Calculating Your Carbon Footprint

Your carbon footprint is a representation of the effect you, your family, your class or your school have on the climate in terms of the total amount of greenhouse gases you produce (measured in units of carbon dioxide). Many of your actions generate carbon emissions, which contribute to accelerating global warming and climate change. By measuring your carbon footprint through such tools as the Carbon Footprint Calculator, you can get a better sense of what your individual impact is and which parts of your lifestyle deserve the greatest attention. Armed with such information you can more readily take effective action to shrink your carbon footprint, thereby minimizing your personal impact on the climate.

For example, when you drive a car, each gallon of gasoline you burn produces carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. Your actual contribution of greenhouse gases (including CO2) actually depends on several factors such as the fuel efficiency of your vehicle, the number of miles driven, the emissions of your particular vehicle, and the number of passengers sharing the ride with you.

The following websites offer carbon footprint calculators you can use to compute your personal carbon footprint – and learn more about how to reduce the size of that footprint:

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.html

http://www.safeclimate.net/calculator/

http://www.myfootprint.org/en/

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

http://www.bp.com

http://www.bestfootforward.com/carbonlife.htm

Or try these carbon calculators:

This calculator is from the European Union and offers a bit of a twist on the Carbon Footprint Calculator. This Carbon Calculator provides you with a number of ideas for reducing your carbon footprint through simple, everyday changes. To find out how much carbon you can save, just mark the changes you would be willing to make in each of our four categories. The calculator will then work out how many kgs of CO2 you can save each year.
http://www.mycarbonfootprint.eu/

The Food Carbon Footprint Calculator provides the opportunity to calculate the resultant carbon dioxide from the food you eat, called your "Food Carbon Footprint".
http://www.foodcarbon.co.uk/

Kevin Shen, a senior at Irvington High School in Fremont, California released "SchoolNeutral," a carbon emissions calculator he designed to help fellow students learn about their school's energy use and calculate its carbon footprint. The Excel worksheet calculator comes complete with a well-written user manual explaining how the calculator works and what information students need to collect. http://www.earthteam.net/action_month/index.html

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