Carbon Emmisions

To get to an event 100 miles from our home base at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre, (and back), Veggies will emit 120kg CO2.

However by helping each 100 people Eat Vegan we will “offset” 200 kg CO2

If ONE customer goes Vegan For Life, they will save 1.5 tonnes CO2 every year, as well as saving 4022 animals’ lives, and enabling all the world’s peoples to receive a Fair Share of the world’s resources.

HOW ARE WE DOING?

If we have helped you to change your diet please let us know.

The mapping facility on Veggies Website Diary links public transport options for many events, and ‘get directions‘ facility at Multimap calculates the CO2 emissions for your journey.

Footprint Calculators Promote Steps Towards Meatlessness

Our environmental footprint is one way to measure our impact on the environment.
There are now many online footprint calculators that include meat consumption as one factor in calculating our environmental impact.

Here are several (some are more fun than others):

Vegetable Oil – A Vegan Fuel Solution?

The global livestock industry makes a greater contribution to global warming than transport, however transport emissions should still be minimised.

As well as reducing distances travelled, as part of a calorie controlled transport diet, vehicles can run on waste or locally produced vegetable oil.

Waste cooking oil is currently the most sustainable transport fuel available.
Oil-seed crops are currently fed to livestock, wasting most of their energy value.
The use of vegetable oil as a fuel has a much reduced effect on global warming. When plants grows they absorbs CO2 from the air. When the oil from the seed is burnt it releases the CO2 back into the air.
Waste oil can be reused as a fuel, a beneficial alternative to other disposal options.
Rapeseed oil can be grown locally, reducing the energy used in transportation.
Rapeseed oil can be grown organically saving the use of artificial fertilisers, and the substantial energy used to produce them.
As our dependence on animal products is reduced, land and farming skills can be better applied to growing oil bearing plants for (reduced) transport needs.

Other good reasons for using vegetable oil

Using waste oil actually reduces CO2 emissions as it is a recycled product.
If the transport and processing of oilseed is itself powered using veg oil, the ongoing supply is practically CO2 neutral.
Rapeseed oil is sulphur dioxide free, so doesn’t cause acid rain.
Rapeseed oil can be grown in the winter months when some fields remain empty.
Nitrous oxide emissions can also be lower especially when grown organically.
Future plant oil sources are being trialled, including algae grown in lakes in the sea or in tanks in the desert.
Vegetable oil is non toxic, biodegradable and save to handle.
Using vegetable oil spares crude oil for future uses.
There are no waste products in the making of vegetable oil.
It takes less energy to produce vegetable oil. The oil only has to be squeezed from the seed.
It is more eco-friendly than biodiesel,as biodiesel has to have chemicals and heat added to convert it, taking up to 25 times as much energy to produce.
It is a good cash crop for farmers to grow, an efficient alternative to animal products.
Growing of rapeseed does not have to be subsidised, saving tax payers’ money.
The use of vegetable oil as a fuel in a car is a much safer option, as it will not ignite until it reaches around 300 degrees C.
The smell of burning vegetable oil is less unpleasant than diesel.
Vegetable oil is non toxic, and safe to handle.
Using vegetable oil as a fuel can also save you money.

You do not need to buy a new car to be kinder to the environment. In fact converting older cars will save large amounts of energy from being used to produce a new car.

Veggie Power, (a vegan business), can sell you a kit or convert your vehicle for you. See www.veggiepower.co.uk

Veggie Power are available to give talks or demonstrations at events, and run conversion courses at the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire. Ph:01730823166

Estimate statistics and references:

Diesel fuel: 2.68kg CO2/litre; 4-5mls/ltr (50-70k/100ml)(LILO Handbook)
Cooking gas: Butane: 1.74kg CO2/kg; Propane:1.95kg CO2/kg (as above).
1.5 tonnes CO2 saved annually by a vegan diet (4kg/person/day) (New Scientist);
Livestock industry produces 100 million tonnes methane each year (FAO, as below)
Methane is 23 times more harmful to the climate than C02 (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization).
1 hectare typically produces 1,400kg of oil and 1,900kg of cake for animal feed (United Oilseeds).
1,400kg of oil when converted to Rape Methyl Ester would allow a car to travel approx 26,500 kilometres (as above). ‘Straight veg oil’ requires no conversion.
Could meat be murder for the environment (New Scientist):
“A kilogram of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution than driving for 3 hours while leaving all the lights on back home.

“This is among the conclusions of a study by Akifumi Ogino of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and colleagues, which has assessed the effects of beef production on global warming, water acidification and eutrophication, and energy consumption.

“Their analysis showed that producing a kilogram of beef leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide. It also releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 grams of sulphur dioxide and 59 grams of phosphate, and consumes 169 megajoules of energy. In other words, a kilogram of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 kilometres, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

Veggies Catering Campaign, Nottingham

for humans, other animals and the environment