Getting the measure: carbon counting meets social networking

As I mentioned in my last post I’m looking to start measuring my carbon footprint in more detail than is possible with lots of the existing carbon counters. Last week I attended Islington green drinks, a great place to swap ideas and ask for advice on these kind of things.  And indeed, Jack from Brighter Future (whom I met in Copenhagen) was able to offer some great advice.

He had two suggestions, both of which are set up to enable you to add your meter readings weekly. imeasure, from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute is probably the more sophisticated. But The Carbon Account is definitely the more user-friendly, with a great interface and the option of joining groups and competing against your friends (imeasure also has ‘carbon clubs’ but they’re not visually so appealing). The Carbon Account also adds transport (cars and flights). Flights add staggering peaks to otherwise fairly steady graphs, a very visual indicator of just how damaging they are.

I’m going to see how I get on with both and report back. Meanwhile if anyone wants to join me search for 10tentacles and add me as a friend.

Ushering in the new (and blocking out draughts)

10/01/10 or 01/10/10 for our North American friends: an auspicious day for a first slightly belated 2010 10:10 post.

One reason why I’ve been a bit quiet is that over the Christmas break I was enjoying spending some time away from a computer screen getting on and doing things. Like repainting our hallway with half a tub of paint recovered from the street a few months ago and waiting to be put to good use (very satisfying). And in keeping with this year’s low carbon fun-for-free ethos spending plenty of time outside, despite the snow and ice (cycling to work has I  confess fared less well over the last few days…).