Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate change. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Arnold Schwarzenegger Lets Loose On Facebook

Recently, someone posted a link to a rather silly Facebook screed from California's ex-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. A few minutes of fact-checking reveal some seriously misleading numbers. For example:

Seven million persons die each year because of pollution.

About 6 million of those 7 million deaths associated with pollution are in the relatively low income regions of South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Nations. Additionally, over half (55%) of that 6 million are related to *indoor* pollution not outdoor pollution. So, while the number is technically correct it is also misleading.

California gets 40% pf its power from "renewable" sources.

The California Energy Commission reported the percentage of in-State electricity generation for 2015 as

Wind6.2%
Solar7.7%
Small hydro1.2%
Geothermal6.1%
Biomass3.2%
Large hydro5.9%
Coal0.3%
Nuclear9.5%
Natural gas59.9%

So about 70% is from non "renewable" sources leaving only 30% to fill out Arnie's 40% claim. If out-of-State source are also considered, the percentage of renewable sources drops to 22%.

I leave it as an exercise for the student to debunk the rest of it.