Guest
asked 3 years ago
1 Answer - Sort by: Date | Rating
Yes, we are talking (mostly) about the hair on the human head. Although hair all over the body contributes, too.
Dry hair is 45% carbon. What if instead of a fashion for short hair, many men (and some women) decided to grow their hair longer? Hair typically grows about 4 inches a year and can weigh up to several pounds in weight. How much carbon could be carried around on our head, not getting volatised into the atmosphere to make the green-house gas carbon dioxide? Given 6 billion people, that's up to 250g (8 oz) of carbon on each head, or 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon. To put that into perspective, annual US carbon releases are only about 1.6 gigatonnes.
It then depends what we do with it. If it's cut regularly & burnt for energy, it could offset fossil fuel usage (no net damage to climate).
However, the fossil fuel-based energy used washing the hair might more than destroy any benefits of this potential carbon sink. We could of course as a society drop our hygiene standards; after all, in much of the world washing hair is a rare luxury.
Dry hair is 45% carbon. What if instead of a fashion for short hair, many men (and some women) decided to grow their hair longer? Hair typically grows about 4 inches a year and can weigh up to several pounds in weight. How much carbon could be carried around on our head, not getting volatised into the atmosphere to make the green-house gas carbon dioxide? Given 6 billion people, that's up to 250g (8 oz) of carbon on each head, or 1.5 gigatonnes of carbon. To put that into perspective, annual US carbon releases are only about 1.6 gigatonnes.
It then depends what we do with it. If it's cut regularly & burnt for energy, it could offset fossil fuel usage (no net damage to climate).
However, the fossil fuel-based energy used washing the hair might more than destroy any benefits of this potential carbon sink. We could of course as a society drop our hygiene standards; after all, in much of the world washing hair is a rare luxury.
0
0
- What Is The Giraffe's Climate?
- What Vegetation Grows In The Dry Regions?
- How Have Humans Adapted To Hurricanes?
- How Hot Can It Get In A Tundra?
- Climate And Environment Are Examples Of What Type Of Factors?
- How Do Climate Affects The Philippines?
- What Is The Average Annual Rainfall In Seoul, Korea?
- What Kind Of Climate Does Northern Austria Have?
- How Hot Is Spain In January?
- Why Is The Rainy Season Dangerous?
- How Plants Adapt To Climates?
- Name The Diverse Climate And Vegetation Zone In Which Biosphere Reserves Has Been Set Up?
- What Dose Humid Subtropical Mean?
- What Climate Were Neanderthals Adapted To?
- Is There A Rainforest In Africa?
- Does Southern Alaska Have A Marine West Coast Climate?
- How Has The Vegetaion Had To Adapt To And Equatorial Climate?
- What Is The Climate In Fiji?
- How Humid Subtropical Climate Affects People?
- What Climate Zone Does A Koala Live In?
- What Is The Climate In The Freshwater Biome?
- Are There Any Humans In The Equatorial Climate?
- What Climate Is It If It Has Tropical And Vast Grassland?
- How Does Place Affect The Climate In Malaysia?
- What Type Of Climate Does Fl. Have?
- Why Does Growing Trees Help Reduce Climate Change?
- Why Is My Hair Not Growing?
- How Do I Get My Hair Growing?
- Why Is My Hair Growing In Curly?
- Why Isnt My Hair Growing?
- What Are The Best Hair Growing Products?
- What Is The Best Hair Growing Products?
- How Can I Stop Hair Growing Under My Skin?
- Longer/faster Growing Hair:what Does It Take?
- I Don't Find My Hair Growing From Last Three Months, What Could It Be?
- When Does A Humans Hair Stop Growing?
- What Helps In Growing Facial Hair?
- Why Do Dogs Have Hair Growing In Their Ears?
- When Does Armpit Hair Stop Growing?
Featured Question
New Comment - Comments are editable for 5 min.