Carbon Footprinting Service
Understanding your carbon footprint
The Quicksilver carbon calculator gives you an estimate of the annual amount of greenhouse gas emissions,
mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), that result from the activities of your household. It includes all the CO2 directly
resulting from the fuel you use to power your home and travel, as well as the CO2 you are indirectly responsible
for through the services and products that you use and the food you eat. It also takes into account other
greenhouse gases relating to these activities, and translates them into a CO2 equivalent.
In the results page of the Quicksilver calculator, your annual carbon footprint is given both for your whole
household and per individual – the overall household footprint divided equally between all members of the
household. The table shows how different activities are estimated to contribute to your overall footprint, and
how you compare to the UK national average. The split between different
lighting and
activities is also highlighted in the pie chart as this example shows.
appliances
Prioritising Action
spending
Discovering which activities in your life generate the most CO2, can help you
identify key areas to focus on when you start tackling the reduction of your
footprint.
pets
heating
Frequently asked Questions
Why is this footprint higher than that calculated by other calculators?
Many calculators only include the CO2 emissions you are directly responsible
food
for when calculating your footprint. We have based our calculation on all
Greenhouse gases, including water vapour from flights, not just CO2.
Additionally, the Quicksilver Calculator includes all the indirect emissions relating
to the products and services you consume to calculate your footprint. We do this so
we can give as complete a picture of your personal impact on climate change as possible.
commuting
social travel
flights
car
ownership
My neighbour and I live in identical houses – why are our individual footprints so different?
As well as factors such as how well your home is insulated, type of appliances you own, travel patterns and
differences in diet and spending, a key factor influencing your individual footprint will be the number of
occupants in your homes. A larger household has more people to share the load of heating and powering a
home, so tends to reduce the overall footprint of individuals in the house.
How do you allocate CO2 to different activities?
Where possible we’ve used the actual data you’ve given us to allocate emissions to different activities. For
example, we use the mileage you tell us you travel by car to work out what proportion of your car mileage
relates to your commute and what is down to domestic and social travel. For other areas, such as the
proportion of electricity used to power appliances, we’ve used national averages to apportion your overall
energy consumption to each activity. In these areas, the allocation should only be used as a guideline –
although the overall emissions figure is constant. For more information a copy of the methodology behind the
calculator is available.
Why do you include elements I can do nothing to change?
The carbon footprint includes a 3 tonne contribution per person which accounts for the delivery of the national
infrastructure we use. We may not be able to personally reduce these emissions, but we can tell our politicians
what we’d like to see done to tackle the CO2 emissions of government, and other national services run on our
behalf.
Your carbon footprint in context
How does my carbon footprint compare to the UK average?
The average UK carbon footprint is around 12.5 tonnes per person. But footprints vary for different individuals
and households. For example, one study has shown that, on average, people aged 50 to 64 have heavier
www.lowcarbonliving.org.uk
footprints than all other UK age groups, mainly due to their high spending on car and air travel, eating and
drinking, and medical and financial services.
There is also regional variation in footprints - the UK regions with the heaviest household carbon footprint are
Northern Ireland (mainly due to above average use of oil and coal for heating) and the South-East (due to
above average travel and goods and services consumption), and the lightest is Yorkshire and Humberside (due
to below average footprints for travel and goods and services).
The carbon footprint per person also varies with household size. One-person households generally have
heavier footprints per person than those with two or more inhabitants. This is because people living alone
usually occupy and heat a bigger area per person and don't share most household goods and activities.
How does the UK average compare to other countries?
25
The average carbon footprint for people living in different
countries can vary hugely, especially between rich developed
countries such as the UK, newly industrialised countries like
China and poor, developing countries. Countries can also be
compared on the basis of their total carbon output. So
although the average Chinese person has a far lower carbon
footprint that the average person in the UK, with its large
population, China has the largest overall carbon footprint.
However, a study by the Norwegian University of Science &
Technology highlights the fact that a significant proportion of
China’s growing footprint is actually due to the goods they
manufacture for export to countries such as the UK.
Source:www.carbonfootprintofnations.com
Average carbon footprint
20
(tonnes per person)
15
10
5
0
USA
UK
China
India
Malawi
What is considered a sustainable footprint?
According to the Stern Review (HM Treasury, 2006), the scientific evidence shows that a 50% global reduction,
and a 60% to 80% reduction in developed countries' greenhouse gas emissions is needed by 2050 to reduce
the risk of the world suffering the most serious consequences of climate change. This means that we need to
aim to reduce our individual carbon footprints to around 2-3 tonnes.
How are international targets set in a way that’s fair for poorer nations?
National and international targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, are increasingly based on a principle
called contraction and convergence, developed by the Global Commons Institute, The principle is that once a
‘safe’ concentration of CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere is scientifically established, every country should
‘contract’ its emissions, aiming to ‘converge’ towards an equal share of emissions per person that avoids the
long-term concentration rising above the safe level. It means that while developed countries like the UK will
have to drastically reduce their emissions per person, some developing countries would be allowed to increase
theirs to the globally equal or ‘fair share’.
FIND OUT MORE
If you are interested in learning more about the science behind climate change, and carbon footprinting
methodology the Open University has a number of free modules you can study on-line at their website
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk.
For ideas to reduce your carbon footprint, a good place to start is the Energy Saving Trust website
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk.
This work is part of the Low Carbon Living Toolkit and is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you have any questions or tips to suggest please email
them to us at lowcarbon@hotmail.co.uk
Whilst we have made every attempt to ensure the accuracy of this leaflet, this information should not be relied
upon as a substitute for formal advice. LCWO will not be responsible for any loss, however arising, from the
use of, or reliance on this information. Low Carbon West Oxford is a registered charity 1135225.
The development of the Quicksilver Calculator was made possible thanks to financial support from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation.
The development of training materials for use with other communities has been funded via the DECC Local Carbon Frameworks
programme – working with local government to optimise the local contribution to reducing UK carbon emissions.
www.lowcarbonliving.org.uk