Personal Carbon Footprint: Home Energy, Travel, Food & Reduction Plans

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Convert the Riveras' everyday quantities into the units emission factors need, and turn three greenhouse gases into one number: kg CO2e.
• Turn twelve months of the Riveras' electricity and gas bills into kWh and kg CO2e, and find how much of the home's footprint comes from heating.
• Compare five cars for the Riveras' 12,000 km a year in litres or kWh, kg CO2e per year and g per km, and work out how fast an EV pays back its extra build emissions.
• Calculate the emissions of the Riveras' five trips with a haul-dependent factor, a class multiplier and a detour uplift, and what flying economy would save.
• Convert Ana Rivera's weekly servings into kg of food and kg CO2e per year, find the share of each food and calculate what swapping beef for legumes saves.
• Estimate the Riveras' footprint from what they buy (spend × kg CO2e per dollar) and what they throw away (kg per week × factor), and what better recycling saves.
• Bring the Riveras' results together, express them per person, find the biggest categories, calculate the reduction needed to reach a 2.5 t target and chart the breakdown.
• Rank eight actions for the Riveras by cost per tonne of CO2e avoided, from the ones that pay for themselves to the expensive ones, and chart the ranking.