What can we do to reduce CO2 emissions?
To live a low-carbon life, you need to remember not to waste electricity and gas and to practice recycling.
Use electricity-saving lights, set the air conditioner 2 degrees lower in summer, reduce TV time, save water, and take public transportation. These are become increasingly popular, and people are paying more attention to energy-saving and CO₂ reduction.
(1) Use of Electric Appliances
l Refrigerator
Use 80% of your refrigerator’s capacity. Both over-stocking and under-stocking will waste energy. There should be at least 10mm space between the inner wall and food. Use plastic containers to freeze water and put it in the freezer, so that the active time of the refrigerator can be reduced.
l Air conditioner
Turning on or turning off an air conditioner will waste a lot of electricity and is also harmful for the machine. Put an electric fan under the air conditioner so that the cooling effect will be much better. Try this at night, you can just use the air conditioner for several hours and then turn it off, which will save 50% electricity. Try using the dehumidification mode, so that it is cool and can save electricity.
l Washing machine
intensive washes save more electricity and take the same amount of time as regular washes, in addition to being good for maintaining the machine. Furthermore, 3min is enough for spinning clothes. A longer time will not make clothes drier.
l Microwave
Use high settings whenever possible. Do not open the microwave frequently when food is defrosting in it. You can take your food out of the freezer and put it into the fridge before defrosting it. These are all useful energy-saving tips.
(2) Save Water
l Water Heater
Add thermal insulation material to your water heater. By doing this, a water heater can save 96 kilowatt hours electricity every year, and reduce CO2 emissions by 92.5kg. If 10 million water heaters are added with thermal insulation material, then 960 million 96 kilowatt hours electricity will be saved and CO2 emissions will be reduced by 925 thousand tons.
l Shower rather than bath
Having a bath in a tub consumes a lot of water, whereas by having a shower, each person can save 170L water each time, reduce the same amount in sewage discharge, save 3.1 kg standard coal and make a 8.1kg reduction in CO2. If 10 million people change from baths to showers, we can save 5.27 million standard coal and reduce emissions by 14.75 million tons.
l Daily use of water
A dripping tap will waste 2 tons of water a month, 24 tons a year. If 390 million households nationwide can put an end to dripping taps, then, every year we can save 3.4 million tons standard coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 8.68 million tons.
Solar water heating is energy-saving and environmentally-friendly. 1m2 solar water heating panel can save 120kg standard coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 300kg every year.
(3) Tips in Daliy Life
l Turn off the light when you do not use it
Turning off the light when you do not use it is a good daily habit. By doing this, every household can save 4.9 kilowatt hours electricity, and reduce CO2 emissions by 3.8kg. If this is practised by 390 million households nationwide, then, we can save 1.91 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and reduce CO2 by 150 million tons every year.
l Use elevators less
Currently, elevators around the nation use 30 billion kilowatt hours every year. We encourage people to use stairs on lower floors and restrict the use of elevators during non-peak time. By doing this, 10% elevator energy can be saved, that is, an elevator will save 5 thousand kilowatt hours of electricity, equal to a reduction of 3.9 tons CO2 emissions. If it is used by 600 thousand elevators nationwide, then, we can save 3 billion kilowatt hours electricity and reduce CO2 by 2.36 million tons every year.
l No waste
If the annual per capita food waste can be reduced by 0.5kg, then we can save 241 thousand standard coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 612 thousand tons.
l Less alcohol and smoking
Smoking is not good for your health and the process of producing cigarettes is energy-consuming. One cigarette fewer a day will save 0.14kg standard coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 0.37kg. If each of the 350 million smokers reduce their consumption by one cigarette every day, then, we can save 50 thousand standard coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 130 thousand tons.
l Use handkerchiefs rather than tissue
Each tissue that is replaced with a handkerchief can reduce paper use by 0.17kg, save 0.2 tons of standard coal, and reduce CO2 emissions by 0.5kg
l Dry your clothes in sunshine
Use warm water rather than hot water when washing your clothes. Dry your clothes in sunshine instead of putting them into a drying machine. By doing this, CO2 emissions can be reduced by 90%.
l Use less wooden furniture
If each of the 20million households can reduce their use of wood by 0.1m3, then about 500 thousand standard coal can be saved, and CO2 emissions can be reduced by 1.25 million tons.
l Save energy when cooking
Soak rice in water for 10min before cooking it in an electric cooker, can reduce cooking time and save 10% energy. Each household can save 4.5 kilowatt’s of energy, and reduce their CO2 emissions by 3.5kg every year. If this is practiced by 180 million households, then, we can save 800 million kilowatt hours of electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by 630 thousand tons.
