The Leaders Debate on 24 July 2010 attracted 3 million viewers. Assuming 1/3 of viewers were watching on CRT TVs, 1/3 were watching on Plasma TVs, and 1/3 were watching on LCD TVs, the estimated total electricity consumed over an hour of rigourous political debate is 512 megawatts.
Assuming 1.1 tonnes of carbon is produced per megawatt of electricity, the amount of carbon produced by viewing the Leaders Debate is around 563 tonnes. To put that into perspective, 563 tonnes of carbon is equal to planting 2,226 native trees, or the equivalent of taking 130 cars average size cars off the road for a year.
Based on the above, both leaders would be wise to incorporate a ban on Leaders Debates in their climate change policies!
