Reducing Carbon Footprint at Home and Work

What are Carbon Credits? How are they produced?

Permits that allow the owner to emit a specific amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases are known as carbon credits, commonly referred to as carbon offsets. One credit allows for the emission of one tonne of carbon dioxide or another greenhouse gas equivalent.

Carbon credits produced by our day-to-day usage of products require fossil fuels, for example when we use a car for traveling every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams of CO2, or when industries emit CO2 or any other greenhouse gases. These gases later cause global warming which causes the melting of glaciers or loss of species of animals, etc.

How can we reduce carbon credits at home or in personal space:  

• Reduce our usage of cars: Instead of using personal vehicles to go anywhere, we should try using public transport like trains or buses.
• Turn off switches after using them: We usually after using an appliance don’t turn off the switch, for example after using the television we turn it off when the switch is still on, or we leave the room but leave the fan or lights on.
• Reduce the food we waste: We throw a lot of food in the bin daily, and we should try reducing it.
• Start using the 3 R’s:  We should try our best to reduce, reuse, and recycle the items we use. The containers can be reused to store things at home, paper can be recycled and the use of plastic bags can be reduced.
• Start planting trees or saplings: We are aware of the fact that trees and plants help us by exchanging Carbon dioxide with Oxygen through photosynthesis.
• Start using renewable energy: Many homes nowadays use solar energy to warm their water for bathing or bio-fuels for cooking. If a row house or bungalow
• Flights: A regular flight from Mumbai- Bangalore emits the following amount of CO2 per passenger.

How can we reduce carbon credits at the office:

• Use energy-efficient office equipment: We should start using equipment that saves energy like appliances that are given stars according to how much electricity they save. 
• Commute efficiently: Instead of everyone using their vehicles to come to the office, the employees should try car-pooling, trains, or metro to commute to the office, thus saving a lot of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions.
• Engage in carbon offsetting: The office should calculate their carbon emission and try to offset it by using different techniques such as using solar panels or wind energy.
• Use renewable energy: Instead of relying on electricity an office should even try to produce electricity using solar as using the same a lot of electricity can be saved, and we have ample sunlight during the day.
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle: Start reducing the waste the office produces because like e-waste, start reusing things like files or start recycling the waste pages from the printouts. The recycling of these papers will in turn help a lot in avoiding cutting trees.

Conclusion:

Let us switch to these sources as much as we can as these are some of the ways we as an individual can contribute to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.

We at BNZ Green are creating a platform where you can get an estimate of your carbon footprint by answering some easy questions about your daily consumption of some things. We have also developed a platform called BNZ X to offset your carbon emissions by buying credits from sellers all over the country. This way even you could contribute to reducing carbon emissions.