Isabelle Grace Ninesling

EGEE 101H, Homework #3

March 10, 2014
Due on Tuesday, March 25.
1. Calculate your personal or your familys greenhouse gas emissions using the on-line Carbon
Footprint Calculator at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/ind-calculator.html
Summarize the results from the following sections using the calculator.

Section 1: Estimate your current total household emissions. ! pts
For my household of three people, our current carbon emissions per year are a little bit above
the national reported average of a three person household. My family emits roughly 68,867 lbs
of CO2 or 22,!6 lbs of CO2 per year per household person, "ith the average for a three
person family being around 62, 2!#. $ith both of my parents re%uiring occasional long driving
trips for "or&, ' thin& that fuel emissions are certainly the leading cause of our CO2 emissions
being above the national average. (lso, both cars) a *eep and truc&) do not utili+e the most
efficient gas mileage.
Section : E"plore actions you can ta#e to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions$ energy use$ and
waste disposal costs. ! pts
,here are numerous actions my family can ta&e to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,
energy use, and "aste disposal costs. First and foremost, reducing the miles driven per vehicle
"ill absolutely reduce our emissions and save us fuel costs, and each of us can significantly
reduce our miles driven, especially if "e replace our vehicles "ith more economic-cleaner
vehicles. .oth our current vehicles get poor gas mileage, so there is a great deal of room for
improvement in our transportation usage. /imple actions li&e "ashing our loads in cold "ater,
reducing our loads of laundry per "ee&, turning our computers to po"er save mode, and
turning our (C up a couple of degrees during the summer days can have significant impacts
on our budges and environment. My family current recycles bottles and cans, but "e can do a
much better *ob of recycling our old maga+ines-brochures that "e often leave lying around the
house or stored a"ay. 0erforming regular maintenance on our vehicles "ill also provide a
reduction in cost and emissions in the long run.
Section %: See how much you can save &in dollars and emissions' (y ta#ing the actions you chose in
Section . ! pts
.y ta&ing these actions, our savings in dollars "ould be around 12, 273, and emissions savings
"ould be ,27# pounds of CO2 per year.

. )sing the power profiler at http://oaspu(.epa.gov/powpro/ept*pac#.charts
Compare the fuel mi" and air emissions rates of the electricity in your hometown to the national
average. ! pts
,he fuel mi4 in my area 50ittsburgh6 compared to the national average includes a significantly
larger portion of nuclear and coal sources of energy. My area7s fuel mi4 includes smaller portions
of non)hydro rene"ables, hydro, and especially gas sources of energy.
8uclear 50ittsburgh69 2:.8;- 8uclear 58atl (vg692.6;
Coal 50ittsburgh69 68.6;- Coal 58atl (vg69 33.8;
8on)hydro rene"ables 50ittsburgh69 2.;- 8on)hydro rene"ables 58atl (vg69 3;
<ydro 50ittsburgh69 .7;- <ydro 58atl (vg69 6.2;
=as 50ittsburgh69 3.2;- =as 58atl (vg69 23;
+etermine the air emissions impacts of electricity use in your family home. ! pts
,he air emissions impacts of electricity use in my family home 5roughly 8## &"h monthly6
includes 23 pounds of nitrogen o4ides, !2 pounds of sulfur dio4ide, and 2!,26 pounds of carbon
dio4ide in one year.