I must admit to being confused. When I calculate my footprint on the earth, based on a number of on line formulas, the criteria consists of things like eating locally and organically; driving little and in a small car, or better using public transportation; purchasing energy efficient appliances; using efficient light bulbs; and turning off lights and turning down the heat. Ok that all makes sense. But what about space. No questions, in the sites I consulted, is square footage included. How big is the space I heat or light or that occupies the land? How many lights do I have to turn off since my space is small? If I only have a few lights in a small space, but fail to turn them off all the time when not in use, is that worse than having dozens of lights all the time, but always turn them off when not in use? It seems strange to me that size is not factored in.
Right now we live in a very small home of 870 square feet, yet the questions do not address the size of our home.
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| Our big living but very small home of 870 square feet. |
Then, when I fill out the same questions about the 100 square foot van we plan on living in full time, I get worse results because my answers are mostly the same but miles driven increase and our windows are not double pane.
Sprinter Airstream Westfalia
Ceteis paribis, every thing else being equal, square footage must make a difference. There's an elephant in the room -- square footage. Why are we not addressing how large we live? Am I really to believe that my good or bad habits of such things as turning off the lights or replacing my light bulbs determines my foot print with no consideration to how large I live?
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