AUSTRALIA’S ENERGY FOOTPRINT
Each Australian transforms 240 GJ per year or 66,666 Whr / yr. The amount of forest required to absorb the CO2 produced and denatured the waste depends on the kind of fuel used, as shown below.|
Fuel source |
GJ / ha / year of forest. Or 1 ha of forest absorbs each year:: |
|
Coal |
55 |
|
Liquid fossil fuel |
71 |
|
Natural gas |
93 |
|
Hydro |
1000 (land covered by dams and grid) |
Sources of the 240 GJ / Year that each person transforms and the corresponding areas of forest required to absorb the waste are:
|
Source |
GJ / person /yr |
Conversion factor GJ / ha /yr |
Forest area |
Ha required / person |
|
37% coal |
88.8 |
55 |
88.8 / 55 |
1.614 |
|
33% Oil |
80 |
71 |
80 /71 |
1.127 |
|
19% natural gas |
45.6 |
93 |
45.6 / 93 |
0.49 |
|
9% hydro |
21.6 |
1000 |
21.6 / 1000 |
0.021 |
|
Total |
235.2 |
3.252 |
Australians consume more energy, products and services than ever before. The total energy used in 1998 was 2.8 times the total energy used in 1978, when the population grew 1.3 times in the same period.
GLOSSARY
Appropriated carrying capacity is another name for the ecological footprint. Appropriated signifies captured, claimed or occupied. EF’s remind us that we appropriate ecological capacity for food, fibres, energy, waste etc.
Cargoism is the delusion that technology will always save us
Carrying capacity is the maximum permanently supportable load
Cornucopian myth is the euphoric belief in limitless resources
Drawdown stealing resources from the future
Ecological remainder. Areas with footprints smaller than their locally available ecological capacity are endowed with an ecological remainder. This remainder is often occupied by the footprints of other regions through export production.
Overshoot is growth beyond an area’s carrying capacity