Your "carbon footprint" is the measure of your contribution to the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Most of your impact can be measured by fairly simple calculations based on your use of electricity and fuels for transportation. It is measured in pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2).
You will find many tools to measure this on-line, but most of these suffer from one or more of these basic flaws:
- They use broad averages and don't take into account your personal habits
- They are not specific to the area you live (and the fuel mix to make your electricity)
- They get filled out on-line and promptly forgotten
We have prepared a detailed carbon calculator for the Roanoke area. If you are seriously interested in knowing your carbon footprint and actually doing something about it, we urge you to give this a try. It is available in two formats:
EXCEL WORKBOOK - CLICK HERE TO OPEN OR SAVE THE EXCEL FILE
This workbook includes a worksheet to do your carbon footprint and also a worksheet to use to add up your monthly usage to get the annual total. You can save this Excel file and use it on an on-going basis.
PDF FILE - CLICK HERE TO OPEN OR SAVE THE PDF FILE
This printable PDF file can be used to manually calculate your carbon footprint
What should your carbon footprint be? Regardless of your result, if you are an American with a lifestyle anywhere close to the "norm" (that is, you live in a house or apartment with electricity, hot/cold running water, climate control; and you drive a car as your primary means of transport), your carbon footprint is way above the world's average. We urge you to do your part by measuring your carbon footprint and getting started on a plan to reduce it. Don't worry about the "averages" - we all need to do better. Let's get on the "low carbon" diet now!
MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL COAL MINING
Are you concerned about the mining practices that are devastating Appalachia? If you'd like to know what your impact is, use the carbon footprint calculator. Once you've figured your electricity use, multiply the number of KWH used by 0.71 - that's how many pounds of coal were mined for your consumption of electric energy.
Business/Organizational users - These tools are primarily for household or home business use. They may also be suitable for small businesses and organizations with up to three vehicles that don't generate significant amounts of waste. For more robust business carbon footprint analysis, we recommend http://www.ghgprotocol.org/
CLICK HERE TO LEARN how you can offset your carbon footprint and support RVCCC