What are your Emissions?
We hear in the media a lot of talk about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but few of us know how we contribute or how to calculate them for our own lives.
So, dig out your solar powered calculator and your utility bills (or phone your provider) and follow along:
Home heating (natural gas):
Add up the GJs on your bill and multiply this number by 0.056 for your tonnes of GHGs.
For example, for a house that uses 120 GJ of natural gas over a year:
120 x 0.056 = 6.7 tonnes of GHGs.
Note: The average home in Alberta uses roughly 120 GJ of natural gas. This also includes the energy required to heat domestic hot water (DHW) and for your natural gas barbeque or gas range, if you have one. The amount of natural gas you purchase reflects the amount of energy your home loses to the environment (mainly in the winter). This depends completely on the temperature of your home, the temperature outside, and how well insulated your home is.
Reduction: The best way of reducing your natural gas consumption is to lower your thermostat, particularly when you are not in the home. A home will heat up quickly when you return and turn up the thermostat, or you may install a programmable thermostat if your coming and going is more predictable. You may also keep your home cooler and wear a sweater and slippers, put a heavier blanket on the bed, or heat only the rooms you are using (closing the vents a little in the rooms you are not typically spending time in).
Myth: that cooling and re-heating a home takes more energy than the amount of energy saved. This is simply not true, though homes made of concrete or other high heat capacity materials may take longer to heat back up.
Electricity:
Add up the kWh for the year and multiply this total by 0.000688 for your tonnes of GHGs.
For example, for a house in Alberta that uses 7200 kWh of electricity over a year:
7200 x 0.000688 = 10.2 tonnes of GHGs.
Note: the emissions from electricity depends on what technology-mix is used to generate the electricity to begin with. Alberta is roughly 50% coal-generated, with 40% being generated from natural gas, with thermal efficiencies ranging from 30% for some coal plants to 50% for some natural gas plants.
Reduction: Electricity consumption in a typical home is dominated by the refrigerator and the freezer. Not running additional refrigerators or freezers in the home is an easy approach to reducing electricity consumption. Allowing the home to heat up a bit in the summer before running an air conditioner is a good way to save energy and, of course, turning off lights and devices when not in use can help. Remote-controlled devices should be put on a switch that can be shut off – some research has indicated that as much as 10% of a home’s electricity consumption is what is called ‘phantom load’ – the energy used to keep televisions and stereos ready to switch on with the remote control [i].
Driving (gasoline):
Multiply your gas mileage by the number of kilometers you drove in the past year and multiply by 0.0024 for your tonnes of GHGs.
For example, for a car that uses 12.1 litres per 100 kilometers driving 15,600 km last year:
12.1 x 15,600 / 100 = 1890 liters purchased. So, 1890 litres x 0.0024 = 4.5 tonnes.
For a return trip from Lethbridge to Calgary: 12.1 litres per 100 kilometers driving 450 km:
12.1 x 450 / 100 = 55 liters purchased. So, 55 litres x 0.0024 = 0.13 tonnes
Did you need to make this trip? Could you have planned to travel with other people going the same way?
Reduction: Cars range widely in performance, so a better performing car can reduce your emissions substantially (and the cost at the pump). If you don’t need a large vehicle or truck, consider a smaller vehicle for around town. Planning car trips to include a number of chores, rather than going out multiple times is an easy way to reduce mileage. And keeping your car well maintained, including tire pressure, can help improve your vehicle performance. And, maybe, once in a while, try walking or biking instead of driving. Lethbridge has extensive plans to improve bicycle and pedestrian trails in the city.
For individual emissions, you can divide these numbers by the number of people living in the home or travelling in the car.
Food is tricky, but important:
Assuming you eat about 2600 calories a day, and according to Canadian statistics we waste about 40% from farm to fork.
(Interestingly, 20% of this is lost in our homes – for more information go to wasteless.ca).
Our food is responsible for about 2.5 tonnes per person for a Canada Food Guide diet.
This may be lower if you eat less meat or waste less food.
Note: Food is tricky because it depends a lot on how much you waste, where your food comes from, how it was grown, how it was transported and stored, and what your diet is comprised of [ii]. Generic data on the fossil energy embodied in our food can be useful, but it takes some context to know what is best for you at your location.
Now, what about your flying holiday?
Google the flying distance between your home and your destination. Let’s say Lethbridge to Madrid, which is a 15,700 km return flight. Multiply this total by 0.000111 for your individual GHG emissions. In this example, 15,700 x 0.000111 = 1.7 tonnes.
Emissions for other popular destinations (return) using Air Miles Calculator:
Lethbridge to Puerto Vallarta: 6600 km = 0.7 tonnes
Lethbridge to Toronto: 5200 km = 0.6 tonnes
Lethbridge to New York: 6300 km = 0.7 tonnes
Lethbridge to Hong Kong: 21,600 km = 2.4 tonnes
Lethbridge to Sydney, Australia: 26,400 km = 3.0 tonnes
Adding it all up, with two people in the home, the personal GHG emission is just about 15 tonnes per year.
This number would actually be a little low, as it does not include the emissions in the production and transportation of all of our consumer items.
The published number for Canadians is 16.7 tonnes per year which includes everything inside and outside our homes. By comparison, the United States is 15.7 tonnes per person; China is 7.7 tonnes; European Union is 7.0 tonnes; and India is 1.8 tonnes.
It is important to consider both individual emissions and the sort of emissions that come from countries. In general terms, individual emissions reflect the level of affluence, which can be controlled. But it also reflects things that are less controllable like the climate you live in, and the way the urban environment was designed, including long driving distances between home, work and play.
A country’s emissions become more important as governments dictate the incentives and disincentives to reducing emissions, and the type of economies developed (high energy products, resource dependent exports, agricultural exports, manufactured goods for home consumption or export, and so on).
If Alberta was a country, our per capita emissions would be 66 tonnes per person (amongst the highest in the world, next to Qatar), even though our personal emissions might be more along the national average of 12 to 16 tonnes per person [iii].
The difference between Canadian provinces is mainly related to the energy source for electricity, and the type of industries supported by each province.
To reduce our collective emissions, it is important to take personal initiative (the power of numbers) and to encourage governments to provide the best direction with appropriate incentives to the economy and meaningful indicators of economic effectiveness (one that indicates the most benefits to the most people).
[i] Phantom Load (or, Vampires in Your Home)
[ii] Food’s Carbon FootPrint
[iii] Govt of Canada, Greenhouse Gas Emissions