Our lifestyles and everyday choices have a massive cumulative impact on global warming.  High carbon lifestyles are already doing too much damage.  They also tend to be aspirational for the so called developing world, meaning things are set to get a lot worse in the future unless a new path can be cut.

The national average carbon footprint for a person living in the UK is about 10 tonnes each year.  A US citizen averages close to twice that at 20 tonnes, while a Ugandan’s carbon footprint would be some 200 times smaller at under 0.1 tonnes.

Here we can help you understand your own personal carbon footprint, based on energy, travel and consumption / waste.

After using the carbon calculator you can set a personal target to reduce your future footprint and you can compensate right now for last years footprint.

WHY CARBON BALANCE WITH C LEVEL?

1. HOME ENERGY
Home or Personal Energy

If you wish to work out your personal rather than household carbon footprint, select the number of people living in your home.


a) Electric

Check your bills to find KWH consumed for the last year. Alternatively, call your supplier and get the figures from them.

First quarterly bill Kw/hour
Second quarter Kw/hour
Third quarter Kw/hour
Fourth quarter Kw/hour
Year's Total Kw/hour
Kg/CO2 per year

NB If you purchase your electricity from a 100% renewable source, like Good Energy, enter 0 in the boxes for each quarter.
b) Gas

Enter your figures in KWH for the last 12 months

First quarterly bill Kw/hour
Second quarter Kw/hour
Third quarter Kw/hour
Fourth quarter Kw/hour
Year's Total Kw/hour
Kg/CO2

c) Oil

Enter the number of litres you burn in a year.
litres annually
Kg/CO2 per year

2. TRAVEL

a) Motor Vehicle

Your driving carbon fooptrint depends on the type of vehicle and how far you go in it.  Please change one of the average figures below to best estimate your annual mileage. If you don't have the figure from your MOT, then think about how far you drive a week and multiply by 52 weeks of the year.
miles/year OR
Km/year


Next, please choose your vehicle size or enter the amount of CO2 released for your partiucular vehicle if you know it.

or g/km
Kg/CO2 per year
b) Flights

Please use the balanced flights calculator to work out your footprint for travel by plane. Enter the total CO2 in the box(es) below
Journey 1 Tonnes/CO2
Journey 2 Tonnes/CO2
Journey 3 Tonnes/CO2

c) Train/Bus

Please estimate how many miles you have travelled using both trains and buses.

Train
miles per year
Bus
miles per year
Kg/CO2 per year

3. CONSUMPTION AND WASTE

This is the part of your footprint most difficult to estimate. However, for consumption you can make use of the following indicators worked out by Climate Outreach and Information Network.

Click on the option that best describes your consumption habits. This will give you a rough estimate of tonnes of CO2 that best fits your lifestyle.  

CHOOSE ONE

3000kg

2000kg

600kg
 
always buying latest things
new things when needed
buy second hand and resuse as much as possible
 
intense shopper
moderate shopper
grow own food
 
packaged food from anywhere
most food from supermarkets
shop locally


Please indicate how many bin liners you throw out as refuse weekly.
(a bin liner is assumed to be 40 litres)

bags per week
Kg/CO2 per year

RESULTS

Once you have filled in all the data above, please click the calculate button to determine your carbon footprint.

Energy Use Carbon Footprint Kg/CO2
Travel Carbon Footprint Kg/CO2
Consumption & Waste Carbon Footprint Kg/CO2
YOUR TOTAL CARBON FOOTPRINT Kg/CO2
Tonnes/CO2
Cost to Carbon Balance: £

 


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