How Big Is Your Carbon Footprint?

The environment has hardly been out of the news during 2008, and things are set to continue in the same vein for the foreseeable future as well. But, while many businesses have made very public inroads into reducing their carbon footprints, it seems as if individuals and households are only just starting to jump on the bandwagon.

So what does it all mean? Well, the term ‘carbon footprint’ is really a way of telling how much harm we are doing to the world around us by way of what we do in our lives. So for example, let’s say there are two houses right next door to each other. One house uses 50 percent more fossil fuels to cover all their daily needs than the other house does. Assuming all other things are equal, this means that this house will have a carbon footprint that is 50 percent bigger than the house next door.

The good news is that there is a lot you can do to start reducing your own footprint. Some people assume that this will mean more expenses for them, but quite often this isn’t the case. Being more energy efficient means you will actually spend less money on gas or electricity, so it really does pay to start finding out what you can do.

The basic idea is to make sure that everyone tries to put less CO2 into the atmosphere. As such, one of the easiest ways to make a start is to replace all your existing light bulbs with energy saving ones. These have really come down in price in recent times, and eventually all the current light bulbs we have will no longer be sold. But switching now will save you money in the long run; each and every bulb lasts a lot longer than their more traditional counterparts.

Of course, there are plenty of small things you can do that add up to make a huge difference to your carbon footprint – and to the gas and electric bills you will pay each year. And the prices of such services vary over time, but you can reduce your bills easily by doing basic things such as turning down your heating marginally.

It is rather difficult to say with assurance that either gas or electricity results in more CO2 emissions; this is because electricity can be generated in more than one way. The thing to remember is to cut down on your power usage as much as possible, and compare gas and electricity prices so that you can get the best deal financially at the same time as doing your bit for the environment.

Indeed, it is never too late to start making a change to not only how you behave towards the environment, but also in how you can save money. And considering there a plethora of small things that you can do to help contribute towards reducing your carbon footprint, there really is nothing stopping you.
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Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.