Web-based carbon accounting sites take care of all the footprinting calculations and allow you to keep track of your footprint on a more regular basis. Usually they ask for gas and electricity meter readings, car mileages and flight details – but some allow you to enter individual trips (eg on public transport) or purchases too.
This page summarises the main alternatives. Also available as a pdf file.
See also: Evaluation of web based personal carbon accounting packages (detailed comparison)
Discussion: UK Govt's official carbon calculator launched, 20 June 2007
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| Uses a database of emissions factors so users can specify the quantity (e.g. km or cubic feet of gas) in order to create a ‘carbon stamp’. This is good for committed individuals because it very accurately records everything (though averages are used for public transport etc). It’s quite difficult to see your emissions over time as there is only a pie chart rather than a graph, and you have to be disciplined enough to remember to add each emission. | Unlike my.carbon, the Act on CO2 calculator uses a combination of estimates and actual energy data. It makes assumptions about your home’s energy performance based on the answers you give to questions (such as “do you have double-glazing?”). It does have the ability to capture your quarterly energy consumption, but it’s not possible to go back and enter new data more frequently than this. It’s also not clear how much weight is given to the empirical kWh data versus the other estimates. | This tool captures direct emissions from gas, electricity, flights and cars. For gas and electricity you need to enter two meter readings to get an emission (the difference between the two). This tool is very accurate and has clear graphs over time so it’s easy to see how to reduce. | The Carbon Account is almost exactly the same as Carbon Diet, except that it has an estimate section as well as direct recording. Unlike ACTonCO2 , we make the division between the recorded footprint (based on energy kWh, litres of fuel etc) explicitly separate from the estimate (which is based on answers to questions during registration). The graphs are clear and easy to read, and Torchbox are keen to make the estimate more accurate so that it’s clear where to target for future reductions. Torchbox are researching other areas such as integration with smart meter technologies. |