Carsons Post

We've been recording our meter readings for a year now on The Carbon Account and have a whole 12 months of "visual" meter readings. Here is the current carbon profile of our household (two people and two cats).

Note that this footprint includes our old and new houses - the sharp drop in September - October represents our move from an old Victorian end of terrace without cavity walls and to our new semi-detached house which does have cavity walls. There are other differences:

• The old house had a gas hob. In our new house we have an electric induction hob
• We upgraded the boiler in the new house in November - it is rated at 92% efficient
• Both houses had loft insulation (the new house as of early November - when the cavity walls were also insulated)
• Even though the new house is much larger, most of the radiators have regulator valves so we aren't heating rooms we aren't using at 100%

An interesting note, I am quite proud that the old house had an Energy Performance Certificate rating of D (61). The new house a rating of E (45) when we bought it. However, having completed all the easy recommendations of the EPC the new house is likely a C (71) now - whereas the potential we left in the Croydon house was only up to a D - 63. However, I think the scores also show some methodological differences between the two reports, one of the more important criticisms of the UK's EPCs.

Also, the fact that a house - such as our old one in Croydon - can have an EPC that is reasonably good but also perform so awfully shows the limits of an asset rating (such as an EPC, BREEAM or LEED rating). These features of the sustainability landscape are best supported by operational ratings such as DECs or Upstream's Sustainability Benchmarking (a product that I work on).

The above footprint does not include transport. We are, for example, getting a new car next week and will undoubtedly increase that aspect of our household footprint. However, the elephant in the room is our trip to Newfoundland last year which was not on the above chart, but can be seen below:

Ouch!

The following are my personal New Years resolutions and targets.

• To complete the entire house project by March.
• Intangibles that are important: be a better husband, attentive new Dad. Communicate with my family more often.
• To do one competition in 2010: triathalon on half marathon.
• To cycle to work at least 4 days a week on average (not including the train journey, that would be just silly).
• To write a short story. Not a long one - but to complete it.
• To read: 1 report per week and 1 book per month in 2010.
• To post with more frequency on http://carsonspost.com. Postings should include more thoughts on above readings.
• Household Carbon footprint below 3.5 Tonnes, substancially beating my 10:10 commitment. Last year our household Carbon footprint was about 6 tonnes, but that included flights to Canada and our old inefficient house. This year we aren't expecting to do any flying and have a much more efficient house with insulated cavity walls and loft as well as more efficient appliances. But we will have a car