About

About

In this website, I aim to share my experiences in trying to live a zero emissions lifestyle. I try and reduce my emissions to zero as I am deeply concerned about the impact the increase in greenhouse gas emissions is having on our planet. I am particularly concerned for the world my children and grandchildren will grow up in. The recent bushfires and floods are an indicator of what the world will increasingly face if we don’t reduce emissions.

The website will include information about how I have implemented changes to reduce my direct emissions through replacing gas appliances with electric appliances, installing solar panels, and buying an electric car and an electric bike. These are the changes that have resulted in the most reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. I will be sharing information on what we did, how much it cost and the specific benefits of each change.

The website will also look at indirect emissions. These are the ones that arise from the products and services I purchase. Every time, I purchase a product or service, the supplier of that product or service has generated emissions in producing that product or service. These are sometimes referred to as embedded or upfront emissions. When I consume that product or service, I am responsible for those emissions. Put another way, if I did not consume that product or service, then no emissions would arise. In this website, I will share what I have learnt about how to best decide which product or service to buy which minimises emissions.

This website focuses on individual actions. Some people argue that individual action doesn’t matter – we should leave it to Government and business to solve the problem of too many greenhouse gas emissions. I agree that that Governments, business and community organisations need to take action to reduce their emissions. But, if action is only left to Governments, business and community organisations, then I do not believe we will achieve a healthy planet.

As an individual, I can take action to influence business to reduce their emissions. I we can ask questions about what specific businesses are doing to reduce their emissions. I need to ensure that they are making genuine attempts to reduce their emissions and not ‘greenwashing’. 

As an individual, I can also advocate to Governments to take action on reducing emissions, through for example, regulation and subsidies. I have been encouraged to take some of my individual actions through subsidies provided by Government. 

I do not have the perfect solution to reducing or eliminating my emissions. I am continuously learning and trying new ways of reducing my emissions. There are many dilemmas in trying to live without generating emissions – for me, the biggest dilemma is flying.

I hope you find the information provided on this website useful in your own journey to achieve zero emissions. I plan to update this website once a week. So check in regularly for updates. I would love to hear your feedback and comments on what I write – you can do this by posting a comment after a relevant article or send me an email (details are in Contact).

About me
My name is Peter LeCornu and I live in Canberra, Australia. I am “retired”, although I hate that term. I am kept busy by volunteering with a number of organisations, including several environment groups.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. I pay my respects to Elders pats, present and emerging.



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Limit Flying

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Flying is the area that causes me the most dilemmas in trying to achieve zero emissions. I know that flying causes the most greenhouse gas emissions per km travelled . Flying also causes problems when the emissions are released in the higher altitudes.  One way to achieve zero emissions on long distance travel is to not fly at all. However, this is difficult in a country as big as Australia which has a poor rail network. I currently travel outside of Canberra for holidays, visiting family, walking trips and attending music festivals or events. My current goal is to limit the amount of flying I do and explore alternatives to flying. If both my partner and I are travelling together within Australia, we normally use the electric car. This has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, compared to using trains or flying. Greenhouse gas emissions will arise from using recharging stations that are powered by electricity generated from fossil fuels. Most recharging stations have a goal of being...
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Plastic Waste

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Clean Up Australia  has just released their 2022 National Rubbish Report. It reports that plastics account for 63% of the rubbish items removed from our parks, schools, bushland, creeks, beaches and roadways, indicating a 17% increase from 2021. Soft plastics rose by 7%, hard plastics by 5% and polystyrene by 5% compared to 2021, with single-use plastics such as plastic bottles, takeaway containers, food packaging and lids making up 25% of all reported rubbish. The Clean Up Australia Report is a snapshot of the rubbish items volunteers have removed across 1,075 surveyed locations in Australia during 2022. Breaking down by location, 46% of all reported rubbish found nationally was in waterways including beaches, rivers and dive sites, followed by parks (14%) and bushland (13%). Plastic litter dominated all locations, with most found in school grounds (79%), bushland (74%) and parks (60%). The report highlights the problems with our current approach to recycling. We need to do much m...
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After considering electric cars for several years, I decided to get serious about it in 2021. In 2021, my partner and I shared a car – a 10 year old Toyota Camry Hybrid. We considered two options for purchasing an electric car: Buying an electric car that would travel at least 400 kms between charges so that the new car could replace the Toyota Camry. The starting price for such an electric car was over $60,000. We looked closely at the Tesla model 3 and the Hyundai Kona. Buying an electric car for driving around Canberra and keeping the Toyota Camry primarily for long trips. The starting price for a new electric car was $46,000 (MG ZS EV) and there were some second hand options. We decided that option 1 was preferred as it meant we continued to just have the one car which we shared. I researched charging stations and decided it was feasible that an electric car which could travel at least 400 kms would meet our long distance travel needs. We then test drove the Tesla model 3 and Hyund...
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