How to calculate your vehicle’s CO2 emissions

The amount of CO2 produced per litre or gallon of fuel is fairly consistent, so you just need to know the amount of fuel you used, the type of fuel and the number of miles or kilometres you’ve covered to calculate the total CO2 emitted.

Diesel produces around 2.68kg per litre burned while petrol produces around 2.31kg per litre burned.

How to minimise the amount of CO2 created while driving

The easiest way to minimise your CO2 usage is to improve your fuel economy. This can be done through:

• Keeping your vehicle tuned
• Removing any unnecessary items you are carrying to reduce weight
• Avoiding driving during adverse weather conditions such as high winds and heavy rain which slow you down
• Choosing routes that aren’t blocked
• Combining journeys so that you’re minimising the time driving on a cold engine when fuel consumption is highest
• Choosing vehicles that are more economical such as hybrids
• Watching your driving style – not using hard acceleration, using anticipation to smooth out braking and accelerating
• Using any technology available to cut fuel consumption such as stop/start technology.

By Darren Cottingham

Darren has owned several companies in the automotive, advertising and education industries. He has run driving theory educational websites since 2010.