4 ms·
I can't believe that a car dumps a pound of CO2 every mile..
by jamroom 9y ago
I can't believe that a car dumps a pound of CO2 every mile..
- detaro 9y agoIf my numbers are right, that would be a car that does 20 miles per gallon.
- semi-extrinsic 9y agoThe EPA says [1] > The average passenger vehicle emits about 411 grams of CO2 per mile Now that's only tailpipe emissions, so once you include the emissions from producing the gasoline/diesel, it's more than a pound per mile. [1] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-t...
- detaro 9y agoAnd they mention 21.6 mpg as an assumed average, so that seems to match up.
- jamroom 9y agoOK I'm feeling kind of dumb - let's say a car gets 20mpg - if we are emitting 411 grams of CO2 per mile that comes out to 8,220 grams of CO2 in that 20 miles, which is 18.1 pounds of CO2. How do we get 18.1 pounds of CO2 out of a gallon of gas that weighs 6 pounds?
- semi-extrinsic 9y agoNot a stupid question, it's actually a common one. The answer is that only the C in CO2 comes from gas, the O2 comes from the air.