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gilmores

net co2 'taker-outers' while living a simple, inspiring & luxurious life

2016 off grid!

on june 15th the tesla powerwall battery storage went live and we are effectively off grid!!  we are delighted!  

 

thank you tesla for providing the last (beautiful and functional) part of the jigsaw for our game. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/energy  thank you east green energy for doing another wonderful installation for us. http://www.eastgreenenergy.co.uk

 

we run a home, a business, 2 electric cars and power almost 100% of that from the solar pv on the roof and powerwall.  [in the first 6 months with the powerwall we used 71kwh from the grid.  in july we got 98% of our electricity from the solar panels and powerwall.  august, 98%; september, 98%; october 98%; november 88% and december 72%.  we did 10,000 miles in the cars during that period. next year it looks like we'll get 92% of all our electricity needs from the solar and powerwall!!] the solar thermal also supplies us with 8+ months of hot water every year.

 

being responsible for our impact on the planet is not restricting - as evidenced e.g. by our road trips this year (in the tesla, obviously) to ski in the alps and up north of the arctic circle in norway to see the northern lights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPoZ7do2iVQ

we are living a simple, inspiring, luxurious life - and we are net co2 'taker-outers.'  we continue to be MINUS approx. 6 tonnes of co2 EVERY YEAR.  (this year we were MINUS 5.596t co2.)  landfill waste still tiny 9.45kg per person/ year.  water usage - 50.08 litres per person/ day. and we still get 65+% of our food within 50 miles.

 

the game has also inspired others - the whole point of it - and here are some of the results we know about (updated figs 2023):

- 1.94 million tonnes of co2e saved annually by an energy company in the uk by not building a coal fired power station and instead building a gas power station.  inspired by our game and conversations.

- 500,000 tonnes of co2e taken out of a business annually by someone inspired by the game and conversations.

- 14 families we know bought solar pv totalling 66.6 MWh of electricity per annum.

- 2 families added solar thermal, 2 bought tesla powerwalls and 1 bought other battery storage.

- 22 people bought tesla model s, model 3 or model y cars.

- 12 bought other pure electric vehicles.

 

to sum up what we've done during this game:

1. calculated and offset lifetime emissions. (climate care and carbon neutral) [we don't count this in our annual calculation.]

2. reduced emissions with simple steps.

3. switched to renewable electricity (& now gas) supplier who expand renewable energy capacity. (ecotricity)

4. 2010 - put solar panels and solar thermal on roofs.

5. 2012 - bought electric vehicle number 1. (subsequently replaced by tesla model 3 in 2019.)

6. 2014 - bought electric vehicle number 2 - the tesla model s.

7. 2016 - bought tesla powerwall battery storage to use stored sunlight to power the house and cars - effectively off-grid living.

8. probably the simplest and most important thing. 15 years ago brian began eating a vegetarian diet, 10 years ago vegan diet. amy vegan diet too. laura mostly vegan.  to understand why this is the easiest and biggest impact part of this game, see the film cowspiracy.

9. inspired others........ all this while having fun.  what we have done can now be done at about a third of the price that we paid.

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