Calculating your carbon footprint is now easier

Burning gasoline to go to work, run errands, and go out on weekends is not only bad for your wallet, but also for the atmosphere.

One of the biggest contributors to the average American’s carbon footprint is driving a car. That’s why the US federal government recently redesigned fuel-saving window decals for new vehicles. The program, which aims to educate consumers about fuel consumption and pollution over the life of the car or truck, will begin with the 2013 model year.

Fuel economy stickers haven’t had a radical design overhaul in nearly two decades. The new look, in part, represents the dramatic change in the type of inventory available on car lots. Different types of cars, such as conventional, hybrid, plug-in, and all electric vehicles, will have different information on their stickers.

Hybrids and electric car stickers, for example, will include information like charge times and how many miles can be driven on a single charge. Gasoline powered vehicles will show annual operating cost when gasoline is $ 3.70 and the vehicle is driven 15,000 miles. The price of gas will be updated every year to keep up to date.

Most consumers are used to seeing family miles per gallon on the highway and in the city, but the new decal will also include a figure that reflects the amount of fuel required to travel 100 miles. By providing new car buyers with all of this additional information, the US Environmental Agency, which administers the Fuel Saver Decal Program in partnership with the US Department of Transportation, expects consumers to make better informed shopping.

In addition to allowing consumers to be well informed about the costs associated with the fuel economy of a new purchase, the new stickers will also help drivers anticipate their carbon footprint. Each sticker will include a greenhouse gas rating, which will allow buyers to compare new cars with each other and determine the amount of carbon dioxide they will produce over their useful life. The label also includes a smog rating for emissions such as nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.

While the new stickers can greatly help consumers make informed decisions about what they choose to drive, the way the system was designed falls short of estimating the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases created in generating plants. plug-in car electrical power. . To really get a complete accounting of the impact of an electric car, a consumer would have to do a little more research and find out where their electricity comes from and what type of fuel is used. Then, combined with the information on the label, they should be able to calculate how many emissions your vehicle generates.

The new decal system is generally considered an improvement on the more simplistic miles per gallon rating. But many environmentalists and climate change advocates were pushing for a different type of decal that would have given each new vehicle a letter grade from A to D on how it compares to other cars and trucks in terms of fuel economy. and harmful emissions. After much debate, the letter grade system, which the auto industry found misleading, was not adopted.

In the coming years, clean air advocates hope that the federal government will pass legislation that will make reducing the carbon footprint of drivers mandatory by passing stricter mileage standards. By 2017, auto industry watchdogs expect new cars to average 60 miles per gallon.