What is a Carbon Footprint?
The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive global amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted by a human activity or accumulated over the full life cycle of a product or service.
The life cycle concept means that it is all-encompassing and includes all possible causes that give rise to carbon emissions. In other words, all direct (on-site, internal) and indirect emissions (off-site, external, embodied, upstream, downstream) need to be taken into account.
Normally, a carbon footprint is expressed as a CO2 equivalent (usually in kilograms or tonnes), which accounts for the same global warming effects of different greenhouse gases. Carbon footprints can be calculated using an online calculator.
An alternative definition of the carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide attributable to the actions of an individual (mainly through their energy use) over a period of one year. This definition underlies the personal carbon calculators. The term owes its origins to the idea that a footprint is what has been left behind as a result of the individual's activities.
Carbon footprints can either consider only direct emissions (typically from energy used in the home and in transport, including travel by cars, airplanes, rail and other public transport), or can also include indirect emissions (including CO2 emissions as a result of goods and services consumed). Bottom-up calculations sum attributable CO2 emissions from individual actions; top-down calculations take total emissions from a country (or other high-level entity) and divide these emissions among the residents (or other participants in that entity).
Reduce your Carbon Footprint increasing the energy efficiency in a New Build Home. This can be achieved by using a Wood Burning Stove with a Prefabricated Chimney System!
Document L of the building regulations was introduced early in 2002. This focused on energy efficiency in New Build homes. Subsequently, in April 2006, the regulations were revised. Improved CO2 savings of 20% are now required for all new build homes.
There are many solutions to enable you to reduce CO2 emissions and ultimately achieve these savings, but they generally only increase efficiencies by a small margin. Our concept can achieve almost half the required savings and add value with a stylish and desirable focal point to your new home.
The concept works by introducing a Carbon Neutral high efficient, wood burning stove as a secondary heating source, with a prefabricated chimney system connecting to a traditional, brick finish, external chimney top.
The government has advocated a return to the traditional roofline. Our simple solution offers significant material and labour savings when compared to traditional brick built chimneys. On average, a traditional brick chimneystack can take up to 4 working days to build. When built on the side of the house, heat loss is at it’s highest. By using our solution, you will have total flexibility within the building envelope, allowing you to position your Wood Burner according to your customers’ preference.
Please view our presentation for further detailed information on how this simple solution can reduce you Carbon Footprint.
