We should all take inventory of our personal carbon footprint and do everything we can to reduce it. Not just the easy and free things. Sometimes being green means spending some green. Below are all the things we, Janet and Tom Amiro, have done to reduce our household’s carbon footprint.
House
- Replaced all widows with replacement windows
- Had two free energy audits resulting in discounted insulation blown into outside walls, attic floor, and knee walls. Afterward our Blower Door test was 3238.
- Replaced all lights with LEDs (unless we missed one or two)
- Had 23 Solar Panels installed in May 2015 and added 4 more panels in May 2019
- Get as many panels as possible, because it is very expensive to add panels (4K for 4). NOTE: The limit on system size for net metering has increased from 10K to 25K
- Total output over last 10 years has been 80.2 MWh; averaging about 8,000 kWh per year
- Maximum daily output is approximately 50 kWh
- SolarEdge app, shows emissions saved are equivalent to planting 939 trees; saving 56,400 kg CO2 emissions
- SREC incentives paid for the output over 10 years have totaled $20,000
- Saved cost of electricity over 10 years generated at an average 24 cents per kWh totals $19,280
- Total cost (after incentives) $19K for 27 panels
- System paid for itself in only 6 years and overall in 10 years has saved us about $20K
- Incrementally installed 3 ductless air-source mini-split heat pump systems, with 6 heads, beginning in 2019 to 2021. At first, kept the old gas furnace as backup, but didn’t used it for three Winters. Just closed off the registers so heat from the heat pumps wouldn’t leak out
- Enrolled in Chelmsford Choice Greenest (100% renewables) Option and enrolled in the Nexamp Community Solar. You can be in both. It makes your electric bills more complicated, but may make your virtual emissions from electricity lower. However, we dropped Nexamp after a year because we lost money due to double net metering (both Nexamp’s and our own panels)
- Bought a Blomberg WM98220SX Heat Pump clothes dryer from a local appliance store, RiverBend & Company at Cornerstone Plaza in Westford. As of Spring 2023, the big box stores weren’t much help with heat pump clothes dryers.
- Had a new electric subpanel added, because there was no room for anymore breakers. Then added a 240 volt outlet to use for the Blomberg heat pump clothes dryer in 2023
- Replaced Rinnai gas water heater with a Rheem Hybrid Heat Pump hot water heater in 2023
- Had gas line cut and gas meter removed in 2023
- Removed the gas furnace from basement and whole-house air conditioner compressor outside in 2023
Transportation
- Early Prius adopter, then replaced with Highlander hybrid
- Replaced Highlander with EV Chevy Bolt in 2019
- Cost about $28K after applying Green Energy Consumers Alliance discount
- Optimal top range 238 miles
- Over 26K miles has averaged 3.5 miles per kWh
- Installed Level 2 charger in garage for total cost of about $850
- Added roof rack and bike hitch
- No maintenance costs as of April 2024
- Replaced diesel Volkswagon with Tesla Y
- Can tow; has trailer hitch
- Range 321 miles
- Expensive ~50K no discounts or incentives. As of 2024 with incentives and Tesla’s price reduction, brand new Tesla Y costs $39,000
- Eliminates range anxiety due to high range and availability of Superchargers, as shown by trips to Florida and Nova Scotia
Yard
- Clotheslines used a lot (added pulley clothesline)
- Composting almost all food waste
- Garden fertilized with only compost, manure, and organic fertilizers
- Lawn – no fossil fuel based fertilizers; use electric mower; watered sparingly
- Reduced water use – rain barrel; water from dehumidifier; very little car washing
- Electric tools: hedge clipper, weed whacker, lawn mower, and chain saw
- Replaced gasoline snow blower with an electric snow blower 2023
Other
- Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle principle guides everything
- Buy less, drive less, waste less
- Recycle religiously so trash is minimal
- Reduce water use with low-flush toilet and rain barrels
- Wash clothes almost always in cold water
- Use reusable shopping bags
- Soda Steam to carbonate water, so less throwaway bottles and cans
- Refillable travel mug at coffee shops
- Bar soap rather than plastic pump bottle
- Fix things rather than buy new
- Wear clothes until worn out, then re-use as rags
- Reduce electric consumption
- Set thermostat for Mini-Splits to 68 degrees and only run in sections of house being used
- Don’t leave outside lights on at night and turn indoor lights off when rooms not in use
- Use clotheslines rather than electric clothes dryer
- Hardly ever used whole house air conditioner, heat pump mini-splits much better
- Eat less meat and animal products (vegan lowest footprint by far)
- Moved investments into “green” ESG holdings (hard to verify though)
Calculating Carbon Footprint
When I first wrote this blog, I didn’t think of using a carbon footprint calculator to see how big our carbon footprint was. The best calculator I know is at carbonfootprint.com. The one for Individuals lets you save your data so you can use it again and again to track your progress. It also lets you enter a “greenness factor” for your electricity to approximate the emissions in generating it. We used the calculator at carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
We got it down to about 5.99 metric tons individually compared to the average U.S. footprint of 16.5 metric tons. For electric consumption, I entered the amount (~5K) billed by National Grid and changed the conversion factor to .058 to reflect having opted up to the 100% Green option in Chelmsford Choice. That is what Solar is rated at; Wind is even lower at .005, and Coal is about .9. Otherwise the calculator would have used .4083 for Massachusetts.