What actions are best?

Jo, This may not be along the line you were looking for, but it's a strategy for heating that kind of symbolizes an approach... For hundreds of years the Japanese have warmed themselves in cold weather using a kotatsu. The kotatsu is a low table with a heavey blanket or quilt draped over the frame. There's an infared heater attached to the frame. (Old Japanese homes situate the table over a pit in the floor, with a bed of charcoal or some kind of fuel, with a grate over it that your rest your feet on.) The tabletop is unattached and is placed on top of the blanket. You sit with legs under the table and the blanket tucked around. It is astonishingly comfortable and uses very little power. Just recently they have become available for purchase in the US (online). I am a cold-natured person, uncomfortable in the winter even in South Carolina. Now winter is comfortable with the thermostat turned WAY down or off. Hope this has some relevance!

Leslie Coolidge
United States

If your goal is reducing greenhouse gasses, saving energy is the most effective action you can take. There are so many ways to do that -- the garden variety activities like weatherstripping and caulking may be the biggest bang for the buck. However, my personal favorite is the programmable thermostat. If you don't already turn down the thermostat at night and during the day when no one is home, you can easily save 20% on heating, and you will save on cooling as well. The rule of thumb is that you will save 3% on heating for each degree you turn the temperature down for a 24 hour period. (If you already turn back the thermostate manually, this will increase comfort by having the temperature at a comfortable level when you wake/return.)



Merrilee Harrigan
Alliance to Save Energy

Without pointing to specific studies:

1. Stop buying stuff we don't need. (Reduce)
2. Buy good quality stuff that will last a long time. (Reduce)
3. Repair & reuse the stuff we do need.
4. Pay attention to hot water. The greatest heat (energy) consumer in the average household. As the technology improves, move from central hot water to 'batch hot water'.
5. Live close to work/school/shops so you can walk/public transit.
6. In cold and hot climates, insulate, weatherstrip, insulate.
7. Replace incandescent with fluorescent, and fluorescent with LED (as the technology gets better).
8. Buy only reusable, repairable, recyclable.
9. Leave the packaging in the store for them to deal with.
10. Vote to replace income taxes with carbon taxes (or carbon credit systems).

Conservation (reducing) beats new infrastructure (replacing coal with renewable energy) by a very large factor.

Norm Ruttan
President
iWasteNot Systems
Canada
www.iwastenotsystems.com

Hi Jo

There's a great book you might find helpful called 'How Bad Are Bananas: the carbon footprint of everything' by Mike Berners-Lee. It provides a really useful comparison of the carbon impact of just about everything you can think of, in a highly accessible and often amusing way. We're planning an interactive workshop in my local community where we collectively identify what we think has the most impact, compared to what really has the most impact (helped by Mike's book and Mike himself as he lives locally) and then figure out how to help people change their behaviour accordingly through a campaign.

Regards

Karen

Karen Mitchell
Natural England
United Kingdom

An add-on to my comment about the kotatsu.. one of the great things about it is that it heats the body instead of the larger environment. Here are a few articles about forgoing central heat and air:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/world/americas/29mexico.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/garden/23air.html
Besides saving money and emissions, less "conditioning" (for me, anyway)imparts a sense of being more tuned in to the world and makes me more willing to be outside, any time of year.


Leslie Coolidge
United States