The above chart appears in Fast Company‘s article Carbon offsets could help low-income Americans with energy efficiency.
The ideas in the article itself are strong.
There are appropriately given caveats about the numbers that properly warn us that the numbers are telling us a more optimistic story than is realistic. While this is good, the additional information should have been obtained so that we would be informed by reading the article.
But that was not the first thing that screamed out at me!
30 years for Refrigerators or Heat Pumps to pay for themselves
10 years for Windows.
Under 3 years for Attic Insulation!
Half a pound of carbon per dollar per year for Refrigerators, Heat Pumps or Windows
Fifty pounds for Attic Insulation
The chart doesn’t make it clear that the numbers shown make attic insulation 100x more cost-effective at carbon capture than anything else while being 3x cheaper.
Fast Company does us a great service by suggesting these local offset strategies, but it misses a chance to educate us about how to do this well and how to think about doing it well.
So here is my question(s) for the day.
For those of you who have training in data visualization, would you have been embarrassed to publish a chart like this one?
For those of you involved in publishing, do you have a process in place to prevent such teaching opportunities from being missed?
Feel encouraged to let me know in the comments.
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