Times Square New Years Eve Ball Goes Green with LEDs

This year revellers at Times Square in New York will be greeted with the most energy efficient new years eve countdown ball ever. The star of the world-famous holiday extravaganza was revamped by Philips Lighting.

The new 6ft (1.8m) ball, weighing about 1,100lbs (500kg), is covered with 9,576 light-emitting diodes, Philips Lighting, which created the light-emitting diodes, or LED bulbs, specifically for the event, says they are smaller but more than twice as bright as last year's lights, which were a mix of more than 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs. And the new lights can create more than 16 million colors for a kaleidoscope of hues against the 672 Waterford Crystal triangles.

More than a million revelers were expected to crowd the streets for the annual New Year's Eve celebration tonight, the $1.1m (£550,000) New Year's Eve Ball will descend creating a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns on each of its 672 crystal triangular panels, emitting a brightness of more than 625,000 lumens.

Whilst I don't want to be a party pooper, again, I have already been nagged for targeting Christmas, I thought I would look at a positive to the NYE ball in Times Square, and that is highlighting LEDs, the news coverage will certainly ensure that this technology is firmly in the minds of individuals as the real alternative for lighting their homes and businesses and not just a big ball.

LEDs last about 100 times longer than incandescents, 10 times longer than CFLs, and use about 1-3w per light fixture depending on the brightness you require. The technology is becoming more mainstream, and prices are decreasing. I have seen bulbs for as low as $10/£5, so in terms of value compared to incandescents they are value for money.

Typical home energy bill savings by implementing LED lighting in your home is about 18% (from incandescents) and 5% (from CFLs). Offices adopting the technology could save 37% off their energy bills (from incandescents) and 10% (from CFLs.

Don't forget if you do replace your old bulbs, please recycle, especially if you are replacing CFLs which contain mercury.

What Could be Better than the iPhone?

Since I got my iPhone last month, which I cherish, it is the ultimate item for the gadget lover. But it failed to win Popular Science magazine top Innovation of the Year 2007. (check this link out for lots of pics and more background information). Ranked overall winner was a product by a company called Nanosolar.

Nanosolar, after five years of product development – including aggressively pipelined science, research and development, manufacturing process development, product testing, manufacturing engineering and tool development, and factory construction have just began shipping their first solar panels. You may ask why this is an exciting development, and why their product is sold out for 12 months.

Their product is defining by being:

• the world’s first printed thin-film solar cell in a commercial panel product;
• the world’s first thin-film solar cell with a low-cost back-contact capability;
• the world’s lowest-cost solar panel – which we believe will make us the first solar manufacturer capable of profitably selling solar panels at as little as $.99/Watt;
• the world’s highest-current thin-film solar panel – delivering five times the current of any other thin-film panel on the market today and thus simplifying system deployment;
• an intensely systems-optimized product with the lowest balance-of-system cost of any thin-film panel – due to innovations in design we have included.

A truely exciting development in the world of renewable energy technology, Nanosolar have been developing this technology for years and have attracted some high profile investors too, none other than the Google founders Larry Page and Sergay Brin in the early days. I just can't wait to get my hands on all the solar power I can afford and set up my own solar farm on my roof.

Recycle Unwanted Gifts with 10p Listings Day

After some research by eBay, unwanted presents worth £1.2bn were bought this Christmas. People spent an average of £20 on unwanted presents for other people.

49% of the 1960 18 to 34-year-olds questioned would consider selling their unwanted gifts online.

Only one in every 25 of those questioned would throw their unwanted gifts out. People spent an average of £31 per gift, the survey found, while the average spend on all gifts, food and decorations totalled £641.

As part of an annual tradition, eBay are holding their post-Christmas 10p Listings day on 29th December 2007, so get listing.

How Much Extra Waste this Christmas?

According to new research from Recycle Now, the national recycling campaign, households are set to produce nearly three quarters of a million tonnes (736,574) of extra waste this Christmas.

This means on average each family will throw out an additional five sacks of rubbish over the festive period. That's the equivalent of generating 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Each family in the UK creates at least 68kg of carbon dioxide from this extra waste which would provide enough energy to power home fairy-lights continuously for 18 years.

Recycle Now has also teamed up with the Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme to enable people to recycle their cards throughout January at participating Tesco (excludes Express), mainland WHSmith high street stores, TKMaxx and Marks & Spencer stores throughout January.

"All this festive consumption means extra waste, which if consigned to the bin will end up in landfill and potentially generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas. One way in which we can all make a difference this Christmas is by recycling and the good news is that nine out of ten homes now have a doorstep recycling service for a range of materials including paper, card, glass, metal cans. Recycling also has a positive impact on helping to tackle climate change, with current recycling in the UK saving greenhouse gases equivalent to taking 5 million cars off the road."
Dr Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive, WRAP

Thanks to the public's support last year, 93 million cards were collected. That's enough to enable the charity to plant 22,000 trees or a forest the size of 44 football pitches. This year the scheme hopes to raise funds to plant 24,000 trees by collecting 100 million cards.

Ed Byrne Christmas Recycling Video
Joanna Lumley Launches Christmas Card Recycling Appeal

Plain Sailing for CO2 Reductions in Shipping

The first cargo ship to harness wind power in more than a century is to sail across the Atlantic.

Travelling from Hamburg to Venezuela, the merchant ship Beluga will be The first commercial cargo ship with additional propulsion by a towing kite system. The kite measuring 160 square metres is predicted to reduce fuel consumption by 20%, and a similar reduction in CO2 emissions. SkySails are available in sizes up to 5000 square metres.

The technology is being pioneered by SkySails, whose aim to reduce fuel consumption of modern shipping by the utilisation of environmentally friendly, free-of-charge wind energy

By using the SkySails-System, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can temporarily be reduced by up to 50%. Even on a small, 87 metre cargo ship, savings of up to 280,000 euros can be made annually. According to an up-to-date study from the University of Delaware (USA), the world trade fleet consumes approx. 280 million tons of oil or 2 times more than Germany (approx. 125 million tons). Cargo ships run on extremely sulphurous fuel oil, their emissions damage our environment considerably.

Experts from Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (London) estimate that shipping traffic generates 7% of the total worldwide output of sulphur dioxide (SOx), and is thus one of the main causes of climate-damaging gases (see climatic impact). Through the consistent global use of the SkySails technology worldwide, it would be possible to cut over 146 million tons of CO2, which equals approx. 15% of the CO2 emissions of Germany. Read more on shipping and the environment.

This is an excellent concept that has become a reality, not just an energy saving measure, but cost effective with some ships reducing energy use by 35% without effecting timescales on which cargo ships are reliant. The excellent support services offered by SkySail ensure that emergency maintainece support by specialists can be availble at any harbour in the world in 36hrs.

Google's Solar Panel Project

Just over six months ago Google installed a 1.6MW solar array atop their corporate campus aptly know as Googleplex in California. Since June 17, then they have managed to generate 613 861kWh of electricity. Reducing CO2 emissions by 278 000kg. I love visual interpretations and equivalents and you can follow these on a page dedicated to the Google Solar Project.

Picture: Tears & Cheers at the UNCCC

Delegates rise to applaud the decision to adopt the "Bali roadmap" for a future international agreement on climate change. Delegates at the UN summit have agreed a deal on curbing climate change after days of bitter wrangling. Observers spoke of emotional scenes in the conference hall - the UN's top climate official Yvo de Boer in tears after being accused by China of procedural irregularities, and cheers and hugs when the US indicated its acceptance.

33GW by 2020

As a deal is being drawn out in Bali at the United Nations Climate Change Conference by nations of the world, with Ban Ki-moon flying in to help broker a binding deal between all parties. Currently the EU are seeking binding targets for 25 - 40% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020. With US, Canada and Japan, seeking to implement policy in place of binding targets as a way of reducing emissions.

One way that has been touted this week by the secretary of state for energy, John Hutton for the United Kindom to meet a substainial reduction target by 2020 was to build 7000 offshore wind turbines around the coast, or one for every half mile of coast line.

"There is the potential, we believe, out there, using the resources that there are around the UK to generate maybe all of the electricity that households need ... from offshore wind sources. We should see whether we can maximise that potential because it's obviously in the nation's interest, in the world's interest, for us to make sure that more of our energy comes from clean sources."

Currently the UK has an installed capacity of 2.2GW, with a further 5.8GW potentially coming online before 2014, including the 1GW Atlantic Array, which is set to be the worlds largest wind farm. The British Wind Energy Association predicts the wind potential in the UK is large enough to facilitate seven times current energy use.

Watch this Announcement
Read the Transcript of this Interview

The plans have been well received by all parties, who like me are keen to know more, which will be revealed in a series of announcements over the coming months, hopefully the efforts and policy that is being implemented will increase the development of offshore wind farms over the next decade ensuring a sustainable future for the United Kingdom.

The potential in reduced CO2 emissions by installing 33GW at full capacity taking into consideration intermiitency and variablity would be about 46m tonnes of CO2 per annum, or approximately 7.8% of UK CO2 emissions or removing half of the cars off UK roads.

Replies to Please Close the Door

Holland & Barret

Being the UK’s leading health food store we have been committed to ‘green’ for many years now. Holland & Barrett 'Plan-It Green' environmental policy extends from care and responsibility in the community, to climate change and reducing waste. Throughout our history we have supported the manufacture and supply of the products we sell, in ways which help to protect the world's natural resources and habitats.

Our commitment is not only to our ‘local’ environment, but we endeavour to minimise the implications of our operations to the global community. We aim to reduce our carbon emissions and, if they cannot be eliminated, invest in carbon offsetting programmes to achieve carbon neutral status. We have invested in our own recycling centre based at our main distribution depot, which processes 95% of all our recyclable waste. By 2012, we aim to make all our consumer packaging on our own label packaging recyclable and our carrier bags biodegradable.

We still have a way to go, to minimalise our carbon footprint,but we have made significant improvements over a number of years. The retail sector is competitive and open door strategies are used by many retailers large and small to encourage customer footfall into store,a key driver of the business, helping us remain competitive and maintain employment for approx. 3500 employees across the UK. We are continually looking at ways in which to improve our green credentials, and will look into the specific issue you have raised, again.

Thorntons

All our stores have air-conditioning fitted to ensure that a cool temperature is maintained throughout. This is to ensure that our products are kept at their best before purchase. However, I would like to assure you that the Store Managers do have the authority to close external doors in extreme weather conditions.

Our Store Managers and Area Business Managers work hard to provide an environment where it is a pleasure to both work and shop. I have also passed your comments onto our Retail and Shop Development departments for future reference.

Picture: Tesco Commited to Saving their 20%

If there was an advert for Tesco showing support to the Energy Saving Trust's campaign, it might look at little like this. This is my local tesco minus a "C" as it has suffered an electrical fault. On another note tesco have launched a Green Gift Guide on their Environment section on tesco.com.

The Wall of Open Doors

Wall of Shame


After ranting about companies keeping their doors open, and the waste generated by such practices, I promised I would go out on the streets and get some evidence of which companies were the big offenders. After some procrastination due to bad weather, I eventually went out on to the streets today (as I had to do something else for work anyway) to take some pictures of national companies that simply don't want to close their doors. Today was cold, wet, windy and miserable (it rained for 3 hours before I went out, and I was almost blown off my feet as I walked down the street, so you would like to think that UK retailers would be closing the doors to keep their staff and customers warm. If you thought this you would be wrong. Above is a montage of pictures with the offenders on the day. I will be out again some day in the next week at another location to take more pictures. I will email most of today's offenders asking what their company policy is on the issue. If I get any replies I will add them to the post.

On a positive note most small independent retailers kept their doors shut and some big names such as Orange and Boots also kept their doors closed.

If you would like to add to the montage please email your pics to support@howtosaveenergy.co.uk

List of Shame (Please Click on linked store to read their response to our queries);
Argos
Birthday's
The Body Shop
Bon Marche
Burton
The Carphone Warehouse
Clockwork Orange
French Connection
Game
Holland & Barrett
Mothercare (automated doors permanently open)
Next
O2
Oxfam
River Island
Thornton's
Top Shop
Vodafone
Waterstones
Woolworths (automated doors permanently open)

List of Fame;
Action Cancer
Boots
Cancer Research
Orange
The Post Office
Specsavers

Picture: UN Bali Conference Protest

Indonesian police watch an anti-pollution protest outside the 2007 UN climate change conference on the island of Bali.

Are Kangaroos the Solution to Cow Farts?

In breaking news from Australia today (no pun intended), scientist are working on a viable solution to the methane emissions from cows and sheep. In recent years cows have be one of those blamed for Global Warming. And in 1989 a New Scientist article accused cows of being responsible for 100m tonnes of methane released into the atmostphere annually. Methane like carbon dioxide, traps infrared radiation that would otherwise escape into space. Indeed, molecule for molecule, it traps 25 times as much of the Sun's heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Hence the concern about the methane in the farts of cattle, whose world population has doubled in the past 40 years. There is roughly one head of cattle for every four human beings.

"Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep, and if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they're actually up around 50 percent"
Athol Klieve, Senior Research Scientist, Queensland State Government

Kangaroo flatulence contains no methane, thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas. In addition to the environmental benefits, if successful the scientists believe that the new efficient digestive system would reduce the food intake of the livestock. Reducing feed costs for farmers.

Scientist believe it will take at least three years to isolate the bacteria that gives kangaroos green farts, whilst others believe we should simply move to eating more kangaroos. It might take a while for kangaroos to become popular barbecue fare, but with concern over global warming growing in the world's driest inhabited continent, Australians could soon be ready to try almost anything to cut emissions.

How Big is Santa's Carbon Footprint?

Santa may have one of the biggest carbon footprints of an individual, anywhere in the world, even greater than of Al Gore, that most critics continue to ramble on about, but just how big is Santa's carbon footprint?

Santa in recent years has seen his workload increase as Christmas is seen as holiday by not just Christians but by people of all faiths around the world. Whilst no exact figures are available, and Santa has not published any to date, according to UNICEF there are 2.2 billion children in the world. For this we will assume Santa will deliver to all children, since none have made it on to the naughty list this year.

Using UK National Statistics, the average household in the UK has 1.8 children, unfortunately we do not have an international average. So Santa would need to visit roughly 1.22 billion homes. Assuming Santa travels east to west, which would be the most logical route thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the Earth, he has 48 hours to work with. Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco, estimated that the average people per sq km on Earth is 48, and 20m between each home. Using these figures, Santa would need to travel a total distance of 24.4m km, or 141.46km per second, not including the fact he has stop the sleigh, get out, go down the chimney and deliver the presents, avoiding fires and chimney balloons, that may obstruct his path, then return to the sleigh and continue delivering presents. And visit 7073 homes a second, or 1.4 millisecond per visit.

In terms of Co2 emissions these will be greatly increased by the continued starting and stopping of the sleigh in addition to that with the extraordinary speeds at which the sleigh will be travelling. If we were to consider that the sleigh was being powered by a jet engine as touted in the film "Elf", namely a cringle 3000, whilst no vehicle can travel at that speed we will try to calculate the equivalent jet engine requirements. Before we do this we need to calculate the weight of Santa's sleigh load, all those toys in the sleigh. If each child was given only a Sony PS3 for Christmas, since not even Santa can get hold of Nintendo Wii's, at 7kg each, Santa would be pulling an average load during the journey of 4.3m tonnes. This is of course assuming that people all live evenly around the world with 20m between homes, and of course Santa hasn't died from exertion, or even slowed down, even a little.

Assuming Santa's sleigh fuel consumption was similar to that of a 747-400, taking the payload into consideration (9772 times more than a 747), the fuel consumption per km would be 116 000 litres per km. Note we have not taken into account that Santa is carrying the fuel in these assumptions, adding further weight to the sleigh, unless of course he stops off at some mega huge filling station, which he would need to do, or else he would need to carry over 2.8 billion litres of fuel, just for the presents alone, adding to his payload. So Santa now stops off at a filling station each km. To ensure he makes each km, he would need at least 60% extra fuel due to the starting and stopping which would increase his fuel consumption, or 185 600 litres per km.

Since Santa's sleigh is using a 747-400 engine technology, he is using kerosene, which emits 2.58kg of CO2 per litre. Meaning Santa's sleigh emits at least 478t of CO2 per km, or over the entire journey 11.683 billion tonnes of CO2 (42.88% of global CO2 emissions).

Naughty Santa.

Ethical Christmas Gifts

If your still pondering what to buy your friends, mother, brother, auntie, granny or colleague for Christmas but fear you will be amongst the £2.3 billion spent on unwanted Christmas gifts or the three-quarters of us who spend £50 on tat, you could spare a thought for those less fortunate and give two gifts in one, or three;

• A real gift for someone or community in a developing country
• This gift can be given as a gift to your friends or family
• The gift of not having to find a space for the initial gift to gather dust (38.7% of unwanted presents meet this end) or touted on eBay (27.5%)

Many charities including World Vision and Oxfam have launched this year their alternative Christmas gift shops, and by asking communities what they want, they really hope to not just help people but improve the lives of many people for the future to come. Asking an 11-year old child what they want for Christmas would most likely end with a discussion about a Nintendo Wii, in short supply and in demand at £180, ask a child in Bolivia, it might be a birth certificate (£6), or in Sri Lanka, might be 20 chicks (£14).

But for the price of our tat this Christmas, £50 could be spent providing almost 300 meals for for children in a drop-in centre in Battambang City, Cambodia, which enables working children to return to school or attend vocational training. Almost half of all children living here in the second largest city in Cambodia work to help support their families. They may have to collect rubbish to sell, work in brick factories or even go begging. While there, they can get a medical check-up, visit the library or take part in sports activities. If they want to return to school, staff can help them to do so, or advise them about vocational training. A meal really could be the first step towards a new life for these vulnerable children, and it may also be the only proper meal they eat all day.

Whilst World Vision pledge each gift you buy will go towards the scheme involved, however if a gift is oversubscribed funds may be allocated to a different project to ensure that funds are used where appropriate and needed most. Oxfam also suggest that gifts are symbolic and funds are used where appropriate to ensure maximum value for donations. In a small way I feel cheated, that funds from buying 20 chicks may actually buy a goat. Imagine if you asked Santa for 20 chicks but got a goat, you'd be pretty disappointed, not to mention you can't even sell goats on eBay. In reality, each gift was requested by the communities so no matter where the money goes it will benefit the community as a whole, giving chickens to every person in town would do little if no good to a community, in a similar way to giving them all cows or goats.

So if your thinking what to get someone, and feel it may become a tatty mistake, or are really busy and short for time, these gifts provide a one-stop shop for Christmas buying. You don't even have to leave the office to fight amongst 500 other people to end up with another lamp with incandescent bulb that doesn't fit in with their decor.

All in all a feel good Christmas gift. Remember however goats are for life, not just for Christmas. And don't try to do a DIY version by sending 20 chicks Air Mail via Royal Mail to Sri Lanka, the postage is too high, and Royal Mail don't accept chicks, and of course it's just wrong.

Don't forget if you are a UK tax payer you can Gift Aid your gift, so that means you can give an extra 5.6 chicks, 0.28 of a goat or 19.6 meals. As a way of offloading some of this blogs revenue we have fed 345 children, and 7 families.

Picture: Bali Reforestation Protest

Balinese men dressed as the Hindu monkey god Hanuman from the epic Ramayana, take a break during a reforestation campaign near the venue of the UN Climate Conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia

How Many Trees Died For Our Telephone Directories?

We just received our chunky new Yellow Pages, and it certainly is thick, weighing in at 2.3kg it could easily replace the candlestick as a weapon in the popular game Cluedo. This prompted my hoarding mother to ask which of the 8 directories on the bookshelf she had received in the last few years she could alleviate herself of. On carrying this task, and I'm sure many people at home are the same about four were not even removed from their polythene cover, and the ones that were, probably didn't even get used. So we decided to recycle them in our green recycling bin provided by the council.

It made me think, what is the purpose of an annual paper directory, the numbers and addresses could easily change over the year, making them constantly outdated. Each of the companies who send out the phone books offer a free online version and a charged phone service, so why on earth in this day and age, forty years after they launched does Yell UK need to send out 28.4m directories a year. Especially when their website receives 33m queries a month and their phone service attracts 16.9m calls a year. Is their motive financial you may ask, well it could be, here's the figures;

In the year ending 31 March 2007, the yellow pages had 450 000 unique advertisers, 254 000 of which only advertise in the printed version. The other 196 000 advertise online or a mixture of both. On average each unique advertiser spent £1 335 in that financial year, leading to the Yellow Pages generating a minimum £339.1m in revenue from printed advertisements, with a potential maximum of £600.1m (or £12 to £21 per directory distributed).

So it would appear that Yell make the majority of their revenue from print advertising, forcing them to distribute directories, and by distributing to every business or household nationwide they can command a credible fee for providing this service, yet from the figures on their website it would appear that if you want to be found, it would be more advantageous to advertise only on their website, because who really wants to break their back lifting the directory to spend 4 hours searching through the thing, finding the right section to find the company that you really want, to realise that you could have done it in 2 seconds online.

But this still does not give the answer to the question in the title of the post, How Many Trees Died For Our Telephone Directories?

The Reduce CO2 blog tried to answer this question on their blog, and came up with 384 000 trees per year. However using the more detailed figure of 28.4m directories distributed, taking the average of 1.6kg (RCO2) and 2.3kg (mine) for each directory, giving 1.95kg (Yell publish over 114 different directories in the UK of varying weights, this is a very rough calculation to get a precise figure you would need the weight and number of copies issued for each). This results in 55 380t of paper.


Taking UK government figures I used in a previous blog post about how to stop junk mail, it would be reasonable to assume that the Yellow Pages phone directory in the UK requires in its production ...

• 941 460 trees,
• 1.72 billion litres of water,
• 221 520 mega watts of electricity (producing over 100 000 tonnes of CO2),
• 144 000t of air pollutants, and;
• 127 374 cubic metres in our landfills (assuming we don't recycle any, but we pretty much do recycle them)

As my article was a little one sided, I contacted Yell.com to give them the right of reply against my criticisms, and I thank Jon Salmon from External Relations for his response;

"The reason that the directories are produced and delivered is that there is a clear and strong demand for them, reflected in the fact that they are used almost a billion times a year with 86 per cent of users agreeing that they are very useful.

Similarly, for advertisers the Yellow Pages directory represents a very significant source of sales leads for their business and supports the growth of these businesses in their local economy.

You suggested also that the directory was an "environmental faux pas". This is most definitely not the case.

Our Yellow Pages directories are produced with full consideration of the potential environmental impact. They contain 51 per cent recycled fibre content, with the remaining virgin fibre used in their production coming from forestry waste, e.g. sawmill chips and offcuts from logs obtained from sustainably managed forests and used predominantly by the wood and timber industry.

Old Yellow Pages directories can be recycled when the new updated edition is delivered annually, into cardboard, packaging, insulation, animal bedding and paper.

In a wider context, we have also been regularly acknowledged for our work on environmental issues. For example, we have been registered to the ISO 14001 standard for six years, and have been awarded two Queen's Awards for Enterprise for our approach to sustainable development in 2002 and 2007 and have been included in several global and international Socially Responsible Investment(SRI) indices.

I hope this clarifies some of the background to our Yellow Pages directories, as well as our operation in relation to the environment."

I certainly don't disagree with the majority of the response, Yell does give alot back to the environment. And I do admit I used the Yellow Pages book for the first time in about 3 years yesterday, when a friend asked me where a town was whilst at work, although I could have connected to Google maps on my phone I opted to use the Yellow Pages as it was convenient at the time.

Energy use is also a factor in the production of the big Yellow Book which I also hope if not already considered will be in the future. If you have to make use of their services use their online phone directory which is exceptionally fast and efficient at finding the companies with up to date information and request that you do not wish to receive a printed version.

So how can we stop this environmental faux pas?

• Contact Yell to request that you do not wish to have a directory delivered to your home or work, and instead use their online service
  
• If you are an advertiser, you could refrain from advertising in print, and alternatively advertise online

Quote of the Day

"A handful of great tracks surrounded by stuff that's so obviously filler you could inject it into cavity walls and save up to 33% on your energy bills."
Alexis Petridis, Guardian, Friday 23rd November 2007

Alexis Petridis of the Guardian reviewing Kylie Minogues latest offering X, promotion for the cause comes in many shapes and forms.

Night Time Christmas Lights

After reading Ruth from Lush's blog today, I had to agree with her latest post. Why do we need to leave street decorative lights on at night when no one can see their twinkling beauty. Why do we use inefficient lights all hours of the morning for no one to enjoy. So it was no surprise as I walked home from a restaurant this morning (slightly tipsy, hence the poor quality pic from my iphone) to the sight of the Christmas decorations glaring at me and only me as I was the only one there to appreciate them. Think of the energy that could be saved should the council just install a timer to knock off earlier, really do we need them on any longer than an hour after the late night shopping has finished?

Oh that almost turned into a rant, am I becoming a grumpy old man already?

Train Fare Woes

Today came the announcement from the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc), that Season ticket and standard day return fares across the UK would be rising from January 2008 on average 4.8%. Cheap day returns, open and advance fares would rise by an average of 5.4%.

"We need the revenue from fares to pay for investment in the railway for the benefit of passengers We are providing a higher-performing railway with new, refurbished and more punctual trains and better stations."
George Muir, Director General, Atoc

With passenger numbers on the railways at their highest levels ever, passenger groups and the shadow transport secretary have hit back at these rises.

"Passengers will be dismayed that fares are going up again, especially as on most routes they have no choice about which train company to use. Many commuters will have to fork out hundreds of extra pounds for their next annual season ticket."
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Passenger Focus

"Labour's fingerprints are all over these fare rises. We have now had years of escalating above-inflation increases which are hitting many family budgets hard."
Theresa Villiers, Shadow Transport Secretary

I have to oppose any price rises in train fares, in reality we should be looking to reduce train fares in the UK. In the last ten years passenger numbers have increased 42%, but fares have risen year on year. With this there have been increased costs to run the services, and the increase in fuel prices needs to be recouped. However, the increasing fuel prices may price people from their cars on to public transport, further increasing the numbers using the trains, and putting more pressure on the existing rolling stock which is currently already over burdened. Train operators could implement strategies, or information systems to better adapt to the demands of their service ensuring trains are used more efficiently rather than invest in rolling stock which may not be required.

Government are looking to reduce the funding to public transport, yet the revenues from taxation on cars far dwarfs that of the funding given to for-profit companies which are making huge profits at the expense of the passengers.

Reducing the costs of public transport (eventually to a free service) is the way forward to ensure the UK meets targets on CO2 reductions, and as the price gap further expands between public transport and private car ownership, people would be more attracted to public transport.

Proposed changes from 2 Jan 2008 (Regulated / Unregulated Fares)

• Arriva Trains Wales, 4.8%, 4.8%
• c2c, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Chiltern Railways, 4.8%, 5.1%
• CrossCountry, 4.8%, 7.0%
• East Midlands Trains, 4.8%, 7.0%
• First Capital Connect, 4.8%, 4.8%
• First Great Western, 4.8%, 6.1%
• First ScotRail, 4.8%, 4.8%
• First TransPennine Express, 5.0%, 6.4%
• Gatwick Express, 3.8%, 5.0%
• GNER (Nat Express E Coast), 4.8%, 6.6%
• Heathrow Express, n/a, 0.0%
• Hull Trains, n/a, 0.0%
• London Midland, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Merseyrail, 3.8%, 5.0%
• Northern Rail, 4.8%, 5.7%
• one, 4.8%, 6.8%
• Southeastern, 6.8%, 4.8%
• Southern, 4.8%, 4.8%
• South West Trains, 4.8%, 4.3%
• Virgin Trains, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Average, 4.8%, 5.4%

Skateboarding

Warehouse Skateboarding is an online retailer offering a vast range of skateboarding equipment from decks, trucks and wheels, to DVD's and clothing from all the premium brands. Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, their online store is easy to navigate, and should you be searching for something specific, a store search function makes that a simple task. A clever feature of the site is the ability to build your own skateboard chosing which bits you want from each section to build your own custom board.

Free shipping is available on all orders over $150, and with items in stock, orders are despatched in 24 hours. If your looking for skateboarding equipment this Christmas Warehouse Skateboarding should be first on your list.

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Cheaper Than Coal

Search engine giant Google announced today plans to invest heavily in renewable energy in a bid to reduce the installation costs of solar thermal power, wind power and enhanced geothermal systems to below the price of coal.

Since June the price of coal to wholesale markets have risen 100%, Google hopes to use their talented staff and expansive resources to assist in their initiative known as RE < C.

"With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades."
Larry Page, Google Co-founder

Google is using its corporate might as a way to influence change around the globe for the better and we can only hope that with the talented staff, I know they have they can ensure they meet their goal, I am pretty confident that they can succeed, even if they might not hit the time scale.

Green Barometer III Report Out Now

The Energy Saving Trust launched the third Green Barometer report yesterday, Monday 26 November 2007.

Download the Report

The report details all UK council areas emissions, outlined in a league table format, showing the UK's biggest and lowest carbon wasters. Top emitters in the report are council areas in Northern Ireland, taking 18 of the bottom 20 positions. Mainly due to the reliance of personal transportation methods over public transport, with in most cases CO2 emissions from vehicles equaling almost 50% of CO2 emissions from households.

Top Emitters

• Down (14.53t)
• Omagh (14.20t)
• Magherafelt (14.15t)
• Ballymena (14.08t)
• Antrim (13.95t)

Lowest Emitters

• City of London (4.65t)
• Camden (4.87t)
• Westminster (4.92t)
• Tower Hamlets (4.98t)
• Islington (5.19t)

In addition the report looks at measures that can be taken to reduce CO2 emissions, attitudes towards energy saving and segmenting homes on a street-by-street basis to individually target areas based on which can benefit the most.

The Green Barometer Reports are always an interesting read, if not for the quality information but for the document design. The addition of the league of worst emitters will encourage a wrath of energy saving and could become quite a competitive annual table showing progress by area in reductions or gains in percentage terms. The council areas at the bottom will be trying to get their names off the bottom after the bad press Down has received in the last few days with local and national media attention, it will also encourage greenies in those areas to become community changers.

Cold This Winter?

If your feeling cold this winter there is one place to turn to, The North Face Breckenridge offers the full range of clothing from North Face Jackets, vests, pants and baggage. Whether you’re ready to buy a North Face backpack, Denali Jacket,a Nuptse Down Coat, or, just have a question about how to pack your gear, you can count on the people at Breckenridge who know what works best because they use the products themselves at 9,600 feet above sea level, this adds to the quality of customer service that often is not found in other stores. Added to that the warm family atmosphere at the store, that even includes the store dogs Jasper and Sambucca (to name just two).

And don't worry if you don't intend to use the equipment at 9,600 feet you can always wear them at sea level and enjoy urban chic, and benefit from the quality insulated jackets that they have to offer especially as this winter is expected to be exceptional bleak.

Unfortunately Breckenridge can only ship to US addresses most likely due to brand limitations, but they do offer free shipping on all orders over $50.

If you want to find out more head over to their site or their Breckenridge blog.

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Please Close The Door

In my second rant of the month I am asking people to consider the impact from leaving doors open when entering shops. Some shops are required to prop doors open, as this is company policy, such as the Body Shop, GAP Kids, Waterstones and Holland & Barrett, to name and shame some of the offending companies (for more check on this article from the Times). The logic of which means wasted energy in heating (or in Summer cooling) the shop, cold / hot drafts and cold / hot staff. Not only does this waste energy but reduces staff productivity.

So next time your Christmas shopping why not consider shutting that door behind you even if it was open in the first place, if not only to keep the staff in skimpy tees warm. Wrestling staff to the ground may be an over reaction should they open the door again, but you can always just walk out as easy, maybe closing the door behind you could make a statement.

If one store (the size of Body Shop) halved the hours that its air-conditioning was on for a period of six months, it could save 3,700kWh of electricity. Saving 1.67t of CO2 emissions.

If you have a brand to name and shame for similarly wasteful practices please add them to the list of shame below. I shall be shop spotting on Monday with handfuls of pictures to create a collage of open doors, league of shame, and hall of fame.

Searching for a Credit Card

If your in search of a new Credit Cards, why not check out the new comparison site from the Boomerang network. Offering a range of cards from all the top financial institutions, you can compare the market and find a card that suits your needs. The card specifics are laid out in bullet points highlighting the benefits of each card in short and easy-to-understand statements. They also offer news, information and advice on the credit card market ranging from "How to Stay Out of Credit Card Debt" this Christmas, to warning of the dangers of "Credit Card Vishing".

Why not try it out, whether you are looking for your first or thirty-first card they can certainly assist you in the best offers available to you.

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Winter Warmer Ideas

With the continued rises in the price of oil, gas (up 14% on September), electricity (up 18% on September) and coal (up 100% on June), and the predicted bleak cold winter ahead. I have come up with a few ideas on how to make your home a little warmer, even this late in the year and save you some cash.

Cavity Wall & Loft Insulation
Insulating cavity walls and lofts in your house is the best way to save and stay a warmer this winter. Both measures can save up to £250 a year in energy costs and two tonnes in CO2 emissions. Measures cost from as little as £350 each. With grants available for £150 for each measure installed, and in London an extra grant of £100 is also available for cavity wall insulation.

You may also be entitled for free insulation if any person living in the house is in receipt of certain benefits, credits or allowances. This is known as 'Priority Group Funding' because the government and utility companies consider these householders to be a priority. Qualifying benefits include:

* Attendance Allowance
* Income Support
* Council Tax Benefit
* Disability Living Allowance
* Housing Benefit
* Child Tax Credit (household income under £15,050)
* Working Tax Credit (household income under £15,050)
* Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
* Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance
* War Disablement Benefit
* Pension Credit

In some areas, 100% grants are also available to the over 60s and households where there are children under the age of 16.

If all homes that currently are not insulated implemented these measures, nationally we could reduce CO2 emissions by 14.3m tonnes. For more information on the grants available call 0800 512 012 or check the EST grant finder.

Chimney Balloon
Chimney's can be responsible for up to 15% of heat lost from a room. You can prevent this with a chimney balloon (or old newspaper, however less safe and effective). The balloon is placed into the chimney and inflated preventing cold air from entering the room. Cheap at around £20, easy to install and should last up to four years.

Draftproofing
Draftproofing your house can also provide significant savings of up to 20%, and some grants are available.

Draw Your Curtains
Drawing your curtains at dusk can help prevent the escape of heat through windows, acting almost like an air pocket. Ensure however that the curtains are placed behind radiators to allow heat to better circulate rooms.

Heat Reflectors
Placing heat reflectors behind radiators can significantly improve the efficiency of your heating system ensuring that heat does not get absorbed into the walls. These can be purchased from DIY stores for around £20 - £40 (for enough for your entire house) and can be installed by simply cutting to size and sticking to the wall immediately behind the radiator.

Condensing Boiler
As the current lifespan of a boiler is around 15 years, choosing a heating system with a high efficiency condensing boiler with the correct heating controls can make a huge difference to your heating bills over time.

A high efficiency condensing boiler works on the principle of recovering as much as possible of the waste heat which is normally wasted from the flue of a conventional (non-condensing) boiler. The best high efficiency condensing boilers convert more than 90% of their fuel into heat, compared to 78% for conventional types. Typical savings are about a third, £175 to £220 a year. Grants are available in some areas and cost can be recouped in about three years.

Blankets & Jumpers
Staying warm does not always require the use of burning fuel, a comfy blanket or extra jumper can work wonders providing instant warmth and reducing your energy bills.


If you have any other winter warmer ideas feel free to add them to the comments section.