Carbon Footprint Calculator
Calculate your annual carbon footprint from driving, flights, and home energy use. See your CO₂ emissions in tons compared to averages.
miles
MPG
flights
kWh
Annual CO₂ (tons)
—
Driving CO₂ —
Flight CO₂ —
Home Energy CO₂ —
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the Miles Driven per Year and your car's MPG.
- Enter the number of Short Flights (round-trips) you take per year.
- Enter your average monthly Home Electricity usage in kWh.
- Optionally enter Natural Gas usage in therms per month.
- The calculator shows your annual CO₂ footprint in tons broken down by category.
Formula
Driving CO₂ = (Miles / MPG) × 0.00887 tons/gallon
Flight CO₂ = Flights × 0.55 tons/round-trip
Home CO₂ = (kWh × 12 × 0.000386) + (Therms × 12 × 0.00531)
Example
12,000 miles at 28 MPG, 2 flights, 900 kWh/month.
- Driving = (12,000/28) × 0.00887 = 3.8 tons
- Flights = 2 × 0.55 = 1.1 tons
- Electricity = 900 × 12 × 0.000386 = 4.17 tons
- Total ≈ 9.1 tons CO₂/year
Frequently Asked Questions
- A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (primarily CO₂) emitted directly or indirectly by an individual, organization, or product, measured in tons of CO₂ equivalent.
- The average American emits about 16 tons of CO₂ per year, one of the highest per-capita rates in the world. The global average is around 4 tons per person per year.
- Burning one gallon of gasoline emits about 8.87 kg (0.00887 tons) of CO₂. Driving 12,000 miles per year in a 28 MPG car emits roughly 3.8 tons of CO₂.
- Key reductions come from driving less or switching to an EV, flying less, switching to renewable electricity, improving home insulation, and reducing meat consumption.
- A short-haul round-trip flight (under 3 hours) produces roughly 0.5–0.6 tons of CO₂ per passenger including radiative forcing effects.