What the Heck is a Carbon Footprint, and Why Should You Care?

You’ve probably heard the words “carbon footprint” thrown around a lot lately. Governments around the world are trying to encourage people and businesses to monitor and reduce their carbon footprints but have you been wondering just what the heck a carbon footprint even is? Read on to learn what carbon footprints are, why they matter, and what you can do to lower yours.

But Wait, I Didn’t Know Carbon Had Footprints

Well carbon itself doesn’t leave footprints; carbon is a chemical element that makes up most of your own body. It is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and is very useful in making compounds with loads of applications.

When carbon mixes with other elements, like oxygen or hydrogen, and gets expelled into the atmosphere, it becomes something called a “greenhouse gas”. These gases are found in Earth’s atmosphere and warm up the Earth’s surface.

A little bit of greenhouse gas is actually a good thing, without any the Earth would be too cold to live on. In the past century, the industrial revolution has upset the delicate natural balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and is causing a rapidly cascading warming effect known as Climate Change. Modern large-scale industrial manufacturing, including those methods used in the early Industrial Revolution, create surplus greenhouse gas as a byproduct of their activity.

A carbon footprint is the total amount of these greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere as a result of human activity. It’s a way of measuring the impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions of people, products, events, or even countries themselves.

Everything from a cell phone or an apple, all the way to a rock concert or a cross-country flight, has a greenhouse gas emission factor measured in terms of its carbon footprint. 

For you, your carbon footprint is the total of greenhouse gas emissions related to all of your consumption and activities.

For example, driving to work, powering your home, flying, or even just buying groceries, all contribute to your carbon footprint. Products you purchase had to be made somewhere and when those products were made (yes, that includes food grown from large-scale agriculture) they released greenhouse gases. All of that gets added to your total carbon footprint.

This video from the BBC does a great job of visually explaining your personal carbon footprint, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a calculator to help you estimate your personal carbon footprint.

Now What Can You Do About It?

Now that you know what a carbon footprint is and have a reasonable idea of your own, what can you actually do to lower it?

Use Care at the Grocery Store

The USDA estimates that up to 40% of the total annual food supply in America ends up in a landfill and is burned as garbage. That is a startling statistic not just for the climate implications but also for the sheer amount of otherwise good food ending up in the trash.

When you’re shopping, make sure to only buy what you need and try to select locally grown and in-season products to reduce the carbon emission required to transport the goods. Utilize reusable shopping bags and try to cut back on your meat consumption.

Pull the Plug

Raise your hand if you’ve ever left the lights on when you left a room. Turning off lights, water, and appliances, such as televisions and computers, when not in use is an easy and very effective way to lower your carbon footprint. Not to mention it will save you some cash every month when your electric bill comes. The environment wins, and so does your wallet.

Energy Efficiency Starts at Home

The largest ongoing personal contributor to your carbon footprint is the energy usage from your daily activities at home. Heating and cooling, as well as old and inefficient appliances all boost your carbon footprint.

Start with simple and easy-to-do DIY energy efficiency hacks, such as swapping out old lightbulbs for energy-efficient bulbs. Swapping your interior and exterior lights to energy-efficient ones could even save you money by lowering your power bill.

Make sure all of your windows and doors are properly insulated so you can reduce the strain on your HVAC system during peak seasons. Make sure your HVAC system undergoes regular maintenance and inspections to ensure it’s running at peak efficiency.

If you’re really adventurous, the US Department of Energy has a regularly updated guide on energy saving projects that will lower your carbon footprint.

You Can Make a Difference

While all of these changes can seem minor, you might be wondering “does any of this actually do anything?” Reducing your carbon footprint, even a little, can have real environmental benefits, especially if every family tries to do the same. Together, we can reduce our carbon footprints and help keep the Earth in shape for many generations to come.

If you need help upgrading some of those old HVAC appliances, contact us for a free consultation with the HVAC professionals.