The difference between (raw) data and intel
Summary
At the time of writing (early October), the live counter on the climate change research site, theworldcounts.com, says that there have been well over 33 billion tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere so far in 2022. The scale of CO2 releases is simply too high to comprehend, and there is no context attached to what carbon emissions should mean as a metric for human-made impacts on Earth’s climate. The process of gathering such intelligence, particularly in this context of climate change and peak road traffic conditions, could be exemplified as such: • A recording of 100 vehicles on one road in one working day demonstrated that road-based air pollution correlates with the traffic demands of the working day (in other words, they hit their peaks during the various rush hours seen from Monday through to Friday). This is as the finding can be used to contextualise why users of air purifiers and HVAC systems can save energy by activating their ventilation devices during rush hours – but not necessarily during the low-traffic times of the day. On a similar note, consider that urban homeowners (especially those with hay fever) are often told to avoid opening their windows during peak traffic times.