The Complicated Equation for Going Green

Doing the Math on Carbon Neutrality

Going green is the new black in 2007. Advice abounds on how to cut your carbon dioxide output and do your part in the battle against global warming. But how much does a person have to spend to go green–and what kind of environmental impact would that spending actually have?
The U.S. is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, accounting for 25% of the world’s total. The average American is responsible for about 20 metric tons a year of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), a standard measure of greenhouse gases. That’s about 40,000 pounds of CO2e a year, per capita, a far greater number than that of any other industrialized country.

We set out to evaluate a few of the in-vogue recommendations based on what they cost and what they’d do for the environment. In each area we offer up three levels of feasibility–hard, medium and easy. Where possible, we’ve crunched the numbers to estimate how much a change would cost, how many pounds of CO2e each step can save and the percentage each would knock off one person’s emissions.

Wall Street Journal, make sure to download the page, for it might not stay freely available for a long while.