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If she's blaming climate change, doesn't that make PG&E culpable? IIRC the majority of their power is generated from natural gas (at least since they shut down

If she's blaming climate change, doesn't that make PG&E culpable? IIRC the majority of their power is generated from natural gas (at least since they shut down San Ohnofre and planned closure of Diablo Canyon), not to mention what the "G" stands for.

BurningFrog 8y ago
If you do the math, I'd guess PG&E's share of the blame is maybe a millionth of a percent.
- jerkstate 8y ago
  let's see. PG&E sells 970 billion cubic feet of gas per year [1] and the most recent study I could find pegs the CO2 output of electrical generation at 456 lbs per MWh in 2007 [2] (which is pretty low), and generated or bought about 80 terawatt-hours in 2014 [3] 456 lbs * 80,000,000 megawatt-hours = 36.5 billion lbs CO2 or 1.65 million metric tons from electrical generation/purchased generated power. Natural gas releases 117 lbs of CO2 per thousand cubic feet [5] so 970 million * 117 lbs = 5.148 million metric tons. California as a whole emits 359 million metric tons of CO2 per year [4] and PG&E generates 27% of the power in California, 27% of 359 million is 97 million metric tons. PG&E sells products which directly contribute 6.798 million metric tons, or about 7% of what I would consider "their share" It's honestly lower than I was expecting but still significant. [1] https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/natural-gas-system-overview/natural-gas-system-overview.page https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/natura... [2] http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2007/environment/energy-future.html http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2007/envi... [3] http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2015/bu01_pge_overview.jsp http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2015/bu01... [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbo... [5] https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php
  - BurningFrog 8y ago
    I really appreciate you doing the math. But the cause of global warming today is the accumulated global production of CO₂ since the start of industrialism a few centuries back. I'll be less ambitious than you and not attempt to compute the number by my definition.
aardvark291 8y ago
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses...?
- imsofuture 8y ago
  Works for banks alright.

BurningFrog 8y ago

If you do the math, I'd guess PG&E's share of the blame is maybe a millionth of a percent.

jerkstate 8y ago
let's see. PG&E sells 970 billion cubic feet of gas per year [1] and the most recent study I could find pegs the CO2 output of electrical generation at 456 lbs per MWh in 2007 [2] (which is pretty low), and generated or bought about 80 terawatt-hours in 2014 [3] 456 lbs * 80,000,000 megawatt-hours = 36.5 billion lbs CO2 or 1.65 million metric tons from electrical generation/purchased generated power. Natural gas releases 117 lbs of CO2 per thousand cubic feet [5] so 970 million * 117 lbs = 5.148 million metric tons. California as a whole emits 359 million metric tons of CO2 per year [4] and PG&E generates 27% of the power in California, 27% of 359 million is 97 million metric tons. PG&E sells products which directly contribute 6.798 million metric tons, or about 7% of what I would consider "their share" It's honestly lower than I was expecting but still significant. [1] https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/natural-gas-system-overview/natural-gas-system-overview.page https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/how-the-system-works/natura... [2] http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2007/environment/energy-future.html http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2007/envi... [3] http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2015/bu01_pge_overview.jsp http://www.pgecorp.com/corp_responsibility/reports/2015/bu01... [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbo... [5] https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php
- BurningFrog 8y ago
  I really appreciate you doing the math. But the cause of global warming today is the accumulated global production of CO₂ since the start of industrialism a few centuries back. I'll be less ambitious than you and not attempt to compute the number by my definition.

aardvark291 8y ago

Privatize the profits, socialize the losses...?

imsofuture 8y ago
Works for banks alright.