In recent years, carbon footprint calculators have become incredibly popular. Basically, you answer a series of questions and then upon completion of the questionnaire, you are given a number, usually in the form of how many pounds of carbon dioxide emissions you are responsible for every year.
There are literally hundreds of carbon footprint calculators at your fingertips. All you have to do is do a simple online search for a carbon footprint calculator and you can pick from hundreds if not thousands of options. All different kinds of groups create carbon footprint calculators, like non-profit organizations, energy companies and government agencies. The thing you have to remember is that many of the groups that create carbon footprint calculators have an agenda. For example, a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote clean, renewable energy sources might calculate your own personal carbon emissions differently than a non-profit group advocating the use of "clean" coal (which is quite an oxymoron).
In order to accurately calculate your carbon footprint, you'll need a few things before you get started. You'll need your monthly electricity bill that displays your monthly electricity use in kilowatt-hours (kWh). You also need any other electricity bills, like natural gas or oil. You need to know how many miles you drive every year and what your car miles-per-gallon (MPG) is rating is. You also need to know how many flights you've taken in the past year and how many miles you've traveled on those flights. That's generally what you need, but there may be other information required, like the amount of trash that you generate, what you eat or how often you utilize public transportation. The more data you can gather to accurately estimate the answers to the questions on a carbon footprint calculator will help you to get an accurate carbon footprint.
However, as mentioned, not all carbon footprint calculators are created equal. Chances are, if you calculate your carbon footprint with several different calculators you'll probably get different numbers. Air travel is one area that affects the variation, since different carbon footprint calculators offer different answer options. For example, one calculator asks for the flight length and gives you the option to select short, medium or long. Other calculators ask you to input the actual miles flown, which is far more accurate.
One popular carbon footprint calculator is TerraPass' version. Another popular version is the Bonneville Environmental Foundation's carbon footprint calculator, which allows you to either approximate your footprint by using national averages or input your own personal data. A final popular carbon footprint calculator can be found through the World Resource Institute. They offer a very comprehensive methodology for how they calculate their estimates.
Once you've calculated your carbon footprint, now you need to figure out what to do with that number. EnviroCitizen.org encourages you to research ways in which you can decrease your consumption and carbon emissions. Your family's future and the environment will thank you! |
