There are several free online calculators which will estimate your personal carbon footprint. The one we recommend is relatively quick and easy to use, but has sufficient detail and accuracy to be really useful.
First create yourself an account (under MY ACCOUNT, top right). This allows you to go back and modify your footprint data anytime.
Then click on CALCULATE/FREE CALCULATORS/INDIVIDUAL.
Now you are ready to enter your data on the tabs shown and get your carbon footprint. Finding your data might take some time, but after that it’s quite quick. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to a particular question, just make your best guess.
For help on each section, go to www.carbonfootprint.com/calculatorfaqs.html
WELCOME
Enter your country (
HOUSE
First enter the number of people in your
household. The Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GGE) from this tab will be
divided by this number to give your personal contribution. Each of the
other tabs should be just your personal values. Alternatively, you can
enter ‘1’ here and enter the household’s total values on all the tabs.
Enter the amount of fuels that you used last year. The app gives you a choice of units; for example the KWh actually used, or (in the case of gas) the £ spent. Look at your previous energy bills to find these figures or look online if that’s how you manage your account with your supplier.
FLIGHTS
If you flew during the year, enter each of the flights that you took. You may have taken less recently than you normally do, so you could enter the data for a more typical year if you want a more realistic picture of your usual footprint.CAR OR MOTORBIKE
If you have a vehicle, enter your rough annual mileage. MoT statements might give you an idea. Then you can either enter the make and model of your car, or fill in the last question on the emissions in g/km. If it’s a modern car then you can find that number on the Car Registration Certificate in section 4, item V.7.BUS & RAIL
Enter your best guess of annual mileage by type of public transport.SECONDARY
This is the hardest section to complete, but is important as it concerns what we buy, which often contains a lot of ‘embedded’ carbon. For example, the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted in making the clothes that you buy.The first item on food is particularly important as what is eaten and drunk is typically a quarter of a person’s carbon footprint. First enter what sort of eater you are, for example medium meat eater/vegan etc. The quantities for meat eaters are: High = more than an average of 100g meat per day, medium = 50-100g, low = less than 50g.
Don’t forget to change the currency to £ GBP.
In the
You might be floundering on some of these
questions. You could look at your bank statements or elsewhere, but in
the end just make your best guess.
RESULTS
Now you can see what your carbon footprint is compared to the average for theIf you calculated your footprint for the whole
household, then multiply the above comparisons by the number of people in your
household.
If you want to compare with what the Impact Tool
estimates for the average person in Cholsey currently, that is:
tonnes CO2e
House
1.4
Flights
0.6
Car and
motorbike
1.0
Bus and
Rail
0.2
Food
1.6
Other
2.6
TOTAL 7.5
You might be surprised or even shocked by what you
found.
Many of you will want to take the next step and think
about how you could reduce your footprint. You’ll find some ideas by
following the link at the bottom of the RESULTS page. You can also use
carbonfootprint.com as a ‘what if’ tool. On each tab it gives the GGE for
each line, so you can see how it varies.
In any case, please get back to us via the 'Contact us' tab. Tell us how you found the experience and what you have identified as problem
areas. We may be able to help.