new thread: carbon calculators
Bernadette
them? Which are your favorites? Has anyone done a comparison? Have
you created your own? There are a plethora on the web these days, of
varying complexity and accuracy, and an impressive dispersion in
results.
I don't claim to have done a lot of research myself, but here's one I
kind of like:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
And here's a comparison published in a refereed journal a few years
ago (2007): http://water.washington.edu/Research/Articles/2008.EIAR.carbon.calculators.pdf
. The main conclusion is that they produce wide-ranging results which
can be very misleading, and ought to be standardized, and more
transparent in their calculations. (I agree.)
What do you use?
If people have their own, is it worth creating a space to post these
for common use? I've started a very basic excel-based thing, based on
McKay's numbers, just for playing around with-- Phil, I'm pretty sure
you've done the same?
Thoughts?
cheers,
Bernadette
Phil Marshall
I have played around a bit with carbon calculators, in the context of
trying to convert energy units (from, like you, David's book) into GHG
emissions in tons (tonnes?) CO2 equiv. I kept track of as much as I
could through 2009, you can see the results here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/phils-2009-carbon-bill
OK car usage, terrible air miles! :-/
My conclusions from doing this are as follows:
1) It's difficult to get an accurate estimate of how much each
activity costs in carbon units - factors of two uncertainty abound.
I'd like to understand this better.
2) My carbon bill worked out at about $4 per day - like having an
expensive lunch rather than a cheap one. Thinking of your carbon
expense in daily terms makes sense.
3) There is no really satisfactory place to spend this $4 on carbon
offsets, for various reasons to do with where the money goes, and what
you "get" for it. This may sound oddly self-serving, but there is a
serious psychological issue here: people need to *feel* the progress
they are making, and donating money is a bit like turning the
thermostat down...
4) Keeping track of your carbon bill on your own is not much fun.
I would definitely be up for a collective carbon tracking exercise! In
my other local community (not US astronomy, but the village of
Kidlington here in Oxfordshire) some of the village action group
("Kidlington vs Climate Change" :-) use imeasure.org.uk - you enter
your electricity, gas etc consumption (mostly household stuff I think)
and you see your progress, and, crucially, that of your friends. This
site looks something like what I'm looking for:
If people are keen, we could audit this site and any others like it,
and then join it as a group! What do you reckon? Ill do it if you
will, Bernadette :-)
Cheers
Phil
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Phil Marshall
> 3) There is no really satisfactory place to spend this $4 on carbon
> offsets, for various reasons to do with where the money goes, and
> what
> you "get" for it. This may sound oddly self-serving, but there is a
> serious psychological issue here: people need to *feel* the progress
> they are making, and donating money is a bit like turning the
> thermostat down...
BTW to try and address this particular problem, I wrote to Roger Angel
to ask if him if he would consider helping set up a mechanism whereby
astronomers (and others!) could donate to his rehnu.com project, as a
carbon offset scheme. With enough of us joining, we could raise money
to support their prototyping, and even install some solar generators
in useful places. I thought this was a great plan, but I never heard
back from him - maybe because he's busy, maybe because he has bigger
fish to fry, I'm not sure. If you guys are interested in this idea,
reply all and we can maybe resurrect it...
Cheers
Phil