As we look back at the global record breaking summer we just had, it’s impossible not to think of the ways in which our carbon emissions have affected our environment. While temperatures have never been higher, ecological awareness has never been greater. You can monitor and even reverse your carbon imprint by limiting certain habits and behaviors.
Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Here are just a few ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint:
1 – Driving
Many of us are using cars on a daily basis, so this seems like a good place to start. The simplest measure is to reconsider your style of driving. If you have a habit of accelerating and decelerating abruptly, try a more steady, even approach to greatly reduce the amount of fuel your engine consumes. It is also recommended to do regular check-ups on your car, especially on the tires, to increase fuel efficiency as tires can cause the release of around 500 pounds of CO2 per year.
2 – Air Travel
Planes release tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases, so if you’re really looking to minimize your carbon footprint, you should really consider the need for each flight before you take off. Just one trip can account for weeks of carbon emission.
3 – At Home
Putting forth the effort and investment to maximize a home’s energy efficiency will not only drastically reduce your monthly energy bill, but it will more importantly reduce the amount of wasted energy your home consumes. Although it may be difficult to pull off financially and logistically, insulating your home will make the greatest difference towards limiting your home’s carbon footprint.
Turning off your lights whenever you don’t need them seems like such a small thing to do, but if everyone did it, we could make a collective difference.
The same applies to Thermostats. Modern models are programmable, making it possible for you to automatically have the temperature of your room cooled down when you’re not at home.
4 – Food
The type of food that consumes the greatest amount of energy and releases the largest quantity of greenhouse gases is meat. This doesn’t mean you have to become a vegan to be eco-conscious, but increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet is a step you can take to minimize your carbon footprint and improve your health.
5 – Other Ways
There are many other areas in your life where it is possible to make things more energy-efficient. You can drastically reduce the amount of trash you produce by reusing items like plastic bags. Consciously not buying more food than you will be able to eat at a given time will also make a noticeable difference. As for the trash you still end up producing, it is possible to decrease its negative impacts by practicing waste separation.
Also, it is always a good practice to keep an eye on your water usage. Both your cleaning and drinking water requires energy to produce.
If you want to be more proactive, solar panels or windmills for your house can supplement your energy usage.
There are so many steps you can take to reverse your carbon footprint. To learn more about reducing your carbon emissions, you can contact HVAC Construction, Inc.
