21 easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint

The reasons why you should reduce your carbon footprint are well documented, and most liekly do not need repeating here. Let's just work on the assumption that if you've got as far as reading this, you want to take positive steps to reduce your own carbon footprint, but don't really know what will be effective or where to start.

The first, and possibly most important, thing to remember is that <i>any</i> action you take to reduce your carbon footprint, no matter how small, will make a difference.

It would be great if everyone could fit solar panels to their roofs and grow their own organic vegetables, but such schemes can be either impractical or too expensive for some. So here are 21 ways you can reduce your carbon footprint without spending any money.

Save water

1. Put a brick in the cistern of your toilet so that you use less water for each flush.

2. Don't leave taps running. If you're cleaning your teeth, scrubbing vegetables or cleaning the car, don't leave the water running when you're not actively using it.

3. Take a shower instead of a bath.

4. Reuse water from your bath or washing up for your garden, or collect rain water in a rain barrel.

5. When you use your washing machine or dishwasher, make sure you have a full load; this is the most water (and energy) efficient way to use such appliances.

Save energy (gas/electricity)

Saving energy not only helps you to reduce your carbon footprint, it also helps you save money.

6. Don't leave appliances on standby. This is probably the biggest waste of energy of all, as some, such as TVs, use up to a quarter of the energy required when on to sit on standby.

7. Use the economy setting on your washing machine. Unless clothes are really dirty, they don't need to go through a full-length cycle.

8. Switch lights off when you leave the room.

9. Change to energy efficient light bulbs. Traditional, incandescent, bulbs give out far more heat than light, so most of the energy used to run them is wasted. You can now even buy energy efficient halogen bulbs for spotlights, so there is no excuse not to do this.

10. In winter, turn the central heating down by a few degrees; if you notice any difference at all (which is unlikely), wear a sweater.

11. Hang washing out to dry rather than using an electric dryer.

12. Cook one-pot meals, or meals where everything is cooked in the oven to save cooking fuel.

Reducing waste

Minimizng the amount of waste you produce can have a massive impact on the environment, as you save the resources needed to produce the items you throw away, and you save the resources required to dispose of the waste.

13. Always take your own reusable bags when you go shopping.

14. Avoid buying foods with excessive packaging, such as individually wrapped cakes, pre-packed fruit and vegetables and ready meals.

15. Reuse and recycle items whenever possible; if your local authority does not collect recyclable waste from your home, take it to a local recycling center.

16. If something is broken, try to mend it rather than automatically throwing it away.

17. Reduce food waste by only buying the amount of fresh produce that you need for the next few days; don't buy too much then have it go off before you get round to eating it.

Transport

Cutting down on car use is often cited as one the most significant ways you can reduce your carbon footprint, but it's not always easy. Here are some ideas:

18. Start by trying to cut down the number of short journeys you make in your car. Short journeys use more fuel and therefore produce greater emissions per mile. Set yourself some targets, such as to eliminate two short car journeys per week.

19. Plan ahead so that a car journey becomes unnecessary. For example, could you call at the grocery store on your way home from work rather than making a separate trip?

20. Walk, cycle or use public transport instead. Walking and cycling are great ways to get fit while reducing your carbon footprint and as long as you don't have a lot to carry are great ways to get about, particularly for short journeys.

21. For longer journeys, consider taking the train rather than the car (or a flight, for that matter). Travelling by train can be much more relaxing than driving; you can read a book, have a snooze, do some work, play with your kids, etc.

21 and counting ...

There are, of course, many more steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint; some are free, like these, others require a bit of investment (although a lot of the time the investment can be recouped in savings over time), but most are very easy if you just put your mind to it.