Carbon Footprint” has become a popular term in recent years, it means a person’s contribution to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon footprint corresponds to the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly or indirectly from human lifestyles and activities. Ireland for example, has been performing well below national and EU emission reduction targets.
This is why every person in every household in Ireland is finding ways to reduce their emissions. One of the easiest solutions to this problem is installing solar PV panels and battery packs from the likes found in https://solarshare.ie/products/solar-panels-ireland/. They can help your household hit the target in emission reduction as well as contribute in saving the planet from global warming.
The Reality of the Problem with Carbon Emissions
Fuel consumption
Total emission sources of two people in a typical single-family home, such as transportation and energy consumption in the kitchen, living room or bedroom, can estimate around an average annual carbon footprint of 15 tons of carbon per year to the atmosphere. Typically, a car emits 3 tons of carbon annually on average.
Based on those estimates, two cars from a detached home would produce about 6 tons of carbon. Switching to an electric vehicle that is charged by an electric car charger would significantly reduce the carbon footprint of 6 tons in an average household with two cars. Electric vehicle chargers with solar PV paves the way for a more sustainable and efficient way of charging and maintaining an electric charged car
Consumption on Gas
Each household’s energy use generates about 4 tons of carbon emissions per household per year. Along with power consumption, space heating is another important factor in this indicator. The CO2 produced by burning natural gases totals to about 185 g/kWh and the average household uses about 11,000 kWh of gas per year.
This means that by heating a home using fossil fuel like gas, the family contributes more than two tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year. Luckily, installing solar PV panels and battery packs will have an immediate impact on the environment, because generating clean electricity consumes less electricity from your local power grid, which in most places and countries are still heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
Total Carbon Emissions
Emissions Commission for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) is an organization that estimates man-made greenhouse gas emissions annually from human activities that emit CO2, except biomass use in energy, industry, buildings, transportation and agriculture. They estimated around 38,914 kilotons of CO2 in 2017 from the previously mentioned country, Ireland.
That amount is equivalent to 37.1 million kilotons of CO2 worldwide for that year. In Ireland, methane comes mainly from farm animals with other sources of greenhouse gas emissions including the industrial process of cement production, agricultural fertilizers and cooling gases. CO2 from fossil fuels accounted for less than 60% of all greenhouse gas emission in Ireland in 2018.
How can Solar Energy Help Economically?
Energy use is usually linked to economic activities. A growing economy leads to more goods being produced, transported, purchased and more disposable income for people to spend on travel or in heating their homes. For countries such as Ireland, transport is the sector whose energy use is most sensitive to economic growth.
Transport experienced the largest reduction in energy use during the recession and the largest growth since 2012. The sector that has contributed most to the increase in transport growth since that time has been aviation.
Energy use is important in these sectors and the introduction and usage of solar panels and batteries in these sectors can provide a better and more efficient means of generating energy with minimal environmental impact.