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These are the Random Thoughts of Chris Tilley.

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Archives for: November 2007

CARMA

CARMA is a website that is a front end for a database of 50,000 power plants from all around the world. They have data on the generating capacity and the CO2 levels. They also have data on % nuclear, fossil fuel, hydro and other for countries.

the carbon figures by country are scary. The interesting thing is I was curious about the numbers by population. So I calculated the Tons of CO2/person and MWh/person for the top 15 CO2 emitters.

CountryCO2
(Million
Tons)
MwhPopulationCO2/
pop
Mwh/
pop
United States2,7903,969,999,872301,139,9479.2613.18
China2,6802,409,999,8721,321,851,8882.031.82
Russia661989,000,000141,377,7524.687
India583597,000,0001,129,866,1540.520.53
Japan4001,020,000,000127,433,4943.148
Germany356625,000,00082,400,9964.327.58
Australia226195,000,00020,434,17611.069.54
South Africa222246,000,00043,997,8285.055.59
United Kingdom212362,000,00060,776,2383.495.96
South Korea185299,000,00049,044,7903.776.1
Poland166222,000,00038,518,2414.315.76
Italy165224,000,00058,147,7332.843.85
Taiwan153231,000,00022,858,8726.6910.11
Spain148237,000,00040,448,1913.665.86
Canada144598,000,00033,390,1414.3117.91

What is interesting is the per population numbers. The US isn't number one in either of those. In Tons of CO2 per person number One belongs to Australia. As for MWh per population that 'honor' belongs to Canada. For those of you that know that Canada is a net exporter of electricity I took the 2004 numbers into account and it only decreased the MWh / person by .5.

I have two minor complaints about the site. The first is that the maps don't zoom in to reveal greater detail. I first tried to zoom the map in where I live and saw no power plants. At first I thought they only had limited data, but then I found the 'dig deeper' that allowed me focus in on a region. The second is it would be nice to have more data on what the power plants actually are. There are a number of small scale CO2 generating power plants in BC that are listed as cogen plants. What they appear to be is the burning of wood waste from the forestry industry to generate power. In the old days this waste would still be burned in very polluting beehive burners. Not sure if the cogen plants are any less polluting but at least they are generating electricity as a byproduct.

The best bit is being able to find out who is providing your power and how much CO2 is being generated as a result.



Permalink11/25/07, 09:21:37 pm, by admin Email , 80 views, Global Warming, Cool Websites

Darth &Droids / DM of the Rings

David Morgan-Mar creator of Irregular Web Comic (along with other co-conspirators) have a new project. Darth & Droids is based on the Star Wars movies. What they are doing is retelling the story as if the it was being played as a role playing game. They use screen shots to illustrate the comic. Its absolutely hilarious if you have any knowledge of role playing. Their explanation for the existence of Jar Jar Binks is perfect. At least from a humour point of view. They are up to 19 'full page' strips.

In reading Darth & Droids they referred to being 'inspired' by DM of the Rings.
DM of the Rings used the same method of viewing the movie as a role playing game and using screenshots of the movie. I have only read about 30 strips but so far excellent. Of course I am a fan of the movies and the books. He has completed all the movies and moved on to other projects.



Permalink11/06/07, 09:17:04 pm, by admin Email , 206 views, Web Comics