I’m notoriously impatient with tools, if I don’t like them, they don’t last long. So after a year of use the Carbon Account must be doing something right.
It claims it …helps you reduce your footprint and share tips with friends…
by allowing you to record data for electricity and natural gas meter readings, car mileage, and information about flights. It’s a shame that there’s no mention of water, but I guess it’s a secondary energy user like me.
Our Account.
I found it easy to set-up, and entering data is quick via a nice clean user interface. Your carbon sources are presented under different sections including houses, flights, and vehicles, which can all be accessed via your dashboard.
Your performance can be shared with others through a public profile of your emissions, though this is optional.
We use natural gas for water and space heating, with an open vent system which is relatively conventional in older UK houses. We’ve upgraded with a new Vaillant condensing boiler and hot water cylinder, so it’s already a fairly efficient system.
I work in computing from home, so electricity was always likely to be a large contributor. In the end, I was actually surprised by how small it turned out to be, especially considering our 10kW electric shower.
Transport in our house is either by foot, bicycle or car for longer distance. We don’t cover many miles in our shared Ford Focus 1.6, so it’s contribution is not as big as the average commuter; I used to be one. I avoid flying whenever possible, and you can see I’m good at it.
The account is individual: vehicles and flights are all yours, but the contributions from the family home are divided amongst number of residents you specify.
This means that my personal contribution is estimated at 3.38 tonnes for the last year, including all of our shared car. I think this compares pretty favourably with the claimed 5 tonne UK average, though I’m unsure of the reliability of this figure.
The Website.
The methodology applied, and the sources of data used, in calculating your carbon footprint are well presented, and there are great tips on reading the meters.
I’m not sure just how far they’ve got with creating the sought after community, I don’t feel I’m part of one, but everything about the website is well executed.
Conclusions.
For me energy used in processing our water should be included, despite the fact that these meters are harder to read, often underground like ours, and the energy use of different water companies may be hard to come by.
Public transport: trains and buses, could be included on a mileage basis to make it more ‘useful’ to those in urban areas.
Finally, Torchbox: the providers of Carbon Account, let Clare down. Despite their offer to …set up a special version for your community group or business…
, they failed to respond to Clare’s inquiry about an account for her ‘Green Team’ activities at work. Don’t say things you don’t mean.
Overall, if you’re looking for a tool to visualise the impact of your lifestyle choices on the global carbon balance, this is a good way to go. If you’d rather not know…
