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So what’s all the fuss about Carbon Footprints?
If you enter the world of green thinking, without doubt you will be met by several different words, phrases, meanings and a whole library of statistics. Some are easy to understand and some aren’t, so if you are taking the time to read more about what Greenwood are doing, we thought it would be sensible to set the bigger picture in a simple way.
So lets start at the beginning….
‘The Greenhouse Effect’, Climate Change or Global Warming
However the title is wrapped up, it all means the same thing – the result of a build up of greenhouse gases (GHG), mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. GHG’s trap the heat from the sun in the earth’s atmosphere forming the greenhouse effect or the natural phenomena that keeps the earth warm. When the level of GHG’s gets to high, we can start to experience an increase in temperatures, which can result in extreme weather conditions. In simple terms, the atmosphere, which acts as the earth’s blanket, thickens up and holds more heat than it sends back.
According to many studies from all over the world, Humans are and will continue to be largely to blame.
The UK’s contribution to climate change 
Energy is by far the main contributor to the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions – the result of burning fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases and in particular carbon dioxide that are released into the atmosphere. Amongst the culprits are obviously the cars that we drive around in, but our homes are also becoming more and more responsible.
The average household creates around 6 tonnes of CO2 a year
Total CO2 emissions from UK 2005 was 554 million tonnes
27% from the energy used to heat and light our homes
554 million tonnes of CO2 will fill 111milllion hot air balloons!
The effects of climate change are seen in our everyday lives.
Our winters are warmer, the summers are drier and hotter (although 2007 was not very representative) and the Thames Barrier is now raised on average 13 times per year! Twinned with this, we find that spring is arriving earlier and as rainfall comes with a vengeance, rivers are bursting their banks more often, causing flooding and millions of pounds worth of damage.
By the end of the century it is predicted that the UK will be between 1 and 4.5 degrees hotter than today, in context this might mean that the temperatures that we experience today at say 6 or 7pm will be representative of the temperatures at 11pm by 2100!!!
Source: Energy Saving Trust
I think you’ll agree, this is not a nice story to tell.
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So what is a carbon footprint?
Quite simply, a carbon footprint is the direct effect a person or business’s actions and lifestyle have on the environment, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
This can be measured in several ways and is still an evolving science, but it looks at energy use, travel needs and can even go as far as the food and clothes you choose to buy because all of these actions contribute to carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming and climate change.
The average individual carbon footprint is 9.4 tonnes of CO2 per annum |
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| To find out what your Carbon Footprint is there are hundreds of calculators available on the web. We reccommend; http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/ | | 
