CO₂ EMISSIONS AND SAVINGS

The spreadsheet, below, shows CO₂ emissions (in Kg) from our household (including travel) before we did anything to reduce them and after we had adopted emissions-saving measures. The estimated savings, expressed as fractions, are shown between the two.

The overall savings in Kg and as a percentage of original emissions are shown near the bottom of the spreadsheet. Percentages are in bold red type. The original estimates come from the carbon calculator provided by the Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

The effect of air travel is strking. Before we started on this exercise, we normally took about two trips each year involving air travel, each trip being roughly equivalent to a flight to America and back. Now we aim to reduce this to not more than one and, perhaps, zero. One extra air trip each year can totally wipe out all one's savings in other areas.

Since air travel is such a big factor, we were interested to see the effect of all our other measures, discounting air travel. These savings, shown on the last line of the spreadsheet, are about 50%, not far short of the Government's 60% target for 2050.

If, as we are now doing, we reduce our flights from two overseas trips a year to one, our overall savings, including savings from air travel, are close to 50% (shown below against the percentage for 'reduced flights').

If we were to cut out air travel altogether, our overall savings would be over 75% (shown below against the percentage for 'zero flights').

Overall, our conclusion is that, at a personal level, it is possible to reach or exceed the Government's target's for 2050 by adopting relatively simple, inexpensive measures without undue inconvenience or loss of comfort. If the same is true of industry, commerce and administration - and we suspect it is - then there should be no difficulty in hitting the Government's 60% target for 2050 and doing it very much sooner than that date.