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Activity Summary and Instructions:

          In this activity, you will compare four vehicles to determine how much they would cost you to operate (in terms of dollars per year for gasoline) and how much they cost the environment (in terms of CO2 emitted pr year).   Step-by-step instructions for collecting the necessary data are provided here.  A copy of these instructions is provided (Vehicle_Fuel_Efficiency.pdf).  Once the spreadsheet is complete, open the "Vehicle Efficiency Questions" and answer the questions.  Copies of the questions are provided here and in the pdf document.

Vehicle Fuel Efficiency and Environmental Impact

For many people, owning and operating a personal vehicle is a necessity.  While you might want to help the environment by using public transportation, sometimes it’s just not an option.  The type of vehicle you use, though, is an option you have for controlling your environmental impact.  This activity asks you to compare several vehicles to determine how much they cost you to operate (in terms of dollars per year) and how much they cost the environment (in terms of carbon emitted).

1. Download the Car Cost Carbon Calculator Excel spreadsheet and open it in Excel or import it into Google Sheets.

2. Estimate the typical number of miles you drive in a year.  Enter this value as the Average Annual Miles Driven.   A typical value is 20,000 miles annually.

3. Enter a value for the current Price of Gasoline where you live.

4. Do some online research to find the Fuel Efficiency (miles per gallon) for the Ford F150 pickup, Chevy Impala, and Toyota Prius.  Use 2019 as the model year for all of these.  You will also need the Fuel Efficiency for your own vehicle.  You can look this up or calculate it based on your own driving.  Enter these values into the spreadsheet.

5. Once you have entered Average Annual Miles Driven, Price of Gasoline, and Fuel Efficiency, your Gasoline Used and Annual Cost will be calculated.  An electric car does not use gasoline, so calculating gasoline used does not make sense and is not calculated.  For the electric car, the value for Annual Cost is the cost of the electricity used to charge it.  In this spreadsheet, electricity cost is calculated based on the current price per kWh for Morehead’s utility company, Fleming-Mason Energy.  The current price for electricity is $0.08025 per kWh.

6. Now calculate the Annual Carbon Emitted for these vehicles.  To do this, follow the link to the TerraPass website ( https://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator ).  You will be using the Individual Calculator.  Follow the screenshots provided.

7. In the left-hand panel, answer the following questions using the drop-down boxes.

               Type of Vehicle: Car

               Year: 2019

               Make:

               Model:

Annual Mileage:

You may also be asked for the vehicle’s description:

8. With the above information, the vehicle’s emissions in “lbs. CO2 emitted” will be displayed in the right-hand panel.  Record this value in the spreadsheet.

9. You will need to reload the page between vehicles to start over.  If you don’t do this, the second vehicle’s emissions will be added to the first vehicle’s emissions.

10. Once you have determined the emissions for the four gasoline vehicles, set the vehicle type to Electric Car and find its emissions.  Record that value in your spreadsheet, also.

11. Now that you have collected all your data, enter the data as answers in the Blackboard assignment.  Also, answer the questions about the data. 

 

Questions:

1. Which vehicle would cost you the most to operate each year?  Is this vehicle the same one with the highest environmental impact from having the highest carbon (CO2) emissions?

2. When looking at the data, what is the most important factor for determining the amount of carbon (CO2) emitted?  Explain your answer.

3. When you were calculating the carbon (CO2) emitted for the electric car, you entered your zip code.  Speculate as to why your location matters in this calculation.

4. The 2019 Prius would have cost you about $23,800 to buy, while the Malibu would have cost about $22,000.  While you initially paid more for the Prius, you pay less per year to drive the Prius.  How many years would it take for you to make up this price difference through reduced energy usage?  Show your calculations.

5. There is only about a 10% difference in the price of the hybrid vs. the gasoline vehicle, so there is not a big difference in price.  How does the price of gasoline affect your choice of car?  Name one other factor you should consider when making the decision about which car to buy.

6. Other than Toyota, are there any other car companies with electric vehicles you can buy today?  If so, list some examples.  List some examples of new electric vehicles which will available soon.

Submit your data from the Car_Cost_Carbon_Calculator in the requested format. For each of the 11 pieces of data (A-K in the highlighted cells), enter its corresponding letter and its value.

Enter your answers like this:

A = 22,000

B = 24

C = 44

etc.