Jul 12, 2007
Car-bon Neutral
BP have launched Target Neutral—a way to offset the damage your car does to Mother Earth. To ‘neutralise your CO2 emissions’, you enter the make, body shape and fuel type of your car along with your annual mileage and average fuel economy. You’re told just how many tonnes of carbon dioxide your car pumps out into the atmosphere and asked to donate money to environmental projects to offset this damage.
My little Modus pumps out a shocking 3.49 tonnes of CO2. Since the density of gaseous CO2 is 1.98kg/m3, this is equivalent to 1,762.62626m3 of CO2—enough to cover 9 tennis courts to a depth of 1m.
Luckily, this 3.49 tonnes of CO2 can be offset for the paltry sum of £15.05. Rather than pay this amount to target neutral, I’m trying to cut down my car usage. Now I work in central Brighton, I walk to work rather than drive, which makes a huge difference (and I can get into shape too).
Hi Bruce,
I commend your decision to cut down on your car use.
Have you thought about offsetting what you can’t avoid?
By paying into projects such as the ones run by BP’s Target Neutral you are essensially paying for others to leapfrog the CO2 hurdle of energy production in developing countries.
So keep walking and think of your remaining CO2 emssions as a waste that you can pay to have cleaned up.
All the best, Vanessa