As we continue to live in a global climate emergency, it’s important for all of us to look at ways we can do better and reduce our impact on the environment.
Knowing your own individual impact on the environment is a good starting point to making these changes, so wouldn’t it be useful if you could find out your own carbon footprint in just a few clicks?
The WWF’s carbon footprint calculator shows you how you compare against the UK’s average footprint for 2022. You just need to complete a quick questionnaire which asks some questions on the food you eat, how you travel, your home and your purchases.
You will be able to see your scores on each category and get some helpful tips on how you can improve these scores moving forward to reduce your carbon footprint.
Have you completed our climate change survey? There’s some great prizes to be won!
Our climate change and decarbonisation survey is now open and we’re asking as many residents as possible to take part, so we can better support people in making energy saving choices across the coming years.
There are also some great energy saving and carbon reducing prizes to be won. People who complete the survey and leave their email address will be entered into a draw, giving them the chance to win a bike voucher, slow cookers, air fryers, mobile phone solar chargers, and an annual pass to Xplore!
The survey will be live until November 30 and only takes around 5-10 minutes to complete.
Cllr David A Bithell, Climate Champion, said: “We declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019, and as part of our Decarbonisation Plan we want to work with people who live and work in Wrexham to increase the awareness and understanding of the changes we will all need to make to tackle the climate emergency.
“We’re hoping our survey can raise awareness of these issues, but it also allows us to learn a bit more about people in Wrexham, which will then help us to support them in making changes that can have a big impact. The survey will be live until November 30, and it doesn’t take long to complete, so please take part if you can. Everyone who takes part and leaves an email address will be entered into a draw, with some great prizes on offer.”
Quick ways to save energy
Some steps you can take to reduce the energy you use include:
- Replacing traditional lightbulbs with LED ones. LED bulbs use about half the energy of the bigger fluorescent spiral energy-saving bulbs. So, when it’s time to replace your bulbs, consider LED replacements.
- Draught proofing your home. It can be relatively cheap and simple to draught proof your home using materials from a DIY store. You can get rolls of draught-excluding foam tubing for windows. To stop cold air getting in through your front door, consider a draught brush for the letterbox and maybe a cover for the keyhole.
- Filling your washing machine. Making sure you fill up the machine each time you run it will mean you have fewer loads, saving energy.
- Only boiling the amount of water you need. The more water you boil, the more energy you use. Only boil the water you need each time.
- Making sure any devices aren’t left on standby. The Energy Saving Trust says you can save up to £40-a-year saving by switching devices off standby.
- Adjusting your radiator thermostats. If you have them use them, you may not need to heat every room.
- Insulating your hot water cylinder. If you have a hot water cylinder that’s uninsulated, it will be losing heat. This means the water inside cools down faster. Fitting a hot water jacket could save around £40 a year.
- Checking your boiler pressure. This tells you the pressure of the water circulating in the heating system. If this is too slow, it will make your system inefficient and using more energy to heat your home.
Take part in our climate change survey
