Going Green - Reducing your Carbon Footprint

Whether it’s a tentative step or one giant leap, we all need to start reducing our home’s carbon footprint.

How exactly do our day-to-day lives affect the global environment and what can we do to reduce our impact? The amount of electricity we consume and waste we produce all add up to create a carbon footprint and it’s this that we should be looking at reducing. Like charity, being environmentally friendly begins at home.

What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact that we have on the environment in terms of greenhouse gases, typically measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is probably the most widely known and is generated through the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and also deforestation. Other greenhouse gases include: methane, generated from landfills and agriculture; Nitrous oxide, produced by industry and the burning of fossil fuels; Tropospheric ozone, created by the reaction between sunlight and pollutants such as those from vehicles; and Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)– chemicals used in refrigeration and air conditioning. Most of these gases are naturally occurring, but due to our lifestyles over the last 100 years or so, have increased at worryingly high levels causing global warming. According to research by the Met Office, last year was the warmest since records began and experts are blaming this largely on the increase in these gases.

By measuring your individual or family’s carbon footprint, you can assess your lifestyle and highlight areas that need to be improved. It may simply be a case of washing clothes on a cooler setting or as dramatic as ditching the car and walking to work. Research carried out by the Energy Saving Trust shows that as a nation we waste a huge amount of energy. 71% of us are guilty of leaving appliances on standby and 63% of us forget to turn lights off in unoccupied rooms. So simply by breaking our bad habits we could easily reduce our carbon footprint. Philip Selwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust, says, “Unless we curb our energy wasting habits by 2010 we could have wasted around 43m tons of carbon dioxide.”

There are plenty of carbon footprint calculators available online, try http://www.carbonneutral.com/.

There are three main areas that a carbon footprint calculator covers: home energy, waste disposal and travel. The Carbon Trust, a government-funded organisation that works with businesses and the public sector to cut carbon emissions, puts the annual carbon footprint of an average person living in Britain at around 10 tons of CO2 per year. A large proportion of this is generated through space heating in the home and household wastage.
It’s soon going to be necessary for us all to reduce our carbon footprints, not just out of guilt for damaging the planet but because of various
measures introduced by the government. One proposal currently being considered is a carbon ‘credit card’ to ration the amount of carbon each household uses. Allowances would be allocated for travel, energy and food and any surplus could be sold to those who require more. The scheme was unveiled by Environment Secretary, David Miliband, who says, “We all need to curb our carbon output - after all households constitute 44% of the UK’s emissions.” MoI

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT - A SIMPLE 10-STEP GUIDE
With a few simple lifestyle changes and improvements to our homes it should be possible for us all to reduce our carbon footprint:

1) Insulation
Poorly insulated homes can cost up to £200 more per year to heat. Loft insulation should be around 250mm and there are grants to help with the cost of making improvements (get in touch with the Energy Saving Trust - http://www.est.org.uk/ or you energy supplier).

2) Windows
Where possible opt for double glazing to keep out the draughts. If you can’t replace every window then at least upgrade those in rooms that are heated the most or opt for secondary glazing. ECO FACT:
Online holiday company, lastminute.com, offsets carbon emissions for every flight it sells

3) Recycling
Visit http://www.recyclenow.com/ for a list all the recycling centres in your area.

4) Composting
Invest in a compost bin and put veggie peelings to good use on the garden.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/ 5) Get some exercise
We all complain about not having time for the gym, so ditch the car for short journeys and walk to the shops.

6) Switch energy supplier
From companies who supply renewable energy or those that offset emissions through ‘green’ projects, visit http://www.uswitch.com/.

7) Experiment with renewable energy
Many affordable technologies are now available from major DIY chains like B&Q to generate your own electricity via the sun or wind. http://www.diy.com/

Think before you throw
Would someone else find a use for your old junk? If so take it to a charity shop or sell it on Ebay.

9) Shop locally
Locally produced food and household items cuts down on transportation emissions and helps the local economy.

10) Don’t holiday abroad
Planes are the worst culprits in terms of transport emissions so forget short flights to Europe, make the most of what the UK has to offer.

Going Green