Climate change is a complex issue which requires global, strategic responses, but we can still make individual contributions to help towards an improvement in greenhouse gas emissions. Lifestyle choices and behavioural changes can help to immediately address our own individual carbon footprint and can also influence others to make the same changes.
Therefore, if we lead by example we can consequentially improve the environment, and with June 5th being World Environment Day it is important that we recognise the individual responsibility we hold and what effect this can have. So here are ten examples of ways we can reduce our carbon footprint today.
Adjust your heating
Many people have done this in recent years as we have acted to combat the rising cost of living, but quite simply we can learn to turn the thermostat down just one degree, or more. In most cases we won’t feel much difference, but you will see a difference in your energy bills and your carbon impact. Other ways to help turn down the heating is to move about a bit more at home, i.e. walk around every 15 minutes or so rather than staying seated, wearing more layers when sat at home, and improving the insulation of the home.
Energy-efficient appliances
White goods are much improved in terms of energy-efficiency but they all come with an individual rating now, making it easy for us to select the most suitable item based on the energy it consumes. But this kind of action also applies to smaller items such as lightbulbs.
Eating more plant-based foods
The meat and dairy industries are some of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and moving to a plant-based diet can reduce your carbon footprint by as much as 75%. However, we appreciate this is a radical move for some people, so simply reducing the consumption of animal foods is a good way to start rather than a more unrealistic approach of moving to a 100% plant-based diet.
Reduce car usage
Fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel are a major contributor to carbon emissions. Cars are now sold with very clear CO2 emissions data and while electric cars with zero emissions are available, we can still use petrol and diesel vehicles but manage how we use them better. Could you leave the car at home for shorter journeys and consider walking, taking the bus or cycling? Could we work from home some or all of the time? Could we use a car sharing scheme? Also, as petrol and diesel vehicles will not be produced in the UK from 2035 onwards, we could start the transition to hybrid and electric vehicles now.
Install solar panels
Solar panels take the sun’s radiation and transfer this to solar energy which can replace electricity we take from the national grid. This not only uses less electricity, but also reduces our energy bills. Go Greener Energy Services can help you with the installation and commissioning of solar panels, as well as the process of administration to ensure you can sell excess electricity back to the national grid and meet pay-back on your investment even quicker.
Improve your insulation
Many older properties have poor insulation or no insulation at all. In many cases we aren’t aware of this and hence have no idea that we could improve the energy efficiency of our homes really easily and quickly. A home survey from Go Greener Energy Services will identity these areas and highlight where better insulation is needed and we can also help with advice on grants and incentives to help you with the cost of these installations.
Install a heat pump
The use of renewable energy sources in the home is rapidly taking over from traditional gas boilers. Installing a ground source or air source heat pump makes use of natural heat produced from the ground or in the air and transfers this into usable heat around the home for heating and hot water. Installing a heat pump is estimated to lead to savings of around £1500 per year on energy bills.
Recycling
Around 2.12 billion tonnes of waste is disposed of each year globally, and while you might think putting a plastic bottle in your recycling bin once a day is a miniscule help in this regard, the concept of recycling can be taken much further if we understand how much we can influence the supply chain. Wo can avoid buying items with single-use packaging, we can buy items with longevity rather than items which need replacing all the time, and we can try to compost our food waste rather than simply dumping it.
Use the washing line
Tumble driers are a notorious consumer of electricity and cost, and we can therefore improve our carbon footprint by simply using the washing line outside more often and allowing natural resources to dry our washing. And if the weather isn’t helping then just dry your clothes indoors, it might take a few hours longer but in most cases this isn’t really that important.
Travel wisely
We spoke earlier about using the car less, but travel also extends to holidays. Can we holiday closer to home where train travel is possible, or at least less fuel is used for an aeroplane? The most fuel is used when planes take-off and land, so if we can avoid long-haul flights with multiple connections, this will make the most significant difference.
As you can see there are lots of things we can do today to help reduce our carbon footprint, and Go Greener Energy Services can help with these decisions. Get in touch with our team and we can explain the benefits and advise on how the ways we can help.
