Carbon Footprint Baseline

Hi John,

The Environment Protection Agency in Victoria (Australia) has some fantastic on-line personal, business, & event etc calculators.
Website address: www.epa.vic.gov.au

The Global Footprint Network is the US partner of EPA- Victoria.
GFN website address www.footprintnetwork.org This site details carbon footprints of cities, counties and States (including London, Cardiff, and US Counties Sonoma, & Marin)

Regards
Darlene Pentland

Green Office Program
Project Manager

Hi,

I've used the Victoria EPA's personal calculator. I thought it lacked depth - for example questions about food limited to "animal products", when it's known that the GH impact of ruminants (especially grain-fed beef) is much higher than that of, say, kangaroo or rabbit.

Lorna

Hi John,

I would suggest Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP). They are located in the Northeast and have developed a calculator that can work with a variety of sectors, including communities. http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/for_communities/index.php

Best,
Steve

http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/

Hi Dale,

YES! Methane outputs have been scientifically measured! Ruminants - cattle and sheep - produce lots of methane digesting their food. Rabbits and kangaroos aren't ruminants and digest their food via a different process (I don't have my notes to hand, but the info is easy enough to find). Also here in Australia there are other considerations. Hard hooved animals (and the resident rabbit plague) are causing massive erosion to our fragile fossil soils. Kangaroos don't do this. Meanwhile, the big species, like eastern greys, have benefited from european woodland clearing and building of dams, and they have been culled for some time to keep their numbers under control (they can breed impressively fast under good conditions). Kangaroo meat, until recently, all went for dog food. We don't eat any other kind of meat at home. Eating plague rabbits *would* be a great sustainable source of meat, but all the rabbit for sale is grain fed! Of course, eating kangaroo outside of Australia is probably not a sustainable practice as the meat would have to be shipped.

cheers,
Lorna

We are using the CACP software and it is a great tool. I am not sure if it is the same software as Steve mentioned below, but you just plug in your data and reports are complied for you. The software is region specific, so you are getting the most accurate carbon coefficients. We did it for our community-wide carbon footprint and our city operations. I was able to create pie charts showing which sectors are contributing most to carbon emissions. We were able to get the software for free by becoming a member of ICLEI (local governments for sustainability.) Not only do you get software training, but ICLEI works heavily (at least in California) with state government on issues and provides valuable reports on what other communities are doing. Also, they are releasing a new software program that will help local governments analyze the cost-benefits of implementing climate change activities, such as switching to energy saving computer monitors or larger renewable energy projects.

Rebecca Fotu

Environmental Programs Coordinator
City of Morgan Hill
* 408.779.7247 ext.413

E Source also has a simple GHG inventory tool. It's a Do-It-Yourself inventory kit, basically a set of spreadsheets with instructions and factors built-in, along with E Source help desk support. http://www.esource.com/public/products/ccs/cf

- Gwen

Gwen Farnsworth
Manager, Research
E Source
303-345-9111