It is inspiring to see such positive numbers; they tell us that our community is engaged in reducing our energy use, and that we continue to challenge ourselves to do even better.
Just from actions we took in January, over 150,000 lbs. of CO2/year will be kept out of the atmosphere!
This is equivalent to 6,278 trees or 14 fewer cars!
Click on each chart to see it full size.
These exciting results are from just one third of pledging families reporting the actions they took...there's no telling how much better we actually did...unless we all take the survey (hint, hint). If you are unsure whether you've taken the survey or not, try again. The system will not let you take it twice from the same computer.
How We Calculate CO2 Savings From Actions Taken
The Cool Team relies on Acterra’s expertise to calculate the CO2 savings of our actions. Acterra uses a few different sources for estimating CO2 savings for each of the Cool Campaign actions.
- Acterra's Green@Home program provides data for several actions. Green@Home data was obtained by using several different Carbon Calculators (because no one calculator included all the challenges). Since each calculator makes different assumptions, the Green@Home program uses the average result.
- The book, “The Low-carbon Diet: Wise Up, Chill Out and Save the World” by Polly Ghazi and Rachel Lewis is also a source for some estimates.
Example Calculation: Even with the best energy data, assumptions must be made about each challenge. For example, when someone reports that they replaced an incandescent bulb with a CFL, we assume:
- A 75 W incandescent bulb was replaced by an equivalent brightness CFL.
- The light that was replaced is on 5 hours a day, 365 days a year.
CFLs use 25% the power of incandescent light bulbs, so the energy savings are: .75 x (75 W) x (5 hrs/day) x (365 days/year) x (1 kW/100W) = 103 kWh/year
The City of Palo Alto Utility recommends using the California Climate Action Team’s conversion data of 1.147 lbs CO2 / kWh. So for each light bulb changed, we save: 103 kWh/year x 1.147 lbs. CO2/kWh = 118 lbs. CO2/year
What are the surveys like?
The monthly surveys reflect the Monthly Challenges and provide you with a chance to register any actions you've taken, or new habits you're working on establishing. They truly are designed to take around one minute of your time, are multiple choice (with a comment option if you'd like to make one) and anonymous.
Here's a sample survey question for a one-time action:
Did you switch to using Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs)?
- Already did this (I started doing this before the Cool Campaign)
- Did it! (as a result of the Cool Campaign; this is cool!)
- Not yet (I will get to this; it is on my todo list)
And here's a sample survey question for a repeating action or habit:
Do you close curtains at night to keep heat in and open them during the day to let light in?
- Already Doing This (before the Cool Campaign)
- New Habit! (as a result of the Cool Campaign)
- More Than Half the Time (as a result of the Cool Campaign)
- Less Than Half the Time (as a result of the Cool Campaign)
- Not yet (I will get to this; it is on my todo list)