Olympic Torch Emits 5500 Tons of CO2 - More Than the Country of Niue

Mt. Olympus (TGW) - If you need another reason to get pissed about this year's Olympics, you've got one: by the time it's done, the Olympic torch will have emitted about 11 million pounds of CO2.

That is 5500 tons of the stuff, more than the whole country of Niue.

To be fair, Niue is a tiny island country somewhere in the Pacific. And also, Niue is emits the least amount of CO2 total per any country in the world.

So, why all the emissions? The journey the torch takes covers 85,000 miles. And when it isn't being run by some poor soul, the torch is flown on an Air China A330 custom painted with the Olympic logo and color scheme. The A330 burns 5.4 gallons of fuel per mile. That translates into 462,400 gallons for the entire trip. With Earthlab estimating that every gallon of jet fuel burned produces 23.88 pounds of CO2, that comes to a grand total of 5500 tons.

Via :: Wikipedia :: Wired