[ambarkhan]

Ground Rules:

1. First, refrain from comparing activities that create pollution with what we're discussing.
2. Second, don't compare EVs and ICEs in terms of pollution. Instead, share how you offset your pollution.
3. Third, I'm not suggesting giving up the joy of motoring. Just offset its harms.
4. Finally, if you believe that the earth is flat and global warming is a scam, please ignore everything I've said.

Assuming you're an automotive enthusiast who regularly follows team-bhp, you probably drive or ride about 15,000 kilometers in a year. I love cross-country trips and off-roading, and I own a 2-seater, 4x4 vehicle that burns a lot of fuel unnecessarily. I also race motorcycles and burn a lot of fuel while practicing or joyriding. Long story short, I love driving and riding, and I don't plan to switch to an EV just for the sake of it.

Now, let's talk numbers.
If you drive 5,000 kilometers in a petrol car (BS6) with a mileage of 15kmpl, you'll consume 333 liters of petrol and produce 893KGs of CO2 and 22kg of particulate matter. Similarly, if you drive 5,000 kilometers in a diesel car with a mileage of 15kmpl, you'll consume 333 liters of diesel and produce approximately 900KGs of CO2 and 22kg of particulate matter. If you ride 5,000 kilometers on a petrol two-wheeler with a mileage of 30kmpl, you'll consume 166.6 liters of petrol and produce 456KGs of CO2.

Altogether, you'll generate 2.2 tons or 2249Kgs of CO2. To offset a ton of CO2, we need about 30-45 trees per year. So, you'll need to plant approximately 60-90 trees per year to offset the 2 tons of CO2 you produce.

Unfortunately automotive enthusiasts can me marked as one of the community responsible for a lot of pollution. The question is how we can continue following our passion without harming the mother nature ?

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage later this week

We had a similar thread earlier, but it wasn't focused only on offsetting your drives / rides, and it was from the pre-Covid era (a lot of our daily routines, work styles & commutes changed after Covid). So, we can continue this new thread.

Ways that I hope I'm offsetting my carbon footprint:

- Work from home is now permanent for me. No daily commute (as compared to 1.5 hours earlier) which alone helps to control my carbon footprint.

- Work from home for my entire team as well. This decision is saving fuel & emissions from their rides too.

- Within the area, I usually walk if the destination is 1 - 2 km. Good for my health, good for my cars (short commutes are brutal on cars), good for global warming. Emissions from cold engines are higher than for those at operating temperature.

- Will definitely be adding an EV to my garage sometime.

- I am a vegetarian. Don't want to make this a veg Vs non-veg debate, but the data is there (Meat / Beef production is more harmful to the environment than cars!!).

- Have a decent amount of plants & trees in my building. Adding a whole new bunch to my terrace this monsoon.

On the downside, my own cars are powerful guzzlers, I test-drive cars on weekends & high-revv them, go for a lot of leisure drives and I live in a big apartment with lots of electronics & ACs. So, important to consciously control my footprint in whatever way I can.

[ninjatalli]

My primary option: Reduce the impact. Every bit helps - we don't need to aim to go from 100% to 0% from day one itself. Aim small, win big.

1. Aim for changes that impact at an habitual level. Been taking out the car to go to the daily morning gym or to drop your kid to school just a few kms away? Try walking or cycling to the place instead. It'll take effort to change but even your body will appreciate this once this becomes habitual. The additional time for the walk will initially be a concern but over the larger picture, won't matter. See how your perspective changes over time.


2. Look at the driving you are doing; figure out areas that really aren't what thrills your automobile spirit (e.g. those in-city drives to do grocery / weekend shopping or to the nearby park). Look for alternatives that will satisfy the requirement (e.g. public transport, metro, walking, cycling, or even a more fuel-efficient vehicle).


3. Pool your vehicles. Age-old mantra. Again need not be thought for every single drive, but for a subset of your driving. Those drives to office / work locations on a repeat basis? Definitely not something an enthusiast's #1 pick of preference. Look for alternatives - e.g. take an office cab if available that enables pooling or even just a 2-wheeler instead of a car.


I'm sure there are much more options once each of us put our mind(s) to it.


Edit: For me, just focusing on the above options have indeed borne fruit for me. From an average of driving nearly 15k kms annually just over half a decade ago; currently I see the annual split roughly as car - 30% / 2wheeler - 30% / public transport (trains, metro, etc.) - 25% / rest being a mix of cycle, etc. My current annual usage on my car is less than 4k kms; but 80% of that is on trips that I really enjoy driving.

[ValarMorghulis]

Nice thread.
My driving itself isn't very high (14k kms in 3.5 years) but still I try to do my bit as much as I can.

1. Reduce small distance rides by car. Switch to two-wheeler instead (all rides to Cult/ gym)
2. Car-pooling to all parties now. Also helps to have a designated driver.
3. Significant reduction in foods which are high in carbon emissions (eg. non-veg, butter, cheese, almonds, rice, chocolate, sugar, palm oil, etc. Still a sucker for coffee/ tea though). Good for health and environment
4. No alcohol
5. Waste segregation at source (compulsory by BBMP as well). Follow rules and feel good
6. Have energy-efficient light bulbs at home and I ensure all electrical appliances are unplugged if not in use
7. Replace plastic/ non-stick items in kitchen with steel or glass (helps with the dishwasher and health)
8. Use electronic items as long as possible and feasible without compromising on efficiency

[DicKy]

1. Walk small distances. Have no 2 wheelers so can't jump on it for the small distance. Rarely hire autorickshaws and even in a new city, walking+Gmap+metro+buses are my buddies. Don't even have Uber/Ola in my phone.

2. No online shopping. Except for my first smartphone, a Moto G which was then available exclusively on Flipkart, haven't bought anything else online. Had enough when I saw my friends buy small stuff like pendrives/balls, but the packaging was mcuh larger. Such waste.

3. If I have 1-2 items, will refuse plastic bags from shops. Though there are 'no plastic' initiatives/drives every two years, it gets lax with time. Even then we take our own cloth carrybag to the local markets/supermarkets.

4. No online food ordering app in my phone. Either eat out or make it at home.

5. No air conditioner at home, though with the increasing temperatures, can't say how it will stay like that for sure.

6. Generally use stuff for long. Buy good clothes and use them for years instead of fashion shopping every month. Use electronics till they go bust. Even then, dad will do some DIY to get them going. Use cars for atleast a decade unless there are some other pressing issues.

That said, everyone has a different lifestyle or living situation. I can only say as I stay in a suburb of a small town within the metropolitan region of a Tier II city. The kind of place where I can drive to a supermarket to buy milk or take our own bottle/container and walk to the nearest milk society/dairy farmer for fresh milk. Where we can order fast food online or live off the produce of our land (like we did during covid-19 lockdown 1.0). So I am aware that people living in big cities or singles starting their career won't be able to live like this.

During my time in Qatar, I have used more plastic water bottles in a month than I used during the whole previous 14 years I lived in India. And less said about our time in the 90s and early 2000s in Riyadh. The fuel, plastics, electricity, processed foods used. I guess will never be able to offset our pollution.

If people move away from or stopped living modern lifestyle in deserts or areas with snow, a significant amount of energy could be saved IMO

[clevermax]

I don't attempt to offset my CO2 emissions, and I don't want to. I had the bumper sticker "NO CO2 CREDITS" on my diesel-guzzling car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjmtSkl53h4

I don't think present-day EVs are helping one to reduce/offset their CO2 emissions either. The moment they roll out of the factory, they would have already resulted in significantly higher CO2 emissions than a similarly spec'ed ICE car. If you want to see some advantage wrt reducing the CO2 overall emission caused by you while using an EV (less overall CO2 emissions compared to the similarly spec'ed ICE car), you should use it for about 2,50,000 plus kilometers by always charging from renewable energy sources. But then you would have to replace the battery pack around that timeframe, and it will again put a big dent in the CO2 offsets you've managed to achieve thus far!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1E8SQde5rk&t=21s

[amitoj]

What an excellent thread!
1. From spring to fall, I ride my bike to work and back as much as possible. If the weather is bad for riding, I opt to work from home instead of driving to work.
2. Along similar lines, if I have to go to our office in Boston instead of my regular office, I always take the bus.
3. I don't buy clothes or shoes unless I really need them.
4. We have a mini composter at home that we use to convert food waste into compost.
5. I opt to have receipts emailed instead of printed.
6. Stopped going to Starbucks

Cheers,
Amitoj

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by ambarkhan

Altogether, you'll generate 2.2 tons or 2249Kgs of CO2. To offset a ton of CO2, we need about 30-45 trees per year. So, you'll need to plant approximately 60-90 trees per year to offset the 2 tons of CO2 you produce.

On an individual level, does carbon offsetting really make a difference?

Genuinely curious.

[Jeroen]

Here are my thoughts on the matter. I believe we should stop using the term offset pollution or sometimes called compensate.

Either you pollute or you don’t. Here in the Netherlands if you buy petrol from Shell you can choose to pay a little extra and Shell will plant a few trees somewhere on the world to “compensate”. Same if I buy a KLM ticket, I can choose to pay a little extra to get my respective emission compensated by KLM planting some trees somewhere.

Again, either you pollute or you don’t. There is no middle ground. The above type of schemes are going to be banned soon, for that very same reason. People should not think offset or pollute, but simple not pollute.

I have four classic cars, which are less environmental friendly than any modern car. But I walk, ride my bicycle and often take public transport too.

We installed solar panels on our house. My electricity supplier is a 100% green supplier, whatever that means on an electrical grid.

We keep the thermostat low whilst we are away from home and we have no AC in our home.

A couple of times a week we eat vegetarian, no meat.

Although there is absolutely no doubt in my mind climate change is very real and very much caused and influenced by mind, I must admit my own actions and what I do and how I do certain things in life are hardly effected. I have lost my platinum status with KLM because I am retired. But my personal travel will still get me Gold status.

In my day to day life I don’t give it much thought, apart from when I read my newspaper every morning.

I also attend various seminars and workshops on environmental issues and energy transition. I vote locally and nationally for parties with a strong environmental conscious agenda. I am active politically and that is probably where I give it the most thought and try to push for concrete actions.

BUT:
I take the bus or train because it is more convenient and sometimes cheaper than driving and parking. Certainly to the major cities. We have solar panels, because it makes a lot of financial sense, especially as we have a huge subsidy on it!

We eat vegetarian because we enjoy it. Etc. Etc.

ICE new cars sales are going to be banned in the Netherlands by 2030, in the EU by 2035. So I am not in a hurry to buy an EV yet.

Here is the thing, it is very difficult to change one’s behaviour, unless it brings you more or less immediate benefits.
So I believe this whole energy transition needs to speedied up by governments around the world with far more ambitious goals. And far stricter implementation and deadline.

Jeroen

[UD17]

A though provoking thread indeed. Very embarrassing to say, I have never specifically worked to offset my CO2 footprints till now.

All the action i took are indirect towards CO2 offset (Like using own shopping cloth bag, reducing use of plastics, minimizing electricity usage at home, driving sedately, due diligence in water usage etc., etc.) which many other members have also are due to:

- Adoption of best lifestyle practices or
- To reduce my bills

Future Actions: This thread jolted me to think more. The best solution i see is to:

- Through my social group participate/contribute in more tree plantation drives and maintaining those tress for 3 years until they can survive on their own.
- Adopt solar power usage if feasible

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Here is the thing, it is very difficult to change one’s behaviour, unless it brings you more or less immediate benefits.
So I believe this whole energy transition needs to speedied up by governments around the world with far more ambitious goals. And far stricter implementation and deadline.

Jeroen

"Speedied" or "sped"?
Jokes apart, you are spot on with the behavior and benefit (or reward) interaction. Almost all the people I know who have switched to EVs or Hybrids and/or installed solar panels have done so primarily due to the economic benefits provided via tax rebates and incentives from the Government. The environmental benefits are secondary to them, along the lines of, "... and it helps the environment too"
At an individual level, I am not sure how much one is helping the environment by using paper straws instead of plastic ones.

[Mustang_Boss]

Personally, i always worked towards cutting my carbon footprint for the past 10+ years.

- I avoid Printing paper.
- Plan all my drives in such a way, i avoid significant traffic and i save time & cut down fuel burn.
- Planning evening drives reduces load on Car AC.
- Avoid toll roads around districts roads. Reduced speed = reduced fuel consumption.
- Avoid buying fuel guzzlers. Especially the Turboed cars. Always recommend the same to my F&F and ensure they dont get Turboed.
- No fancy Mods, not even to wheels, which could impact consumption in any way.
- No unnecessary shopping. Discourage others from doing so. Shooping trips are fuel guzzling trips. Buy online.
- We plant more trees around our house. We farm our own urea from the spoiled veggies.
- Avoid meat consumption, whereever possible.
- Switch to LED's & BLDC fans.
- Simple clothes. Less usage of washing machine. Cut down Geyser usage. Not exceeding 50 Inch TV. At the end all things add up.

What i need to change
- Currently i take my car to Gym runs, which is for just 1 Km. No washrooms in this concrete jungle, hence forced to use car to avoid peeing on roadside.
- i do too many long drives , thats what a Petrol head is, but, i think i need to cut down my joy rides.

Things in pipeline.
- Installation of Solar pannels. It appears maintainence heavy and return on investment is poor.
- Switching to WFH job. Not just to reduce fuel usage, but for health too.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I don't attempt to offset my CO2 emissions, and I don't want to. I had the bumper sticker "NO CO2 CREDITS" on my diesel-guzzling car.

Same pinch!! I don't attempt as well + I ride more than I drive, so almost no guilty feeling

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

On an individual level, does carbon offsetting really make a difference?

Same pinch again - I've the same question as well

[On4Wheels]

to ambarkhan for this thoughtful thread.

Reducing CO2 emission is a very complex topic. It is one of the key concern that is being discussed and observed in forums, conferences and summits by scientists, policy makers, industrialist etc. Even common man is also joining the debates and taking measures to reduce the CO2 emission. I personally feel the guilt of polluting the environment. Even though I am taking baby steps towards it, I know that it is nowhere near to individual net zero CO2 emission because my car usage nullifies all these measures and hence, I do not want to list them as it is penny wise and pound foolish.

I would like to share an eyeopening perspective of Prof. Walter Lewin (retired Professor, MIT), from his book For The Love Of Physics (Energy Conservation). In ninth chapter, he has explained about energy requirement of a normal human being: a person needs 2400 kilo calories of energy a day and he releases about 100 W as heat and other mechanical work done. Further, he elucidates about the importance of reducing the energy consumption by taking his own house hold energy consumption:

Well, one important thing is to become more aware of just how much energy we use every day, and to use less. My own energy consumption is quite modest, I think, although since I live in the United States, I’m sure I also consume four or five times more than the average person in the world. I use electricity; I heat my house and water with gas, and I cook with gas. I use my car—not very much, but I do use some gasoline. When I add that all up, I think I consumed (in 2009) on average about 100 million joules (30 kilowatt-hours) per day, of which about half was electrical energy. This is the energy equivalent of having about two hundred slaves working for me like dogs twelve hours a day. Think about that. In ancient times only the richest royalty lived like this. What luxurious, incredible times we live in. Two hundred slaves are working for me every single day, twelve hours a day without stopping, all so that I can live the way I live. For 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity, which is 3.6 million joules, I pay a mere 25 cents. So my entire energy bill (I included gas and gasoline, as their price per unit energy is not very different) for those two hundred slaves was, on average, about $225 a month; that’s about $1 per slave per month! So a change of consciousness is vital. But that will only get us so far.

In short, we are adding more and more CO2 and heat to the atmosphere even in case it is derived form green resources. There are many misconception also among us about the green energy and about the measures of reducing CO2 emission.

1. Work from home may not reduce energy demand because there are cases where energy demand for work from home is more than working at office. Please find the case study here.
2. The solar energy is not green as we think. Another case study is attached here.
3. The EVs are not green car always and the CO2 foot print of EV need to be calculated from mining to recycling rather than just by electricity consumption.

However, it is very important to reduce the CO2 emission and individually it is difficult for one to achieve net zero CO2 emission. Hence, I think, following the guidelines by policy makers on this aspect can bring down CO2 emission in a more meaning full manner (for example the LED drive). Also, we need to introspect about how much CO2 we produce on our celebrations and partying. Along with this, if we restrict the CO2 generation at individual level, we can make our world better. Thanks.

[irdevanand]

Originally Posted by ambarkhan

Ground Rules:
Assuming you're an automotive enthusiast who regularly follows team-bhp, you probably drive or ride about 15,000 kilometers in a year. The question is how we can continue following our passion without harming the mother nature ?

Great thread! I recently wrote about carbon sequestration on my LinkedIn page (https://bit.ly/43KwSli). It's encouraging to see companies like Apple taking steps towards being net zero by 2030, and now the topic is spreading to individuals. I'm glad to see this discussion on Team-BHP.

While points made by GTO about working from home, eating a plant-based diet, etc., are valid for overall well-being, they may not directly offset the carbon emissions from the kilometers we drive each year after those offsets. Calculating the farming required to compensate for CO2 emissions based on kilometers driven provides a more direct payback. The sample calculations from ChatGPT show that the land size required for farming can vary from 15 acres to 0.5 acre, depending on what is being farmed (see attached screenshots).





You can do your own calculations using ChatGPT by inputting your kilometers driven last year to determine how much farming you need to do next year. Depending on where you live, you can choose to grow bamboo or paddy, for example.

@GTO, would you be interested in starting a farmland that is maintained by Team-BHP? With REITs, we can be part owners and have peace of mind knowing that we are paying back to Mother Nature for every rev! And a track by the side :-) I am ready to write the cheque or ready to find a farmland for a teambhp farmland here in chennai.