Carbon Calculations
How we calculate your carbon:
Constant Values: The amount of carbon in kilograms / unit
Electricity: 1.02 kg / Kwh
Heating Oil: 10.15 kg / Gallon
Kerosene: 9.769 kg / Gallon
LPG (liquified petroleum gas): 5.808 kg / Gallon
Propane: 5.747 kg / Gallon
Natural Gas: 5.47 kg / CCF
Gasoline: 8.874 kg / Gallon
Diesel: 10.15 kg / Gallon
Note: For electricity usage it is almost impossible to determine with absolute certainty how much of the electricity comes from Coal, Oil, or other forms. For this reason we prefer to err in favor of the environment and our calculations are based on the electricity fuel source with the highest carbon footprint: Coal.
All figures are easily attainable in a search online or visit websites like the EPA website.
Working Example:
Lets say a User is calculating their carbon footprint, and as they do not have the bills for a whole year they are calculating based on one months bill.
They enter the following figures:
Electricity 485
Heating Oil 30
Kerosene 30
LPG 40
Propane 40
Natural Gas 75
Gasoline 60
Diesel 30
The calculations are done as follows
Value * Constant
Step one: initial calculation
Electricity: Value: 485 kWh * Constant: 1.02 kg = 494.7 kilograms of carbon
Heating Oil: Value: 30 Gallons * Constant 10.15 kg = 304.5 kilograms of carbon
Kerosene: Value: 30 Gallons * Constant 9.769 kg = 293.07 kilograms of carbon
LPG: Value: 40 Gallons * Constant 5.808 kg = 232.32 kilograms of carbon
Propane: Value: 40 Gallons * Constant 5.747 kg = 229.88 kilograms of carbon
Natural Gas: Value: 75 CCFs * Constant 5.47 kg = 410.25 kilograms of carbon
Gasoline: Value: 60 Gallons * Constant 8.874 kg = 532.24 kilograms of carbon
Diesel: Value: 30 Gallons * Constant 10.15 kg = 304.5 kilograms of carbon
Step two: Adding totals
Adding all the above totals together we get:
494.7 + 304.5 + 293.07 + 232.32 + 229.88 + 410.25 + 532.24 + 304.5 =
2801.46 kilograms of carbon for a monthly total of carbon
Step three: calculating for the year
As we are computing an estimate for the year due to the fact that we only have access to one months bills we multiply by 13 months to allow for fluctuation in monthly amounts.
This gives us 36,416.98 kilograms of carbon for the year.
Step four: Convert to tons
Divide this by 1000 to convert to tons and we have the answer of 36.416 tons of carbon for the year. As offsets are sold by the ton we round up to the nearest whole ton giving a result of 37 tons of carbon to be offset.
Step five: Calculate number of trees to be planted
The next step is to determine how many trees will be planted. We calculate a Jatropha tree stores or displaces 0.002983 tons of carbon per year of life and we calculate based on a 40 year lifespan. This gives us 0.119355 tons of carbon per tree.
So we divide 37 by 0.119355 which is 309.99 trees. As we cannot plant a part of a tree, we round the answer up to the nearest whole number giving us 310 trees to be planted.
In the case where a whole years bills are available simply skip step three and go directly to step four.
GroPower is a DBA name of AMCG Ltd.,
a registered company of England and Wales. Registration No. 5136786
Tel. No. +44 207-193-2160 | Email (regarding GroPower): gropower@amcgltd.net
