Innovative IdeasLet’s Clear the Air
We’ve all heard that our vehicles are among the biggest contributors to air pollution, but did you know that they are responsible for at least one-third of all smog? The experts estimate the average vehicle pollutes two to four times its weight in emissions every year. For example, if you have a 5,000 pound car, it emits 10,000-20,000 pounds of pollution every year (depending on how much gas you consume). So, what can we do? Once again, David McGrath, author of 25 Ways to Raise a Healthy Family and Planet - The Ultimate Guide to Green Living, gives us some practical ideas on how to reduce our gasoline consumption in this week’s informative article.
We’d like to encourage you to sign up for the Billion Bag, Bottle and Bulb Challenge to help Reduce the Use! of one-use plastic items.
Have a great green week!
Greg
November 19th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Sounds prety extreme, but be careful where you go with these analogies.
Consider the following:
Gallon of gas weighs 6.25 pounds
Gas is 87% carbon.
That means there is 5.4375 pounds of carbon in gallon of gas. The ratio of carbon weight to oxygen weight in CO2 is 2.666666667.
Thus gallon of gas makes 14.5 lbs of C02.
I drive my car each year about 25,000 miles.
My car gets 28 mpg, Which generates 12,946 lbs of CO2 per year.
My car weighs 3800 lbs so it Generates 3.4 lbs of CO2 per lb of vehicle per year.
Now a human exhales about 2 lbs C02 per day (assuming a 2500 calarie diet) which is 730 lbs of CO2 per year.
I weigh 180 lbs which means I exhale about 4.1 lbs of CO2 per lb per year.
Well there is one reason to gain weight.
Ray