Researchers also found that most of the cities with large carbon footprints are east of the Mississippi River and generally south of the Mason-Dixon Line. They were penalized because they are in freight corridors, tend to have an older housing stock, greater fluctuations in summer and winter temperatures, limited mass transit and a heavy reliance on coal for energy. US Metro city residents are greener than their suburbs.

Kentucky Leads largest Per Capita Carbon Footprint

By Jennifer Hong
May 29, 2008 11:16 AM GMT
Researchers also found that most of the cities with large carbon footprints are east of the Mississippi River and generally south of the Mason-Dixon Line. They were penalized because they are in freight corridors, tend to have an older housing stock, greater fluctuations in summer and winter temperatures, limited mass transit and a heavy reliance on coal for energy.

US Metro city residents are greener than their suburbs.

A study released Thursday by the Brookings Institution shows that Richmond, Virginia and the northern Virginia-Washington D.C. region are among the metropolitan areas with the highest levels of carbon emissions per capita.

While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than those living in the suburbs.

The study says the Washington metro area is 12th and Richmond is 15th in terms of carbon emissions per person.

The numbers suggest that Virginians are extremely dependent on driving and use dirty sources of electricity that expands the area's so-called carbon footprint. The per capita numbers are smaller in major cities like New York and Los Angeles in part due to mass transit and population.

According to Brookings Institution, each resident of the 100 largest metropolitan areas is responsible for an average of 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year. That's 14 percent below the national average.

Areas with smallest footprint: Honolulu, Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana, California, Portland/Vancouver/Beaverton, Oregon, New York/Northern New Jersey/Long Island, Boise, Idaho, Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue, Washington, San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, California, San Francisco/Oakland/Fremont, California and San Diego/Carlsbad/San Marcos, California.

Metro areas with largest carbon footprints: Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky, Indianapolis, Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn., St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Harrisburg-Carlisle, Penn. and Knoxville, Tenn.

Lexington, Kentucky has the biggest per capita carbon footprint: Each resident on average accounted for 3.81 tons of carbon dioxide in their energy usage. At the other end of the scale was Honolulu, at 1.5 tons per person.

The Louisville and the Cincinnati metro areas also made the top ten in carbon emissions.

The greatest cluster of the high emitters was in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana — in metro areas with heavy auto and truck use and very high per capita electrical usage.

New York's six metro areas, from Buffalo on the west to New York City on the east, tended to fare much better. What they had in common was fairly small emissions related to home electrical use. The reason, according to the study's authors, is partly the high cost of electricity in New York and some other states.

The study found that the highest per capita electricity usage, and thus emissions, was in states where the cost of power was lowest — minimizing the incentive to conserve. States such as Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio have rates less than half of those in New York.

New York also generates more electricity from carbon-free hydropower and nuclear plants than almost any other state in the country and relies far less than most states on carbon-intensive coal-fired plants.


Share and Enjoy:
Digg StumbleUpon Buzz del.icio.us Facebook NewsVine Reddit YahooMyWeb Google Bumpzee Furl Mixx

Researchers also found that most of the cities with large carbon footprints are east of the Mississippi River and generally south of the Mason-Dixon Line. They were penalized because they are in freight corridors, tend to have an older housing stock, greater fluctuations in summer and winter temperatures, limited mass transit and a heavy reliance on coal for energy.