14 Things You Can Do To Reduce Carbon Emissions
Jul 5th, 2007 by Edwin
1. Replace Incandescent Bulbs with Energy Efficient CFL lights or LED bulbs.
Incandescent bulbs are over 100years old and its technology has n’t changed yet. Only 10% of the input energy is converted to Light. Rest are dissipated as heat. Hence by using energy efficient lights like CFL light bulbs and modern LED light bulbs, you can reduce your energy costs significantly.
2. Turn your thermostat to 22C. This will save lots of energy.
The next highest energy consumption occurs for heating and cooling needs. By setting this to just below human body temperature, you will feel comfortable and reduce the energy bills.
3. Turn down your refrigerator to medium cooling mode.
Defrost your refrigerators regularly. Frost takes up more energy to maintain its same state. Reduce the cooling level to medium. This will save huundreds of dollars in year end electricity bills.
4. Use Solar Water Heaters if you are living at place where there are enough sunlight.
The third important enrgy requirment is for heating water. By using solar water heaters, you can easily save hundreds of dollars from year round energy bills. Also in my opinion, Solar water heaters heats well compared to normal electricity geysers.
5. Turn off the lights and Appliances when not in Use.
Appliances in standby can take up electricity. Hence if they are not in use turn it off. Normally a TV set with standby feature can take upto 5 watts. Consider you have 20 different appliances with similar standby ratings. It would add upto 100 watts. A normal incandescent bulb will use this power.
6. Insulate your home more effectively to prevent any heat dissipation.
This is more important in Cold countries. By using double glazed window panels and proper insulating materials, you can keep the warmth for longer period. Hence insulate your home more efficiently and prevent un-wanted heat dissipation.
7. Use Energy efficient products wherever applicable.
Like CFL bulbs, there are many alternative energy efficient things you can use for your daily needs. For example, replace a CRT TV with LCD one and save 70% in energy costs. Similarly, you will notice many similar energy efficient products that can replace other less enrgy efficient products.
8. Use public transports like Trains and buses. Utilize the carpool concept and similar ideas for your travelling needs.
Emissions from vehicles account to large part of CO2 released in to atmosphere. Hence by less using automotive, we can prevent carbon emissions to certain extent. Public transport vehicles like Cars & buses takes large number of people from one place to another. Hence by using these public transport, emissions per person will be lower compare to driving your own vehicles.
One of the new ideas to reduce the vehicel usage is Carpool concept. There will be many others in your route for same destination. Thus by sharing cars, you can reduce the emissions.
9. Tune up your Engine and Air filters of your vehicles every 6 months.
Air filters of vehicles get clogged up by dust and other particles. Clean up this and your Engine will run smoothly and efficiently. Improving efficiency reduces energy consumption and there by reducing carbon emissions.
10. Clean up your airfilters from Furnaces and Air conditions.
As in vehicles, Air Conditioners and furnaces have air filters. Once they get clogged, more energy is wasted. Hence by preventing this clogging you can save energy and thus helping to reduce carbon emissions.
11. Place Lids while Cooking Food.
Closed vessels always increase the boiling point to higher level. This means, food would be cooked earlier than in open vesseles. This way you can save Energy costs. This is the concept behind pressure cookers. Hence using pressure cookers can actually reduce the energy costs.
12. Use recyclable materials
By using recyclable materials, you can helping nature to use the same things again and again. For example, consider recycled paper. Paper is actually made of cutting woods. With recycling, you can prevent using wood for creating new paper. Another advantage is that there would be no un-wanted paper. Evenrything can be recycled again.
13. Plant more trees.
Trees suck up carbon dioxide and produce food and oxygen in return. Thus planning more trees would eat some percentage of co2 in atmosphere and provide us more oxygen. Another advantage is that they give us shade and fruits.
14. Educate more people about Global Warming and Its effects.
Ignorance is the plague spreading our society. Educate many and they will take their own measure to prevent global warming. Hence by educating many people about global warming can eventually help descreasing carbon emissions.
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