Your Carbon Footprint

Article from: My Family UK

There are countless websites online to help you calculate your carbon footprint, to give you an idea of how your lifestyle impacts the environment and affects greenhouse gas emissions.

The carbon footprint

Finding out your footprint can be the first step to reducing it, thereby helping to halt climate change. The name “carbon footprint” was coined because the calculators mainly focus on the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (or CO2) which is produced when we burn fossil fuels such as oil.

What’s involved?

All carbon footprint calculators work on the same basic model, asking you a series of questions about your living and travel arrangements to work out roughly how many tonnes of CO2 your lifestyle produces. You can calculate your footprint for your family or for yourself as an individual, and the more specific the information you can give, the more accurate your carbon reading will be.

Most calculators will ask you about the following areas, and some will include questions about other areas such as food.

Household

• The number of people living in your house
• The number of rooms
• Details of insulation such as cavity wall and loft insulation, double glazing
• How much you spend per year on your heating and electricity – most calculators can give an estimate without this info, but they will be more accurate if it is included

Appliances

• What electrical appliances you own
• Their age and energy ratings
• Whether you turn them off or leave them on standby

Travel

• Number of short-haul and international flights you take per year
• Public transport use
• Details of your personal car or other vehicle including model and annual mileage

Which calculator to choose?

There are lots out there – each with a slightly different focus and level of detail. The following four are pretty comprehensive and also make suggestions as to how you could reduce your environmental impact.

1) Act On CO2 (actonco2.direct.gov.uk)

The UK government’s carbon campaign website and calculator with lots of helpful advice and tips.

2) Google’s UK Carbon Footprint project

Once your footprint is calculated, you can load it into their carbon footprint map of the UK to see how you compare with others and find out about local environmental resources such as recycling centres and renewable power stations.

3) WWF and the Independent

Works out your footprint and tells you how many planets would be needed to sustain humanity if everybody had the same lifestyle as you.

4) The Energy Saving Trust’s Carbon Cutter

After completing this thorough survey, you can compare your carbon footprint with the national average.

Further Information

For further information, and for more great ways to have fun with your family, log on to www.myfamilyuk.com. With a huge collection of articles covering everything from child safety to rainy day activities, you'll find all the help, guidance and entertainment you need to be a great parent.