The main reason for this blog is to share ideas about my attempts to reduce my family's carbon footprint. Hopefully some of you will be inspired to join me.
My first step was to measure our carbon footprint. This would give me a starting point and hopefully highlight the problem areas.
There are quite a few carbon footprint calculators out there on the web. I chose this one: Carbon Calculator
Our average footprint per year turned out to be similar to the UK average at 9.8 tonnes of CO2.
The most obvious area to sort out was our energy usage. I switched our dual fuel bill to a Green tariff with ScottishPower so that our electric now comes from a hydro-electric source. I also got our aging, inefficient boiler, replaced with an A-rated one (an expensive way of cutting our footprint but a money saver in the long run).
The result was our average came down to 6.83 tonnes. A 30% saving. Not bad for a first go.
That was a couple of years ago now. Time to bring it down some more.
Showing posts with label CO2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CO2. Show all posts
Friday, 1 January 2010
Running Out Of Time
Hi. I'm a dad with 2 young kids and I'm concerned about the future of the world they're going to be growing up in.
Let's leave aside the declining state of modern society and whether or not my children will be successful in life. I'm talking about whether this planet will even be habitable for them and their kids.
I am, of course, alluding to Global Warming.
Climate change is happening, and most of the world's scientists believe that we are responsible for it. Unfortunately, we're not doing enough to turn things around.
Why? Too many big corporations (like the oil giants) have a vested interest in business-as-usual; Politicians are more interested in the next election than the future of Mankind; and people in general find it difficult to relate to a problem like this. It's not immediate. We don't understand the science. We don't know what it means for us.
Despite all this, things are moving in the right direction. An increasing proportion of the public are voicing their concerns, the politicians, with one eye on the next election, are beginning to take genuine interest in those concerns, and even previously entrenched governments like those of the U.S., India, Australia, and China are beginning to show signs of movement.
Whether this is all too little, too late remains to be seen.
It may well be that, at some point, we will finally come to our senses and take decisive action. However, if that is to have any value to future generations, that point must come soon because, we're told, if we are to preserve the planet in something resembling the current state, then our CO2 emissions must level off by 2015.
That's not a lot of time really. Let's hope that, after the disastrous Copenhagen summit, the politicians get serious and put together an aggressive, legally binding, worldwide agreement really soon.
For all our kids sake.
Let's leave aside the declining state of modern society and whether or not my children will be successful in life. I'm talking about whether this planet will even be habitable for them and their kids.
I am, of course, alluding to Global Warming.
Climate change is happening, and most of the world's scientists believe that we are responsible for it. Unfortunately, we're not doing enough to turn things around.
Why? Too many big corporations (like the oil giants) have a vested interest in business-as-usual; Politicians are more interested in the next election than the future of Mankind; and people in general find it difficult to relate to a problem like this. It's not immediate. We don't understand the science. We don't know what it means for us.
Despite all this, things are moving in the right direction. An increasing proportion of the public are voicing their concerns, the politicians, with one eye on the next election, are beginning to take genuine interest in those concerns, and even previously entrenched governments like those of the U.S., India, Australia, and China are beginning to show signs of movement.
Whether this is all too little, too late remains to be seen.
It may well be that, at some point, we will finally come to our senses and take decisive action. However, if that is to have any value to future generations, that point must come soon because, we're told, if we are to preserve the planet in something resembling the current state, then our CO2 emissions must level off by 2015.
That's not a lot of time really. Let's hope that, after the disastrous Copenhagen summit, the politicians get serious and put together an aggressive, legally binding, worldwide agreement really soon.
For all our kids sake.
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