Copyright © 2012 Northamptonshire County Council C arbon Trading by The boffins at the County Council

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )...and puts extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere...produces energy... Burning fossil fuels... which is making the earth warmer.

Why does it matter? Because climate change affects all living things. People Animals Plants

In the winter we use more energy for things like heating and lighting so more carbon dioxide is emitted in the winter than in the summer. It shows the proportion of carbon dioxide emitted by a school each month. Take a look at this pie chart: What do you notice?

CO 2 SCHOOL But what does this carbon dioxide look like? CO 2 Actually, its about 330 balloons every minute (and even more in the winter!)

Trading (buying and selling things) Imagine you have some pocket money to spend on sweets. You decide to buy seven lollipops and plan to eat one each day for the next week. MTWThFSSu Unfortunately, on Thursday you drop your lollipop on the floor and your pet dog, Rambo, eats it. What will you do now?

1.Go back to the shop to buy another lollipop? 2.Eat Fridays lollipop on Thursday instead? 3.Decide its probably better for you to go without? 4.Perhaps theres something else? Oh no! The shop has sold out. This is ok today, but youll still be one short on Sunday. Probably best for your teeth but you really wanted that lollipop. What will you do?

Yes! Your friend has some lollipops too, and says you can have one of hers. MTWThFSSu She also spent her pocket money on lollipops and thinks its only fair that you pay her for it. However, your friend isnt as generous as you might hope.

Reluctantly, you hand over your money and take the lollipop, vowing to be more careful in future (or at least never to eat sweets when your dog is around).

Lets go back to when you had all seven lollipops: MTWThFSSu Imagine instead that you decide it really would be better for you to give up sweets. Giving up altogether is going to be hard so you start by eating one less lollipop each week...

So you dont eat Mondays lollipop. Mondays lollipop Its a struggle but on Sunday you feel really proud of yourself because you still have that spare lollipop from the start of the week. What will you do with it?

Will you eat your Monday lollipop on Sunday to reward yourself for going without? 2....keep it for next week? 3....find a friend to sell it to? 4.Or something else? Youre so greedy! This wasnt your aim at all. Great! This option will save you money. Even better! This option will make you money.

Carbon trading Remember we said that trading means buying and selling things? Well, carbon trading means buying and selling carbon. CO 2

Cloudberry Primary Baldmoney Primary CO 2 Lets take two schools, Cloudberry Primary and Baldmoney Primary: The pupils at both schools care about how much energy they use because they know that using energy produces carbon dioxide and this is causing the climate to change. The Eco Teams at both schools have done energy audits (a sort of survey) to find out where, when and how much energy their school is using. The pupils at Cloudberry Primary and Baldmoney Primary have also worked out how much carbon dioxide is produced from the energy they use.

CO 2 Cloudberry Primary Baldmoney Primary CO 2 Lets take a closer look at how much carbon dioxide each school produces. Cloudberry Primary = 8 tCO 2 Baldmoney Primary = 4 tCO 2 The baseline is how much CO 2 the schools produce now. baseline cap The cap is the maximum CO 2 the schools are allowed to produce next year. Cloudberry Primary tries really hard to save energy (and carbon). They insulate their swimming pool, draught-proof their doors, and everyone remembers to switch off their computers. Unfortunately, the pupils and teachers at Baldmoney Primary keep forgetting to do things. They leave lights on in empty classrooms, and have their heating turned up much too high. Lets see what happens to the schools carbon dioxide emissions: Cloudberry Primary has saved loads of energy and reduced their carbon dioxide emissions. Baldmoney Primary havent reduced their energy use and carbon emissions at all. They have wasted energy and produced more carbon dioxide than is allowed under the cap. Baldmoney Primary needs to get rid of some CO 2 to get under the cap. CO 2 How can they persuade Cloudberry Primary to take their extra CO 2 ? Carbon trading helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions because buying and selling CO 2 means the total emissions are kept under the cap. tonnes But whats this got to do with carbon trading?

So how can you save carbon and cash? Dont waste energy Be smart when you do use energy Get your energy from renewable sources instead

And the moral of the story? And try to eat less sweets because theyre bad for your teeth! Try to use less energy because its bad for the environment (and your bank balance). Copyright © 2012 Northamptonshire County Council