HOW CAN I DE ICE A CAR WITHOUT USING CO2?
How can de icing a car help save our planet?
Change number 4 is a quick one. I've been manic at work this week and time has ran away from me.
But I'm eager to make one change this week.
It always starts with a story
So I'm running late one day this week, I can't find my laptop charger, my gloves have gone walkabout (tiss getting cold), and the kids are being a pain.
I get in my car and... S**t the windscreen is frozen over! But it's ok, I need to give the kids a hug and fill my water bottle so I leave the car running and the heaters blowing to melt the ice. A few minutes later and I'm on my way :)
Then I drive down the street and through town and see about 10 cars doing the same, just sitting there, running their engines and I think... seriously? (a quick note to anyone in my street / town, this is in no way a dig at you, you guys rock and I love living there)
It's called idling, it's entirely unnecessary and harms the environment
When I get to work, I take a quick look and find out it's called idling (leaving a car running but not going anywhere). According to Environmental Defence Fund
'For every 10 minutes your engine is off, you'll prevent one pound of carbon dioxide from being released (carbon dioxide is the primary contributor to global warming).'
The RAC also points out that
'An idling engine can produce up to twice as many emissions as an engine in motion, impacting the surrounding the area and the air that we breathe.'
So I did some calculations (at the end of this blog post for those analytical types) and during the winter months the 10 cars I saw idling would churn out about 975 pounds of CO2, just to de-ice windscreens, which is just shy of half a ton!!!
Now, I will confess, I have no idea how big a ton of CO2 actually is, I have no frame to reference it. So I found a lovely photo of a balloon at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
on December 7th, 2009. It's a decent size if you ask me!
So what did I change this week?
Well I wasn't going to go and buy some de-icer, I don't need to spend time researching as I'm sure those white spray cans can't be good, if anything it's just more waste when empty. And so I have reverted back to using a good old fashion ice scraper*. Yes it might take me a few chilly minutes in the morning but that's life, trying to make a difference ain't always a bed of roses!
* If you don't have an ice scraper please don't go and buy one, you can use an unused credit card or old tape cassette cover
One thing I did find really interesting is that here in the UK it is actually the law to clear your windscreen
(obvious) but also illegal to leave your car running
in the morning to de ice the screen!
Calculations
I estimated I ran my car for about 5 minutes.
On a 5 day week that's 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide
released into our atmosphere. There are 2000 pounds in a ton.
If 10 people in my town ran their engines in the morning for 5 minutes that's:
10 people x 2.5 pounds = 15 pounds per day
There are around 65 working days over winter (grim I know). 3 months long that's 13 weeks
so:
15 pounds per day x 65 working days in winter = 975 pounds which is just shy of half a ton! And that's just my town!!!
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About Me
I set my self a challenge, to change 52 things in my life, one a week, for a year to become greener. I wanted to have fun doing it and celebrate amazing people along the way.
The focus of my journey was to see if ordinary people could make simple, relatively inexpensive changes to our lives to make a big difference to planet Earth.
Why not take the challenge too?
I want to grow!
My ultimate aim for 52 Things is to inspire as many people as possible to make small weekly changes to help save our planet.
If you fancy helping me achieve this by growing my blog and help pay for social media adverts I'd love for you to 'Buy Me A Coffee'!
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