Question 1: Reflecting on your household’s environmental management
Write no more than 400 words for this question, plus any diagrams used.
Write a description of your household’s current environmental impact and energy use. You should include as part of your answer:
• a.a rich picture of the overall environmental impact of your household’s lifestyle
• b.a table of your household’s gas, electricity and water usage over the last two years (monthly data are preferable, but quarterly data are acceptable if a monthly breakdown is not available)
• c.a systems map of your household’s energy use.
Each of these items should be explained as part of the description.
Notes:
• If you do not have the data required to answer part (b) – for example, you don’t have access to energy bills, you pay for your water through water rates rather than metered bills or you don’t have mains gas – then please refer to the advice in the note at the beginning of this TMA.
• You should present data for at least two utilities (i.e. two from water, electricity or gas) even if that means inventing data.
• If you do have access to bills, but not for two full years, please extrapolate figures from the data you have.
• If you take energy from other sources, such as bottled gas or biomass, please substitute these as appropriate.
• For energy sources, use kilowatt hours (kWh) as units (as discussed in the module materials) if possible.
Question 2: Connecting to wider impacts
(This question is worth 20% of the marks for TMA 01.)
Write no more than 400 words for this question, plus any diagrams used.
Write an explanation to the members of your household about the wider impact of the household’s lifestyle. You should include as part of your answer:
• a.an influence diagram of the environmental impact of your household
• b.a table showing your household’s carbon footprint (using the carbon calculator you used in Activity 2.6 of Block 1). You must clearly show the way you have used the carbon calculator.
(Note: please remember that the carbon calculator assesses your personal carbon footprint, not your household footprint. There is a note in the guidelines explaining how your household footprint can be calculated. If you are unable to use this carbon calculator, you are free to use another one, but it must be clear to the marker which calculator you have used.)
Comment briefly on the environmental impacts highlighted by these items.