Complete the Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator and enter the appropriate information in the Activity sheet. The use of the calculator is largely self-explanatory, so detailed directions will not be provided. A few comments, though: (1.) In the Transportation section, make sure you select the appropriate time frame (week or year) for your entered mileage. (2.) In the Home Energy section, enter the average of your summer and winter electric and gas bills. EPA's Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator Allows users to analyze their emissions of CO2 and learn ways to reduce them U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Calculating your total emissions: Enter the values from the calculator in the table below and calculate the percent of total emissions for each. Category Transportation Home Energy-Electricity Home Energy - Natural Gas Lbs. of CO2 per year Percent of Total Emissions Home Energy-Fuel Oil Waste- Non recycled trash Total Annual Emissions Analysis: For each question below, fully explain your answer. In what category were your emissions highest? Does this surprise you? How did your household's overall emissions compare with the average of 60,000 lbs. per year? Does the magnitude of your emissions surprise you? Making Changes: If your results are typical, your emissions from Transportation comprised a significant amount of your overall emissions. Let's see how a highly fuel efficient vehicle would affect your carbon dioxide contributions. A number of "hybrid" gasoline powered vehicles are currently available, and these vehicles get significantly higher mileage than conventional vehicles. One example is the 2002 Honda Insight, which has a combined (average of city and highway) fuel efficiency of 64 MPG. In the first part of the What You Can Do to Reduce Emissions section, enter the appropriate value to increase your current vehicle's mileage to 64 MPG (enter the difference between your current MPG and 64 MPG). Hit the Tab key to register the change, and list the resultant reductions below. You can obtain the New CO2 emissions by subtracting the "Ibs CO2 avoided" from your previous total, or by scrolling down to the end of the calculator. Percent Reduction in CO New CO2 emissions Switching to hybrid vehicle After seeing the carbon reductions and visiting the web site on hybrid vehicles, would you be willing to seriously investigate buying such a vehicle? Explain why or why not. Clear the preceding change in vehicle mileage by highlighting the value you entered, entering "0" in its place, and pressing the TAB key. Then proceed through the What You Can Do to Reduce Emissions section, and choose at least three options that you would be willing to embrace. If you need to enter values (more MPG, thermostat changes, etc.) make sure they are reasonable changes. List the three changes below and list the percent reductions in your total emissions that occurred as a result of each. Change Percent reduction in annual CO, emissions Seeing the reductions in emissions that occur as a result of these changes, would you be willing to immediately implement any of them? Explain why or why not