We launched an Energy, Transport and Food Carbon Calculator
There’s plenty of them about of course. We’ve tried to create something more accessible – and focussed on just Energy, Transport and Food – the big three things, roughly responsible for 80% of everyone’s footprint.
Missing bits are the share we each have from infrastructure carbon and from buying stuff (clothes, electronics stuff etc) – the first one of these we can’t do anything about anyway, the second one is more complex.
My view is tackle the 80% issues first, don’t sweat the details till you have. Here’s the link to the calculator online;
https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/carbon-footprint-calculator
And here’s the Directors cut of the op ed – something always get’s chopped out, to fit the space no doubt. But it never looks or reads quite right to me..
If you ask me – it’s all more complicated than it needs to be. This environment and climate stuff. We’re bombarded with competing advice, different names for the same things and language more complicated than it needs to be. It can be a bit daunting or just plain off putting.
And it misses the big picture.
We only need to tackle three things. How we power our homes, how we travel and what we eat. The vast majority of the carbon each of us is responsible for comes from just these three areas of life – 80% of the problem, the carbon, from three things. The rest is detail.
This is at the heart of our new, simple carbon footprint calculator – which we launched today with the Express. In a few minutes you can get a handle on how much carbon you release each year – your carbon footprint. We all have one, and this calculator will show you how that goes up or down depending on the choices you make.
And it is a choice. Not that we can all afford electric cars, or heat pumps (don’t get me started) I get that. Our government could make a big difference by taking tax (VAT) off of low carbon equipment, like solar panels, home insulation – all the stuff that can help us cut our energy bills and cut carbon. That would enable more people to make these choices. But some choices don’t need money.
Food for example is one of the biggest causes of carbon emissions globally – it’s driving the climate crisis – and the extinction of wildlife by the way. What you choose to put on your plate either causes that or it doesn’t. And it’s not about Food Miles – that’s a fiction, less than 1% of all carbon from food is related to that. It’s what you eat that matters not how far it travelled. It’s about eating less animals – and that should cost you less too. And make you healthier…
Just three things to look at, how we power our homes, how we travel and what we eat – choices we make every day. That’s the key.
