I plugged my self into an new online footprint calculator -yes another one, to check myself out. As always there are good and bad points to note. The site is Wattzon
Positives
1. It uses Watts to measure your footprint – which is a logical way to analyse what is predominantly an energy topic. Watts are of course the units associated with household electricity.
2. You can compare yourself to other people and the world
3. Wattzon calculates your portion of published government activity
4. This footprint takes account of the lifecycle energy of the stuff you own
Negatives
1. A Watt is a difficult unit for many people to get their heads around – but then aren’t they all. Maybe laps of the oval would be better (its always easy to make suggestions from the sidelines)
2. Comparisons can lack validity (see 3 & 4 below). My energy use might be like apples to someone else – especially Americans which is the only comparison I get.
3. Unfortunately the energy in stuff can be questionable as well – for instance my scooter is supposed to embody more energy than a motorcycle because Wattzon gives scooters a 15 year life cycle and motorcycles 40 years – my scooter is already 40 years old.
4. My consumption is greater because I have gone through the time consuming process of adding extra stuff not on the standard list.
5. If I compare myself to a wind turbine I get a huge picture likewise for solar voltaics – wow such a big impact, compared to 5 gallons of oil a day- so little consumption. You can’t compare my annual wind/solar use to my daily oil use.
Overall
Wattzon offers a new approach and a new unit of comparison, but like all generic footprint tools my specific life translates badly. There is no allowance for how I get my energy or my food.
I like the idea of footprinting tools but they all are hindered by the need to make the process quick for the internet generations/ rapid twitching, so sacrificing parts of the impact.
Anyway here is my footprint according to Wattzon.
hey derek.
thanks for the comments! i would love to chat to get some ideas from you!
watts are definitely a hard thing for people to wrap their heads around, but we fundamentally think that its more useful than saying, CO2, for example.
for the scooter vs the motorcyle — just hit the “edit” button on the scooter (or the motorcyle!). change the lifespan. debate the numbers in the discussion. and check out the contributor list to see who to blame for those numbers.
i do hear, however, that we only allow comparisons to americans right now. i’m personally trying to sketch out better comparisons, and that is definitely something i would love to pick your brain on.
Thanks Raffi,
I lead off by saying that the article above was written after a once over visit to Wattzon and certainly not from a careful visit.
Following your comments I went back to the site – it is beautifully participative – I can comment on the settings and even edit them, I can add my 40 year old scooter to the list and have it recalculated.
So if I want a community to consider these things with then this format is great. I see it growing to include a range of stuffs people add and that is great as well.
My question and I will raise this in the forums is; what is the best measure to use for footprinting?