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Counting the cost
by John vidal
 

The climate talks in the Hague have collapsed in recriminations.  It is now up to individuals to emit less.  Eco Soundings brings you your own ready reckoner of how much carbon you emit:

1.  Gas central heating: an average sized house for six hours a day - around 2kg.

2.  One kettle of boiling hot water: 0.006kg; one cupful: 0.001kg.

3.  Cooking a full breakfast on a hob or grill: 0.23kg.

4.  A dishwasher with a full load:  0.33kg.

5.  One full load of washing: 0.68kg; two halfloads: 1.36kg.

6.  Drying your weekly laundry: 1.17kg for a full load, or about 2kg if you do two half loads.

7.  Daily emissions from a modern fridge-freezer: 0.7kg per day; average fridge: 1.78kg.

8.  Keeping your food frozen: 0.51kg a day in a modern chest freezer.

9.  Lighting your hallway for eight hours: 0.36kg with incandescent lighting, or 0.04kg with energy efficient light bulbs.

10. Leaving a computer on standby for 2 hours: 0.03kg.

11. Leaving a TV on standby for 2 hours: 0.01kg.

12. Leaving a stereo on standby for two hours: 0.01kg.

13. Driving 20 miles to work: 4.47kg in an average petrol car, or 3.63kg in an average diesel car.

14. Taking the bus five miles to work: 0.47kg per passenger.

15. Cycling of walking to work: negligible (0kg).

16. Taking the train to work (for example, Oxford to London): 10.67kg.

17. Takeaway lunch: more than 1kg.

18. Takeaway evening meal: more than 3kg

19. Cooking an evening meal:  around 1.3kg on an average electric oven and about 0.28kg on a modern gas oven.

20. One return flight to Brazil: 2,391kg.

21. One return flight to the Hague: 162kg.

22. One return to Paris on the Eurostar: 72kg.

23. The average for a Briton, over a year is around nine metric tonnes, or 9,000kgs.

24. This compares to a world average of 4,000kgs per person and an African average of 1,200kg.

25. Britain (population approaching 60m), emits roughly the same amount of carbon as almost 700m people in Africa.

These figures were calculated for Eco Soundings by Bestfootforward, an Oxford-based company.  To calculate your own, or a company's carbon emissions, go to:  http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/globalwarming