What are Carbon Footprints?
So now you know your eco footprint (if not see our article here) but what in the world is a Carbon Footprint, and is it any different?
Simply stated a carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 you release into the air in a given year. CO2 for many years has been blamed for a number of global warming issues including green house gasses.
To see yours you can take either of these quizzes
So what does it all mean? Well simply stated it depends on the types of fuel you use. Using fossil fuel of any type gives of a lot more CO2 than other types of energy. Fossil fuels can be either Oil or Coal based. Burning of organic fuels gives off CO2 but in lesser amounts. There are a lot of alternative ways of heating your home including feedstock pellets. These are pellets that can be burned in a heating stove made from the by products of food and paper production. They are very efficient.
Here are some steps that you can take to help reduce your Carbon Footprint
- Home - electric appliances are much more efficient and give off much less CO2 than do gas appliances. The reason for this is that whatever your local electric plant does to generate electricity it is cheaper to do in mass quantity than if you use gas in your home. Gas products are of course made from oil and although the oil is still relatively cheep it is not as efficient or environmentally friendly as electric appliances. It can also not be said enough that running a fan in the summer with the air conditioning turned 3 degrees higher can save money and greatly reduce your energy consumption. There is no need to try to keep your house at 70 degrees when it is 95 outside. The same can be said with heating. Turn your thermometer down a few degrees in the winter and wear a seater. This will give you a large overall savings and reduce your footprint.
- Transportation - Alternative energy cars help a lot. See our article on the best fuel for you to get more information about them. Using a motorcycle, a scooter, a bicycle, or simply walking can reduce your carbon footprint by as much as half. Carpooling and taking public transportation is another great way to reduce your footprint. Check with your local transportation agency, they may already be running buses on biodiesel.
- Waste - This is also a big one. All those factories that make all those things that we love to throw away release CO2 into the air. But not all of them do so in the same quantity. You will see more factories with green or energy star ratings for better CO2 emission rates. Use this as your basis for what you buy. Then don’t throw it away, reuse, recycle, and give away unwanted items when possible.
Still not enough for you. There are several companies available now who will purchase Carbon offsetting energy, or simply offset your CO2 emissions with plants and trees. You can check them out below.
