Carbon Footprint Calculator

On this page you will be able calculate the effect that your lifestyle has on the carbon dioxide ( CO₂ ) in the atmosphere of Our Earth. This is one of many such calculators that are available ( see links below ). They all give slightly different answers, of course, but using any one can give you a feeling for what effect you and your lifestyle are having on our planet.

Enter the requested numbers in the boxes and then click on the Calculate button. The assumption is that you are calculating for one person, so enter the driving and flying for one person. You will need to divide the electricity and gas numbers by the number of people in your household, so you can get the load for each. ( You need to check your utility bills to find how much electricity ( kilowat hours ) and natural gas ( therms ) you normally use. ) ( "mpg" is miles per gallon of gasoline for your car. )

Now you can go back and change any of the numbers and see what changes in your way of living does to the carbon load and so the amount of CO₂ that results. ( Remember to click the Calculate button after each change.)

How your numbers compare to regional use of CO₂;
      Local 25,102 ( Bay Area )       California 26,301       U.S. 35,967
            ( The values are average pounds of CO₂ per year )

Local average is based on 12000 miles driven at 21 mpg, a use of 540 kilowatts of electricity a month, and 45 therms of natural gas a month. The averages above are calculated using 8000 miles of air travel a year.

( Sources: PG&E, U.S. Department of Energy Information Administration, An Inconvenient Truth, and Mercury News Research. )

The constants used in this calculator were taken from the San Jose Mercury of Aug 27, 2007. They are

19.6 pounds of CO₂ per gallon
0.524 pounds of CO₂ per kilowatt hour
13.46 pounds of CO₂ per therm of natural gas
0.42 pounds of CO₂ per passenger mile

            ( Coding of the calculator was done by Ann Gallenson. )

Here are links to other carbon footprint calculators:

This site is associated with "An Inconvenient Truth", the book by Al Gore
      www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

From the online encycopedia Wikipedia, here is a calculator that is suggested:
www.myfootprint.org/
Here is an explaination of carbon footprints by Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint

This BP calculator has lots of graphics and leads you thru the process
( there are 6 steps with seveal points at each to choose ) click here .

And Wired magazine has one that is a bit different in the way it gets your data,
www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/carbon.html

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