Equivalence

Color how many acres of forest, garbage trucks of waste recycled, or wind turbines can offset car emissions

Data sources

The four activities for this section were derived from the Greenhouse Gases Equivalencies Calculator - Calculations and References by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

How the data was used

The calculations were made for the following equivalences:

Car emissions and acres of forest

• 4.73 metric tons CO2 emissions per vehicle per year
• 1.06 metric ton CO2 sequestered annually by one acre of average U.S. forest
• round(4.73 / 1.06) = 4 acres of North American pine forest is equivalent to taking one car off the road for a year

Car emissions and trucks of garbage recycled

• 4.73 metric tons CO2 emissions per vehicle per year
• 22.06 metric tons CO2 emissions avoided per garbage truck of waste recycled instead of landfilled
• round(22.06 / 4.73) = 5 cars taken off the road for one year is equivalent to one garbage truck of waste recycled instead of landfilled

Car emissions and urban trees planted

• 4.73 metric tons CO2 emissions per vehicle per year
• 0.039 metric ton CO2 sequestered per urban tree seedling planted and grown for 10 years
• round(4.73 / 0.039) = 121 urban trees planted and grown for 10 years is equivalent to taking one car off the road for a year

Car emissions and wind turbines installed

• 4.73 metric tons CO2 emissions per vehicle per year
• 3,960 metric tons CO2 offset per wind turbine installed
• round(3960 / 4.73) = 837 cars taken off the road for one year is equivalent to the carbon emissions that one wind turbine installed offsets

Code

Python scripts is available in the code repository to generate or extend this activity. The scripts in the folder will simply execute the calculations made above and in some cases, output an svg with the relevant activity.