objects/eco-footprint.html

Ecological Carbon Footprint

Approach

accounts for the land used directly for constructing the project

AND

the amount of productive land it would take to balance the CO2 produced during the use of this project

Used by individuals, businesses and environmental organizations

http://www.carbonfootprint.com

individuals understand their impact

businesses to reduce carbon emissions of their practices and products

environmental groups, as a financial tool to:

plant trees

reduce deforestation

maintain forests

protect carbon sinks such as marine reserves and oceans

Example - footprint for a driving a car

CO2 uptake by average productivity land = 1.92 m^2 (kg CO2/year)^-1

land needed to balance energy use

for each amount of energy used by the car directly there is an extra 15% for car maintenance and 30% for construction and maintenance of the road

11 km (liter of gas)^-1

2.36 kg CO2 (liter gas)^-1

0.21 kg CO2/km driven

plus 15% of gas for maintenance = .03 kg CO2/km driven

plus 30% of gas for road construction = .06 kg CO2/km driven

0.30 kg CO2 per km driven per year * 1.92 m2 (kg CO2/year)

= 0.59 m2/(car*km/year)

land also taken out of productivity by the road network

based on cars and amount of roads

0.17 m^2 (car-km/year)^-1

total = 0.76 m^-2 (car-km/year)^-1

If you commuted 10 km to work each way for 230 working days a year

20 km/day * 230 days/year * 0.76 m^2 /(km) =

Total land required 3500 sq meters to balance just the commuting use of the car.

The footprint analysis can put many different factors into one framework.

hard to avoid double counting when using multiple factors

amount of land taken to farm

amount of energy used to pump water