One of the significant issues that the world is currently facing is climate change caused by the various activities of human beings. Climate change has been a challenge for the past 200 years, leading to environmental calamity. There are multiple actions that humans can take to minimize the effects of environmental degradation. Reducing the carbon footprint in your home is one of them, which refers to greenhouse gases emitted within the atmosphere due to human activities. Here are various ways of reducing the carbon footprint in your home.
Change to a Plant-Based Diet
Your choice of food significantly affects the climate. For example, the process of food production contributes to a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas release. Dairy and meat products are the leading causes of greenhouse gas emission, with approximately 14.5%. Lowering the consumption of red meat would largely contribute to protecting the environmental atmosphere.
Research from Oxford University determined, if the world opted for a plant-based diet, it would lead to approximately 49% of the greenhouse gases emitted from food production. If you consume a vegan diet, you would only emit 6.4 pounds of carbon dioxide daily and 15.8 pounds of carbon dioxide if you consume meat. Therefore, the vegan diet is the most excellent carbon light while red meat consumption is the heaviest carbon. It means that consuming plant-based foods could reduce your carbon footprint by approximately 20% in your home.
Invest in Energy-efficient Appliances
Manufacturers are now producing energy-efficient electrical appliances that are important in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Additionally, a lot of countries indicate the efficiency of certain goods. Therefore, you can decide to purchase energy-saving home appliances or energy-efficient light bulbs to make your home highly environmentally favorable. You should also switch off and disconnect any electrical device or machine you are not using.
Insulate Your House
Heating your living room or any other space is costly and energy-consuming. Therefore, insulating your walls and loft areas will enable your home to remain cool in summer and maintain heat during winter. It will ensure that you will only utilize minimal energy, therefore, lowering the amount of carbon footprint in your home and the household expenses. Alternatively, you can decide to reside in houses or apartments concerned about energy saving at home and protecting the environment, such as the Gild apartments.
Reduce Water Usage in Your Home
The production and water delivery in our houses require a lot of energy. It also uses a lot of energy to heat it once in our homes. Therefore, reducing water consumption at home can significantly protect our environment by reducing our carbon footprint. You can achieve this by taking a short period in the shower, closing the taps when not in use, and boiling the water you only require.
Change To Renewable Energy
Energy producers are currently providing renewable energy across the world. Therefore, switching to firms that offer power from wind, solar or hydroelectric power can significantly lower carbon footprint emissions in your home. In return, it will reduce the negative effect of climate change. You could also establish solar panels if they are found around your residence. Apart from protecting the environment, you will also reduce the cost of electricity in your house.
According to the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, to reduce the world temperature to 2C or lower, every individual must produce approximately 1.87 tons of carbon footprint yearly by 2050. The Us currently emits 18.3 tons of carbon footprint and 8.2 tons in China. Therefore, we still have a long way to go before attaining the required carbon footprint. You can use carbonfootprint.com to determine the amount of carbon footprint in your home. The adverse effects of climate change caused by human behavior can be frustrating; therefore, every individual should save our environment.
As an individual, you do not have to wait for the government to act upon the issue, as everyone has a role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It includes taking specific measures in your home to reduce the carbon footprint released into the atmosphere. Therefore, making your home eco-friendly is a good step towards reducing the adversity of climate change on our environment. It is by following the above measures and many others to protect our environment.
Author
Ellen Hollington
