- Decarbon user profiles
- Annual Carbon Budget
- Incognito Mode
- Default Modifiers
- What about my EV?
- Related articles
Decarbon user profiles
Your Decarbon profile is where you can set your name, your Annual Carbon Budget, and also some default modifiers that will make your carbon tracking more accurate.
Annual Carbon Budget
Your annual carbon budget is a central part of your Decarbon experience. It's the amount of impact on climate change you plan to have in any 1-year period. You want this to be as low as possible!
All new users to Decarbon start with a budget of 7 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). That's roughly the amount of carbon emitted per person in the United States that would help keep climate change limited to 1.5 degrees celsius (learn more on Carbon Brief).
This will be HARD. For reference, the average American emits 14.5 metric tons each year!
The exact number for your Annual Carbon Budget matters less than what you actually do with it:
- 🌱 If you find that you're consistently tracking lower than your budget, you can use the green slider to adjust this down (very nice!).
- 🔥 If you find that you're consistently tracking higher than your budget, you can adjust this up. Check the Budget tab of Decarbon to see what your top impact categories are (gas, flights, food, etc.) and dig into how you can adjust your purchasing to have a lower impact (maybe ride that ol' bike more).
If you want to really dive into the details and get a specific carbon budget suggestion, check out what the experts at Carbon Brief suggest.
Incognito Mode
You can toggle on and off Incognito Mode to hide the purchase names from being displayed in the Impact tab. This could be helpful for if you want to review your budget in a public place or want to show Decarbon to a pal without them seeing your purchase history.
When Incognito mode is on a blue, crossed-out eyeball will appear in the top bar of the Impact tab.
Default Modifiers
Default modifiers are aspects of your life that will adjust what the estimated carbon impact of your purchases are. For example, a vegan diet is about half as much impact as an omnivorous diet.
When new purchases are added to your Decarbon account, Decarbon cross references them with your default modifiers to automatically adjust them based on what you've input in your profile. Convenient!
There are currently two default modifiers:
- Diet — Choose between omnivore, pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan.
- Renewable electricity — what % of your electricity costs come from renewable energy (wind, solar power, etc). Check with your utility company! This is usually shared online. You can also check Electricity Maps.
What about my EV?
If you own an electric vehicle (that’s awesome!), Decarbon automatically accounts for this in two ways:
- You’ll no longer be purchasing gas. This is huge! Gas stations are usually the top impact category for many users.
- If you charge your EV at home, you’ll have higher electricity bill purchases. You can further reduce this footprint by adjusting the Renewables modifier by going solar or opting into your utility’s green energy program.
Related articles
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