Kia’s Cadenza Sedan Gets A Carbon Footprint Certificate; All Future Kia Models To Follow Suit
15 December 2009
Kia has announced that its new K7 sedan, which will be exported as the Cadenza, has received its carbon footprint certificate from the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI).
The all-new Cadenza. Click to enlarge. |
The Cadenza, which will be sold in the North American market beginning with model year 2011, will emit an estimated 29.5 tons of carbon dioxide throughout its life cycle. 11.8% of those emissions will be produced during the sourcing and refining of raw materials, with 1.8% produced by the vehicle assembly process, 86.4% produced by vehicle operation, and 0.04% during final disposal. Emissions created during vehicle operation assume 120,000 kilometers (approximately 75,000 miles) of operation.
Kia expanded Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to its full lineup in 2006 to provide a quantitative evaluation of the environmental impact of a product’s cradle-to-grave life cycle, including raw material production, vehicle production, use and disposal. The carbon footprint certificate allows potential customers to evaluate one metric of the LCA, as verified by an independent party, prior to vehicle purchase.
In addition to aerodynamic tweaks and engine efficiency improvements, the Cadenza uses a six-speed automatic transmission and low rolling resistance tires to minimize fuel consumption. Kia plans to develop carbon footprint labels for all future vehicles.
—Jack Rosebro
With two "carbon footprint certificates" you can wrap an entire mackerel for refrigeration.
Posted by: sulleny | 15 December 2009 at 04:27 PM
Given the numbers, the actual operation of the vehicle comes to 210 g/km. This seems quite high, and I have to wonder if it includes the entire fuel cycle from well to tailpipe.
The 75,000 mile lifespan of the vehicle seems quite low. In the last 10 years I have not given up a daily driver with less than twice that much mileage on it.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 16 December 2009 at 10:48 AM