carbon_footprint

Calculate your carbon footprint easily using a command line interface.

Getting started

First, clone the repository:

git clone [email protected]:protea-earth/carbon_footprint.git

Now install all the dependencies:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt 

Now run the script

python3 carbon_footprint.py

You can then answer all the questions provided:

Jims-MBP:carbon_footprint jimschwoebel$ python3 carbon_footprint.py
pygame 1.9.4
Hello from the pygame community. https://www.pygame.org/contribute.html
please type answers to the following questions below
what is your email? 
[email protected]
How many people are in your household? (e.g. 2) 
2
What is your electric bill (in dollars) monthly?  (e.g. 50) 
50
How many flights do you take per year? (e.g. 10) 
10
Do you own a car? (e.g. n | y) 
n
What is your average distance to commute to/from work in miles - for example 21? (e.g. 10) 
1
Do you use public transportation? (e.g. y)
y
Do you use uber or another ride sharing platform like Lyft? (e.g. y) 
y
How many ride-sharing trips do you complete per month? (e.g. 10) 
10
Are you a vegetarian? (e.g. n) 
n
Do you eat meat more than 3 times each week? (e.g. y) 
y
How much money do you spend on Amazon per month in US dollars - for example, fifty dollars? (e.g. 150) 
150
{'email': '[email protected]', 'answers': ['2', '50', '10', 'no', '1', 'yes', 'yes', '10', 'no', 'yes', '150'], 'footprint': 7710.966198878506, 'footprintbytype': [1401.8691588785048, 2868.8, 427.25239999999997, 2993.70964, 19.334999999999997], 'footprint_delta': -6949.883801121495, 'footprintbytype_delta': [-5850.890841121495, 2266.3500000000004, -4088.0176000000006, 725.74964, -3.075000000000003], 'labels_footprint': ['electric (kg Co2/year)', 'flight (kg Co2/year)', 'transportation (kg Co2/year)', 'food (kg Co2/year)', 'retail (kg Co2/year)'], 'labels_footprintbytype': 'total kg Co2/year'}
2993.70964
['Electricity consumption (kwh * 1000)', '# of flights per year', '# commute miles per year (thousands)', '# of uber trips per year', 'food choice (tons of CO2 emissions/year)']
[4, 10, 0, 120, 2]
[11, 2, 15, 7, 2]
['electricity', 'flights', 'transportation', 'food', 'retail']
[1401, 2868, 427, 2993, 19]
[7252, 602, 4515, 2267, 22]
['1.pdf', '2.pdf', '3.pdf', '4.pdf', '5.pdf', '6.pdf', '7.pdf', '8.pdf']

After this, a .PDF report will pop up with your results.

Reports

Reports look like this, and generate figures like the ones below that highlight your carbon consumption relative to the average American.

Carbon consumption by category (by label)

Carbon consumption by category (kg Co2/year)

Carbon consumption % by category

Assumptions in carbon footprint

Electricity:

• Electric bill - 11,698 kwh/year = average energy consumption / household.
• the U.S. average is 13.27 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh), 0.62 kilogramCO2 / kwh.
• 11,698 kwh/year * 0.62 kgCO2/kwh = 7,252.76 kg CO2/year.

Flights per year:

• Flights per year - average is 2.1 trips per American (if fly).
• Assume 0.1304 kgCO2/km for medium-term flights (DEFRA model).
• Domestic flights ~2.5-3 hr, 2200km * 0.1304 kgCO2/km * 2.1 trips = 602.448 kg CO2/yr.

Transportation:

• Average American drives around 15,000 per year (assume this is all forms of ground transport).
• Fuel efficiency on car - assume 30 mpg on road car now.
• 0.960 pounds = 0.435 kg CO2 per mile (driving) * 15,000 miles/year = 6,525.0 kg CO2 / year.
• 0.657 pounds = 0.298 kg of CO2 per mile - 50% public transport, 50% single auto * 15,000 miles/year = 4470.0 kg CO2 /year.
• 0.354 pounds = 0.161 kg of CO2 per mile (public transportation) * 15,000 miles / year = 2,415.0 kg CO2 / year.

Uber trips:

• (14 uber million trips / day * 0.50)9 / 325 million people (USA) * 365 days / year = 7.86 rides/person in the USA (assumes 50% of all uber rides are in the USA).
• Average ride length = 6 miles/trip * 7.86 trips / person / year * 0.960 kgCo2/mile = 45.27 kg Co2/uber rider/year.

Food choices / nutrition:

• 1.7 US tons = 1,542.21406 kilograms of CO2/year - vegetarian.
• 2.5 US tons = 2,267.96185 kilograms of CO2/year - average.
• 3.3 US tons = 2,993.70964 kilograms of CO2/year - meat lover.

Amazon supply chain:

• 0.1289 kg CO2e per dollar (USD).
• 3,300,000 boxes/day13 * 365 days/year / 325,000,000 Americans = 3.70 boxes/American.
• 3.70 boxes/year * $47 / box = ~$173.90/year * 0.1289 kg / $1 USD= 22.41 kg CO2/year.

References

• Shrinkthatfootprint.com
• Chooseenergy.com
• Quora
• Airlines.org
• Environmental Change Institute
• Reference.com
• Wikipedia
• Tranistscreen.com
• Businesofapps.com
• Ride.guru
• Shrinkthatfootprint.com
• AboutAmazon.com
• Quora