Have you thought about your new year’s resolution yet? Maybe it’s cutting down on chocolate or hitting the gym. Or, making simple changes in your daily routine to have a ‘greener’ 2022. Even the smallest change can make a difference on helping the planet limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees. Green New Year’s Resolutions should be something that you can start simple and build on.
Countdown to a Better Future
Help half global emissions by 2030. Most people struggle to make a meaningful change because they just don’t know where to begin. Start with small easy tasks that can make a big impact when becoming a lifelong habit. It can be from, using a recyclable water bottle in your daily life, to a bigger investment. Such as installing electric heating like infrared heating panels to make the switch to renewable energy for your home. A green home produces fewer carbon emissions through efficient energy use.
Being environmentally friendly is not all about plastic bags. It’s about changing our daily choices to make the impact. Not just an impact on the future of the environment but, it can contribute to a healthier lifestyle.
Below highlights the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint and initiate change on a larger scale. Start your green resolution journey here!
5 easy tips to a ‘green’ household
1. Recycle, but recycle right
This might be stating the obvious. However, not everyone recycles. In the UK, we are only recycling 3% more waste than we did in 2010. Recycling is very important as waste has a huge negative impact on the environment as it releases greenhouse gases.
It’s running up to Christmas and there will be a lot of wrapping paper, cards, Christmas trees, and plastic packaging. Not even considering the food waste! Greenpeace recently found that as little as one kilogram of wrapping paper emits three and a half kilograms of CO2 during its production process. Instead, use reusable wrapping paper, cut down on glitter or use disposable glitter instead, and reduce the amount of plastic gifts you’re buying. Furthermore, don’t just throw your plastic trees, and lights away after a month’s use. Reuse them for next year and the year after. Or think about LED lights instead as just throwing them away. As they may release mercury into the environment if they’re broken.
Try to reduce the amount of waste you throw away to guarantee a green new year. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Buy in smaller bulks and cook smaller portions. Plan your food shop out in advance and write a list. That way you will only buy the products you need for you or your family.
2. Use the Re-Usable shopping bags
How many plastic bags are used each year? We use 5 trillion plastic bags… per year! That’s 160,000 a second! And over 700 a year for every single person on the planet. You probably have them but, always forget them! They need to be used to have an effect on the planet. Keep them in your car or by your front door.
In addition, they provide a stronger solution than the old plastic bag. While you feel good about using reusables you can save on money as well. As on average a person uses 365 plastic bags per year. Even though the sales of plastic bags have dropped by more than 95% in England’s main supermarkets since the charge was introduced in October 2015. They are still being manufactured and should really be banned completely. This is just the start of reducing plastic.
3. Second-hand shopping
Thrifting and buying second-hand clothes are getting more and more popular. With the likes of Depop, Facebook marketplace and eBay you can buy pretty much anything preowned. A major benefit of second-hand shopping is that you have the opportunity to save on money. But most of all it has a major impact on the environment. Moreover, buying something used, saves it from going into landfills and gives a new life to an item. Even selling your clothes on these apps or giving them to charity shops can stop someone else from buying new clothes and reduce the amount that is going into landfill.
Stop fast fashion. Producing new products and clothes requires the use of natural recourses. Again, leading to more greenhouse gases being emitted. The fashion industry accounts for about 8-10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater. It would be unrealistic to ask consumers to stop shopping on a large scale. However, we can develop a strategy to a more sustainable production method to reducing waste and using less chemicals like waterless dyeing and reusing materials.
4. No more toxic chemical cleaners
Your cleaning can become much more eco-friendly by minimalizing the use of toxic cleaning products that are harmful to you and the planet. You may be buying the toxic chemical options and avoiding the natural and refillable products, because you don’t think they will kill all the germs and bacteria properly. Especially now with the spread of Covid 19. Clean regularly and you won’t need industrial strength cleaners to cut through the grime.
Where do these toxic chemicals go once they’ve been used in your home? They pollute the air, surfaces, and surrounding area. Like the pollution of water, when all the chemicals get flushed down the toilet or drains. Harming not just the water but, livestock too. Now you’ve decided to go green with your cleaning. Here is a list of options to use instead and will have the same effect:
- Vinegar is almost 100 percent effective at killing germs if you leave it on for at least 60 seconds, and it leaves a nice shine and it degreases.
- Baking soda and water into a paste- scrubs away food that is stuck on.
- Lemon juice- cleans all the hard water deposits while leaving it smelling nice.
- Invest in a steam mop
- Think about chemical free store products from: https://www.naturalgrocery.co.uk/product-category/household/cleaning/
Supermarket products
- The cheeky panda anti-bacterial surface wipes – not harmful to your skin as well as reducing your carbon emissions by 65% with bamboo products: https://bit.ly/3J4uHij
- Ecover – they use natural products like rapeseed oil. https://bit.ly/324JVDv
- Method products: non-toxic, paraben-free and biodegradable – https://bit.ly/3FfKCYD
5. Grow your own food
Buying food that is locally grown from your farmer’s market or local grocery is a great way to minimize your environmental impact, but growing your own food takes it to the next level.
Have you thought about where your food comes from before it ends up in a supermarket? When you take into account the typical energy cost of transporting food, it is estimated that an average distance of 1,500 miles is travelled before the food is consumed. This relies heavily on the use of fossil fuel.
Therefore, growing your own food means that you’re caring for your own planet. While exposing you to a healthier lifestyle- exercising by planting and eating healthier food. Especially if you choose to grow a variety of fruit and vegetables. In addition, growing your own food stops it from being packaged in plastic, reduces waste as you’re only growing it for yourselves, and you can get rid of chemicals by going organic.
For a sustainable and successful garden plant intensively and by season. Therefore, you reduce the waste and get the most out of your seeds. Maybe reusing the seeds again. Furthermore, the best way to partake in a sustainable garden is to compost your green waste to make sustainable fertiliser. This is because compost could significantly reduce methane emissions. Leading to a net zero future quicker.
Go ‘green’ on a larger scale
1. Electric cars
Searching for a new car? Consider an electric one and reduce your carbon footprint for a green new year. The UK government has set a target that the sale of petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040. To help phase out of fossil fuel vehicles. The good news is that most countries are pushing to clean up their electric grids. Therefore, it will generate energy that will produce no greenhouse gas emissions and reduce some air pollution. Not only this but they can reduce noise pollution. Which is especially useful for big cities.
If you can’t go Electric. Diesel and petrol cars are the main culprits of CO2 emissions. Making smaller changes to your driving style can have a significant impact on the level of emissions. Google Maps will let you choose the route with the lowest carbon emissions. Don’t worry the app will compare the fastest routes for you. Google says this could save over one million tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
Furthermore, reduce the number of times you’re going out in your vehicle. A car left at home is better for the environment. Consider car sharing, public transport, turn two trips into one, and think about walking or cycling. This all has an impact to heading to net zero.
2. Green your heating
The key to tackling climate change is to electrify everything. A transition from gas based central heating to electric heating is widely believed to be one of the critical solutions to meet the net zero 2050 target. 95% of UK homes utilise central heating using fossil fuels, either gas or oil boilers, which are responsible for 58.5 million tons of carbon emissions per year.
Converting to Infrared heating doesn’t just lower carbon emissions but it saves on energy bills and maintenance. Helping you to have a green new year. This is due to multiple reasons. One being how quick it heats up a room, normally less than 10 minutes. This means that the heating will be on for less time, so less heating is needed compared to a convectional heater.
In addition to the panels being quicker to warm we use a Smart control system that monitors room occupancy as well as air temperature. Furthermore, they can save up to 50% of energy over a storage and convection heater. Not only does this save energy. It also saves CO2 production. In addition, Infrared heating can be controlled from individual rooms. Therefore, heating a room in use rather than the whole house will be more energy efficient. To do so the smart control motion detectors can automatically turn on when you enter a room for a set amount of time.
3. Switch boilers
Changing to an electric boiler can help your household become more eco-friendly. Electric boilers can be more energy efficient than gas boilers as they lose little heat when generating hot water.
When you convert to a modern condensing boiler, Mixergy tank. Can support your electric heating making your whole house energy efficient. They can also be compatible with Jigsaw Infrared heating panels. It can improve utilisation of renewable energies and enable intelligent control over water usage. To do so hot water can be delivered up to 5 times faster, up to 5-20% savings on hot water bills, EST verified to reduce gas consumption by up to 21%, and you can get up to 30% more usable hot water. This enables control over water usage using a smart app. So, you can control how long your family members are in the shower.
Click here to read a blog review and the tips on how to use the tanks to reduce your energy bills and your carbon footprint.
4. Solar panels
Solar is a clean, renewable energy and will help you greatly reduce your carbon footprint. The Solar panels convert the sun’s energy to electricity. They can be fitted onto the building roof and produce the electricity required for household use. Moreover, solar panels can reduce your energy bills between 15% and 35% and you can earn extra by selling surplus electricity back to the grid. This reduction can lower even further when Combining Solar PV and battery with IR heating and Mixergy Hot Water Cylinder. Will significantly reduce the reliance on grid electricity and the total cost of energy.
In addition, a house can completely be run on solar power. Every home requires a unique amount of solar panels in order to effectively convert the sun’s energy into power. However, it won’t be as efficient than converting your whole house electric and you don’t need one to help lower carbon emissions.
Those that can help the planet on a larger scale should own up and take responsibility. Starting your 2022 off with these tips can dramatically change your carbon footprint and help you have a green new year. The reality is that everyone needs to work together in order to form a much more sustainable future. Perhaps when you are doing these begin influencing others into taking similar actions too.
