Excessive Greenhouse Gases Lead to Warming

Greenhouse gases surround the Earth like a blanket. As we use burn more coal, natural gas, and oil, the
blanket becomes excessively thick, dense, and less likely to allow heat to escape. Heat gets trapped inside
the blanket of greenhouse gases and the Earth becomes too warm. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide
(CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4), trap heat in the atmosphere. With higher-than-natural
concentrations, they lead to unnatural warming.Historic Carbon Dioxide Concentrations

Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)

concentration has increased by about 40% to above 400 parts per
million (ppm).

Current CO2 levels are 100 ppm higher than at any time in the
last million years and likely higher than any time in the last 25
million years. The dramatic increase of 100 ppm over 120 years is
something that normally takes 5,000 to 20,000 years.

Energy We Use

The energy we use at home comes in two basic categories,

electricity and fuel for heat. There are extremely effective ways
to reduce our emissions from electrical use. We can purchase
renewable electricity for our homes, reduce what we consume
with energy-efficient appliances, install photovoltaic solar panels,
and make use of home batteries.

Reducing the fuel we use for heating our homes and water is
more challenging, but there are still things we can do. The first
step is to get a free home energy audit (many vendors offer the
service) and insulate our homes as best we can. Buying efficient water heaters, furnaces, and appliances is
the next step.

Potential Impact

By doing each of those things, the typical Massachusetts household could reduce their carbon emissions by
about 20%.

How We Move

It won’t come as a surprise to most Bay Staters that we burn huge amounts of fossil fuels in cars to get us
from place to place. One only needs to spend a few minutes on I-95 during rush hour traffic to understand
why. So, it follows that the most effective way we can reduce emissions from transportation is by reducing
the number of gas-powered cars on the road. There are many ways to do that. We can put pressure on state
and local leaders for more public transportation, especially to rapidly developing Boston suburbs. We can
carpool and we can, of course, walk or bike to work when possible.

The single most effective thing we can do as individuals, however, is to purchase an electric vehicle or plug-
in hybrid when it comes time to replace our old cars. If you’ve switched your home over to renewable
electricity, you’ll also be charging your car sustainably. The result is that you’ve brought your emissions from
transportation to a tiny fraction of what they were.

Potential Impact

We’ll estimate that scenario reduces our carbon emissions by about 30%.