EV Musings
This season’s brilliant EV Musings Podcasts have all been highlighting a “fun fact” from Lead With Sustainability at the end of each recording.
If you haven’t been listening in regularly, we’d particularly recommend episode 201, featuring our founder, Anne Snelson and episode 205, which is an in depth interview with climate change expert, Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Change at Reading University.
For these and more, you can check out the wide variety of topics on the website here or simply search for EV Musings on your favourite podcast platform. We hope you enjoy listening in!
Fun facts and their sources
Fact 1: Did you know? Transport is the largest emitting sector in the UK. Over a third of carbon dioxide emissions are caused by transport – with over 90% of that due to travelling by road. And unlike most sectors, transport is increasing. That’s why we need to cut journeys and swap to more sustainable transport – and quickly!
Fact 2: You might know that cows and sheep produce lots of methane – which is a pretty potent Greenhouse gas. But did you know it’s actually their burps that cause the problem? So cut your beef and lamb intake as much as you can and swap to much more healthy beans and veggies instead.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714
Fact 3: Flying is one of the most climate change inducing things we do. So if you can cut your flights at all, please do. While you may have heard about sustainable aviation fuel – if we want to keep flying at the rate we are currently, we’d have to transfer half the UK’s agricultural land to crops for SAF. Rather leaves us wondering what on earth we’d eat?
Fact 4: One of the easiest things you can do to cut emissions is transfer your electricity to renewable supply. That not only helps solar and wind suppliers, but sends a signal to fossil fuel providers saying we want to move away from oil and gas.
A sustainable life website
Fact 5: Did you know? Over 30% of the world’s food supply is actually wasted. And most of it goes in landfill where it releases methane. So if you find yourself throwing away food – please start planning better and buying a bit less. And if you’ve got food going off, why not bulk cook and freeze it? That will help you save it for another day.
Fact 6: Think there’s plenty of time to act before 2050? Think again. To reach net zero by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, we have to peak world emissions by 2025 and halve them by 2030. So have a think. What might you do to halve your emissions in the next 6 years?
Fact 7: Think that planting a few trees is good enough to cover your holiday flights? A single flight to New York takes a whopping 78 trees to offset within a year. Even a trip to Tenerife takes 40 trees. So when you’re booking those flights, just start imagining all those holes you should be digging!
Fact 8: The top 10% of the world’s population account for half of all emissions. The bottom 50% accounts for just 10%. Think you’re not in that top 10%? Think again. That’s equivalent to a salary of less than £30,000 a year.
https://www.statista.com/chart/26904/estimated-global-co2-emission-share-by-income-groups
Fact 9: Air pollution contributes to almost 12% of deaths globally. In the UK it helps kill 30 to 40,000 people each year. Road transport is a key contributor to air pollution – causing two-thirds of nitrous oxides and 30% of particulate matter – mostly from tyres. So swap to public transport or active travel if you possibly can. It will make both you and our towns and cities an awful lot healthier.
Fact 10: Every year, about 15 billion tons of fossil fuels are mined and extracted. That’s over 500 times more mining than a clean energy economy would require in 2040. So let’s make the shift as quickly as possible. If you’re swapping your car, find out about an electric vehicle. Swapping your gas boiler? Check out a heat pump or electric combi boiler instead.
https://www.distilled.earth/p/a-fossil-fuel-economy-requires-535x
Fact 11: Did you know? Changing light bulbs to LED and recycling are some of the least effective things you can do. If you to truly make a difference, cut your meat and dairy, reduce your journeys, lower your heating and swap to renewable energy instead.
https://www.ft.com/content/c5e0cdf2-aaef-4812-9d8e-f47dbcded55c
Fact 12: We’re currently using the earth’s resources at 1.7 times what it can bear. So the next time you think of buying something, why not ask yourself if you really need it. Could you cope with what you’ve got or repair it instead?
If there’s things you don’t want, use or need, why not give them to someone who does? Just sell them online or donate them to your local charity shop. You’ll be helping the planet, the person who buys them, and potentially a good cause too!
https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need
Fact 13: You could be a meat eater driving a Tesla and your carbon footprint would be higher than a vegan driving a Range Rover. That’s the difference between agricultural emissions and transport emissions.
https://flightfree.co.uk/post/is-it-better-to-be-vegan-or-give-up-flying
Fact 14: Carbon offsetting isn’t as good as you think. While there are reputable organisations out there, many companies plant little saplings that will take years to reduce the emissions you’re aiming to replace. There’s also a lot of double counting out there so be careful where you buy!
https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/carbon-offsets-2023
Fact 15: Did you know? Drinking two cups of coffee a day creates the same emissions as driving 795 miles a year! And the waste grounds usually go to landfill where they emit methane. But a Belgian company has found a great alternative. They use the coffee grounds as a compost for mushrooms and once the mushrooms are harvested turn it into plastic free insulation tiles. Isn’t that a great idea? How else can we use waste products for good?
BBC Food Calculator and Coffee grounds into insulating tiles
Fact 16: If we all just boil the amount of water we need, we could save 2.6 million kWh of electricity. That’s equivalent to 1.5 million miles of car journeys or enough electricity to fuel 112 homes for a year. So if you’re boiling for a cup of tea, just fill it to the minimum and boil it just once!
Fact 17: We need to think more about the heat we create. If we harnessed all the waste heat in London we could heat almost 800,000 homes for free. There’s already some solutions for waste heat from data centres, but we should be thinking about the tube, supermarkets, air con and heating shops too.
Fact 18: If you turn down your heating by one or two degrees, you could save 10% on your energy costs. Heating your house to 18 degrees rather than 20 isn’t such a problem. Just wear an extra jumper and move around a bit more.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62738249
Fact 19: Did you know – your bank accounts and pension could be providing double the emissions of going vegan, stopping flying and choosing to cycle over the car? So why not use your savings for good rather than funding fossil fuels and help save the planet without doing a thing? Check out mymothertree to find out how much lower your emissions could be.
Fact 20: Ordering online and not in a hurry? Save emissions by getting delivery of all items at once. In fact supermarket/online shopping delivery is usually better than going yourself. Research suggests it could produce three times less emissions because each van replaces several cars.
