My Carbon Footprint - my goal is to significantly reduce it and this is the start of my journey.

In August, I blogged about a MOOC (massive open online course) that UCSD taught entitled, "Our Energy Future."  The course addressed the types of energy sources and their differences.  It also described the different research that was being undertaken at the universities and corporations.  The general thesis was how do we move from a carbon-based energy consumer to a more efficient consumer with a lower carbon footprint.   While some of the solutions are expensive, I am going to discuss less expensive energy savings solutions.  Some of the solutions will be low-tech technology and some high-tech technology.  I will include the cost of the technologies and the payback, as I have calculated to the best of my ability.  I will be describing that over the next number of blogs.

A good place to start is to measure your family’s carbon footprint.  It is a crude measurement, but it only takes a few minutes and is very insightful.  Here is a calculator that we used in the above mentioned course – click here => carbon footprint calculator.

You will need your monthly utility statements to begin the carbon footprint calculation.  Here is a list of tabs that you will fill out:

House – they have options for electricity, natural gas, heating oil, coal, LPG, propane and wooden pellets.

Flights – number of flights and miles flown during the time period – I used the average number of flights and mileage flown for the year and divided that by 12.

Car – miles driven and miles per gallon, if you know it.

Motorbike – same as above.

Bus & Rail – bus, coach, commuter train, long distance train, tram, subway and taxi, all in miles traveled during the month.

Secondary – this is an interesting one.  It is basically about your lifestyle – what you eat, where, is it imported or local, carnivore or vegan, etc.  They ask about fashion, packaging, furniture and electrics, recycling, recreation, finance and other services.  It attempts to calculate the carbon generated by growing/manufacturing these things, transporting these things, using these things and then recycling these things.  It is a crude attempt at measuring what they do in much more detailed calculations of carbon generated in a Life Cycle Assessment (sort of a more sophisticated cost/benefit analysis).

Here is my footprint.

Your Carbon Footprint:

House	0.32 metric tons of CO2e
Flights	0.00 metric tons of CO2e
Car	0.68 metric tons of CO2e
Motorbike	0.00 metric tons of CO2e
Bus & Rail	0.00 metric tons of CO2e
Other Fuel	0.01 metric tons of CO2e
Secondary	0.46 metric tons of CO2e

Total = 1.47 metric tons of CO2e

Clearly our big buckets are the house, cars, and lifestyle.  I was particularly surprised by the lifestyle.  We do not go out to restaurants or sporting events (other than my children's).  We do not go on more than one vacation per year.  We are not clothes hounds.  But, I am a bit of a tech geek. 

How did that compare to other people in the US and the World?

•   My footprint is 1.47 metric tons, which equates to 18.34 metric tons per year

•   The average footprint for people in United States is 20.40 metric tons

•   The average for the industrial nations is about 11 metric tons

•   The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 metric tons

•   The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 metric tons

At the end of the calculation, it asks you to write down your pledge to reduce your carbon footprint.  With what I have planned, this should be a fun experiment. 

FYI - For a family of 4, my starting point is a 4,500 square foot home (circa 1992), with a updated roof, all updated energy efficient windows (both circa 2011), updated natural gas furnace and air conditioner (circa 2010), two hot water heaters, 3 cars (2007-2010), old appliances (1992), too many electronics, a lawn sprinkler system.  We don't travel much.  We don't commute.  We are carnivores, but try to buy local as much as possible.  We recycle as much as is possible.  The carbon footprint of all of this, as noted above, is 18.34 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

My pledge is:

• Lighting – switching from incandescent to LED as the bulbs burn out or not.
• Energy audit - have an energy audit.
• Thermostat efficiency – lower temperature in the winter and raise it in the summer.
• Thermal wrap on my hot water heater, while turning one off.
• Replace one car with a VW Jetta Hybrid.

I will be reporting my progress on this journey here.  My ultimate goal will be revealed later.