Environmental Corner

In this week’s Environmental Corner we are looking at ways to reduce long term environmental impact. One of the major ways of reducing our environmental impact is to reduce our carbon footprint or be carbon positive in our homes. The idea is to reduce the amount of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere from human activities within your home.  Some environmental tips that can be incorporated into your home to make it ‘carbon neutral’ are:

• Selecting energy efficient appliances for your home
• Actively operate your home to improve thermal comfort and reduce energy use e.g.
  • Night purge by opening windows in summer
  • Draw drapes at night
  • Limit ventilation and air movement in winter
  • Close doors to create a heating zone in winter and don’t heat unused rooms
  • Turn your thermostat up a few degrees in summer and down a few degrees in winter to reduce your heating and cooling costs by around 20%.
• If a car is essential, use a hybrid electric or fuel-efficient one.
• Purchase food, products and other services that have not been transported long distances, kept in storage and over-packaged.
• Grow some of your own food
• Save water and the energy to heat it by taking shorter showers, washing clothes in cold water and leaving mixer taps in cold position to avoid unintended hot water draw with short uses.
• Reduce the purchase of non-essential products and buy only durable, quality goods you really need from certified sustainable (e.g. Good Environmental Choice Australia) and socially preferred (e.g. Fairtrade) sources.

Elizabeth Allan

Head of Science