Greenhouse gases

Cut the bull
Tough calls are ahead if Canada is to have any hope of reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 200 megatonnesBy GREG WESTON
Among the many reasons to cut the bull on global warming, it turns out a staggering 24 million tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions are coming from the exhaust pipes of Canadian cattle and other farting farm animals.
In the overall ecological scheme of things, that means farmyard flatulence is contributing as much to heating the planet as half of all the regular passenger cars on Canadian roads today.
Exactly how one coaxes Bessie into a raspberry reduction to help save the Earth is a problem we are happy to leave to Canada's enthusiastic new environment minister, John Baird (although we do hope there will be pictures).
Of course, so-called "enteric fermentation" in farm animals is only a small part of Canada's contribution to global warming -- less than 3%, to be exact -- and one of literally dozens of sources of homemade greenhouse gas emissions.
Unfortunately for Baird, the preponderance of polluters does not mean there are easy choices.
Shutting down the country's coal-fired electrical generating plants would solve a big part of the environmental problem. The trick is how to do it without leaving thousands of Canadians either shivering in the dark or with sky-high electrical bills.
Since cutting greenhouse gases is all about tough choices, how would you do it?
Following is a list of the biggest Canadian contributors to global warming, with the annual amount of greenhouse gas emissions from each in brackets, measured in millions of tonnes, compiled from Environment Canada and other sources.
WORST OFFENDERS
For the sake of a challenge, what would you do to cut 200 million tonnes a year, roughly the reduction that would be required to meet Canada's commitment under the Kyoto protocol by 2012?
- Power generation (130): The worst single offenders are the country's coal-fired electrical generating stations. More than half of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the power sector could be eliminated by shutting down the four largest Ontario coal generators (30), and the five worst belchers in Alberta (41).
- Oil and gas industry (133): Greenhouse emissions from the booming Alberta oil sands operations (34) alone are equal to those given off by the entire natural gas industry (34); more than half the pollution from crude oil production (50); and almost twice the emission levels of the entire petroleum refining industry (18).
- Oil and gas exports to the U.S (46): Over the past 15 years, most of the rapid growth in Canadian petroleum production -- and greenhouse gas emissions from it -- has gone south of the border.
- Ordinary passenger cars (50): For all the bad press the automobile industry gets in the greenhouse gas debate, total emissions from regular family clunkers have actually declined over time, primarily with improved fuel efficiency.
- SUVs and family vans (44): Since 1990, the North American addiction to four-wheel-drive gas guzzlers and mini-vans has accounted for 55% of the total increase in greenhouse emissions from the entire transportation sector.
- Transport trucks (45): Heavy-duty diesel trucks, buses and industrial vehicles have been responsible for most of the remaining 45% increase in transportation emissions over the past 15 years.
- Domestic aircraft (8). While jet fuel may be expensive and not at all good for the environment, grounding all the planes in the country would not reduce greenhouse emissions by even half the filth output of the Nanticoke coal generating station.
- Mining and manufacturing (139): Among Canada's great industrial earth-warmers, the biggest emitters are the chemical industries (22); mining (18); steel mills (15); aluminum and other smelting (13); cement (11); and pulp and paper (9).
- Home heating (43): The cost of a warm bed in our Canadian climate is about 5.5% of the country's annual greenhouse gas emissions, pumped into the air from our home heating systems.
- Office and institutional heating (38): Keeping office workers from freezing at their desks, and patients from dying of exposure in the hospital waiting rooms, produces greenhouse emissions that have increased 25% since 1990.
- Waste disposal (29): Emissions from rotting garbage and other landfill not only stinks, but is also helping to heat the planet.
- Agriculture (55): This brings us back to the substantial greenhouse gas production from farting cattle et al (24), something called "manure management" (8), and other barnyard stuff you really don't want to know.
Remember: Your challenge is to cut 200 megatonnes. No bull.