IT’S NOT EASY being green, and it’s often quite confusing to know where to start if you want to do your bit for a cleaner planet.
Climate change is a major challenge facing society and is caused by a build-up of heat trapping gasses in the atmosphere, mainly from the burning of fossil fuel but also from some types of agricultural practices.
Saving energy and reducing our energy use is the most immediate measure we can take to lower our climate emissions, but it is helpful to remember that what is good for our planet can be good for our pocket too – and using less energy will also reduce our energy bills.
At a national level, Ireland is one of the most fossil fuel reliant countries in Europe, spending over €1 million every hour importing fossil fuels like oil and gas into the State, and this leaves us very exposed to high energy prices.
At a local level, a typical family of four will spend between €6,000 and €7,000 per year on energy. Half of this will be on petrol or diesel for the car, with the balance split between home heating and electricity.
Many people – especially the sick, elderly, and vulnerable – have a much higher exposure and less ability to change energy use and these people need targeted financial protection from the government.
However, a high portion of the population can financially benefit from saving energy and the tips below are for families and individuals who are in good health.
The largest source of climate emissions for a typical home is due to heating: when our boilers use fossil fuels like oil, or we use coal in our fires.
We need about three times more energy to heat our homes than we do to power our appliances, mainly because we have a lot of low-quality housing in Ireland and our homes leak most of the heat.
While this is bad for the environment, living in cold, damp homes is also bad for our mental and physical wellbeing and of course our pocket. An Irish household can spend up to €1,000 more a year on heating than the equivalent well-insulated house.
Getting insulation for your house is a good option, with quick wins and low costs for attic insulation and draft proofing. Depending on the quality of your house, extensive wall insulation can cost a lot of money – but grants are available for SEAI to help.
If you are healthy and able, then turning down your thermostat a couple of degrees will save you money and reduce emissions.
Why? Because for every one degree you reduce your thermostat, you reduce your annual bill by €110 and associated emissions by 10%.
We love our cars in Ireland, and typically travel about 16,000km each year, but the combustion of petrol and diesel in our cars has a carbon footprint of about two tonnes.
Switching to an electric car will reduce this significantly, especially as we build more clean renewable power in Ireland.
Electric cars might still be too expensive for most households, but other practical measures will also help reduce your carbon footprint from transport.
Taking public transport, lift sharing, cycling and even working from home can also deliver big emissions reduction if done regularly.
Many of the car trips we do in Ireland are relatively short trips less than 8km. Avoiding one in every five of these will save you €150 over the year.
Reductions in general household electricity use are harder to achieve than in transport (where recreational trips can be avoided) or in heating (where individual rooms can be heated or thermostats lowered).
Irish homes have seen a gradual but steady reduction in electricity use over the past 10 years despite having more devices and appliances, because EU Energy Efficiency regulations mean these devices need less electricity.
For example, a modern smart TV will use approximately €65 of electricity a year and just €5 a year when on standby
Just five appliances are responsible for about half of our electricity use, so using these less will have a positive impact on reducing your electricity bill.
If you use an electric shower, this will likely be the appliance that costs you most, so taking a shorter shower will save you money.
So the point here is don’t sweat the small stuff and focus your measures on the appliances above.
Think about how to use them a little less, either by washing clothes at lower temperatures, using the clothesline, or making sure the dishwasher is full.
All this will help, but managing expectation is important too.
We all need to use electricity for essential daily chores like cooking, lighting, washing – so even with a big effort to reduce electricity consumption the overall savings are likely to be in the region of €200-250.
What Planet Are You On? airs on RTÉ One this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7pm. Three families from around the country are pledging to reduce their carbon footprints by making small changes to the way they live. The family that reduces its greenhouse gas emissions most will win €5,000 euro.
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