Keen to have a ‘greener’ household? These tips will help to reduce your family’s carbon emissions easily and quickly.
Travel and transport
Firstly, stop travelling in rush hour – the delays increase fuel consumption and fossil fuel emissions. Instead, consider cycling.
Look at getting a hybrid car that uses less fuel for a greener choice, and use choose clean fuels whenever you can.
Think about your holidays as well Staycationing at home means you can get to know your home country in a new way and it saves on all the greenhouse gases that you’d emit by flying abroad.
From your food
Choose food that hasn’t been flown halfway across the world! Instead, choose locally grown produce, and ideally even grow your own! Whether your grow herbs in a windowbox or eventually have a full fruit and vegetable garden and smallholding, your family will feel better for it, and you’ll save money and the planet.
Why not sign up to a local food co-operative for food that you can’t grow yourself. You’ll enjoy great quality food, meet local suppliers and enjoy fair prices.
Stop wasting your food and learn how to use leftovers and raw ingredients. Also, invest in a slow cooker.
At home
Insulate your home well, so that you don’t need to turn on the heating quite so much in winter, and you don’t need air conditioning in summer. Open windows keep things fresh, while cavity wall insulation, double glazing, draught excluders and even warmer clothes tackle cold weather!
Look to invest in renewable energy at home too. Technologies such as wind turbines, biomass boilers and solar panels in Northern Ireland are very popular. They can save you money, earn you an income and slash carbon emissions. Find out more about solar panels in Northern Ireland here.
Reduce, reuse and recycle – make this your family mantra in order to minimise waste and find innovative uses for things that you no longer need.
Switch your lightbulbs to energy efficient models to cut carbon emissions and your utility bills alike. Modern bulbs are incredibly bright and efficient.
When you start to cut your carbon at home, you’ll become increasingly inspired to implement new measures, especially as the associated health, financial and community benefits become clear!