IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i4p1384-d1586469.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the Impacts of Different Car Washing Systems on Carbon Footprint: Insights from Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Katarzyna Maciejewska

    (Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20 St., 00-653 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Magdalena Reizer

    (Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 20 St., 00-653 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

With over 1 billion passenger cars worldwide, even an indiscernible carbon footprint ( CF ) of the maintenance of a single vehicle has the potential for a relatively large overall environmental effect on the part of the car washing services sector. This study presents a methodology for assessing the CF of car washing services with a focus on Polish conditions. It compares four types of professional car washes, i.e., jet, rollover, tunnel, and hand, analyzing their environmental impact based on CO 2 emissions from water heating systems, energy consumption, water supply, and wastewater treatment. The results reveal that the total CF per vehicle ranges from 0.88 kg CO 2 (hand wash with gas water heating) to 4.46 kg CO 2 (rollover wash with electric heating). The key contributors to CF are electricity usage and the water heating system applied. Annual CO 2 emissions from car washing services in Poland are estimated at between 373.5 and 709.4 Gg, representing 0.13–0.26% of the country’s total net CO 2 emissions. Transitioning entirely to hand washes could reduce the emissions of the whole sector by approximately 50%. This study highlights the environmental significance of car washing services and provides practical insights for consumers and service providers.

Suggested Citation

  • Katarzyna Maciejewska & Magdalena Reizer, 2025. "Evaluating the Impacts of Different Car Washing Systems on Carbon Footprint: Insights from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1384-:d:1586469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/4/1384/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/4/1384/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christoph Kern & Andreas Jess, 2021. "Reducing Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Meet Climate Targets—A Comprehensive Quantification and Reasonable Options," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-21, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manfred Dollinger & Gerhard Fischerauer, 2023. "Physics-Based Prediction for the Consumption and Emissions of Passenger Vehicles and Light Trucks up to 2050," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-29, April.
    2. Paweł Dec & Jacek Wysocki, 2022. "In Search of Non-Obvious Relationships between Greenhouse Gas or Particulate Matter Emissions, Renewable Energy and Corruption," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Domenico Curto & Vincenzo Franzitta & Andrea Guercio & Rosario Miceli & Claudio Nevoloso & Francesco Maria Raimondi & Marco Trapanese, 2022. "An Experimental Comparison between an Ironless and a Traditional Permanent Magnet Linear Generator for Wave Energy Conversion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Andrea Isella & Davide Manca, 2022. "GHG Emissions by (Petro)Chemical Processes and Decarbonization Priorities—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-13, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:4:p:1384-:d:1586469. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.