The Background:
In Surrey, climate change has been a cause for concern amongst residents for years, with all of us being able to do our own individual bit to help create a greener county. Ahead of the United Kingdom hosting the United Nation’s climate change summit, COP26, later this year, the actions we can take now could prove pivotal.
As our energy consumption is higher than ever, it is important to limit our carbon footprint as much as we can to support the increasing demand, with a limited timeframe to act.
So here are 3 methods in which we could reduce our carbon footprint at home, starting from now!
1) Water Consumption
Clean water takes a lot of energy, time and money to filter to ensure its clean, and drinkable. The energy-intensive element to making water clean means that over-usage is harming our climate with surplus carbon emissions than what we really need. The process involves phases such as extraction, transportation, filtrations which require non-renewable fossil fuels.
So, how can we help? Firstly, reduce the time you spend in the shower! If you spent one less minute in the shower each day, you would save 23kg in CO2 emissions. A survey carried out by Unilever recorded that the average shower in the UK lasted 8 minutes. Surely 7 is long enough?!
2) Make Use of the Sun!
According to national statistics, which are published on the UK government's website, 60% of households now own a tumble dryer. This means more than 14 million households are using electricity to dry their clothes. An average machine cycle uses just over 4kWh of energy and produces around 1.8kg of CO2 emissions. If all households with a tumble dryer dried one load of washing outside each week, instead of by machine, they would save over a million tonnes of CO2 in a year. Especially if the weather is sunny, your clothes may dry faster too!
3) Turn The Heating Off!
According to the experts at Energy Saving Trust, keeping your heating on low constantly is more expensive that only putting the heating on when you need it. And it is more environmentally friendly too! So, although it sounds obvious, if you're looking to be more 'green', then only put the heating on when you need it!
