New Construction Carbon Calculator

For those of you planning to build a new home, or for the builders and contractors out there, there's a nifty new, free online calculator that measures the carbon footprint of a newly constructed building based on items like its total square footage, number of floors, type of framing material, and geographic location, etc. 

The calculator estimates the embodied energy and subsequent carbon amounts released during construction. The measurements account for building materials, processes, and carbon released due to ecosystem degradation (such as soil disturbance) or sequestered through landscape installation or restoration.

Why would you want to know what your carbon footprint is? To offset it, of course! "Offsetting" means calculating your project's carbon footprint so it can be balanced by funding resources or activities like renewable energy, land protection, or reforestation projects — resources that benefit and protect the planet.