Thursday, January 15, 2009

Carbon footprint for the inauguration

The Institute for Liberty has taken a look at the plans for the swearing-in of Barack Obama and calculated the carbon footprint for the inauguration.

Their estimate is 575 million pounds of CO2, an amount that would take the average U.S. household 57,598 years to produce.

Among their findings:

* Celebrities, politicians, and bigwigs using 600 private jets will produce 25,320,000 pounds of CO2
* Personal vehicles could account for 262,483,200 pounds of CO2
* In the parade, horses alone will produce more than 400 pounds of CO2

The Institute for Liberty emphasizes that they are not criticizing the 'travel or commerce involved.' They're just making the point that "some people want to tax and regulate carbon emissions, and they happen to be the same people pumping out carbon dioxide like it’s going out of style."

You can check out the full report for more details.

8 comments:

DeeDee Liedel said...

I can see the comments on the private jets and auto travel, as the presumption is that that would not have absent the inauguration. But the horses ... aren't they going to make CO2 whether they are standing in a field or walking a parade route?

Maggie said...

Good question, DeeDee...perhaps it's the combination of all of them together in one location?

I think the point was not so much the emissions themselves, but that the same people who are so concerned about the emissions seem to not mind producing them in their own pursuits.

Hot Dog Man said...

What about the 6 million people...er 4 million people...um 2 million people....well however many people coming to see the King? they are all going to be exhaling and that just can't be allowed!!!!

Mad Jack said...

How much CO2 will be produced by the speeches?

Maggie said...

Mad Jack said...
How much CO2 will be produced by the speeches?

CO2 ... or hot air????

gordon gekko said...

That Carbon footprint stuff is so 2008...

Respectfully,

An Obama Supporter

Timothy W Higgins said...

Maggie,

Obviously the green thinking so prevalent in the Democratic Convention is no longer applicable. Or is it perhaps that we can look for Al Gore ride in on a white horse to save the day and sell the Federal Govt enough carbon offsets to make everyone feel better about the whole thing?

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Maggie et al,

"But the horses ... aren't they going to make CO2 whether they are standing in a field or walking a parade route?"

It seems to me that the only way to eliminate the horsie;s CO2 impact is to put them on display in a meat case at the local Butcher's shop.

Coincidentally, that also applies for the attendees to the inauguration. . .

:-|

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