Many students using our footprint calculator said that they could not pledge to reduce their home footprints because they were not making the decisions for the household. Here is your chance to design your own sustainable virtual household!
If you had your own home, what would you do to make it more energy efficient? Where would you get your electricity from? Where would your house be? Would you live near to your school or work or local transit options? Where would you get your food from?
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My Family Carbon Footprint Solution
When talking about reducing carbon footprint, it is important to know the definition and the cause of it. The definition of a carbon footprint is the measurement of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we have emitted by our actions and the main cause of a larger carbon footprint is the amount of energy needed for transportation, technology, food, manufacturing, etc. All of this information begs the question, how can we be more energy efficient? To reduce your family’s carbon footprint you should limit the amount of energy spent at home such as lights, ventilation, heat, etc. An example of this would be to turn off the lights when light is produced by the sun and only turn them on when needed. To become more energy efficient, use alternative energy such as solar panels and wind energy from SMUD or other clean energy companies. When thinking about the location you should be in a town or a small city to help with less transportation and try to live nearby important places, either work or school. When talking about the topic of food, it depends on the habits of an individual rather than the location. A more energy-sustaining food source would be a garden or a local farmers' market as it takes less energy to produce and time to find groceries