Energy & Environment

What does Carbon Footprint mean?

The carbon footprint is "the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product" (UK Carbon Trust 2008).

A Simple Calculation

If you have an individual gas fired boiler and pay your own gas and electricity bills you can calculate your carbon footprint as follows:

Work out from your electricity bills the number of kWh of electricity used in the last 12 months and multiply this by 0.537. This will give your carbon emissions in kilograms for electricity.

Then work out from your gas bills the number of kWh of gas used in the last 12 months multiplied by 0.185. This once again will give your carbon emissions in kilograms, this time for gas.

The two added together will give a simple calculation of your carbon footprint.

Interactive websites

There are a number of interactive websites you can use to calculate your carbon footprint. For example you can go to the direct.gov website (you will need Flash 8 installed on your computer) where you can factor in other things like the appliances you use and whether you drive a car.

Other useful Information:

EBICO
Ebico is a not-for-profit gas and electricity supplier which we are telling our residents about. They operate a single price tariff for all customers, regardless of payment method and no standing charge. If you are interested or want to find out more call Ebico on 0800 458 7689 (quote ISL).