Aug 27, 2007

What's Your Carbon Footprint?

Today's Mercury News had a great (and simple) worksheet that allows you to measure how you are personally contributing to global warming. There are a total of 5 inputs:
  • miles driven per year
  • gas mileage of your vehicle
  • average electric usage per month (in KWh)
  • average natural gas usage per month (in therms)
  • miles flown each year
I used the worksheet and calculated my family's carbon footprint and came up with the following. My family's carbon footprint is 50,156 lbs of CO2 per year-- or 12,539 lbs of CO2/year per person.

The averages provided by the Mercury News are:
  • Bay Area: 25,102 lbs of CO2/year
  • California: 26,301
  • Nationwide: 35,967
I don't know if comparing my family's per-individual amortization to the averages provided is fair. However, I included both cars and the family vacations instead of just my personal transportation and travels. Hmm, I wonder if I should purchase CO2 offset credits? (And I'm actually serious) One thing that I have done at home is to replace all my incandescent light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL's).

Anyway, take a look at the Mercury News and their nifty calculator for yourself.

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