How can a Habs’ student’s routine contribute to climate change?

Krish (Year 9)

We are all aware that climate change is warming up the planet and changing our climate in ways not witnessed before. However, many people do not know how their daily routine can affect climate change. In this article I will look at how a Habs’ student’s daily routine can affect the climate, how they can change their lifestyle and why they should.

How much CO2 do you generate?

A typical Habs student will wake up and go about their morning routine, perhaps having a refreshing 10 minute shower. This 10 minute shower uses (on average) 100 litres of water. There is also more power being used on heating up approximately 75% of that shower.1. It takes approximately 11,025,000 J of energy to heat 75l of water to 35°C. Our Habs student will then get their parent to drive them to the coach stop, which is one away and they then wait for the coach. Our Habs’ student’s car has burnt approximately 0.2 litres of diesel for a round trip, which uses around 3,800,000 J of energy.2. The student then gets on the coach and the ride to the school takes around 30 minutes and is around 10 miles long. This coach consumes 8 litres

of diesel which equates to around 380,000,000 J of energy. Our Habs student then gets to the school and goes about their day with no measurable footprint. However, after school is when it starts to kick off. They take the same coach journey (380,000,000 J) and the same car ride home (3,800,000 J for a round trip of their car), comes home and sits down to do some work on their laptop for two hours, consuming 270,000 J as he does so.3. In total, their routine has caused a total of 778,895,000 J to be used every day. If they have 200 days of school in a year, they will burn 155,779,000,000 J of energy in a year only counting the bogstandard schooldays. This amount of energy can be generated by burning 25.5 standard barrels of oil, or 4845 litres of oil (approximately). Burning this much oil can generate a whopping 10,985 kg of CO2.

How could you reduce this?

Our typical Habs student is now aware of their contribution and wants to fix it. Here’s how they can do so. They can: • Take shorter showers and (try to) use less hot water. • Convince their parents to invest in an all-electric/ hybrid car such as

Toyotas. • Start shutting down their laptop when they’re not using it • Invest in a power-saving laptop and one with a stronger battery life • Try and convince their parents to alter their electricity plan to one than relies more on renewable/ sustainable sources for energy.

• Convince their parents to invest in solar panels to further increase efficiency and decrease costs.

Why should you try and reduce your CO2 emissions?

Our Habs student is looking at the list and thinking about how much work they would need to do to generate less CO2. they are also thinking that their changes will not have much impact on the environment as they are only one in billions. And they’re right. But, by taking the initiative and kick-starting their own reduction of CO2 emissions, they will unintentionally and inevitably influence other people. They should also switch their lifestyle for thier own and their family’s health. It has been shown that exposure to increased CO2 levels can induce things from headaches or dizziness to difficult breathing and increased heart rate, even causing (in some cases) convulsions and coma. 4

In conclusion, you alone will not make a big difference on the climate. However, if everyone adapts their lifestyles even the slightest (this could mean buying energy-saving bulbs; it does not necessarily mean investing in solar panels or electric vehicles) a momentous change would occur to the climate, helping us all.

References 1: How Much Water Does a 20 Minute Shower Use? – House Caravan 2: Fuel Calculators » Fuel-Economy. co.uk 3: How much power does a computer use? And how much CO2 does that represent? – Energuide 4: Carbon Dioxide | Wisconsin Department of Health Services