By Cornelius Nunev


Did you know that some things that have the equivalent carbon footprint to a vehicle contain, according to several studies, the household dog and leaf blowers? There is some intriguing information about vehicles carbon footprint.

Study suggests a dog is equal to a vehicle's carbon footprint

One of the most common things people look at with regards to reducing their carbon footprint is their car. A lot of people are working hard to lower the carbon footprint of civilization.

AutoGuide points out that the carbon footprint of an automobile may not be that bad as shown by a brand new Zealand study. IT showed that the Toyota Landcruiser with its 4.6-liter V-8 and a full-size SUV has the same carbon footprint as a dog does.

Robert and Brenda Vale did the study showing a dog uses 2.07 acres of land a year while a vehicle only uses 1.1 acres of land a year to run. They came to these numbers by considering the average Landcruiser goes 6,200 miles a year and generates 55.1 gigajoules of energy, which equates to 1.1 acres of land. A dog, just to get fed, utilizes 3.17 ounces of meat and 5.5 ounces of grain per sitting, equating to 2.07 acres of land.

Other intriguing things

Buying a dog will not cost you carloans, though purchasing a new Landcruiser will, but that does not mean anything about a carbon footprint. People generally drive 12,400 miles rather than the 6,200 figure Vales presented. The comparison was not quite accurate, but even with the higher number, the Landcruiser only produced a carbon footprint of 2.2 acres of land.

A Volkswagen Golf automobile has the same carbon footprint as a cat.

Edmunds found, using Environmental Protection Agency testing procedures that a Ford Raptor pickup, with a 411 horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8, emits less carbon dioxide, non-methane hydrocarbons and nitrous oxide, the main emissions looked at in cars, than gas-powered leaf blowers.

Comparing the Raptor with a Ryobi leafblower with a four-stroke motor and an Echo leafblower with a two-stroke motor found the truck put out 6.8 times fewer carbon dioxide than the Ryobi four-stroke, also as 13.5 fewer times the amount of nitrous oxide and 36 times fewer NMHC emissions. The two-stroke was even worse.

Automobiles not as bad as you think

About 45 percent of electricity in the country is generated by coal, which means there is a big carbon footprint in some areas when powering an electric car. It is almost the same as driving a normal fuel-efficient subcompact, according to a study at the Union of Concerned Researchers. The carbon footprint for electric vehicles is much larger than you would expect, according to the New York Times.

You do not need to start picketing all Nissan dealers, Everett, Washington to Miami, Florida, now that you realize that electric automobiles are not all they are cracked up to be. There are not that many electric vehicles being produced anyway. They do, however, produce more emissions when they are being produced. AutoBlog explained that producing a hybrid car produces 8 percent more carbon dioxide than a regular car. It is 12 percent more for a plug-in hybrid and 23 percent more carbon dioxide for a fully electric car, according a study done in 2011 by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership.




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