What is a Carbon Footprint?

We have all heard the term 'carbon footprint' before on the television, at school and in the media, but what is a carbon footprint? This page is a simple guide to answering this question for you with our carbon footprint definition. More importantly we also provide information on a carbon footprint calculator so that you can get an idea of what your very own carbon footprints are. Furthermore, we are going to let you know how to reduce your carbon footprint, so if reducing carbon footprint and helping the environment is something that is of interest to you then you have come to the right place.

Besides information on how to reduce carbon footprints we have plenty more free and helpful information on this site in relation to global warming, the greenhouse effect and climate change so please take the time to look around while you are online.

Carbon footprint definition

It makes perfect sense to start off with the basics and answer the main question that will likely have brought your search to this page, 'what is a carbon footprint?'. We will do this by providing you with a clear and easy to understand carbon footprint definition. We aim here not only to explain what a carbon footprint is but also why it is actually called a 'carbon footprint'.

Your carbon footprint is the measurement of the CO2(carbon dioxide) emissions that you are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere through your daily activities. These emissions will be produced in a given time period and include things like driving your car and using electricity at home. The more CO2 that you are responsible for producing, the bigger your carbon footprint is.

Just to be clear, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when fossil duels are burned, fossil fuels that we burn in order to drive to work, watch the television, charge our laptops to name but a few of a hundred thousand examples are:

• Coal
• Gas
• Petrol

For the large majority of people it is almost impossible to not have some sort of carbon footprint, this is just how the modern world works. However there are many measures that can be taken in order to reduce your carbon footprint and we will discuss these late on down the page. By reducing carbon footprints where possible you will be able to come up with a much more environmentally friendly to the answer 'what is your carbon footprint?' if the question is ever posed to you.

Even having read and being able to understand the definition of a carbon footprint, most people will have no idea what their own carbon footprints are so this is where a carbon footprint calculator will come in handy. We talk more about this in our next section. We hope that you have found our carbon footprint definition useful.

Carbon footprint calculator

Now that we have answered the main question 'what is carbon footprint?' with our carbon footprint definition, we are now going to discuss how to calculate your carbon footprint.

As we have already explained your carbon footprint is produced as a result of any of your daily activities that result in the burning of fossil fuels. Some of the most popular examples of what contributes to your carbon footprint have been listed below:

• How much you drive your car
• Using electricity
• The food that you eat
• How energy efficient your home is
• Whether or not your recycle
• How you dispose of your household waste

These are the key factors that contribute to calculating your carbon footprint. There are many free carbon footprint calculators online where you will be asked a series of short questions in relation to your typical activities that involve the above factors, the calculator will then be able to ascertain the size of your own carbon footprint, your family's or your household's.

For example, somebody who drives almost everywhere they go will use a lot of gas/petrol, if they also use a lot of electricity at home, for example have the television, computer and lights on all day, and on top of these factors does not have loft insulation or double glazed windows, they are using a lot of energy and burning more fossils fuels and thus have a larger carbon footprint than someone who uses public transport or walks most of their journeys, and who uses electricity sparingly as well having taken steps to make their home more energy efficient. A free carbon calculator online will be able to show you exactly what your own carbon footprints are in a matter of seconds!

How to reduce your carbon footprint

Having discovered what a carbon footprint is and also how it is created, you will not be alone in wanting to know how to reduce your carbon footprint. There are hundreds of thousands of people looking into reducing carbon footprints everyday in order to help the environment. This section is all about hot to reduce a carbon footprint and will help you take some, or many of the various steps available to you in order to achieve this goal.

Reducing your carbon footprint really could be as easy as making a few simple changes to your daily routine. Below is a list of ways to reduce your carbon footprint and an explanation as to how each method can be effective.

• Cut down on your fuel consumption

  - This is arguably the most common factor contributing to carbon footprints. If you are someone that drives everywhere you have to go such as work, college or shopping to name but a few examples, you are heavily contributing to your carbon footprint. You can reduce this by leaving the car at home and either walking or cycling to where you need to go, or sharing fuel consumption by getting a lift off of someone else, or using public transport. There are even electric cars in production, they may not be common place or cheap to buy for quite sometime but they will be a great way to reduce your carbon footprints.

• Save energy within your home

  - You can reduce your carbon footprint by cutting down on the amount of electricity that you use within your own home. Besides CO2 emissions from transportation, this is probably the largest contributing factor to your carbon footprint as we all spend a lot of time at home and in order to make dinner, entertain ourselves, heat and light the place up, produce hot water we have to constantly use electricity. Reducing carbon footprints can be achieved by using energy efficient appliances and energy efficient light bulbs. Many new household appliances are made to be energy efficient and the older existing ones get the less energy efficient they become, so it is more cost effective in the long run to replace them for newer models. Instead of leaving things such as the television, your computer and the hi-fi on standby, unplug them in order to save even more energy and therefore this is an additional way to reduce your carbon footprint.

• Recycling

  - The opportunity to recycle is there for us all but do we actually take it? Making an effort to recycle things from your own home and work such as paper, metal, glass and plastic is a great way of how to reduce your carbon footprint. Separate your waste and use local recycling centers, this does not cost you anything and is going a long way to helping the environment.

• Make your home more energy efficient

  - There are steps that you can take to reduce your carbon footprint by making your home more energy efficient. When you heat your home there are often ways in which heat can escape and therefore you will end up heating it for longer and therefore using more energy and increasing your carbon footprint. Insulating your house can save energy and this can be done by getting double glazed windows, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, make sure your furnace or boiler is serviced regularly.

Another way of how to reduce your carbon footprint at home is to invest in solar panels so that you get your energy from the sun and therefore will not be using fossil fuels and increasing your carbon footprint. These may not be all that cheap to buy, however the amount of money you will save on your energy bills in the long run will far far exceed this outlay.

You can have your house audited to determine how you can save energy and therefor reduce your carbon footprint, this is a great way to get some expert advice and begin to take some real steps to reducing your carbon footprint.

Much Information

We hope that we have been able to effectively answer the question 'what is a carbon footprint for you?' with our carbon footprint definition. There is plenty more free and helpful information on this site besides how to reduce your carbon footprint. If you want to know what global warming is then please see our main page, as the release of CO2 emissions are a factor that contributes to this issue. We also suggest you check out a carbon footprint calculator online if you want to find out exactly what yours is. If you are interested in reducing carbon footprint then you may also find our pages on how to save energy and also how to go green.