Check Your Neighbor's Carbon Footprint at Urban EcoMap

Here's a new device that will allow you to check on the carbon footprint of your neighbor. It's called the Urban EcoMap and it is an online tracking tool that will allow anyone to check the size of anyone else's carbon footprint.

The map tracks the emissions from waste, transportation and energy based on zip code. At the moment it is only operational in San Francisco, but Amsterdam and Seoul will get their carbon footprint maps later this year. Other cities will be sure to follow after that.

When you visit the site you are given a lot of figures of how many pounds of carbon emissions are being released based on zip code. You are invited to check out each zip code in the San Francisco. The site is also filled with advice on how to reduce your carbon footprint. It also explains where San Francisco sits in terms of the size of the carbon footprint of the entire city and the goal size that everyone should be striving to meet.

Check out the Urban EcoMap site for a more clear picture of the idea behind making everyone aware of not only their carbon footprint but also that of their neighbor.

The Size of Concrete's Carbon Footprint

It's interesting when scientists begin picking out random objects and point out the probable size of their carbon footprint on a global scale.

This is what some scientists have done with concrete. A new report has been released that suggests that up to 5 per cent of the world's carbon footprint comes from the concrete industry. That includes the energy use and the carbon dioxide by-product from the production of cement.

There have also been studies that have found that some carbon dioxide is absorbed into concrete, even decades after it has been placed, in the formation of calcite. A new study yet to be released will also suggest that the absorption of CO2 may extend beyond calcite to remove carbon dioxide from the air which actually lowers concrete's overall carbon footprint.

The absorption of CO2 into concrete has been known for years in the formation of calcite (calcium carbonate). But the careful analysis of concrete samples have revealed that other compounds may be forming.

While solving the world's carbon emissions problems is not as simple as paving the entire world in concrete to suck up the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is certainly interesting to know that recycling concrete could turn into a net-carbon footprint exercise if done right.

New Carbon Reporting Guide

PricewaterhouseCoopers has launched a best practices guide to help companies report their carbon emissions ahead of the requirements that will come with the government's new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation.

Next year around 5,000 UK businesses will be required to report their carbon footprint and will enter into an emissions cap-and-trade scheme.

The guide takes companies through a possible scenario with a fake company that explains how the report might be properly compiled. It gives a format that other companies might like to follow as well as an example of a carbon data summary that could be included in an annual report.

Quickly picking up on the carbon reporting practices will help all companies bring forward their emission reduction strategies.

Ecobutton Can Lower Your Computer's Carbon Footprint

Here's another device designed to both save money on your energy bill as well as reduce your carbon footprint.

If you're like me you leave you computer powered up when you leave work for the day. I let my work computer go into sleep mode with all of my apps still up and running. The computer will remain fully powered until it eventually goes into sleep mode.

Now there is a new product that can be attached to your computer via a USB cable, called the ecobutton, that you can press when you are not using your computer for any period of time. If you're going to make coffee, are on the phone or heading off for lunch, you can simply press the ecobutton and your computer is immediately switched to energy saving 'ecomode'.

After the computer has been put into 'ecomode' you simply have to press the ecobutton for the computer to be returned to the point where you left off.

As a bonus, each time you send your computer into 'ecomode' the ecobutton software records how much power and money you have saved by using the device. Instantly, you can see just how much your carbon footprint is being reduced.

More devices to help reduce your carbon footprint:

Carbon Hero
Fuel Efficiency Advisor