Carbon Footprint

After visiting the environmental protection agencies website I have learned a few things about my personal carbon foot print. A carbon footprint for those who don't know is everyone's personal carbon impact on the environment whether it the emission's coming from our cars, or the amount of electricity we use. The EPA's website was extremely helpful in providing options, and ideas for people to reduce their carbon footprint, increasing fuel efficiency, insulating our homes better, and recycling. The EPA's website also has a household carbon foot print calculator which I used to compare my household's carbon emissions with my brother's. Some of the things that factored into the calculator was data used from our monthly energy bills, whether we used natural gas, or propane, how many miles we put on our cars, and if we recycle or not. I found that my current household emissions is 14,320 pounds per year, compared to my brother whose yearly emissions was 27,272 pounds. One of the interesting things I found is that I currently live in a house with four people, we use one car, and don't recycle. My brother lives with his girlfriend so two people, they have two cars, and they do recycle, yet his emissions are higher. Another interesting thing I found was that the U.S. average household emissions is at 41,500 pounds per year which is much higher than my average. There are a few reasons why my brother's household emissions are higher than mine. For starters his girlfriend works in Marshal which is about forty minutes from Kalamazoo. My brother also has central air, and because I don't my electricity bills will be lower in the summer, as opposed to the winter. So it doesn't really surprise me that my brother has higher carbon emissions than I do, I have a car but  I don't really drive it, and I consume less energy annually than he does. One of the things I think could be improved upon with the carbon calculator is to include people that rent their homes, and try to provide options for them to decrease their carbon foot print as well. Most of the options like replacing windows, and the furnace with a more energy efficient one is just not a practical option for people who rent. Also there was a question on the calculator that asked if one of the vehicles used could be replaced with a more fuel efficient one, I felt that taking the bus or riding a bike might be a better option that would be more available to people who may not be able to afford a new fuel efficient vehicle.