Globalwarming Awareness2007 Egg Blog

How to reduce CO2 emissions

Last update: April Fri 20, 2007 (16:32 IST)

There are so many things you can do to help reduce your CO₂ emissions. In fact you’ll be amazed just how easy it is to save energy around your home – often without spending a penny. Here are just a few simple ideas to help get you started:

1. Only boil as much water as you need

Electric kettles consume nearly 30% of all the electricity an average household uses for cooking. To save energy only boil as much water as you need (but remember to cover the element if you’re using an electric kettle). If everyone in the UK did this we’d save enough electricity to power two thirds of the street lighting in the UK.

2. Don’t use your car for short journeys

Nearly a quarter of all car journeys are less than 2 miles and cars consume most fuel at the start of their journey when the engine is cold. Walking or cycling for short journeys is not only good for your health, but could also reduce the amount of CO₂ emissions that are released into the air.

3. Dry your clothes outside or on a drying rack where possible

In dryer weather, hanging your clothes outside rather than using the tumble dryer will reduce your CO₂ emissions. They will dry quickly and smell fresh too. If you have space, then a clothes drying rack inside your home will dry your clothes just as effectively. If you do use the dryer, try to make sure you fill it each time, rather than putting on a number of small loads.

4. Switch to energy-saving bulbs

Choosing energy-saving light bulbs is one of the easiest ways of cutting your energy use. Just one energy saving light bulb can reduce your lighting costs by up to £100 over the lifetime of the bulb - and they last up to 12 times longer than ordinary light bulbs. The cost of energy saving bulbs is now reducing - so no excuses!

5. Turn off your appliances instead of leaving them on standby

Across the UK we waste the equivalent of around two power stations’ worth of electricity each year simply by leaving appliances like computers, printers and TVs on standby mode, and leaving chargers for appliances like mobile phones and electric toothbrushes switched on when not in use. Mobile phone chargers left plugged in waste over £60 million and are responsible for a quarter of a million tonnes of CO₂ every year alone. So turn off appliances using the main on/off switch (not the remote control) and unplug chargers when they are not in use.

6. Turn down thermostat

If your heating bills are burning a hole in your pocket try turning down your thermostat by just one degree at a time. Each one degree drop can help reduce your bill by up to 10% and save you around £40 per year. We recommend aiming for around 19-20°C in your living room and around 18°C in your bedroom.

7. Cook in a microwave

Microwave cooking can make significant reductions in your energy bills as it is much more energy efficient than conventional ovens. You don’t even have to sacrifice your cooking skills as most microwaves these days allow you to do many of the cooking functions of a normal oven. Microwave ovens cook food faster than conventional ovens because the energy goes directly into heating the food and not into heating.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to reduce your CO₂ emissions and help tackle climate change. If you’d like to get more information look at our online guide to greener living. Check back here in May 2007 to calculate your carbon footprint and get personalised advice on how you can reduce your emissions even further.

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Crucial Time for Globalwarming

Last update: February Tue 13, 2007 (20:34 GMT)

Prime Minister Tony Blair has today said that this summer’s meeting of G8 leaders presents a “tremendous opportunity” to put in place a framework for fighting globalwarming after the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.

Mr Blair, speaking earlier at a Press Conference said there was now widespread agreement around the world about the threat posed by climate change, as well as an enormous demand from the people of many nations for their political leaders to do something about it. Is this now globalwarming awareness2007?

Blair warned however, that agreement on a post-Kyoto process was far from certain at the G8 gathering at Heiligendamm in Germany in June. He said considerable behind-the-scenes work was needed in advance of the meeting to resolve technical details of any deal.

Mr Blair was speaking at a press conference in Berlin following talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, this year’s president of the G8. The Prime Minister said that the coming months were an “absolutely crucial” period not only for climate change but also for other global priorities such as the Middle East peace process and the search for a world trade deal.

He promised to do “as much as I can” to secure success in these negotiations in the few months left to him before he steps down as Prime Minister, which he has said he would do by the start of September.

Ms Merkel said a conference in May will thrash out the details of a climate change deal to be put before the leaders of the G8 countries - the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia - as well as China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, who will also be represented at Heiligendamm. Will globalwarming awareness2007 now be a reality?

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Cutting edge contamination

Last update: February Thu 8, 2007 (00:00 GMT)

The electronics industry is often considered a ‘clean’ industry. But sleek shiny gadgets hide a darker side of the industry. Our new report ‘Cutting Edge Contamination’ exposes that some of the electronics industries’ biggest brands, and their suppliers, are contaminating rivers and underground wells with a wide range of hazardous chemicals during production.

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Stop the Horror: Ban Illegal Timber

Last update: February Wed 7, 2007 (16:54 GMT)

If you buy or sell pirate DVDs you would be breaking the law. You could face a fine or even get jail time. But when companies in Europe buy or sell illegal timber from the last of the world’s ancient forests they won’t even have the timber confiscated.

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Bayer defends genetic contamination as "Act of God"

Last update: February Tue 6, 2007 (14:07 GMT)

You might blame the dog for eating your homework, or a traffic jam for being late to work. But if you ever find yourself facing a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit for contaminating the world’s number one food crop with an unapproved genetically engineered variety, just do what biotech company Bayer does. Blame God!

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One Million People Waiting

Last update: February Mon 5, 2007 (18:25 GMT)

European citizens have long rejected genetically engineered (GE) food in their supermarkets but under the current EU labelling laws, animal products such as milk, meat and eggs coming from animals fed with GE feed can be sold without any labels warning of their GE content. One million people across the Europe Union (EU) want that to change.

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Strongest Climate warning yet demands action

Last update: February Fri 2, 2007 (16:29 GMT)

With the strongest warnings yet from the international scientific community on the threat of dangerous climate change just published, it’s clearly time to match strengths of scientific warnings with determined action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Greenpeace at Davos

Last update: January Mon 29, 2007 (10:11 GMT)

Here’s the text of a speech that Greenpeace International Executive Director Gerd Leipold gave at the Public Eye Award ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. The Public Eye on Davos grew out of a public demonstration first organised in 1997 to voice opposition to the WEF and denounce the negative effects of globalization.

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The energy [r]evolution starts here

Last update: January Thu 25, 2007 (00:00 GMT)

Tackling dangerous climate change is the biggest challenge facing us all. Fortunately there is an answer to this challenge. Our report: ‘energy [r]evolution’, details how to halve global CO2 emissions by 2050, using existing technology and still providing affordable energy and economic growth. In short - a revolution in energy policy and an evolution in how we use energy.

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Revealed: Icelandic whale in storage, landfill

Last update: January Wed 24, 2007 (09:51 GMT)

In Iceland we have discovered an unprecedented amount of the whale meat from the recent hunt has not been used. Even whaling captain Sigurður Njálsson has said the meat is unfit for domestic consumption. 200 tonnes of the meat is in storage with a further 179 tonnes of entrails buried at a landfill site. But despite demand for whale meat plummeting, Japan and Iceland continue to hunt whales.

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