So what is your carbon footprint?

I live in Ontario, Canada. Right now it is:

62.9% Nuclear
26.2% Hydro
9.1% Natural gas
1.7% Wind
Smidgen Biofuel
0% Solar

I believe the stats are roughly ~60% nuclear, ~25% hydro, 10-15% gas, 3% wind, and a dash of biofuel and solar.

My wife and her family are from Quebec, and I lived there for a while too. There it is 97-99% hydroelectric. The stats are usually:

97% Hydro
2% Wind
0.75% Biofuel
0.2% Nuclear
0.1% Geothermal

As mentioned in the other thread, there is no coal used at all.

 

That table doesn't tell you what your carbon footprint is.
Your carbon footprint depends upon how much electricity you use, plus what the source fuel for that electrical power generation is.

What you linked shows what the public grid in each area used for fuel sources 5 years ago (2009).

This link, How clean is the electricity I use? - Power Profiler | Clean Energy | US EPA
Uses 2010 data rather than 2009. In my area, coal went from 69% to 65% in that one year.
We continue to shut down coal plants and expand wind and solar. This year I would not be surprised if we get under 50%.
Still a ways to go, but progress is being made.

That said, our regions electrical grid 5 years ago was almost 70% coal (yuck). We have a long ways to go, but are working on it.
In the mean time, to do what I can to minimize my carbon foot print, we get about a third of our electricity from solar, eat less red meat, take no air travel and have no kids (although that is for other reasons as well).

If you really want to see what your carbon footprint is, there are calculators available.
Here is a good, although somewhat general one.

Free Carbon Footprint Calculator | The Nature Conservancy

My wife and I actually come in about average for the U.S.
We are looking forward to downsizing this year and driving fewer miles. That combined with a higher percentage of our power coming from solar should help quite a bit.

 

I believe you were referring to the OP, but for the record, the link I provided for the Ontario stats are live stats, and below that I listed the average stats from very recent times. Hydro Quebec claims 99% hydroelectric, but the recent average stats have been in the 97% range. Either way it's excellent though.

BTW, because hydro is so abundant in Quebec, they have streetlights for some highways near Montreal, and electricity is much cheaper than most of North America. A lot of people heat with electricity there too, so the electricity usage is higher than average compared to other Canadian cities with similar weather.

 

Is one's ability to choose their ESCO (Energy Supply Company) so rare that none of the calculators take it into account? All my inbound power comes from renewables, AND I have a solar PV system. The calculators should take these factors into account.

 

Isn't this more of an 'environmental' thread than a plugin?
that thread was started last year here:
How Dirty are You? | PriusChat

 

Here is a more detailed carbon footprint calculator for those that want it. Although it still doesn't have EVs as an option.
Most of these are made for the general public and are made to give a good general idea, but not necessarily as specific as we are looking for.

CoolClimate Carbon Footprint Calculator | CoolClimate Network

 

Very nice!
I was surprised how much Services took up in general. I understand if a lawn service or snow plow comes out to your house, as hauling equipment is very carbon intensive. They seem to go more into other types of services though...

 

I stopped quoting the EPA (Power Profiler) websites because they are so out of date. We really need 2012 data reflecting the upswing in nat gas and downturn in coal.

Another thing is this your average elec mix, not to be confused with what your state actually makes, Mine showed 45% coal, but Virginia only has 20% coal plants. The new EPA Clean Power Plan looks at what each state actually makes, which is sort of a new idea for utilites to manage elec generation on a state-boundary line basis.

 

11 1/2, wide.

 

Also of interest is this site:

Electric Cars and CO2

The calculations there say that the average gasoline car is somewhere around 165 to 225 g/km for CO2 output, with most American cars closer to the upper range.

The average for a pure EV is about 135 to 200 g/km in the US, so significant overlap.

However, in my home province of Ontario, the carbon output is roughly 45 to 70 g/km for a pure EV, or roughly 1/3rd of the US average for pure EVs. In Quebec it is basically non-existent, at 2 to 3 g/km!

In Canada, there is Bullfrog Power. However, I don't use them, because they cost too much.

BTW, I'd say my carbon footprint is bigger than average in my city, despite the fact I own a PiP, because my house is is bigger than average, and needs two gas furnaces and two air conditioners due to the way it was built.

 

I only leave rubber footprints. I don't wear any carbon shoes.

 

Ah.... Somewhat true, but not completely relevant to the question (you asked about our carbon Footprint, not the average in the area...). It's a bit more complex than that. Where I live in NYS according to the power company less than 10% of their power is now generated from coal. The biggest chunk right around here comes from Hydro, followed by Nuclear, Natural Gas, and Wind. Here at my house 70%+ of my electricity comes from the sunshine that hits the roof of my house every day. So I think I can legitimately say that here at my house less than 3% of my electric comes from coal and much, much more from Solar, Wind, Hydro and other means. Today all my power and some of my neighbors electric was made here at my home (25kWh today and I used probably less than half of it myself). My generating electricity from solar panels doesn't mean that my neighbors get less clean electric than they would otherwise, they actually get more...

 

Reduce, reuse, recycle. There is a reason why reduce comes first.

My home consumes about 11kWh daily in a nice Spring weather, with PiP using 3kWh of that.

In the summer, AC and dehumifier usage can increase it to 25 kWh.

There is still room for improvement as I have a plasma TV

 

My back of the pad calculations indicate I'm at ~6.5 tons/year (Honda Insight at 60+mpg). A small EV would drop that to ~5.5 tons/year, and PV panels would drop that to ~4.2 tons/year.

 

why is this in the pip forum?