A Westmeath man has been chosen as one of five people who will compete during the next nine months to reduce their carbon number for a first prize of a €10,000 makeover for their home, garden, or lifestyle.
Trevor Gleeson, from Rathwire, was one of nearly 500 people who entered the Know Your Number challenge on Today FM’s The Last Word show and will be a regular contributor to the show over the coming months as the competition progresses.
The challenge aims to encourage individuals to understand their carbon number and show them how to change their behaviour in order to reduce that number over the next nine months.
The Westmeath man is a 32-year-old dad of two young children. His wife, Tracey, is a homemaker, while Trevor drives a 100km round trip every day to work as a treasury manager in CRH in Clondalkin, Co Dublin. He enjoys his foreign travel and took six flights in the past year, including some work travel to the States and Europe and two trips to Turkey where the family has a holiday home.
Trevor says he simply doesn’t know where to start on tackling his carbon number. The family home is a large 10-year-old five-bed dormer bungalow with little insulation. The windows are wooden framed and double-glazed, but Trevor says they are draughty and need sealing. He loves gadgets and knows he is consuming a lot of electricity to power all of the family’s televisions, laptops, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, American fridge, and other electrical appliances.
He is very keen to improve his and his family’s habits and home, in order to reduce their carbon number and is up for the challenge. ‘‘I was shocked to learn my carbon number was 22. I guess I knew it would be high as we leave our TVs and the oil-fired central heating on constantly. We also love using electronic gadgets such as the laptop, playstation, and Wii, but as a family we are up for the challenge. We are keen to make adjustments to our lifestyle which should allow us to make significant energy savings,” says Trevor.
According to Change.ie, everyone can take some action to reduce their carbon count number. “This competition is going to help people understand their carbon number and more importantly show them practical things they can do to reduce it,” says competition judge, Jim Gannon, from Change. “Over the coming week we will be putting the five contestants through a Change bootcamp, and during November and December they will have to complete a number of tasks, including making Christmas and doing the grocery shopping more environmentally friendly.”
The carbon count numbers of all the contestants have been measured and will continue to be tracked on the Change.ie carbon calculator. You can track the progress of the contestants on The Last Word on Today FM every Friday and on the websites www.Change.ie and www.Todayfm.com
To find out what your carbon number is log onto www.Change.ie and complete the carbon calculator.
