Finding the chase and cutting to it

COP26 is on in the UK and we are all looking at these leaders for what we need to do.

Living in the UK, the average person has a carbon footprint of 13 tonnes a year. Given a population of 67 million, that’s a huge national footprint.

So, where do you fit on that scale? Are you above the 13 tonnes?

Moving house in 2013, getting an electric car in January 2014 and finally making the move to solar panels in August 2014, we have a reasonable idea of what the house is doing. Even more so as we’ve taken the plunge with our vehicle to grid donations.

Since the 1st January, we’ve used a wapping 5.8mWh! But we’ve donated 1.7mWh leaving a consumption of 4.1mWh.

We’re using spare solar energy to save gas usage (on any sunny day), which has increased our electricity usage but our house usage is 4.1 tonnes instead of 4.9 tonnes thanks to these simple measures (excluding our donated electricity from the car). As we’re oscillating between 2 and 4 people in the house, we’ll keep it simple and say we’re two people – that’s 2.1 tonnes each as a max.

I don’t drink milk at all, though I do eat cheese and yoghurt. I have 6 meals a week (max) with meat in them. At least one is purely vegetarian though sometimes we do have more meat free food than that: I make my own soup which is often veggie – I don’t count these meals if they have cheese or cream in them. Most of the food we have is made fresh in the house. I buy tins where possible and unpackaged fruit and veg where possible.

My big thing is baths. My showers are frugal, barely 4 minutes of running water and I keep my water on the cool side, but I do have a 2 hour soaks in the bath. Where possible I try to do this when the solar power can heat the water afterwards, but it’s still my big luxury.

I don’t use bathroom cleaner

Yuk!

No, I use steam. It saves 10 or more plastic bottles a year, no to mention the chemicals. I fizz my own water, which saves many, many plastic water bottles. Where possible, water bottles are reduced.

I still wear a pair of dungerees I bought when I was 14. On average I spend £200 on clothing a year. Shoes typically last 5 years, outdoor coats 5-15 years. I buy classic styles so things don’t go out of fashion.

Yawn, so what?

Well, my carbon footprint is approximately 3.2 tonnes per annum. There’s more I could do. But it’s a start. Especially given the average footprint in the UK is 13 tonnes!

What’s your’s?