Tim Lunel The reality of reducing my carbon footprint

When I came to The National Energy Foundation in 2005 I calculated my carbon footprint with the rest of the team. I was horrified to see that the personal footprint that I had direct control over was 11 tonnes, compared to the average UK person of 5.5 tonnes.  I was at double the average.  Why was this, well my personal travel contributed 9 tonnes to the total having flown over to Australia to visit my sister in 2005.

In 2006 I managed to get this down to around the UK average of 5.5 tonnes through a combination of cutting out long haul flights entirely (although not being able to resist a single flight to Switzerland for some ski mountaineering). Then reducing emissions from my house through topping up loft insulation (not only cut down heat losses – and also know where everything is in the loft !), installing a condensing boiler, putting in 4m² of flat plate solar panels to provide half my hot water needs, and switching my electricity supply to a 100% renewable energy tariff.   But that still only got me down to the UK average, and here I was leading an organisation that is itself providing leadership in the UK on climate change. 

So what was the largest source of my emissions, well I was still commuting a regular 35 miles each way in a fairly standard 1.6 Rover doing 35 miles to the gallon.  So the step change in 2007 was changing my car from a petrol car that did 35mpg to a 2004 Polo diesel at 60 mpg.  I also run it on 100% biodiesel from waste oil, reducing my emissions by a further 70-80% on top of making the switch to a more fuel efficient, smaller diesel.   I have also concentrated on reducing the mileage by reducing the number of journeys, and also cycling 10 miles each way (a 1/3 of the distance to work) on average one day a week.

 I have reduced my footprint in 2007 to down to just below 2 tonnes - which is the UK Government target for 2050. 

And do I feel “I’ve cracked it”?  No certainly not.  I know that while I have been able to reduce my own personal emissions by using waste oil derived biodiesel it is a limited supply.  So, I need to do more to reduce my mileage more and “Get on my Bike” as Norman Tebbit would have it !