Students from around the world calculated their class mean and standard deviations for their footprints and posted them on our world map.
Do you see differences across the globe? If so, why do you think those differences exist?
Did you use the calculator to try to reduce your footprint down to the average from a citizen of another country? What changes would you have to make to lower your footprint in this way? Are you going to try and take some of these actions in your daily life?
Student Footprints >
Easiest Way to Reduce My Home Energy
Hello! After computing my own carbon footprint, I realized that I really should cut down on the amount of CO2 released because of my home energy. This number skyrocketed above the rest and ended up being 23,236. My family and I like to have a brightly lit house (sometimes even when we're not home). Lights are used almost all of the time in our house and I never thought about the negative impact the lights would have on the environment until I calculated my carbon footprint. The first and easiest thing I will do to reduce my footprint will be to turn the lights off. I will also unplug all electronics when I am not using them. I read about this option on a website called COTAP.org. It's simple and there really is no reason for a light to be on in a room that no one is even in. I hope I can reduce my footprint by thousands by just turning off a few lights.
Yes!!! Not only willl turning off the lights and unplugging unused electronics from the wall be beneifical to our environment, but it also saves from your next electric bil. That part reallly intices my household to be more efficient in their energy use.
We were the same way for a really long time and then my family got educated on the effects of energy on our society and since then we have cut our electricity use my half. We also turned off for a water when we were brushing our teeth. We also started taking shorter showers. You noticed a huge difference in our electricity bill and before and after calculating our footprint it made us feel better and more comfortable about her decision to be more thoughtful and conservative with our electricity use.
If light is a problem then i would recommend only using lights at night and during the day just open your windows, a simple solution. Or you could use more candles or lights that are more energy efficient. Natural light allows you to save energy while providing light that is less straining on they eyes.
I would like to add input because my house had the least amount of CO2 extraction besides purchases. You mentioned that you think that yours is so high due to leaving the lights on, well, I have to agree with you from just what you have told us. I say this because in my house, my parents both have fulltime jobs and us kids are at school all day so the lights are often not even on. Lots of other things in my house had a bad impact on the environment however, barely using the lights took away a lot of footprint “points”.
You also made a point about unplugging electronics when they aren’t being used, or have been charged all the way. Great point! That didn’t even cross my mind, but I think that is major. As well as being so simple! I too have a source you can check out. It talks about energy, and how it connects to our lifestyles and quality of life. It’s quite interesting, and I think it builds off of the lights and charging since both those things require great amounts of energy.
source: https://cleanet.org/clean/literacy/energy7.html
I also think that anyone and everyone can help by simple tasks like, as you stated, turning off your lights. Helping this controversial problem of climate change and carbon dioxide emissions doesn't have to be something genius that no one thought of before. Just by using walking as transportation and using less electricity can help a lot if many people are consistent.
I think that we can help prevent global warming by using things like bike stations so that people have a reason to skip driving or electrically fueled buses for people in a hurry. If more people become aware of this, people will encourage one another to save as much energy as we can.
Sources: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-you-ca … al-warming
This is my same exact problem, my home footprint is a crazily high number. My families biggest problem is forgetting to turn lights off and we also have the fans on a lot. I would really like to find a way to reduce this. I was also reading other peoples comments and someone suggested to unplug things when they're not in use and I never thought about that till now and that's actually a really good idea. Thank you to whoever said that. I think for sure just remember turning the lights off in whatever room you're in if you're not using them or when you leave that room. It will really show a difference in your footprint. And if you catch yourself forgetting put a sticky not by the light switch to help you remember.
I hear you, I'm trying to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint left by my home energy usage too, I have a couple of ideas for how to do that. 1st. I want to try getting to bed several hours earlier, the less time I'm up at night means the less time I need to keep unnecessary lights on. 2nd. I'm going to try to avoid using my phone for recreational purposes, this way I won't have to use energy on recharging it as often. Anyway, that's just a couple of ideas, I hope you found them useful.