Comments on: GPS Systems Can Cut Your Carbon Footprint (and Your Commute)

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:09:06 +0000

It’s unfortunate that my sense of social responsibility doesn’t provide a revenue stream…otherwise I’d be willing to pay more (ie. more than ‘not much’) to cut my carbon footprint by 21%!

Ah well. Maybe I’ll get a GPS someday. Until that day, I’m just too dang cheap.

By: David Chu

David Chu — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:20:21 +0000

People need to relax. The report Brian mentions was published by a respected research group that specializes in stuff life “population density” and it’s effect on traffic. Don’t remember the exact name. Although the study was sponsored by Navteq, it was tested only in Brussels. Although you can’t assume that everyone will have results, there’s enough research to show that having a GPS with real time traffic helps save you money if you live in a high traffic area.

By: Geek Radio Daily » Blog Archive » Geek Radio Daily October 22nd 2009

Geek Radio Daily » Blog Archive » Geek Radio Daily October 22nd 2009 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:09:44 +0000

[...] GPS Reduces Your Carbon Footprint [...]

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:05:02 +0000

I am able to use my iPhone unlike others, but that’s neither here nor there.

I think the negative points that people are making are highlighting the fact that this is most likely based on junk science. I am sure you could save these amounts of money and/or carbon if you have an extreme and complicated commute that is outside of the norm. I’m sure I could win the lottery if I buy a ticket but that may just make me yet another contributor to the idiot tax.

I just advise that you do your own research and see if the device is right for you prior to making a purchase. And remember that it is highly unlikely that you’ll save as much time or carbon as this author suggests.

By: Ron Ackels

Ron Ackels — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:01:26 +0000

Well spoken Kevin. Where do you stable your horse?

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:51:47 +0000

I wanted to post a comment reply from my iPhone but I got this great popup trying to make me subscribe to a newsletter, and your focus stealing code prevented me from being able to tap [close].

Several really bad comments here. Kevin will never need to find a place suddenly along the trip and have no issues at all ever getting to his destination successfully. Jerry forgot that the GPS satellites were put up by the US government for the military and that GPS receivers just receive the signal, so they’re going to be put up there anyway. Edward forgot that sitting in stop and go traffic isn’t idling, it’s taking the car from still to moving to still repeatedly which takes more gas than idling or going at a steady clip.

Congratulations on having the population of YouTube come and comment on your blog, dude. The nice TomTom at CostCo that is slightly better than my GO 720 and cost 1/3rd the cost it was two years ago ($150) can do this stuff, it’s not $200 as edward suggests.

Also, a good GPS with the service (such as TomTom’s subscription service) can find the cheapest gas around, saving you from 10-20 cents a gallon which really adds up.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:36:38 +0000

I can read a map and plan ahead. Why even bother with a GPS?

By: jerry

jerry — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:24:06 +0000

And how much carbon do we need to offset to account for getting the GPS satellites into orbit? Just a thought…

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:03:42 +0000

“you’ll probably be able to pay off the expense after using the GPS just a couple of months” means that I’ll recoup my cost (by saving money on gas) in roughly three months or so? If the device costs $200 and I pay $2.50 per gallon of gas that gets 25 miles per gallon, you’re suggesting that this device will save me 80 gallons of gas in three months, or 6.7 gallons of gas per week. My vehicle takes about 1.2 gallons of gas to idle for an hour, so you’d need to save me five and a half hours of idling (or reduce my trip length, which I have already done for free with a map) per week to achieve your claim. However, if you saved me that many hours per week of idle time, then you’d be able to claim to save me about twelve days per year in my commute. Since I believe the numbers you’ve displayed are already best-case scenarios, I think you’ve got some faulty math on how quickly my GPS would “pay for” its outlay cost.

By: bryan

bryan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:18:49 +0000

According to an study written by a company that makes GPS systems….

i got a new report from frito-lay that says eating cheeto’s with whole grains is heart healthy!