When I get my electricity bill each quarter, they rather conveniently also tell me how much greenhouse gas emissions I… created. Emitted. Failed to prevent. Or whatever.
It’s always so many tonnes of… whatever it is. Greenhouse gases. Carbons? I don’t know.
So what is it? What’s my scale for comparison? Is 2 tonnes a lot? Is it average? Is it dangerous? Am I killing twenty somethings an hour? A year? None at all?
If 2 tonnes is not a lot, and then I “reduce” my greenhouse gas “emissions” by changing my light bulbs or turning off my TV more frequently, is that really making any difference at all? Should I even bother if it’s such an insignificant difference and it inconveniences me?
Am I really making any difference at all, and why should I pay any attention to these statistics when they don’t give any quantifiable comparison?
You don’t know unless you know how your power company makes the electricity. If they use coal and other fossil fuels, then it will be higher than someone that has a power company that uses nuclear power. As far as I know, most of my electricity is from the not-too-far nuclear power plant, so my carbon output from my home electricity is low. The nuclear power plant does not have nuclear powered corporate cars and nuclear powered equipment to service the plant and grid, so they burn some fossil fuels to deliver my electricity…ergo, I can’t say ‘zero’ output.
It is, I believe, all coal based power plants here in Victoria, Australia.
I think.
From the sound of it the company is telling you how much CO2 THEY produced in generating your electricity - which will take into account the method of generation.
Have a look at this site - if you enter your energy use it will calculate your carbon foot-print and compare it to the average for your area.
I’m never quite sure if these figures are given as tonnes of carbon or tonnes of CO[sub]2[/sub] though - obviously the two are not the same, as CO2 has the extra weight of those 2 Os…
Incidentally, the last pack of potato crisps I ate was labelled with the carbon footprint per pack.
Well, then they’re the ones that should be changing methodology, not me.
For businesses, that depends on whether they are quoting the total they produce (carbon) or the amount they have saved (CO2) 
There is gas, and hydro, but most of Australia’s energy is from coal - about 80% in terms of MWh.
http://www.uic.com.au/nip37.htm
At a guess, the figure probably represents tons of CO[sub]2[/sub], but it’s probably labeled as “tons of carbon”. That particular misuse is very common: You’ll often see statements like “every ton of coal burned releases over three tons of carbon into the atmosphere”.
They’ve actually labelled it “greenhouse gas emissions” which is even more nebulous.
My greenhouse emits no gasses. 