According to the Environmental Change Institute, average energy consumption in the UK is:
Per household
Gas use - 20,582 kWh/year, 3,930 kg CO2
Electricity use - 4640 kWh/year, 2,300 kg CO2
which equates to
Per person
Gas use - 8,575 kWh/year, 1,638 kg CO2
Electricity use - 1,933 kWh/year, 958 kg CO2
Total emissions per person = 2596 kg CO2
Exclusions
Cooking: emissions due to cooking will not be included within this calculation. According to Defra, cooking makes up around 5% of a household's footprint,
resulting in emissions of: 0.05 x 2596 = 129.8 kg CO2 per year per person.
Cold appliances: All machines can be physically turned off within the home except for cold appliances (i.e. fridges and freezers), which on average use around 500 kWh per year per household.
Using our grid electricity conversion factor of 0.527 kg CO2 per kWh
, this translates to CO2 emissions of:
500 x 0.527 = 263.5 kg CO2 per year per household or 263.5/2.4 = 109.79 kg CO2 per person.
Calculating CO2 saved per person by switching off all machines in a day (except cooking and cold appliances):
2596 kg - 129.8 - 109.79 = 2356.41 kg per person per year
Therefore carbon saved by turning everything off that you can for the day:
2356.41 kg / 365 = 6.5 kg per day.
