As I was driving to work this morning I heard a brief discussion on the radio on Fife council plans to look at reducing carbon emissions through changes to street light operation at night, and I have to say it is not before time that this issue was looked at. 

It really does annoy me at how many unnecessary street lights we have in the UK, and it really does my head in to see them coming on when it is still light, every council should be looking at this!!  As I understand it the Fife council were looking to pilot various options including dimming, switching off late night, and using more energy efficient lights.  The latter should be implemented everywhere anyway.

I am in the fortunate position were safety at night is not a major problem but I do undestand that there may be concerns on this front.  Therefore can we not have some sort of compromise and look at each light on an individual basis - are all lights in quiet residential areas necessary?  Can we turn them all off between midnight and 5am?  Or can we turn half off?  Again can those in other perhaps more ‘unsafe’ areas be dimmed late at night?  Do they really need to be as bright as present?

I would be willing to forgo unnecessary polluting bright street lights in order to benefit our environment.  Are you?

We have just received a nice freebie from our energy company (SSE).  Not often you can say that!! The gift in question was two energy saving lightbulbs (CFLs).  They will come in useful when the time comes to replace the existing bulbs at home.

I’m sure since you are reading my blog you are well aware of energy saving lightbulbs and their benefits.  It really is false economy not to be using these bulbs and I do welcome the UK government’s desire to phase out traditional inefficient bulbs.

I was having a discussion with a friend on these energy saving bulbs just the other day and as I was stressing to them some of the stock answers for not adopting don’t stack up. 

Number 1 - they do not give off poor light!  Early versions may have done but the technology has moved on a significant amount since then; and

Number 2 - yes they do contain mercury but over the lifetime of the bulb more energy would have been emitted from the power station as a result of using the traditional energy sapping bulbs.

It is estimated that using a energy saving CFL bulb will save you in the region of £6-7 - less than the cost of the bulb itself!  While over the lifetime of a bulb will reduce CO2 emissions by about half a tonne (although this depends on how the energy to supply it is generated! Hopefully this figure will keep coming down!)

What is your carbon footprint?
In basic terms it is a measure of all the greenhouse gases we produce as individuals, businesses and societies.

What are greenhouse gases?
Greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere and help to retain the earth’s heat. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most well known and significant greenhouse gas.  Others include methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs.  Some are naturally occuring, while others are man made.

What is the significance?
Without greenhouse gases the heat from the sun would be re-radiated back into space and the earth would be too cold to live on.  However, too high a concentration of greenhouse gas results in a trapping of the heat and an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature.  This increase in turn creates climate change – sea level increases, rain patterns and increased storm severity, etc.

What is required is a stabilisation in the level of greenhouse gases so that energy re-radiated back into space equals the energy coming from the sun, at present rates greenhouse gases output are increasing at alarming rates.

What can we do about this?
We as individuals, businesses, regions and countries can all take action to manage and reduce our carbon footprint.  In order to do this it is important to understand how to measure this output. There are some useful resources for calculating your carbon footprint.  One of which includes:

http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html

However these calculators are by nature simplistic and cannot respond to individual nuances or circumstances.  What this calculator (and others) does not reflect is the emissions as a result of our choices as consumers – the ‘hidden’ consumption element.  What is our energy producer doing to reduce their emissions? How environmentally responsible are the companies you buy products from? How many food miles are required to supply your meals on a weekly basis? Are the products we purchase contained in unnecessary moulded plastic packaging?

I aim to address some of these issues in further posts.