Every person’s circumstance are different, so no shoe fits all.
• What activities make my climate footprint really BIG?
For the family thinking of having another child, this is likely to be, by far, the most obvious climate impact to think about. For those intending to build a house, this has to be their top priority. For those who fly a lot in jet planes, this obviously needs to be their top priority.
Food has been the big ‘sleeper’ issue in the climate debate.
What’s more, it’s closely linked to your health, so focussing on the food you eat can benefit you twice over.
• How does food contribute to climate change?
The food we eat accounts for a whopping 30 percent of a typical household’s greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the CSIRO the average Australian diet causes about 4.5 tonnes of greenhouse gases (per person, per annum). That’s more than all the energy we use within our homes, so it’s much more important than things like changing light bulbs or insulating your ceiling.
Having a very good shower is one of life’s pleasures. So switching to an energy-saving shower is often met with skepticism.
• How much energy can a new shower head save me?
Changing over a shower head is probably the most instant, cost effective things a person / household can do to reduce their water and energy footprints. So effective that the embodied energy in the old shower head is not an issue. Recycle it.
The number of solar hot water installations in Tasmania is going through the roof. With government rebates this is no longer an expensive option.
• How viable is solar hot water in Tasmania?
The short answer is ‘very’. Tasmania enjoys the same latitude (42 degrees) as does northern Spain. Germany, much colder than us, has a thriving solar industry. We are well within the band of viable solar ‘insolation’. Newer technology has now made solar hot water even more viable in cooler climates like ours.
