Students from around the world calculated their class mean and standard deviations for their footprints and posted them on our world map.
Do you see differences across the globe? If so, why do you think those differences exist?
Did you use the calculator to try to reduce your footprint down to the average from a citizen of another country? What changes would you have to make to lower your footprint in this way? Are you going to try and take some of these actions in your daily life?
Student Footprints >
Heating Efficiency
My carbon footprint results came out to 8,561kg, seeminly lower than the average output in the U.S.A. However, in the home section, where my numbers also came out low, I grew puzzled. I, living in Maine, experience something called winter, and we adapt using 6 months of heat (no AC in summer). When I was asked about the type of heating fuel I use, I selected wood, because that is our most impactful method of warming our small ranch. However, only being able to select one heating source, and with us using an oil burner (gas heating) for heating the house as well, I wonder if not including that statistic would make a false input on my footprint. After all, if oil makes a larger impact on the environment than wood, even if it does not produce the same effectiveness to heat our home, does that put a large, missing factor into my footprint? As a final mark, our woodstove is extremely efficient and very hot (75,000 btu), while our Boilermate oil burner is also very efficient (87-88% efficient). [IMG_0511](//muut.com/u/footprint/s3/:footprint:Xjx9:img_0511.jpg.jpg)