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Carbon Dioxide Site Offers 'Power-Plant Voyeurism'

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By H. JOSEF HEBERT, The Associated Press

Published: November 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - There's growing worry about global warming, but how much of it is the work of that power plant just outside town? If Congress limits heat-trapping greenhouse gases, will it affect utility and electric bills? Who's the biggest corporate culprit when it comes to climate change?

Answers to these questions may be only a couple of computer clicks away.

A new interactive online database unveiled Wednesday provides maps, color-coded categories and detailed information about who is putting 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually from power plants around the world - about a fourth of it from the United States.

The Web site, which includes information from 4,000 utilities and 50,000 plants, shows not only the biggest CO2 emitters, but also the facilities and companies that are most green, releasing little if any carbon.

"We're trying to provide complete, balanced information. It's an open site," said David Wheeler, a senior researcher at the Center for Global Development, where he directed the creation of the massive database.

Using an array of information filters, a user can find out how much CO2 comes from electricity plants in a city or county, in a congressional district, from a specific company, or an individual plant.

The Carbon Monitoring for Action database, or CARMA ( www.carma.org), proclaims itself as "the world's best place for power-plant voyeurism."

There also is a bundle of interesting information.

Australians produce 11 tons of CO2 for each of its people from their power plants - the highest anywhere - compared to 9 tons per person in the United States and 2 tons per person in China.

The United States, however, has the most CO2 emissions (2.79 billion tons), followed by China (2.66 billion tons). China, which soon is expected to pass the United States, is home to three of the world's five most CO2-polluting utilities.

China's Huaneng Power International leads all of the world's power companies, releasing nearly 292 million tons of CO2 annually.

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