The Carbon Footprint

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The Carbon Footprint is defined as:

The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
In other words: For example, when you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. (CO2 is the chemical symbol for carbon dioxide). When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO2. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. When you buy food and goods, the production of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO2.
Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame. Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year.

Each of the following activities add 1 kg of CO2 to your personal carbon footprint:
  • Travel by public transportation (train or bus) a distance of 10 to 12 km.
  • Drive with your car a distance of 6 km (assuming 7.3 litres petrol per 100 km or 39 mpg)
  • Fly with a plane a distance of 2.2 km.
  • Operate your computer for 32 hours (60 Watt consumption assumed)
  • Production of 5 plastic bags
  • Production of 2 plastic bottles
  • Production of 1/3 of an American cheeseburger (yes, the production of each cheeseburger emits 3.1 kg of CO2!)

What about Methane? It is not included on Carbon Footprint calculations but while methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, there is over 200 times more CO2 in the atmosphere. Hence the amount of warming methane contributes is 28% of the warming CO2 contributes. 





To sum up, the carbon footprint is a very powerful tool to understand the impact of personal behaviour on global warming. Most people are shocked when they see the amount of CO2 their activities create! If you personally want to contribute to stop global warming, the calculation and constant monitoring of your personal carbon footprint is essential.

Would you like to calculate your Carbon Footprint? Here you are:



Check this video for further information!!

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