How Much CO2 Are We Emitting?

Based on the average fuel economy of the US vehicle fleet and an average figure of 12,000 miles per year driving, one year of driving in the United States emits about 6 tons of carbon dioxide.

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Yup, driving in a vehicle with high fuel efficiency such as the now iconic Toyota Prius will slash your yearly carbon emissions from driving in half.

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Of all these, electricity usage is the most abstracted. The amount of electricity used varies widely from region to region in the United States, as does the amount of carbon released through generating it -- some places use tons of coal, while others use mostly natural gas or hydropower. But, using average figures for the United States (920 kWh of electricity per month per capita) reveals that electricity usage can be about half of your yearly carbon footprint.

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According to the calculations done by Carbon Fund, and including the effects of radiative forcing, one flight from New York to Los Angeles and back emits about 2.4 tons of CO2. That's about 12% of the average US resident's carbon emissions in less than 24 hours of traveling.

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The 7,300 mile round-trip journey from New York to Paris emits 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide, including the effects of radiative forcing. One trip across the Atlantic from the east coast of North America emits about 17% of the average American's carbon emissions.

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Fancy a trip to China? If you're concerned about reducing your carbon emissions, consider that the trip from New York to Shanghai emits a whopping 7.2 tons of CO2. The trip alone is over double what the average Chinese citizen emits in a year. And it's about 35% of the average American's emissions.

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Over the entire country the average daily commute (round trip) is 32 miles, which is about 1.25 gallons of fuel in the average US car = 25 lbs of CO2 per day going to and from work. Over the year that comes out to about 3 tons of carbon emissions.

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Based on data from the Energy Information Agency about 82% of greenhouse gas emissions are CO2 related to energy usage. All told that comes up to 6.4 billion tons.

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Global emissions from the transportation sector amount to about 14% of global emissions (based on 2005 data). The vast majority of that comes from road transport, with 2% coming from air travel and 3% from shipping. For sake of comparison, emissions from transportation in the United States are about 27% of the total.

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Current estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation around the world place them at 18% of global emissions. That's more than for the global transportation sector combined.

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