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How many tons of carbon dioxide is YOUR family responsible for?

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Houses-CarsIn Florida, 41% of all carbon dioxide emissions are produced in the transportation sector and 51% from electricity production. That’s a whopping 92% of all emissions from only 2 sectors.

This makes it easy for the individual – you – to do a simple, rough calculation of your family’s carbon footprint by looking at your gas and electricity purchases. How?

Estimating YOUR Family’s Carbon Footprint

First, let’s take TRANSPORTATION.

Every gallon of gas you pump into your vehicle produces 19.37 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. PERIOD. It doesn’t matter if you drive a Ford pickup, an SUV, or a Prius hybrid. The carbon content of the gasoline is the same and it’s ALL emitted into the atmosphere. What efficiency does is reduce the number of gallons you consume for all the miles you drive, and that can only be a good thing. But if you also reduce the number of miles you drive that’s even better.

So how many pounds of carbon dioxide do your family vehicles emit in a month?

Multiply no. of fills per month x gallons per fill x 19.37 pounds

Example: 4 fills per month x 20 gallons per fill x 19.37 pounds = 1,550 pounds per month

Put another way that’s 3/4 ton each month, about 9 tons per year.

Next, let’s look at ELECTRICITY.

In FPL’s service territory, every kilowatt-hour of your monthly electric bill accounts for about 1.21 pounds of carbon dioxide. In this case CO2 emissions are dependent on your electric utility’s fuel mix.

FPL power plants are primarily natural gas (50%), coal (22%), nuclear (20%). For comparison, power generation is primarily natural gas (38%), coal and petroleum coke (28%), oil (17%), nuclear (13%) across Florida. If you’re outside FPL a very rough calculation would be 1.39 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour, but it really is utility-specific because every utility power mix is different.

So how many pounds of carbon dioxide does your family electric bill represent each month?

Multiply “kWh this month” from your FPL bill x 1.21 pounds.

Example: 1,000 kWh (an average bill) x 1.21 pounds = 1,210 pounds per month

Unlike vehicles, your electricity bill will change month-to-month based on seasonal heating and cooling requirements. So your family’s consumption will vary. Home energy efficiency measures also have a large effect, although the reductions in consumption are difficult to measure.

Coming back to the original question “How many tons of carbon dioxide is your family responsible for?”

In the examples given this family is responsible for 1,550 pounds CO2 per month due to its gasoline purchases and 1,210 pounds due to electricity consumption.

LightbulbTheir carbon footprint is 2,760 pounds per month, about 17 tons per year.

The best way to combat global climate change is for everyone to know what their carbon footprint is, to monitor and to improve it on a daily basis.

Calculate your family’s carbon footprint, teach your family where your numbers came from and get them involved in reducing it further. It should be fun and it will definitely benefit your home and your planet.

Copyright ©2011 The Third Planet – All Rights Reserved
This article can be downloaded as a PDF from our website, your donation is greatly appreciated.

Third Planet organizes and moderates session at the 10th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: The New Green Economy

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Panel featuring Drs. Herman E. Daly, Bernd Steinmüller, and Peter Fox-Penner
will be moderated by Third Planet President, Robert Farmer

10th National Conference on Science, Technology and Environment

Fresh from its NGO participation at COP15 in Copenhagen, Third Planet is pleased to announce it has organized and will moderate a breakout session “After Copenhagen: The Economics and Physics of Implementing the COP 15 Agreements” for the 10th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: The New Green Economy in Washington, DC, January 20-22.

Third Planet is honored to present an informed discussion featuring three outstanding panelists:

  • the distinguished ecological economist Herman E. Daly, Ph.D., Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, College Park, Maryland;
  • sustainable buildings scientist Bernd Steinmüller, Ph.D., Founder and Owner, Bernd Steinmüller, Sustainability Management Consulting (BSMC), Paderborn, Germany; and
  • internationally-recognized authority on energy and electric power issues, economist Peter Fox-Penner, Ph.D., Principal and Chairman-Emeritus, The Brattle Group, Washington, DC.

The discussion will be moderated by Third Planet president, Robert Farmer.

“Whatever agreements come out of COP15, the future direction of climate change-related solutions in the United States will be guided largely by the actions of local and regional governments. Many people view climate change as the symptom of a much larger problem: the absence of sustainable development,” said Mr. Farmer.

“How do we therefore bring about sustainable development as a prescription for climate change at the local and regional level? What are the roles of government, the private sector and non-government organizations in effecting this change? How might we set planning priorities based on sustainable development? How do we bring about the incremental change necessary to transition to a sustainable future? Fortunately this session features speakers who have a wealth of knowledge and experience to address the simple question: how do we do it?”

Third Planet’s session is on Thursday, January 21st from 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, DC.

Following this session, Professor Herman Daly will receive the NCSE’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010.  (For more information on Professor Daly and the award visit http://ncseonline.org/conference/greeneconomy/cms.cfm?id=3439 )

Third Planet (www.thethirdplanet.org) is a St. Augustine-based 501(c)(3) non-profit NGO founded in 1999. Its program work contributes to capacity-building for community-wide climate and energy planning, systems, and technology deployment, at local and regional levels through education, training and public awareness.

Third Planet has engaged in a diverse range of local and international capacity-building projects and is recognized as a source of balanced information on energy, sustainable development, and global climate change.

Background on the National Council for Science and the Environment conference

NCSE’s signature national conference will engage leading thinkers and doers from a diversity of disciplines, sectors, and perspectives in a structured conversation about the meaning of the green economy and how investment in green education, research and jobs can help solve both the economic and environmental crises.

Welcoming over 1000 attendees, The New Green Economy will bring together leaders in sustainable business, environmental policymakers, civil society, university faculty, students from across the nation, and educated citizens.

NCSE leverages a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral approach to bring together involved scientists and decision makers from a wide range of organizations. Our conferences are highly interactive, including renowned speakers, topical symposia to explore issues in more depth, and breakout sessions to develop (and publish) recommendations on how to advance science and connect it with policy and decision-making.

For more information: http://ncseonline.org/conference/greeneconomy/.

Third Planet is attending COP15

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THIRD PLANET is sending a delegation to COP15 in Copenhagen from December 6th to 19th. The delegation’s efforts will include:

  • Observing the UNFCCC proceedings, especially with regard to decisions on Adaptation and Finance, and producing a daily blog post here on our impressions of the conference
  • Engaging stakeholders in discussions about how to improve public awareness and education of the public in the United States per Article 6: Education, Training, and Public Awareness of the Convention, and
  • Engaging stakeholders in discussions about deployment of district heating and cooling (DHC) and combined heat and power (CHP) systems at the community level in the United States. Our approach is based on my presentation and article written for the EGSA Powerline magazine entitled “Cogeneration and Climate Change”. I can be reached at president@thethirdplanet.org for further information.

To receive our daily news from Copenhagen please click on the Subscribe: Posts link at the top right of this page to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Fact of life: All donations – any amount you can contribute to support our work – assist us in maintaining our non-profit status and allows us to continue operating. Please mail your tax deductible donation to Third Planet, PO Box 3822, St. Augustine, FL 32085 and let’s explore how working together we will build a sustainable climate and energy future.