Take Volvo's CO2 Challenge
Volvo has introduced a nifty little 'game' on their website who's purpose it is to educate us mere mortals about which fuel types emit the most CO2. First you pick which fuel types you want to know the stats on. When you click 'Start,' it shows each car with its specified fuel type run around a maze (with authentic traffic noise in the background - ooohh... ahhh...). Each car stops when it has discharged 10 kg of carbon dioxide. What's interesting about the calculation is that it includes not only the CO2 discharged when the fuel is combusted in the engine, but also the CO2 produced in the extraction, production and distribution of the fuel. I won't spoil it for you, so see if you can guess which one wins.
After the 'course' is run, you see the results of the different fuel types of the cars you've chosen, or you can look at the results from all of them. After that, for an "In-depth analysis," it will show you the CO2 produced specifically in "Well to Tank" and "Tank To Wheel" phases of the fuel's life cycle.
Making learning this information fun is one of the key steps to global awareness necessitating change. Props to Volvo for taking the initiative (but don't think we didn't notice that those cars are S80s). Click "Which way is the future?" for a nice little P.S.A.
[Source: Volvo, Thanks for the tip, Sarah T.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kt 11:06PM (5/26/2007)
I picked the car that came in 2nd place on my first try, pretty good!
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Chris 11:53AM (5/27/2007)
Very interesting piece from Volvo - with a huge omission - where are the options of electric cars powered from the traditional grid or from solar panels on top of your garage? Anybody have a guess where those cars would end up on the chart?
While this site does a great job a portraying the environmental consequences, the question of cost to the end consumer is a paramount issue. We can make cars which pollute less - but can we make them within a price range the market will support? Ultimately we will pollute less when better power plants and technology is widely adopted, but that requires them to work in the marketplace.
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mikeinBuilding7 3:09PM (5/27/2007)
What Bull.
Hydro from Wind Power? Where's the Bio-Diesel / Electric Hybrid?
- A battery can take power from: Solar, Wind and Nuclear. We can get a charge in our Garage! We Don't need to be Held Up at the Corner Gas station. We can Choose where to get power. Remember, there are no Hydro pumps anywhere.
There are Diesel pumps Everywhere.
Political Propaganda to Prop up ExxonMobile.
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JustZisGuy 2:03PM (5/27/2007)
In some parts of the world all or most electricity generation is hydroelectric. Battery-electric vehicles powered by hydroelectricity give exactly ZERO emissions in operation. You can calculate the emissions from manufacturing batteries and the car itself and the dam and ... but I think you'll have a hard time making it look bad, at least with up-to-date batteries. (Altairnano looks promising.)
The obvious is seemingly not so obvious, when your business model relies on income from servicing vehicles or income from service station/convenience store visits.
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