RSS Feed for the unit Environment: Treading lightly on the Earth

Introduction

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

This unit focuses on the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, and explore what you can do to lighten those emissions to help reduce the rate of climate change. You will assess your ‘carbon footprint’ and see what actions you and, if relevant, other household members could take to lighten that footprint. You will also better understand which actions are more and less effective, and the scope and limits of what individuals can do at the personal and household level.

Figure 1 The greenhouse effect due to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere

You'll explore the answers to questions such as:

What is the carbon reduction effect of changing your eating habits, compared to driving fewer miles or flying less often?
By how much would you need to reduce your carbon footprint to achieve an environmentally ‘sustainable’ level of emissions?

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Learning outcomes

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

Understand the problem of green-house gas emissions;
Explore what you can do as an individual or household to lighten those emissions;
Identify how much you would need to reduce your carbon footprint to achieve an environmentally ‘sustainable’ level of emission.

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1.1 What is the carbon footprint and why is it important?

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The carbon footprint is the annual amount of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide, that result from the activities of an individual or a group of people, especially their use of energy and transport and consumption of goods and services. It's measured as the mass, in kilograms or tonnes per year, either of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions alone, or of the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) effect of other greenhouse gas emissions.

The carbon footprint can also be calculated for an event, such as a football match or music festival, or of providing a product, such as a computer or a bag of potato crisps.

The carbon footprint is an environmental indicator: a way of measuring impacts on the environment. There are many other environmental indicators that measure different impacts, such as water pollution, loss of biodiversity and depletion of mineral resources (Box 1). This part focuses on only this single measure of CO₂and other greenhouse gas emissions, but you should be aware that the carbon footprint doesn't measure other impacts, except perhaps indirectly.

Box 1 Carbon footprint and ecological footprint

Another widely used environmental indicator is the ecological footprint, which is a measure of a population's (household, city, nation, etc.) environmental impact based on the area of land and sea theoretically required to indefinitely support their lifestyle at a given level of technology.

The ecological footprint measures the area of land and sea required to produce the population's food and accommodate its roads, buildings, etc. as well as the forested area required to absorb the population's CO₂ emissions. So the ecological footprint measures the carbon footprint component of a population's environmental impact using land area. Sometimes 10% land area is added to the ecological footprint for biodiversity conservation. The ecological footprint is the indicator used to support the argument that about three planet Earths would be needed if everyone in the world tried to live the lifestyle of an average European, which is clearly unsustainable. You'll encounter the ecological footprint again in Part 4 of this block.

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1.1.1 Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is used as the basis for the carbon footprint because it is by far the main contributor to the enhanced greenhouse effect from human activity (mainly burning fossil fuels, clearing forests and making cement). So, often only CO₂ is counted in the carbon footprint. However, for a more complete measure of the carbon footprint the other human-generated greenhouse gases are converted into a CO₂ equivalent (in kilograms or tonnes CO₂e) in terms of their global warming effect and added to the footprint.

The two main non-CO₂ greenhouse gases associated with human activity are methane (CH₄, mainly from cattle belching, manure spreading, wet rice growing and decomposing waste) and nitrous oxide (N₂O, mainly from nitrogen fertilisers and industrial processes). One tonne of methane has the equivalent global warming potential of 21 tonnes of CO₂, while one tonne of nitrous oxide is equivalent to 310 tonnes of CO₂. But because the amounts of methane and nitrous oxide released are much smaller, their emissions together add about 15% to the UK's contribution, and about 25% globally, to the enhanced greenhouse effect. This means that other greenhouse gases should not be ignored when assessing a carbon footprint, at least of individuals or households, although to simplify calculations they often are.

I'll use the total CO₂ equivalent effect of carbon dioxide plus other greenhouse gases whenever possible, but where only information on carbon dioxide is available, I'll have to use only CO₂ emissions when discussing carbon footprints.

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1.1.2 The carbon footprint boundary

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Depending on where you draw the boundary, the carbon footprint can apply to an individual person, a household, an organisation or event, a product, a city, region or country, or the whole world. I'll mainly be considering the footprints of individuals, households and the countries they occupy.

But even then the boundary needs to be defined carefully. Sometimes the carbon footprint is taken to mean the individual's or household's direct CO₂ emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels for home heating and car driving. But this leaves out the individual's or household's indirect CO₂ equivalent emissions arising from the production and distribution of the food, drink and other goods and services they consume, ranging from clothes to electronic products, banking and medical services, and even Open University courses (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The footprint as a powerful image of treading on or occupying the Earth. The direct UK individual's carbon footprint arises from home energy use and personal transport and the indirect footprint mainly from producing and consuming foods, goods and services (Source: based on Tesco, 2008, p. 7 and Carbon Trust, 2006, p. 19)

Again depending on the boundary, these indirect emissions often include only the goods and services produced within the country where people live, but they may also include emissions from imports, for example the products that Britain imports from China. As you'll see, an individual's indirect carbon footprint is often heavier than the direct footprint, and so should not be ignored, although again to simplify calculations it often is.

Whichever measure you choose, the ‘footprint’ image is used to suggest an individual or group treading on or occupying the Earth. It implies that the Earth can't indefinitely support the lifestyle of that individual or group, and if they are to live sustainably they'll have to lighten their footprint.

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1.2 Individual and household carbon footprints

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

I'll be referring mainly to the carbon footprint arising directly and indirectly from the activities of individuals and households.

The carbon footprint of individuals and households is important because they are ultimately the main consumers of the energy, food and other goods and services that produce those emissions.

Look at Figures 3(a) and (b) – what do they show?

Figure 3 UK carbon emissions: (a) total direct and indirect carbon emissions from the UK economy. Total carbon emissions from the UK economy in 2004, including international aviation and shipping = 168.3 million tonnes carbon (MtC) per year, from NETCEN (National Environmental Technology Centre) data; (b) breakdown of direct emissions by individuals. individual annual carbon emissions in 2005 = 1.16 tonnes carbon per person per year, from defra data (Source: DTI, 2007, p. 49)

First, these are pie charts and show the percentage breakdown of total and individual annual carbon emissions from the UK economy in 2004/5.

Study note: pie charts

A pie chart shows different amounts as slices of a circular pie. The whole pie represents the total or 100% amount and so a pie chart is useful for displaying percentage breakdowns – see also Study note: percentages below.

Second, the emissions are expressed in tonnes of carbon rather than carbon dioxide. This is another way of expressing emissions of the main greenhouse gas using just the mass of the carbon (C) atom rather than the whole carbon dioxide (CO₂) molecule. Always check whether emissions are given in kilograms or tonnes of C or of CO₂ and convert if necessary (see Box 2). But, since the mass of carbon emissions is directly proportional to the mass of carbon dioxide emissions the percentage breakdown is the same whether you measure the carbon footprint using C or CO₂ (see Study note: percentages).

Box 2 Converting carbon to carbon dioxide emissions

1 tonne carbon emissions = 1 tonne × 44/12 = 3.67 tonnes CO₂ emissions

1 tonne CO₂ emissions = 1 tonne × 12/44 = 0.27 tonnes carbon emissions.

Box 2.1 The chemical elements in Part 2 explained that this conversion arises because the mass of a carbon (C) atom = 12 units and the mass of an oxygen atom = 16 units, so the mass of a carbon dioxide (CO₂) molecule = 12 + (2 × 16) = 44 units.

Third, the charts are based on carbon emissions alone and don't include the other greenhouse gases. So, as I mentioned in Section 1.1, the charts underestimate the total carbon footprint of the UK economy (in CO₂ equivalents) by about 15%.

Figure 3(a) shows that about two-fifths (42%) of total UK carbon emissions are the direct result of actions by individuals. Figure 3(b) shows how those direct carbon emissions from an average UK citizen break down in more detail.

As discussed earlier, there are different ways of graphically presenting numerical information. Figure 4 is a bar chart presenting the same information as in the pie chart in Figure 3(b). In this case you may find the bar chart clearer than the pie chart.

Figure 4 Alternative breakdown of direct emissions by individuals presented using a bar chart (Source: HM Government, 2007, p. 26 (based on DEFRA, 2006))

Looking at either Figure 3(b) or Figure 4 you can see that:

space heating (i.e. heating rooms) plus water heating plus personal car travel, account for the biggest part of an average UK individual's direct carbon footprint (30% + 11% + 29% = 70% of the total)
other important carbon footprints arise from running domestic appliances and lights (9% + 4% = 13%) and holiday air travel (12%)
cooking and other travel (public transport and motorcycles) create relatively minor average individual carbon footprints (3% + 2% = 5%).

Now look again at Figure 3(a). It shows that the remaining 58% of total carbon emissions arise from the rest of the economy. This includes the indirect carbon footprint arising from individual and household consumption of food and other goods and services.

The other part of that 58% is those emissions not really associated with satisfying individual and household consumption, such as defence. This residue, which can't be allocated directly or indirectly to households, amounts to between a fifth and a quarter of total UK carbon emissions.

This means that individuals and households are directly or indirectly responsible for 75% to 80% of the UK's carbon footprint. This proportion is not unusual for an industrialised country where consumption of energy, food and other goods and services by households accounts for most economic output.

SAQ 1 The carbon footprint

What is the carbon footprint?
Give three different ways of measuring the carbon footprint (in terms of how the mass of emissions is calculated).

Answer

Answers

The carbon footprint is the total annual mass of ‘carbon’ emissions which result directly or indirectly from the activities of an individual or a group of people.
‘Carbon’ emissions can be measured as the annual mass in kilograms or tonnes of either: (i) carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas; or (ii) total greenhouse gases converted to carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e) in terms of their global warming potential; or (iii) the carbon (C) content of carbon dioxide gas.

SAQ 2 Direct and indirect footprints

Look at the caption for Figure 3(b). The average UK individual's direct carbon emissions are given as 1.16 tonnes per person per year. What is this mass expressed as carbon dioxide emissions?
What are the two main components of the direct carbon footprint of individuals and households in developed countries with a climate similar to that of the UK?
Give an example of an indirect component of an individual or household carbon footprint.

Answer

Answers

Based on 2005 government information, the average UK individual's direct carbon footprint was 1.16 × 44/12 = 4.25 tonnes CO₂ per year.
The two main components of the individual and household direct carbon footprint are CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels for (i) room and water heating and (ii) personal car travel.
An example of the indirect carbon footprint of individuals and households you may have given is CO₂e emissions arising from the production and distribution of food, or the manufacture and supply of products such as cars and computers.

Study note: percentages

Percentages indicate proportions and show the number of parts out of 100. for example, 30% is 30 out of 100 and 65.2% is 65.2 out of 100.

You may need to use a calculator when working out percentages.

To change a percentage to a fraction, or to a decimal, the percentage is divided by 100. So for example, 30% expressed as a fraction is 30/100, or 0.3 expressed as a decimal; and 65.2% is 65.2/100 or 0.652.

To do the opposite, that is, to change a fraction or a decimal to a percentage, the fraction or decimal is multiplied by 100. For example, the decimal number 0.25 expressed as a percentage is 0.25 × 100 = 25%. The fraction 41/50 expressed as a percentage is 41/50 × 100 = 82%.

If you need to find out the percentage of something, convert the figures into a fraction and then multiply by 100. for example, if 42 people out of a group of 70 vote for a political party, the percentage voting for that party is 42 divided by 70 multiplied by 100, or 42/70 × 100 = 60%.

You can also work out quantities from a percentage. Here are two examples.

20% of 350 people = 20/100 × 350 (or 0.2 = 350) = 70 people.
What is 350 kg of carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 20% ? A 20% reduction on the whole 100% leaves 100% − 20% = 80% of the whole. 80% = 80/100 or 0.8, therefore 350 kg reduced by 20% is 0.8 × 350 = 280 kg.

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2.1 Average and mean

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

You've just read some information about the carbon footprint of an average UK individual or household. But the actual footprint of any individual or household depends on the amounts and types of energy, food, and other goods and services they consume. This means that an individual's or household's carbon footprint depends on where they live, the type of dwelling they occupy, their age, income, job, values, personal circumstances and lifestyle. Thus, carbon footprints of different individuals and households vary widely within any given country, but also across different countries, and especially between rich developed countries (e.g. the UK), newly industrialised countries (e.g. China), and poor, developing countries (e.g. Uganda).

For individual or household carbon footprints, the average (or more correctly, the mean) footprint within a country is usually given (see Study note: average and mean). These averages show the variation in carbon footprints between different countries, but conceal the wide variation within each country.

Study note: average and mean

An average value is often used in order to get an idea of a ‘typical’ or expected value. There are different ways of expressing an average value but the most common is the mean (which is often referred to as the average, as I have here).

The average (or mean) is obtained by adding up all the values of a set of data and dividing by the number of items in the data set. for example, if three individuals have footprints of 13, 9 and 17 tonnes CO₂ per year, their total footprint is 13 + 9 + 17 = 39 tonnes CO₂ per year. Their mean footprint is the total divided by the number of individuals = 39/3 = 13 tonnes CO₂ per person per year.

The mean is also used when several values contribute to an overall value, as in the case of assignment marks. if you have the following percentage marks for your assignments: 67, 82, 45, 75, 77, 68 you can work out your overall average (mean) score by adding the six scores together and dividing by the number of scores there are, i.e. (67 + 82 + 45 + 75 + 77 + 68)/6 = 69. (This assumes that the assignments are equally weighted.)

To calculate the mean carbon footprint of a UK citizen (in 2004) using the information in Figure 3(a), divide the total UK emissions of 168.3 million tonnes carbon by the UK population of 59.4 million. The result is 2.83 tonnes carbon per person per year.

To express 2.83 tonnes carbon as carbon dioxide emissions: 2.83 × 44/12 = 10.4 tonnes CO₂ per person per year (see Box 2 and Study note: rounding numbers at the end of this section if you're not clear how these calculations are done).

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2.2 The carbon footprint of UK individuals and households

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The simplest way of calculating the average (mean) carbon footprint of an individual living in the UK can be obtained by dividing total UK annual CO₂ emissions by the number of people in the country. Using the official government information in Figure 3(a), this produces a mean footprint of 10.4 tonnes CO₂ per person per year (as shown in the Study note: average and mean).

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2.2.1 The effect of imports and exports

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Recalling the importance of defining the carbon footprint boundary from the previous section, you may see a problem with this government footprint calculation. This footprint doesn't include the CO₂ emissions produced in other countries for the food, drink and other products imported into the UK. It also excludes the CO₂ emissions from goods and services produced in the UK for export.

A detailed study for the Carbon Trust (2006) took these imports and exports into account. It gives an average UK carbon footprint of 11.3 tonnes of CO₂ per person per year, of which 0.9 tonnes arises from the CO₂ embodied in the food, products and services imported into the UK, minus exports. This means that the carbon footprint arising from UK emissions alone is: 11.3 – 0.9 = 10.4 tonnes CO₂ per person per year (the same as the official figure given above). This study also provided a comprehensive breakdown of the carbon footprint of an average UK citizen (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Breakdown of all the direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions arising from the consumption of an average UK citizen, including imports and exports and government activities (Source: based on data in Carbon Trust, 2006, pp. 19, 24)

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2.2.2 Including other greenhouse gases

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The above calculations count only carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use. But as you've seen, other greenhouse gases, especially methane and nitrous oxide converted into their CO₂ equivalents, should be included in the carbon footprint. This means that the above calculations underestimate the carbon footprint, especially of food supply, which generates large amounts of methane.

The most thorough attempt to include other greenhouse gases, as well as imports and exports, in the carbon footprint of UK households is a study for the Office for National Statistics. This provides a figure of 12.2 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per person per year in 2001 (Francis, 2004, pp. 8–9).

Of this total, just over a third (4.2 tonnes CO₂e per person) are direct emissions created by using fossil fuels for room and water heating, for powering lights and appliances, and for personal travel by car, public transport and aircraft.

A larger amount, about half of the total (6.2 tonnes per person), is generated indirectly by the CO₂e equivalent emissions involved in providing other goods and services at home and abroad. This includes the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted when growing, harvesting, processing and distributing food, making and transporting consumer products, and running banks, schools and all the other services of a modern economy.

Finally, about 15% of the total (1.8 tonnes CO₂e per person) is for government activities such as defence, prisons, road building and other infrastructure that are not really a part of individual or household consumption.

The above figures are based on 2001 information. Using the latest available data, the carbon footprint of the average UK individual in 2005 was 12.3 tonnes CO₂e per person per year, a small increase since 2001. (In 2005 total UK greenhouse gas emissions were 733.5 million tonnes CO₂e (National Statistics, 2007, p. 25) and the UK's population was 59.6 million (DEFRA, 2007a).)

SAQ 3 Carbon footprint reduction

If the UK carbon footprint in 1990 (a baseline date for calculating greenhouse gas reductions) was 13.4 tonnes CO₂e per person, and by 2005 it was 12.3 tonnes, what was the percentage reduction between 1990 and 2005? (See Study note: percentages.)

Answer

The percentage reduction in the individual UK carbon footprint between 1990 and 2005 was (13.4 − 12.3)/13.4 × 100 = 1.1/13.4 × 100 = 8.2%.

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2.2.3 The effect of people and places

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The footprints in the above Carbon Trust and National Statistics studies are for an average UK citizen. But footprints vary for different individuals and households. For example, another study showed that, on average, people aged 50 to 64 have heavier footprints than all other UK age groups, mainly due to their high spending on car and air travel, eating and drinking, and medical and financial services (Haq et al., 2007, p. 7).

The National Statistics study showed that the UK regions with the heaviest household carbon footprint were Northern Ireland (mainly due to above average use of oil and coal for heating) and the South-East (due to above average travel and goods and services consumption), and the lightest was Yorkshire and Humberside (due to below average footprints for travel and goods and services).

The carbon footprint per person varies with household size as well as region. One-person households generally have heavier footprints per person than those with two or more inhabitants, including children. This is because people living alone usually occupy and heat a bigger area per person and don't share most household goods and activities. For example, a one-person household in the South-East had nearly three times the carbon footprint per person of a Yorkshire household with three or more members (Francis, 2004, pp. 20, 27–28). So, one of the barriers to reducing carbon footprints is the growing number of one-person households (now nearly a third of all UK households). Sharing a household can be one of the most effective ways of lightening individual carbon footprints.

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2.2.4 Identifying the carbon heavyweights

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

I've focused on two studies of the carbon footprint of UK individuals and households, but there are many others (e.g. WWF, 2006; Goodall, 2007 and Marshall, 2007a).

Figure 6

Despite these different calculations of the carbon footprint of UK individuals and households, they all result in an average of about 10 to 11 tonnes CO₂ per person per year depending on whether imports and exports are included. If other greenhouse gases are included, the footprint is about 12 to 12.5 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per person per year. It means that you can be reasonably confident that these numbers are in the right ‘ballpark’. However, the breakdown of emissions between categories varies in the different studies, mainly due to different ways of categorising the direct and indirect emissions.

Activity 1 The carbon heavyweights

Look back at either Figure 3(b) or 4, and at Figure 5. What are the main sources of direct CO₂ emissions from an average UK citizen?
look again at Figure 5. What are the main sources of indirect CO₂ emissions from an average UK citizen?

Make a note of your answers before looking at the discussion below.

Discussion

The main individual direct CO₂ emissions are from:

space and water heating
transport (especially personal car travel and holiday air travel)*
home electricity use (for powering lights, appliances, electronics, etc.)

*There is a difference between the two charts in the emissions arising from ‘other travel’. This is probably due to different ways of categorising transport emissions.

The main individual indirect CO₂ emissions are from:

food and drink (including agriculture, processing and distribution, catering, food imports and exports); the food footprint is actually heavier than shown in Figure 5 because methane emissions are not included.
use of services (insurance, finance, medical, recreation, hotels, education (e.g. Open University courses), water and telephone, etc.)
purchases of consumer goods (domestic appliances, clothes, shoes, furnishings, newspapers, etc.)
government activities (e.g. defence) and capital projects (e.g. road building).

The carbon heavyweights in other developed countries

The breakdown of individual and household emissions in most developed countries is similar to that for the UK. For example, the four main household sources of CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions across the European Union are: home energy use, food and drink consumption; personal travel; and tourism (European Environment Agency, 2005, pp. 7–10).

A US study (Brower and Leon, 1999, pp. 234–39) found that the breakdown of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases from American households was:

32% personal travel (mainly by car; air travel was about 2%)
30% home energy use (especially electricity for running lights and appliances, air conditioning and heating)
12% food and drink (especially production and consumption of meat and eating out)
12% consumer products (especially buying clothes, furnishings; cleaning products and paper goods)
6% housing (building and renting homes)
6% providing medical services (e.g. running hospitals, supplying medicines)
2% financial services (e.g. banking and insurance) and others.

This American study also showed that personal transport, food production and home energy use, as well as emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases, were also major sources of toxic air and water pollution and damage to wildlife habitats. These other environmental impacts are not included in the carbon footprint; this is something to remember when using it as an environmental indicator.

Although the breakdown of household emissions is similar for most developed countries, one difference is the amount of heating and cooling (e.g. ventilation, air conditioning) required in different climates. Figure 7 shows the energy demand for heating and cooling (modelled for very-low-energy houses) in cities in the UK, the USA and Spain. Similar low-energy houses in Beijing (North China) and in Hefei (mid-China) are included for comparison.

Figure 7 Energy demand for artificially heating and cooling homes in different climates. The heating and cooling demand is modelled in kilowatt-hours (kWh) of thermal energy per square metre per year of similar low-energy housing in order to make valid comparisons (Source: Dunster et al., 2008, p. 127)

If you look at the Figure 7 bar chart, you'll notice that no energy for cooling is required in the London house (although that is likely to change with global warming), whereas in Madrid, Spain, almost all the energy is for cooling, and there are different mixes of heating and cooling in the American and Chinese homes.

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2.3 International comparisons of carbon footprints

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

You've seen that the carbon footprint of an individual or household is a simple idea, but calculating it can be quite complicated. It depends on whether you count only CO₂ or include other greenhouse gases; whether you count only the emissions generated within a country or include imports and exports; and whether you count emissions from government activities as part of a citizen's carbon footprint.

This means that international comparisons can be difficult and so are usually based on the simplest calculation, namely emissions of CO₂ within a country's borders. Hence different sources often give different footprints, depending on the statistics available, the year and the assumptions involved. You'll notice, for example, that the average carbon dioxide footprint within the UK quoted in this section varies, depending on the source and the year, from 9.2 up to 10.4 tonnes CO₂ per person – something you have to work with in a complex area such as emissions statistics.

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2.3.1 Carbon footprints per person

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Despite the simplifications and variations, the statistics clearly show the huge differences between countries in the carbon footprint of an average individual.

Activity 2 International comparisons

From looking at Table 3.1, what is the average UK carbon footprint (in tonnes CO₂ emissions per person per year) compared with the world average, and with average individual footprints in the USA, China, India, Sudan and Uganda?

Round your answer to one decimal place, or the nearest whole number, whichever seems most suitable (see Study note: rounding numbers at the end of this section.)

View document

Here's an example. UK divided by Brazilian CO₂ emissions = 9.8/1.8 tonnes = 5.444444 = 5.44 to two decimal places, 5.4 to one decimal place and 5 to the nearest whole number. That is, an average UK individual's carbon footprint is over 5 times heavier than an average Brazilian's.

Spend no more than 15 minutes on this activity before looking at the discussion.

Discussion

An average UK individual's carbon footprint is:

about 2.5 times heavier than the world average
about 0.5 times (i.e. half) that of an average American
about 2.6 times heavier than that of an average Chinese
about 8 times heavier than that of an average Indian
about 33 times heavier than that of an average Sudanese
about 151 times heavier than that of an average Ugandan.

Figure 8(a) shows similar information presented more dramatically in graphical form for the year 2002. You can see that Luxembourg has an even higher carbon footprint per person than the USA. This is mainly due to its low population, high national income and its steel industry. In general, because wealthier people usually consume more and have more energy-intensive lifestyles than poorer people, they have heavier carbon footprints.

Figure 8 (a) Average carbon dioxide emissions per person (in tonnes CO₂ per year) for different countries as at 2002. Some Middle Eastern countries (e.g. Qatar) with very high and many African and Asian countries with low CO₂ emissions per person are not shown; (b) average total carbon dioxide emissions (in million tonnes CO₂ per year) for different countries as at 2002. The CO₂ emissions for the year 2006 are about 12 to 15 per cent higher than the figures shown here. Many African and Asian countries with low total CO₂ emissions are not shown. By 2007 China had probably overtaken the USA as the largest source of CO₂ emissions (Source: Time for Change, n.d.)

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2.3.2 Total carbon footprints

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Of course, the picture changes when you consider total CO₂ emissions for different countries rather than emissions per person. Figure 8(b) is another chart that shows that America was by far the greatest total emitter of CO₂ in 2002, but, owing to their huge populations, China and India were second and fifth (compared to 47th and 51st in emissions per person). The UK was the seventh largest source of CO₂ emissions in the world. As noted above, a country's carbon footprint is broadly related to the wealth of the population (see Figures 9(a) and (b)). But other factors also have an effect, such as whether the country has industries that use a lot of energy.

Figure 9: (a) world map with territory size distorted according to the proportion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from that territory. The map of territory size according to the wealth of that area looks very similar, indicating the relationship between, and the global inequalities in, people's purchasing power and their country's GHG emissions (measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent); (b) world territories map for comparison (Source: Worldmapper, 2008a and 2008b)

In 2007, with its rapid economic growth and building of new carbon-heavy coal-fired power stations, China was estimated to have overtaken the US as the world's largest source of CO₂. Together the USA and China emit over 40% of the world's CO₂, while India could become the world's largest emitter of CO₂ before 2020 (Cabinet Office, 2007, p. 12).

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2.3.3 Differences between people and places

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

I said at the beginning of this section that the average individual and household carbon footprints for a country conceal the differences within that country. These differences in carbon footprints are related to income and can be enormous, but difficult to quantify.

For example, in India the 2004 average carbon footprint of 1.2 tonnes CO₂ per person per year hides the differences between: middle-class Indian households living in air-conditioned apartments and owning a television, refrigerator and motor scooter, or perhaps a car (Figure 10(a)) and the household of a subsistence farmer, whose only fuel is dried cow dung for cooking, and perhaps kerosene for a lamp (Figure 10(b)).

Figure 10 (a) apartments, New Town, Kolkata, India, built for India's fast growing middle class; (b) Indian cattle farmer living on less than £1 per day; (c) government official's house, Libreville, Gabon; (d) villager's house, Jinja, Uganda; (e) typical apartment block, China; (f) village alley, near Yangshuo, China

Or in Africa, the contrast between the elite, who may have a private swimming pool, and villagers who have to collect water for cooking and washing (Figures 10(c) and (d)).

And in China, where the lifestyles of the wealthier members of the very rapidly growing urban population contrast with that of people living in China's villages and rural areas (Figures 10(e) and (f)).

Similar contrasts could also be shown between the homes and lifestyles of rich and poorer people in developed countries.

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3 How heavy is your footprint?

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

You've seen that individual and household carbon footprints vary widely both within and between countries. So, in this section you'll be working out your own carbon footprint using the computer-based calculator linked in the box below. This is the Quick version of this calculator. A more detailed and complete version is available when formally studying the Environment: journeys through a changing world (U116) course at the Open University.

The calculator will show you which activities (energy use, travel, etc.) make large and small contributions to your carbon load. But because the calculator is a model of reality, it can give you only an approximate measure of your carbon footprint and its components. Models are simplified representations of the real world, such as maps, architectural sketches, scale models and prototypes, that can help people to understand, visualise, experiment or make changes. In this case, the calculator is a model based on a set of mathematical equations that enables a computer to convert the information you enter into carbon emissions per person per year.

The results can only be as good as the accuracy of the assumptions and equations within the model and the information you enter into it. For example, if you drive a medium petrol-engine car, a calculator typically works out the carbon footprint of your car travel by multiplying the annual car miles (or kilometres) you enter into the calculator by the mean CO₂ emissions per kilometre for 1.4 to 2 litre petrol engines, divided by the number of people you say normally occupy the car. Or, if you don't know your annual car mileage, the calculator may ask about the number and length of car journeys you make and works out an approximate mileage from that. The reliability of the footprint depends on how accurate is the data you enter and how close your car emissions are to the average for 1.4 to 2 litre petrol engines.

Most carbon calculators also enable you to try out the effects on your footprint of making changes to your behaviour and/or the products and services you use – driving less or more, buying a car with a smaller or larger engine, saving heating energy and so on. This experimentation, without actually having to make any changes, is a form of computer modelling, but will normally give only approximate results.

Quick Carbon Calculator

Click on the link below to open the carbon calculator.

Quick Carbon Calculator

Click on the link below to open the guidance notes for using the calculator.

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(Courtesy of http://www.cat.org.uk/)

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4.1 Your carbon footprint

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Most of this section requires you to continue using the Quick Carbon Calculator (linked in the box below).

If you've completed the carbon calculator , you'll have a good idea of your carbon footprint and the relative contribution to the total load made by different components of consumption. You'll also know how your footprint compares to that of an average person in the UK.

If you live outside the UK, you may have used a calculator that provides somewhat different information about your carbon footprint.

Unless you already live a very ‘green’ lifestyle, it is unlikely that your carbon footprint will be light enough to be compatible with long-term environmental sustainability.

A sustainable carbon footprint is estimated to be 2 to 2.5 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per person, which is the annual amount if everyone on Earth produced an equal share of greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 50% to 60%, or the average UK carbon footprint of about 12.5 tonnes CO₂e per person was reduced by at least 80%. According to the authoritative Stern Review (HM Treasury, 2006), the scientific evidence shows that a 50% global reduction, and a 60% to 80% reduction in developed countries' greenhouse gas emissions is needed by 2050 to reduce the risk of the world suffering the most serious consequences of climate change. Importantly, Stern calculated that the cost of taking the actions to achieve these reductions will be much less than the costs of dealing with the storms, floods, food and water shortages, etc. of not doing so. Stern's arguments were subsequently reinforced by the fourth report of the world's main climate science advisory body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007).

Quick Carbon Calculator

Click on the link below to open the carbon calculator.

Quick Carbon Calculator

Click on the link below to open the guidance notes for using the calculator.

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(Courtesy of http://www.cat.org.uk/)

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4.2 Carbon reduction targets

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Let's now look at carbon footprint reduction targets in a bit more detail.

The first international agreement to set carbon reduction targets was the 1997 United Nations Kyoto Protocol, which requires developed countries to reduce their human-generated greenhouse gas emissions by an average of just over 5% on 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012. By the time the treaty came into force in 2005, only the USA and Australia had refused to sign. (A new Australian government finally signed the Kyoto Protocol in December 2007.) The developing countries that did sign, including India and China, were not required to meet any reduction targets. The Kyoto Protocol was a very modest first step and is generally considered to be inadequate to meet the challenges of climate change, but the process of replacing it with a new international agreement is under way.

Having signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, the UK government set itself more radical targets to reduce the nation's CO₂ emissions by 20% by 2010 and 60% by 2050. Although the 2010 CO₂ target is now unlikely to be achieved, the UK should do better than its Kyoto obligation to reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% between 2008 and 2012.

Box 3 Contraction and convergence

Current national and international targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and especially CO₂, are increasingly based on a principle called contraction and convergence, developed by the Global Commons Institute, founded in 1990 by a former musician named Aubrey Meyer. The principle is that once a ‘safe’ concentration of CO₂ equivalent in the atmosphere is scientifically established, every country should ‘contract’ its emissions, aiming to ‘converge’ towards an equal share of emissions per person that avoids the long-term concentration rising above the safe level. The safe level is a matter of continuing analysis and debate, but has been interpreted as the concentration that gives about an even chance that the average global temperature will not rise by more than 2°C (possibly up to 3°C), at least in the long term. It means that while developed countries like the UK will have to drastically reduce their emissions per person, some developing countries would be allowed to increase theirs to the globally equal or ‘fair share’ level (Figure 11).

Figure 11 One possible scenario based on the contraction and convergence principle, in which all countries and regions of the world ‘contract’ their emissions to ‘converge’ on an equal share of 2.5 tonnes CO₂ emissions per person per year by 2050 (Source: adapted from Dunster et al., 2008, p. 12)

The contraction and convergence principle lies behind the UK government's Climate Change Bill (2008). This requires a legally binding reduction of at least 26% in the nation's CO₂ (and other targeted greenhouse gas emissions) by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

These are challenging targets, especially as they include international aviation and shipping. The Committee on Climate Change (2008), set up to advise on the targets, recommended bigger cuts of 34% to 42% in UK greenhouse gases by 2020 and supported the minimum 80% reduction by 2050, all on 1990 levels.

In parallel to the UK's target setting, in 2007/8 the European Union agreed a target of an overall 20% reduction in its 27 members' greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, or 30% if a new international agreement on greenhouse gas reductions were reached. Each country is also set individual 2020 targets that exclude greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation and large industrial plants, which are dealt with separately; for example, the Danish reduction target is 20%, the UK's 16%, Germany's is 14%, while Poland can increase its emissions by 14% (CEC, 2008).

You can see that because of international politics and negotiations, and evolving climate science, there are many targets and timescales. You don't need to know all the details, except that the scientific consensus is that big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and especially CO₂, will be needed from most countries to avoid dangerous climate change. Equally important, for political acceptance by developing countries in Africa and newly industrialised countries like India and China, long-term emissions targets may have to be based on moving towards the contraction and convergence principle of global equal shares per person.

What might these targets mean for your carbon footprint?

Activity 3 Carbon footprint targets

If you live in the UK, in 1990 the average individual carbon footprint was about 10.5 tonnes CO₂ per person per year, or together with other greenhouse gases 13.4 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per person per year (Baggott et al., 2007, p. 10).

What would be the required carbon footprint for an average UK individual given the following targets?

The UK government's original target of a 20% reduction in CO₂ on 1990 levels by 2010. What would this carbon footprint target be if other greenhouse gases were included, assuming they add approximately another 15% CO₂ equivalent emissions to the target?
The 2008 Climate Change Bill target of at least a 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (assume a reduction of 40% on 1990 CO₂ equivalent emissions based on the Committee on Climate Change (2008) recommendations).

See Study note: percentages for help in working out percentage reductions.

If you live outside the UK, find the CO₂ emissions per person for your country from Figure 8(a). Then work out your individual target footprints using the overall EU reduction targets of 20% and 30% by 2020. If your country is not listed, try searching the internet for ‘CO₂ emissions per person’ (or ‘CO₂ emissions per capita’).

Discussion

By 2010 the average UK footprint should have fallen to 100% – 20% = 80% of the 1990 figure of 10.5 tonnes = 80/100 × 10.5 = 8.4 tonnes CO₂ per person per year. if other greenhouse gases are included, this would make the target approximately 15% higher at 8.4 × 1.15 = about 9.7 tonnes, say 10 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per person per year (but reduced from a higher starting point).
By 2020 the average UK footprint should have fallen to 100% – 40% = 60% of the 1990 figure of 13.4 tonnes = 60/100 × 13.4 = about 8.0 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per person per year.

Figure 12 (a) the average UK individual's CO₂e footprint of 12.5 tonnes; (b) the government's target of a reduction of at least 26% by 2020.

It's now time to start using the carbon calculator to explore how your carbon footprint might be reduced by amounts such as these. Remember that individual and household consumption is ultimately responsible for generating most of a country's greenhouse gas emissions. Also bear in mind that at the time of writing (2008) the UK's target is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050.

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4.3 Technical and behavioural actions

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The numbers generated by the carbon calculator use a computer model based on some of the best information available. However, as I mentioned earlier, the results are not exact because calculators typically require you to enter broad categories of information about yourself and your household. And there are always uncertainties about some of the data on which the calculator is based. Nevertheless, the calculator allows you to explore the important actions needed to lighten your carbon load and discover which are likely to have large or small effects on your footprint.

You may have noticed that the actions fall into two broad groups – technical and behavioural. For example, installing low-energy lamps in your home is a ‘technical’ action, and switching off lights when leaving a room is a ‘behavioural’ action.

SAQ 4

Identify two technical and three behavioural actions included in a carbon calculator that should help to lighten your carbon footprint.

Answer

Answers

Here are some of the actions you may be able to model using a carbon calculator.

Technical – improving home insulation; using wood fuel for heating; buying, or changing to, a car with a smaller engine or using a different fuel.

Behavioural – lowering room temperatures; increasing the number of people occupying your household; changing to a ‘green’ electricity supplier; driving and flying less; using buses and trains, walking and cycling more; reducing consumption of meat and dairy products; recycling more; composting food waste.

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5.1 Actions for lighter living

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do little.
(Edmund Burke, 1729–1797)

If you want to consider how to further lighten your carbon footprint, you may need more detailed information on the effect of technical and behavioural actions not covered by the carbon calculator, or included only as a part of other actions.

It's important to understand which actions are really worthwhile and which may hardly be worth worrying about. Tables 3.2 to 3.5 give a few examples of ‘light living’ actions for energy, transport, food, goods and services. But be aware that the carbon emissions or savings from the actions listed in these tables depend on assumptions and approximations, and so should be seen as indications of relative impacts rather than exact numbers.

Box 4 Coffins as a carbon footprint measure

The architect Peter Clegg had the idea that it's easier to visualise 1 kg of CO₂ by volume rather than by weight. He noted that 1 kg of CO₂ at atmospheric pressure occupies just over half a cubic metre. That's approximately the volume taken up by ourselves and the space immediately around us, or roughly the volume of a typical coffin, which he felt was a suitable image for climate change. So you could visualise the CO₂ emissions in Tables 3.2 to 3.5 in ‘coffins-worth’. For example, driving 9000 miles per year in an average car produces nearly 3000 coffins-worth of emissions, while installing loft insulation could save 300 to 1000 coffins-worth every year.

The effect of an action on your footprint will often depend on your own situation. For example, the annual CO₂ savings from installing loft insulation are calculated for an average three-bedroom UK house and vary according to the age of the house and how much insulation is already present. Actual savings also depend on the so-called rebound effect. This is the extent to which energy efficiency savings are reduced because people often heat better-insulated homes to higher temperatures, or spend the money they've saved on fuel bills on other things that produce CO₂ emissions. An allowance for the rebound effect of insulation measures is included in Table 3.2.

The emissions from car travel are well established: you can look up CO₂ emissions per kilometre of different models on official websites. But emissions from air travel can vary widely, depending on whether the additional effect on the upper atmosphere of the nitrogen oxides and water vapour in aircraft emissions is counted. The science is disputed and so in some carbon calculators, such as the official UK one, this effect is ignored, while in others the basic CO₂ emissions from a flight may be multiplied by up to three times. If a factor is used (as in Table 3.4), based on current science the government recommends multiplying CO₂ emissions from flights by 1.9 (DEFRA, 2008, p. 18). A voluntary carbon offset can be one way of reducing at least some of the carbon footprint of air travel or other activities; however, it is important to carefully check the nature of the offset scheme (see Box 5).

Box 5 Carbon offsets

Many airlines and other companies offer ‘carbon offsets’ as a way of reducing the carbon footprint of air travel or other activities. A voluntary carbon offset is a reduction in emissions, often resulting from a project undertaken in a developing country, sold to an individual or organisation to compensate for (offset) the carbon footprint arising from their activities.

Figure 13 © www.cartoonstock.com

However, the benefits of many carbon offset schemes are questionable, including those that involve tree planting, not least because it takes years for the trees to absorb CO₂ emissions from, for example, a flight made today. However, a scheme called the Gold Standard promises more worthwhile carbon offsets, as it approves only those which fund renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and promote sustainable development for the local community where they take place. In Britain, DEFRA is introducing a quality standard for carbon offset providers. But whatever the type of project, a carbon offset is a payment to transfer the responsibility for reducing emissions from the person or organisation creating the emissions to someone else.

The CO₂e savings from changing diets or recycling materials are also difficult to calculate exactly. Many of the figures given depend on complex life-cycle analysis studies, the results of which can vary widely, depending on how the boundaries are defined and the assumptions used. For example, while it is clear that cows and sheep produce large amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas methane when digesting their food, the effects of reducing meat and dairy consumption depend on what is substituted. If out-of-season, imported vegetables and rice are substituted, the impact could be greater than for a diet with small amounts of locally produced, beef and lamb fed on grass rather than imported grains.

Note also where some of your food comes from and the idea of ‘food miles’. Buying locally produced food to reduce those miles can help to save carbon, especially if it is imported by air. However, for most foods the main impacts arise from its production and processing, and reducing food miles may not always be the best option. For example, imported tomatoes grown outdoors in Spain have a lower carbon footprint than tomatoes grown in a heated greenhouse in the UK.

You should therefore treat most carbon footprint savings from recommended actions more as ‘ballpark’ figures than precise numbers, and even then some may be oversimplified or the benefits may not be clear-cut. For example, chickens reared indoors in cramped conditions are more efficient at converting their feed to meat than free-range birds. Intensively reared chicken therefore has a lower carbon footprint than free range, but at the cost of poorer animal welfare. For many people, eating less red meat (such as beef) may be more for health than environmental reasons. Another example is, while carbon savings from avoiding plastic carrier bags may be small, there is evidence that plastic waste is becoming a significant threat to sea birds and animals and hence it's a good reason for reducing the use of plastics for carrier bags and packaging. Such examples highlight that deciding between environmental actions may involve difficult trade-offs and just focusing on carbon footprints can leave out other environmental impacts.

Activity 4 Light carbon living

Looking again at Tables 3.2 to 3.5 what would be most likely to substantially lighten your carbon footprint? And which seem to make only a small difference?

Discussion

The following actions listed in Tables 3.2 to 3.5 are more likely than others to significantly lighten your carbon footprint:

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reducing long car journeys (especially regular ones like commuting) or substituting them with bus or train travel
improving home insulation (especially of older properties)
avoiding air travel as much as possible
keeping goods, rather than rapidly replacing them (except where a new product, e.g. a fridge or car, is significantly more energy efficient)
reducing consumption of meat (especially beef) and dairy products
replacing short car journeys with cycling (or walking) when possible.

The following actions are likely to have only a relatively minor effect on the carbon footprint, but can reduce other environmental impacts:

recycling household waste
avoiding use of plastic bags.

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5.2 Lighter living costs and constraints

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

The costs of ‘light living’ actions need, of course, also to be considered. Some actions involve no cost or save money, for example, less flying, shopping or meat eating, or can even make money, such as letting out a spare room to increase household occupancy. Others are low cost with a rapid payback time; for example, replacing an incandescent light bulb with a low-energy compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) should pay back the new lamp's cost in lower electricity bills in about 6 months. Other measures may involve extra cost, for example taking the train instead of driving, or considerable investment, such as installing a high-efficiency condensing boiler or solar water heating. Such big carbon-reduction benefits have to be weighed against affordability and costs (which may be changing quite rapidly).

Apart from cost, there are many other factors that may attract or deter you from some light living options. Travel behaviour is well known as one of the most difficult things to change. You may have little choice about using a car for commuting, shopping, or ferrying your children about. Looking forward to that foreign holiday may be the one thing that keeps you going.

As I noted in Section 2, your needs and wants and social values are important here. For example, some people feel that travelling by bicycle or bus is only for people who can't afford a car, and that flying to exotic destinations gives them social status. On the other hand, others find the idea of cutting their travel footprint in half, or making their home really ‘green’, exciting and challenging. As the final section shows, most people's lifestyles are only partly under their control: their freedom to change is constrained by their circumstances and the wider society. Even so, it's important not to fall into the trap that only making changes with relatively minor environmental benefits is enough: it's necessary to be willing to change more radically to tread lightly on the Earth.

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5.3 Moving towards a sustainable carbon footprint

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

So far, you've been considering reductions in average individual or household carbon footprints by 20% to 30% or more.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that this will not be enough. As I mentioned in Section 4, developed countries, like Britain, Germany and America, will have to reduce their CO₂e emissions by 60% to 80% or more by 2050 to prevent climate change running out of control, while at the same time allowing the growing populations of Africa, India and China to reach reasonable standards of living.

A 60% reduction on an average 12.5 tonne UK footprint would be 5 tonnes CO₂e per person per year. (12.5 tonnes CO₂e × (1.0 − 0.6) = 12.5 × 0.4 = 5 tonnes CO₂e.) A ‘Fair Share’ carbon footprint of about 2.5 tonnes CO₂e per person per year (or less) has been suggested based on a contraction and convergence approach. This requires at least an 80% reduction on the average UK individual carbon footprint. (12.5 − 2.5 tonnes CO₂e)/12.5 tonnes CO₂e × 100 = 80% (See Study note: percentages in Section 3).)

Is it possible to achieve such large reductions without losing all the benefits of a developed country's consumer lifestyle? Some environmental pioneers have worked out how to do it and a few are already living lightly.

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6.1 ‘I’, ‘we’ or ‘they’?

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private actions are the answer. They can and do help. But they will not take us far enough without collective action.
(Al Gore, 2007)

There are some things that we can do as individuals: making this an energy-efficient house and making smart transport choices. Then there are things that we can do in our community … I'm chair of a local community wind farm … and work with Low Carbon West Oxford, a group of local residents … And then there's a third strand where it's really much more to do with government.
(Mark Luntley, interview, April 2008)

In this part, you've seen that individuals and households directly or indirectly generate the demand for most of the goods and services produced and consumed in the economy.

Does this mean that individuals and households are responsible for reducing the CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions from all their consumption? Or are the businesses and industries that produce the goods and services mainly responsible? In this section we'll be considering who is responsible: ‘I’ (as an individual consumer or citizen), ‘we’ (my household, workgroup, community) or ‘they’ (the government, business, other countries, the European Union, and so on).

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6.2 The role of individuals and households

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

You've been considering how to reduce your own carbon footprint to help tackle the worst effects of climate and other environmental changes. To that extent, ‘I’ as an individual consumer has a role to play.

But unless you live alone, you share your household with other people, a group that could be called ‘we’. Everyone in the household may have similar views on living lightly. But, even within a household, there may be different views and priorities about what, if anything, should be done about lightening carbon footprints. Saving energy and other resources can involve some inconvenience or loss of comfort and often involves advance planning or careful thought. It may involve spending money on carbonsaving products or cutting down on some pleasurable activities. There may be social or cultural issues, or deep-rooted beliefs and habits, which differ. Not everyone in the household may agree that the actions are necessary or desirable, or worth even minor inconveniences. Others may be driven by their environmental or other values to live as sustainably as possible.

Example: my household

Using a calculator to work out how to lighten my carbon footprint reminded me that some of these issues occur in my own household. For example, concerning energy use, my partner and her daughter like the house kept nice and warm in winter and often turn up the thermostat or thermostatic radiator valves.

On transport, while my partner and I run a small car, which we carshare to work and usually take a train or coach for longer journeys, my partner's daughter likes driving her own, fairly powerful, car and rarely uses public transport. And while my partner and I have avoided flying in the past year (having flown three times for leisure in the previous year), my partner's daughter has already enjoyed two holiday flights and is looking forward to a trip to Australia.

Concerning consumption, while I prefer buying a few long-lasting goods, my partner's daughter, and to some extent my partner too, like shopping for new things.

So while my own carbon footprint may be fairly light and could be lighter, the total household footprint is heavier than it could be. To lighten our footprint involves trade-offs and choices, and not getting into disagreements requires give and take among the household members.

You may be able to think of similar issues in your own household. Does this mean that each member of the household has to be responsible for their own carbon footprint? Or are there shared activities about which agreements and compromises have to be made in order to reduce the household's footprint?

Of course, you may not be just part of a shared household: you are also a member of society. Even if you agree within your household about what to do, many others in society are not concerned about reducing their carbon footprints. Is there any point in trying to reduce your footprint when others aren't interested or willing to change?

One view, argued by businessman and green politician Chris Goodall in How to Live a Low-carbon Life (2007), is that pioneering individuals have to take responsibility for significantly lightening their carbon footprints in an attempt to galvanise governments, businesses and other members of society into action. He admits that even a million individuals cannot tackle climate change alone, but since governments, businesses and others seem unwilling to make the necessary changes, they have to be persuaded by being shown successful examples of low-carbon living. His model is that of the abolition of slavery and votes for women, in which radical social and political change was brought about by the actions of small groups of highly committed people.

More positively, George Marshall, who eco-renovated the Yellow House, argues in his book Carbon Detox (Marshall, 2007a) that people who choose to live lightly are the smart pioneers of a new twenty-first century way of living that many people will want to copy in the future. It has been described as a process of ‘viral social change’.

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6.3 The role of active citizens and communities

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Few people agree that individuals should take the main responsibility for tackling environmental issues. For example, in a 2007 poll of over 2000 UK citizens, 70% agreed that the government should take a lead in combating climate change, even if it means using the law to change people's behaviour. However, over 60% disagreed that there was nothing they could do to avert climate change and over half agreed that they would do more if others did more too, although 40% thought that recycling was the most effective action they could take (Downing and Ballantyne, 2007).

UK government policy is that individuals have an important role in reducing emissions. The individual and household role is mainly to help reduce direct carbon emissions, especially from home energy use and transport. The official ‘Act On CO₂’ carbon calculator thus focuses on these direct impacts, calculating the CO₂ emissions from heating and hot water, electronics and appliances, and car, motorcycle and air travel (DEFRA, 2008). However, the government's campaign Act On CO₂ also gives advice on other carbon-saving actions.

Part of the reason for these views and policies is that individual citizens don't control many of the decisions that affect their household's carbon footprint, especially decisions that affect indirect emissions, such as national energy and transport policies, town planning, food processing and retailing practices, overseas farming and manufacturing activities, and so on. In other words, while individuals and households are directly or indirectly responsible for most of the consumption of goods and services, they do not control their production and distribution.

It's usual therefore to allocate the duty for reducing environmental impacts to those parts of the national or global economy responsible for producing them, on the polluter pays principle. So, for example, an industry such as consumer electronics is normally considered to be responsible for reducing the emissions from its factories at home and abroad, within environmental regulations set by national governments and international organisations.

This is even though the industry is producing products such as TVs for final consumption by individuals and households, who make buying decisions (large or small screen, plasma or LCD technology, etc.) and thereby influence what is designed, made and sold.

Another reason why individuals argue that others are responsible for environmental problems is that people often feel powerless in the face of all the complex decisions and the big changes that seem necessary. However, even if they don't directly control many economic activities and policy decisions, in a democracy at least, individual citizens can influence some of them by voting in elections, involvement in pressure groups, charities, political parties, etc.

For example, an important factor that affects direct and indirect carbon footprints is the mix of sources used to supply energy – fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines. Individuals can reduce their carbon footprint by generating some of their own renewable energy by installing solar thermal hot water panels or solar photovoltaic (PV) cells on the roof. More cheaply and simply, they can buy their electricity from a ‘green’ supplier that uses only renewable energy sources. But they can also have some influence on local or national energy planning, for instance through pressure groups campaigning for or against building large wind farms or nuclear power stations.

Another way ‘we’ can lighten carbon footprints is by joining with others. For example, in the Oxford house case study in Section 5, I mentioned that Mark Luntley chairs a wind farm co-operative, owned by the members who invested in it. There are also a number of voluntary groups who get together to help each other reduce their individual and household impacts. Perhaps the longest established are the local environmental groups in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain set up through a charity called Global Action Plan (GAP), but new groups e.g. Transition Towns initiatives are emerging all the time, meeting both face to face and online. Government policy is to encourage such community environmental initiatives as being potentially as good, if not more effective, than individual action.

In the workplace, individual office workers can, of course, switch off lights and computers when not in use, recycle waste paper and so on. But surveys show that individuals are less likely to save energy at work than at home, as they don't have to pay the bills. However, by working with their colleagues, they can help each other to adopt green practices and also encourage their employer to adopt environmental policies, for example switching to a green electricity supplier, setting up recycling facilities, and establishing staff travel plans.

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6.4 The role of governments and business

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

Despite all the possibilities for individual and group action to lighten carbon footprints, there will still be people, groups and organisations who will not be doing much. Many individuals limit themselves to ‘every little bit helps’, with relatively minor effects on their carbon footprint, like reusing plastic bags or recycling paper. This avoids having to consider more significant changes in car and air travel, home energy use, diet or shopping. Others will simply carry on producing and consuming to maximise their own personal or organisational benefit, even if they know this is to the detriment of everyone else and future generations.

This behaviour is what has been called the tragedy of the commons, a term coined by an American ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968. The ‘tragedy’ is that for a long time each person, organisation or nation can gain an additional benefit by using or consuming a bit more of the commons (the Earth) until a resource is used up, or an irreversible environmental change has occurred. Then everyone suffers.

That's where government support and regulation, business initiatives and international agreements to tackle climate change and other environmental problems come in. It's what ‘I’ and ‘we’ can't achieve unaided and only ‘they’ have the power to do.

Such government, business and international actions include, in no particular order:

international treaties on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
national and international policies on increasing renewable energy supply
EU regulations on energy labelling of refrigerators, washing machines, etc. and improving the energy performance of buildings
EU agreements on improving vehicle fuel economy
UK road taxation of cars depending on their CO₂ emissions
UK building regulations on the energy performance of buildings, heating and lighting systems, and the UK's target of ‘zero-carbon’ new homes by 2016
urban and regional planning polices to encourage people to use public transport
local authority home insulation and heating improvement schemes
company programmes to save energy, avoid waste and reduce car commuting
environmental education and information programmes.

SAQ 5

List five activities that ‘I’ could do effectively to reduce my own and others' carbon footprints. Include activities that I can do individually as a consumer or as an active citizen, and what ‘we’ could do as a household, workgroup or profession.
Then list five activities that are beyond the control of individual consumers, citizens and social groups.

Answer

Answers

(a) you may have suggested some of the following:

What ‘I’ as an individual consumer and ‘we’ as a household could do to reduce our carbon footprints:

improve home insulation
install energy-saving lamps
change to a green electricity tariff
change to an energy-efficient condensing central heating boiler
drive and fly less often, or far
try to cycle, walk and use public transport more often
share car travel more often
change to a more fuel-efficient car
change diet to one with a lower environmental impact
spend less on high carbon goods and services.

What ‘i’ as an active citizen could do to reduce others' carbon footprints:

try to educate or persuade other household members, including children, to adopt more environmentally responsible behaviour
join an environmental support group (e.g. Global Action Plan)
join an environmental pressure group
lobby local or national politicians on environmental issues
vote for a political party with the best environmental policies
try to save energy and resources at work
avoid unnecessary business travel, e.g. by telephone or computer conferencing.

What ‘we’ as a community, workgroup or profession could do to reduce our and others' carbon footprints:

work with local schools etc. to adopt environmental courses and policies
work with our employer to adopt environmental policies
act environmentally responsibly in our job.

(b) you may have suggested some of the following:

What ‘they’ as governments, etc. can do to reduce carbon footprints of the nation, region or world:

adopt policies to increase supplies of renewable sources of energy
develop and implement national, EU and international agreements and targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
develop and implement plans to reduce a business organisation's carbon footprint
adopt and implement regulations to improve the energy performance of buildings and the fuel economy of vehicles
introduce carbon taxes on businesses and industry
introduce a carbon-rationing scheme for individuals and households.

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7 Summary

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

This unit has shown you that much of the carbon footprint of an economy is due to the direct and indirect use of energy and consumption of food, goods and services by individuals and households. Hence, what you can do as an individual consumer and/or household member to lighten your carbon footprint can be significant. But communities, business and governments also have a crucial role in tackling greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

After completing this unit you should be able to:

explain the nature and extent of the carbon footprint of individuals and households within the national and global economy
assess your existing individual carbon footprint using a carbon calculator
explore options for lightening your carbon footprint to given target levels using the calculator for computer modelling
develop a short- and medium-term action plan for lightening your carbon footprint
recognise the role of individuals and households in reducing national and global greenhouse gas emissions
calculate percentages and means, round numbers appropriately and extract information from audio-visual materials.

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Next steps

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

If you wish to study formally at The Open University, you may wish to explore the courses we offer in this curriculum area:

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References

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

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Brower, M. and Leon, W. (1999) The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, New York, Three Rivers Press.

Cabinet Office (2007) Policy Review: Energy and the Environment, Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.

Carbon Trust (2006) The Carbon Emissions Generated in All that We Consume, London, The Carbon Trust.

Carbon Trust (2008) http://www.carbon-label.com/ (accessed 17 December 2009).

CDIAC (2004) Global, Regional, and National Fossil Fuel CO₂ Emissions, US Department of Energy, Carbon Dioxide Analysis Centre, UN Statistics Division, Oak Ridge, TN, ftp://cdiac.ornl.gov/pub/trends/co2_emis (accessed 17 December 2009).

CEC (2008) Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Effort of Member States to Reduce their Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Commitments up to 2020, Brussels, Commission for the European Communities, http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/pdf/draft_proposal_effort_sharing.pdf (accessed 17 December 2009).

Committee on Climate Change (2008) Building a low-carbon economy – The UK's contribution to tackling climate change, First Report of the Committee on Climate Change, London, The Stationery office, December.

DEFRA (2006) UK Climate Change Programme 2006, London, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

DEFRA (2007a) UK Household and Population Figures 1970–2020, Briefing Note BNXS25, Market Transformation Programme.

DEFRA (2007b) Final Energy and Carbon Savings for the EEC 2008–11 Illustrative Mix, London, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

DEFRA (2007c) Passenger Transport Emissions Factors. Methodology Paper, London, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

DEFRA (2008) Act on CO₂ Calculator: Data, Methodology and Assumptions Paper, version 2.1, London, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/actonco2/home.html (accessed 17 December 2009).

Downing, P. and Ballantyne, J. (2007) Tipping Point or Turning Point?, London, Ipsos MORI.

DTI (2007) Meeting the Energy Challenge, a White Paper on energy, London, The Stationery Office.

Dunster, B., Simmons, C. and Gilbert, B. (2008) The ZEDbook: Solutions for a Shrinking World, Abingdon, Taylor and Francis.

Ecobilan (2004) Report for Carrefour, Paris (in French), www.ademe.fr/htdocs/actualite/rapport_carrefour_post_revue_critique_v4.pdf (accessed 17 December 2009).

EST (2008a) Energy Saving Trust, http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ (accessed 17 December 2009).

EST (2008b) Emission Impossible: a vision for a low carbon lifestyle by 2050, Energy Saving Trust.

European Environment Agency (2005) Household Consumption and the Environment, EEA Report no 11/2005, Copenhagen.

Foster, C., Green, K., Bleda, M., Dewick, P., Evans, B., Flynn, A. and Mylan, J. (2006) Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption. A report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by Manchester Business School, London, DEFRA.

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Acknowledgements

The Open University — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:54 GMT

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