How are the equivalent carbon values calculated?
The formula for determining equivalent carbon savings is based on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) determined average value of carbon emissions created per 1 Kwh of electricity, which is 0.523 Kg of CO2. According to the Guardian report ‘Keep your kettle in check’ from March 2008, the average kettle creates 0.015 Kg of CO2 each time it boils to make one cup of tea. The Carbon Footprint website reports that the average household uses their television for 6.5 hours a day, creating 203 Kg of CO2 annually. Using the following calculation it is possible to determine the amount of carbon a television creates an hour: Powering a television for 1 hour = (((203 / 52 weeks) / 7 days / 6.5 hours) = 0.086 Kg of CO2. It can therefore be assumed that a television creates on average 0.086 Kg of CO2 per hour. The National Statistics publication, ‘Energy Trends’ from 2007 reports that the average household electricity consumption for a year in Scotland was 5300 Kwh. Using
