Carbon and Ecological Footprints

Assignment 2

Global Environmental Issues

Goal: Compare the carbon footprint of two cities, one located in the US and another located in a ‘less developed’ country of the Global South. Three groups will examine the relative impacts of Residential Consumption, Transportation, and Urban Form on the comparative Carbon Footprints. We will select three cities with which to make comparisons, one each in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

City?:	____LAGOS, NIGERIA____________ Versus Lexington, Kentucky
General:	Carbon intensity of fuels and energy sources; Cost of fuels used in the city/region: how calculated? Climate and energy use by region: cooling degree-days and heating degree days
	What is the GMP (Gross Metropolitan Product)? What does it mean to ‘normalize’ carbon footprints by GMP?: should this measure be used with respect to carbon intensity? If so, how to compare economies?
Housing		Metropolitan Area’s urban form	Transportation
Electricity and other energy prices: what is the data on fuel prices? Do government subsidies play a role, or is it a function of short distance for energy source to powerplants?		a. Population density, number of persons per acre of developable land in the metropolitan area b. housing density, number of housing units per acre of developable land in the metropolitan area. c. Single versus multi-hub cities	Personal Transport VTM: vehicle transport miles Composition of fleet Automobile ownership Type of fuel used Distance traveled
Housing type and form. How do people live? Types of houses and impact upon energy utilization.		a. job density, number of jobs per acre of developable land in the metropolitan area. b. Population concentration: measures the extent to which persons are evenly distributed across the metro area. Do a qualitative analysis of the urban form.	Mass Transit Effect: how many people use mass transit in the city, what type of mass transit exists, what type of fuel is used, what areas are served by mass transit.