A guide to driving your car more sustainably and save money

On average travel represents a staggering 56% of our primary (personal) footprint in Ireland.  Car ownership is rapidly increasing throughout the EU reaching an estimated 252 million in 2015/6.  This is equivalent of 600 million tonnes of CO2 e being emitted by European drivers each year, which is only a small portion of the 1.8 billion cars worldwide.

Manufacture’s fuel efficiency data and fuel types are discussed explaining the difference between real and lab based emission values. Comparison with other transport modes are made using carpooling as an example of how drivers can make car usage more efficient than public transport where it is limited or not available.  The booklet explains practical ways in which we can all drive more sustainably as well as exploring the problem of emissions arising from the  manufacture and disposal of vehicle which is currently ignored in our footprint analysis.  Buying a car is discussed and studies have shown that you don’t need to buy a new electric vehicle (EV) or hybrid to drive with minimum impact.  Emissions from EVs are compared to standard fuels indicating that the selection of the most appropriate vehicle type can save you a lot of money over the lifetime of the vehicle, and that EVs and Hybrids are not always a good choice for drivers with selection dependent on length and frequency of journey, whether urban or rural, or used for commuting.

Driving sustainably results in drivers reducing their fuel consumption by 10-50% saving without actually driving less distance of using the car less frequently.  This represents significant financial savings as well as reducing emissions, pollution and increasing driver safety.

This means that an easily achieved 10% reduction in fuel consumption which all drivers can achieve, without reducing the frequency or distance driven, would save 10 million tonnes of CO₂e within the EU each year, equivalent to 7.9 million tonnes in the UK or 0.42 million tonnes of CO₂e in Ireland where car ownership is around 2,000,000.  So for every 10% reduction in fuel usage each car would on average be saving 0.234 or 0.213 tonnes of CO₂e per annum in the UK and Ireland respectively from their primary footprint.  With a 20-30% reduction possible for the average driver then driving sustainably can make a significant different to greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change as well as making our air cleaner and driving safer.

Driving Sustainably:  A guide to reducing your carbon footprint is written by Nick Gray and is the first guide to reducing your carbon footprint in the Tigroney Sustainable Planet Series published by Tigroney Press. Available as a free e-book (ISBN 978-1-912290-20-8) download at: http://hdl.handle.net/2262/85300 or https://bit.ly/2QrWnFe

ADOPTION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT

An historic moment the: ADOPTION OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09.pdf

Visualization of methane emissions from cattle

A new imaging technique, developed by a team led by  Dr Magnus  Gålfalk at the Linköping University in Sweden and described in Nature Climate Change, allows us to see for the first time where it is being generated.  The video shows methane emissions (shown in purple and green) escaping from a vent in barn of housing 18 cows. This is a major step forward in our management of greenhouse gas emissions from landfill, agriculture, wastewater treatment and any other potential source of the gas.

 Find out more about methane at: http://www.methanenet.org/

Nick Gray

Action Day at COP21 - Today everyone is invited to start taking action to control global warming

Today is Action Day at COP21 in Paris.  Today everyone is invited to start taking action to control global warming. http://bit.ly/1TrKg2F http://bit.ly/1lCjXMi

Our book Facing up to Global Warming: What is Going on and How You Can Make a Difference? published by Springer and launched for COP21 by Professor Nick Gray of the Trinity Centre for the Environment explores what global warming is, how it affects climate and importantly how we can deal with.  It is a challenge that everyone needs to be a part of. So on this day of action make a pledge to do your part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by examining how you can minimize waste without compromising how you want to live. 

Twitter @Nickgraytcd

Follow COP21 live

This year the UN climate talks (COP21) are taking place in Paris from the 30th November to 11th December. The aim is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate with the aim of keeping global warming below 2 degrees C. There will be an estimated 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates. For those attending the aim is to stimulate interactions during the conference between the negotiators and representatives of Civil Society. Of course the remaining 7 billion of us won't be able to attend the conference, but thanks to the UN we will be able to follow the conference live at  http://unfccc6.meta-fusion.com/cop21/

More information of global warming and climate change http://bit.ly/1NPLbun

Posted Nick Gray

90% of seabirds have consumed plastic

. Photograph: Chris Jordan/Midway: http://bit.ly/1iYURFI

Our litter and waste has reached a new level of disbelief with a new study showing that upto 90% of seabirds will have ingested plastic items they have mistaken for food.  A report in the Guardian has highlighted their work link.  Their results can be seen in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

We still haven’t learnt as our production of platics in the past 11 years exceeds the amount produced since it was first produced  in the 1950s.But something is being done and new a new collection boom is hoping to start removing larger material soon.

You can help right now by picking up litter that will find its way eventually into the sea.

Posted: Nick Gray

Twitter @Nickgraytcd

Major Greenland glacier victim to global warming

Image time series of Greenland’s Zachariæ Isstrøm glacier as seen by the 

NASA/USGS Landsat satellite. Retreat of the glacier front is indicated by lines, 

color-coded from dark green (2003) to light green (2015).Credits: NASA/USGS

A NASA funded project has identified that the massive Zachariae Isstrom, that represents 5% of the total Greenland ice sheet, broke loose from a stable position in 2012 started a phase of  accelerated retreat. The glacier drains ice from an area of 35,440 square miles (91,780 square kilometers), that is enough water to raise global sea level by more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) if it were to melt completely. The bottom of Zachariae Isstrom is being rapidly eroded by warmer ocean water mixed with growing amounts of meltwater from the ice sheet surface. Currently it is now losing 5 billion tons of ice and water every year into the North Atlantic Ocean. Jeremie Mouginot, an assistant researcher in the Department of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine who has published this study in Science says that the result of this glacier breaking up and calving high volumes of icebergs into the ocean, will result in rising sea levels for decades to come. Full report Link

Adjacent to this is another large glacier Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden which is melting at a slower rate, but together they make up 12% of the Greenland ice sheet, so together they will raise sea levels by more than 39 inches (99 centimeters) if they completely melt.

NASA has a new project - Oceans Melting Greenland- which is monitoring ocean conditions around Greenland. https://omg.jpl.nasa.gov/portal/  

To find out more about global warming and what you can do about it visit http://bit.ly/1NPLbun

Posted Nick Gray

Tweet @Nickgraytcd