Canadians’ per capita emissions of CO2 are the third-highest in the world. Each of us emits an average of 21.9 t of the stuff per year, both directly through household energy and transportation (about 40% of the total) and indirectly by consuming products and services. The average European emits half as much as us, the average Maldivian only 2% as much.
A return flight from Vancouver to Quebec City thus emits as much CO2 equivalent as 5 Maldivians during an entire year
Short trips can be especially hard on your pocketbook. Trips of
less than five kilometres generally do not allow the engine to reach its
peak operating temperature, especially in cold weather. That means fuel
consumption and exhaust emissions will be significantly higher than when
covering the same distance with a warm engine.
Aggressive driving in city traffic saves very little time but greatly increases fuel consumption and emissions. It is also hard on the engine and brakes. A European test showed that aggressive driving – "jackrabbit" starts from traffic lights and hard braking – reduced travel time by only 4 % (the equivalent of 2½ minutes out of a 60–minute trip). However, fuel consumption increased by 37 %, and some toxic emissions were more than five times higher. The safer, more fuel-efficient option is to accelerate smoothly and maintain a steady speed
With most vehicles, increasing your cruising speed from 100 km/h to 120 km/h will increase fuel consumption by about 20 %. On the other hand, reducing your speed from 100 km/h to 90 km/h improves fuel economy by about 10 %
