Energy and environmental impacts of consumer purchases: A case study on grocery purchases

The tools needed to assist consumers in making cost effective decisions that would also make significant reductions in energy or carbon are currently insufficient. Available personal energy and carbon "calculators" ask users general questions about their activities, use average values for these activities, and "calculate" an energy or carbon footprint. We expect this study to mark the beginning of a new field of study related to coordinating actual consumer data flows to create dynamic and interactive visualizations. This work will also contribute to research relating impacts from overall and individual product transportation.