Are people bothered about their carbon footprint?

[Homeglow2910]

Hi, I am a plumbing and heating engineer in the South Yorkshire area and I would love to know what people really think about their carbon footprint and ways of saving fuel costs in their homes.

 

Is it something people really don’t think about?

 

Is it the expense that puts people off?

 

Would people like to know more about what is out there to save on fuel costs and should more money be spent on awareness for this.

[ccit]

What an interesting question and maybe the results will be different according to age group. Personally, I am interested in saving money so I have my home double glazed, cavity wall insulated and the loft space well lagged. I am too old to derive any benefit from solar panels so would not go down that route.

I am all for government promotions to help people to insulate their homes properly but not particularly from the carbon footprint angle. I would take this much more seriously if people would reduce their use of cars etc. As a nation we are enslaved to personal transport and it is ruining the quality of our lives. Walk along any main road and the pollution from exhaust fumes and noise is appalling.

[Greengeek]

You can try and save all the money you like, but the energy companies will still want their pound of flesh. Use less, cost will increase anyway.

[Homeglow2910]

I totally agree with both posts. I do believe we should use our cars less, I know I use a gas guzzling van for work but the Greener more fuel efficient vans are so expensive to buy. It’s when I see parents taking their children to school in the car when they only live around the corner that I find wrong and you see people buying massive 4x4 vehicles to go to Tesco. It is true about fuel costs with energy providers always putting up the prices but there are ways to heat your home and give you hot water at the fraction of the cost. It’s not all about solar panels and heat pumps of ways of saving money, like you have already done with wall insulation and new windows, these are great ways of keeping heat in our homes and using less fuel. Even cleaning your heating system with a power flush can dramatically make it more efficient.

[Greengeek]

It's also the reason I prefer older cars. I've got a 1995 Subaru Legacy.

It's reliable, not the cheapest to run but then I've not contributed to the massive amounts of pollution creating a new car creates.

[Homeglow2910]

Now that is an old car, why do you say newer cars make more pollution?

[Greengeek]

Not more pollution out of the exhaust, but in their manufacturing.

Why make something else when there is already plenty of cars out there that will do the job just as well.

 

It's why the Land Rover Defender is one of the greenest cars out there.

[L00b]

Now that is an old car, why do you say newer cars make more pollution?

Because you have to build them in the first place.

 

You know: dig the earth, transport the ore, melt it, laminate it, stamp-form it. And that's just the metal panels. There's all the plastic (needs crude oil, originally), etc, etc.

 

If you're going to talk about the carbon footprint of people and/or things they buy/use, you have to consider the entire chain, right from the start, every time. Or the very concept becomes pointless.

 

Our second car (which for a long time was our main and only car) is a 1998 MX-5. We've owned it and used it for the last 12 years. In carbon footprint terms, car-wise, I'd say we're in credit by quite some margin

 

As for the concept of "carbon footprint" (never to be dissociated from carbon credits ) itself, I couldn't care less. Just another snake-oil scheme to justify more indirect taxation.

Edited July 5, 2012 by L00b

[DaFoot]

I do try to not consume excessively - it's not just about my 'carbon footprint'. Though I suspect most people use that term interchangeably with 'environmental impact'.

 

Things like that to affect my choices of products I buy and use and the way I live my life to varying degrees.

 

For a variety of reasons, partly the global climate issues but also the fact that all resources are finate . While we make no effort to reuse those resources we will end up with more of them becoming scarce leading to more aggressive/damaging extraction and increasing costs.

 

Locally I'd rather not see dumps/tips consume more land that could be put to better use. Reusing/recycling should help there - even if you (whoever is reading) don't accept man-made climate change think about recycling things for reasons like this instead.

[DaFoot]

Our second car (which for a long time was our main and only car) is a 1998 MX-5. We've owned it and used it for the last 12 years. In carbon footprint terms, car-wise, I'd say we're in credit by quite some margin

 

Do you mean because you haven't bought another car (that needed building) in that time or because the MX5 is supposed to be particularly 'green'?