Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: daveyroids on 06/11/2007 17:21:44
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If a person smokes 20 cigarettes a day what would their carbon footprint be, just in terms of smoking, over a year?
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If it's the year they die then smoking might reduce their carbon footprint.
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If a person smokes 20 cigarettes a day what would their carbon footprint be, just in terms of smoking, over a year?
In the grand scheme of things, very little.
Cigarettes weigh roughly 1 gram each.
20g x 365 days = 7300grammes/year, or 7.3kg
Worst case that they're 100% carbon, and 100% burned, gives 7.3*((16*2)+12)/12 = 27kg CO2.
A typical British household produces around 8600kg* CO2 annually in "direct" emissions (from their domestic energy use, and car use), excluding all the energy used to grow/manufacture/transport/dispose of all the stuff they buy/eat.
You might argue that since the tobacco and paper was grown recently, that smoking should in fact be carbon-neutral. However the actual carbon footprint of smoking will of course also have to include all the effort in manufacturing, packaging, transporting, and selling the cancer-sticks... I'd hazard a guess that this is likely something like 5 times more than the direct measure.
A bigger effect is all the windows and doors the smokers keep opening, letting all the hot air out of their homes and workplaces, and all the patio-heaters they enjoy at the pubs! [;)]
* calculation from my webpage http://www.techmind.org/energy/dontbanthebulb.html - sorry it's a bit of a rant compared to my usual fayre!