I’m responsible for 16 tons CO₂/year! What’s your Carbon Footprint?

Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases we are responsible for, usually expressed in tons of CO₂ equivalents per year. Greenhouse gases include gases other than CO₂. For example, methane is considered 21 times more potent than CO₂. Thus, 1 ton of methane counts as 21 tons of CO₂ (often written as CO₂e, or CO₂ equivalents). To learn about the bigger picture and the urgency around greenhouse emissions, see some other posts in the publication, here and here.

Average carbon footprint levels

Let’s start with a few interesting facts.

1. The carbon footprint of the average person in the world is 4.4 ton CO₂/year.
2. The carbon footprint of the average person in the US is 14.6 ton CO₂/year, one of the highest in the world (China is 6.7 tons and India is 1.6 tons).
3. If you are in the US, use this portal to get the average carbon footprint for your zip code. For my zip code in California, it is 44.7 tons CO₂/year driven mostly by transportation (car manufacturing, fuel, air travel).

Footprints across the world, where do you stand?

Understanding the sources of the footprint

There are 5 main categories that contribute to the carbon footprint as shown below.

The Carbon Footprint Pentagon

These are:

1. Transportation — Car Manufacturing, Car Fuel, Public Transit, Air Travel
2. Home — Electricity, Water, Natural Gas, Construction
3. Food — Meat, Dairy, Fruits & Vegetables, Cereal, Snacks and Drinks
4. Goods — Furniture, Clothing, Electronics and other Personal effects
5. Services — Medical, House & Vehicle Maintenance, Communication and others

For reference, here is a breakdown of my carbon footprint. At the end of the article, I will list a tool where you can check your footprint as well and the breakdown into the 5 categories to see where you can have the most impact.

Breakdown of my annual 16 ton/year carbon footprint

Take Action

Let’s revisit the Carbon Footprint Pentagon again. The steps listed here will not only help fight climate change but also help save on your monthly expenses. Starting from the top we have:

Transportation

The key here is to get more conscious and aware about fuel efficiency. There are multiple ways to have an impact here. One could switch to the eco mode while driving, switch to a hybrid/electric vehicle, commuting via bike, carpooling, using public transportation, and reducing air travel or avoiding connecting flights.

Photo by Taun Stewart on Unsplash

Home

Most of the emissions arise due to electricity, water, natural gas, and construction. There are a few avenues to get started here but the two biggest ones are the home heating/cooling system (at least 35%–50% of utility bills) and the water heater.

Photo by Fré Sonneveld on Unsplash

Heating/Cooling system. One of the easiest ways to start reducing your footprint is by reducing the winter thermostat temperature by 2–5ºF, and similarly increasing the summer thermostat by a 2–5ºF.

Water heater. Using an Energy Star certified heater saves a family of four around $3,400 on average. There are multiple rebate programs and federal tax credits for the installation depending on your zip code.

Based on an average price of 12 cents per kWh/month, here are top 5 energy hogs in your home along with dollar figures next to each appliance. Our homes leave so much opportunities for significant savings and meaningful impact in reducing greenhouse emissions, that I will be doing a separate post dedicated to the topic. Other measures to reduce our footprint include installing solar panels and solar water heaters.

Top 5 energy hogs at home and associated monthly expenses

Food

Food related carbon footprint stems from meat, dairy, fruits & vegetables, cereal, snacks and drinks. The key here is to transition to organic produce and consume vegetarian food more often. The greenhouse emissions related to meat and dairy will be covered in detail in a separate post.

Photo by Shelley Pauls on Unsplash

Goods and Services

Goods include furniture, clothing, electronics and other personal effects. Services include medical, house and vehicle maintenance, and communication. There isn’t much that can be done here but this is more for us to be aware and mindful that there is embedded carbon in all these daily essential activities of life.

What’s your carbon footprint?

Okay, coming back to estimating your footprint and how you fare against the rest of the world. Cool Climate Network, an NGO partnership at UC Berkeley, has published an online calculator that does a great job at estimating your carbon footprint and giving a detailed breakdown of the Carbon Footprint Pentagon. Here is the reference graph again. What’s your footprint?

Footprints across the world, where do you stand?