Votenet Solutions has designed this online calculator in partnership with Renewable Choice Energy. Please answer the questions below to determine the carbon footprint of your paper balloting process and compare it to the carbon footprint of online voting with Votenet.
# of eligible voters
# of pages in your
election mailing
# of elections
per year
Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Your Election/Voting Event(s)
Election Total
Paper Balloting Process
Votenet’s Online Voting Process
Grams of CO2e
Pounds of CO2e
Year Total
Paper Balloting Process
Votenet’s Online Voting Process
Grams of CO2e
Pounds of CO2e
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Avoided by Using
Votenet's Online Voting Process
Grams of CO2
Pounds of CO2
Equivalencies
The greenhouse gas emissions avoided by choosing Votenet for your election
over a traditional paper-based voting method are
similar to:
For the purpose of this analysis the lifecycle of a paper ballot is defined as originating with the production of the paper and ending with disposal of the paper in a landfill. The lifecycle phases assessed are paper production, distribution through U.S. Mail (round trip), printing, & disposal.
U. S. Maili
•
Based on a complete lifecycle analysis of a typical piece of First Class mail
•
Average paper ballot (5 pages) weighs approximately 1.6 ounces
- includes envelope
•
Postage on a 5 page ballot is approximately $.59ii
•
Assumes shipping to and from voter
Paper Productioniii
•
Based on a complete lifecycle analysis of uncoated freesheet paper from virgin pulp
•
Assumes 1.6 ounces of uncoated freesheet from virgin pulp
•
Does not differentiate between envelope paper and ballot paper
•
ncludes waste stream
Printingiii
•
Based on a Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment of the printing industry
•
Economic input for a 5 page ballot is approximately $.30
Scope: Votenet
For the purpose of this analysis the lifecycle of a Votenet ballot is defined as originating at the server within a data center and ending at the voters use of a PC
Serversiv
•
Based on the average uptime and power consumption of mid-sized servers
Data Center Cooling/Infrastructureiv
•
Assumes a Power Usage Effectiveness Ratio of 2 (for every one watt of power used for IT, one watt is used for cooling)
Personal Computerv
•
Average time to vote is approximately 5 minutes
•
Average personal computer (includes monitor) requires 157 watts when active
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