The first step to cutting your carbon emissions is to understand them.
To calculate your carbon footprint, use this great carbon footprint calculator developed at UC Berkeley. It is easy to use and more accurate than most calculators available online.
Here are a few tips:
- This carbon calculator can compare your household’s carbon footprint to the average American household, OR alternatively, to the average household in your zip code. To do the former, leave the zip code blank in the very first question. To do the latter, enter your zip code and wait for the calculator to locate your area in the drop-down list; then click to select it.
- When calculating your footprint, enter your household’s total income in question 2, as this has a major impact on one’s carbon footprint. If you don’t enter it manually, your results will be compared to a household making $40K/year.
- In the travel section, there are two ways to enter your air travel. You may simply enter the total number of miles you fly in a year, or alternatively, you may click on “advanced” and enter the number of short, medium, long, very long flights. If you choose to do the latter, “flights/year”, refers to 1-way flights, i.e. a round trip would be entered as 2 flights.
- Vacation homes area also part of one’s carbon footprint. If you own a vacation home, you can simply add on its square footage and energy usage data to that of your primary residence.
If you have questions or need help, please email the Earth Care Committee which will be glad to assist!