How much carbon dioxide does leaving lights on cause?

Question

I leave all my lights, tv, radio, and computer on 24 hours a day.

Answer 1

I don't know off the top of my head, but I recommend you visit

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/...

A carbon footprint is an estimation of how much carbon dioxide you put into the atmosphere as a result of your activities. There are a number of carbon calculators on the internet that will calculate it for you if you give some information about yourself. Then they will usually give you tips to reduce your carbon footprint.

Answer 2

That depends on how many watts of electricity your appliances are consuming, and what the source of your electricity is.  

Generating 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity produces:

- 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from a coal-fired plant (1 kg per kilowatt-hour)

- 800 metric tons of carbon dioxide from an oil-fired plant

- 475 metric tons of carbon dioxide from a natural gas-fired plant

So let's assume all of your electricity is produced by a coal-fired generating plant, and that you have the following  appliances running 24 hours per day:

* 8 light bulbs @ 100 watts = 800W

* 1 computer @ 200 watts = 200W

* 1 radio @ 50 watts = 50W

* 1 TV @ 250 watts = 250W

Total  consumption 1,300 watts, or 31 kilowatt hours in 24 hours.

That means you are adding about 31 kg (about 68 lbs) of CO2 to the atmosphere every day just with the appliances.  Not only that, but its costing you about $3 per day (at 0.10 per kwh), or over $1000 per year in needless energy costs.

If your local utility is using nuclear, hydro, wind, or solar energy, then you are not contributing to the formation of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrous oxide.  Nuclear is by far the world's largest source of CO2 free energy, and already produces about 16% of the world's electricity supply.  In the U.S. alone, nuclear power plants prevent the discharge of 682 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. Hydro also is greenhouse gas free.  Wind and solar energy promise to be an important part of our future energy needs although they will never replace the firm energy capabilities of hydro and nuclear.

Answer 3

The average wasted by leaving things on is about 10-20% of a person's electricity.  You're wasting a lot more than average and are probably closer to 30%.

You could save a lot of money turning off what you don't need.  It's false that turning computers off is bad.