YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS IN A FLASH

Your Carbon Tally
We each produce too much Carbon Dioxide in this country – about 11 tons each per year. The only safe way not to upset the balance of nature is to reduce that – drastically, and now! Could we manage on 1 ton each by 2050? See how you and your household scores now: enter figures for your whole household then divide by the number of people therein –

One Ton of CO₂ is about:
Domestic Fuels
Coal - 8 sacks
Gas - 5000 kWh
Oil - 350 litres, 80 gallons
Electricity - 2000 kWh
Wood - 2/3 ton (unless sustainable/rescued from waste)
LPG - 2/3 cubic metre, 670 litres

Travel (1000 miles = 4 miles per day commute)
Car miles
Small Car (37mpg) - 3600 miles
Medium Car (29mpg) - 2800 miles
Large Car (24mpg) - 2300 miles
Small Diesel (64mpg) - 5300 miles
Large Diesel (53mpg) - 4300 miles

Passenger miles (these are per person: a family of 4 holidaying in Spain would incur 4 tonnes in total)
Train - 10,000 miles
Bus - 6,000 miles
Coach - 10,000 miles
Air - 1600 miles (ie Spain and back)
(UK – Miami return = 5 tons; to East Australia return 11 tons)
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Grand Total
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Number of household members
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Therefore tons CO₂ per person per year:
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Notes
This is a rough and ready reckoner, we suggest you enter CO₂ no closer than to ½ ton. With 31% of UK energy used in the home, and 26% in transport, the general public has a lot under its control. (2001 figures.) It neglects contributions from industry, services, farming and landfill gas.
For mainland distances see http://www.viamichelin.com/
Air flights: www.futureforests.com/calculators/newflight4.asp, gives CO₂ emissions without a factor for radiative forcing. For that see http://www.chooseclimate.org/
References: See "How We Can Save the Planet", by Mayer Hallman with Tina Fawcett, Penguin, ISBN 0141016922.
There are plenty of more detailed exercises available on the internet. Try www.earthday.net/Footprint/index.asp, www.bestfootforward.com/carbonlife.htm, www.carboncalculator.com/newaccount.php, www.resurgence.org/carboncalculator/

For an excel spreadsheet, visit http://www.vren.btik.com/documents/1518611134.ikml
For the above calculator on an A4 sheet, see http://www.vren.btik.com/documents/1518613816.ikml