Carbon Intensity, for where and how you live....

Good data presentation is always a joy to behold and - as some of you may know - I have been fascinated recently by this website, which graphs the carbon intensity of electricity generation around the world: that is, the quantity of carbon per kWh of electrical energy produced.

Ireland | Electricity Maps

It is an interactive graphic that allows you to click on (almost) any country in the world and see what mix of energy sources they used - and how carbon-efficient they have been over the last day, or 3 days, or month etc...

In very general terms, Ireland comes across as being not exactly the laggards in Europe - but not the star performers either. Poland apparently still uses a lot of coal in their energy production (which of course is mined there) which leaves them emitting - over a year - 636 g of CO2 for every unit of electricity. That compares to Ireland's 206g/kWh, and to France's 34g.

Of course, France relies heavily on nuclear energy - and this graphic does a lot to show one side of the perennial pro/anti nuclear arguments.

But having looked at it almost daily for the last few months, it was only today I was struck by the astonishing amount of carbon it represents going into the atmosphere daily.

For example, boiling a kettle 4 or 5 times a day (which I do), puts about 400g of carbon into the atmosphere every week.. And if Ireland's 2 million home are as fond of the kettle as I am, that must be close to 800 tonnes on a national basis. Every week. Just in Ireland.

A dishwasher running 5 times a week, must put close to 1.5 kg into the atmosphere. Or 3000 tonnes for the whole country.

In a week of epic rainfall on this part of the country, where I've seen the sea near me reach its highest level in over 20 years - flooding areas that have never flooded before - it makes for sobering thoughts. Which will hang over every cup of coffee I make from now on. sigh.