CARBON FOOTPRINT CALCULATORS
TRENDS IN CO2 OVER TIME
There are many calculators on the web. Only two show
your trend in CO2 over time. The trend
lets you see your improvements.
CarbonDiet.org
and TheCarbonAccount.com
CarbonDiet has attractive graphs and
easy data entry. You may want some old electric bills to get meter readings
from the past. It also asks for airplane trips and gasoline records if you have
them. You get an immediate graph of CO2 day by day, as far back as
you have records. Keep coming back to add to your graph. Some nice features
include (A) plotting CO2 each day, though somewhat smoothed with a
moving average, (B) having national data for Australia, Canada, Ireland, UK,
US, and (C) letting your car's MPG change over time (especially as you become a
more gas-conscious driver).
They explain their methods
and offer CO2-saving suggestions.
They ask you to write down the gallons when you buy
gasoline/petrol; rather than just miles traveled. You will want to estimate
when you forget the number of gallons, or your graph will be incomplete. They say
correctly that people usually fill the tank when they buy gas (and they have fixed
a previous bug on the timing of gas consumption).
Both CarbonDiet and CarbonAccount let you enter
meter readings from electricity and natural gas, as well as airplane flights
and cars. They omit trains, buses, food, and everything else you buy.
CarbonAccount similarly has attractive
graphs and easy data entry. Use Internet Explorer; they're having a problem
with Firefox. If you have car maintenance bills, but not gasoline records, you
can enter mileage from the old bills, and it divides by MPG to show gasoline.
The site asks for a UK postcode and car number (foreigners can get good
approximations by using postcode SK1 3EH, and car AB51 DVL from UKCar.com). They average all data by month, so it
is not as detailed as CarbonDiet. They discuss future desired features,
and are working on a Facebook application. They also explain their methods.
Both sites have Open Source code, so you can improve
them. CarbonAccount uses Django, Python, SQL. CarbonDiet uses Ruby on Rails.
TOTAL CO2 FOR A YEAR
Dozens of other websites do not show CO2
trends, but simply estimate your total CO2 emissions during a year.
The systems above, which show your improvements, make it easier to stay
motivated.
All the calculators use low CO2 factors
from just the direct burning of fuel, which exclude the full lifecycle of
emissions, such as refining of petroleum and uranium, methane from gas
pipelines and hydroelectric reservoirs, etc. You can compare direct fuel
emissions to the more complete life-cycle emissions in the table
below. A more flexible calculator would offer a choice of narrow or
complete CO2 emission factors.
A good orientation to a few calculators is at http://www.grist.org/article/take-a-number/
which recommends Bonneville Environmental
among the full-year calculators.
The final section of this page
compares some of the calculators' assumptions.
Site which Compares 12 Ecological and 10 CO2 Footprint
Calculators
http://www.esd.rgs.org/link6.html
Ecological Footprint Calculators (12)
1. Environment Agency http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fun/370863
2. Earth Day Ecological footprint Quiz http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp#
3. Global Footprints http://www.globalfootprints.org/issues/kidsquiz/kidsquiz1.htm
4. Powerhouse Museum – Bigfoot http://www.phm.gov.au/ecologic/games.htm
5. New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/environment/quiz2.jsp
6. Eco Foot http://www.demesta.com/ecofoot/eng/engframe.htm
7. Mountain Equipment Co-op – Ecological Footprint
Calculator http://www.mec.ca/Apps/ecoCalc/ecoCalc.jsp
8. LEAD International http://www.lead.org/leadnet/footprint/food.cfm
9. Ecology Fund http://ecologyfund.com/ecology/res_bestfoot.html
10. Ecological Footprint Lifestyle Calculator http://www.bestfootforward.com/footprintlife.htm
11. The Personal Environmental Impact Calculator http://ans.ep.wisc.edu/~eic/personal.impact.html
12. Redefining Progress http://www.rprogress.org/programs/sustainabilityindicators/ef/Footpdist
Carbon Footprint Calculators (10)
1. Best Foot Forward http://www.bestfootforward.com/carbonlife.htm
2. The National Energy Foundation – Energy to Carbon
Dioxide Converter http://www.natenergy.org.uk/convert.htm
3. Global Action Plan http://www.carboncalculator.org
4. Future Forests http://www.futureforests.com/acatalog/index_world_calculator.asp
5. International Council for Local Environmental
initiatives (ICLEI) – Personal Carbon Dioxide Calculator http://www3.iclei.org/co2/co2calc.htm
6. Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) – Carbon
Gym http://www.cat.org.uk/carbongym/carbongym.tpml?section=reception
7. Safe Climate – Carbon Footprint Calculator http://www.safeclimate.net/individual.php
8. Travel Calculator http://www.travelcalculator.org
9. Choose Climate http://www.chooseclimate.org/flying/mapcalc.html
10. Climate Care http://www.climatecare.org/calculator/index.cfm
Site which Compares 4 CO2 Footprint Calculators
http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk/wiki/web-based-carbon-accounting
Final Words
|
|
Multipliers in Various Calculators, Compared
to each other and CO2List.org estimates |
Automobile
Gasoline |
Electricity |
Air
Flight, kg CO2 per passenger kilometer, Economy.
Multiply by 3.5 for lb/mile |
High Altitude
(Radiative Forcing) Index |
Class of
Seat, Multiplier for Emission, Based on Seat Sizes |
|
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|
lb CO2
/ US gallon |
kg CO2 per liter |
lb CO2 per kWh |
kg CO2 per kWh |
204 km, 127 miles1 |
1,001 km, 622 miles |
5,001 km, 3,107 miles |
17,100 km, 10,625 miles2 |
Economy |
Overseas Business |
Overseas First |
|
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|
Most Complete: Fuel, Vehicle &
Infrastructure, from CO2List.org (methods) (exponential airplane
formula based on data in Chester
2008) |
36.1 |
4.3 |
1.67 US |
0.76 |
0.88 |
0.36 |
0.29 |
0.46 |
3.9 |
1.00 |
2.14 |
3.14 |
|
|
Include
Direct Fuel & High Altitude Effects |
Direct Fuel only, from CO2List.org (methods) (exponential air, based on data in Chester 2008) |
19.6 |
2.3 |
1.37 US |
0.62 |
0.60 |
0.24 |
0.19 |
0.21 |
2.7 |
1.00 |
2.14 |
3.14 |
|
|
Calculators with Fairly Precise Data |
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(air from CarbonPlanet Ross 2007) |
19.4 |
2.3 |
1.19 UK |
0.54 |
0.45 |
0.30 |
0.32 |
0.32 |
2.7 |
1.00 |
2.10 |
3.40 |
|
|
|
TheCarbonAccount.com (methods) (air from DEFRA & Atmosfair) |
20.1 |
2.4 |
1.16 UK |
0.53 |
0.41 |
0.41 |
0.27 |
0.30 |
2.7 |
1.00 |
1.40 |
1.60 |
|
|
|
19.6 |
2.3 |
1.36 US |
0.62 |
0.31 |
0.23 |
0.23 |
0.23 |
2.0 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
|
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|
20.4 |
2.4 |
1.43 US3 |
0.65 |
|
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ChooseClimate.org, only 1 flight at a time |
|
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|
1.14 |
0.49 |
0.35 |
0.33 |
3.0 |
1.00 |
1.49 |
|
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Atmosfair
(methods), only airplanes (fuel calculated from exact route taken) |
|
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|
0.25 |
|
|
0.30 |
3.0 |
1.00 |
1.88 |
2.50 |
|
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|
The following use
broad averages, not actual kWh, MPG, or flight length, so they are very
imprecise |
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Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth (methods) (air from World Resources Institute GHG Mobile) |
19.6 |
2.3 |
1.34 US4 |
0.61 |
0.43 |
0.16 |
0.09 |
0.05 |
1.0 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
|
|
|
(air from World
Resources Institute GHG) |
19.6 |
2.3 |
1.34 US4 |
0.61 |
0.64 |
0.64 |
0.64 |
0.64 |
unknown |
1.00 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
|
|
|
unknown |
|
1.34 US4 |
0.61 |
0.80 |
1.00 |
0.20 |
0.06 |
1.0 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
1.00 |
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|
1Shortest
flight shown is Seattle to Vancouver, 204 km. 2Longest
flight shown is London to Sydney, 17,100 km. "Most Complete"
estimate for flights uses an exponential
formula. 3US average is
shown. EPA uses mix generated in each of 26 eGrid subregions
although subregions share power across each of the 5 major grids. 4US average is
shown. Calculators use mix generated in each of 51 states, not mix used
in relevant grid (US has only 5 major power-sharing grids). More comparisons (and graphs) are in a spreadsheet, at the bottom of the
"Air" tab. |
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The
calculators are actually misnamed. They do not estimate Carbon; they estimate
CO2-equivalent, which is what you want anyway, to address global
warming. The tradition has always been to call them Carbon calculators.