How Can I reduce my Carbon Footprint?

What I can do myself. Installing fluorescent bulbs in my room, and other rooms in the house: An ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb.

Continued… Not run the water while brushing your teeth Turn your thermostat up 1 ° in the summer and down 1 ° in the winter Take shorter showers Unplug appliances not in use Wrap the water heater in a blanket Recycle

Continued: Avoiding heavily packaged products alone can save over 1,200 lbs of CO 2 and can cut down your garbage but 10% Installing a programmable thermostat can save over $100 a year on your energy bill Cleaning or replacing the filters in your furnace or air conditioner can save 350 lbs of CO 2 a year

Continued: Eating less meat reduces methane production Buying organic foods could remove 580 billions lbs of CO 2 from the environment over time Buying food from local markets drastically reduces the amount of energy needed to grow the produce

Things to do outside the home Buy a hybrid car: U.S. cars and light trucks together consume 8.2 million barrels of oil each day. This translates to more than 300 million metric tons of carbon that comes from our cars and trucks every year. Our transportation CO2 emissions are the largest source (about one-third) of our CO2 emissions, more than factories, homes, and all other sources. If fuel economy were improved by 5 mpg, American consumers would save 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Continued… You can save over 3,000 lbs of CO2 from being emitted into the environment by switching to a hybrid or a more fuel efficient car Just keeping your car tuned up can dramatically improve fuel efficiency and reduce your emissions

How to reduce company carbon emissions: Use electric vehicles, locomotives, and fuel efficient planes to deliver goods. Use energy efficient machinery when possible Try to make sure bus routes end up near the company so employees can ride the bus

While at work: Turn off your computer and lights whenever you leave Think before you print…sometimes you won’t even need a hard copy of that from your mom Try to recycle all of your papers Try to convince your employers to buy energy efficient equipment and use other green appliances