What is Carbon Footprint? What Reduces an Individual’s Carbon Footprint?
Carbon footprint is the expression of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities in terms of carbon dioxide. Thanks to the carbon footprint, environmental impact can be measured and practical solutions can be produced in the face of global warming. Because while this concept reveals the damage done to the world, it helps to create rational steps to reduce this damage.
Nowadays, minimizing the carbon footprint is at the heart of the fight against climate change. While it is necessary to reduce the carbon footprint in order to cause less damage to the environment, there are 13 practical methods we can offer you in terms of ways to do this. However, it may be necessary to obtain some information about the carbon footprint first.
What is Carbon Footprint?
The concept of carbon footprint is the expression of the emissions of methane gas and all other greenhouse gases in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent. This concept, the footprint, can be calculated differently for countries, individuals or companies. The calculation takes into account the personal share in terms of total greenhouse gas production for individuals, and the carbon emissions from the production and supply of products and services for organizations. However, there are primary, i.e. direct carbon footprint and secondary, i.e. indirect carbon footprint types for carbon footprint.
- Primary (direct) carbon footprint is calculated by measuring the emission of greenhouse gases that occur after the combustion of fossil fuels consumed for the activities of individuals and organizations. In this calculation, carbon emissions from domestic energy consumption and transportation activities are also considered. In other words, greenhouse gas emissions that occur directly are measured.
- For the secondary (indirect) carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions during the life cycle of products are measured. In other words, while a product is being used, the damage this product causes to the environment is calculated. Therefore, indirect carbon emissions are measured.
How to Calculate Carbon Footprint?
For the carbon footprint, individual and corporate impacts on the environment are considered separately. Because while combating global warming, there is a need for carbon footprint calculation to determine the right strategy for this struggle individually or institutionally.
- For individual carbon footprint calculations, activities such as transportation, heating and nutrition are taken into consideration as individual activities. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from consumption are also measured. Many different individual carbon footprint calculation software, which is also used by Green Life Consulting in this field, can be selected for accurate calculations.
- In corporate carbon footprint calculations, two different types of processes are used through ISO 14064-1 and GHG Protocol bases. For more detailed information on this subject, you can get information about Green Life Consulting corporate carbon footprint calculation software.
13 Effective Ways to Reduce One’s Carbon Footprint
In fact, some steps can be taken to reduce the carbon footprint without making individual calculations. At this point, as Green Life Consultancy, you can minimize the environmental impact at home, office or school by applying the 13 methods we can recommend to you.
- Thanks to the application of thermal insulation, less fuel can be used while heating with fossil fuels, namely natural gas and coal. In this way, resource savings can be achieved as well as the possibility of reducing the carbon footprint.
- Thanks to the choice of renewable energy, carbon emissions can be reduced by using solar energy panels or wind energy in accordance with the region you live in, instead of creating carbon emissions with fossil fuels in terms of home electricity generation.
- In terms of achieving energy efficiency in homes, you should use especially efficient and high energy class household appliances in your home. For example, you can choose energy-saving appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and even refrigerators. Similarly, you can choose to use these economical household appliances for cleaning and cooking. In addition, you can turn off devices such as televisions, telephones or modems when you are not using them, and you can prevent energy consumption due to electronic devices that you do not use with habits such as not leaving chargers in the socket. In this case, an efficient use of energy and an environmentally friendly approach can be achieved.
- Maintaining green area can also prevent more carbon dioxide from accumulating in the atmosphere. This is because trees and green plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and perform photosynthesis, compensating for the environmental impact and releasing oxygen into the environment. In order to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions, you should always try to protect green spaces. In addition, it is possible to reduce your carbon footprint to zero by applying this method to offset the emissions that you cannot prevent.
- In terms of changing eating habits in a positive way, you can choose to consume less products such as red meat, which creates high carbon emissions, especially during production. Because while more cattle and sheep and goats are raised for more red meat consumption, more carbon emissions occur both during this raising and in the processes until these butchered animals reach the table. However, choosing local food will also reduce emissions from the supply chain and reduce your carbon footprint.
- Compartmentalizing waste, i.e. ensuring good waste management, helps to reduce the carbon footprint. By separating waste into sections such as glass, plastic, cardboard, metal in your home and workplace, you can also help the recycling process, prevent environmental pollution and reduce your carbon footprint.
- Being sensitive in the use of plastics requires avoiding the use of plastics that are difficult or impossible to recycle. This will result in a lower environmental impact, especially if you choose recyclable waste rather than single-use plastic materials.
- By choosing public transportation, you can reduce carbon emissions a little more instead of increasing carbon emissions due to the fossil fuels you use in your individual vehicles. Because transportation vehicles have a very large share in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Although public transportation helps to reduce the emission rates of individual vehicles, in fact, cycling and walking should be preferred even more instead of public transportation.
- Less paper consumption can make a huge contribution to protecting the environment. Especially nowadays, thanks to the use of digital methods, you can keep your documents on your computer and track your documents digitally without printing them out.
- When more second-hand use is preferred, you will have changed your consumption habits and thus the effect of carbon footprint reduction will be achieved with the reduction in the production and supply chain. For example, if you need to buy an ironing board for your home, although not for every type of item, buying a second-hand ironing board can prevent problems such as more waste, re-production and increased environmental pollution.
- Having as many clothes as you need means that you don’t create a large carbon footprint from the clothes you don’t use. This is because having more clothes than you need requires more production and a higher supply chain, which results in higher carbon emissions. This way, you can also reduce waste and gain an economic advantage.
- Choosing local locations for holidays will also result in a lower transportation flow. In this sense, for example, you can eliminate longer transportation obligations by choosing the holiday regions in your city, or if this is not possible, nearby holiday regions or at least holiday regions within Turkey. Because as the transportation time increases during the holiday travel process, the amount of emissions will increase and you will have to bear higher costs.
- By choosing direct flights by air, the high greenhouse gas emissions produced by airplanes every time they move can be prevented a little more. If your air travel is not very urgent, you can wait a while and choose direct flights. Sometimes, direct flights can be chosen instead of connecting flights, provided there is not a huge economic difference. In this way, the carbon footprint can be reduced, even to some extent.
When you achieve changes in your life thanks to these 13 methods, a sustainable lifestyle can also be achieved. Especially for individuals to be effective in the fight against climate change, these methods can be applied and recommended to spread environmental awareness.
