Earth Month 2023: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Through Technology
This April, the global theme for Earth Month is "Invest in Our Planet". It’s a powerful call to action for businesses, governments, and individuals to put their resources into building a sustainable future. While we often think of technology as a consumer of energy, the right gadgets can actually be powerful tools for conservation. By making smarter choices with our tech—both in what we use and how we buy it—we can significantly reduce our personal carbon footprints.
Smart Tech That Saves Energy
Investing in the right technology can help you monitor and reduce your household energy consumption, lowering both your bills and your emissions:
- Smart Thermostats: Devices like the Google Nest or Hive Active Heating learn your schedule and adjust your heating automatically. They ensure you aren't heating an empty house, potentially saving huge amounts of wasted energy and money over the course of a year.
- Smart Plugs: These affordable gadgets sit between your wall socket and your appliances, allowing you to turn them off remotely via an app. They are perfect for combating 'vampire power'—the energy drained by devices left on standby, like TVs and game consoles.
- Energy Tracking Apps: Many energy providers now offer apps linked to smart meters that show your usage in real-time. Seeing exactly how much that tumble dryer cycle costs in pounds and pence is a brilliant motivator to change habits and switch to eco-modes.
The Most Impactful Choice: Refurbished Over New
While using smart home tech is great, the single biggest way to reduce your tech carbon footprint is to change how you buy your devices. The manufacturing of a new smartphone generates roughly 85-95% of its total lifecycle carbon emissions. This includes the mining of precious earth metals like gold and cobalt, as well as the energy-intensive factory production.
When you choose to buy refurbished, you completely bypass this damaging production phase. A refurbished phone saves approximately 50kg of CO2 compared to a brand new one. It prevents e-waste from entering landfills and keeps valuable materials in circulation—a perfect example of the circular economy in action.
Invest in Our Planet Today
This Earth Month, take a tangible step towards a greener future. Instead of buying brand new, choose to support the circular economy. You can find a high-quality, fully tested device that doesn't cost the Earth when you buy a quality refurbished smartphone from Envirofone.
And remember, holding onto old tech is a wasted opportunity. Ensure your old devices are recycled or reused responsibly by getting a great cash offer when you sell your old handset to us today.
