| Section 1 (household) |
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q1. |
How many people are there in your household?
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Notes:
This is needed for sharing out your gas, electricity and car use between the members of your household.
Enter 1 for a hall of residence.
You can enter a decimal, e.g. 3.5, if you have a family member who is away from home for part of the year.
more ...
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q2.
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How much electricity is used in your household?
Select one option:
Small house / flat (3,000 kWh)
Medium (4,800 kWh)
Large house (7,000 kWh)
Hall of residence (2,000 kWh)
Enter actual amount used from your bills
Tick the box if your electricity comes from one of the green tariffs: Good Energy; Equipower; Green Energy Dark Green and Pale Green; LoCO2 Energy Planet, Energy Pocket+ and Energy Pocket; Ecotricity New Energy + and New Energy; Ovo Green Energy and New Energy
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Notes:
Electricity use is measured in kilowatt-hours (abbreviated to kWh).
To make an accurate calculation, you need to find your latest bill and the reading (in kWh) at the end of the last quarter.
Then find the bill 12 months before it and the corresponding reading.
The CO2 emission factor for electricity is taken to be 0.309 kg / kWh [read more]
There is a reduction of 25% in CO2 emissions for the green tariffs listed [read more]
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q3.
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How much gas is used in your household?
Select one option:
Small house / flat (12,000 kWh)
Medium (18,000 kWh)
Large house (27,000 kWh)
Hall of residence (5,000 kWh)
Enter actual kWh used
Calculate amount used from your bills
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Notes:
Gas consumption is generally measured in units of volume, and this is converted on gas bills into units of energy i.e. kilowatt-hours (kWh) - see Sources page.
To make an accurate calculation of the CO2 generated, you can enter the annual kWh used (if you know this), or you can calculate it from your bills.
To calculate from your bills, first select how your gas is measured. If your bills don't say what the units are, you can probably find the units on the meter. Recently installed meters measure gas in cubic metres
(m3), but older meters measure in hundreds of cubic feet - or you may have the kWh already
calculated.
Enter the meter reading at the end of the last quarter from the latest bill and then the reading from 12 months before.
The CO2 factor for natural gas is 0.203 kg / kWh ...[more]
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q4. |
Is heating oil, coal, wood or bottled gas used in your household?
No
Yes
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Notes:
The following CO2 factors are used.
For oil: 2.96 kg / litre
For coal: 3.26 kg / kg
For wood: 0.10 kg / kg
For bottled gas: 3.68 kg / kg
...[more]
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q5.
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How many cars are used by your household?
Select one option:
0
1
2
3
4
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Notes:
Emissions are taken to be 14.3 kg CO2 per gallon.
Select the car type or, if you know the fuel consumption accurately, enter it in the appropriate box.
Average values for miles per gallon (mpg) are taken from Which? Car guide 2019/20.
To work out your annual mileage:
- If you have owned the car from new, divide the total mileage by the number of years
- For an older car, you can take the difference between the mileage shown on your last two MOT certificates.
Read more on how the factors are obtained.
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| Section 2 (personal) |
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q6. |
FOOD
How much of the food that you eat is organic?
MEAT: How much meat/dairy do you eat personally?
FOOD MILES: How much of your food is produced locally?
FOOD PACKAGING AND PROCESSING: How much of your food is packaged / processed (e.g. 'ready meals', tins)?
COMPOSTING: How much do you compost potato peelings, leftover and unused food etc?
WASTE: How much food do you waste (on average, over one fifth of edible food is thrown away)?
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Notes:
Non-farmed fish counts as organic.
The fertilizer used in growing food that is not organic causes greenhouse gas emissions through nitrous oxide released from the soil, and through CO2 emissions from the manufacture and transport of fertilizer.
Meat and dairy production generates methane from animals and slurry, and CO2 from the energy used in farm operations.
Food transport, packaging and processing all require energy, releasing CO2.
Food decomposition in landfill sites releases methane.
Edible food can be wasted because too much is prepared, or because it has gone past its use-by date and so on.
Some greenhouse gas emissions are currently almost impossible to avoid: methane from tilling and soil management, and CO2 from arable farms and the operation of retail stores. These amount to around 0.2 tonnes per person.
...[more]
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q7. |
Health, education, etc :
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Notes:
Carbon dioxide is generated by the health service, schools, social services, the armed forces and so on .
This amounts to 1.1 tonnes per person per year for the UK.
You have no direct control over this amount, which is generated on your behalf, but you can join campaigns to make public services more energy efficient, especially if you work within one of them.
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q8.
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Journeys by bus
Enter the number of miles travelled in the last year (or leave blank) and select 'Calculate':
Enter your regular mileage each week:
Enter your regular mileage each month:
Enter your other mileage in the year:
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Notes:
You can estimate your mileage by:
- estimate the average journey time
- multiply by average bus speeds
(roughly 15mph for urban journeys and 20mph for rural journeys).
If you are a regular bus traveller, enter a typical week and/or month and these will be multiplied up (by 48 and 12 respectively) and added to your other mileage.
The CO2 emission factor for bus travel is taken to be 100 g/mile ...[more]
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q9.
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Journeys by train
Enter the number of miles travelled in the last year (or leave blank) and select 'Calculate':
Enter your regular mileage each week:
Enter your regular mileage each month:
Enter your other mileage in the year:
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Notes:
You can estimate your mileage by:
- list the train journeys
- add up the total journey time
(remembering to double if return)
- multiply by average train speeds
(roughly 20mph if suburban
45mph if cross-country
70mph if intercity ).
If you are a regular train traveller, enter a typical week and/or month and these will be multiplied up (by 48 and 12 respectively) and added to your other mileage.
The CO2 emission factor for rail travel is taken to be 100 g/mile ...[more]
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q10.
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Flights:
Any flights from the UK to Europe and/or Africa?
No
Yes
Enter the number of return flights:
Ireland, N. France, Netherlands
Germany, Denmark
S. France, Switzerland, Italy, Norway
Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Poland
Malta, Sicily, Albania
Madeira, Canaries, Morocco, Bulgaria, Greece, Moscow
Azores, Cyprus, Egypt
Kenya
Zambia
Southern Africa, Mauritius
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Any flights from the UK to North & South America ?
No
Yes
Any flights from the UK to Asia & Australasia ?
No
Yes
Any other flights e.g. between UK airports or between airports outside the UK?
No
Yes
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Notes:
Enter the number of international return trips from the UK that you personally made in the last year.
Then the hours spent on flights within the UK, or in flights between airports outside the UK.
For example, if you went on one return trip with two friends to Spain, enter a "1" in the Spain box.
The calculator assumes emissions of ¼ tonne CO2 equivalent per hour flying
(roughly 500 g per mile)...[more]
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q11. |
Miscellaneous personal lifestyle choices:
What is your miscellaneous spending?
Above-average (5 tonnes CO2)
Average (3.4 tonnes CO2)
Below-average (2.4 tonnes CO2)
Much below-average (1.4 tonnes CO2)
Do you recycle paper, glass and metal?
No
Yes
Do you recycle plastic apart from bags?
No
Yes
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Notes:
Your miscellaneous spending is all your other spending i.e. on:
- recreation and leisure facilities
- housing
- household appliances
- hygiene
- hotels and other holidays
- furnishings
- clothing & footwear
- alcohol & tobacco
- post and telecommunications
- books, newspapers & magazines
and so on.
Almost all of this spending will be associated with greenhouse gas emissions to some degree. Spending on these tends to follow size of income.
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What to do now:
- Compare your total with the world and national averages in the graph below
- View/print summary graph:

- Set a target to reduce your total for the coming 12 months - we have found that a 10% reduction year on year is easily achievable. Read more...
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