Green Energy Overview

Taking a truly “green” stance on electricity is a two-fold process. The first is trying to reduce your carbon footprint through conservation; the second is trying to do exactly the same thing,  but without major lifestyle changes.

Carbon Footprint

So what is a carbon footprint? Simply, this is a measure of how much carbon each person takes to live. It seems abstract, but it is a carefully thought-out measure. Most of our energy comes from burning carbon-based fuels (coal for example). Gasoline is a carbon based fuel, as is coal or oil. So most artificial energy used is thus, in some manner, derived from the use of carbon. Given that the output of carbon in new forms represents a bulk of pollution, one can see why scientists chose to use the term.

Conservation

It is known today that most of the energy in developed countries goes to heating and cooling. So this seems like a good place to start on reducing carbon footprints. Program the thermostat to avoid heating and cooling excessively while you’re out of the house. Install weatherstripping. It seems simple, but I did this and reduced the cost of my bills by about 1/3- no inconsiderable proportion.

Most other electrical usage comes from either lighting or appliances. Unfortuantely, there’s not much to be done about appliances without investing heavily in newer, more energetically efficient appliances. That said, you can reduce energy spent on running appliances by such simple steps as only running the dishwasher or clothes washer when you have a full load.

Lighting is a different story. There are myriad options available for reducing the carbon cost of lighting. Very simply, there are more energetically efficient lightbulbs on the market these days (more on that later). In addition, one can simply listen to what your mother told you and turn out the lights when you’re not in the room. That’s no longer just key for keeping cost down, bu for reducing your carbon footprint.

Non-Carbon Power

All this said, there are other options too. We may not want to change our lifestyle, so why not get our power from some source other than carbon? Well- that’s easier said than done. Wind and Solar power are the primary options available at home. You can most certainly lobby for more green power in your area, but until then, the onus of green power creating lies with the end user. We can all build our own solar or wind power at home- so let’s get onto solving this problem and reduce our carbon footprint. The more people jumping on this, the better for the earth.