When we look at our private carbon footprint, we can divide it into categories like housing, transport, nutrition and consumption& free time divide up. Each of these areas is an integral part of our lives, and each of them produces CO2 emissions whether we like it or not.
the average per capita consumption of co2 in germany is currently at just over 11 tons and are not decreasing as fast as the politicians have set themselves as a goal.
1. CO2 emissions when living
According to the CO2 calculator of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), which has a database from a variety of sources, the range living (d.H. electricity and heating) for a fifth to a quarter of our private CO2 emissions (more precisely: 22 %) responsible. This is mainly due to the fact that we have to heat our living spaces for several months of the year and to the fact that we supply our electrical appliances with electricity, which first has to be generated. The heating The average tire is responsible for a massive 15 percent of our CO2 emissions (equivalent to 1.64 metric tons) electricity consumption with 7 % and 0.76 tons of CO2.
So there is a huge potential for carbon dioxide savings, especially in heating. whether we heat properly depends on several factors: the more space we occupy, the more heating energy we need. Here, surface area and room height play a role. In addition, the more walls an apartment shares with the outside world, the colder the walls usually are. Households in detached buildings thus consume more energy because they have to heat the most against the cold from outside. good insulation of facade and roof is not only important for your wallet, but also for your carbon footprint.
Tip: proper heating saves a lot of CO2
Efficient heating and proper ventilation, the use of curtains for insulation, electronic radiator thermostats, regular venting of radiators and maintaining moderate room temperatures of no more than 20 °C are other simple ways to significantly reduce your CO2 emissions caused by heating.
you can also save a lot on electricity: to reduce your electricity consumption, you should not only turn off the light when you leave the room (classic!), as well as avoid stand-by for electrical appliances, but also use LED bulbs, for example. You can find many more tips on saving electricity and energy here on utopia.De.
If you also switch your household to green electricity and green gas (which is not complicated), you will significantly reduce your personal CO2 emissions and support the energy transition.
It’s also obvious that the more people who share a living space, the better it is for the environment. Surprisingly, cities are a more sustainable habitat for people, even if they don’t seem at all close to nature.
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2. CO2 emissions from transport and travel
Moving costs energy. We notice this when we ride our bikes, when we fill up with gas, or when we look at the birds on the electricity pylons while we wait for the suburban train. According to calculations by the German Federal Environment Agency, you can save around the 20 % of your personal CO2 emissions can be allocated to traffic. flights account for 5 %, other journeys and travel for 15 %; all in all, your travel accounts for just over 2 tons of CO2 per year.
At first glance, the CO2 emissions of airplanes do not appear to be that high, but this is mainly due to the fact that the figures are average values. A single round-trip flight from germany to southeast asia, for example, adds up to 12 tons of CO2: a huge sum that far outshines all other items in your carbon footprint. If you limit or even avoid air travel, you can save large amounts of CO2.
Tip: every saved flight lowers the balance enormously
Otherwise: the heavier a means of transport is, the faster and the further (or higher) it travels, the more energy is required, which results in higher CO2 emissions. When it comes to traveling on and over land, flying is therefore by far in last place, with individual transport coming in well behind public transport. Even trains, to which politicians are so keen to refer when it comes to climate protection, have a slightly worse climate balance than long-distance buses. The best results are achieved by everything that is not motorized at all, which is why the expansion of bicycle paths and new concepts for urban transport are so important.
conclusion: if you like to travel, but are careful about your carbon footprint, it’s best to share a non-flying mode of transport with as many people as possible.
Airplane users can reduce their CO2 emissions through atmosfair, for example.Offsetting De at least on paper. But this only compensates for the carbon footprint – the CO2 caused by the flight is still in the air, where it has its harmful effect. That’s why offsetting is important and exemplary, but unfortunately only the second-best option.
Carpoolers save the CO2 balance
If you drive a car, make sure it is as light as possible and not unnecessarily motorized.
Also important: the number of people sharing the car. Carpooling quickly divides the CO2 footprint of the person driving by three or four. In addition, thanks to carpoolers, you are less likely to be stuck in traffic jams, as there are fewer vehicles on the road. Less congestion in turn reduces CO2 emissions. And car sharing is also financially worthwhile for everyone involved.
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3. CO2 emissions from food
The post nutrition makes about one sixth (16%) of our personal carbon footprint from.
Eating animals does not only raise moral questions. Living creatures are usually not very sustainable foodstuffs either. Vegetarians produce about 50 percent less CO2 than meat eaters.
Chickens, pigs and cattle consume a lot of energy before they end up on our plates. A plant-based product that provides the same nutritional value requires only a fraction of the energy and produces only a fraction of the CO2. The situation is similar with cow’s milk. Measured in terms of its main nutrients, protein and fat, it is not a low-carbon product in view of animal husbandry, refrigeration and transport.
By the way: many people think that soy should not be used as an (alternative) source of protein, because otherwise the rainforest will shrink faster. Not everyone knows that cows currently eat more soy than the human world community could possibly consume.
This is not to say that everyone has to eat a plant-based diet. More obvious is the idea of reintroducing meat as a luxury good that we occasionally indulge in and are willing to pay more money to eat. This way, animals could be raised ecologically across the board without making meat unaffordable and CO2 emissions too high.
Otherwise, it is always better to consume a food that inhales CO2 than one that exhales it. Plants are clearly at an advantage.
Tip: processed foods have the worse CO2 balance
In the case of food, processing also plays a role, because energy must be invested (and thus CO2 consumed) here as well. The ingredients of a finished product have already been through a lot by the time we heat it up at home. For example, bagged soup has a worse CO2 balance than home-cooked tomato soup.
Not throwing away leftovers is another important way to reduce food consumption. Here you will find a lot of good information on how to avoid food waste. Climate-friendly consumers also shop as regionally as possible, as organically as possible, as unpackaged as possible and as fresh as possible.
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4. CO2 emissions from consumption& RECREATION
Everything that is produced, moved and traded consumes energy and therefore emits CO2. If it’s equipment that will later be powered at home, the CO2 consumption doesn’t stop there. Your personal consumption behavior (excluding food) therefore accounts for the largest part of your CO2 balance. However, it is also difficult to calculate because of the many factors that play into it.
Your consumption includes, for example, the purchase of clothing, shoes, furniture and electronics, but also services and climate-relevant leisure and vacation activities. depending on what you include, this can add up to a lot of things. The German Federal Environment Agency therefore assumes that your consumption- and leisure time behavior is reflected in your CO2 balance by more than 40%. That’s around 4.5 tons of CO2 a year. This is also where the greatest potential for savings exists.
Tip: strategic consumption is climate-friendly consumption
How you can save money most effectively? Here are three key words: reduce, reuse, recycle – reduce, reuse, recycle. The possibilities are endless – our website has hundreds of articles about nothing else.
Another possibility: refuse – refuse a new purchase or. Restrict. Because every product you don’t buy doesn’t count towards your carbon footprint. If fewer products are bought, they will not be produced in the same quantity in the long run. Every service that you don’t use also saves energy. And every smartphone you use for a longer time replaces (almost) a new one. So before you start worrying about how to consume ‘properly’ – consuming less is always a good option.
Considered individually, all of these options may seem insignificant. But when applied to a society of millions to billions of people who buy things and use services on a daily basis, the way we spend our leisure time and consumption makes a huge difference.
Determine your footprint with CO2 calculators
If you want to get an overview of your personal CO2 emissions, the best thing to do is to use a CO2 calculator, such as the following.B. From UBA or WWF. There are also many other tips.
There are many ways to reduce your CO2 emissions, and not every life fits the same possibilities. Important: every reduction helps. Whether on the dinner table or in traffic.