So you wanna save the planet huh?

I started doing the second part of my driving exam today. In Finland the driving exam consists of two parts. After completing the first you get a temporary driver’s licence that’s valid for two years. After the second part you get a permanent licence. I’ve renewed my temporary licence twice already, paying €70 each time. So I’ve had the lousy temporary licence for more than four years now.

I hadn’t driven that much during the last few years, so I was more than a bit nervous attending an evaluative driving test today (arvioiva-ajo in Finnish). I friggin hate cars. I hate traffic and I hate driving, just the kind of atitude you need for a driving test (although you can’t fail the evaluative test, you just get feedback on how you’re driving). Surprisingly, the test was pretty fun and I almost enjoyed driving. The verdict was that I drive pretty well, although I could be a little more careful and take less risks in traffic. The emphasis was on economic driving. I first drove a rougly 11km round driving as I usually would, then did the same round, but following the instructions from the driving instructor. During the first round the car consumed 9.0 L/100km and the second round only 7.3 L/100km. The average speed was 32 km/h for the first round and 33 km/h for the second.

So just by changing your driving habits slightly, you can save 1.7 L/100km. If the average price of gas (petrol) in Finland is €1.3, this means you can save €2.21 per every 100 km. If every litre of gas produces roughly 2.3 kg of CO₂, you can save 3.9 kg of CO₂ per every 100 km. If you drive 20000 km per year, you can save €442 in a year with economic driving and produce 780 kg less CO₂.

Therefore, if you want to save the world, learn economic driving and consume 19% less gas. If you fly, you don’t have to give a rat’s ass about the CO₂ emissions from your vehicle, because you’ll be procucing 155.4 g of CO₂ per rpk (revenue passenger kilometer) anyway. For example, if you fly 8769.8 kilometers from London to Los Angeles you’ll be contributing 3.18 tonnes of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere. We only have one atmosphere. That means I’ll be breathing your shit. Now if you really want to save the planet – don’t fly.

If you find it impossible to stop flying, you can at least quit breathing. An average human exhales 310 kg of carbon dioxide per year. It’s not much, but it’s still something.

Some might be wondering how 1 litre of gas can produce more than twice its own weight of CO₂. I’ll let you think about. It’s just mind-boggling, isn’t it?