Carbon Footprint of

the Average American

Household
Brendan, Federico, Mike W, Mike A, Haitham, Xingchen

GLOBAL WARMING

Global Warming is the consequence of the

Greenhouse Effect coming from anthropic
activities.
What happened in the last three centuries,
when, starting from the industrial revolution,
we began burning fossil fuels, is that the
atmospheric concentration of CO2 from the
average level of 280 ppm, has reached 392
ppm in 2011, so determining an increase of 1
F in the last century.
The reduction of the CO2 emissions involves
not only any hard structure of the energy
production of each Country, but involves all
the individuals in their daily habits.

A Closer Look at America and its

Constituents:

The average U.S. household

carbon footprint is about 50
tons CO2e per year.

This is about 5 times greater

than the global average,
which is approximately 10
tons CO2e per household per
year.

What are we doing wrong?

What is a Household?
It includes all the persons who occupy a
housing unit as their usual place of
residence.
A housing unit is a house, an
apartment, a mobile home, a group of
rooms, or a single room that is
occupied (or if vacant, is intended for
occupancy) as separate living quarters.

As of 2014, there were

115,610,216 housing units
occupied in the U.S.
The Average amount of
people per household was
2.63.

Assumptions for Our Calculations:

For simplicity of
calculations, we
assume that the
average of these
values is the average
annual increase of
new houses
constructed in the U.S.

= 1,314,400 /year

Variables of Household CO2

Emissions
There are countless daily
activities in the average
American household that
contribute to their
respective Carbon
Footprints, so we
researched the most
influential factors...

Electricity / Water Usage

Waste Disposal
Vehicle Usage
Food Footprints

Variables of Household CO2

Emissions

Electricity / Water Usage ~34%

Waste Disposal ~29%

Vehicle Usage ~24%

Food Footprints ~13%

Electricity Use

There is an average of 40 light

bulbs per household.
Mostly being 60 watt bulbs.
Running about 12 hours per day
Replace bulbs in your house
from incandescent to LED
Power is saved
Total amount of CO2
produced is reduced.

Incandescents are very

inefficient.
Only about 10% of them is
actually emitted into light
90% is simply just radiated off as
heat.
0.084kWh (the amount per bulb)
= 0.0001 metric tons of CO2

Electricity Use Continued:

-

The comparison:

LEDs:

17.52 metric tons CO2 per year per

household
Produce 2,025,490,984 metric tons
of CO2 per year.

Incandescents:

87.6 metric tons CO2 per year per

household
Produce 10,127,454,920 metric tons
of CO2 per year.

The total amount of CO2 saved from LED bulbs per year is 8,101,963,936 metric
tons of Carbon.
The total amount of CO2 reduced per year per house 70.08 metric tons of CO2.

Heating and cooling footprint

According to EPA United States Environmental Protection

Agency, Heating an average American home (natural gas
or electricity) produces an average carbon footprint of
around 5500 pounds CO2. Air conditioning a typical home
produces a carbon footprint of about 6,600 pounds CO2

Converted in metric tons: 5545 lb0.4536 kg/lb0.001

ton/kg = 2.52 metric tons

Converted in metric tons: 6600 lb 0.4536 kg/lb 0.001

ton/kg = 2.99 metric tons

Waste Disposal

According to EPA, Americans generate 254 million tons of household waste every
year in todays population of 321,368,000;
4.40lb of waste/person/day.
The projected population in 2060 is around 416,795,000:
Assumptions:
Constant rate of waste generated per person per day.
Average CO2 emissions 160 lbCO2/lbWaste
The Average amount of people per household is 2.63

The resulted total CO2 emissions of household: 302 metric

tons/household/year.

Vehicles

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately two cars per household.
To determine annual greenhouse gases per vehicle:
8,887 grams of CO2 /gallon of gasoline = 8.887 10-3 metric tons CO2/gallon
of gasoline.
Multiplied by Vehicle miles traveled (11,318 VMT), divided by average gas
mileage (21.4 mpg) to determine gallons of gasoline consumed per vehicle
per year.
Multiplied by ratio of CO2 emissions to total vehicle greenhouse gas
emissions to account for vehicle methane and nitrous oxide emissions,1 CO2,
CH4, and N2O/0.988 CO2
= 4.75 metric tons CO2E /vehicle/year
4.75 x 2 = 9.5 metric tons CO2E / household /year

Food Footprints

The production, transportation, and storage of food is a significant contributor to CO2

emissions
The average American diet results in 2.5 metric tons of CO2 being emitted each year
This diet consists mainly of oils, meats, and grains
Different types of food production result in different amounts of CO2 emissions.
We will discuss some less CO2-intensive diets later on

Per household, this results in an annual CO2 emission of 6.6 metric tons per year

Model II
How can we Reduce the Footprint?

Recycling

In the U.S., 1.5lb waste/person/day is recycled out of 4.4lb generated

~34% of total waste is recycled

34% of total emissions is already reduced
If we are to recycle at a constant rate of 34%:
Metric Tons CO2 reduced

Stabwedge

2015

11,870,856,978

0.47483427912

2060

17,944,173,618

0.71776694472

1 Stabwedge = 25 billion metric tons of CO2 Reduced

Heating and cooling solutions

According to US Department of Energy, by turning your thermostat down (or up during
summer) 10 to 15 for 8 hours, you can save an average of 10% a year on emissions.
This will save for each household: 2.99 (ton of CO2) * 0.10 = 0.299 (ton of CO2) in cooling.
This will save for each household: 2.52 (ton of CO2) * 0.10 = 0.252 (ton of CO2) in heating.
The total savings of CO2 emission, considering 115,610,216 households in US, will be:
(0.252 (ton of CO2)+0.299 (ton of CO2))* 115,610,214 households = 63,701,227 (ton of
CO2).

Hybrid Vehicles

253 million vehicles currently on US roads

2 million are hybrids (0.8%)
67,295 are electric (0.027%)
Currently, hybrids and electric vehicles make a negligible impact on reducing
CO2 emissions

But what if we replaced half of our conventional

vehicles with hybrids?

A Realistic Proposal

Based on studies by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 42% of US

households could live comfortably on a daily basis with only hybrid vehicle.
It is very reasonable to propose that every household could have one hybrid
and one conventional vehicle.
For our calculations on hybrid vehicles, we used the Toyota Prius, which is
by far the most popular hybrid vehicle on the market.
If Americans were to purchase a hybrid now, most would buy a Prius.

Conventional vs. Hybrid Cars

Car

Conventional Gas
Vehicle

Hybrid Vehicle
(Toyota Prius)

MPG

21.4

50

CO2 Emissions
(annual metric tons)

4.75

2.0

Reduction of CO2 with switch to 1 Hybrid and 1 Conventional

The Prius uses 43% (21.4/50) of the gasoline used by the average
conventional vehicle.
Therefore, the carbon footprint of a Prius, (2.0 metric tons of
CO2/vehicle/year), is also 43% of the average conventional vehicle (4.75
/vehicle/year)
Right now, the average US household has 2 conventional vehicles
9.5 metric tons of CO2/household/year
Once every household replaces one conventional vehicle with a hybrid
vehicle
6.75 metric tons of CO2/household/year

2.75 metric tons of CO2 saved/household/year (29% reduction)

Eat Less Meat (Especially Beef)

Beef is by far the most carbon intensive type of food produced

Different Diets

Different Diets

If all Americans cut beef from their diets, the average household would emit 5 metric
tons of CO2/year as opposed to 6.6 metric tons of CO2 with beef
However, today, it is easy to get all basic nutrition without eating any meat (soy,
beans, vitamins, supplements, etc.)
We think it is reasonable to imagine that almost all Americans could switch to a
vegetarian diet.
This would lead to only 4.5 metric tons of CO2/household/year

Wash Clothes in cold instead of hot

water
Average family does 400 loads of laundry per year.

Heating water for laundry uses

about 1800 kWh per year or 4.5
kWh per load.
Equivalent to 1.2 metric tons of
CO2 emissions per
household/year.

Assuming average use of 428

kWh per year or 1.07 kWh per
load for cold water.
Equivalent to .295 metric tons of
CO2 emissions per
household/year.

(1.2 - .295) = .905 metric tons saved per year per household
(.905 * 115,610,216) = 1.05*10^8 metric tons of CO2 reduced per year in
the US.

Emissions from Treatment of Water

Average person uses 80-100 gallons of water per day.

(90 * 321,369,000 *365) = 1.06

x10^13 gallons used per year
Approximately 290,000,000 metric
tons of CO2 to treat water / 1.06
x10^13 = 2.74x10^-5 metric tons of
CO2 per gallon of treated water.

The average washing machine uses about 41

gallons of water per load.
(41 *400 * 115,610,216) = 1.9x10^12 gallons
per household

(1.9x10^12*2.74x10^-5) = 52,060,000 metric

tons of CO2 for treating water for doing laundry
per year.
High-efficiency washing machines use 35 to 50
percent less water.
So, if every household adopted high-efficiency washing machines, we would reduce
CO2 emissions by 22,125,500 metric tons.

(22,125,500 / 115,610,216) = .191 metric tons saved per household.

CMI Stabwedge Theory

1 Stabwedge = 25 billion metric tons of CO2 reduced
To get on track to avoiding dramatic climate change, the world must avoid emitting about 200 billion
tons of carbon, or eight 25 billion ton wedges, over the next 50 years.

Conclusion

There are many simple things that we can be doing on a daily basis to
conserve energy and create less CO2.
Around your house, you can help by simply washing your clothes in cold
water, recycling properly, turning lights off, and switching to more newer
more efficient products in your home as well as the vehicle you drive daily.
Performing these tasks may not seem like much right now, but you will see
that over the course of a year, it all adds up to a significant amount of CO2
saved.

Bibliography

Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2011. Chapter 3 (Energy), Tables
3-12, 3-13, and 3-14. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. U.S. EPA #430-R13-001 (PDF)
Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2011. Annex 6 (Additional
Information), Table A-275. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. U.S. EPA
#430-R-13-001 (PDF)
http://www.epa.gov/
http://www.energy.gov/
http://www.eia.gov/