Determining Your Carbon Dioxide Footprint

What Is A Carbon Dioxide Footprint?

A carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal and natural gas. Since virtually all of the energy we use in Indiana to drive our cars, power our homes and run our factories comes from fossil fuels, each of us creates a carbon dioxide footprint based on our energy usage, expressed in pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

Calculate Your Carbon Dioxide Footprint

Measuring your carbon dioxide footprint is quick and easy with the use of a CO2 calculator. The CO2 calculator we use is custom designed to accompany David Gershon's "Low Carbon Diet – A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds" workbook, published by the Empowerment Institute, after which we model our "Low Carbon Diet" workshops. You can calculate your carbon dioxide footprint by going to the Empowerment Institute's Carbon Footprint Calculator.

You will need to have your utility bills, information about your automobile usage and other information handy when you provide answers to the questions on the CO2 calculator webpage. The webpage will tell you what information you will need to gather.

Record Your Carbon Dioxide Footprint

Now that you have calculated your household's typical CO2 output per year, please record your household size and your Carbon Dioxide Footprint in your personal information. Click on "Edit," then click on "Personal Information." Recording this information will help us and you to track the success of our program.