Cool Tools for Greener Living

Online Calculators for Determining Your Environmental Impact

Nov 3, 2006 Shirley Siluk Gregory

A guide to useful online calculators that let you determine your lifestyle's impact on the environment and natural resources.

You know you should drive less, walk more and turn off lights when you’re not at home … but how much impact do those actions and others really have on the environment? You can find the answer by using one of these enlightening online calculators:

• The Eating Green Calculator (http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/calculator.html) lets you calculate your effect on your health and the environment based on how much of certain foods – beef, pork, chicken, eggs, milk, yogurt and cheese – you eat each week.
• Score Your Diet (http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/score.html) takes you through a dietary checklist to determine your diet’s impact on your own health, the environment and animal welfare.
• The Ecological Footprint Quiz (http://www.myfootprint.org/) asks 15 questions – covering diet choices, driving habits, home type and so on – to calculate your consumption of natural resources. The results compare your consumption levels to your region’s average, and also shows how many planet Earths would be needed if everyone consumed at the same level as you.
• The Great Green Web Game (http://go.ucsusa.org/game/) features an “Envirometer” that lets you see how your impact on air quality, water quality and nature compares to that of the average American household.
• The Carbon Calculator (http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/) determines how much carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, your lifestyle generates each year, then offers suggestions for reducing that figure.
• The Energy Star@Home Tool (http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=popuptool.atHome) features an animated tour of a typical home, with pop-up tips for improved energy efficiency throughout every room.
• BabyZone offers several quizzes in its Green Living area (http://www.babyzone.com/mom_dad/home_food/green_living), including “How Green is Your Family's Home?” “What's Your Family's Recycling Savvy?” and “Does Your Child Live in an Asthma-Friendly Environment?”
• Environmental Defense’s printable pocket seafood selector (http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf) helps you make the healthiest, most environmentally sustainable choices when shopping for fish and shellfish.
• Scorecard (http://www.scorecard.org/) lets you input your Zip code and get a detailed report about pollution in your area, and how it compares to other counties in the U.S.
• KTVU TV’s Website (http://html.ktvu.com/sh/idi/weather/drought/index.html) features an online calculator to determine about how much water your household uses per day, month and year, and how much you could save through conservation strategies.
• The Generic Electricity Energy Cost Calculator (http://www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html) lets you figure out how much energy you consume based on the specific types of lightbulbs and appliances you have in your home.
• The Sierra Club’s MPG Calculator (http://www.sierraclub.org/mpg/) lets you calculate how much money you’d save if automakers boosted the fuel economy of the car you now drive.
• Environmental Defense’s Paper Calculator (http://www.environmentaldefense.org/papercalculator/) lets you determine, based on the type of paper you use at home and work, how much wood and energy you consume and how much greenhouse gases, wastewater and solid waste you generate.
• Cleaner and Greener offers two calculators: one to calculate how much pollution you create based on your home or office energy use (http://www.cleanerandgreener.org/resources/pollutioncalculator.htm) and another to determine how much pollution you can prevent and money you can save by changing your energy use habits (http://www.cleanerandgreener.org/resources/emission_reductions.htm).
• AirHead has a similar calculator (http://airhead.cnt.org/Calculator/), with a twist: by inputting miles flown, driven or walked in any particular month, you can determine which of your travel destinations are “greener” than others.

The copyright of the article Cool Tools for Greener Living in Green/Simple Living is owned by Shirley Siluk Gregory. Permission to republish Cool Tools for Greener Living in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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