What Exactly is the Carbon Footprint?

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The Carbon Footprint Explained by Tal Potishman

There has been a lot of attention paid recently to a person's "carbon footprint" when people talk about using and saving energy. This popular buzz word has been all over popular media outlets.

But what does the term "carbon footprint" mean? This term can best be defined as the level of impact a person has on the environment. The measurement of this impact takes into account a person's actions and his or her home environment and is then based on the amount of greenhouses those actions and that home produces. Then the amount of greenhouse gases produced is measured in units of carbon dioxide. There are a few ways that a person can calculate his or her carbon footprint: The amount of emissions caused by the energy a system uses and the Life Cycle Assessment are the two most popular methods.

The truth is that just about everything a person does can contribute to his or her carbon footprint. The real truth is that even breathing can increase a person's carbon footprint as the act of human respiration puts more carbon dioxide into the environment!

Asking the residents of the United Kingdom to breathe less is ridiculous so residents would do well to remember that a carbon footprint is actually assigned by their actions: driving their automobile, cooking a meal, the amount of energy consumed while at home, at work and in transit. The amount of carbon even a lazy day can produce is eye opening.

The reason your carbon footprint has become so important in recent years is, simply, the climate of the world is changing drastically and environmental experts claim that the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases humans produce is directly responsible for that change. Global temperatures have risen by around .6 degrees Celsius over the last one hundred years. That does not sound like a lot, but it has been proven to have quite an impact! The polar ice caps are fractions of what they once were, droughts are happening in places that are known for being wet (the United Kingdom, for example), and the transitional changes of fall and spring are getting much shorter.

There are quite a few things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. The best way to reduce your carbon footprint is to reduce your energy consumption! Unplug phone chargers and appliances when they are not in use, use only the lights you need while you need them, etc. Another good way to reduce your carbon footprint is to reduce your dependence on your automobile. Recycle everything you can!

Another great way to reduce the amount of carbon emissions into the atmosphere is to plant some trees! Trees take in CO2 and expel oxygen. While you cut back on your carbon output, you should increase the amount of carbon converters as well!

Tal Potishman, editor of Heating Central, writes articles about boilers, central heating, Stoke Newington plumbers, underfloor heating and solar thermal. He specializes in helping save money by advising on efficient heating.

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