Simple really

There are 6 areas to going carbon neutral. They are:

1. Heating
2. Electricity
3. Water
4. Transport
5. Food
6. Shopping

If you are carbon neutral in all of these areas, then you are fully carbon neutral. There are dozens of books which give you tips for how to reduce your carbon footprint, but in many cases they don't go far enough. You could follow all the tips in most books, and you still wouldn't be carbon neutral. If you follow all the steps I give then you will be carbon neutral. But that doesn't mean it's easy!

We can break down each of these areas further into inputs and outputs. Your inputs are quite simply what you consume, so for heating this might mean gas, or heating oil. Your outputs are what you waste, what comes out of your household. This might include waste food, fumes from your car exhaust, or even sewage from your toilet! In each of these six areas, to become carbon neutral we need to change how we handle our inputs and outputs. For example, if we put our waste food in a compost bin instead of in the landfill, we are now carbon neutral in food output.

So 'how to go carbon neutral'? We need to look at each of the 6 areas, and swap our inputs and outputs for carbon neutral alternatives. It's often easier to start with the outputs, than the inputs. For example, it's easier to start composting, than to generate all your own electricity. But there are some simple areas you can start with:

1. Swap your electric supplier to one that's carbon neutral: Good Energy, Green Energy, or Ecotricity
2. Start composting

These are the two simplest measures that most people can take to reduce their carbon footprint. So what are you waiting for?

To find out more go to How to go carbon neutral