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?
MY Family Footprint >
Improving My Family Footprint
After calculating my family's carbon footprint, I was surprised to find that it was far lower than the average for Americans. Although it is relatively low for our country, it is much higher than the average in the world. According to Science Daily, families in the U.S. emit 5 times as much CO2 as families around the world. This means that all American families, including my own, should make efforts to improve their footprint. In an ideal world where cost and efficiency were not factors, I would make big changes in my household. The first step I would take is to add solar panels to my roof in an effort to source all of my energy through them. This would quickly pay for itself in terms of money and environmental impact. Next, I would drive only electric cars. They do not pollute and can meet all of my transportation needs. Finally, I would guarantee that my household is using only energy efficient, toilets, light bulbs, and appliances. Altogether, these changes could greatly reduce my family's carbon footprint. Unfortunately, many are costly and impractical for the major ity of families not only in the U.S. but around the whole world. In the future, I am interested in pursuing accessible energy-efficient strategies for everyone.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 … 120658.htm
https://www.energystar.gov/products
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/17/el … s-impacts/