Burning Carbon to Reduce Carbon Burning

The Drudge Report links to a Times On-Line article this morning, about the British government's new super computer. They will be using the computer to predict weather patterns, monitor global warming, and help reduce CO2 emissions. The real problem, of course, is that Britain produces most of it's electrical power from fossil fuels. The super-computer will...

"...emit 14,400 tonnes of CO2 a year,” said Dave Britton, the Met Office’s chief press officer. This is equivalent to the CO2 emitted by 2,400 homes – generating an average of six tonnes each year.

Meanwhile, Dennis, commenting from Abiline, Los Estados Unidos says...

Simple solution: move the computer to France where 80% of electrical energy comes from nuclear power plants as compared to fossil fuel. This will reduce the carbon footprint of the computer by a factor of 5.

A factor of 5 would reduce the carbon footprint down to 2,880 tonnes of CO2/year, or the equivalent of 480 homes in Britain. Even better, if the British would build a nuclear power plant near the computer, the carbon emissions would be close to zero. They could measure global warming and support 2,400 plus homes relatively carbon free. Environmentalism would do much better if the experts would drop their ideological purity, and think outside the box at least once in a while.