How taking in a lodger can halve your carbon footprint

The constant barrage of negative news about the climate can be overwhelming. We all need to do our bit to help, but it can be almost impossible to know where to start.

But there’s one thing you can do that can almost halve the average UK carbon footprint. You may well be doing it already without realising the impact it has. Taking in a lodger.

How lodgers can halve your carbon footprint

Sharing your home, rather than living on your own, can save you (and your lodger) up to 0.88 tonnes of carbon every year. Given the average UK individual’s annual carbon footprint is 1.4 tonnes, according to ONS data, that's a huge saving.

Your individual saving will depend on all sort of factors, but to give you an example, we asked The Energy Saving Trust to look at the savings made by people moving from one-bed flats to sharing a semi-detached house.

How much carbon you can save by taking in a lodger

A tenant moving from a one-bedroom flat to a two-bedroom semi-detached house as a lodger means both of you save 0.65 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. That's the equivalent of flying from London to Baku, Azerbaijan.

Sharing a three-bed with two lodgers means a saving of 0.88 tonnes per person - the equivalent of flying to Khartoum, Sudan.

We always knew that taking in a lodger can be great for your finances - turns out it's also great for the environment. That gives millions of people a reason to feel good about something that they’re already doing, and if you're thinking about renting out your spare room...maybe it's time to do it!