WWF’S FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR: HOW DID WE WORK IT ALL OUT?

We hope you like our carbon footprint calculator, which we created with the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York and the University of Leeds.

Once you’ve answered the questions in the quiz you’ll see the size of your carbon footprint, based on the information you’ve given us.

Here are the answers to some top questions. If you can’t find your question, please get in touch with us here.

Q: What do you mean by ‘carbon footprint'?

Your footprint is a way of showing your carbon emissions, compared to other people and other countries. It’s your impression on the planet.

By carbon emissions, we mean greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Humans produce these gases in vast quantities by doing things like burning coal, oil and gas for energy and cutting down forests. Your individual emissions are built up from the energy you use personally for electricity and travel, as well as the energy that’s required to produce your food and all the other stuff you buy, whether it’s made in the UK or elsewhere in the world.

We convert all the different greenhouse gases into an equivalent impact from carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Your footprint value is in “tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent”.

Q: Am I seeing results for me as an individual, or for my whole household?

The final result is an individual footprint, although household information is used to calculate home energy impacts. The impact of heating and powering the home is divided by the number of adult residents.

Q: What do the different sections cover?

The calculator is divided into four sets of questions:

‘Food’ covers diet, food waste and buying habits.
‘Home’ covers energy type and usage in the house and the presence of energy-saving measures.
‘Travel’ covers personal and public transport usage for leisure and work, and flights.
‘Stuff’ covers the purchases of consumable items.

Q: Why is there a government section in my personal footprint?

Though the calculator gives you an individual footprint score, it also depends on the country you live in and the policies of your government.

The UK’s carbon footprint includes the government’s consumption – that covers spend on roads and construction, education, defence, health and other expenses involved in running the country. This impact is shared by the 64 million residents of the UK.

Q: What is the UK government’s ‘2020 target’?

The Climate Change Act established a target for the UK to reduce its emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To help us get there, there are targets along the way, and we need to be 35% of the way there by 2020. You can find out more here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/reducing-carbon-emissions/carbon-budgets-and-targets/

Q: I live a very green lifestyle. Why is my footprint bigger than I expected?

Part of your footprint depends on the policies of the UK government. So for example, if you drive an electric car your footprint may be bigger than you think it should be. This is because the UK’s electricity is not as green as that of some other countries.

In the future when more of the UK’s electricity is generated by solar or wind power, and less from coal, the impact will reduce.

Q: The calculator doesn’t give an option that reflects my personal situation. How can I answer the questions?

You may not be able to find a match for your personal situation in the questions – for example, one awesome individual told us that they live in a tent! We have tried to make the calculator as user-friendly as possible, which has meant simplifying some of the questions.

If you do live in a tent, or if your situation is otherwise unusual, please try to make a ‘best guess’ with the answers provided. You can also give us your feedback here.

Q: Should I include my work travel?

You should include the travel involved in your regular commute to work. However, any travel you do as part of your job – making deliveries, travelling to different offices or conferences – is part of your employer’s footprint, so you don’t need to include it.

Q: What footprint result should I be aiming for?

To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to keep global warming well below 2C – preferably 1.5C. If everyone on the planet were allocated a ‘fair share’ of carbon emissions, each person should have a footprint of 1.05 tonnes by the year 2050.

This is significantly less than the average current UK footprint, but this should not discourage you. Do all you can to reduce your own footprint, and with your help we’ll continue to fight for action from businesses and governments.

Q: Where’s the data from, and how reliable is it?

To calculate the UK’s consumption-based account (footprint) we used data from the Office for National Statistics, which undergoes regular assurance reviews. We supplemented this with data from the Eora MRIO database, which has undergone reliability testing.

We also used the Eora database to find the energy and emissions figures for the rest of the world. We took care to ensure that this was consistent with UK data.

Defra, Shrink That Footprint and the Energy Savings Trust provided additional data on home, travel and diet-related emissions.

The calculator has been examined by Professors Thomas Wiedmann and John Barrett, who are world leaders in the field of accounting for consumption-based emissions.

Q: How did you work out the comparisons?

Average footprints:
In your calculator results you’ll see how your footprint compares with others in the world. You are marked up against a UK average of 13.56 tonnes and a world average of 5.28 tonnes.

Long haul flights:
Based on conversion factors from Defra, we worked out that 1 return flight of 11,000km would equate to 2.47 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and compared it to the tonnes of carbon dioxide in your footprint.

Cars:
An average car in the UK travels 12,000km in a year, producing 2.33 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Again, this is used as a metaphor to give you an idea of what your footprint result means.

Q: Your previous footprint calculator showed how many planets I was using. Why has this changed?

Previously we have used an ecological footprint to show our impact on the planet, which measures the amount of land needed for the things we consume and some of the waste we produce. It then calculates how many planets that land adds up to. This is a good way of visually showing a rough idea of our impact, but it becomes difficult when calculating how changes we make will reduce our impact. The new carbon footprint calculator is a more accurate measure.

All images in the footprint calculator are © WWF or used with permission.

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/

Comments

Reproduction of Deuteromycetes

F ungi that reproduce asexually (anamorphic fungi ) are either yeasts or Deu-teromycetes. The term "yeast" is descriptive and stands for any fungus that reproduces by budding. Deuteromycetes (Fungi imperfecti, colloquially: molds) is an artificial as-semblage of fungi that reproduce asexually by conidia (conidiospores), either as the only form for propagation (imperfect fungi) or additionally (anamorph) to a sexual reproduction (teleomorph). When both the anamorph and the teleo-morph are known, the fungus is called a holomorph (the whole fungus). The teleomorph may have one (mono-anamorphic) or many (pleo-anamorphic) asexual stages. In other words: Deuteromycetes are the conidia-producing forms of a fungus and may or may not be associated with a teleomorph. Many Deuteromycetes are supposed to have a teleomorph in the Ascomycetes, but they may also have basidiomycetous affinity. Also in the wood-inhabiting Deuteromycetes, the teleomorph often is of ascomycetous a

What shapes the peer review landscape in ecology?

It was great to be discussing the future of peer review with researchers at the recent peer review panel discussion organised by the British Ecological Society (BES) at their annual conference in Liverpool last week. Jane Hill (Professor of Ecology at the University of York and Chair of BES Publications Committee) chaired the debate, and we heard from Allen Moore (Editor-in-Chief, Ecology and Evolution), Patricia Morse (Managing Editor, American Naturalist ), Nate Sanders (Senior Editor, Journal of Animal Ecology ), Andy Robertson (Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Society Services, Wiley) and me. We started with a discussion of ways in which the publishing process could be opened up, with Allen advocating open science principles and pre-registration of research. Nate also shared his experience in the value of “opening up” research online to get people talking and to generate new ideas. Andy Robertson suggested that partnering with services such as Overlea

Islands

H ow often have you seen those wonderful advertisements inviting you to have a holiday on a tropical island ( Fig. )What is it about islands, whether in the tropics or polar regions, that suggests romance, excitement and adventure? Is it because of a sense of escape from the pressures and stress of a bustling way of life, or the opportunity to savour sun-soaked beaches, or the adventure of rocky unexplored shores, or perhaps the chance of seeing unique island wildlife? It is for all these reasons that there is a growing tourist industry for many islands around the world. The wildlife of islands, especially oceanic islands , has long been of special significance in biology , ecology , conservation and biogeography. Studies of island species have also been of historical significance for evolutionary biology. Many of the world's islands have high levels of endemic flora and fauna; that is, taxa found only on a particular island and no other place. Island biota has o

Red Streaking

Red Streaking Red-streaking discoloration (known as "Rotstreifigkeit" in Germany) is one of the most common and important damage in seasoning logs and sawn lumber, occurring only in conifers (spruce, pine, fir) and recognized as a distinct con-dition in continental Europe. The stripe-shaped to spotted yellow to reddish-brown discoloration extends in logs from both their bark-covered faces and from their cut ends (Butin 1995; Baum and Bariska 2002) . Stems that are not debarked show a rather flat discoloration and debarked stems exhibit a streakier staining (v. Pechmann et al. 1967). Causal agents are several white-rot Basidiomycetes, in spruce particularly Stereum sanguinolentum (Kleist and Seehann 1997) and Amylostereum areola-turn. In south Germany, Amylostereum chailettii is common (Zycha and Knopf 1963; v. Pechmann et al. 1967). In pine, red streaking is mainly due to Trichap-turn abietinum (Butin 1995). According to Kreisel (1961), S. sanguinolentum and T

Ecosia ; Ecology Search

https://www.ecosia.org/ How it works You search the web with Ecosia. Ads Search ads generate income for Ecosia. Ecosia uses this income to plant trees. httpecologicaljournal.blogspot.com Ecosia about video

Bioenergetics

T housands of chemical reactions occur throughout the body during each minute of the day. Collec-tively, these reactions are called metabolism. Metab-olism includes chemical pathways that result in the synthesis of molecules (anabolic reactions) as well as the breakdown of molecules (catabolic reactions). Since energy is required by all cells, it is not sur-prising that cells possess chemical pathways that are capable of converting foodstuffs (i.e., fats, proteins, carbohydrates) into a biologically usable form of energy . This metabolic process is termed bioenergetics. In order for you to run, jump, or swim, skeletal muscle cells must be able to continuously extract energy from food nutrients. In fact, the inability to transform energy contained in foodstuffs into usable biological energy would limit performance in endurance activities. The explanation for this is simple. To continue to contract, muscle cells must have a continuous source of energy. When energy is not rea

White Rot

W hite-rot research has been reviewed by Ericksson et al. (1990) and Mess-ner et al. (2003). White rot means the degradation of cellulose, hemicellu-loses, and lignin usually by Basidiomycetes and rarely by Ascomycetes, e.g., Kretzschmaria deusta and Xylaria hypoxylon. White rot has been classified by macroscopic characteristics into white-pocket, white-mottled, and white-stringy, the different types being affected by the fungal species, wood species, and ecological conditions. From microscopic and ultrastructural investiga-tions, two main types of white rot have been distinguished (Liese 1970). In the simultaneous white rot ("corrosion rot"), carbohydrates and lignin are almost uniformly degraded at the same time and at a similar rate during all decay stages. Typical fungi with simultaneous white rot are Fomes fomentar-ws, Phellinus igniarius, Phellinus robustus, and Trametes versicolor in standing trees and stored hardwoods (Blanchette 1984a). Wood decay

Soft Rot

The term " soft rot " was originally used by Findlay and Savory (1954) to describe a specific type of wood decay caused by Ascomycetes and Deuteromycetes which typically produce chains of cavities within the S2 layer of soft- and hardwoods in terrestrial and aquatic environments (Liese 1955), for example when the wood-fill in cooling towers became destroyed despite water saturation, and when poles broke, although they were protected against Basidiomvcetes. About 300 species (Seehann et al. 1975) to some 1,600 examples of ascomvcete and deuteromvcete fungi (Eaton and Hale 1993) cause soft rot, e.g., Chaeromium globosurn (Takahashi 1978), Hurnicola spp., Lecythophora hoffrnannii, Monodictys putredinis, Paecilornyces spp., and Thielavia terrestris. Soft-rot fungi differ from brown-rot and white-rot Basidiomycetes by grow-ing mainly inside the woody cell wall trate, starting from the tracheidal lumina., by means of thin perforation hyphae of less than 0.5 pm thickne

Antagonists, Synergists, and Succession

Interactions (reciprocal effects) between wood fungi have been early investi-gated e.g., by Oppermann (1951) and Leslie et al. (1976), and were described in detail by Rayner and Boddy (1988). Antagonism (competitive reciprocal effect), the mutual inhibition and in a broader sense the inhibition of one organism by others, is based on the pro-duction of toxic metabolites, on mycoparasitism, and on nutrient competition. Antagonisms are investigated as alternative to the chemical protection against tree fungi ("biological forest protection") and against fungi on wood in service ("biological wood protection") (Walchli 1982; Bruce 1992; Holdenrieder and Greig 1998; Phillips-Laing et al. 2003). As early as 1934, Weindling showed the inhibiting effect of Trichoderma species on several fungi. Bjerkandera adusta and Ganoderma species were antagonistic against the causing agent of Plane canker stain disease (Grosclaude et al. 1990). Also, v. Aufseg (197

Sexual Reproduction

A specific feature of the sexual reproduction of Ascomycetes and Basid-iomycetes is that plasmogamy of haploid cells and karyogamy of two nuclei (n) to form a diploid nucleus (2n) are separated from each other temporally as well spatially by the dikaryophase (two-nuclei phase, dikaryon, n + n, ===) (Fig.1). A dikaryotic hypha is one with two nuclei that derive from two haploid hyphae, but in which the nuclei are not yet fused by karyogamy. Particularly in Basidiomycetes, the dikaryotic phase is considerably ex-tended. By conjugated division of the two nuclei (conjugated mitosis), by division of the dikaryotic hypha, and by means of a special nucleus migration connested with camp formation both daughter cells become again dikaryotic. Ascomycetes The life cycle of a typical ascomycete is shown in Fig.1 (also Muller and Loeffler 1992; Eaton and Hale 1993; Schwantes 1996; Jennings and Lysek 1999). Haploid (n) spores (A, ascospores or conidia from an anamorph) germi-nate

Ecological world

Search This Blog