HOW WE CALCULATE THE EMISSIONS
Almost 40% of the UK’s energy consumption and carbon emissions come from the way our buildings are heated and used. Newly constructed or existing properties that are being sold within the UK typically require an up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate. Much like the multi-coloured sticker on new appliances, Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) tell you how energy efficient a building is and give it a rating from A (very efficient) to G (inefficient). They’ll tell you how costly it will be to heat and light your property, and what its carbon dioxide emissions are likely to be.
We use the national EPC register (excluding Scotland) to provide an estimate for the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions associated with your property. It is worth noting that EPCs are valid for 10 years from the date of issue. If your EPC is expired, we will use the old value as an estimate. If your property does not have any EPC associated with it, then we will use the national average for existing properties, which is approximately 4t CO2e/year.
The median energy efficiency scores for new and existing flats and houses, financial year ending 2013 to financial year ending 2019, England and Wales are shown below:
HOW WE CALCULATE HOW MANY TREES TO PLANT
First the annual carbon dioxide emissions associated with the energy performance of your property are established. Then we use this number (together with your estimate of the annual occupancy rate of your property) to calculate the carbon dioxide emissions that arise from guests staying at your holiday property.
This property emissions value is then used to determine the number of trees that need to be planted to capture and store the carbon emissions generated by guests staying at your property.
The carbon converting power of trees is already proven. Roughly 50% of the dry weight of wood is carbon removed from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
Broadly speaking conifers (preferred by timber producers) are faster growing than native broadleaf woodlands and, therefore, absorb a lot of carbon quickly. However, they do not have the biodiversity gains associated with native broadleaf woodlands.
That’s why we favour UK native woodland species planting and select our partners on this basis.
The rate of carbon storage tends to increase as the tree grows and matures, reaching its peak carbon sequestration capacity in its middle-age years. After that, the rate of carbon storage might slow down as the tree approaches its maximum size. To calculate the number of native broadleaf trees needed to match the emissions of your holiday property, we use estimates provided by the Forestry Commission.
On average a native woodland captures 480 – 530 tCO2e/ha after 50 years, and 625 – 700 tCO2e/ha after 100 years. Our planting densities of approximately 1,100 trees per hectare.
We estimate that one tree will provide around 200kg of CO2e after 20 years of planting and 500kg after 50 years. So you can choose whether to reduce your property emissions over 20 or 50 years.
PROPERTY TREE CALCULATOR
Enter your property address below to calculate the carbon emissions that your property generates.
You will see how many trees need to be planted over certain time periods to cancel that effect.