RE: Speed Humps Rival Fiji For CO2 Footprint
Friday 10th July 2009
"The AA (Automobile Association) did a bit of research on fuel consumption for cars at the Millbrook Proving Ground and found that a typical mid-size car running at a constant 30 mph did 58 mpg. However a car slowing down and speeding up for speed humps only did 31 mpg. Put that into carbon figures for a petrol car and you get 113 g/km of CO2 at a constant 30mph, or 211 g/km over speed humps. So a kilometer of road with speed humps creates an extra 0.1kg of CO2 for every single car that travels it.
The average road in the UK has 2.46 cars passing per minute throughout the day, so for argument's sake, a street typically has 1 car going each way down it every minute during the day and night. In a year, that means a single typical 1km stretch of speed-humped road with 10 speed humps creates an extra 103 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 per year or equivalent of taking 32 cars off the road.
Taking into account the UK's estimated 100,0006 speed humps, then that's a colossal 1.03 million tonnes of CO2 per year. That's about the same as the total carbon footprint of the 830,000 residents of Fiji, or almost twice that of Greenland. Ouch. And that doesn't even consider the motorbikes / trucks and other vehicles that use the UK road network."
Speed Humps Rival Fiji For CO2 Footprint
Never mind the risk to sumps and spoilers, they're consuming our carbon in island-sized chunks
The CO2 impact of Speed Humps in the UK is greater than that of the whole of Fiji, says Clear, a self-styled 'Carbon Offsetting Company' whose employees found time to do the maths between other, um, very important offsetting carbon-type things.
"The AA (Automobile Association) did a bit of research on fuel consumption for cars at the Millbrook Proving Ground and found that a typical mid-size car running at a constant 30 mph did 58 mpg. However a car slowing down and speeding up for speed humps only did 31 mpg. Put that into carbon figures for a petrol car and you get 113 g/km of CO2 at a constant 30mph, or 211 g/km over speed humps. So a kilometer of road with speed humps creates an extra 0.1kg of CO2 for every single car that travels it.
The average road in the UK has 2.46 cars passing per minute throughout the day, so for argument's sake, a street typically has 1 car going each way down it every minute during the day and night. In a year, that means a single typical 1km stretch of speed-humped road with 10 speed humps creates an extra 103 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 per year or equivalent of taking 32 cars off the road.
Taking into account the UK's estimated 100,0006 speed humps, then that's a colossal 1.03 million tonnes of CO2 per year. That's about the same as the total carbon footprint of the 830,000 residents of Fiji, or almost twice that of Greenland. Ouch. And that doesn't even consider the motorbikes / trucks and other vehicles that use the UK road network."
Thanks chaps - just the ticket for a slow news day!
(Pics via www.moillusions.com and www.strangecosmos.com )
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