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Synopsis

Climate change is the single biggest problem that humankind has ever had to face. Yet politicians cannot agree a framework for tackling it effectively and meanwhile we continue with lifestyles that are way beyond the planet’s limits. Here Mayer Hillman explains the real issues we should focus on: what the government is doing, what role technology can play and, above all, why we must act now to protect our planet for later generations. Challenging, stimulating and practical, How We Can Save the Planet is the essential guide to help you understand how we can safeguard our future.

· Shows how you and your community can make changes, and why government must take the lead.

· Introduces a radical rationing scheme to reduce our individual carbon outputs to a fair and ecologically safe level.

· Gives helpful short- and long-term guidelines for the home, travel and leisure to enable us to live within this ration.

· Provides a wealth of information and contact details for relevant organizations, companies and websites

Action must be taken! YOU can make a difference NOW.

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Interview

In How We Can Save the Planet Mayer Hillman explains the real issues we should focus on to help save the planet: what the government is doing, what role technology can play and, above all, why we must act now to protect our planet for later generations. Find out how you can calculate your own carbon emissions, plus top tips from Mayer in our exclusive feature.

Calculate your own carbon emissions
Here is a simple, user-friendly inventory of the carbon emissions from the principal elements of everyday living so you can calculate your personal carbon emissions. This is a first step allowing you to consider how best to reduce your energy-intensive activities. And to find out how your current lifestyle is adding to the problems of climate change

Household energy use
The majority of the energy used in households is gas and electricity. If you have a year's worth of energy bills, you should be able to get a fair idea of how much you use each year - even if some of your readings are estimated. Your electricity bill may be separated into different tariff categories, such as off-peak, on-peak, white meter, but it is the total figure that you need. Note that gas use can be measured in several different units at the meter, including BTUs (British Thermal Units), cubic metres (m3) and kWh. Bills are presented in kWh, and it this figure you need for your carbon calculation.

Electricity:
Multiply your annual consumption in kWh by 0.45 to establish the carbon dioxide emissions from this source in kilograms of CO2.
Gas:        
Multiply your annual consumption in kWh by 0.19 to establish the carbon dioxide emissions from this source in kilograms of CO2

Now divide each of the totals from gas and electricity use by the number of persons in the household, and insert the resulting two figures for the individual in the right-hand column of the table.

Travel
You need your annual distance travelled in kilometres for each method of travel, and then multiply this by the co-efficient in kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilometre (kgCO2/km) in the Table appropriate to that method. (To convert from miles to kilometres, multiply distance in miles by 1.6). It is unlikely you will know exactly how far you have travelled during the year - so here are some hints on how to estimate your total.

Cars - for cars more than three years old, your two most recent annual MOT certificates will show your mileage. For newer cars, you could divide the total mileage to date by the age of the car in years and parts of a year to get an approximate annual total.
Buses - think about how many times a week you catch the bus, and your typical journey length. Try to include all longer distance bus and coach journeys as well.
Rail - include regular commuting journeys, longer distance leisure travel, and use of the underground.
Air - for most people air travel is infrequent enough to be memorable. Add together all your journeys during the last year, if any, both within the UK and abroad.

Adding it all up
Add up all your major sources of personal carbon emissions in the Table, to find out your annual carbon emissions from direct energy use. Compare this with the current individual average of 5.4 tCO2 to see how you are doing. To understand your full carbon impact, it is important to remember that about half the energy in the UK economy is used by the industrial, commercial, agricultural and public sectors to create goods and services for individuals. So, your total from the Table should be doubled to cover your share of these non-domestic sectors of fuel consumption.

Household and individual carbon budgeting

Annual carbon dioxide emissions (kgCO2)

ENERGY USE                kg co-efficient  / average household / average individual 

IN THE HOUSEHOLD
For each kilowatt hour    
Electricity                               X 0.46                    2000                   870 
Gas                                         X 0.19                     3400                  1480 
    
For each litre    
Heating oil                             X2.975   
    
IN TRAVEL
For each kilometre    
Petrol car: as driver                X 0.20                     {2420               {1050
Diesel car: as driver               X 0.14               

Rail: 
InterCity                                X 0.11                       {200                {90
Other services                       X 0.16
Underground                         X 0.07

   
Bus:
London                                X 0.09                        {230                {100
Outside London                    X 0.17
Express coach                     X 0.08

   
Bicycle                                 X0.00                         {0
Walking                               X0.00 
   
Air:
Within Europe                      X 0.51                        {4210
Outside Europe                    X 0.32                        {1830
   
TOTAL
Kilograms CO2                  12460                          5420
Tonnes    CO2                    12.5                              5.4 

LONDON UNDERGROUND JOURNEYS 
                                             Round trip (kms)       Carbon dioxide emissions (kgCO2)
Ealing Broadway / Victoria           16                                              1.1
Edgware / Green Park                  12                                              0.8
Mile End / Holborn                       11                                              0.8
Stratford / Marble Arch                 6                                               0.4

AIR TO AND FROM:  
Athens                  4770      1880
Cape Town          19100     6410
Hong Kong          18980     6410
Los Angeles         17410     6000
Madrid                 2520      1170
Melbourne            34020    11090
Moscow               4990      1910
New York            11070    3930
Paris                     690        560
Rome                    3140     1340
Tel Aviv                7200     2660
Tokyo                  19300    6470

DID YOU KNOW?
* Emissions for car travel are given for the driver only in order to simplify the calculation and because fuel consumption does not rise very much when cars carry passengers.
* For passenger travel by public transport, average figures are used, covering the relatively energy-inefficient times of the many off-peak hours when there are few passengers as well as the peak hours when travel by public transport services is much more economical.
* The average difference in carbon emissions per passenger kilometre between travelling by public transport and by car is less than might be expected. For example, travelling by bus outside London (where buses have lower occupancy rates) generates very similar emissions as travelling alone by car.
* InterCity trains generate around half the emissions of a petrol car per kilometre, but emissions per kilometre by local trains fall between those of diesel and petrol cars. The lowest is for the underground owing to its relatively high passenger occupancy levels.

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