Sending an email
2-4 gram CO2e
It is likely that you have sent or received one email so far today, or even 10 or more! When writing, sending or receiving emails the last thing you’re probably thinking about is the carbon footprint – but should you be?
An average spam email: 0.3 g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent)A standard email: 4 g CO2eAn email with “long and tiresome attachments”: 50 g CO2e.
What can you do to reduce this? Reduce the size of attached files, unsubscribe from newsletters. you don't need, send links not files and think before pressing the send button!
A paper carrier bag
10 gram CO2e
It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. Unlike plastic bags, paper requires forests to be cut down to produce the bags. The manufacturing process, according to the research, also produces a higher concentration of toxic chemicals compared with making single-use plastic bags. Paper bags also weigh more than plastic; this means transportation requires more energy, adding to their carbon footprint, the study adds. Paper bags need to be reused at least three times, one fewer than plastic bags for life.
A cup of coffee
100gram CO2e
Milk represents 60 to 70 percent of the carbon footprint of a cup of coffee with a few tablespoons of milk; for a latte, it's more like 80 or 90 percent. Per cup, black coffee produces 21 grams of CO2; each latte, 340 grams.
The obvious way to slash the footprint of your drink, therefore, is to reduce the amount of milk you add, or simply to take it black. This will fractionally reduce your nutritional intake, of course, but you could easily replace the lost calories with something more carbon-friendly, such as a biscuit.
Half a cheeseburger
1kg CO2e
On a yearly basis, the average American eats 150 burgers leading to 600 kg of emissions. This makes up a little less than 3% of the average American’s 24.5 tonnes of emissions.
Cutting down on meat (and dairy!) can have a big impact on your carbon footprint. Especially lamb and beef. If you can believe it, chicken is actually not that bad. Its carbon footprint is even lower than that of cheese. To put this in comparison with flying, cutting out meat for a whole year (1.6 tCO2) is the equivalent to …ONE direct round-trip from Paris to San Francisco!
A pair of shoes
10kg CO2e
More than two-thirds of a shoe’s carbon footprint can come from manufacturing processes, with a smaller percentage arising from acquiring or extracting raw materials, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. The MIT team says a typical pair of shoes generates above 10kg of carbon dioxide emissions.
In the MIT-led lifecycle assessment, researchers broke down the various steps involved in both materials extraction and m of one pair of shoes to identify hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions. The group found that much of the carbon impact came from powering manufacturing plants:
Flying for 17 minutes
100kg CO2e
Aviation contributes about 2% of the world's global carbon emissions. Taking a long-haul flight generates more carbon emissions than the average person in dozens of countries around the world produces in a whole year. flying from London to New York and back generates about 986kg of CO2 per passenger. There are 56 countries where the average person emits less carbon dioxide in a whole year – from Burundi in Africa to Paraguay in South America.But even a relatively short return trip from London to Rome carries a carbon footprint of 234kg of CO2 per passenger. Next time think about taking the train if its an affordable option.
A new laptop
1000kg CO2e
Mass production and extensive usage of personal computers such as desktops and laptops contribute to global warming. The demand for higher performance and faster processing capabilities make new models of laptop computers obsolete in a relatively short amount of time: the average lifespan of a laptop is typically between 3 to 4 years. Some suggestions to lower your emissions here are to turn off computer when not in use, set up power management software to minimize energy use and buy a new laptop (only when you really need one) with an Energy Star label.
Heat a house for a year
10,000kg CO2e
It is difficult to give a precise answer to how much CO2 is used to heat a home because it depends on a great many parameters: the energy performance of your home, the electricity consumption, the type of heating, etc.
What we do know is that the conventional way of making our homes safe and habitable by using coal and gas powered energy is making the planet less so. Seek to switch to truly green energy whenever possible.
Building a new house
100,000kg CO2e
What your house is built from has a huge effect on its carbon footprint. Most houses in the UK are built out of brick, with a concrete foundation. It takes a quarter of a tonne of CO2 to create a tonne of brick, and even more for steel and other house elements. As a result, a typical masonry house in the UK takes between 50 and 80 tonnes CO2 to build.
The solution is to build new houses with materials that store carbon, rather than require carbon to produce. This is exactly what timber does and is also an excellent insulator, conducting far less heat than brick or steel. That means building new timber houses emits only a small fraction of the CO2 generated by building traditional masonry houses.
Two hectares of deforestation
1,000,000kg CO2e
An area of forest the size of the UK is being lost every year around the world, the vast majority of it tropical rainforest, with dire effects on the climate emergency and wildlife.
Tree planting does not compensate for the loss of standing forests, because established growth yields benefits beyond carbon uptake, through the whole ecosystem. So it's best to keep our trees standing!
