How to reduce your carbon footprint

Some simple actions you can take that will help keep the planet healthy for generations to come.

71% of the world's emissions are produced by 100 fossil fuel companies (opens new window) including ExxonMobil, Shell, BHP Billiton and Gazprom.

It's important to keep that in mind when thinking about your own personal contribution to the climate crisis. Individual actions, especially when they inspire collective actions, are important. They contribute proportionately to tackling climate change, they embed climate awareness and they might save you money. However, without intergovernmental action to reduce emissions from the fossil fuel industry we will not keep global warming below 1.5oC (opens new window).

Basic Principles

When reducing your carbon footprint, the easiest way of starting out is thinking of the three 'R's: reduce, reuse, recycle. Prevention is always the best solution for reducing your emissions, therefore reduce is always the most important step, only after that should you reuse items and then recycling is the last resort.

Examples:

Reduce - not buying new clothes
Reuse - repairing or altering clothes, swapping or buying clothes second hand
Recycle - turning clothes into cleaning rags, rag rugs and putting them in a recycling bin

Avoid anything that can only be used once like single use plastic straws and avoid items that cannot be recycled like plastic coated paper or polystyrene, you can see a comprehensive list of what can and can't be recycled in West Lothian here.

At Home

Change your light bulbs

An easy fix you can make that will help the planet every day is to switch all of the lights in your house to energy efficient LED bulbs. Not only could you save up to £35 a year on your energy bills, replacing these inefficient bulbs could make a real impact on our national energy consumption.

Unplug your gadgets

Completely powering off your gadgets isn't just good for your devices, it's good for the planet. What's even better is unplugging your chargers when they're not in use and pulling the plug instead of leaving devices on standby.

Choose a laptop over a desktop

Laptops, unlike desktop computers, are designed to be energy-efficient, because battery life is a major factor to laptop design. According to EU Energy Star, a laptop can be up to 80% more energy-efficient than a desktop. Energy-efficient LCD screens, hard drives, CPUs and adaptors all factor into making laptops much better tools for the planet.

Adjust your thermostat and your curtains

Simple adjustments to moderate the temperature in your house can make a big difference for the planet. If you keep your house one or two degrees cooler in the winter you can make big savings on your energy bills. Similarly, closing your curtains at night keeps in warmth. There are several energy-efficient curtains on the market that use insulation to help maintain the temperature of your home. The Energy Saving Trust (opens new window) provides many tips for reducing heating bills.

Buy local food

Purchasing foods that are both in season and grown locally can drastically cut down the carbon emissions of the vehicles used to transport out of season fruit and veg across the world. West Lothian Producer's Market sells fresh local food and takes place monthly on Sundays at West Lothian College and Thursday night at Broxburn you can find out more on their Facebook page.

Choose energy-efficient kitchen appliances

Microwaves are faster and often use less energy than the oven. The real task at which microwaves excel is bringing water to a boil. If using the oven the most energy efficient type is an induction hob. If you are using the oven, your food will cook faster on the upper shelf because heat rises.

Transport

Reduce your travel

With the range of video conferencing, home working, online shopping and networking on offer, you don't always need to leave the comfort of your own four walls. During the past year, many people have swapped the daily commute for working at home, so consider whether you can make use of the wide range of digital communication options available before making a journey.

Active Travel

Walking and wheeling are classed as active travel methods. The only resource required to get from A to B is your own energy. Travelling on foot or wheels doesn't create any carbon emissions, so this is a sustainable and green way to make a journey. Each mile you walk rather than drive saves 276g of carbon dioxide (CO₂). You can find detailed maps and descriptions of West Lothian's core path network and National Cycle Network routes here and here.

Take public transport

There may be times when active travel isn't a suitable option, for example you may be travelling a long distance or have luggage. This is where public and shared transport can be helpful. Getting the bus or train instead of taking the car can help you reduce your carbon footprint while you travel. Shared and public transport also reduces traffic congestion and improves local air quality. It can also be a better use of your time, allowing you to check messages, read a book or chat with friends and family while you travel. There are many resources available for planning public transport journeys: bustimes.org (opens new window) provides real time tracking information, traveline (opens new window) allows you to plan journeys across transport types and Lothian Buses (opens new window) provides information on West Lothian buses.

Car Share

If you feel that you really need to use a car for a journey, why not look into joining a car club? The average club car produces 26.5% less greenhouse gas emissions than the average private car, and each car club vehicle takes up to 18.5 cars off the road, reducing congestion. Check out CoMoUK's map to find your local car club.

Switch to an Electric Vehicle

Sometimes a private vehicle is necessary and on these occasions you should consider the greenest type of vehicle - this is where electric cars come in. With the electricity we use getting greener all the time as we get more of our energy from renewable sources, electric cars produce far fewer carbon emissions than their petrol and diesel equivalents - and there are zero tailpipe emissions. The Scottish Government has set a target to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032. When will you make the switch? Grants up to £250 are available from the Energy Saving Trust (opens new window) towards the cost of installing an electric charge point at your home. Charge points are also available across West Lothian.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity - how rich and varied all the different kinds of living things in an area are - is something that is both effected by climate change and effective in the fight against climate change. A healthy diverse environment will be more able to adapt to a changing climate and will help slow climate change by trapping emissions in soil and plants. Doing your bit to increase biodiversity is an important way to lower your carbon footprint.

Hard Surfaces

If you have outdoor space where you live you can do a lot to make a difference. The worst type of garden for the environment is one that is covered up by slabs, monoblocks, decking, Astroturf (a harmful by-product of petrol) and other types of impermeable surfaces. These surfaces don't allow rainwater to drain away and therefore contribute to increasing the likelihood of local flooding. If you need a low maintenance surface explore lawn alternatives (opens new window) such as: gravel, woodchips, sedum, thyme, moss or wildflower meadows. Many of the lawn alternatives are beautiful and easier to maintain even than slabs or monoblocks.

Flowers

The next least environmentally friendly type of garden is one that is just grass. Lawns are monocultures (opens new window), areas that provide no food for pollinating insects. Consider trying your hand at growing flowers it will brighten up the space and help the planet. If you really aren't gifted with a green thumb then allow the flowers that grow in your lawn naturally to bloom - the weeds! A lawn with daisies, clover and dandelions is helping the planet, so leave the lawn mower in the shed. Growing flowers for pollinators is something you can do even in a small space like a windowsill or balcony.

Pesticides & Herbicides

Pesticides (chemicals that kill insects and other garden pests) and herbicides (chemicals that kill weeds) are not good for the environment and should be used sparingly if ever. Prevention is always better, you can: choose plant species that are pest and disease resistant, use companion planting, plant flowers tightly leaving no room for weeds to grow, use mulch to suppress weeds, manually remove pests, or try natural alternatives like washing plants with soapy water or neem oil. If a plant or vegetable you are growing is continually plagued with a pest or disease it might be a sign that the plant is stressed and just isn't suited to your garden. It might be better to swap it with something better suited than to repeatedly use pesticides and fungicides.

Composting

Home composting turns your garden and kitchen waste into a useful soil enhancer for your garden and reduces the volume of waste in your household bins. West Lothian Council has produced handy advice for getting started with composting.

Grow Your Own

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is a fun and fulfilling pastime but it also helps the planet by reducing food miles. It could be something small like growing salad in a window box, something big like starting a vegetable garden, or something shared like an allotment or community garden.

West Lothian Climate Action Network Hub

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How to reduce your carbon footprint

Basic Principles