NOTE:
Site links are available at the
bottom of all pages.

Wholistic Environmental Consulting, Ltd.
Post Office Box 246
Stony Brook, Long Island, New York
11790-0246
  (631)428-6473
E-mail:  jconoverjr11790@yahoo.com

Please note that we cannot work in New York State
Anyplace else in the world is OK!

return to the home page

May 16, 2009

Carbon Dioxide and Carbon, a partial and estimated inventory for North America(a work in progress)

I have read about the concerns about global warming and carbon dioxide. I try to understand the magnitude of the quantities involved, but when I read reports that have large numbers with large exponants, I just cannot picture what it all means.  I have tried , in a small way to try to understand just what is going on with the carbon inventory in North America.

I have totally avoided the use of exponants.  I have tried to estimate the movement of carbon, instead of carbon dioxide (Carbon weighs 27% of Carbon Dioxide). When I refer to carbon, I mean the carbon that is in carbon dioxide.

And, I have calculated the amounts on a daily basis.  And the inventory numbers are in million metric tonnes per day. (A metric tonne is 1000 kilograms. A Kilogram is 2.2 pounds. So, a metric tonne is 2,200 pounds)

I found my starting numbers on the internet, tried to use good sources. If you have better numbers, please let me know. .

Please note that I will not be presenting any opinions on this webpage.  Only numbers.

To get a rough idea of the carbon inventory in North America, I found the amounts of fossil fuels that are used annually(oil, natural gas, and coal)...converted the amounts to carbon, assume that all of the carbon goes into the atmosphere, and then divide by 365 days in a year to see how much, approximately, goes into the air in a day.

And, to get a small handle on the absorption of carbon, I calculated how much carbon is absorbed by the forests and the all of the crops.  The reference that I found for the acres of forests did not have a definition for the word forest.  Are the trees in parks included? small parks? large parks, like the Adirondact Park, I think would be included, but probably the trees in Central Park would not be.  And the trees in suburbia? I do not think these were included.

I also estimated carbon emissions from forest fires and volcanoes, and carbon absorbtion by the tundra in northern Canada and Alaska

Oil, gas, coal, crops, trees, volcanoes, tundra, forest fires.....how much carbon do they give or take from the atmosphere?  Take a look at this spreadsheet if this interests you:

north american carbon inventory.pdf

Copies of the references: naci references

If this article generates interest, we can add to it, and learn more about our world......how many cows are in North America? sheep? horses? how much CO2 do they exhale?  How many acres of soybeans? wheat? apples?......how many microbes per acre? how much CO2 do they exhale? How many forest fires? and don't forget about the bugs and the birds, dogs, cats, ferrets,  and most of all, the people....

The most important thing we can learn about trying to make a complete carbon inventory for the world is that it cannot be done.  Too many unknowns, too many variables.....What I have tried to do is to take some of the big items, find out how much carbon they give or receive, and maybe that can help us to understand the world a little bit........

So far, I have researched the web, done some calculations(see the above linked spreadsheet), and here are some preliminary estimations:

carbon emissions from the consumption of oil,
natural gas and coal in north america=                  -5.16 million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon emissions from forest fires in
North America=                                                  -0.64 million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon emissions from municipal
solid waste in North America=                             -0.12 million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon emissions from
volcanos in North America=                                -0.0203   million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon absorbed by the forests
in North America=                                              7.73   million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon absorbed by all of the crops
in North America=                                              7.21   million metric tonnes of carbon per day

carbon absorbed by the
tundra of Alaska and Canada=                            0.435   million metric tonnes of carbon per day

preliminary and incomplete balance so far=        9.43   million metric tonnes of carbon per day*

*carbon that is lost by our ecosystems and enters the atmosphere is a negative number and carbon that is gained
by our ecosystems is a positive number.

"To judge the direction of the wind, it is enough to look at a single blade of grass."-Daisetz T. Suzuki

 "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" - Bob Dylan