Each person with their daily activities contributes to global warming since in one way or another they emit greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide and methane), that is, we all leave a personal carbon footprint.
We know that this carbon footprint can be reduced with carbon offsets, however, to know how much we should offset or if we have a very high carbon footprint, we must learn to calculate it.
What is the carbon footprint?
In simple technical terms, the carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases that you produce in units of carbon dioxide. The carbon footprint is influenced and determined by your lifestyle and daily activities, for example, transportation and travel (car, plane, train, etc..), electrical use (computers, cell phones, electrical appliances, light), consumption of products and services, food consumed, etc. Remember that every product, including food, emits CO2 when it is produced or reaches our homes, since it requires transportation, etc.
Initial considerations to calculate the carbon footprint
First of all, one must take as a basis the average carbon footprint depending on where you live, for example, the carbon footprint calculated for a person living in the United States is 35,000 pounds on average, and is considered one of the highest in the world.
If you don’t know what it is average carbon footprint in your area, you could consider the worldwide average, which is about 8800 pounds. Keep in mind that if we want to help the planet and avoid extreme global warming, that world average should be reduced to 4,400 pounds by 2050, that is, by half.
To better understand the data, look at the following table:
| Carbon footprint by region | average per year |
|---|---|
| Average carbon footprint United States | 35,000 pounds a year |
| World average carbon footprint | 8800 pounds a year |
| low carbon footprint | less than 6,000 pounds a year |
| average carbon footprint | 6,000 to 15,999 pounds per year |
| high carbon footprint | greater than 16,000 pounds per year |
The table gives us an idea of what a low, medium and high carbon footprint is, however, you should keep in mind that this will vary according to your area, since an industrialized country cannot be compared with one that no this.
My recommendation is that you take into account the average carbon footprint worldwide, if your calculation gives less than that then you would have a low carbon footprint.
Steps to calculate the carbon footprint
Having already taken the above considerations, you can apply the formula devised by Alexandra Shimo-Barry, who is the author of the book “The environmental equation”. Is formula calculates the carbon footprint in the home, through the following steps:
- Multiply your monthly electricity bill by 105
- Multiply your monthly gas bill by 105
- Multiply your monthly oil bill by 113
- Multiply your car’s total annual mileage by 0.79
- Multiply the number of flights you have taken in the last year (4 hours or less) by 1100
- Multiply the number of flights you have taken in the last year (4 hours or more) by 4400
- Add 184 if you DO NOT recycle newspaper
- Add 166 if you DO NOT recycle aluminum and tin
- Add 1-8 for your total carbon footprint
If the result you get is less than 6000 pounds congratulations! You lead an ecologically sustainable life and do not emit much CO2 into the environment, meaning that you carbon footprint is low.
If the result is between 6,000 and 15,999 pounds, then you are in the world average, but you could take more actions to reduce your carbon footprint until it is low. If the result exceeds 16,000 pounds, then you have a high carbon footprint and you should start taking action to not contribute to global warming, for example, recycling, saving energy, using public transport and applying for carbon offsets.