02 · Carbon, by volume
What we emit, as real-size cubes.
One metric ton of CO₂ gas fills a cube 8.2 m wide — about the size of a two-storey house. Watch them drop at their real rate.
Figures are rounded public estimates (EPA, IEA, Global Carbon Project, USGS). Volume at 20 °C and sea-level pressure.
Sources
- Open
🚗 One petrol car
US EPA — Greenhouse gas emissions from a typical passenger vehicle
- Open
🚢 Large container ship
MDPI J. Mar. Sci. Eng. — Slow steaming, fuel consumption and CO₂ of a container ship
- Open
✈️ Long-haul jet in cruise
Aircraft Commerce — 777 fuel burn performance
- Open
🏭 1 GW coal power plant
US EIA — How much CO₂ is produced per kWh of electricity?
- Open
🧱 All cement making
Andrew — Global CO₂ emissions from cement production (ESSD)
- Open
🌍 All fossil fuels on Earth
Global Carbon Budget 2023 (Friedlingstein et al., ESSD)
- Open
🌳 One mature tree
One Tree Planted — How much CO₂ does a tree absorb?
- Open
🌲 5,000 km² of temperate forest
Forest Research (UK) — Quantifying the sustainable forestry carbon cycle
- Open
🌋 Mount Etna (degassing)
Geosciences — Volcanic plume CO₂ flux at Mount Etna by mobile lidar
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⛰️ All volcanoes on Earth
Gerlach — Volcanic versus anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Eos, AGU)
- Open
🎋 10 km² of bamboo forest
Carbon stock of Moso bamboo forests in subtropical China (PMC)
- Open
🌊 The world's oceans
Global Carbon Budget 2023 — ocean sink (ESSD)
- Open
1 ton of CO₂ ≈ 550 m³ of gas
ICBE — Volume calculation of one ton of CO₂
- Open
● Live
NOAA Mauna Loa — live atmospheric CO₂
- Open
● Live
Scripps Keeling Curve — daily CO₂ reading
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● Live
INGV Etna Observatory — live volcano monitoring