Special Carbon Emissions Calculator for the Solana Beach Appeal
	How many people in your household?		Metric tons carbon dioxide   shown below:
	Total yearly car miles: (All your cars combined)
	Average gas mileage (miles per gallon): (All your cars averaged)
	Yearly air miles traveled: (Note: NYC to LA round trip is 5,000 miles)
	Average monthly electric bill: (If you don't know, enter average $100)
	Average monthly natural gas bill: (If you don't know, enter average $105)
	For heating oil users only: enter average monthly fuel oil bill:
	Do you recycle paper?	Yes  No
	Do you recycle aluminum, glass, plastic?	Yes  No
	This is your share of the carbon footprint of USA society. It takes into account the things you buy, the food you eat, entertainment, schools, roads, etc.	I'm frugal or a student I'm an average consumer I'm above average
	TOTAL   Metric tons of carbon dioxide
	Recommended Carbon Offsets:   (each acre offsets at least 18.2 metric tons)

 

How does this Calculator work? This calculator gives a rough estimate of your total carbon emissions based closely on the data and calculation methods of the EPA (www.epa.gov) as of January 2008. However, we consider these additional factors not included in the EPA methods: 1) We add the contributions of air travel by using the average medium-flight figure of .45 lbs of CO2 per air mile from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (In reality this depends on the length of flight and type of aircraft.) 2) We add the "Other" category to include the carbon footprint of US society (reported by the United Nations to be 19 metric tons of CO2 per capita for USA in 2006. See http://unstats.un.org.) We customize this option for students (50% less) and for those who are big spenders (50% more). Most carbon calculators available on the web completely ignore the carbon footprint of US society and therefore underestimate personal carbon emissions. 3) We show your emissions in metric tons, the international units for carbon dioxide emission. One metric ton is 2,204 pounds.

Carbon savings   (Updated December 30, 2009) To calculate the avoided emissions from deforestation per acre, we calculate the total amount of carbon in an acre of forest that would be released if it were destroyed. The tropical forests of this ecoregion have been measured in a recent study, and contain the equivalent of 182.4 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per acre in the trees and other vegetative matter above the ground, that would be released if the forest were destroyed and converted to pastures or similar uses. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends that avoided deforestation carbon projects discount CO2 savings by 50% to accounts for possible natural disasters and the degree to which the project displaces rather than reduces carbon emissions, the adjusted total project carbon offset value is 91.2 tons CO2/acre. Absent protection, at least 20% deforestation is expected to occur in the medium term, and possibly much more. Therefore, the carbon dioxide saved is at least 91.2 * 20% = 18.2 tons of CO2 per acre.

Cost per acre Forest land is being purchased from private land owners for an average price of $50 per acre. Long-term management will cost another $50 per acre, however this is funded by Nature and Culture International as part of its core mission.