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 >
My Perfect Footprint
To start this off, I am going to use my current house as my example for how I would improve my current carbon footprint. My house is a descant sized house with quite a bit of property, so this means a big farm and a chance for a well or spring. Along with the well and farm to help me, I would have solar panels installed so I do not have to rely on a local electric company and pay as much money. I will remember to conserve energy by turning off lights when I leave a room and unplugging an electronic device when it is done charging. The location of my house is already on flat land and close to a shopping center so this will help with easy access to everything around my house. As for transportation, I would probably always drive in a car with two or more people to save the amount of CO2 being produced and reduce the amount of gas and oil we are using.
The main thing you should do Is turn off all the lights when you leave a room. I dont think unplugging devices is that mandatory but dont leave it in all day.
One thing to remember is solar panels only pay off in the long run and are very expensive and could cause temporary economic stress. I do agree that solar panels are the best choice in this scenario, it's just something to consider.