How We've Reduced Our Carbon Footprint (Revisited)

Last August I posted a piece with a similar title. Whilst it gives some useful hints on how to reduce your carbon footprint, I wanted to do a more detailed breakdown of how we got it down to only 2.6 tonnes per person: Just over a quarter of the UK average. I hope you find it useful.

Heating
This is a sizeable chunk of any brit's footprint. Ours is 3.43 tonnes (or 18500 kWh) per year from gas central heating. This compares with average gas usage for a house our size (4 bed semi) of 5.37t or 29000 kWh. So our bills are over a third less than average. Looks like we're doing something right!

Here's what we're doing:

• We have cavity wall insulation. It cost us less than £200 to install and it helps stop up to 35% of heat loss. It probably paid for itself within 2 years. Highly recommended if appropriate for your home.

• The house was double glazed throughout when we bought it. Some is aluminium framed, so isn't the most efficient but it could be saving us up to 10% of heat loss. 

• We've draught proofed the house for less than £30 which saves up to 15% of heat. Cheap and easy to do. Recommended. 

• Loft insulation: We have very little at the moment but I'm working on it. We should have that in place by Spring. 25% of heat is lost through the roof, yet you can insulate your loft for around £200 including labour (thanks to government incentives). It should pay for itself within a couple of years too. Well worth the investment. 

• Our radiators all have thermostats, and our heating is on a timer, controlled by a central thermostat set at 20 degrees C. Just 1 celsius reduction can save up to 10% of your heating bill.

• We replaced our old, unreliable gas boiler with a new, A rated condenser boiler 2 or 3 years ago. Modern boilers are much more efficient than old ones. They could save you up to 40% on your heating bill. Gas boilers are expensive to replace though (£1000 to £2000 including labour), so they take several years to pay for themselves. If you're going to replace yours anyway, check out ones using renewable fuels, you may pick up incentives from the government through RHIs.

Electric
We use 5000 kWh per year which is equivalent to 2.71 tonnes of CO2. The average is 6000 kWh (3.26 t). So we're saving about 17% on our bills.


We have all the usual stuff: 2 LCD TVs; 2 DVD players; 4 PCs/laptops/netbooks; games console; 2 satellite boxes; power shower; dishwasher; washing machine; tumble dryer; freezer; and fridge/freezer.


So where are the savings? We do a lot of things mentioned here. In particular, all our lights are energy savers, we don't overfill the kettle, our TV screens aren't huge (around 23") so aren't particularly hungry, lights are turned off when we leave rooms, all appliances are A rated (replaced as they died), we have short showers (power showers use a lot of electric), run the dishwasher full, and try not to leave anything on stand-by.


We also try to use Economy 7 (low rate) electric wherever possible. This has nothing to do with saving the planet and everything to do with saving us money.


In fact, all the above is about saving money because our fuel bills are on a green tariff i.e. The electric comes from a renewable source (in our case, hydro-electric) which means it's zero/low carbon. A quick and painless way of taking 2.7 tonnes off our footprint.


Check here for a way to get to grips with your electric bills.

Transport
We get around using a Nissan Primera and a Nissan Almera. They average only about 5000 miles a year each (We both work locally). Total footprint 2.96 tonnes. If we did the national average mileage (10k), that would double the footprint.


If we wanted to cut our emissions further we'd need to find more economical cars, perhaps try diesels or hybrids. If we wanted to really go for it, we could use public transport to get to work, or cycle/walk, but this would make life difficult, especially for my wife. So we're sticking with the cars for now.

Flights
This is probably one of the main areas where we differ from other people. 

We tend to holiday a lot in Britain and countries we can drive to. So, only about 1 in 4 of our holidays involve flights. When we do fly, we use carbon offsets to compensate for the added emissions.


Coming Up:  Okay, that's enough for the moment. In part 2, I'll look at my family's 'secondary carbon footprint': The emissions that come about as a result of our lifestyle choices. 

Until then, if you want to work out your own carbon footprint, try this website.