LBK Green Group Forum

    There are over two million pieces of construction and mining equipment in the United States, which consume over 6 billion gallons of diesel fuel per year ( U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA],  2005 ). The main environmental concern surrounding the use of construction and mining equipment is emissions of air pollutants that impact climate change and air quality.  On Longboat Key, not only air pollution, but  unnecessary noise pollution  are concerns. Including lawn maintenance fuel consumption, America burns 9 billion gallons of gas/diesel per year for construction and lawn care. A recent study from Stanford University highlights the upstream cost of burning fossil fuels that include drilling/transporting to a refinery/refining/transporting to a gas station or depot/and finally being burned in an internal combustion engine. The study estimates the combined greenhouse gas footprint is 20 pounds of pollutants per gallon. I don't even want...

  What does "Social Cost" mean? Simply put, the social costs or each extra ton of CO2 in the atmosphere is estimated to be $51. These social costs result from manifestations of climate change and global warming. Resulting in:  Increased forest fire damage, more severe storms, increased flooding, more severe tornados and hurricanes, drought, increased hunger, incursion of salt water into coastal aquafers, eco-migration, coral reef death, etc. The list goes on and on and already impacts every person and living creature on the planet in one way or another. The social cost of what we are doing is not showing up on people's electric bills or property taxes. Yet the costs are steadily mounting. Each household's electricity use generates a ton of CO2 every seventy days on average. or $20 a month in additional social costs. Pollution free sources of power are available as home solar or renewable energy certificates for about the same monthly cost.  I believe an ounce of preve...