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In advance of its German debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Fisker announced that its Fisker Karma will have lower carbon dioxide emissions than any other production car on the street today. The company also released estimated fuel cost for the plug-in hybrid.
Here are the Fisker Karma numbers you need to know:
Under the proposed cap-and-trade plan, manufacturers would have to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. For many companies, including auto makers, this is a money issue as much as (or maybe more than) an environmental one.
NSF International and Trucost Plc analyzed the greenhouse gas emissions of 230 businesses in a variety of sectors, including six in the automotive business: Ford, GM, Harley-Davidson, Goodyear, Johnson Controls, and Genuine Parts. Genuine Parts, an umbrella company that includes NAPA, had the lowest carbon emissions per million dollars of revenue. The other five companies all scored in the same neighborhood, as far as CO2 per million dollars goes.
The report puts CO2 emissions into financial perspective for the industry: if you don’t clean up your act sooner rather than later, it is going to cost you money. Not only that, but the report points out that a “dirty” company competing against a “clean” one will lose the public relations battle, too. Another hit to the ol’ pocketbook for spewing greenhouse gases into the air.
Overall, the average auto or parts manufacturer emits 1.3 million metric tons of green house gases each year. Over 90% of those emissions come from the supply chain, not from the manufacture of the product itself. Large companies are going to need to put the pressure on their suppliers to clean up, too. Otherwise, the company that builds the car is going to get dinged for the carbon score of the parts that go into it.
It’s all very complicated, and the report includes a lot of charts. But it boils down to one message for corporations: clean up your act, or you’ll end up paying six ways to Sunday.
The Economic Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., has crunched the numbers and declared Cash for Clunkers an economic and ecological success.
The Department of Transportation has calculated that the average fuel economy of the clunkers traded in so far has been 15.8 mph, while the new cars purchased under the program have averaged 25.4 mpg. According to the EPI, this translates to an annual savings of:
Not to mention the shot in the arm it’s given the economy. This kind of government support can’t last forever, but it’s nice to know it worked like it was supposed to. Mostly.
As part of the German carmaker’s promotional effort for its clean diesel engines, Audi will donate $1 to the Nature Conservancy’s carbon offset program for every Facebook user who joins the program, up to $25,000.
Audi TDI clean diesels reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20% and increase fuel efficiency by up to 30% over gasoline-powered cars, according to the company. “Audi’s contribution will provide necessary support to our voluntary carbon offset program’s reforestation and forest protection projects, but it will also help us to bring the benefits of the project to a new audience of supporters,” said Zoe Kant of the Nature Conservancy in a press release.
If you’re a Facebook user and you want to take part in the program to offset your own carbon emissions and get that extra $1 donation per person from Audi, visit www.causes.com/natureconservancy.
