2 How individuals can make changes
2.1 Individual actions: the basics
Wasting energy results in needless CO2 emissions: for example, insufficient house insulation, leaving lights on unnecessarily or overfilling the kettle all waste energy (and money), as does overconsumption more generally. Although climate change is a reality, you can take action to reduce your energy consumption and CO2 emissions, which will help to mitigate its effects.
There are three main ways you can do this:
Reduce your energy consumption at home.
Reduce your annual amount of travel.
Persuade your company to make a difference too.
These are very broad areas, so it is important to understand what specific personal actions you can take. Many of these fit with the idea of Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle (‘the four Rs’), which combine to lower energy use and overall consumption.
Start by considering the following ten simple ways to save energy.
Turn your thermostat down. Reducing room temperature by 1°C can cut heating bills by up to 10 per cent. If you have a programmer, set your heating and hot water to come on only when required.
Check whether your water is too hot – your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60°C/140°F.
Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.
Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Don't leave laptops and mobile phones on charge unnecessarily or appliances on standby.
Use your washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher when it is full: a full load uses less energy than two half loads. With modern washing powder use a low temperature programme and don't put really wet clothes into a tumble dryer; wring them out or spin-dry them first.
Only boil as much water as you need (remember to cover the elements of an electric kettle).
Dripping hot taps waste surprising amounts of hot water, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're fully turned off.
Use energy saving light bulbs; they use a quarter of the electricity and last up to twelve times longer.
Do a home energy check. The Energy Saving Trust provides a questionnaire that you can complete to receive a free, impartial report telling you how you can save energy.
1.2 Individual carbon footprints