how big is your carbon frontprint ?

lukegriffen

With environmental issues big on the agenda, I'd be interested in hearing about any small changes people have made.

Today, I was in the supermarket, and for possibly the first time in years, instead of getting a new world wine, which has to travel a long way, I decideded to start looking at the French & Spanish & ended up getting a rioja.

Then instead of buying Low Low in the plastic tub, I got a 1lb of Kerrygold in the paper wrapper
So while my waistline is increasing, hopefully my carbon footprint is getting smaller !

So has anyone else changed their behaviour in shopping or other matters ?

Sarsfield

Over the last year or so (I'm new to this environmental thing):

I've improved insulation/draught proofing around doors & windows.
CFLs where possible. Dimmer switches on incandescent bulbs.
I only use the washing machine when there's a full load.
I unplug everything at night (I used to be very bad for leaving stuff on standby, and I had the PC on 24/7)
I unplug my phone charger as soon as my phone is charged.
I use electricity off peak as much as possible (doing my bit to reduce peak demand and therefore the number of power stations that need to be built!)
Public transport everywhere (I've no car!)
I only ever buy European wine!

dubtom

I'm getting sick to the teeth of hearing about how bad my 'footprint' is in this new green world of ours. I'm all for a cleaner world and will do my bit, but in reality I don't produce any of these products that create the pollution, I just buy them because there isn't a viable alternative and the only reason they are produced in the first place is because they make so much money for the manufactorers, but yet I'm hearing, nearly constantly it seems, that I need to clean my act up.Now it seems, I produce 1 ton of carbon when I take a plane jorney to new york, so make a plane that uses less fuel or better still, create a fuel that isn't dirty. Make cars that run on sugar and I'll buy one.Stop producing stuff that creates the crap in the first place I say.But the reality is that these people who produce the dirty products, be they fuel or whatever, won't change because they don't have to. They'll just guilt trip stupid ole joe soap into changing our behaviour, taking responabilty for something that none of us are responsible for.We would still be using coal that chocked this city 20 years ago untill Europe banned it,suddenly a smokless version was introduced it seems overnight.If the same thing was done for dirty fuels I guarentee an alternative would be introduced in no time.

Sorry for the rant.

SeanW

I've focused on avoiding the "electricity rush" saving any cooking or washing until after 7 or 8 PM. I recycle what I can but that's not much because there's no way to recycle plastics out here, batteries etc. I try to avoid plastic packaging where possible but that's not easy - everything one buys these days seems to be overpackaged in plastic. Crazy. I use public transport in preference to anything else but I drive a little bit too - its kinda fun but if I drive long term I'll be looking at some kind of biodiesel setup. I only use CFL lightbulbs wherever possible. I turn off most devices when I'm not using them and unplug some.

I agree with dubtom that it's up to individuals to clean up their carbon footprints only up to a certain point - I think the government/business needs to grow some major backbone and do their bit too.

silverharp

As an individual I can’t get excited about my personal carbon footprint, however I achieve the same goal by being motivated by sustainable living and saving money. Among the things I have done is to only to work within a half hour commute to work by public transport, since the summer I now cycle to work but this was motivated more by fitness concerns, however I am now a complete convert and can’t abide sitting in traffic.
At home have started buying organic and the supplier we use tries to buy in season food and we have amended our cooking habits accordingly. The heating is only turned up after woolly jumpers and 2 pairs of socks isn’t working. Got the cavity walls insulated and insulated the attic (roof and floor). Have compost bins for organic and garden waste.
Next project is a water butt for the garden and longer term a new heat extracting boiler and maybe a solar system if it financially makes sense.
At the same time I don’t think twice about flying and will do as long as it’s affordable, and recognise that just living in a city means that a lot of resources are being used to keep me in the style to which I am accustomed.

mike65

Not much point doing anything else if you fly without thinking tbh.

Mike.

silverharp

mike65 wrote:

Not much point doing anything else if you fly without thinking tbh.

Mike.

That’s the nub of it any steps I have taken are lifestyle related or an attempt at future proofing, on a personal level I can say that if I fly or not will not alter the flight schedules therefore I have no incentive to see myself flying as causing any damage, short of people being issued with a carbon allowance, majority behaviour won’t change to alter emissions significantly. I could argue that to the extent that Ireland cuts its fossil fuel consumption, China and the rest of the world would increase their consumption

still

It seems to me we have a very serious problem when everyone (especially those posting here) are calling for change and something to be done about the environmental problem we are facing and at the same time using phrases like

"I'm all for a cleaner world and will do my bit, but in reality I don't produce any of these products that create the pollution, I just buy them because there isn't a viable alternative and the only reason they are produced in the first place is because they make so much money for the manufactorers" (Dubtom)

and following it with

"Make cars that run on sugar and I'll buy one.Stop producing stuff that creates the crap in the first place I say.But the reality is that these people who produce the dirty products, be they fuel or whatever, won't change because they don't have to. They'll just guilt trip stupid ole joe soap into changing our behaviour, taking responabilty for something that none of us are responsible for" (Dubtom).

We are al responsible, every time you buy a product that you feel has a negative effect on the environment you are agreeing with the manufacturer that it is acceptable to make this product or package it in that packaging.

Comments like

"on a personal level I can say that if I fly or not will not alter the flight schedules therefore I have no incentive to see myself flying as causing any damage, short of people being issued with a carbon allowance, majority behaviour won’t change to alter emissions significantly." (silverharp)

show that people are not wiling to take responsibility for their actions. It seems like even those with great intentions (posters here incl myself) fail to carrying out their intentions in their actions. It is only to easy to but that product or take that flight but in reality things will not change unless we do,

i dont know who said it (or if the quote is accurate) but a revolution starts with one man.

being the only one not to fly or buy the product is hard and even hard to continually do as you dont see any direct benefit as there doesnot seem to be any collective effort. when this happens to me i think of the 2 people i know who try and make an effort like i do and say that 3 people, then i imagine the others i dont know and say that could be 3,000 in ireland and to me these 3000 will make a difference

im far from perfect myself in these acts and have flown but very rarely and try my best to but local products etc etc but i do faulter and will continue to do so, but every time i do i dont let it get to me i just try and make up for it.

we can all make a small amount of difference, and together this can "alter the flight schedules " (silverharp) and "Stop producing stuff that creates the crap in the first place" (dubtom)

give it a lash, even if its only a small contribution i for one would appreciate it

dubtom

I hear what you are saying Still but to me any effort that is tried by those 3 or 3 thousand people is immediatly neagted by the 2 billion in China who know nothing of green issues and continue to choke the atmotsphere with carbon.
Maybe I'm being simplistic, but I think that collective Goverments of the world could do more with the stroke of a pen than 10 million could do by turning out that light or insulating their house. Light bulbs are an example. If CFL were the only ones produced and sold how much energy would that save.My point is that we are being asked to use CFL's, if 'normal' bulbs were no longer produced we would have to use them. Only Goverments can make that happen by banning them. My inital point is that the buck is being passed to the consumer, wrongly in my opinion, in that the powers that be can do more,quicker,than all our combined efforts, if they really cared instead of piecmeal percentage quota's that they argue about doing in 10 years.

mike65

China has more solar powered homes than the rest of the world combined I belive. Its policy to build them into the design something this country could learn from. This country and the west generally has no excuses really, the recent budget was a joke from that point of view and yet some have claimed it makes a step in the right driection. A damned small one.

What others are doing

http://www.californiasolarproject.org/
http://www.wentworth.nsw.gov.au/solartower/
http://sharp-world.com/solar/point/example.html
http://www.electricityforum.com/news/jun03/chinasolar.html
http://www.lvvwd.com/html/about_facilities_solar.html
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2006/2006-06-30-02.asp

Mike.

Sarsfield

dubtom wrote:

...any effort that is tried by those 3 or 3 thousand people is immediatly neagted by the 2 billion in China who know nothing of green issues and continue to choke the atmotsphere with carbon.

A Kg of CO2 saved is a Kg of CO2 saved. Regardless of what others do.

I forgot to mention I fly short haul about 10 times per annum But I do fly with Ryanair which claims to have the most efficient aircraft and spend the least time holding & taxying! But that doesn't make my energy saving steps useless. It still has a net effect.

Celticfire

Sarsfield wrote:

A Kg of CO2 saved is a Kg of CO2 saved. Regardless of what others do.

I forgot to mention I fly short haul about 10 times per annum But I do fly with Ryanair which claims to have the most efficient aircraft and spend the least time holding & taxying! But that doesn't make my energy saving steps useless. It still has a net effect.

So by that token all I have to do is turn off one light in the house at night and no matter what else I do I'm still doing my part? Every little bit and all that.... :rolleyes:

silverharp

Celticfire wrote:

So by that token all I have to do is turn off one light in the house at night and no matter what else I do I'm still doing my part? Every little bit and all that.... :rolleyes:

With respect this is a pointless remark, as there is no agreed benchmark as to personal acceptable output of CO2. This isn't a "religious" issue where one sin and you go to hell.

Celticfire

silverharp wrote:

With respect this is a pointless remark, as there is no agreed benchmark as to personal acceptable output of CO2. This isn't a "religious" issue where one sin and you go to hell.

My point relates to the statement of "a kilo saved is a kilo saved regardless of what others do"

I find that a pointless remark, as I find it pointless to think that because you saved a little bit here and there but then use more than the average person elsewhere that you're "doing your bit".

The only thing "religious" about this issue is the blind faith that people have in following the whole global warming bandwagon.

Sarsfield

Last year I flew to London 10 times, a total of about 5500 miles.

I don't own or drive a car and am rarely even in one as a passenger.

Using this CO2 calculator my 5500 miles in the air used the same amount of CO2 as doing 4400 miles in a car. Yes, flying generates less CO2 per mile than driving.

How many miles does the average Irish driver clock up each year?

In the past year, my annual ESB consumption has dropped by about 1500kWh or roughly 650Kg of CO2. The rolling annual saving will drop lower as I've achieved the best savings over the last 6 months.

So are you still telling me that my 650Kg saving was pointless?

Incidentally, a 650Kg saving in kWh equates to about €150 saving in my pocket

Celticfire

Sarsfield wrote:

So are you still telling me that my 650Kg saving was pointless?

Incidentally, a 650Kg saving in kWh equates to about €150 saving in my pocket

Money in your pocket is never pointless. Using less to save money is a sound idea .

But unless you can prove that the power station supplying your house powered down and used less fuel during the period that you were using less electricity then all you did was save money not reduce co2 as this was still produced regardless. So I'm guessing that 650kg is actually floating out there somewhere.

Sarsfield

Celticfire wrote:

But unless you can prove that the power station supplying your house powered down and used less fuel during the period that you were using less electricity then all you did was save money not reduce co2 as this was still produced regardless.

It did power down for me, and I have a recyclable certificate and eco-friendly gold star (with no sharp edges) from the ESB as proof.

Celticfire

Sarsfield wrote:

It did power down for me, and I have a recyclable certificate and eco-friendly gold star (with no sharp edges) from the ESB as proof.

Can't argue with a gold star......... ( even if produced from a strip mine )

silverharp

Sarsfield wrote:

Incidentally, a 650Kg saving in kWh equates to about €150 saving in my pocket

Can I ask a devil's advocate question, what did you do with the saving?

did you/will you spend the money on consumtion items which will have a negetive CO2 effect now or in the future?

no leaf clover

hello new hear, let me know if this is an over-used suggestion... we are all aware that we are producing carbon, buying excess plastic etc etc, and all aware that we are making individual efforts, and all that.. but why when we have a facility like this boards.ie , where collectively we are aware, why can we not collectively use or voices (or fingers...) against large supermarkets, i will not name names at this point, but just for things like packaging, get onto the company as a collective body, many names, many people willing to "boycott" products until action is taken against the excess packaging etc... i say all this solely because, many people will say that while they are doing their bit, jimmy up the road might not, so why would they seek unification with jmmy against the chomhlachtai mór, whereas here we have a group of people with the same opinion, why not **corny** work together? i mean this with all good intentions, and amnt tryin to form the next big group in the race against waste.. but would like to think similiar opinions can be voiced together to get somethign done..

cheers..
nlc

Sarsfield

silverharp wrote:

Can I ask a devil's advocate question, what did you do with the saving?

did you/will you spend the money on consumtion items which will have a negetive CO2 effect now or in the future?

The saving wasn't directly allocated to another project - I'm an individual, not a corporate entity. I don't do accounts to that level.

So one could equally argue is was spent on home insulation, investment in new energy research (via an investment fund) or alternatively on 3 flights to London. Or as my savings have grown over the last year you could even argue is is still unspent.

I'm inclined to say it's gone into savings as I didn't increase expenditure as a direct result of the saving on electricity.

SeanW

To a certain extent I think individuals are powerless when it comes to electricity carbon footprints - these are issues much bigger and more complex than the individual. Sorry in advance for the negativity but this is how I see it.

The problem with CO2 from electricity is to do with the generation of the stuff, not from the individuals use. For example, while we depend on filthy power forms of fossil fuels and peat, the French get 90% of their electricity from nuclear and hydroelectric sources, meaning less than 10% of their juice comes from thermal processes.

Put bluntly, that means me here with my CFL lightbulbs, A rated fridge and washing machine (which only ever gets used outside the energy rush), TFT screen etc, I have a larger electrical carbon footprint that some eejit in France who leaves their incandescent lightbulbs on 24/7, leaves the Big Screen TV on standby, uses a 20 year old fridge-freezer passed down from their parents and just bought a GeForce 8 graphics card for the PC.

>_< It drives me crazy to think about this stuff sometimes. Now, I'd happily buy my electricity from a guaranteed nuclear or renewable source, hell I'd even pay extra for EITHER, but that's not possible. So I do what I can but am under no illusions as to what good it actually does.

Sarsfield

I agree with everything you say SeanW.

Console yourself with the thought that every kWh you save reduces CO2 more than a kWh saved by the nuclear powered Frenchman

I really, really wish I could choose a green electricity provider.

gonk

Sarsfield wrote:

I really, really wish I could choose a green electricity provider.

You can - Airtricity are taking on residential business again. They had stopped for a year or so I think. They are the same price as ESB, but you can at least feel you're doing something for the environment at no extra cost or effort to yourself.

See: http://www.airtricity.com/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/residential_enquiries/

Sarsfield

Excellent! Nothing but clean, CO2 free electrons flowing through my house

OK, maybe like was suggested earlier, this won't really effect what actually happens in the nations generation system but a significant move by customers to providers of sustainable energy might make corporate and political Ireland take notice. And at no cost to the consumer.

And it also means I can feel smug and complain about other peoples carbon emissions. And there's nothing I like more than being smug and complaining

Celticfire

gonk wrote:

You can - Airtricity are taking on residential business again. They had stopped for a year or so I think. They are the same price as ESB, but you can at least feel you're doing something for the environment at no extra cost or effort to yourself.

See: http://www.airtricity.com/ireland/switch_to_airtricity/residential_enquiries/

As far as I'm aware Airtricity can't meet peak demand and are buying electricity from the ESB who in turn are buying nuclear and fossil produced power from the UK. Bye bye "green" electricity.

Sarsfield

Celticfire wrote:

As far as I'm aware Airtricity can't meet peak demand and are buying electricity from the ESB who in turn are buying nuclear and fossil produced power from the UK. Bye bye "green" electricity.

Well I'm an off-peak user. My domestic consumption between 09:00 and 20:00 is very very low. Most of the serious stuff (space & water heating, washing machine etc.) happens during nightsaver hours.

netwhizkid

For 2006, I emitted 28,506kg CO2 or 7782.4KG of Carbon, It sure is alot of Co2 and works out about 2 and a half tonnes of CO2 per month, however for this month of January I have already emitted 4.5tonnes. Presuming that calculator is accurate.

Global Warming better bring Warm Summers :mad: Shakes fist !:D