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

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 CO2 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 CO2 (hand wash with gas water heating) to 4.46 kg CO2 (rollover wash with electric heating). The key contributors to CF are electricity usage and the water heating system applied. Annual CO2 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 CO2 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.