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 >
Decreasing My Family's Footprint
In reflecting on my family’s carbon footprint through using the carbon footprint calculator, I realized that the two biggest carbon sources for my family are transportation and home which refers to electronics, water use, and use of lights. Thus, in creating a new home in order to limit my carbon footprint I would focus on decreasing the time lights are on in the house. I would instruct everyone to turn off all lights in the house when everyone is gone and only have on the lights that are needed and turn off the lights when someone leaves a room. I would also make sure that the lights on the exterior of the house are automatic so they do not stay on all night but instead only turn on when someone comes near them. Additionally, I would ask my family members to take showers that are under 6 minutes and limit baths to three times a month. I would also strategically look for a house that is close to my parents’ offices and my school. This would limit the amount of driving that we would have to do which would decrease the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the environment.
Automatic exterior lights that only turn on when someone walks by are a really good idea! I hadn't thought about how much energy that exterior lights use when we forget to turn them off.
Turning off lights is a great place to start. Ensuring that when possible, those lights are also efficient can help a lot too. Appliances in the home make a massive impact as well.