Op-Ed: Calculating Your CO2 Footprint - Inside EVs

I’ve found myself returning to the above post every so often. It doesn’t have much to do with EVs (electric vehicles) – although they are one way to reduce your carbon footprint.

The thing I like about the post is that it lays out the clear goal of 1.6 tons of annual carbon emissions per capita and shows that the author – a self described “mister green” – has a little more than twice that amount of carbon emissions today. He has a low emission car, solar on his roof, etc. His example goes a long way towards showing how far we all have to go, considering the average American has 17 tons of carbon emissions per year.

Compared to many carbon estimation services out there, actually looking at your electric,  gasoline, and natural gas usage gives a much more accurate result. (I’m actually really surprised I can’t find an app to do that with our personal energy usage! Leave a comment if you know of one.) Most carbon estimators, take so much liberty with their assumptions that there no possible way to get an estimate that even approaches the 1.6 ton goal.

So here’s to the journey; we’ll all have to change, but everything we need to solve the problem is here today.