Cool the World

1. Sponsored by
   
   

   
   Spirit Solar
   Installers of renewable technologies

2. About
   Cool the World

   24th June 2010

3. Lesson plans
   and ideas

   Primary schools

4. Lesson plans
   and ideas

   Secondary schools

5. What can I do?
   Ideas for pledges

   Children

6. What can I do?
   Ideas for pledges

   Adults

7. Background information on climate change

   Parents / teachers

What can I do?

You may already be doing everything you can to cut your emissions. If not, and you're looking for some more ideas, here's a list to get you started.

Calculate your carbon footprint

If you haven't already done so calculate your carbon emissions. If you do this first it will be much easier to see which changes can make the biggest difference. Use our carbon footprint calculator if you have your energy bills to hand, or the government's Act on CO2 calculator if you don't have your energy bills to hand.

Ideas for pledges

Here are some ideas. Wherever there is a calculator sign , you can calculate the carbon emissions saved using our carbon calculator.

It's very instructive to calculate your carbon footprint before deciding what to cut. Take me to the Carbon Footprint Calculator.

• Don't fly unless you really have to for 12 months.
• Go to school by bus, share a car or walk.
• Walk/ cycle journeys of less than 2 miles.
• Don't use the car for one day a week for three months.
• Do you really need a second or even a third car?
• Drive smarter - pump up your tyres and keep the RPM low.
• Switch your vehicle to LPG.

• Sort out your insulation and switch to low energy light bulbs.
• Turn the thermostat down, turn the air con off.
• Turn off the lights when not in use and avoid using standby on the TV or the computer.
• Invest in energy efficient appliances (highest energy rating).
• Switch to a green energy tariff.
• Generate your own renewable energy install solar or wind or geothermal.
• Invest in a smart meter. Knowledge is power.

• Don't buy things that you don't need - resist all those gadgets, toys, t-shirts and other junk that gets used for a day and then clutters up the place for years...
• Don't waste food. Eat seasonal locally sourced food where possible.
• Recycle and compost anything that can be composted.

If you fly, the best thing you can do is to stop flying...

Emissions from 1 person flying to Australia and back = total household emissions for an average family of 4 for a whole year.

One short-haul return flight for a family of four will add 33% to the family's annual carbon emissions.

Do you recycle religiously every week and then fly to Tuscany for your holidays? Feel good about turning the TV off standby and then jet off by plane on a long weekend?

Your efforts at cutting emissions at home will be dwarfed by the emissions produced by flying. So please, only get on a plane if you really have to ... it's one of the easiest way to slash carbon emissions.

 Take the train not the plane ... or better still a coach.

A short haul flight emits six times as much carbon per passenger as a high speed train, and 12 times as much as a coach.

Cut your driving emissions

• Check out the emissions for your car (click here). The UK's greenest car (the Smart for two passion cabrio) emits 89g of CO₂ per km; the worst offender (the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster – which luckily not many of us drive!) emits 500g per km.
• Drive smarter. Here are some ways to reduce the work your engine does and hence the fuel burned / emissions per mile travelled:

• Pump up your tyres.
• Carry less in the boot.
• Don't speed; faster speeds increase emissions per mile travelled.
• Stop and start less if possible.
• Don't over rev the engine. Change up a gear a bit earlier - (when the rev counter reaches 2000rpm for a diesel car, or 2500rpm for a petrol car).
• Switch off the engine when you're not moving for more than a couple of minutes.

• Small is beautiful. A 2.0 litre engine emits 40% more CO₂ per mile than a car with an engine size 1.4 - 2.0 litres.
• Switch your vehicle to LPG (autogas) - It's 40% cheaper and greener. As well as cutting CO₂ emissions by 20%, you will also cut production of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide by more than half. For more information, click here.
• Walk or cycle. More than 30% of the trips made by cars in Europe are for less than 2 miles and 50% for less than 3 miles.
• Use public transport - in general buses and trains have much lower per passenger emissions than cars.
• If there's no public bus to your children's school, try and get the school to start a school bus. Or share a car.
• Challenge yourself to go for one day a week without getting in the car...

Simple things to do today in your home

In the UK emissions from homes are responsible for an estimated 27% of the UK's total carbon emissions.

A report by the Energy Saving Trust predicts that by 2010 the UK could waste up to £11 billion annually and emit around 43 million tonnes of carbon dioxide through wasted energy, such as leaving lights on and leaving appliances on standby (standby power consumption accounts for 2.25% of electricity production).

Change your behaviour:

• Only boil water that you actually need.
• Turn the lights off when you leave the room.
• Wash clothes at 30°C
• Turn the thermostat down by 1 degree in winter.
• Switch off the air-con.
• Turn appliances off at the wall. Don't leave them on standby.

Improve the energy efficiency of your home:

• Fit low energy light bulbs.
• Ensure your loft , wall cavities and hot water tank are properly insulated.
• Install double glazing.
• Apply window films to reduce heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter.
• Invest in top rated appliances.
• Replace old an inefficient boilers where possible.

Switch your electricity supply to a green tariff

It only costs around 10% more to source your electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Good Energy supply over 25,000 homes with electricity source from renewable sources (wind power, solar etc). Other companies - for example Ecotricity, Green Energy UK and British Gas - also offer a green tariff.

Follow this link http://www.greenelectricity.org/ to find suppliers in your area.

Generate your own renewable energy

There are grants available for investment in renewable energy - solar hot water, solar pv, wind turbines and heat pumps. And did you know that certain energy companies will pay 37p per kWh you feed back to the grid, or 15p for every kWh you generate, even if you use it yourself.

Read more at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-own-energy

Offset your carbon emissions

When you've cut everything, you can compensate for your unavoidable emissions by paying someone to make an equivalent carbon dioxide saving. This is called 'carbon offsetting' - follow this link for more information.

You buy an equivalent amount of 'carbon credits' from offsetting projects that have saved carbon dioxide. These projects rely on your offsetting money to fund them.

There are many different types of offsetting projects. They generally involve energy efficiency or renewable energy. Here are some examples of the kind of projects that could produce a credit used for offsetting:

• providing people in Aceh, Indonesia with newly developed solar cookers and heat retention;
• containers for cooking, heating, sterilising water and preserving food;
• harnessing river hydropower (without dams) in Fiji;
• implementing energy efficiency measures at a resort hotel in India;
• collecting methane to generate electricity from landfill sites in Durban, South Africa;
• generating electricity from the residue produced by a sugar mill in Ecuador.

For more information visit direct.gov.uk by clicking here.

Alternatively your school may choose to operate its own 'Offsetting programme' where parents can offset some or all of their carbon emissions by investing in renewable energy projects in the school. As a guide at the time of writing the 'price of carbon' is around 14 Euros per tonne. You can see an up to date price on http://www.pointcarbon.com/.

Sign your child's school up for Low carbon Day

Click here to invite a school to join, or if you work for a school click here to register.

Spread the word

Provision of information and education are key to tackling climate change. So pass on your knowledge, tell your friends what you have done to reduce your emissions. We all follow what our friends are doing to some extent - pass the message on and you will make a difference.

Use your vote...

Tackling climate change will require fundamental behavioural change from governments, organisations and individuals. These measures have been identified as essential to the facilitation of such change:

• Carbon pricing - reflecting the environmental cost of our actions by setting a price for each tonne of carbon dioxide (or equivalent) released into the atmosphere. See below.
• Government funding of development of alternatives to fossil fuels.
• Regulations and standards to control our behaviour.
• Transfer of technology to developing nations; removal of barriers to international change.
• Education and information.

It is clear that national governments are central to fighting climate change.

Before you sit back and say 'I'll leave it to the government then', remember that governments can only respond to the mood of the electorate. They can only take tough decisions with the support of the electorate. You vote. You dictate the issues on which elections are fought. Your behaviour influences what national leaders view as important. So don't sit back.

Sitting back gets you a third runway at Heathrow. Changing your own behaviour and that of those around you might just change the behaviour of a nation.

Cut at work as well as at home

Don't just change your behaviour at home - change your behaviour at work as well. For ideas visit www.carbontrust.co.uk.