Calculate your auto Emissions!
The purpose of this activity is to inform us as consumers just how much emissions our personal vehicles actually release into the environment. From here you can be make better educated decisions when choosing to use alternative modes of transportation when traveling.
Background: Emissions from an individual car are generally low, but in numerous cities across the country, the personal automobile is the single greatest polluter. This is because emissions from millions of vehicles on the road add up. Driving a car is probably a typical citizen's most "polluting" daily activity.The power to move a car comes from burning fuel in an engine. Pollution from cars comes from by-products of this combustion process and from evaporation of the fuel itself. Did you know that SUV's put out 43% more global-warming pollutants and 47% more air pollution than the average car? For these reasons alone we need to start thinking of alternative modes of transportation. Think of how many pollutants could we prevent from being released into the air. Cars not only require much more energy and product to produce than bicycles they also use less, and are in general a much healthier mode of transportation. Using a bicycle to commute four days a week for four miles saves 54 gallons of gas annually. We all are always looking for ways to save gas and our money, try biking any short distances you need to travel. Not only will you save money but you'll feel better knowing you didn't contribute to the pollution and also did something healthy for your body. Finally, just to give you a sense of how serious of an issue CO2 emissions are from transportation alone take a look at this statistic. Carbon dioxide emissions from personal vehicles in the United States equaled 314 million metric tons in 2004. That much carbon would fill a coal train 55,000 miles long, long enough to circle the earth twice!
Instructions: Use this calculator to calculate how much your vehicle emits into the atmosphere. If you don't have a personal car use your parents or even roommates. If you really wanted to go above and beyond, compare your vehicle to your parents/roommates etc. Your results will give you the total pounds of CO2 released, total CO2 MT emissions, and your total CO2 credit cost. I've included my results so you can at least compare them to mine if you have no one else to compare to. 10,426.44 lbs is how much my 2008 Pontiac G6 emits, hopefully some of you get better results than I did!
I don't use QUITE as many pounds of CO2 as you do, but my Pontiac is pretty dang close with 9,211 lbs. It's so disgusting to know that just ONE individual can create that much pollution by owning a car, and there are BILLIONS of vehicles out there. Mine, not even being one of the worst ones!! This problem definitely impacts our environment immensely and we must begin to reduce our production of CO2
ReplyDeleteTo go for a bicycle ride for 4 miles 4 times a week would save 54 gallons of gas a year...too bad it snows so much up here! I'm astonished when I do see those random people biking in a blizzard, all bundled up! Can't wait to calculate my CO2 emissions, especially cause I just bought my car less than a year ago.
ReplyDeleteWell, my car uses more emissions than yours does. I am not sure I actually drive as much as the average American but that is still more than I would like it to be. This is a good topic to bring awareness to!
ReplyDeleteMy car was a little less with 8,230.87 lbs. I figured this would be because my car is pretty small and gets good gas milage! This was very interesting and a good activity to do!
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking to see how many pounds of CO2 I actually produce, and my car is even decently small and gets good mileage. Mine is a little bit less than yours, but those numbers are still pretty high. I should really consider taking the bus when going place to place within the city and limit my driving to the highway when I go home for breaks!
ReplyDeleteThe amount of Co2 I produce is a little less than yours, but still quite a bit! I'm glad that you and Elly did activities about Co2 emissions. I never really think about how harmful it is to jump into my car and go to school or somewhere else without carpooling. Being more conscientious about how much I drive and where I drive is definitely something I need to change!
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