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Carbon Calculators
How can a two-tonne car produce five tonnes of carbon per year, you ask? In the first place, by carbon we actually mean carbon dioxide or CO2. The average car uses about 2,200 litres of gas annually and every litre of gas produces 2.3 kg of CO2. But since gas only weighs 0.75 kg per litre, where do the other 1.5 of the 2.3 kg come from? From the “O” or oxygen that streams in through the air intake and becomes bonded to the carbon under high compression inside the cylinders.
The average Canadian car produces 25 kg of CO2 every 100 km, but that’s a lot of math. The Europeans have adopted a much simpler expression of carbon in vehicle emissions: grams per kilometre. The average Canadian car produces 250 g/km. The 2009 TDI Clean Diesel makes just 130 g/km. No matter how you shake up the numbers, the fact that vehicle pollution is getting this much attention is a great thing!
For a simple tool to calculate your vehicle tailpipe carbon, try this one. I really like it. It only takes a minute and you may be surprised by what your current vehicle is emitting on those short runs to the video store!
4 Comments
Comments
Hi Mr. Curious (can I call you Just?). Although we prefer to respond to questions from people who have real name, we thank you anyway for your suggestions. We’re no doubt on the same wavelength, because these topics were already on our to-do list. So we’ll definitely be looking at these during the next coming weeks.
Yes, Volkswagen is indeed present on this blog, but given that Volkswagen created the blog in the first place, there’s nothing to “admit.” We’ve never hidden the VW presence: the name of the blog says it all, and so does the big VW disc in the upper left-hand corner of every page. You’ll find all the details about this blog and its goals on http://www.tdicurious.ca/2008/09/lets-be-curious/.
Thanks for your comments. Hope to hear from you again under your real name, Just.
Just Curious… a heavy Volkswagen presence on a VW TDI web site? Really? :’) Your point is valid and raises one of the significant challenges facing corporations who genuinely want to facilitate a dialogue with the public. How do you maintain a neutral position? An open, transparent discussion online without the “spin” from the communications, marketing and PR interests of the brand rarely happens. At this point in time it is unfamiliar territory for most companies and so I applaud Volkswagen for supporting the effort.
Wouldn’t it be great if the TDI Curious discussion could generate engagement from consumers curious about responsible transportation, environment, clean diesel technology and the broad solutions to the challenges we face as a society? Would it lead to more people buying better mousetraps?
You are right about the better mousetrap. If we are talking about hybrids, electrics and clean diesels the numbers are staggering – fuel efficiency in the four and five liter per 100km range which is more than double the current fleet average and low carbon emissions per Km. These are superior mousetraps (the 09 TDI is a 59mpg car on the highway AND approved for California regulations – this is a big step forward for mousetraps!).
Sharing information and informing consumers about the choices available today will only help to accelerate the shift towards more economical and responsible transportation purchasing decisions.
And if that is all the TDI Curious site accomplishes then I think it will be regarded as a success.
Thanks for tuning in.
to just curious, at least one of the alternatives you\’ve mentioned actually harms the environment in the long term. hybrids use a mineral in the batteries (nickel and cadmium) that has to be mined out of the ground. as we all know, mining operations always affects the surrounding area significantly. in the case of mining for nickel, sudbury, ontario actually suffered an environmental meltdown due to the inco superstack, which dispersed sulphur into the air, a byproduct of smelting nickel.
another point against hybrids is that, like all batteries, there will be a time when the battery would need to be replaced, which means disposing of some toxic materials properly, assuming the people doing the disposing does so correctly and not just dump it in the landfill. not only that, but batteries also add weight and weight is the enemy of fuel economy.
on the topic of actual emissions, a hybrid only works at low speeds or city traffic. Once on the highway, you would be using the gasoline engine, just like any other car out there. at least with a tdi, you actually get better emissions and mileage the faster you go (ie: highway driving).
not only that, since hybrids are usually made in japan (at least the most popular one, the prius) that means extra resources are used up get the car across the pacific. of course the same arguement could be made for a tdi.
but in the grand scheme of things, hybrids are really not as good as regular cars. the environmental sensitivity of a hybrid with regards to what comes out the tailpipe is offset by the way the hybrid was made (the batteries) and how it works.
September 18, 2008 by Just Curious
Interesting launch posting. Let\’s take an honest step back and admit there is a heavy Volkwagen presence on this site. I think it is great that VW has a new line of TDI Clean Diesels on the market, but isn\’t this a case of a better mousetrap. One just wonders about the alternatives.
There are definitely some interesting numbers on the screen, but how do the hybrids stack up by comparison? Or the electric alternatives for that matter? Or the air compressed engine for that matter?
How do their carbon emissions stand up?