Save £500 a year by fighting climate change!

Let us sidestep for a moment the question of whether climate change is man made or part of the ebb and flow of nature. This has become some sort of a moral purity test and anyone who doubts man made climate change is seen as a monster and a mad scientist bent on global ruin. This is a pity because in reality it does not matter! If we become submerged due to naturally occurring climate change then we are in no worse a situation than we would be from the man made sort! There does seem to be a warming trend over the past 40 years which may or may not have tapered off more recently. Everyone agrees that some change has occurred and the effects will be bad if they continue- in either direction.

The question for me is- can we do anything about it?

If we can save money while saving the world then so much the better. The problem will self resolve  as most people will make needed changes without compulsion.

First let us look at the things we may do tomorrow. Turn down the heat at home (or turn it off completely). Start using LED lights at home and so on. Use the microwave more and the oven less. Do not overfill the kettle. All these things may save £300 a year and instantly reduce CO2 emissions and all that is required is a sort of mindfulness.

I am personally doubtful of the energy saving qualities of most slow cookers as they really n on for half the day. A more frugal seeming alternative may be a 10 min blast with an electric pressure cooker followed by a long cooling off period without power. Provided the steam valve is not opened it should remain very hot indeed.

Use public transport if possible- particularly if we can ditch the car. Cars are far more expensive than we think. There is always something wearing out or dropping off. An annual railcard hurts when we buy it but travel then becomes a fixed cost and not a death by a thousand cuts.

Many people over cook their food. Vegetables should be slightly crunchy. This retains the nutrients and also saves energy. Keep the freezer full (or ditch it). Empty space wastes power.

The less time we spend at home the less power we will use there. Time spent at home also makes us poor as it is time not spent working!

In the longer term we may buy double glazing or cavity insulation but we should do a careful cost analysis before moving ahead. Double glazing has the longest payback and should generally be bought for aesthetic and sound insulation benefits.

The important thing is to make a start before one makes a plan because planning can become an end in itself. I have spent days compiling To Do lists and felt a great sense of satisfaction by the end of the process- despite not having done anything useful at all!

You may be wondering, BTW what the photographs have to do with climate change. The answer is- not much! I took them this morning in the City as I was early for work. They do have some relevance as all this will be underwater if the ice caps melt.

There are two kinds of carbon footprint to worry about. Direct and Indirect. Our direct footprint is what we do ourselves, our transport choices and so on. Indirect is the carbon released due to our consumer choices. These can be substantial but they vary widely according to who is doing the calculation. One surprisingly heavy energy consuming item is the Internet (all those data servers). Some companies are better than others. Google is 100% solar as is Apple and Facebook. Being based in sunny California may help. We should remember that although the server holding the words you are reading is carbon neutral this is not the only factor. The telephone network uses power as does (of course) your PC. Therefore we can never be entirely sure reading this blog is carbon neutral. All we can do is get as close as we can. Fortunately this is good enough!  Nature seems able to deal with slow changes but not fast ones and all we need to do is slow things down a bit. This is because there are a number of self regulating mechanisms at play. Plant growth speeds up when CO2 concentrations rise. This in turn takes the carbon out of the air. We also see artificial fertilizers washing into rivers which then become clogged with algae which is a short term problem but a long term benefit as the fertilizer washes out to sea and increases the algae content there as well- which also sucks CO2 from the atmosphere.

My position on climate change is that we are probably in less trouble than we believe but we should assume the worst. If the climate skeptics are correct and the earth is entering a cooling phase then we can simply increase our emissions until we get the temperature just right. Having the technology to control CO2 is like having a thermostat for the home. We do not have to believe in 'climate extinction' to see that this is a good idea.

Once we have plucked all the low hanging fruit (amounting to about £300 pounds a year) we should consider something more ambitious. Begin to replace our existing appliances with A+ energy efficient ones- but only once they wear out. The worst energy offenders are the fridge and the washing machine. You do not need a tumble dryer. Dishwashers are not as bad as their reputation but tend to break down. Once this process is complete (in about six years) we will be saving in the region of £500 a year.