prefer to use. This might seem like a typical case of pointing out a splinter in the eye while I carry around a whole lumber yard in my eyeball, however, my point is I don't claim to be running emissions-free or zero-emissions. If you want to, call those products "emissions-free-at-the-point-of-use-but-lord-a-mighty-don't-look-at-where-the-juice-comes-from-and-certainly-don't-look-at-the-factory-where-it's-made-which-uses-a-ton-of-fossil-fuel-power-and-ingredients-and-dumps-toxic-sludge-hopefully-when-no-one-is-looking." See, all I'm after is a little truth-in-advertising. I know it's really too much to ask, but (0) != (>0) and they need to stop pretending it is.
