Welcome to the new Low Impact Living™ Environmental Impact Calculator!
This brand-new household environmental calculator is the first of its kind -- it shows not only the carbon footprint but also energy, water, wastewater, trash, and stormwater runoff footprints of your home and lifestyle. In addition, it recommends projects based on your specific inputs that can save you money, reduce your environmental impact, or in many cases both at the same time! The Impact Calculator also calculates a score called the Low Impact Living Index™, or LILI™, that encapsulates in one number your overall environmental footprint. It allows comparisons to other homes near you or across the country. The Impact Calculator and LILI combined provide you with a clear roadmap to a greener home and lifestyle!
So, click here to get started, or read on below for an overview of what you can do!
1. Calculate Your Environmental Impact
By just entering your ZIP code and home size, the LIL Environmental Impact Calculator tells you what your impact is based on regional default values. You can then customize the inputs based on your home, and in no more than a few minutes you can have a customized profile that reflects the specifics of your home. Your LILI tells you how you rank relative to a typical home in your region (LILI = 100). Get a 50 and you're doing great, but a 200 means you have quite a bit to do!
2. Review Green Home and Lifestyle Projects
Based on your inputs, the Environmental Impact Calculator recommends a set of projects that make sense for you. The project savings estimates (both environmental and financial) are customized to your home inputs and regional climate, prices and rebates. You can select projects to see how they would affect your overall environmental impact. Once you've decided to do one, each project has a list of products and services, specific to your area, that help you get started. When you finish a project, check it off and watch your LILI go down!
3. Save Your Projects and Profile
You can also save your profile and revisit it later. This means that you can use it as your green home checklist, and you can see what improvements you have achieved through time.
And, we plan on adding 2-3 new projects a month, so each month you can come back to see whether new projects make sense for you.
