Month: July 2021

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If you are wondering what a carbon footprint is and why it is so important, keep reading. We have researched the best ways to reduce carbon emissions. Every one of us can contribute and reduce our carbon footprint. This will save you money and time, help you avoid traffic, reduce pollution, improve air quality and help you enjoy a healthier and more active lifestyle. To begin with, let’s learn that the carbon footprint stands for the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that result from the production, use, and end of life of a product or service. Usually, most of an individual’s carbon footprint comes from transportation, housing and food.

You can reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment in many different ways. Whether at home, at work, at school or while traveling, small changes make a big difference. AF BEEP project experts (Additional Funding for the Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project) advise you on the most effective ways to do this.

What type of transportation do you use?

Let’s start with transportation. Let’s be realistic; you’ll probably still need to use a car, but when you do, here are some tips on how to make your trip more climate-friendly.

Use gasoline and brakes slowly – efficient driving can help reduce emissions. Service your car regularly to make it more efficient. Check your tires because if the tires are inflated properly, emissions can be reduced. Use cruise control on longer journeys – in most cases, this can help save fuel. Use alternative transportation (bus, train or bike) to get to work at least one day a week. Enjoy the opportunity to catch up on reading instead of trying your patience in traffic!

What do you eat and drink?

Stop buying water in plastic containers. Get a reusable water bottle and keep it with you at all times. You will save money and the environment! Eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat. Meat and dairy products are responsible for 14.5 percent of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Each day you give up meat and dairy products, you reduce your carbon footprint by 8 kilograms – that’s 2,920 kilograms a year. You can start by joining the so-called “Meatless Mondays.”

Choose organic and local foods that are in season, and reduce food loss by planning meals ahead of time, freezing excess, and reusing leftovers.

What are you wearing?

Don’t buy fast fashion. Trendy, cheap items that go out of style are quickly dumped in landfills, where they produce methane as they decompose. Instead, buy quality clothes that will last. Better yet, buy vintage or recycled clothes.

Wash your clothes in cold water. Enzymes in cold water detergent are designed for better cleaning in cold water. Washing your laundry twice a week in cold water instead of warm water can save up to 500 kilograms of carbon dioxide each year.

Where do you live?

Give your home an energy audit. This will show how you consume energy and help identify ways to be energy efficient.

Replace ordinary bulbs with LED ones. Although LED bulbs cost more, they consume a quarter of the energy and last up to 25 times longer. Turn off the lights when you leave the room and turn off your electronic devices when not in use. Every little action counts!

By installing a low-flow shower, you can reduce hot water consumption and save 350 kilograms of CO₂. A quicker shower also helps.

Simple actions really add up when everyone joins! The decision to take action means you want to take care of what you call home, making your city greener and healthier to live in. If you do your part, you have already done enough!

There is a tendency in the world to expand cities, which makes the population density increase. The situation is the same in our country, larger city centers are expanding more and more, people are immigrating from smaller places. All this results in an increase in energy consumption and emissions.

Investing in more efficient and smarter energy use in cities helps reduce carbon dioxide emissions. That’s why we are bringing you three ways you can contribute to reducing energy consumption in your local communities.

Sustainable and smarter building construction

It will take a long time for the improvement of energy efficiency of buildings to be effectively implemented in BiH, but it is necessary for all cities that want to achieve sustainable growth and development. Buildings account for approximately one-third greenhouse gas emissions, and in large cities perhaps half. Reducing the energy used to heat, cool and illuminate buildings must be a key component of the broader climate goals that cities must undertake. The method of construction is also extremely important, so for a reason the so-called green or eco construction increasingly popular. In our country, it is still not represented for economic reasons and the price of materials.

One solution to this problem could be incentives and special credit lines for investors, if they opt for this method of construction. A great opportunity for those who are just starting a business or already have companies that deal with construction materials is the introduction of this range. This will make it easier to find materials that will save energy significantly and reduce or eliminate negative environmental effects, through the use of less water, energy or natural resources and the creation of your own energy. This will improve the quality of life in buildings and reduce maintenance costs.

How to reduce energy consumption by organized transport?

The problem that cities face daily is transportation and huge energy consumption and pollution emissions using private cars. Probably one of the more expensive and complex solutions to reduce energy consumption in cities is to offer and maintain various public transportation options. That should deter people from driving. Bus, subway or train lines make it easier to drive better and faster. They simultaneously reduce reliance on cars and, in fact, reliance on gasoline. Strengthening this infrastructure makes it easier to transport residents with as little energy as possible.

When cities invest in sheltered bike lanes on the roads, people will feel safer riding bikes instead of cars. Cities can also offer bicycle sharing services. Together, these changes reduce car density on the road and energy consumption. In our country, the first major step forward was made with the construction of bicycle paths in the capital of BiH and introducing the Next Bike system of public bicycles, which currently exists in Sarajevo, Zenica and Banja Luka.

It is also very important to encourage citizens to be more energy aware through the use of electric or hybrid cars. In BiH, for now, the steps in motivating drivers to buy such cars are minimal, and currently there are less than a hundred charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles. Using electric cars contributes to decarbonization, ie reduction of emissions of harmful gases and particles.

LED technology and solar panels as a great way to save energy

LED street lighting has a major impact on reducing CO2 emissions and electricity consumption. Using LED lights could be up to 60 percent more efficient than a traditional street lighting system. The first investment in changing lamps may be an initial hurdle for municipalities, but the solution may be through state subsidies, which would make it easier for local authorities to transform their street lighting system into a much more efficient one.

By installing solar panels, which absorb sunlight, on buildings, the city could take advantage of free energy as electricity generation or heating during daylight hours. This would make the best use of the huge and existing area. It will also reduce the amount of fossil fuel people use.

We know it is difficult to implement all these solutions at once, but if we take small steps towards the set goals and give our contribution to the initiative, we are sure that the results will be visible soon.