Alison Clouston & Boyd Greenhouse gas emissions audit for “World Tree (part two)” 2007

“Climate Changing Climate” showing, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery.

Hearth, Tin Sheds Gallery showing, Sydney. (additional figures in brackets)

Travel

Using Greenfleet flight calculator and www.greenhouse.gov.au/fuelguide/environment.html

1 Return air flight to Christchurch New Zealand for field recording

4000km = 1.48 tonnes =                                                             1480kg greenhouse gas

Car Fuel in NZ: 867km @ 7.3lt/100km = 64Lt petrol =                                    152kg C02

Car Fuel in AU: 1400km (+900km) @ 10lt/100km = 140lt (+90lt) diesel =           378kg C02 (+243kg)

Materials, embodied energy

Information source: Centre for Building Performance Research Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. www.vuw.ac.nz/cbpr/

Copper pipe 15.4kg @ 70.6mj/kg =1088mj

Steel 35.8kg @ 32mj/kg = 1152mj

Electrical & audio cable .884kg @ 70.6mj/kg (as per copper) = 63mj

Timber for seating, native cypress 39.6kg @ 2.5mj/kg = 100mj

(Paper for invitations 1.5kg @ 36.4mj/kg = 54.6mj)

Total: 3000 megajoules = 3 gigajoules

0.098 tonnes C02/ GJ @ 3GJ = 0.3 tonnes C02 =                                   300kg C02 (5.46kg)

In the Gallery

1 megawatt of coal-generated electricity releases 1 tonne of greenhouse gas Source: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Gallery lighting 330 watts for 38 hours/week for 5 weeks = 62,700watt/hours (+39600watt/hours) 0.0627 megawatt/hours releases 0.0627 tonnes =                                 62.7kg (+39.6kg)

Total calculated greenhouse gas released =                     2377.2kg  (+288.06kg)

Offset cost 

For the construction of World Tree & the Goulburn showing $82.50 was paid to climatefriendly.com for an accredited green power project, in this case a Turkish wind farm. 20% of this money is used for administration. 

For the Sydney showing we decided to donate $100 to the Alternative Energy Association International Projects Group to undertake a solar system upgrade for the Soibada Orphanage in East Timor. This upgrade will enable the orphanage to replace the use of diesel fuel power generation with solar. www.ata.org.au

Notes:

Figures are rounded up. Though we used recycled materials, (all the timber, half the steel, and a third of the copper were second-hand), we have calculated, by necessity, as for new materials. We would have preferred to use Australian figures to estimate the projects’ embodied energy, but couldn’t find any!