Greenfieldsite (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} greenfieldsite) wrote,@ 2007-05-27 21:44:00 |
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Annual Carbon Footprint Review
I'll start by reviewing how my carbon footprint has changed since last year (using last year's basis of estimation for consistency) and will consider making another post another time if any research prompts me to revise my estimate.
Gas
The new boiler (and perhaps, a warm winter) has done wonders, reducing my energy consumption to 4,500 kwH (for the previous three years it was in the 6000 - 7000 kWH range), down about 30%. My carbon footprint from this source has therefore reduced from 1.14 tonnes to 0.86 tonnes.
Electricity
I claim only a very small footprint from electricity as I use a 100% renewable supplier, but I feel it's still important to try to reduce consumption to increase the capacity for other users. I managed to reduce from about 1,800 kwH to 1,600 kwH. I suspect this may be partly due to me switching from 40 degree to 30 degree laundry washes.
Car Mileage
I drove 1,788 miles between MOT certificates. As this was lower than my estimate of normal usage of 2,000 miles I feel I can claim a reduction in the footprint from 0.56 tonnes to 0.50 tonnes.
Public Transport
I've looked at my expenditure and reckon that I probably travelled about the same distance by public transport as last year. That's worth 0.23 tonnes.
Flights
None, so that reduces from 0.40 tonnes to nil tonnes.
Food and Drink
This was difficult to estimate last year. I think I've made some improvements (for example, going vegetarian one day per week, taking food miles into consideration), but I'm a long way from being perfect. I'll estimate a token small reduction from 0.75 tonnes to 0.72 tonnes without having any way of measuring it.
Clothes and Shoes
Difficult to judge, and I would say I made purchases in line with my long-term behaviour, so the estimated averaged footprint remains constant at 0.30 tonnes.
Car manufacture
For the purposes of this exercise, there is no cause to adjust last year's estimate of an amortised amount of 0.80 tonnes. Only when I get rid of a car (or perhaps make a second-hand trade to a smaller car) can I reduce or eliminate this component of the footprint.
Buildings, furniture and appliances
My footprint would be very low over the past twelve months, but my estimate of 1.00 tonnes was meant to be a time average. For consistency and comparison with last year, I'll stick with it, but think this might be something that might be revised when I reconsider the appropriateness of the estimate.
Recreation and services
Again I suspect my estimate may be too high, but as my behaviour hasn't changed much, I'll continue with last year's estimate of 1.25 tonnes.
Finance and other services
Ditto, continuing with last year's estimate of 0.36 tonnes. Any changes (such as moving to paperless statements with some providers) are likely to have a negligible impact.
Share of public services
This is largely out of my control, and remains constant at 1.28 tonnes. I doubt I have significantly reduced my water consumption as my efforts have not been as strong as I would have liked in this regard.
Offsets
I have not made any payments to offset anything. This is in part because I believe that we can't solve climate change unless we each prioritise reducing our own footprint.
The total result is a footprint of about 7.3 tonnes, down from 8.1 tonnes last year, about a 10% reduction. About half of that was achieved by not flying, which is a one-off reduction. It will be way beyond expectations to achieve a cut of similar size next year. In fact, major changes are required to achieve further significant cuts. For example:
- To achieve a reduction in gas consumption I perhaps need to review the insulation of my house (as well as being frugal and trying to cook less).
- I may struggle to reduce mileage, but (while there is no car club locally) I could trade my car second hand for a more economical (smaller) model.
- If I can reduce my reliance on ready meals then I may perhaps be able to justify a reduction in my footprint from food and drink. However, given my busy life I will need to find time to invest in learning about a wider range of foods and cooking.
I'll start by reviewing how my carbon footprint has changed since last year (using last year's basis of estimation for consistency) and will consider making another post another time if any research prompts me to revise my estimate.
Gas
The new boiler (and perhaps, a warm winter) has done wonders, reducing my energy consumption to 4,500 kwH (for the previous three years it was in the 6000 - 7000 kWH range), down about 30%. My carbon footprint from this source has therefore reduced from 1.14 tonnes to 0.86 tonnes.
Electricity
I claim only a very small footprint from electricity as I use a 100% renewable supplier, but I feel it's still important to try to reduce consumption to increase the capacity for other users. I managed to reduce from about 1,800 kwH to 1,600 kwH. I suspect this may be partly due to me switching from 40 degree to 30 degree laundry washes.
Car Mileage
I drove 1,788 miles between MOT certificates. As this was lower than my estimate of normal usage of 2,000 miles I feel I can claim a reduction in the footprint from 0.56 tonnes to 0.50 tonnes.
Public Transport
I've looked at my expenditure and reckon that I probably travelled about the same distance by public transport as last year. That's worth 0.23 tonnes.
Flights
None, so that reduces from 0.40 tonnes to nil tonnes.
Food and Drink
This was difficult to estimate last year. I think I've made some improvements (for example, going vegetarian one day per week, taking food miles into consideration), but I'm a long way from being perfect. I'll estimate a token small reduction from 0.75 tonnes to 0.72 tonnes without having any way of measuring it.
Clothes and Shoes
Difficult to judge, and I would say I made purchases in line with my long-term behaviour, so the estimated averaged footprint remains constant at 0.30 tonnes.
Car manufacture
For the purposes of this exercise, there is no cause to adjust last year's estimate of an amortised amount of 0.80 tonnes. Only when I get rid of a car (or perhaps make a second-hand trade to a smaller car) can I reduce or eliminate this component of the footprint.
Buildings, furniture and appliances
My footprint would be very low over the past twelve months, but my estimate of 1.00 tonnes was meant to be a time average. For consistency and comparison with last year, I'll stick with it, but think this might be something that might be revised when I reconsider the appropriateness of the estimate.
Recreation and services
Again I suspect my estimate may be too high, but as my behaviour hasn't changed much, I'll continue with last year's estimate of 1.25 tonnes.
Finance and other services
Ditto, continuing with last year's estimate of 0.36 tonnes. Any changes (such as moving to paperless statements with some providers) are likely to have a negligible impact.
Share of public services
This is largely out of my control, and remains constant at 1.28 tonnes. I doubt I have significantly reduced my water consumption as my efforts have not been as strong as I would have liked in this regard.
Offsets
I have not made any payments to offset anything. This is in part because I believe that we can't solve climate change unless we each prioritise reducing our own footprint.
The total result is a footprint of about 7.3 tonnes, down from 8.1 tonnes last year, about a 10% reduction. About half of that was achieved by not flying, which is a one-off reduction. It will be way beyond expectations to achieve a cut of similar size next year. In fact, major changes are required to achieve further significant cuts. For example:
- To achieve a reduction in gas consumption I perhaps need to review the insulation of my house (as well as being frugal and trying to cook less).
- I may struggle to reduce mileage, but (while there is no car club locally) I could trade my car second hand for a more economical (smaller) model.
- If I can reduce my reliance on ready meals then I may perhaps be able to justify a reduction in my footprint from food and drink. However, given my busy life I will need to find time to invest in learning about a wider range of foods and cooking.
