Carbon Calculator
So, how much CO2 do we make? Some of it is caused by production of things we buy like food or items for the house. Other times it’s much easier to work out since if we use fossil fuel then we make CO2. Have a go at ‘how bad are bananas’ book for an entertaining way of finding out what’s best to eat and buy. https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-bad-are-bananas/mike-berners-lee/9781846688911
Home energy use
On the website I’ve given a calculator for the two main ways we buy fuels; for the home, and for transport. You may already get your electricity from a renewable supplier in which case you don’t need to offset it. If it’s not then you can use our calculator for electricity, gas, water (used for pumping and treatment) or coal. I used conversion factors from ‘HMG Greenhouse gas reporting conversion factors 2017’ to find the kgCO2 per unit. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2017 Each kg of CO2 is made from 0.273kg of Carbon, and that costs £0.95 per kg. This is how the cost per unit of fuel has been worked out for the website calculator.
Flights and transport
For airline flights, the ICAO has a calculator for each journey that shows average CO2 production. This is updated every year or so and reflects the fuel consumption of the planes actually used on the routes. The ICAO is the International Civil Aviation Organisation. In the website I’ve used an ‘average’ destination for each territory, for instance Heathrow to Chicago for North America. This gives a quick and fairly accurate estimate of the CO2 used for the return flight. If you want a more accurate measure then you can use the ICAO website for your actual route https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset/Pages/default.aspx If you want an even better number then ask the flight attendant when you get off for the actual number of passengers and the actual weight of fuel used. Pilots always know this! Each kg of Jet Fuel makes 3.15kg CO2 so you can then offset this amount of CO2.
Car transport fuel can be offset at the pump for a cleaner footprint. I have a QR code on the back of my keyring for this. See below
QR code for diesel
Using SCS to offset transport or housing fossil fuel is fairly expensive (eg £60 for a £1000 ski trip to Europe), but it does make you more aware as well. Sometimes it may help push a change in use, or help justify insulation or efficiency changes. It may even help move towards cycling or an electric car!
On to ‘First Orders‘