From installing solar panels on your roof to eating less meat, here are a number of things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.
Invest in renewable energy
Investing in your own off-grid power supply, and including solar energy, can have a positive impact on the environment. Solar power can help reduce CO2 emissions by mainly being a clean and renewable source of energy. It doesn’t rely on burning fossil fuels or other products; therefore it does not create greenhouse gases. Instead, it relies on electrons captured from the sun’s energy. By putting solar panels on your roof, not only does it reduce your carbon footprint, but it can also save you money on energy bills.
Another off-grid power source you could invest in is wind turbines. Wind power has some of the lowest environmental impacts when compared to other sources of electricity. For instance, wind power reduces carbon emissions, saves billions of gallons of water a year, and cuts air pollution.
Switch to clean energy suppliers
If investing in your own off-grid power sources isn’t an option for you, there are still ways to use renewable power in your home. By switching to a gas and electricity supplier that provides 100% clean energy, you can help to reduce greenhouse emissions associated with power use and have a very real impact on the environment. Not only will using cleaner energy reduce your carbon footprint, but many of these ‘green’ suppliers invest in building a more renewable generation.
Contribute to carbon offset schemes
Flying is renowned as having a large carbon impact, so if you do need to take a flight, you can help reduce your carbon footprint by contributing to a carbon offsetting scheme. These schemes involve voluntarily paying extra to environmental projects in order to make up for the emissions that your flight has produced. These projects are typically forestry projects, which aim to limit deforestation or plant new trees, or energy projects, which invest in renewable technology. Another way to make a difference is to limit your number of flights and take alternative transport, like trains, where possible.
Drive less
Leave the car at home. Choose to walk, bike or take the bus instead as these are great and simple ways you can make a difference. Cities are changing their infrastructure to become more cycle-friendly, have more effective public transportation and increase their walkability, giving people less excuse to get behind the wheel.
Eat less meat
You don’t have to have a complete lifestyle change and become a vegan or a vegetarian to make a difference to your carbon impact. Just by eating less meat, particularly beef and pork can deliver a significant benefit on its own. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are created through deforestation to make way for livestock, along with methane emissions from cows and fertiliser uses, are having a hefty impact on the environment. Cutting down on meat can make a big difference.
