There are many online carbon footprint calculators. How accurate are they? Does a carbon footprint calculator divert our attention from what really matters? What about our personal understanding of the impact of human activities on our environment and the ecosystem services that sustain us? What about our response to this knowledge, our socio-cultural background, or our ethical perspective?
Tracy at Cape Town Oracle conducted research on a range of online carbon footprint calculators and found that most of the South African options tend to be simplistic. By contrast, she found some UK and US calculators which go into more detail, taking into account factors like whether or not you are vegetarian, what goods and services you use (for example, growing your own vegetables, or buying food that is locally produced, or buying food that has been transported long distances) and your household income - bearing in mind that big earners often have the largest carbon footprint!
Here are some of the South African online carbon footprint calculators:
- Project 90x2030 - personal household carbon footprint calculator at http://www.project90x2030.org.za/frame_index1.html
- Food and Trees for Africa - carbon calculator at http://www.trees.co.za/carbon-offset-calculator.html
- CO2balanace - carbon dioxide emission calculators at http://www.co2balance.co.za/co2calculators/
- BP - non-flash carbon footprint calculator at http://www.bp.com/carboncalculator.do?categoryId=9024878&contentId=7046374
- Forum for Economics and Environment - CO2 calculator at http://www.econ4env.co.za/calculator/calculator.html
Here are some of the US and UK online calculators:
- The Berkeley Institute of the Environment (US) - carbon footprint calculator at http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/
- The Nature Conservancy (US) - carbon footprint calculator at http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/
- Act on CO2 (UK) - calculator at http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html
- WWF (UK) - footprint calculator at http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
Read more about the analysis of online carbon footprint calculators at http://www.capetownoracle.co.za/2008/07/5-south-african-online-carbon-calculators/