Ways to Minimise Your Home's Carbon Footprint

he constant supply and demand of individuals, industries and corporations result to severe environmental drawbacks on the planet. Reducing global carbon emission seems like a big feat no one can tackle, but every individual's effort to consume less energy can contribute to a much bigger scale that can ultimately have a notable impact for the environment.

Want to know how to minimise your carbon footprint? Here are a few ways.

1. Make your home more energy-efficient

When you minimise the use of energy, you save the consumption of natural resources which reduces pollution by decreasing power plants to burn more coal, crude oil and other fossil fuels. There are many ways to minimise the use of electricity in your home. One of them is to use an efficient, cost-effective heating system such as infrared heating technology that emits less carbon monoxide. It also helps to choose appliances that are labelled for having superior energy efficiency and opt for LED light bulbs or compact fluorescent.

2. Unplug appliances when not in use

Turning your air-conditioning unit off but leaving it plugged still contributes to increase in energy consumption. Appliances that are on standby mode still consumes energy so it's important to unplug them when they're not in use. Additionally, lights must be switched off when an area is currently not occupied. There are available power strips in the market that you can use to turn off gadgets or other electronics with just one switch.

3. Do not smoke

If you are tied to smoking habits but want to reduce your carbon footprint, now is a good time to practise on quitting, since there are many alternatives that are more environmentally friendly. Aside from contributing a positive change to the environment, you're also committing to have a better health. 

4. Change your laundry routine

Updating your laundry routine by washing only full loads and minimising the water levels for smaller loads can be a big help for conserving water and electricity. If the weather is nice and sunny, you can just skip the dryer and hang the clothes to dry naturally to completely avoid carbon emissions. In addition to that, you can prepare outfits for the whole week and iron them in one go to cut more energy consumption.

5. Ditch the plastics

Plastic bags take the longest time to decompose and it's the biggest contributor to global warming. However, since the use of plastic is immensely embedded within our way of life, what we can do is reduce, recycle and maximise its use to help reduce the garbage being thrown in the dump.

6. Drive less. Drive smarter.

If you want to reach a destination that does not require long hours of travel, walking and biking are great alternatives. These mediums are not just helpful to prevent global warming but can also be good body workouts and can make improvements to our health by burning calories.