Work in progress! Let us know of any sources you have found particularly useful.

Fact sheet

Downloadthis handy fact sheet for a list of suggestions on where to start in cutting your carbon emissions.

How much carbon dioxide do I produce?

The average UK carbon dioxide emissions per person is around 6.0 tonnes/year.   The three biggest contributors are air travel* (30%), car travel (20%) and home heating (20%).  These are just the ‘direct’ emissions – those we control ourselves.  If  ‘indirect’ emissions from factories, offices, construction, food production, and other activities are added in, the total comes to 12.5 tonnes/year !

Everyone’s consumption pattern is different.  It depends on the kind of home we’re living in, where we work and the lifestyle we live.  The point is that nearly all of us can make substantial savings in our carbon emissions if we think about it, and take the most obvious steps.

There’s loads of websites with carbon calculators to assess your footprint.  A good one is from Act on CO2.

What can I do about it?

Lots!  For frequent flyers, reducing air travel will make the biggest difference.  Significant savings can also be made by driving less, insulating your home better, turning your thermostat down a few degrees, and many other smaller – but still significant – changes to our lifestyles.  Most of these are fairly painless and will actually save money.  You won’t have to spend a fortune or become a hermit to save 10%!   See the fact sheet for more information.

Getting a grant for loft & cavity wall insulation

Anne Eastes had her loft and cavity wall insulation done for free

 Improving the insulation of your home is one of the simplest ways of saving energy and combating rising energy prices. And the good news is – getting it installed may not be as difficult or costly as you think!

Under a government scheme, many people are eligible for grants that will cover these costs, either partly or fully.  100% grants are available if you (or your partner) are over 70, or if you are in receipt of one of a range of benefits (disability allowance, council tax benefit, income support, housing benefit, pension credit, attendance allowance, child tax credit or working families tax credit).  If you’re not eligible, you can still get a grant to cover part of the costs – £199 for cavity wall insulation and a further £199 for loft insulation (in each case around 50% of the full cost of installation in a typical home). These figures assume you have little or no insulation at present.

A company called HCL Energy is administering this scheme in our area on behalf of Horsham District Council.  Contact them on 01273 390420 to arrange a free survey.  It only takes 45 minutes.  They will explain what you need and the grants available, and will even arrange for a local company to come and do the work.

Download our handy insulation FAQ sheet to find out more.

To find out more about loft insulation and cavity wall insulation, check out these sections on the Energy Saving Trust website.

Other grants you can apply for

A great guide to the other grants you can apply for for energy saving improvements (boiler scrappage, low carbon buildings programme, Warm Front, and others) is in Sophie Goodall’s Green Piece article in the February 2010 edition of Your Steyning magazine.

It’s a great time to be thinking of solar panels.   Start selling energy back to the grid.

The new government policy introduced on 1 April 2010 means it is now much more economic to generate your own energy via various ‘microgeneration’ approaches (solar photovoltaics, wind, biomass and other means).   If you’re installing photovoltaic panels on your home the government will pay you 43.3p for every kilowatt hour of electricity you generate – which is nearly four times the price you are paying your electricity supplier for power from the grid.  Though quite expensive to install (for example, one recently installed system in Bramber cost £13,000 for a 3kW system), they should easily pay for themselves within 8-10 years.  That’s a much better rate of return than putting your money in the bank right now.

Click here to find out about about solar energy, and the campaign we’re running this year to encourage local residents to go solar!

Saving energy on lighting  

Are you wasting energy on inefficient lighting?  Most people are now aware that the old fashioned tungsten bulbs are very inefficient.  But did you know that the newer style halogen bulbs are even worse?  This is because of the large number of bulbs you need to light a room.  Check out Mike King’s fact sheet to find out more, and learn about the new generation of super-efficient LED bulbs that are coming on the market.

Recycling

See our special section on recycling to find out more about where you can recycle things locally

Useful websites

The 10:10 website has lots of information on the campaign, and how to cut your carbon emissions – see www.1010uk.org

Other great sources are the Energy Saving Trust the government Act on CO2 site and the Amber Links site – which is an independent site providing links to useful websites to encourage more effective personal responses to climate change.

Recommended books

There’s some excellent practical books on the subject, too, such as:

“The Economical Environmentalist” by Prashant Vaze (2009). Economic analyst for the UK government, Prashant Vaze gives a personal account of his attempt to “decarbonise his life”.  Filled with pertinent data, presented in a conversational way, with quotes ranging from the Old Testament to Miss Piggy.  See his website for details.  “If this book doesn’t motivate you, then only the rising flood water will!

“How can I stop climate change?” by Helen Burley and Chris Haslam (2008).  Very comprehensive but understandable guide to how individuals can reduce their emissions.  ‘This is the definitive guide to reducing your carbon footprint’ (New Scientist).

“How to live a low carbon life: the individual’s guide to stopping climate change” by Chris Goodall (2007)   Produced by Friends of the Earth.  Goes through the science, and the options for cutting emissions.  Very clear.  Some good case study examples.

“The Low-carbon Diet: Wise Up, Chill Out and Save the World“ by Polly Ghazi & Rachel Lewis (2007). ‘This book is fun. For someone like me it has just the right measure of information, fun and incentive to help make the positive changes in my lifestyle that will count’ (Amazon reviewer).

“Sustainable energy without the hot air” by David MacKay (2009)   A fantastic book, particularly if you’re into the numbers.  Goes through all the options for cutting our energy use and generating energy through sustainable routes – using basic physics to show what the potential and limitations are.  Comes up with a series of energy plans for the UK, assuming different mixes of renewables, nuclear, and carbon capture.  The whole book is available to download from his website.

* Note that these figures for air travel – which are often excluded from national statistics – are adjusted to allow for the impact of water vapour and nitrous oxide emitted at high altitudes