Global Climate Change and Cars
Procedure
- Count and record each car, make, model and year.
- Research and briefly explain the impact of each of the following on the environment. Site your sources
- Fuel Consumption
- Carbon Dioxide
- Carbon Monoxide
- Nitrogen Oxides
- Hydrocarbons
- Go to the US Department of Energy and US EPA's Fuel Economy Website
- Input each car (assume 15,000miles/year) and record the combined estimated fuel consumption and annual CO2 emissions. You may want to complete this chart in Excel.
- After completing this chart, input the data using Excel to calculate a parking lot sample mean for fuel consumption and CO2 (the Excel spreadsheet must be submitted with your write-up).
- To calculate CO2, use this EPA website
- Write-up
- Describe the potential areas of weakness in your conclusions (e.g. sampling, extrapolation, assumptions)
- Briefly describe what you would do next time to improve the results
- What are the environmental significance of your findings?
- Were you surprised by any of the car comparisons in your data? Explain.
- Briefly provide some appropriate policy recommendations to reduce car gas consumption and resultant air pollution.