5 Easy Ways to Reduce Greenhouse Gas
Based on analysis provided by the Australian Greenhouse Office, there are five household activities that stand above the others when it comes to production greenhouse gases.
Five of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the average household are:
- Travel (to work, shopping, recreation etc)
- Water heating
- General electrical devices
- Heating/cooling
- Lighting
Here, I’m going to discuss some of the easiest things we can do to lower the greenhouse gas emissions from our households. To get the biggest “bang for our buck”, we should first target those activities that produce the most greenhouse gas (such as the 5 listed above).
You might find many of my suggestions blatantly obvious. That’s OK. But remember that despite how obvious some these are, billions of people around the world choose not to change - they’re too used to their way of life.
If we really want to reduce our carbon footprint, we need to break some of the habits that have been ingrained in us for so long. Fortunately this is easier than it sounds. All we need to do is make a decision - do we want to make a difference or not? Once that decision has been made, the rest will come naturally.
Anyway, here are the big 5.
Travel
Some estimates have found that 34% of household greenhouse gas emissions comes from travel. Furthermore, a large part of these greenhouse gases come from cars.
By using our cars less, we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint. Try walking or cycling instead. As well as environmental benefits, there are also health benefits from doing this. Next time you do your grocery shopping, throw on a backpack and cycle to the supermarket. Throw all your groceries into your backpack and cycle home. You’ll feel much better for it!
Water Heating
Water heating is a high producer of greenhouse gas. This highlights the need to really be mindful of how much hot water we use. Maybe we should ask ourselves some questions like:
- “Do I really need to spend 15 minutes under a hot shower every day?”
- “Do I really need to use hot water when washing my clothes?”
- “Do I really need to fill the sink up to the brim each time I wash the dishes?”
Electrical Devices
Electrical devices are high greenhouse gas producers too. Devices such as TVs, stereos, computers, printers, scanners etc all produce loads of greenhouse gas.
The sad thing about this is that, up to 13% of household greenhouse gas is produced while our electrical appliances are turned off. When turned off, these devices still consume electricity and produce greenhouse gas.
As well asking ourselves “Do I really need this device…”, we should also remember to pull the plug out at the wall when finished with these devices.
Another thing to do is, when purchasing electrical appliances, try to look for the most energy efficient appliances. Depending on where you live, your government might require all electrical appliances to be rated for their energy efficiency. This type of system will make it easier for you.
Heating/cooling
Again, an obvious question to ask is “Do I really need the heater on all the time”. Or if you live in a warmer climate “Do I really need the air conditioner on all the time?” .
In cooler climates, try keeping your body warm - not the room. What I mean by this is, instead of putting the heater/radiator on, wear warm clothing instead (or just move around a lot more!). And if you’re sitting on the couch at home and you’re getting cold, wrap a bed sheet around you, or place it over your legs. You’ll be amazed how soon you warm up.
In warmer climates, opening windows and letting air through can often cool you down significantly. A cold shower or swim is always refreshing too!
Lights
We should get into the habit of turning lights off when we don’t need them. Or even better, don’t turn them on if we don’t need to.
We could also make sure we buy energy efficient light bulbs. They use far less energy than traditional light bulbs and produce much less greenhouse gas. Although, if you do buy energy efficient light bulbs, just make sure you dispose of them properly.
Tags: carbon footprint, electricity, energy, greenhouse gas
January 29th, 2008 at 6:49 am
[...] my post about reducing greenhouse gas, I discuss some of the things each of us can do to reduce our carbon [...]
January 29th, 2008 at 7:29 am
What you suggest is just to act like 2000 years ago. Let’s just dress with some animal skin so that it will keep us warm ( fire produces greenhouse effect ). Let’s just have a bath once per month. Let’s just use horses instead of bikes (someone emitted greenhouse gases to produce the bike ) and so on.
The problem is somewhere else. We have to understand how we really influence climate, all the variables in this ecuation and after that, find some means to counteract the greenhouse effect. I think it is a more logical solution to try to develope new technologies than to cut short all the benefits of development. We should invest more in trying to develope free greenhouse effect technologies.
You could read the articles found on http://www.whatisclimate.com to learn more about climate.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I’m not suggesting we act like 2000 years ago, or to cut short all the benefits of development. I agree we need to continue to learn more about how to counteract the greenhouse effect.
Unfortunately, too many people just assume that someone else will one day take care of it, and that “one day the scientists will find a solution”. So they continue to waste water, waste electricity, burn through the gas, simply because they never really thought about it too much.
What I’m suggesting are practical things that each of us can do *now* to help reduce the greenhouse gas produced by our households. I believe we should be able to reach a good balance, without sacrificing our comfort.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:57 am
[...] developing greener habits, we can all do our part in reducing global warming. For example, here are 5 ways to reduce greenhouse gases. And here are some simple steps you can take to live [...]