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Commit to save energy and help prevent climate change
The UK has set a
target to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010. To achieve this
requires action by government at all levels, businesses both large and small,
communities and individuals.
Almost half the
UK ’s CO2 emissions which cause climate change, actually come from
things we all do everyday.
Things like leaving the TV on standby or using the car for short journeys all
waste energy and result in needless
CO2 emissions.
If we all commit
to save 20% of the energy we use everyday, together we can help prevent climate
change.
You don't
necessarily need to invest in solar panels or wind turbines to do save energy.
Low cost measures that can pay for themselves quickly include switching to low
energy florescent light bulbs, adding insulation in the loft or cladding hot
water cylinders. Most of us can't afford to purchase a new hybrid car but by
driving your car within speed limits and avoiding rapid acceleration and sudden
braking can easily reduce fuel consumption by 10% or more. If you are changing
your car you can find the official
CO2
rankings on the
VCA Car Fuel Data
website.
Most of us
might find it difficult to become carbon neutral but we can at least assess our
carbon footprint, take measures to reduce it and consider offsetting the
remaining emissions through
one of the offset schemes that are available.
You will find guidance on choosing a carbon offsetting scheme on the
Carbon Footprint website.
Click here to create a postcard and tell everyone which place you want to
save your 20% for.
The
UK DirectGov website includes advice on reducing personal CO 2
emissions and a useful Act on CO 2 personal carbon footprint
calculator.
The UK government
Climate
Challenge website includes a short film and an animation that have been
sent to all secondary schools in England. It has information about Climate
Change and how you can get involved as a climate change champion.
Have you watched the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth? You can buy
the
DVD from Amazon UK for just £4.97!
A Black version of Google -
Blackle - saves energy because the screen is predominantly black.
In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750
Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google
search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the
search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance
of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of
readability of black web pages.
However, we believe that there is value in the concept because even if the
energy savings are small, they all add up.
UK Energy Saving - The UK Energy Saving website gives information and tips on ways to save energy and also how to save money on household bills.
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