| Environment is important for us all - in present as well | | | | footprint in terms of tons of CO2 equivalent emitted |
| as for the future - as this is what the generation to | | | | per year. Following are the factors that such a |
| come will inherit from us. This is why there has been | | | | calculator takes into account: |
| an emphasis on finding out the share of individuals and | | | | 1. Type of accommodation and number of occupants |
| corporations in global warming by measuring the | | | | 2. Mechanisms in place to control heating and cooling - |
| amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) they produce - or | | | | e.g. higher temperature when cooling and lower while |
| their 'carbon footprint'. | | | | heating |
| CO2 is one of the main greenhouse gases, and its | | | | 3. Type of lightening used. Florescent are considered |
| content in atmosphere contributes towards global | | | | to be more environmentally friendly as compare to |
| warming. By calculating its emission, individuals can | | | | halogen and incandescent ones. |
| make smarter choices in their consumption habits to | | | | 4. Type of insulation applied over doors, windows and |
| reduce their share. Similarly, organizations can calculate | | | | water reservoirs that have an impact on cooling and |
| their emissions as a result of its operations and take | | | | heating |
| steps to reduce it by taking appropriate actions such | | | | 5. Usage pattern of public transport, choice or car, |
| as going 'green', replacing equipment and using or | | | | driving habits and frequency of travel by air plane |
| purchasing only efficient and environment-friendly | | | | 6. Modes of recreation. E.g. biking would not add more |
| equipments and inventories. Carbon footprint calculation | | | | carbon in the environment. On the other hand, holiday |
| is not restricted to individuals and corporations only. | | | | season activities can result in CO2 emissions as high |
| Events, products and even countries can be evaluated | | | | as 650 kg per person |
| for amount of greenhouse gases they produce. One | | | | 7. Use of recycled material, e.g. printer papers, and |
| example of event based emission calculation is | | | | choice of product packaging |
| performing an Internet search operation. According to | | | | Based on this estimate of carbon footprint, |
| research findings quoted in The Times | | | | organizations can come up with strategies to reduce |
| (timesonline.co.uk), a single Google search releases 7 | | | | the emission as a corporate goal or initiative such as |
| grams of CO2. Google refuted this claim and | | | | Climate Savers Computing Initiative by Google. This |
| calculated its own figure which comes out to be 0.2 | | | | might include equipment replacement, changing |
| grams per search. Regardless of the methodology of | | | | practices, educating and training staff and involving |
| calculation and amount of emission, the findings indeed | | | | community in the initiative etc. |
| bring to light the environmental impact of technology. | | | | Where to calculate carbon footprints from? |
| How to calculate carbon footprint? | | | | There are a number of online tools available for |
| There are online carbon footprint calculators available | | | | calculation of carbon footprints. It includes sites such as |
| over the Internet that ask questions about how an | | | | Carboncalculator.com, Stopglobalwarming.org, |
| individual lives or corporate operates to calculate the | | | | Conservation.org, Safeclimate.net, and Nature.org. |