Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint

• A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels.

• The carbon footprint is total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂).

Definition

• "The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated over the life stages of a product."

For a Product or Process

• A carbon footprint is the total amount of CO_2q and other greenhouse gases, emitted over the full life cycle of a process or product. It is expressed as grams of CO₂ equivalent per kilowatt hour of generation (gCO₂eq/kWh), which accounts for the different global warming effects of other greenhouse gases.

For a Business Organisation

• In the case of a business organization, it is the amount of CO, emitted either directly or indirectly as a result of its everyday operations. It also might reflect the fossil energy represented in a product or commodity reaching market.

• When you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO₂ depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance.

• When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO₂. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO₂.

• When you buy food and goods, the production of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO₂.

• Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO₂, which were induced by your activities in a given time frame.

• Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year.

• The best way is to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions based on the fuel consumption. In the next step you can add the CO₂ emission to your carbon footprint. Below is a table for the most common used fuels :

• Example : If your car consumes 7.5 liter diesel per 100 km, then a drive of 300 km distance consumes 3 × 7.5 = 22.5 liter diesel, which adds 22.5 × 2.7 kg = 60.75 kg CO₂ to your personal carbon footprint.

1. Reducing Carbon Footprint

• Carbon footprint can be reduced by several ways :

1. Alternatives to driving - When possible walk or ride your bike in order to avoid carbon emissions completely. Carpooling and public transportation drastically reduce CO₂ emissions by spreading them out over many riders.

2. Drive a low carbon vehicle - High mileage doesn’t always mean low CO₂ emissions. All vehicles have an estimated miles-per-gallon rating. Electric cars emit no CO₂ if they’re charged with clean electricity.

3. Driving style - Speeding and unnecessary acceleration reduce mileage by up to 33 %, waste gas and money and increase your carbon footprint.

4. Tyre inflation and other tuning - Properly inflated tires improve your gas mileage by up to 3 %. It also helps to use the correct grade of motor oil and to keep your engine tuned, because some maintenance fixes, like fixing faulty oxygen sensors, can increase fuel efficiency by up to 40 %.

5. Avoid traffic - Being stuck in traffic wastes fuel and unnecessarily creates CO₂. Use traffic websites and apps and go a different way or wait.

6. Excess weight - Remove excess weight from your car. Use cruise control.

7. Reduce your carbon footprint from air travel - Until petroleum-based aviation fuel is replaced, you should avoid flying when possible, fly less frequently, fly shorter distances and fly economy class.

Avoid air travel, instead increase your use of video-conferencing tools like Skype.

Economy class is best, for the same reasons as carpooling and public transportation. Each flyer’s share of a flight’s carbon emissions is relatively less because it’s spread out over more people.

8. Don’t fly on private jets - Fly first or business class if you must, because at least those seats always fill up anyway and avoid private jets.

9. Insulate and seal your home - Reduce drafts and air leaks with caulk, insulation and weather stripping.

10. Appliances - Make energy efficiency a primary consideration when choosing a new furnace, air conditioning unit, dishwasher or refrigerator. Products bearing the ENERGY STAR label are recognized for having superior efficiency.

11. Lighting - Turn off lights you’re not using and when you leave the room. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent or LED ones.

12. Thermostat - Don’t set it too high or low. Install a programmable model to turn off the heat/air conditioning when you’re not home.

13. Solar - Add solar panels to the roof of your home. This costs a little more than the above options, but many providers offer financing options which minimize upfront costs.

14. Reduce your food carbon footprint from food - Eat locally-produced and organic food. Buy local food that is naturally growing in season. Do you really need to eat strawberries flown in from the other side of the planet ? You want to eat fresh food, so what better that stuff growing locally.

It has been estimated that 30 % of greenhouse gas emissions result from the production and transport of food. Transporting food requires petroleum-based fuels and many fertilizers are also fossil fuel-based.

15. Deforestation - Deforestation is a top contributor to carbon emissions and thus climate change.

16. Avoid partying - This is for both food sustainability and economic inequality.

17. Water usage - Lower the amount of energy used to pump, treat and heat water by washing your car less often, using climate-appropriate plants in your garden, installing drip irrigation so that plants receive only what they need and making water-efficient choices when purchasing shower heads, faucet heads, toilets, dishwashers and washing machines.

Stop daydreaming in the shower and hurry up as lots of hot water is being wasted.

18. Avoid buying bottled water - Apart from being ridiculously expensive (it’s just water!) it may have travelled half way round the planet to get to you. Surely tap water in your own reusable container will do.

19. Reuse and recycle - It has been estimated that 40 % of greenhouse gas emissions result from the “provision of goods,” which means the extraction of resources, manufacturing, transport and final disposal of “goods” which include consumer products and packaging, building components and passenger vehicles, but excluding food. By buying used products and reselling or recycling items you no longer use, you dramatically reduce your carbon footprint from the “provision of goods.”

20. Support clean energy sources - Whenever you can, advocate for clean alternatives to fossil fuels, such as wind, solar, geothermal and appropriately designed hydroelectric and biomass energy projects.

21. Use fountain pen rather disposable plastic pens.

22. Do not put your supermarket vegetables into separate little plastic bags - it’s just a waste of bags. Use your own reusable bag to cart the entire goodies home.

23. Print on both sides of the paper and use recycled inks.

24. Use cleaning products that are not derived from oil - so look for vegetable based ones.

25. Wash your clothes at low temperatures, the detergents still work and the clothes don’t mind.