Guy Goes Green

Wannabe green guy going green

Posts Tagged ‘CO2’

Dear NASCAR-forget your environmental impact-SAVE THE RIGHT TURN!

November 19th, 2009

I think it is important for me to step away from the normal topic of my blog (going green) and bring up a topic that I feel needs to be addressed if we are to move forward as a people. NASCAR needs to start respecting the right orientation now. I started this topic with the intention of relating it to this week’s task of increasing driving efficiency, but looking through the various NASCAR tracks I noticed almost NO tracks where they could turn right. It appears that NASCAR is bigoted against the right turn and I am asking you to sign a petition for orientation equality! Save the right turn.

Yes to the Right Turn

I was trying to write an article that highlighted the horrible gas mileage (about 5 mpg) over long periods (about 500 miles) and not really going anywhere, but this obvious bias to the left turn kept on nagging at my soul! I think I even got to the part where they indicated between 9 and 14 sets of tires are used during a race, but then had to change my topic. NASCAR needs to stop being bigoted to the right turn!

There are many things that are wonderful about the right turn. Some of which are follows:

Could you even have a left without the right?
You can turn right on red lights.
This song would not be the same without the right orientation.
Most people would not be able to write without their right hands.
The loss of Righty Tighty / Lefty Loosey will cause hours of inefficiency and worldwide safety issues.

There are many other things that are wonderful about the right turn and NASCAR should act now to treat the right turn as an equal to the left turn. NASCAR might be turning over a new leaf and just starting to try and go green by putting someone in charge of green innovation, but I still think they should put someone in charge of right turn equality. Some may think it hard to excuse the 14,000 TON carbon footprint of the 2008 Daytona 500, but I think the obvious bias to turning left cannot be overlooked any longer and this is where the real outrage should be. Save the right turn!

People of the universe… join me in this great cause. Once I have collected as many signatures as possible, I will submit this to NASCAR along with this post.

We, the people of the universe, believe that you favor the left orientation and demand that the right turn be provided equality. The right turn is just as good as the left and want to see more right turns in NASCAR racing. Save the right turn!

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Posted in Air, Week 5 Driving

Tags: CO2 green nascar vehicles

If you drive efficiently you might save 2 tons of greenhouse gases this year

November 17th, 2009

This week’s task is to try and improve the environment through better driving. Since Ashley and I drive little Saturn vehicles, I did not think we could do a whole lot more to improve, but I was 100% wrong and astonished with the information I found. I understand that the less gas we use the less impact on the environment and will convey what I learned about a driver’s impact on the environment.

What is the impact that one gallon of gas has on the environment and why is it important to conserve gas? According to Slate, one gallon of gas equates to 19 pounds of greenhouse gases. The average person drives about 12,000 miles and Google.org indicates that the nation average mpg for trucks and cars are 19.8 mpg. This equates to 606 Gallons of gas per year or approximately 11,500 pounds of green house gases per person per year. If a person drives for 50 years, this ends up being 575,000 pounds or 287 tons of CO2 per driver over a lifetime. With over 190.5 million drivers in the US, this adds up to 2,190,750,000,000 pounds CO2/year or 109,537,500,000,000 pounds over a lifetime. Holy Greenhouse! This seems high to me and if anyone notices my math is messed up, please let me know!

OK, so now that I am dizzy with numbers, what can we do as one person? How about this short list:

Make sure your tires are filled. Properly inflated tires result in a savings of 20 gallons of gas every year or saves 380 lbs of greenhouse gases.
Keep your engine tuned. Using statistics found here (based on 12,000 and 19.8mpg), keeping your engine tuned can save you about 24 gallons of gas a year or 456 lbs of greenhouse gases
Drive sensibly. Aggressive driving lowers your mpg. The sited link indicates a driver can increase efficiency from 5-33%. Using an average of 15% (based on 12,000 and 19.8mpg), that is 91 gallons of gas or 1729 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Follow the speed limit. Apparently fuel efficiency dramatically drops after 60 mph. The link indicates a fuel economy benefit of between 7-23%, but I am just going to average it out at 10%. This ends up being 61 gallons or 1209 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Remove excess weight – Do you have extra heavy stuff hanging out in your car that could be removed? This can provide 1-2% fuel economy or about 12 gallons/228 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Avoid idling – You get 0 mpg if you are standing still.
Use your Cruise Control when appropriate – This will save you gallons on the highway.

Just by following these few simple tips, we can reduce our greenhouse gas output by 4002 pounds per year! Every driver can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 TONS if they take just a few steps. Once again, the numbers I have found amaze me. I can be responsible for tons of waste spewing in the air. Over 50 years of driving, that is 100 tons of greenhouse gases.

To be proactive on this topic, I am going to act like my late grandpa (love and miss ya Ralph!) and start a log to keep track of my mileage. Like my grandpa, I am assuming that I will save boatloads of money every year, but possibly I am making a huge impact (or lack of) on the environment also. If you know of other things a person can do to increase mileage or have any additional information about my information, please post in the comments area below.