Introduction

Carbon Footprint Calculator (碳足迹计算器) is a desktop application I built in March 2010 using Visual Basic 6.0, an early project I built in middle school. The goal was to help people understand the environmental cost of everyday activities and encourage concrete steps to reduce CO₂ emissions.

In 2010, the application won the second prize in the Visual Basic Programming Contest in Hangzhou (杭州市VB程序设计大赛).

You can download the application from this link, but please note that the application is in Simplified Chinese.

Features

The app has two calculation modes.

Basic Mode offers a quick calculator for three common emission sources (car travel, electricity consumption, and flights), with a tiered formula for different flight distances. After each calculation, the result is expressed both in kg CO₂ and in the equivalent number of trees needed to offset it.

Advanced Mode lets you build up a full picture of daily emissions across five categories: clothing, food, housing, transportation (8 modes including train, subway, bus, and three car fuel-efficiency tiers), and everyday goods. Each category accumulates independently, and the total updates in real time.

The app also includes a Tips screen that cycles through a randomized library of practical environmental advice on topics like energy efficiency, public transit, and waste reduction.

Screenshots