One of the biggest greenhouse gas impacts you can have is from energy use in your home. (Note we'll talk about travel in another blog).
Gas supply
Residential energy use is dominated by gas use for heating (and cooking) in the UK. About 20% of our total UK carbon emissions footprint is from residential gas consumption. And for most people on a dual-fuel contract, even if it is a green tariff, that means that you're emitting carbon dioxide.
The best move - and one that, in the UK at least, we'll all be encouraged to move towards - will be to have electric boilers, rather than gas. This is good news as renewable electricity has begun to be over half our generated power in the UK. However, until it's time for your boiler to be replaced, you might have more limited options. So consider:
Lowering your thermostat by a degree or two - or have it on for shorter periods in the day and turning off radiators in the spare room for example. And put on a jumper rather than switching the heating on immediately.
Double glazing, loft insulation, draft proofing - methods to improve the efficiency of your home in terms of retaining heat.
Get some solar panels or ground source heat pumps to improve your energy usage.
Note that currently the UK's green deal will allow you to do some improvements to your home to make it more energy efficient or invest in renewable generation, and even when this scheme ends, it's likely that there will be other funding or incentives for people to invest in their homes' efficiency.
Electricity supply
When it comes to electricity, the UK measures carbon emissions at the power plant rather than in the home. But if you don't have gas in your home, but are not on a green tariff, then you're still contributing to carbon emissions. The best way to become carbon neutral for your energy is to switch your supplier to a 100% green electricity tariff. This is one which is backed by wind turbines, solar or other renewable sources. And these can be VERY competitive on price (you should always be switching provider before you roll onto the standard rates, so this should be something you are doing each year or so anyway just from a cost perspective) - we're currently on a green tariff from one of the smaller suppliers that was the cheapest option on the market at the time we switched (and still is as energy prices seem to be gently increasing at the moment). Even when you've done this, it's still good to:
Switch off unwanted lights and appliances - that means not even on standby, and even chargers plugged in can use energy.
When you're upgrading your utilities and appliances, choose high energy rating models which use the least energy for their function.
Rack-dry or line-dry your washing rather than using your tumble drier.
Hope that gives you some ideas. Let us know if you have more easy wins or thing's you've tried.
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