5 ways to reduce your carbon footprint

The current climate crisis is a pretty daunting challenge, and it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed. But the good news is, by working together, we can all make a difference in the fight against climate change.

To begin with, let’s clarify what we mean by the term “carbon footprint”. Your carbon footprint is made up of all the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) you produce while going about your daily life, including travelling, shopping but also taking a shower. So what are the actions you can personally take to reduce your carbon footprint and achieve a more sustainable lifestyle?

Replace driving with walking & cycling

Driving less is definitely one of the main actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. Choosing to walk or bike to work on your commute, for errands, etc. instead of driving is an easy way to increase physical activity and improve your health while also reducing your carbon footprint.

No matter your location, Britain offers you hundreds of amazing cycling routes to enjoy its great outdoors and feel the thrill of speed while taking some fresh air, such as The Green Way Trail, in the West Midlands, The Monsal Trail, in the Peak District, and many more.

If you need to use a car, make sure it’s running efficiently and keep it serviced, and try combining errands to make fewer trips. You can also consider switching to an electric vehicle.

Shop sustainably & avoid fast fashion

While buying new clothes may not seem a big issue, the truth is that fast fashion is highly unsustainable and definitely a bad choice for our planet. Therefore, the #1 rule to shop more sustainably is to buy less: keep in mind that every time you decide to repair and update the clothes you already own, rather than getting something new, it’s a win for the environment.

When you need to add some clothes to your collection, don’t head straight to your usual retailers, but instead, have a look at alternative options, such as buying second-hand, swapping clothes with your friends, and also looking for clothes rentals. This will allow you to constantly renew your wardrobe without damaging neither the environment nor your wallet.

Try to always buy from sustainable and ethical brands: nowadays more and more fashion brands take into account the environmental and social impact of their production, and you should always prefer them to fast fashion companies.

Buy seasonal local food & eat less meat

Wherever possible, it’s best to buy local, so that the products have a shorter journey from production to the dinner table. You should try to buy food from your local vendors and markets, purchasing seasonal products as much as possible. In order to cut down on food waste, a good strategy is to plan your meals in advance and be creative with what you already have in the fridge.

Moreover, as mass animal agriculture is considered one of the leading contributors to global warming, cutting down on the amount of meat you eat can have a huge impact on reducing your carbon footprint. Not having red meat – even if it’s just for two or three days a week – is definitely a step in the right direction for a more sustainable lifestyle.

Be an energy-saving guru

If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint at home, there are loads of small steps you can take to reduce your energy usage, such as switching off appliances when not in use, turning off lights when you are not in the room, and so on.

Another useful step to take is definitely getting a smart meter to keep an eye on your energy use – it will help you spot where you could use less. It will also be more convenient because if you have a smart meter, you can choose a smart time-of-use tariff, which offers a different price of energy at different times of the day.

Make your home energy-efficient with solar energy

There’s no denying that installing solar panels can be expensive – but in the long run, it’s one of the most effective things you can do to save energy at home. In fact, today solar panels are one of the cleanest and most accessible ways to generate renewable energy to power your own household and switch away from fossil fuels.

Moreover, by adding a smart battery to a solar panel system, you can store the energy you generate during the day to give you access to clean, low-cost energy at night, reducing the amount of energy that you buy from the grid. Also, during winter months and cloudy days, when your solar panel systems are not producing much energy, many homes can make use of their dynamic time-of-use tariffs to charge the battery when it is most convenient (such as during the night), powering your home with the cleanest and lowest-cost energy available all year round.

Get in touch

At Moixa, we have provided our solar batteries to over 1,000 homeowners in recent years. If you visit our Request a Quote page to enter a few key details, we’ll get in touch to discuss a specific quote for your solar energy needs, our pricing, and our flexible payment terms.

You can also call us on 0161 883 2374 or email enquiries@moixa.com to speak to a member of our Solar and Storage Specialists team. From there, we can offer more answers to your questions and put in motion the process of installing your solar panels and solar battery at your home.