The City of Austin recently posted two versions of a Carbon Footprint Calculator on its website to call consumer attention to the amount of greenhouse gasses each of us is responsible for producing through daily activities. The biggies, of course, include transportation and energy usage in our homes, both of which are fueled by fossil fuels. The City has made a commitment to begin reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses that can have a profound effect on climate change and, in the case of automobiles, contributes to air pollution in our local environment.

The City offers you two ways to calculate your own usage - the quick, one-minute version and a longer version that requires you to sign up and answer many more questions. We tried it and the answers for a couple of our staffers turned out to be similar on both calculators.

1-Minute Calculator

This one is easy. All you need to know is what kind of car you have and approximately how many miles you drive a year. Estimate the number of airline trips you take and how long each flight usually lasts. Several questions ask you to estimate your weekly consumption of common foods such as meats, vegetables, fruits and dairy products. The last one wants to know a little about where you live type of dwelling, number of bedrooms, number of people and whether you have air conditioning. That last one is a killer because it takes on lots of extra points to your carbon footprint.

Clear takeaways from the results suggest we all should drive fewer miles in smaller and more efficient cars, avoid unnecessary travel and reduce energy consumption at home.

Comprehensive Calculator

This calculator wants to know more, but also is prepared to help you if you are an Austin Energy customer. Once you sign up, you can plug in your utility account number and it will fill in a lot of the information for you. If you don't have an Austin Energy account or don't want to look it up, it also allows you to answer questions with estimates. Once you have a score, it also lets you compare your answer to other groups, cities and countries.

Be prepared to answer lifestyle questions about your energy use, water use, waste, personal travel and food.

The nifty part is that, once you are finished, you can open a tips tab that will give you suggestions about how to reduce your impact, both the advice and how much it can change your current score. Once you've gone through the list and chosen the things you believe you can do, especially if you have already done them, the calculator tells you have much benefit you have achieved from the changes.

For More Information

Air pollution if a major challenge for people with asthma. Find out more about asthma from GoodHealth.com's online health encyclopedia at at Seton's own EPA-recognized Seton Asthma Center that serves both children and adults.