Reality_Checks

Reality Checks

Statements are made that sound reasonable but when compared to actual events, data or physical conditions they are shown to be unrealistic or unreasonable. The purpose of this section is to place statements or events in perspective. They are organized by general topic. Click on the topic for some interesting reality checks.

Air Quality
ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
Endangered Species
Gasoline
Mercury
Parts per billion (ppb) and parts per million (ppm).
Wind Power (Power generated by windmills)

Air Quality

Claim:

"Nearly half of the US population lives in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution. Metropolitan areas from New York to San Diego are given letter grades of “F” for air quality by the American Lung Association."

Facts:

Virtually the entire nation (>99%) now meets all federal health standards for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. More than 96% of the nation complies with PM10 standards (particulate matter under 10 micrometers in diameter), and the compliance rate is about 70% for EPA’s stringent new annual PM2.5 standard. PM2.5 declined 33% between 1980 and 2000, with the most polluted areas once again achieving the greatest reductions.

ALA “State of the Air” reports give an entire county an “F” grade if only a single air quality monitor within a county exceeds the EPA’s strict new 8-hour ozone benchmark more than 3 times per year. But in most metro areas only a few monitors ever register an exceedence. In some metro areas, only a tiny percentage of the population lives in proximity to air quality monitors that exceed the EPA standard.

For example, ALA gave San Diego an “F” for air quality, claiming that San Diego experienced 16 exceedences per year of the EPA ozone standard. In fact, only a single rural location, Alpine, exceeded the 8-hour ozone standard more than 2 times per year. Actually, 99.7% of people in San Diego County breathe air that meets both the EPA 8-hour and 1-hour ozone standards. ALA greatly exaggerated ozone levels in other metro areas as well.

“Fuzzy math and scare tactics might help green groups raise money, but when they, abetted by an environmentally friendly media, overplay their hand, it invites scathing critiques...” (From “Too Green for Their Own Good?” Time magazine, August 26, 2002 .)

Source: Reason Public Policy Institute April 30, 2003 : Article by Joel Schwartz and Steven F. Hayward

ANWR

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the size of South Carolina. The area required for drilling platforms is equal to the size of the Charleston SC airport.

	Area in Sq Miles		Drilling Area in Sq Miles
ANWR	25,568	ANWR	3
			Airport Area in Sq Miles
South Carolina	30,207	Charleston SC	3

Endangered Species

A recent study claims that 20% of all species will become extinct if the temperature rises .8 degrees C by 2100.

BUT, surface temperatures have increased this much in the last 100 years and there is absolutely NO evidence of massive climate-related extinctions during this period.

The recent study claiming that global warming would cause species to become extinct was in Nature 427, 145-148 ( 8 Jan. 2004 ); by C.D. Thomas et al

Gasoline

Evian costs $5 per gallon which is approaching three times the cost of a gallon of gasoline (at around $2 per gallon).

Mercury

Claim: America isn't doing enough to prevent utilities from emitting mercury into the atmosphere.

Facts. Mercury emission levels in the US have been cut almost in half since 1995, from 77 tons to about 40 tons. America’s mercury emissions pale in comparison with world wide emissions. In 1995 emissions in China were 495 tons, Europe 186 tons and India 117 tons: Mercury emissions from the U.S. were only the sixth highest, behind China, Europe, India, Australia and Zaire.

Implementing the EPA's latest proposal would reduce mercury emissions by around 30 tons, which is nearly an additional 70% reduction from 40 tons.

Sources: The Center for Science and Public Policy web site http://www.ff.org/: The EPA web site http://www.epa.gov/air/mercuryrule/basic.htm

Parts per billion (ppb) -- and --Parts per million (ppm).

Parts per billion and parts per million typically represent the volume of one substance in another.

Some people us these terms to create fear or to distort the facts. For example 0.5 ppm are rephrased as 500 ppb; making the quantity seem larger.

Because these terms are loosely used it's worthwhile having a frame of reference. Here are some comparisons that help place the terms in perspective.

1 ppb is equal to 1 shot glass of whiskey distributed evenly over 8 Olympic size swimming pools.

1 ppb is 1 (a single) playing card out of 573 stacks of cards, where each stack is as tall as the empire state building.

and for ppm:

0.5 ppm is the same as 1 ( a single playing card) in each of 500 stacks of the 573 stacks of playing cards where each stack is as high as the empire state building.

Wind Power

Using windmills alone:

By 2020, an area the size of New Jersey and Maryland combined is required to provide all the new generating capacity required by the US.

An area the size of Ohio is required to generate all of the electricity currently consumed in the United States.

An area the size of Connecticut is required to generate 10% of the electricity currently consumed in the United States.

Supporting data.

Power generation requirements of US by 2020 is 4,800,000,000,000 KWHrs.

Power generated in the US in 1999 = 3,399,600,000,000 KWHrs.

Power generated by one 2000 KW wind turbine = 5,259,600 KWHrs using .3 power factor.

Spacing of windmills is 5 times the rotor diameter resulting in 16 units per square mile.

Windmills used in example are 210 feet high.

Sources: US Statistical Abstract, US Department of Energy

and Danish Wind Industry Association www.windpower.org

To Top of Page