Calculating OEC's Carbon Footprint, Part 1

As part of my volunteer commitment to the Oregon Environmental Council, I had the opportunity to pull together the Council’s first carbon footprint analysis. What seemed to be a straightforward, albeit time consuming, process of gathering data became a mini research project. I started by reading about carbon footprints and quickly realized I would also have to read about carbon offsets and in this case the voluntary carbon offset market.  Suddenly I had visions of Russians Dolls…hindsight as they say is 20/20. The research culminated in a presentation to the Council that included an overview of the voluntary carbon offset market, its carbon footprint, the cost to purchase carbon offsets, and recommendations for the Council’s 2008 footprint calculation.

Calculating and Offsetting OEC’s Carbon Footprint

So, what is a carbon footprint?  Essentially it’s a way to gauge the impact humans have on the environment by calculating the units (metric tons) of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that can be attributed to our activities. A carbon footprint, or units of carbon dioxide emitted, can be calculated for a specific activity (i.e. a flight to Vegas, or a trip to Mt Hood Meadows) or numerous activities in a given timeframe (typically one year). For instance, according to the carboncounter.org calculator, a person flying from Portland to Las Vegas (1524 miles roundtrip) is responsible for .9 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

That seems straightforward enough, so what counts as an activity? Now things quickly become a little more complicated. In OEC’s case I was tasked with creating a baseline carbon footprint analysis for its fiscal year 2007. From the larger context the analysis should help the OEC understand the environmental impact of its operations and send the right message to the community at large. I knew that I needed to include multiple activities that were meaningful and measurable, but which ones?

The first place I started was gathering data on OEC staff commutes to and from work. After a good deal of time creating a spreadsheet, gathering data, inputting formulas, and looking into various calculators that showed the CO2 emissions attributable to cars, buses and light rail I made a discovery. While this information was interesting, it is not typically included in an organization’s carbon footprint. Just in case you were curious about how OEC staff members typically got to work last year:

Commute

• On average, the staff generates .47 lbs of CO2 per commute mile.
• Per mile (on avg.) driving generates .78 lbs. of CO2, taking the bus generates .32 lbs., and catching the Max generates .23 lbs.
• 3 commuters (drivers) produce 7,650 lbs. of CO2, or 48% of the total commute emissions. One of the commuters purchased offsets for their commute miles.

Miles traveled vs. lbs. CO2 emissions by OEC commuters

Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where we look at how you can analyze the carbon footprint of your business and different options to reduce it efficiently and beneficially.

Aloha, Noah