Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

What can we do? It’s something many of us want to know. How much difference will it make if I change a light bulb, or leave the car at home?

The words carbon footprint are spelled out by the exhaust of an airplane.

Now that the government of BC has declared its commitment to reduce BC’s greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020, we all need to play our part. But which part? And how can I calculate my emissions? It’s quite simple, really.

There are six main ways that we contribute to global warming:

  1. Driving
  2. Flying
  3. The energy we use in our homes
  4. The wastes we send to the landfill
  5. The stuff we buy
  6. The food we eat

Do you want to know how much CO2 your family produced last year? Get yourself a notepad, and we’ll start. Good luck! It’s an important process.

1. Your Driving

Each litre of gas produces 2.5 kg of CO2. If your car does 25 mpg (9 km per litre), and you drove 15,000 km last year, you used 1,667 litres of gas, which produced 4,167 kg of CO2 – that’s 4.1 tonnes. So take an odometer reading, estimate your car’s fuel efficiency, and do the maths. Every litre you don’t burn (every 9 km you don’t drive) will save 2.5 kg. For public transport, it’s 15 grams of CO2 per km, half the amount from driving. For cycling, it’s a healthy zero. The website www.offsetters.ca has an online calculator for driving, with a full list of vehicle types so you can get an accurate calculation of your emissions from driving.

2. Your Flying

If you go to www.offsetters.ca, you can calculate the CO2 for each flight. Victoria to Toronto return is 1.3 tonnes. You can do the same at www.terrapass.com. For the year ahead, ask "Is this flight really necessary? Could I do this meeting by teleconferencing? Could we holiday closer to home?"

3. Your Home Energy

Electricity

BC Hydro produces 88% of its electricity from hydro, producing no CO2 emissions, and it imports 12% from Alberta (80% from coal + 12% from gas) so 12% of your power produces CO2 emissions. The average BC household uses 12,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) a year, so that 12% from Alberta comes to 1,440 kwh, at 800 grams of CO2 per kwh from the coal/gas mix, producing 1.15 tonnes of CO2. You can fine-tune your numbers by looking at your hydro bills. Whenever you save electricity, however, by turning off the lights, and switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and more efficient appliances, 100% of the energy you save comes from Alberta. BC Hydro does not turn down the dams when there’s less power needed: they import less from Alberta. So if you can reduce your power use by 15% in 2007, saving 1800 kWh, you will reduce your emissions by 1440 kg, or almost 1.5 tonnes of CO2. Now let’s look at those light bulbs. If you replace 18 incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents, you will reduce your CO2 by 5600 kg over the 10-year life of the bulbs – 560 kg a year, or 30 kg per bulb. For insights into the best buys for all things green, go to www.thegreenguide.com and dig in. An old inefficient fridge in a basement might use 1,000 kwh a year, so if you unplug it, you will reduce your annual emissions by 800 kg of CO2.

Oil

If you heat your home with oil, find your fuel bills, and calculate your emissions at 2.6 kg of CO2 per litre. An average single family home uses 3,000 litres of oil a year, producing 7.8 tonnes of CO2. If you make your home 25% more efficient, you’ll save 2 tonnes. If you use Columbia Fuels BioHeat with its 20% biodiesel mix, you’ll reduce your CO2 by 16%, saving 1.25 tonnes a year.

Gas

If you use gas for cooking or heating, find your gas bill, and calculate it at 52 kg of CO2 per gigajoule. (Propane = 63 kg per GJ).

4. The Waste We Landfill

In the landfill, most waste breaks down, releasing methane gas, which is another powerful greenhouse gas. Here in Victoria, the CRD captures the methane and uses it to generate carbon-neutral electricity, which should be done everywhere. Every time you recycle, however, the materials can be used again, which saves a lot of energy. So do whatever you can to recycle more.

5. The Stuff We Buy

Almost everything we buy has a carbon footprint. The materials were harvested or mined, and then it was manufactured, packaged, and shipped to the store. Imported beer, when there are such great locally brewed ales here in Victoria, makes no sense. You are using carbon fuels to ship flavoured water from Germany, or Nelson, or wherever.

6. The Food We Eat

Imported food has a far higher carbon footprint than locally grown food. Locally grown organic food is best, since organic soil stores far more carbon than chemically pumped soil. Beef has a high carbon footprint, since cows burp methane. An average meat diet produces 1.5 tonnes more CO2 a year than a vegan diet. For more info visit www.earthsave.bc.ca and www.TheVictoriaVegan.com

Offsetting

Once you have calculated your emissions, and have taken steps to reduce your carbon footprint, you can offset your remaining emissions to become "carbon neutral" by investing in a project (around $12 per tonne) which will reduce the same amount of CO2 somewhere else. One great option is the Solar Electric Light Fund www.self.org, and there’s also www.offsetters.ca, www.cleanairpass.com, www.carboncounter.org, and www.carbonbalanced.org.

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