Buckland Low Carbon Network
The Buckland Low Carbon Network aims to share ideas and experience amongst residents of Buckland on practical steps we can take to reduce our carbon emissions – hopefully to help inspire us all on practical and affordable steps we may consider to help create a more sustainable planet for future generations. It is open to all residents of Buckland, and to interested people from neighbouring villages.
We hold 3-4 meetings a year on specific topics, and have resources we can share on heat pumps, solar energy, electric cars and bikes, green energy suppliers, and home insulation, as well as a network of local people who are happy to share their experience of them. If you are interested in tapping into local experience on any of these issues, or would like to join our network, please email me.
The network was launched at the start of 2021 and during its launch year hosted a series of virtual meetings. To read reports of the meetings held earlier this year and during 2021 please visit the Low Carbon Network archive.
Our most recent meeting was held as a virtual meeting using zoom on Tuesday 21st March 2023. Carry on reading to enjoy a short report of the meeting.
“With more people taking an interest in understanding their own carbon emissions, the latest meeting of the Buckland Low Carbon Network focused on sharing ideas on simple ways to estimate your own household carbon footprint.
We heard that over the last 15 years, most of the reductions achieved in the UK’s carbon emissions have come from the shift to renewable power generation, and from less carbon-intensive industry, but that there has been little progress in reducing our household carbon emissions. We heard that we are unlikely to be able to achieve our national targets for reducing our carbon emissions unless we make much faster progress in reducing our household emissions. The average UK household is responsible for 10-12 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, and this will need to come down to 6-7 tonnes per year by 2030 if we are to hit our national targets.
With this in mind, we looked at the five big drivers of carbon emissions, that account for more than 80% of household emissions for most households – heating (by gas or oil), cars (petrol or diesel), electricity (from the grid), air travel, and emissions generated in producing and transporting the food that we buy. The meeting explored simple ways of estimating your own household’s carbon emissions from each of these five sources, to compare to the national average.
Finally, we looked at the options for achieving a step change reduction in our own household carbon footprint, and how we could simply estimate the impact of different options in our own context. Participants shared their experiences so far, and what they are considering as next steps. We discussed how our households might plan to transition to a more sustainable basis over the next 8 years to 2030.”
If you would like to participate in future events, please let me let me know.
If you are considering these or other steps to reduce your carbon emissions, and would like to talk to other local residents about the pros and cons, we would be happy to put you in touch. And if you would like to join our network for information about future meetings, please contact me.
Ken Caldwell
Buckland Resident and Network Convenor