Sebastian Vettel recently revealed that he would re-consider his career in the sport if steps were not taken to reduce its carbon footprint.
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Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel recently revealed that he would re-consider his career in the sport if considerable steps were not taken fast to reduce its effect on the climate. Vettel has been an outspoken climate activist, sporting a “Miami 2060 – first grand prix underwater – Act Now or Swim Later” t-shirt ahead of the first ever Miami Grand Prix last weekend. The Aston Martin driver is not the only one who has spoken about the sport’s impact on climate. In 2019, then world champion Lewis Hamilton had also expressed his concerns regarding the matter and the same ear, the FIA announced that Formula One would go carbon neutral by 2030. They also announced that the races from 2025 would be sustainable. But how are they going to achieve that, and will it be enough? Also, how bad exactly is the effect of Formula One on our climate? Here is all you need to know.
In 2019, after Hamilton’s statement, the FIA finally got off their backs to consciously do something about F1’s effect on the climate. They conducted an audit report which would determine the sport’s carbon footprint. Turns out that in just a year, F1 produces a humongous 256,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. To put it into context, that is enough CO2 to power 30,000 homes in the UK in the same timeframe. That’s a pretty heavy carbon footprint and considering how fast our planet is heating up, it certainly needs checking.
Here’s the weird part, the race weekends themselves only account for 0.7% of the emissions. So, where do they come from? Formula One is not just about race weekends. There is transportation for every single team and equipment and that takes the mammoth’s share of the emission. The audit report found that in 2019, road, sea and air logistics for equipment transportation accounted for a whopping 45% of the emissions. But that’s not it. A further 27.7% of the share is due to business travel for teams. Apart from that, factories and other facilities that play a role in the sport account for 19.3% and event operations account for the remaining 7.3%.
The thing that’s even scarier is the fact that this report did not even take into account the transport and accommodation requirements of the millions of fans that gather at the venues on every race weekend. 256,000 tonnes is just the number derived from official F1 activities. If one takes into account the fans and their requirements, the number shoots up drastically and reaches at an estimated total of a mammoth 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
So what can F1 do to help the planet? Well, ‘thermal efficiency’ is a term that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to automobiles. It refers to the percentage of combustion energy that is used to propel the car rather than being lost as heat. Until the 2014 season, thermal efficiency in F1 cars stood at 29%. After switching to the V6 thermo-hybrid engines that year, the percentage increased to 40%. As of 2020, F1 cars have a thermal efficiency of 50%. These numbers look great, sure, but things need to be a lot better.
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Being the most efficient cars in the world, the mechanics of the F1 engine often finds itself in regular cars as companies also look to build cars that are efficient and slightly less harmful for the environment. And it’s not just cars where these technological developments can be used. As per a report in The Indian Express, Aerofoil Energy stated in 2020 that the patent for its Vortex strip, a device that prevents cold spilling from open-faced freezers, would be released. Energy savings have doubled in grocery chains where these strips have been deployed, and they are poised to become a fixture in refrigerator production in the future. This technique, which was originally developed for F1 cars’ wings, is one of several inventions that have benefited various goods and sectors.
F1 intends to lessen its environmental effect in several ways, including the continuous development of energy-efficient engines. The organisers has committed to a variety of projects aimed at improving engine efficiency since the formation of the FIA Alternative Fuel Commission in 1989, the most noteworthy of which is its global fuel economy programme in 2007, which seeks to reduce fuel consumption by 50% across the competition.
The FIA announced in 2020 that it was developing a 100% sustainable fuel and that engine manufacturers were already testing it, with the goal of utilising it by 2026. It is said to be the most sophisticated form of biofuel, which is often created from industrial or agricultural waste by-products. F1 cars already employ biofuels, although current regulations only need 5.75% bio-components in the fuel. The FIA intends to shift to 100% advanced sustainable fuels by 2025, when new power units are offered for competition.
