42% of Australia's Domestic Greenhouse Gas Emissions Come From Decisions We Make At Home

Staggering, isn't it? This isn't about Government or big corporations, this is about you and me and how we helping or hindering progress towards net zero. The big decisions each of us makes from time to time, can lock in our own, personal emissions contributions for another 10-20 years. For example:

• Will our next vehicle be an EV or will we stick with polluting and expensive fossil fuels such as petrol or diesel? Not to mention being held hostage to rising prices from global events like the Ukraine invasion.

• When we have to replace our hot water system, will you stick with inefficient, polluting, expensive gas or replace it with an electric, heat pump system that is four times as efficient as gas?

• Same question when we need new cooking equipment in the kitchen.

• Will our new house be all electric with solar and battery plus energy efficient design or one reliant on gas?

We all need to think carefully about these now and be ready for quick decisions should we total our car or our hot water system dies.

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Similarly, the everyday lifestyle choices we make also affect our contribution to missions, such as:

• ​Heating levels:

  • do we "warm the room" by dressing lightly and running heaters at 25 degrees or we "warm the person" by wearing warmer clothes and lowering heating to, say, 20 degrees?

  • Do we close off and remove heating from unused rooms or do we just "set and forget" our heating settings?

• Laundry (plus pool and other discretionary uses): do we run these whenever we feel like it or do we schedule them to run during the middle of the day when most electricity is from renewables not coal?

• Transport: do we drive everywhere, no matter the distance, or do we walk or cycle instead?

• Food: do we prioritize local food sources or prefer imported food with their thousands of "food miles" and attendant emissions?

• Holidays: do you regularly take long-haul flying holidays or limit how much flying you do, holidaying more nearer to home?

 

They are all tough choices that many of us would probably prefer not to have to confront. As well, many of us don't have the means to make some of these choices. But the issue of emissions reduction is still there and still quite existential to mankind's future.

 

The bottom line is that all of us have an important role to play in reducing Australia's emissions and morally, each of us must step up to the task. ​If you don't do, why should anyone else?

 

After all, this is your children and grandchildren's future we are trying to save. What could be more important than that?