Climate impact of tree removal:
(very rough and fast calculation--not ready for publication)
executive summary:
removal of 660 trees (rough average per course tree removal of courses mentioned in this thread)
is the equivalent of adding 20 cars to the road for one year. removal of 100,000 trees (rough total for all courses mentioned in this thread) is the equivalent of adding 30,000 cars to the road for one year (~0.01% of all the cars registered in the US), which is roughly equivalent to the yearly emissions of the Turks and Caicos islands.details:
climate impact is often measured in equivalent amount of cars added to the road.
Average car/light truck mileage in US in 2011: 21.4mpg
average number of miles driven per year in US in 2011: 11, 318
number of cars registered in US in 2012: 254 million
% of US emissions due to cars and trucks: 20%
% of US emissions compared to world emissions: 16%
% of world emissions due to US cars and trucks: 3%
% of world emissions due to tree removal on US golf courses mentioned in this thread: (0.0003%)
equivalent emissions of tree removal in this calculation takes into account only loss of uptake of CO2 by the trees, not the emissions due to the actual cutting down and hauling away of the trees
sources:
http://www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htmhttp://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/refs.htmlvarious wikipedia sites for yearly emissions by country, etc.