Welcome to Transportation - What You Can Do! Look at the tasks below to see how you can rethink your transportation to help stop global warming! Click for more statistics on food!
1. Take public transit instead of your car
20 Ibs CO2 saved / day
Accordi​ng to the American Public Transportation Association, one person switching to public transit can reduce daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds, or more than 7,000 pounds in a year.
​
How many days did you use only public transit for?
​
Emissions saved: 20 pounds of CO2 per day of just using public transportation.
2. Replace your gas car with a hybrid one!
3,145 Ibs CO2 saved / year
The average american drives 13,500 miles per year. A hybrid car will emit 51.6 pounds of carbon dioxide every 100 miles, while a conventional car will emit 74.9 pounds. That means a hybrid car saves 23.3 pounds of CO2 for every 100 miles. Since the average American drives 135 times 100 miles in a year, that means a hybrid car can save 3,145.5 pounds of carbon emissions per year.
​
How many years did you own your hybrid car for?
​
Emissions saved: 3145.5 pounds of CO2 per year of owning your hybrid.
3. Switch from your Hybrid to Public Transit!
4,161 lbs Co2 saved / year
Because you had already saved energy from getting a hybrid car, you now save even more energy by changing from a hybrid car to public transport. Since public transit saves 20 pounds of carbon per day and using a hybrid saves 8.6 pounds of CO2 per day, you save 11.4 pounds of CO2 per day of using only public transport.
​
How many years did you use only public transit for?
​
Emissions saved: 4,161 pounds of CO2 per year of using only public transit.
4. Switch from your gas car to an electric one!
6,620 Ibs CO2 saved / year
The national average is 4,815 pounds of CO2-equivalent emissions for a typical EV per year as compared to the average gasoline-powered car which produces 11,435 pounds of CO2-equivalent emissions annually.
​
How many years did you use your electric car for?
​
Emissions saved: 6,620 pounds of CO2 per year of owning your electric car.
5. Switch from your Electric car to Public Transit!
693 Ibs CO2 saved / year
Because you already saved energy from getting an electric car, you now save even more energy by changing from an electric car to public transport. Since public transit saves 20 pounds of carbon per day and using an electric car already saves 18.1 pounds of CO2 per day, you save 1.9 pounds of CO2 per day, the equivalent to just over 693 pounds of CO2 saved per year.
​
How many years did you use only public transportation?
​
Emissions saved: 693 pounds of CO2 saved per year.
6. Switch from your Hybrid car to an Electric one!
3,467 lbs CO2 saved / year
Because using a hybrid saves 8.6 pounds of CO2 every day and an electric car saves 18.1 pounds of CO2 per day, by converting from a hybrid to an electric car, you save 9.5 pounds of CO2 per day, the equivalent of 3467 pounds of CO2 per year.
​
How many years did you use your electric car?
​
Emissions saved: 3467 pounds of CO2 saved per year.
7. Carpool!
100 Ibs CO2 /carpooling ride
The average American spends 400 hours commuting annually, and most of that time is spent alone. Carpooling would reduce traffic, improve carpoolers’ social lives by letting them see friends and family rather than being on their phones and, not least of all, help the environment. If 100 people were to carpool each day for one year, they would save 1,320 pounds of carbon monoxide and 2,376,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere! In addition, carpooling will help get rid of traffic. If everybody in America decided to carpool just once a week, traffic on the nation’s roads would decrease by 20%.
​
How many days did you carpool for?
​
Emissions saved: 3,467 pounds of CO2 saved per year.
1.27 Ibs Co2 saved / km cycled instead of driven
8. Bike!
If you cycle for ten kilometers instead of driving that distance once per week, you save 12.7 pounds of Co2 from going into the atmosphere. You also burn 300 calories each way, which will help your health too. So, every kilometer that you cycle, you save 1.27 pounds of Co2.
​
How many kilometers did you bike instead of drive?
​
Emissions saved: 1.27 pounds of Co2 saved per kilometer cycled instead of driven
9. Fly less!
300 Ibs CO2 saved / flight hour
You save 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide by avoiding a 10 hour flight roundtrip, so you save 0.15 tons of Co2 for every hour that you fly, the equivalent of 300 pounds of Co2
​
How many hours did you avoid flying for?
​
Emissions saved: 300 pounds of Co2 emissions for each hour of flight.
10. Solar powered car!
11,435 Ibs CO2 saved / year
It's true! If you own a solar powered car, you quit producing any emissions from your car! Since the average car burns 11​,435 pounds of Co2 per year, you cut all of those emissions!
​
How many hours did you avoid flying for?
​
Emissions saved: 300 pounds of Co2 emissions for each hour of flight.
40,000 Ibs CO2 saved over lifespan of car
11. Get a used car instead of a new one
According to Scientific American, a 2004 analysis by Toyota found that as much as 28% of the carbon dioxide emissions generated during the lifecycle of a typical gasoline-powered car can occur during its manufacture and its transportation to the dealer; the remaining emissions occur during driving once its new owner takes possession.
​
The average mileage over the lifetime of a car is 150,000, in the span of 8 years. Since 28% of the emissions come from the manufacture of the car and transportation to dealer, the amount of emissions coming from those sources for the average car is 28% of the 150,000 miles, or 42,000 miles. Because the average lifespan of a car is 8 years, getting a used car instead of a new one could save up to 5,000 pounds of CO2 per year.
​
Did you get a used car instead of a new one?
​
Emissions saved: 5,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year, or 40,000 pounds of CO2 saved over the lifespan of the car.
See a chart below ranking the impacts of the various tasks on this page!
