This article was taken from the July issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online
Most of the ways we produce energy results in carbon dioxide emissions -- which, in large quantities, affects the Earth’s climate.
But to reduce atmospheric CO2 we have to understand how it is produced. That’s where Yoichi Kaya comes in. An engineer at Tokyo University, Kaya and a team of carbon experts put together this formula for computing the total CO2 generated by human consumption -- and where it comes from.
Looking at the equation, it becomes clear that if we want to eliminate emissions, then either population (P), consumption (g), energy used in production (e) or carbon used to produce that energy (f) has to go to zero. Of course, we don’t want to depopulate the Earth or stop eating and commuting. Energy use can be cut dramatically, but it can’t be eradicated.
So reducing any of those factors will just buy us time to come up with a zero-carbon energy source. Get cracking, scientists!
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/659x425/d_f/equation.jpg" alt="CO2 equation" style="text-shadow: none;"/>
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
