If you’d like to check out your Carbon Footprint, try this website.
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
Finding out how much direct CO2 or Carbon Dioxide you actually use in your daily life might be a sobering discovery. When a friend of mine discovered what her Carbon footprint was, she decided to change her ways. As she was nearing retirement, she began researching Self Sustainable Homes. She began to believe that Solar Panels for your home were one of the measures she would include in her self-built new home.
The measuring of our direct emission from the burning of fossil fuels (which includes domestic energy) is something we can alter in our lives. There’s also something called a “Secondary footprint”, which is a measure of indirect CO2 emissions. This means all the industries that support our use of cars, planes, fuels etc.
My friend is actively seeking land on which to build her self-sustainable home with solar panels designed for zero energy living. http://www.selfbuild-central.co.uk/ was a website she recommends as it aims to help people decide where to live and how to build for tomorrow, today. She hopes to reduce water consumption by using plumbing systems that will collect rainwater and she hopes to use gray water systems to re-cycle waste water. When the light shines on the PVX cells that make up the Solar Panels, it creates an electric field across the layers. This means the more sunshine, the more electricity – which can be used for heating – and all because of a few solar panels on your roof.
An “off the grid” home can become a reality!
