Climate impact calculator for Quaker meetings
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Climate impact calculator
for Quaker meetings
This calculator helps you to estimate the climate impact of your meeting.
It looks at emissions in five main categories: travel to meeting; energy used
in your meeting house; materials and waste; building construction; and other
goods and services. At the end you’ll be able to see which has the biggest
impact.
The accuracy of estimation varies between categories: don’t regard the
results as precise, but rather as a useful starting point for thinking about how
your meeting might reduce its climate impact. The Sustainability Toolkit will
help with this.
It’s good to work on the calculator as a group so you can discuss your findings
as you go along. Before you get started, let your meeting know that it is going
to happen so that anyone who is interested can get involved. There are plenty
of different tasks to take on, and they need different skills to carry them out.
You don’t need to do it all at once! Perhaps start with one section and see
how you go.
Unless you are brilliant at mental maths, a calculator will be very helpful.
There is also an online version of the calculator at www.quaker.org.uk/
climate-impact-calculators, which does the maths for you.
Calculations are made in tonnes of CO2-equivalent gases per year. Some
activities emit gases (e.g. methane, nitrous oxide) that have a much higher
impact per kg than CO2, and this is taken into account. As far as possible the
calculations account for the total impact of activities in each category, which
may mean that the numbers differ from other calculators. For more details see
the ‘Calculating Emissions’ guide at www.livingwitness.org.uk
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 1 9/11/11 09:56:481. Travel to meeting
This section accounts for CO2 from energy use by vehicles, other exhaust
emissions, emissions in vehicle manufacture and disposal, and road building.
Information needed:
Distance each person travels to and from meeting, and mode of transport they
use. Below are suggested categories for modes. Add up the total distance for
each mode of transport, and use the table below to work out emissions.
How to collect:
Ideally survey everyone leaving meeting for worship on a typical Sunday.
Keep a record of the number of people using each mode of transport.
Mode of transport Total miles Multiply Total kg Multiply by 52
travelled per by CO2 in the to give
week by people week total kg CO2
using this mode for the year for
of transport each mode
Driver of 4x4 0.64 (a)
Driver of 0.51 (b)
people-carrier
Driver of average 0.49 (c)
petrol car
Driver of average 0.40 (d)
diesel car
Driver of ultra 0.30 (e)
small/efficient car
Driver of 0.27 (f)
motorbike
Train, bus or 0.20 (g)
underground
Walk or cycle 0 (h)
Passenger of car 0 (i)
or motorbike
Add up (a) – (i) to give the total kg CO2 for the year
from transport
Transport notes: We haven’t included the energy in additional food needed
to sustain walking or cycling. This is small.
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 2 9/11/11 09:56:482. Energy
Greenhouse gas emissions come from the fossil fuels used directly in your
meeting house or to generate the electricity that you use. The main uses in a
meeting are usually heating, lighting, refrigerator/freezer and water heater.
Information needed:
The amount of each type of fuel, and the amount of electricity, used in a year.
How to collect:
Gas and electricity: Utility bills are probably stored by your Treasurer or
Clerk. Try to find bills with actual meter readings (rather than estimates) taken
a year apart. Even better, take your own readings.
Oil, coal and wood: These are usually delivered as needed, so it is more
difficult to work out annual use. The delivery invoices should state the number
of litres of oil, and either kg or tonnes of coal/wood, and when they were
delivered. You may have to be a bit creative in estimating how much is used
in a particular year.
Energy source Amount units Multiply by Total kg CO2 in
for the the year for this
year energy source
Electricity from kWh 0.62 (a)
the grid
Renewable kWh 0.05 (b)
electricity you
generate and use
in your premises
Renewable kWh -0.57 (c)
electricity you (number has a negative
sign because it is
generate and offsetting grid electricity
export used elsewhere)
Gas: n
ew meters m3 2.2 (d)
old meters 100 ft 6.3
3
Fuel oil litres 3.5 (e)
Coal tonnes 3,300 (f)
Wood: chip tonnes 61 (g)
pellets tonnes 180
Add up (a) – (g) to give total kg CO2 for the year
from energy use
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 3 9/11/11 09:56:49Energy notes:
A. It isn’t always clear that an old-style gas meter is measuring hundreds of
cubic feet, but it is. Don’t count the coloured figure at the end. If you aren’t
quite sure what the units are, check them against your bill, which will give your
consumption converted to kWh. One cubic metre of gas is roughly 10kWh;
100 cubic feet (what used to be called a ‘gas unit’) is roughly 28kWh.
B. For electricity, we don’t make a distinction between ‘green’ and regular
tariffs. This is because green tariffs don’t at present directly increase the
overall amount of renewable electricity in the overall UK mix. They can
indirectly support the growth of renewable supply though, so they’re well
worth discussing.
C. If your meeting house is often hired out to other users, you might want to
consider what proportion of energy is used for Quaker purposes. However,
you may decide that the entire use of the building is the responsibility of the
meeting.
D. If you don’t have a meeting house, your use of another building for Quaker
activities will use energy and therefore produce greenhouse gases. Discuss
with whoever manages the building how much should be allocated to your
meeting.
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 4 9/11/11 09:56:493. Materials and waste
This section accounts for the greenhouse gas emissions associated with
production of the materials that end up in your regular meeting house waste,
and building waste, and also the emissions associated with disposal of this
waste.
Information needed:
The number of rubbish bags of waste and recycling that your meeting
produces in a typical week, and how much of this is recycled. (One bin is
approximately two black rubbish bags.) Also, an estimate of the number of
skiploads of building waste that your meeting produces in a year.
How to collect:
Check the amount of waste, and what is recycled, over a few weeks.
Number How much do you Multiply by Total kg CO2 in the
of black recycle? year for this energy
rubbish source
bags per
week
(including
recycling)
Nothing 1,300 (a)
Kitchen and garden waste 1,200
Kitchen/garden waste, 900
paper, metal, glass
Kitchen/garden waste, 700
paper, metal, glass,
plastic, textiles
Building Multiply the number of skiploads that (b)
waste you produce in a year by 1,000
Add up (a) + (b) to give total kg CO2 for the year
from materials and waste
Materials and waste note:
See Energy notes C and D to consider how to allocate waste.
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 5 9/11/11 09:56:504. Building and extending your
meeting house
The energy and cement used to provide materials and construct a building
produce substantial emissions. There’s no ‘right’ way to share these out
over the lifetime of a building. We’ll simply assume that the share decreases
linearly over the first 50 years of the building’s use, and is zero after that.
Information needed:
The areas built or added to your meeting house at any time over the past 50
years.
How to collect:
Your premises committee or Clerk probably have building plans. Friends
who have been in the meeting for some time will probably remember when
different rooms were built.
What built e.g. Area How Work out share = Multiply area
hall extension built many (51 minus number by share to get
– one row for (m2) years of years) / 1.6 kg CO2 in the
each build ago? year for this
item
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Add up (a) – (d) to give total kg CO2 for the year
from building
Building notes:
See Energy notes C and D to consider how to allocate building emissions.
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 6 9/11/11 09:56:505. Other goods and services
Greenhouse gases are emitted in the production and distribution of the goods
that your meeting buys, such as furniture and library books. They are also
emitted through the services that you buy, such as decorating and caretaking.
It is very difficult to work out these emissions. As a very rough estimate, each
£ spent results in the emission of about 0.5kg of C02 on average.
Information needed:
The total amount spent by your meeting on goods and services during a
year. Don’t include money spent on energy or extending your building, or any
donations and investments that you made.
How to collect:
Your Treasurer will have the detailed annual accounts, shown under different
budget headings.
Annual spend on other Multiply by Total kg CO2 from other goods
goods and services (£) and services for the year
0.5
Other goods and services notes:
See Energy notes C and D to consider how to allocate other goods and
services.
6. Adding it all up
Category Total emissions for this
category (kg CO2 for the year)
Travel to meeting
Energy use
Materials and waste
Building and extending your meeting house
Other goods and services
Total kg CO2 per year for your meeting kg CO2
Divide by 1,000
Total tonnes CO2 per year for your meeting tonnes CO2
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 7 9/11/11 09:56:517. Next steps
First of all, take time to celebrate that you have worked through this calculator,
and tell the rest of your meeting. It’s a real achievement, and will probably
have drawn on the time and skills of a number of different people. Hopefully
working on it has started other discussions about sustainability.
The real value of your calculations is in helping you to get an overall ‘picture’
of your climate impact. This will help you to identify where you could make the
most useful changes. And if you keep your results and then work through the
calculator again in a year you’ll be able to see what the effect of your changes
has been.
QPSW are recording the climate impact of meetings in order to baseline the
climate impact of the Yearly Meeting, and track how this changes.
Please send your results to: sunnivat@quaker.org.uk or
QPSW, Friends House, 173 Euston Road,
London, NW1 2BJ
Get together to discuss your results. Ask where your meeting has the biggest
impact. What can you do about that? Use the Sustainability Toolkit
(see www.quaker.org.uk/sustainability) to help you take your next steps.
Produced November 2011
by Living Witness and Quaker Peace & Social Witness
based on calculations by Living Witness
Let us know how you found this calculator. Please send your feedback to Sunniva
Taylor at QPSW using the details below.
To order more copies of the Climate impact calculators (for individuals or meetings)
contact QPSW or Living Witness using the details below.
Alternatively, online versions of both calculators are available at:
www.quaker.org.uk/climate-impact-calculators
Sustainability & Peace Programme Living Witness
Quaker Peace & Social Witness Quaker Community
Friends House Water Lane
173 Euston Road Bamford
London Hope Valley
NW1 2BJ S33 0DA
www.quaker.org.uk/sustainability www.livingwitness.org.uk
sunnivat@quaker.org.uk laurie@livingwitness.org.uk
020 7663 1047 01433 659329
carbon-calculator-meeting.indd 8 9/11/11 09:56:51You can also read
