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CALCULATING YOUR HOME'S CARBON FOOTPRINT INVOLVES PRIMARY-SCHOOL
Independent, The (London), May 7, 2008 by Donnachadh McCarthy
THE HOME ECOLOGIST
There is a saying in business that you pay attention to what you measure. This adage also applies to making our lives greener. Measuring your home's carbon footprint annually is a great way of reducing the contribution it makes to climate change.
It is incredibly easy to do the calculations. The energy carbon footprint of a home is usually calculated from two key figures: electricity consumption and the amount of energy used to heat the house and hot water.
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Let's look at electricity first. The most accurate way is to note the reading on your electricity meter (recorded in kilowatt hours) and again exactly a year later. You subtract the first figure from the second and this gives you exactly the number of kilowatt hours used over the year. Multiplying this number by 0.52 gives you the number of kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted. As carbon footprints are normally recorded in metric tonnes, you then divide this number by a thousand and you have the tonnage for electricity use.
Natural gas is the most common fuel used to heat our homes and water. As with electricity, the most accurate way to measure gas consumption is to take readings from your gas meter one year apart and calculate how much you have used. Most gas meters measure gas used in units, rather than kilowatt hours. Thus, you have a small extra step to multiply the number of gas units used by 11 to get the number of kilowatt hours of gas used. The rest of the process is exactly the same as for electricity, except you multiply by 0.19 instead of 0.52.
For most people, the energy carbon footprint for their home will simply be the sum of the carbon dioxide emitted for electricity and gas. However, if you use heating oil, then you multiply the number of litres of oil used by 2.53 and then divide by 1,000, and for coal, you multiply the number of tonnes of coal used by 2.457.
Interestingly, if you burn wood, the carbon dioxide emitted is not included in the carbon footprint. This is because the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prior to the tree being planted and after it is burnt remains the same. There is a hugely important caveat. The trees cut down must be replaced. Otherwise there will be an increase in the total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The average tree stores about one tonne of carbon dioxide, which is the reason why the Indonesian rainforests being demolished for palm oil for Western food additives are among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide globally.
So get measuring your carbon footprint. The feeling of achievement as you see the figure go down from year to year should make you prouder than boasting about some gas-guzzler that you may have had parked on the driveway.
Donnachadh McCarthy works as an eco-auditor and is author of "Easy Eco-auditing". www.3acorns.co.uk
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