Video - Greener Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras throws are usually the one part of parades you can take home. For people like Katrina Brees, the throws should be memorable and from her perspective, sustainable. party, celebration, Mardi Gras, Carnival, lent, celebration, sustainable, sustainability, improvements, better, waste, garbage, plastic,

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A More Sustainable Carnival and Mardi Gras
Video - Verdi Gras

Video - Verdi Gras

Verdi Gras from Sarah Tilotta on Vimeo.

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A More Sustainable Carnival and Mardi Gras
Video - Greener Mardi Gras

A More Sustainable Carnival and Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is getting greener. Carnival is a major event that is celebrated in many places around the world including New Orleans, Mexico, Brazil and the Caribbean. Although this party is well known for over the top excess, here are some of the initiatives, organizations and companies that are helping to make the festivities more sustainable

Each year over 25 million pounds of beads are distributed during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This amounts to over $1 billion of Mardi Gras beads. Many of these toxic petroleum based beads are manufactured in factories where workers are treated inhumanely. These mostly plastic strings of beads are both the most popular "throws" and one of the most hazardous. Over 60 percent of the Mardi Gras Trinkets tested were above the US Consumer Product Safety Commission limit for lead in children’s products of 100 parts per million (ppm). The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 40ppm as a limit. These trinkets are unregulated and the toxins in them leach into the environment.

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Production

Although electric and hybrid cars create more carbon emissions during their production than standard vehicles, they are still greener overall. This is one of the findings in a report prepared by Ricardo1for, in collaboration with the membership of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership that includes major vehicle manufacturers and oil companies.

The increased emissions created during the production of electric and hybrid vehicles is further compounded by disposal issues. However, overall electric and hybrid vehicles still have lower carbon footprints than fossil fuel powered vehicles.


“This work dispels the myth that low carbon vehicles simply displace emissions from the exhaust to other sources. However, it does highlight the need to look at reducing carbon emissions from vehicles throughout their lifecycle,” said Greg Archer, LowCVP Managing Director.

A 2008 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, which include emissions from both manufacturing and operating a vehicle, are 32 percent less from plug-in hybrids than from gasoline-powered cars.

Approximately three quarters of the carbon created in production is attributable to the steel used in vehicles. In an electric vehicle almost half (43%) of the carbon created in production arises from the battery. To reduce carbon in vehicle production we need low weight, low carbon alternatives for steel and batteries.

Andy Carroll, Managing director for Eurotax Glass’s, said that the industry will see an evolution towards learning how to estimate the residual value impact of improved technologies and batteries as well as end of life disposal.

Although calculating whole life carbon emissions is complex, it is essential for comprehensive vehicle comparisons.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Assessing the Environmental Impact of Operating Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Operating Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

The dramatically smaller footprint of electric cars varies depending on the source of electricity used to power them. "The types of power plants installed in the next two decades will not only affect how much we can reduce emissions from electricity, but also from vehicles," said Carnegie Mellon engineer Kyle Meisterling.

Newer fossil fuel powered vehicles are much more efficient than previous generations of automobiles, but they are not as efficient as hybrids or fully electric vehicles.

In places like California where tailpipe standards are some of the toughest in the nation, a 2010 gas powered car puts out only 2 percent of the emissions of a 1980s model. However, electric vehicles have a much smaller carbon footprint than even the most efficient fossil fuel powered vehicles.

We should not underestimate the contributions of electric vehicles to our environment. According to Tom Cahill, a professor emeritus of physics at UC Davis, EVs offer "a whole lot of gain in climate change."

All-electric vehicles burn no fossil fuels, and hybrids burn relatively small amounts of gas. The tailpipe emissions from electric cars are zero and hybrids have a significantly reduced emissions profile compared to conventional vehicles. In places like Los Angeles, on some days, the tailpipe emissions of hybrids contain less pollution than the air.

A 2008 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that America's electricity mix derives 45 percent of electricity from coal, 23 percent from natural gas, 20 percent from nuclear, and 12 percent from dams, solar, wind and other sources. The emissions associated with electric and hybrid vehicles will improve significantly once we reduce the use of fossil fuel powered energy, particularly coal.

One of the most interesting findings of the Carnegie research finds that even when electricity derived from coal is used to power hybrids they emit fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline-powered cars.

In states with cleaner power mixes, plug-in hybrids have less than half the greenhouse gas footprint of conventional gasoline vehicles.

In a recent study, Mark Jacobsen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering found that electric vehicles powered by wind energy were best, with a 99 percent reduction in carbon and air pollution emissions from the current vehicle fleet. Not suprisingly, ethanol ranked last in his study, with the largest carbon footprint.

"There's no technical reason we can't ramp up to a lot more electric vehicles," Jacobsen said. "It's a question of whether society as a whole is motivated to do it."

Andy Carroll, Managing director for Eurotax Glass’s, said the key to making electric vehicles more popular will be for manufacturers to completely remove the risk of residual value in batteries from falling into the hands of the customer.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Related Post
Assessing the Environmental Impact of Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Production