Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

You can take individual action on climate change and the best way to start is to understand the size of your carbon footprint, which is the amount of carbon emissions that result directly and indirectly from your daily activities and lifestyle.

By calculating your carbon footprint, you can find out which activity generates more carbon emissions and take steps to change your lifestyle accordingly and reduce your emissions.

There are several online carbon footprint calculators that help you calculate your emissions and compare with the rest of the world. However, your carbon footprint may vary according to the calculator you use as these calculators vary by country, by activity and by the methodology behind the calculations.

What you can do is to calculate your carbon footprint using different calculators and take the average, or use a calculator that is catered for Singapore.

Here are some online carbon footprint calculators:

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• SEC Climate Portal (for Singapore)
• Singapore Polytechnic (for Singapore)
• My Carbon Footprint by Hemispheres Foundation (for Singapore)
• The GreenAsia Group (includes Singapore)
• BP Energy Calculator (includes Singapore)
• BeGreenNow
• Carbon Footprint
• Carbonfund.org
• ClimateCare
• EarthLab
• Friends of the Earth
• Resurgence Carbon Calculator
• SafeClimate
• TerraPass
• The CarbonNeutral Company
• WWF Footprint Calculator
• Zerofootprint

Some tips for using the calculators:

• Check the electricity consumption from your utility bill or use the monthly national average
• The average amount of domestic waste generated per person per day in 2008 was 0.84 kg
• Use gothere.sg to check vehicle distance
• Check distance between countries

Most of the websites above offer carbon offsetting schemes, where you can buy carbon offsets to neutralise your carbon emissions as the payment is used to fund carbon-reducing projects such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects. You should first find ways to reduce your carbon footprint before offsetting your remaining emissions. Also, choose carbon offsets that meet standards such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard and the Gold Standard VER.

Check out our other tips on reducing your carbon footprint or watch this video:

Image credit: Plusverde; bunchkles; dlnny.

Monitor Your Electricity Consumption at Home

Your utility bill shows the electricity consumption (in kWh) of your house over the past six months and also indicates the national average consumption for your house type. If your electricity consumption is below the national average, good for you. If not, you should start to monitor your energy consumption at home and find ways to reduce energy usage.

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Electricity Audit Calculator

To find out which appliance at home consume the most electricity, you can use this electricity audit calculator from SP Services. The audit will help you calculate the estimated electricity consumption per month and also the electricity consumed by each appliance in kWh and cost.

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Energy Monitor

If you want more accurate monitoring of your appliance’s energy consumption and to track your consumption over time, you can use an energy monitor such as ETrack or Wattson. These energy monitors can track the real time and monthly energy consumption of appliances in the home and display energy consumption in kWh and cost.

With the above calculator and energy monitor, you can monitor your electricity consumption at home and reduce the usage of high energy-consuming appliances or adjust your lifestyle to consume less energy.

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Electricity Vending System

In the future, we might have smart energy meters installed in our homes. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) is currently studying the feasibility of the Electricity Vending System (EVS), which involves installing smart meters that allow consumers to choose an electricity package and manage the electricity consumed at home.

Use Your Air-Conditioner and Refrigerator Wisely

A typical Singapore household spends about 50% of its electricity bills on the air-conditioner and refrigerator. If you want to reduce energy at home and save money, the best way is to use your air-conditioner and refrigerator wisely. You can choose to do one or more of the following:

Air-Conditioner

• If you need to buy an air-conditioner, choose one that is energy-efficient and suitably sized for your home. Check out the models with the Energy Label from this NEA database.
• Set your air-conditioner’s thermostat to a higher comfortable temperature (about 25 degree Celsius).
• Clean the air filters regularly and service your air-conditioners annually. For general servicing, approach Coolserve or other contractors.
• Set the timer to switch off your air-conditioner before dawn or after some hours of usage.
• Stop using your air-conditioner and switch to a fan (standing, box or ceiling type) that can keep you comfortable while using much less energy than your air-conditioner.
• Use your air-conditioner and fan on alternate days. For example, use the air-conditioner on even days and the fan on odd days.
• Switch on your air-conditioner one hour before going to bed. When it’s time to sleep, switch off the air-conditioner and use the fan instead. The fan is able to circulate the cool air and keep you comfortable.

Refrigerator

• Adjust the thermostat in the refrigerator to a higher temperature or setting.
• Close the refrigerator door immediately after taking out the food.
• Ensure that the refrigerator is not placed near heat sources (eg. heating appliances or sunlight).
• Ensure that there is space for airflow near the compressor and condenser coils.
• Check that the door is air tight by closing the door on a piece of paper, which should stay in place.
• Allow hot food to cool before placing the food in the refrigerator.
• Allow sufficient space in the refrigerator for air circulation and do not stuff too much food inside.
• Buy a refrigerator with the smallest model to suit your needs and choose one with the energy efficient Energy Label.

Image credit: Muzzling; dean.

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