By Lauren Liles on behalf of SLH
This article was originally written for the November edition of Heatons Post
This is one of the facts that we learned on Thursday 13th October at the first Low Carbon Heatons event organised by Sustainable Living in the Heatons. The event, chaired by Phil Korbel , Carbon Co-Op, hosted an audience of seventy five people at the Heatons Sports club who were there to listen to and question experts on energy in the home.
Liz Atherton (SMBC) provided a very useful introduction to understanding what your carbon footprint actually means and explained net zero in layman’s terms. Liz presented some interesting facts about Stockport, for example, 40% of the carbon emissions are from residential buildings whilst 30% is from “on road” transport.
We also discovered that the Heatons Carbon footprint is above the Uk average, that 2.86 tonnes of the average person’s carbon footprint is from powering and heating their home whilst 4 tonnes comes from driving (an average 7.6k miles per year).
Stephen Dootson (KAST) Introduced us to a very useful website and answered many of the audience’s questions linked to the best return on investment when trying to make decisions on how and what to spend money on in the home to become more energy efficient. Mel Godfrey complemented Stephen’s presentation by taking us on a detailed journey through our houses and helping us understand where the greatest loss of heat may occur. Mel also provided practical tips on action that we can take to reduce heat loss in the home. The evening was rounded off by Phil Marples (musicMagpie) who explained e-waste and the impact on the environment such as leaking harmful chemicals into the soil when dumped into landfill sites. 53 million tonnes (UN estimate) is generated globally per year.
You can find the presentations and Q&As from the session here. The next event will be held early 2023 when a number of experts will look at:
– The impact of our food choices on carbon emissions
– How to reduce food waste
– Where our food comes from
– Do we really understand the food journey?