News

Home | Audit Calculators | How to use the calculators | Simple Carbon calculator | Advanced Carbon calculator

Thank you for using the Kangaroo Valley Tourism Association CO2 calculator. We have created this calculator to determine how much CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) we produce from running our homes and businesses. We are improving our energy efficiency to reduce our CO2 emissions. We plant trees to absorb the emissions that we can't reduce and so we are "carbon neutral". We are doing this to reduce the environmental harm that our CO2 emissions are causing through global warming.

If everyone in the world did this, global warming would not be a problem.

As a fellow custodian of this beautiful valley we call home, thank you for taking the time to make us the first carbon neutral tourism destination in Australia.

Thank you for helping us ensure we can share the beauty of this valley with our children and grandchildren.

Various bits of information are required to complete the calculation of your CO2 footprint. You can choose to enter detailed data (in kWh of electricity, MJ of gas, etc), or how much you spent on each energy source. Entering the detailed data is more accurate but will take longer.

• To enter detailed data you will need the following:
  • Electricity Bills for the last year - If you generate your own power only enter how much electricity you bought;
  • Gas Bills for the last year;
  • Firewood Bills for the last year;
  • Bills or an estimate of how much garbage you threw out last year;
  • Fuel Bills or the number of kilometres your car travelled in the last year;
  • An estimate of your waste bin size and the amount of times it was collected; and
  • The number of nights and number of people at your home and accommodation.
  • The calculator can be completed manually if you do not have a computer. Just fill in the amounts of each energy source you have used and multiply it by the relevant emission factor.
1. What percentage of your CO2 do you want to offset?
   • To be a carbon neutral tourism destination we need to offset the CO2 emissions from our businesses as a minimum. You can choose to offset the emissions from your home as well.
   • Each of us has different metering and billing arrangements. In some instances our accommodation bills are completely separate from our own home and in others they will be together.
   • If you want to offset your entire home and business emissions then enter 100% in answer to this question and make sure you enter data that relates to both your home and business.
   • If you want to offset your business emissions only then do one of the following:
     • If your billing is already split then enter 100% and use only information from your business bills.
     • If your billing is not split estimate how much electricity, gas and fuel you use in the business (This will be the same percentage you claim as tax deductible in your tax return) and enter this percentage.
     • All data that you enter from here on is multiplied by the percentage you want to offset.
2. Electricity Consumption
   • How many kWh of electricity did you use?
   • You will need your last four quarterly electricity bills for this. Look for the total kWh used in the period (the sum of the peak, off peak and any other energy), enter the total against each quarter.
   • If you are entering the information on a print out you will need to sum each quarter to get the annual total.
   • If you are using the software it will do this automatically.
   • What percentage of greenpower did you buy?
   • If you chose to purchase some greenpower from fully renewable sources, then enter the percentage you purchased. Usually this is in 10% increments from 0-100%.
   • Multiply the percentage of greenpower bought by the amount of electricity used. (Note: Only 100% accredited greenpower is eligible for this offset- some greenpower is not accredited, or only partly accredited).
   • Deduct the amount of greenpower purchased from the total electricity, as greenpower is carbon neutral.
   • If you have solar, wind or other power generation this does not need to be included as it is already carbon neutral. If it is connected back to the grid it will have made your electricity meter go backwards when generating, so all you need to do is enter the metered amount supplied to you (your generation will have already been deducted).
   • Multiply total electricity consumption by the emissions factor (1.068) to get kg of CO2 emitted from your electricity use.
3. Gas Consumption
   • How many kilograms of gas did you use?
   • You need to add up the kilograms of gas from your bills and enter them.
   • If doing a manual calculation sum up the total gas use for the year and multiply it by 3.35 to find out how much CO2 was emitted from your gas use.
4. Firewood Consumption
   • How many kilograms of wood did you burn?
   • You need to add up the total amount of wood that you burnt over the year. Typically a box trailer load or utility load is about 1750kg.
   • What percentage of wood was from sustainable collectors?
   • The Firewood Association of Australia has certified some collectors. These collectors ensure that the amount of firewood collected balances the amount of wood being formed and is therefore carbon neutral. The amount of wood purchased from FAA certified collectors is deducted from the total firewood used.
   • Multiply the net amount of wood from non-certified sources by 0.227 to work out what your CO2 footprint from firewood is.
5. Fuel Consumption
   • How many litres of fuel did you use?
   • Some people track how much fuel they used, e.g. from their account or logbook. If you have this data, or even some of it, add it in the appropriate fields for the fuel type (diesel, petrol or LPG). If you are doing manual entry you must multiply the fuel used by the appropriate emission factor to obtain the actual kg CO2 emitted from each fuel.
   • If you don't have the actual fuel use for some or all of your use then continue to the next question.
   • How many kilometres did you travel with each of your vehicles?
   • If you don't know how much fuel you used, or only know the fuel use for some of your vehicles, then you can use this section to estimate CO2 emissions from your fuel.
   • Enter the number of kilometres you travelled in the last year next to the closest type of vehicles to the ones you have. If you have 2 vehicles of the same type add the distances together before entering the total.
   • If you are manually calculating the result multiply the distance travelled by the emission factor to get the kg of CO2 from each vehicle. Sum up your total CO2 emissions footprint from transport.
6. Waste and Sewer
   • Garbage bin size in litres x number of times collected
   • If you know how much garbage you threw out (excluding recycling and composting) then enter the mass here. Not everyone knows the actual mass so you can enter an estimate at the next question.
   • How many kilograms of garbage did you throw out?
   • Add up the total size in litres (L) of all your garbage bins.
   • Multiply this by the number of times it is collected, e.g. 1 x 56 litre bin + 1 x 120 litre bin = 176 litres x 26 collections (fortnightly).
   • For manual calculation multiply this by 0.137 to convert to emissions of CO2.
7. Emissions from Septic
   • Add up the number of people who have used the septic for the entire past year. For a family this is easy as it is just the number who has lived in the home. As guests come and go this is best done by counting the number of people who have visited, e.g. Assume three people live at a property and two people stay every weekend then this is 2x2x52= 208. Divide this by the number of days in a year to get the equivalent load on the septic from the visitors 208/365=0.57. The total load is 3+0.57=3.57.
   • If manually entering data multiply the total septic load by 189 to convert to kg CO2 emitted.
8. Emissions from travel
   • Number multiplied by length of flights in kilometres
   • If you know the approximate length in kilometres of your flight then use this method. If you are not sure then use Question 13. If you know some, but not all, you can use both methods.
   • A return flight is counted as two flights. A short haul flight is any distance less than 500km. A medium haul flight is between 500 and 1600km and a long haul flight is any flight greater than 1600km. More emissions occur during takeoff and landing so longer flights have less emissions per km travelled.
   • Add up the total kilometres of short haul flights and if doing a manual calculation multiply by 0.15 to get kg CO2 emitted.
   • Add up the total kilometres of medium haul flights and if doing a manual calculation multiply by 0.12 to get kg CO2 emitted.
   • Add up the total kilometres of long haul flights and if doing a manual calculation multiply by 0.11 to get kg CO2 emitted.
   • Tally up the total CO2 footprint for your flights
   • Number of flights
   • If you don't know the length of your flight use this method to estimate your air travel emissions. For simplicity this tool average flight lengths as follows:
     • Short haul - 250km
     • Medium haul - 1050km, and
     • Long Haul - 3000km.
   • Enter the number of each type of flight you have taken in the past year. A return flight is 2 trips. Multiply the number of short flights by 37.5, medium flights by 126 and long flights by 330 to convert to kg CO2 emitted.
   • Tally up your total flight emissions.
   • As a guide:
     • Sydney to Canberra is approximately 252km
     • Sydney to Melbourne is approximately 705km
     • Sydney to Perth is approximately 3,280km
     • Sydney to Los Angeles is 8,292 km
• Final Summation
  • If you are using the electronic form it will add up automatically and show you a pie chart of where your emissions come from at the bottom. When reducing your emissions reduce the largest impact first as this will give you a bigger benefit.
  • If manually completing the form, add up the total CO2 from each activity. If you are only offsetting a portion, e.g. if you only want to offset your business CO2 footprint then multiply by the percentage you want to offset.
  • E.g. if you calculated 14,000kg of CO2 and you only want to offset the 20% you estimate is from your business then multiply 14000 by 20% = 2,800kg. (Assuming you have entered combined data for your home and business)

• To enter the simple data you will need:
  1. How much you spent on electricity, gas, firewood and fuel. Much of this may be on your tax return. You will also need to know how many guests you had and how long they stayed.
  2. If you want to offset your business emissions only then do one of the following:
  3. If your billing is already split then enter 100% and use only information from your business bills
  4. If your billing is not split estimate how much electricity, gas and fuel you use in the business (This will be the same percentage you claim as tax deductible in your tax return) and enter this percentage.
  5. All data that you enter from here on is multiplied by the % you want to offset.
• How much did you spend on electricity?
  • Enter how much electricity cost you over the past 12 months. Deduct the amount of greenpower you bought before entering the data, as this is already carbon neutral. If entering manually multiply by 10.68 to convert to kg CO2 emitted.
• How much did you spend on Gas?
  • Enter how much gas cost you over the past 12 months.
  • If entering manually multiply by 1.77 to convert to kg CO2 emitted.
• Firewood Consumption
  • Enter how much firewood cost you over the past 12 months. Deduct the amount you purchased from Firewood Association of Australia certified sustainable collectors before entering the data, as this is already carbon neutral.
  • If entering manually multiply by 1.805 to convert to kg CO2 emitted.
• How much did you spend on fuel?
  • Add up how much in total you spent on petrol, diesel and LPG for your vehicles and enter it at the appropriate line. If entering manually multiply by the appropriate emission factor to convert to kg CO2 emitted. Add up the total CO2 emitted from each fuel type and tally this to the total CO2 from fuel use.
• How many bed nights did you have?
  • The loading on your septic depends on how many people used it. One bed night is defined for this purpose as 1 person staying for 1 night (two people sharing = 2 bed nights). Add up the total number of people and how long they stayed.
  • If you are including your home emissions don't forget to include those of your family- anyone who was at home for the whole year contributes 365 bed nights to the total.
  • If you are manually entering data multiply the total bed nights by 0.9 to convert to kg of CO2 emitted.
• Final Summation
  • If you are using the electronic form it will add up automatically and show you a pie chart of where your emissions come from at the bottom. When reducing your emissions reduce the largest impact first as these will give you a bigger benefit.
  • If manually completing the form add up the total CO2 from each activity. If you are only offsetting a portion, eg if you only want to offset your business CO2 footprint then multiply by the percentage you want to offset. Eg if you calculated 14,000kg of CO2 and you only want to offset the 20% you estimate is from your business then multiply 14,000 by 20% = 2,800kg. (Assuming you have entered combined data for your home and business)