Wales to host the first carbon neutral FIA World Rally Championship
In this day and age of increased environmental awareness, not even motorsports are granted exclusion from the eco-friendly expectations which all companies and organizations are held to. Of course, it's not just the racing itself that causes carbon emissions, as the fans attending the event need to travel in order to get there. In fact, as you can see from the graph below, when race organizers for the upcoming Wales Rally GB in December did some fact-finding, they found that the race vehicles accounted for just 5-percent of the 4,333 metric tons of overall CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. In order to make the actual race the first carbon neutral FIA Rally event, organizers have instituted car-pooling for officials and marshals as well as replacing battery-powered flashlights with wind-up alternatives and planning full-scale recycling. The remaining CO2 will be offset through credits from The CarbonNeutral Company.
The Wales Rally GB is already looking towards the future. The event believes that it can significantly reduce the amount of CO2 emitted from the event in the coming years, lessening the amount of offsets necessary to remain carbon neutral. After all, it's better not to emit in the first place than to cover it up afterward.[Source: Wales Rally GB via Automotive News - sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tankd0g 11:29AM (7/24/2008)
Did they include the 1000s of tires used up at an event? I don't really understand who they are pandering too when the FIA takes these so called eco-friendly measures. It's not like rally fans are fooled by it. Maybe they get kick backs from the government in the form of tax breaks.
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mrbell 12:22PM (7/24/2008)
What do you mean "it's not like rally fans are fooled by it"? Rally fans tend to be, as far as motorsports go, pretty environmentally conscious. After all, if the natural environment were damaged, they would have no place to do their sport. Also, you might want to look into the "1000s of tires" comment. Generally, the teams are only allowed limited tire changes, and there aren't THAT many teams in one WRC event. They probably go thru a couple hundred, but not multiple thousands.
I think this is a cool idea, particularly the part about reducing carbon emissions in the future. Offsets are kind of iffy...
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GoodCheer 12:44PM (7/24/2008)
"replacing battery-powered flashlights with wind-up alternatives"
Um, really? Working on the theory that the carbon efficiency of human muscle is greater than that of a wind turbine park or nuke plant?
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