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If you see the segment on CBS Evening News, you will hear about CRAGs, or Carbon Reduction Action Groups.
What is a CRAG?
A CRAG is a group of friends that gets together to set goals for personal emissions of greenhouse gas from energy use; follow up on the goal; and learn about how to save energy, save money, and save greenhouse gases. Your book club or church group could form a CRAG. We’re pretty scrappy and do-it-yourself. All you need is a carbon calculator, some friends, and their energy bills. You can sign your CRAG up at the main website and be part of an international effort to reduce greenhouse gases.
Why would anyone want to be part of a CRAG? Well, we’re having a lot of fun in the Maryland CRAG with energy reductions. We like to share with each other what works and what doesn’t work. At our last meeting, we learned that solar hot water heating is the most efficient form of alternative energy for the home, and that it will pay itself off in six years. We also learned from one of our members that washing her husband’s shirts in cold water didn’t work for her, but it worked well for another member who washes everything in cold. We bragged about reductions on our energy bills that we were very proud of. And we felt like we were part of something that mattered and could help other people. You can get help to meet your goals, engage in a little friendly competition, and learn information from your CRAG group. You can see if you have really made a difference by tracking the actual emissions from your bills.
Through the Maryland CRAG, we’ve learned how you can save 20% on your home’s energy bills every year, about $1,630. That same savings will also reduce about 14,770 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions every year. I’m going to tell you more about CRAGs, and how you can get these savings, whether you are part of a CRAG or not.
What are the CRAGs trying to do?
The United States emits about one quarter of the world’s human-emitted greenhouse gases. About 35% of the emissions in the US are from energy use by people in the United States, just from driving, flying, heating homes, and using electricity. The average home also spends about $8,150 on this energy every year. The average person directly emits about 26,766 pounds of CO2e just from energy use every year. Each person’s habits also indirectly result in another 28,000 pounds of CO2e from things like food production and transport, and waste disposal. The emissions from energy are easy to measure, so that’s what we track in the CRAGs. In CRAGs, we work to save energy, so that we can save money and greenhouse gases.
When you save energy, you save money! You also save greenhouse gases! It’s a win-win for you and for the planet.
In the Maryland CRAG, our goal for each person and the group is to reduce our emissions from energy use by ten percent this year. Our goal is to emit less than 24,089 pounds of CO2e per person this year. Other groups in England have set themselves similar percent goals (though they emit a lot less) and have been able to make them. In fact, they have been consistently under their goals and have reduced 20-35% of their energy costs. You can easily reduce 20% of your own energy costs this year too, without any major expenses or changes to your lifestyle. If every person in the US saved 20% of their energy costs, we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the world by about two percent.
In our next post, we will talk about how to calculate the costs, energy use, and emissions from your own household. In the third post, we will talk about how to save energy, save greenhouse gases, and save money.
Background: What is the link between greenhouse gases and global warming?
Greenhouse gases are naturally in the atmosphere, and they trap heat from the sun like a greenhouse does. Without the gases in the atmosphere, we couldn’t live on Earth! But we have put more of these gases in the atmosphere, and the Earth is becoming warmer and warmer. The warmth from the sun drives our climate and its weather. The increased warmth is causing the climate and weather to change, and we are seeing problems, like the melting of the polar ice caps, more intense storms, and droughts. The biggest human-emitted greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, and greenhouse gases are measured in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e. CO2e is emitted from burning fuels for heat and transportation, from agriculture, from manufacturing, and many other practices.