Meghan Stouter

Dr. Eser
March 22, 2014
Homework 3
Due on Tuesday, March 25.
1. Calculate your personal or your familys greenhouse gas emissions using the on-line Carbon
Footprint Calculator at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/ind-calculator.html
Summarize the results from the following sections using the calculator.

Section 1: Estimate your current total household emissions. ! pts
"or our household of three our estimated emissions are #$%& of C' e(uivalent per year or
)%*11 per person.
Section : E+plore actions you can ta,e to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions% energy use% and
waste disposal costs. ! pts
-here are many possi.le actions we can ta,e to reduce our emissions% .ut .ecause some do
cost money% the ones a thought my family could do include:
o /educe miles driven for each car
o /eplace our third vehicle% a "ord E+plorer% with something smaller that gets more
miles/gallon.
o 0erform regular maintenance on our vehicles.
o -urning down the thermostat two degrees during winter. 1e normally ,eep it at #! so
.y turning it to )2 could save money.
o /elated to this 3 thin, we could turn the thermostat up 4 degrees during summertime
from # to ##.
o Ena.le the power management features on your computer and monitor.
o 1ash clothes in cold water instead of hot.
o /eplace our )! watt incandescent light .ul.s with 1&-1att Energy Star lights
Section &: See how much you can save 5in dollars and emissions6 .y ta,ing the actions you chose in
Section . ! pts
7y ta,ing the actions a.ove which 3 .elieve are actually possi.le for my family to perform%
we could save a lot of money.
o 7ecause my mom commutes to wor, she drives around $!! miles per wee,. 7ut if
she could reduce that .y 1!! miles per wee, .y carpooling with her friend it would
save 8241 annually% &4*! pounds of C'% and * percent of our total emissions.
o 'ur second and third vehicles 9ust sit there while 3 am at school% .ut my sister could
reduce vehicle num.er *s miles .y driving around 1! miles less per wee,. -his would
save 824 annually and &1 pounds of C'.
o 7y performing regular maintenance on all of our vehicles it could save us 8&#2
annually% #! pounds of C'% and & percent of total emissions.
o 7y trading on our large E+plorer with one that gets around 1! more miles per gallon%
we could save 82 annually% .ut !! pounds of C'.
o 3f we turned down our thermostat two degrees in the winter time it could save 81
and 1)& pounds of C'.
o 3n summer .y turning it up 4 degrees it would save us a.out 8)1 annually and &&4
pounds of C' accounting for & percent of total emissions.
o 7y ena.ling the power management features on our computer 5which 3 didnt even
,new e+ists6 we could save 81 and 1)1 pounds of C'.
o 1e do an average of * loads of laundry a wee,. 3f we do these in cold water rather
than hot water which we normally use it could save us 84 and &*! pounds of C'.
o 3 am not e+actly sure how many light .ul.s we have in our house% .ut .y simply
replacing 14 )!-watt incandescent light .ul.s with 1&-watt E:E/;< S-=/ lights it
could save us 8$! annually% 11#! pounds in C'% and 1percent total emissions.

. >sing the power profiler at http://oaspu..epa.gov/powpro/ept?pac,.charts
Compare the fuel mi+ and air emissions rates of the electricity in your hometown to the national
average. ! pts
@y hometown of Emmits.urg% @A is part of the /"C 1est region. 1hen loo,ing at the
fuel mi+ comparison% 3 learned that my region has 1.$B non-hydro renewa.les which is
less than the nationals *B. 3n hydro power% my region uses a mere .#B compared to the
national average of ).B. 1ith :uclear energy% my region uses more than the national
average: 2.2 to 1$.) respectively. 1hen loo,ing at oil% .oth percentages are very small.
@y region uses .*B and the national average is 1B. @y region consumes a considera.le
less amount of gas at *.B than the national average at *B. =nd lastly with Coal my
regions average is )2.)B which is much greater than the national average of **.2B.
7ased on these percentages% 3 learned that my region is higher in all three emissions:
:'% S'% and C'.
!
Aetermine the air emissions impacts of electricity use in your family home. ! pts
@y mom said our average Cilowatt use is around $!! so going off of this 3 discovered
that my home produces around 1) pounds of nitrogen o+ides% 4#pounds of sulfur dio+ide%
and 1#%1#2 pounds of car.on dio+ide. -his is definitely way more than 3 would have
guessed and would love to .ring these amounts down .y practicing the methods listed in
(uestion 1.