Biking Hype & Car Fuel Reduction Ideas

After the purchase of my bicycle a few months ago, with the weather picking up, and myself into a normal sleep routine, I now bike to work every morning, and home every afternoon. As yet I have not been arrested for furious cycling or blatant abuses of the highway code just yet, I try to remain as legal as possible.

The bike ride is one of the fun parts of my day, and now I am completing the task in less than five minutes in the morning, faster than driving and a third of the time taken to walk. Each day saving about 400g CO2 from the environment, (really I should have converted much sooner).

Other friends have also now bought bikes, and with the recent rise in oil prices to a record $135 a barrel, and analyst expectations that will continue to rise to $200 in the next 18 months, petrol prices are surely going to remain constant or rise considerably for the foreseeable future. This morning I had the pleasure to meet a manager at the local independent bike shop in work, and from his comments, bike sales are on the up, however based on seasonality and natural increases in prices across the board he is unable to give a detailed increase figure.

Now signals the time to either reduce your fuel consumption, through better driving technique, car sharing, park & ride schemes, public transport, alternative cars or converting to bike.

Here's a few ideas.

Better Driving Technique

Already on this blog we have published ten tips that could save you £120 (probably about £200 a year now, in our article, Drive Efficiency ... Drive Efficiently.

Car Sharing

If you drive to work from the same location as other from your work, or would like to start car sharing with randomers.

National Carsharing Network
Lift Share
Travel Wise Northern Ireland

These links can give you advice on car sharing.

Park & Ride Schemes

These are schemes where you drive to a point and make use of public transport for the remainder of the journey. These often operate from locations outside major cities. A flat rate fee offers a return bus / train service and parking, and could work out substantially cheaper than parking in the city centre. Often services offer bus / trains every ten minutes to ensure the service is easy, frequent and feasible for the majority. More info on specific schemes can be found at Park & Ride. However this is not a definitive guide.

11th Hour on C4

A film which looks at some of the most important environmental issues facing our planet is being shown on Channel 4 on Sunday 25 May, at 7:25pm.

Produced and presented by Leonardo DiCaprio, The 11th Hour explores how we live, how we affect the earth's ecosystems, and what we can do to change the impact we have on our planet. Experts from all over the world - including UK scientist, Stephen Hawking, and US sustainable design expert, William McDonough - present the facts and discuss the most important issues that face our planet. The film will be available on DVD from 2nd June.

Sexy Green Car Show

The Co-operative Sexy Green Car Show starts tomorrow at the Eden Project in Cornwall. The car show runs from 23 - 31 May 2008. Admission to the car show is included in the normal admission fee to the Eden Project.

Love them or hate them, cars are not going away. But road transport accounts for a fifth of our carbon dioxide emissions in the UK, so it's time to transform the way we buy and use them.

The good news is that in the UK the government's King Review of transport tells us we can reduce road transport CO2 emissions by a massive 80% by 2050 if we start buying the right vehicles now and take our old bangers off the roads. Now, the technology is out there and our Sexy Green Car Show brings it to you.

Traditionally, environmental organisations have not had much to say about cars, except to try and persuade people not to use them. But at Eden, based in rural Cornwall, people are acutely aware of a dependence on cars. For many it's just not practical or affordable to travel another way.

Green cars have suffered a bit of an image problem in the past but now there are all sorts of exciting advances - hybrids, super-light, carbon fibre bodies, developments in aerodynamics, engines and biofuels.

The Sexy Green Car Show is a chance for people to find out about it all first hand.

All the major manufacturers will be flaunting their newest, greenest models, with some even making their first public appearance.

Greener materials and fuels are hitting the market all the time, with many more on the drawing board. Of course no one knows which technology will win the race which is why we've included a wide selection of cars, ranging from concept models experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells (the Morgan LIFE) to family cars so well designed they do over 60 miles per gallon. Look out for the hybrid vehicles, which use petrol at high speeds and then exhaust-free electricity for city driving.

For more information on the Sexy Green Car Show, head over to the Eden Project.

EPCs Extension to Northern Ireland

From 1st July, all homes being sold in Northern Ireland will be required to provide an Energy Performance Certificate. Following on from legislation in England and Wales, the certificate is an indication of how energy efficient a home is, with a rating from A - G, with A being the most efficient.

The Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland has said from next week, it will run public seminars to explain the new requirements which begin in just five weeks time.

For More Information on Home Information Packs.

Video: Government Retreat on Free Home Energy Monitors

SDC Chair, Jonathon Porritt, gives his views on the recent decision by BERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) not to give the go-ahead to a plan which would have seen power companies providing every home with a free device able to display electricity use in real-time.

Picture: Modec Continues To Deliver

John Menzies, have introduced according to Transport News Network, a Modec designed in a custom-livery sponsored by the Guardian – aimed at creating maximum impact on the road, whilst highlighting the vehicle’s environmental credentials.

If the trial proves successful more electric vehicles could join the company’s 500-strong commercial vehicle fleet, which operates across the UK and Ireland and is responsible for delivering a significant volume of the shortest shelf life product to a higher number of consumers than any other supply chain. This includes more than 5 million newspapers and 2.5 million magazines each day.

It features bespoke-designed bodywork manufactured by Glasgow based Tekbo which includes a rear roller-shutter door and entry doors on both sides of the vehicle, accessed via a corridor immediately behind the cab. This arrangement affords drivers maximum flexibility for entering and exiting the vehicle safely. It also uses a sliding door to separate the corridor from the load space, with a series of low voltage LEDs to light the interior.

It has been specified with the latest lithium batteries, giving the vehicle a range of up to 60 miles on a full five-hour charge. This new battery technology has the advantage of allowing Menzies Distribution to part-charge the battery where necessary – with each hours’ charge replacing 20 per cent of the battery’s power.

The Modec will be making up to 30 deliveries each morning throughout the Westminster area, starting its run at 4.30am from the company’s depot close to the Old Kent Road – one of three Menzies Distribution facilities serving Greater London. It will travel through the heart of the Congestion Charging zone and also be used during the afternoon to transport express parcels to a central sorting facility bound for overseas locations on behalf of sister company Menzies Aviation.

“We want to be at the forefront of learning about this new technology and the Modec allows us to experiment with operating an electric zero-emission vehicle in the heart of central London. It’s the perfect environment to really put the Modec through its paces, whilst enjoying a range of additional benefits including a 100 per cent discount from the Congestion Charge. The delivery of the Modec forms part of a wider project within Menzies Distribution aimed at further reducing the carbon footprint of the business. To support its arrival in the fleet we are assessing the feasibility of installing a photovoltaic recharging system at our depot, which will allow us to provide much of the electrical power needed for the vehicle through solar energy. The Modec test follows the introduction two months ago of 10 Mercedes-Benz Eco-Start vans, which automatically cut the engine whenever the vehicle is stationary for more than two seconds, then automatically start it again when the driver depresses the clutch pedal. We are also in discussion with Isuzu about bringing a hybrid electric / diesel commercial vehicle onto the fleet too,”
Stuart McLean, Logistics Manager at Menzies Distribution

Menzies Distribution is part of John Menzies plc, one of Scotland’s largest companies, and makes daily deliveries across the UK to more than 23,000 customers. Its fleet of commercial vehicles covers nearly 100,000 miles each day, operating from 19 hub depots and 18 satellite depots supported by a team of approximately 4,000 employees.

Stay Hydrated This Summer

As the Summer heatwave continues, we are all searching for ways to stay hydrated in the basking Summer sun. Before we all grab a branded PET bottle of the shelf of our local convenience store, in these times of the "credit crunch" remember that in the majority of cases you are simply paying for the plastic bottle, which I found out when looking at a B2B price list from Coca Cola, a 250ml bottle of water with sports cap costs more than a standard 500ml bottle, and a 750ml bottle with sports cap, is twice that of a 500ml bottle.

So simply if you want to reduce your spending, waste, energy consumption and environmental impact as well as reap the benefits of hydration can bring to your body. Simply get a water bottle, and carry it everywhere, of course you can reuse your old PET bottle, even if it says you can't (like Volvic bottles did, or maybe still do, its been a long time since i have seen one).

In the USA, 2.5m bottles are thrown away every hour, so what options are there to reduce? Buying a reuseable bottle such as that of Platypus bottles, which are in the league of premium water bottles, and shown above. Even more expensive are SIGG water bottles, which have a strong environmental focus on their website, and an eco-chic "I am not plastic" water bottle for $21.99.

Fuel Prices Reducing Car Use

The AA has released figures today regarding how the rise in fuel prices is affecting everyday use of the car. After polling 17, 500 of their members, they found;

• 27% had cut back on other areas of spending
• 16% had decided to travel less by car
• 21% had done both

The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol in the UK is currently 113.01p while the average diesel price is 124.87p. That compares with average figures from three months ago of 104.02p for unleaded and 109.30p for diesel.

"I expect that motorists and diesel users in particular are going to pay more at the pumps in the coming weeks, possibly as soon as the bank holiday, from where they are now. The simple reason is that the wholesale price of oil sent diesel up 3 pence last week and there's more to come."
Ray Holloway, Director, Petrol Retailers Association

Department For Transport figures also support the AA's findings stating that traffic for the first quarter of 2008 had fallen 2% based on the same period last year. Assuming that CO2 reduced uniformly (this is not the case however) this would be an annual reduction of 1.8m tonnes.

Also in the news today is that commuters can spend up to 18 years of their working life travelling to and from work. Most people in Britain spend five years behind the wheel but the misery increases for travellers living in London where traffic chaos is worse.

The average person travelling to work now faces a three-hour round trip, according to the report by the AA and Work Wise UK.

The report aims to persuade bosses to allow more staff to work from home as congestion and delays cost Britain's economy £22billion a year.

Picture: Bush Biking

President Bush was given the gift of a bike this week on his visit to Isreal as part of their 60th Anniversary celebrations. Some could say this was almost a tongue in cheek present, considering the all time high of oil prices at $127 a barrel. His tour of the region has seen him ask for Saudi Arabia to increase oil production by 1m barrels a day, which has it appears been rebuffed (for the second time since January), due to their agreements with OPEC. A $1.4 billion arms deal with the country seems in jepordy as Democrats have revealed they will block, unless the 1m barrels a day increase is aherd to.

Bush is no stranger to two wheels, as he fell off his bike in May 2004, and collided with a British police officer a year later at Gleneagles. It's just a shame that the president sometimes has a four-wheeled SUV following him when he goes for a bike ride.

Investing in Cows Reaps Cheesey Rewards

Wester Lawrenceton Farm have a long established loan scheme, where members lend against the value of organic dairy cows, with the interest paid in cheese. The idea originated from a neighbour of Wester Lawrenceton Farm in 1997 who said, "I wouldn't mind owning a leg of a cow".

The whole farm is a Company Limited by Guarantee, owned and controlled by (and employing) the farmers. Members lend money against the value of the herd. They have no voting rights and members are paid interest at a set rate in cheese. The Rodways, owners of the farm, are currently drawing up a legal agreement for the cow sharing scheme. Lenders are encouraged to participate in the work and life of the farm. The Rodways would like to develop a group (or an individual) to take over the scheme's organisation. One drawback of the scheme so far has been that, until responsibility is devolved, it adds to the workload. However, the farmers consider it to be a good scheme and a core group of members has emerged, from which offers to take on the work voluntarily have already come.

This legal set-up provides a useful structure that allows people's money to be invested in the organic herd. Some extra work that falls to the Rodways is generated by the scheme but it has nevertheless increased the capital available to them.

21 people have lent money to the farm, in units of £500. Lenders do not own individual animals but collectively their loans are equal to the value of the herd. They are paid interest at a set rate of 8% per year. The interest is paid in cheese, valued at £10/kg, which is more than the wholesale price but less than the retail price. They receive 4kg of cheese per year per £500 loan, which they usually come and collect in large quantities. They can have their loan repaid at a few months notice but in practice most people regard the investment as part of a long term relationship with the farm. Six months notice is required to leave the scheme, preferably having found a replacement.

For legal reasons, these cow shares cannot be advertised or offered direct to the general public; instead they must be offered only to specific individuals who have shown an interest.

The social, cultural and educational aspect of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is important to the farm. Although one aim of the scheme was to improve the farm's finances, another was to address social issues. The farmers believe in the need to reconnect with the rest of society and to educate the public about farming (some do not realise that cows need to have calves in order to produce milk).

There are newsletters and events on the farm about 3 times per year (either festivals or an open day). Most years there is a meeting of cow sharers too. Keeping people involved requires more effort than, for example, box schemes where members visit the farm each week. Holding events is one way in which to sustain people's connections with the farm. This is important because, while some cow sharers visit the farm to pick up their cheese regularly, others collect it infrequently, just before Christmas, for instance.

Festivals are usually celebrated annually, attended by about 50 people (more at Christmas). They draw on ancient Celtic, pagan and Christian traditions at St Bride's day, Christmas Eve and Harvest time. On St Bride's day, families join in with singing, weaving reeds, making blessings and walking the boundaries of the farm. There is a resident artist who helps with events such as a fire sculpture. Everyone shares in traditional farmhouse food and children enjoy eating festive, wholesome dishes as part of the celebration.

On Christmas Eve, carols are sung in the cowshed and to the sheep in the fields, after which mulled wine and mince pies are available. This event is very popular and is held in the early evening so that children can join in. It is seen as a way to remind children of Jesus's birth and get away from the materialism of Christmas. Pam Rodway commented that CSAs and similar schemes allow people to see what the origins of celebration were; that they are both practical (based on food production) and spiritual. They also benefit the farmers, providing support and validation of their work and breaking the isolation of farming.

Participants also learn about the Ayrshire breed, lactation, calving and other farm issues. They give names to the cows and the herd currently includes Rhubarb, Custard and Crumble. There are work days where groups of people tackle jobs such as clearing ragwort, path building and fence repairs.

More people would like to lend money to the scheme but places are limited and people are chosen who will participate in the life of the farm. They are a wide range of mostly local people who knew the farm or had heard of the initiative through word of mouth. The area is home to people with traditional values as well as people associated with an alternative community. Wester Lawrenceton is next door to another CSA (Earthshare), with whom they have a co-operative relationship and some people are members of both schemes.

The Rodways are happy with the scheme and how it has worked and have no plans to change how it operates or its size. The farm is considering introducing other traditional breeds and expects to continue with the current CSA arrangements.

More information can be found on the Cultivating Communities Website.

Britain's Top 50 Eco-Friendly Companies

The Sunday Times today will publish their first annual "Green List", showcasing Britain's best eco-friendly companies. The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards is a project designed to encourage, acknowledge and publicise businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance. The 50 companies listed in the report are all pioneers - enterprising, enlightened and fizzling with new ideas.

Richard Caseby, Managing Editor, The Sunday Times introduces the new annual feature;

We launched this venture to reflect the changing mood in the business world. Today it is not enough simply to make a profit for shareholders. Companies have a wider responsibility to ensure that they minimise the environmental impact of what they do. Consumers, clients and peers expect it.

They vary from Greencare H2O, a business employing just 50 people distributing watercoolers, to the banking giant HBOS, which has a staff of 74,000. All have a common sense of purpose about their corporate social responsibility.

Our Best Green Companies venture is unique. There may be plenty of environmental awards but this is the first that has both a robust methodology to measure environmental performance and a survey of each company’s staff to find out whether the green sheen is more than skin-deep.

Although 88 organisations registered for the competition, a number fell by the wayside. So be it. When we launched Best Companies to Work For eight years ago there was similar hesitation at the idea of asking staff what they thought of management and then publishing the results in a newspaper. It is Britain’s biggest national survey of employee satisfaction today.

I have no doubt that hundreds of firms will read our first report and will be clamouring for a place on our Green List 2009.

I am grateful to our research partners Bureau Veritas and Munro Global for their hard work in co-producing our survey, and I thank our sponsors Eon and Bank of Scotland Corporate for recognising the value of this venture.

You can catch the full list in today's edition of the Sunday Times, or online at the Times Online Environment Section.

Oil at $127 a Barrel

Oil prices have risen by $3 to $127, fuelled by speculation of increased demand from China in the aftermath of the Wenchuan earthquake, and a revision of a previous forecast of $107 a barrel by Goldman Sach's to $141 a barrel for the second half of 2008.

Green Washing: Tesco and Local Produce

Tesco billboard advertisement for locally sourced Aberdeen Angus beef. But really how does the meat from the farm next door to you get to Tesco's on the other side of you? It's not as simple as A to B.

"With meat in the UK, there is also a supermarket issue. Each of the supermarkets runs its own abattoir, so if you sell your lamb to Tesco, you have to send your lamb to Tesco's abattoir, even if you pass several local abattoirs on the way. As a result, the meat picks up a huge amount of 'in-Britain' food miles from farm to abattoir then to packaging before it gets to its final destination."
Prof Gareth Edwards-Jones, Department of Agriculture, Bangor University
Quoted in Telegraph, 03 June 2007

Buy One Get One Tree Back Again

Building on the success of last years campaign, buy one, get one tree is back. Last year Innocent, the funky fruit smoothie drinks company managed to plant a whopping 164,020 trees to aid communities in India and Africa. This year they hope to exceed that, making last years total look like a small wood where teddy bears go for picnics. So get down to Tesco and stock up, at 2 for £4.

Green Washing: BMW Efficient Dynamics

BMW are advertising their range of EfficientDynamics cars, which through innovation reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. 21 BMW cars now meet or exceed the 140g/km standard, about forty per cent of the new vehicles from the BMW Group.

Technology which improves fuel performance includes;

• Four Cylinder Petrol Engine
  How many kilometres are there in a litre? 17.2, if you're driving a BMW 116i. That's 5.8 litres per 100 km in accordance with the EU norm. Thanks to continual engine optimisation as part of the BMW EfficientDynamics concept, BMW drivers are now leading the way when it comes to economy. In the blink of an eye, High Precision Injection ensures that no less than 200 injections are supplied - just one of the numerous BMW EfficientDynamics innovations that helps significantly reduce fuel consumption and emission levels.
  
  
• Auto Stop Start Function
  The Auto Start Stop function automatically switches off the engine when the car is at a standstill and in neutral, then restarts it as soon as the driver presses the clutch pedal again.
  
  
• Brake Energy Regeneration
  With Brake Energy Regeneration, BMW EfficientDynamics points the way to a more energy-efficient future. As soon as you brake or take your foot off the accelerator, the kinetic energy is captured and fed to the battery. This reduces the amount of power the battery takes from the engine and hence lowers fuel consumption. When the driver presses the accelerator, on the other hand, the alternator is decoupled from the drivetrain. With fewer components drawing power from the drivetrain, more of the engine's output can go into accelerating the car.

This is just three of the features that go into BMW EfficientDynamic cars, and help to make the cars more efficient, but really is this just a way to green wash over the fact that the cars are still not the most efficient in the marketplace?

You can decide by visiting BMW EfficientDynamics.

Even their website has a so called "energy-saving mode."

Fast Food with a Conscience?

With our lives becoming so deluged with work, socialising, sleeping and eating. Sometimes convenience food is a must to squeeze the most out of your 24 hours a day. So can you eat fast food and not kill 23 people, destroy 2 trees, and waste 30000 litres of water on the other side of the world through global warming, not to mention slave and child labour?

McDonalds and other leading players have long been relentlessly criticised in the media day in, day out ranging from where they source their meat to how it is sold.

I work in the hospitality industry as a manager and it does perturb me the disregard for the environment by many fast food giants. Although they are wising up to "green-washing" and moving towards a greener future, as it not only makes them look good, it also saves them money.

Examples of such positive green ideas exist in worldwide submarine sandwich chain SUBWAY;

• First SUBWAY® Eco-Store opened November 9, 2007 in Kissimmee, FL
• SUBWAY® Napkin saves approximately 60,500,000 gallons of water and an additional 147,000 trees annually because they are made from 100% recycled fiber processed chlorine free.
• All liquid cleaners used in SUBWAY® restaurants are non-corrosive, readily biodegradable, and are manufactured without the use of phosphates and ammonia
• Distribution Efforts were made to strategically relocate several redistribution centers next to vendor manufacturing facilities, eliminating the need to transport product from long distances. So far, the move saves an estimated 1,660,079 gallons of fuel per year and eliminates 10,491 truck loads annually.

More information on Greenwashing by SUBWAY can be found at their Green Living section.

Beyond locally grown meat and produce, eco-fast food must look to their entire operation to create a sustainable business model, from recycled packaging, biodegradable cleaning products, and renewable energy to pizza delivered with electric or hybrid powered vehicles.

The Massachusetts-based non-profit Green Restaurant Association has helped restaurants interested in greening their operations by setting guidelines and defining the exact 11—step process required for “certification” as a green restaurant.

Those steps are:

1. Energy Efficiency and Conservation
2. Water Efficiency and Conservation
3. Recycling and Composting
4. Sustainable Food
5. Pollution Prevention
6. Recycled, Tree-Free, Biodegradable and Organic Products
7. Chlorine-Free Paper Products
8. Non-Toxic Cleaning and Chemical Products
9. Green Power
10. Green Building and Construction
11. Education

But are there really any options for ethical, green, eco friendly fast food without a conscience? According to Ode magazine there is some almost heavenly low CO2 fast food restaurants out there, they look at a few in their must read article by Mary Desmond Pinkowish from the April 2008 edition.

Unfortunately this is all stateside eco fast food (with the exception of Pret A Manger), what about in the UK?

No eco fast food joints that I am aware of, please let me know if you know of any, so I can visit for a bite to eat and look at your credentials. But there are some environmentally aware restaurants out there, in London at least (provided by SugarVine).

The leading light so far has to be Acorn House, situated, of all carbon-crazy places, in King’s Cross, which surely must speak volumes about the good intentions of the planners so far. Co-founded by the Shoreditch Trust and the Terence Higgins Trust, this is a combination of restaurant, chef’s school and ecological powerhouse. To sum up the concept as succinctly as possible, the idea is to take 10 budding chefs from the community (à la Jamie) and train them alongside a full time team in the restaurant. But it doesn’t stop there: the restaurant building itself is constructed entirely from recycled and/or organic material; the water is purified on site to save packaging and air miles; all the waste is recycled; the electricity is completely green; and if supplies do come from foreign shores, they are shipped by boat, not by air.

All this would be in vain, however, if the food wasn’t up to scratch. Luckily it seems to be heading in an eclectic, but definitely tempting, direction. They open from breakfast through to dinner, ‘to reflect modern London life’, and, in another brilliant stroke of genius, the size of the portions vary, to minimise food wastage, so if you’re starving, but your mate’s barely peckish, you can mix and match to your stomach’s content. The food ranges slightly in culinary influence, from roast shoulder of mutton with rosemary and quince; buffalo mozzarella with fennel, chilli and olives; fried (wild) salmon with barley broth; and even pheasant and pomegranate salad. The prices range from £8 to £14 per plate, which seems unbelievably reasonable, but is evidently the case. And it’s not all hemp chairs and rope floors either: the interior is just a cool, neutral, modern space that retains a distinctly grown-up, and not at all worthy, air.

Of course, not everyone is quite there yet, but one of the easier options if you’re trying to save the planet is to go local. In the case of Konstam at the Prince Albert again also, curiously, in King’s Cross, Oliver Rowe, chef patron and late of Moro, couldn’t have stayed more local -- all his ingredients, including most beers and wine, are sourced from within the M25, which, whether you can believe it or not, is true. Not only does this cut down on transport costs and packaging, but ensures that he only gets seasonal produce. Even the oil used in cooking and with the bread is rapeseed rather than olive oil, which is dedication to the cause. The ingredients are used in a modern British way, so think Norbury Blue cheese with honeycomb, a luscious combination; Waltham Abbey chicken with sage and onion sauce; or even nettle pierogi (one assumes that sometimes necessity, and a slight shortage occasionally, is the mother of invention). The restaurant itself is very patriotically British Racing Green, with low lighting and delicate chandeliers used to great effect. No doubt the television series has helped bookings enormously, but the atmosphere is buzzy and welcoming, and again, there is no leftover taste of worthiness.

Taking the Notting Hillbillies by storm, Bumpkin has become a one-stop shop for all-day deli and restaurant fun. Opened by the team behind Cocoon, despite the name, it’s not so much Yorkshire farmer as Trinny-and-Susannah-styled rural peasant, but it’s none the worse for that. Set over three floors, the ground floor is styled as a country brasserie and deli, featuring simple grills such as Gloucester Old Spot pork chop and very hearty pies, including cow pie, fast becoming notorious; the first floor is a more refined version of the same food (with concomitant price rise); and a top floor for private dining. The eco edge comes from their ingredient sourcing: the meat comes from the highly-regarded Frank Godfrey in Highbury, who in turn only sources traceable, organic, well-brought-up produce; the fruit and veg hail from Secrett’s in Surrey, every chef’s favourite veg supplier, completely pesticide and nasty-free. The ales are decidedly British, the cider is organic, and the fish is line caught or sustainable, which is a lot better than others are professing to do, and everything else is Fairtrade where appropriate. All of this may sound fairly standard by now, but it’s still not across the board, so to find that more and more restaurants are proudly stating their affiliations can only be a good thing, and make it easier to eat in an eco-friendly and sustainable fashion.

Of course, vegetarians are always going to have it that bit easier when it comes to ethical sourcing, as there’s none of that pesky meat to worry about. Vitaorganic Café in the Aveda shop in Marylebone has to be one of the most detoxifying experiences there is. The food is billed as organic, live and ‘enzymatic’ (which must be good, right?). They use no refined foodstuffs, and they use modern and ancient holistic principles to ‘cook’ their food. So, no temperatures above 100°C, no microwaves, no aluminium, or deep frying, so that everything is in its pure and natural state as far as is possible. According to Vitaorganic, they focus on UN – ultimate nutrition, ie raw foods; and ON – optimum nutrition, which means food cooked at a low temperature to prevent as much vitamin loss as possible. Not only is there all of this planet-loving energy-saving, but it’s all gluten and wheat free. The dishes on offer run along the lines of orange and sweet potato dhal, or green vegetable and sprouted buckwheat soup, which are not only delicious but filling and inexpensive to boot. Unsurprisingly, the owner is a practising Buddhist.

It’s impossible to have an eco-friendly list without mentioning the first and foremost runner in the eco-friendly stakes. The Duke of Cambridge in Islington remains one of the best and most ethically run gastropubs in the country, let alone London. It was way ahead of its time when it opened in 1998, pioneering seasonal, organic British food, using local sourcing, careful monitoring of food miles, buying direct from the farmers, and even now the beers are still brewed locally and the wines and spirits are organic where viable. The coffee is Fairtrade, and water is purified on the premises, and they have even installed wind and solar generated energy, along with strict recycling procedures and adherence to sustainable fish buying policies (which are so strict, they have been working with the Marine Conservation Society to make these rules more widespread). This has been a steady, ongoing development project over the last eight years, and it just goes to show that anyone can change their habits for the good, and still wow the diners (Won 2nd best bar in the UK 2006, as voted by Observer Food Monthly). The food remains rustic and true to its pub origins, with whole baked Camembert served with crudités and croutons or braised chuck beef with sweet potato mash.

The Food We Waste

In the UK we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year, roughly a third of everything we buy. Most of this avoidable and could have been eaten if only we had planned, stored and managed it better. Less than a fifth is truly unavoidable – things like bones, cores and peelings.

Nearly one quarter of the 4.1 million tonnes of avoidable food waste is thrown away whole, untouched or unopened. Of this, at least 340,000 tonnes is still in date when thrown away. A further 1.2 million tonnes is simply left on our plates. This all adds up to a story of staggering wastefulness.

The report of the ground-breaking study that provides, for the first time, reliable information about the nature, amount and origin of food waste produced by UK households. The purpose of the report is to assist WRAP, government, retailers and the food industry to develop policies, advice, tips and tools to help us all reduce the amount of good food we buy but don’t eat.

You can download the full report here.

Every day we throw away:

• 5.1 million whole potatoes
• 4.4 million whole apples
• 2.8 million whole tomatoes
• 7 million whole slices of bread
• 1.3 million unopened yoghurts and yoghurt drinks
• 1.2 million sausages
• 1 million slices of ham
• 0.7 million whole eggs
• 0.7 million whole bars of chocolate and unwrapped sweets
• 0.3 million unopened meat-based ready meals or takeaways
• 0.3 million unopened packets of crisps

All this wasted food is costly; in the UK we spend £10.2 billion every year buying and then throwing away good food. That works out at £420 for the average UK household. And for households with children it’s even more - £610 a year.

Local councils then spend another £1 billion collecting our food waste and sending most of it to landfill.

Food waste is also harmful to the environment. The food we throw away needlessly is responsible for the equivalent of 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year – that’s the same as the CO2 emitted by one in every five cars on UK roads. It’s not just the methane that’s released when the food goes to landfill that’s the problem, but also the energy spent producing, storing and transporting the food to us. Put another way, every tonne of food we throw away needlessly is responsible for 4.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.

Food waste is an enormous challenge, not least because most of us don’t yet recognise the amount we all produce. But it is also a massive opportunity – to reduce waste, save money and minimise our impact on the environment.

We can reduce our food waste by taking simple free measures;

• Sort your cupboards
  
  • Arrange your cupboards, fridge and freezer to ensure that you have no food which is past its "use by" date.
  • Arrange food by type and place in date order with the most recent date to the front.
  • You may find that you can survive without visiting the supermarket for a few weeks.
• Plan your meals
  
  • Plan in advance meals over a week, you do not need to physically write this down but mentally take note.
  • Be creative you can create some wonderful combinations from the scraps you find in a fridge.
• Plan your purchases
  
  • Plan in advance what you need from the supermarket.
  • Don't be tempted to buy items through special offers which you may not need or use within the use by date.
  • Do not buy items which you have multiples already.
    
  • Only purchase enough pershiables which you can use within the dates.
  • Do not go to the supermarket with "Eyes Bigger than Your Belly" and an empty stomach.
    
• Composting
  
  • Any food which you do not consume by the use by date can be added to a compost heap.
  • Packaged foods excessively past their best before date can be removed from their packaging and composted and the packaging recycled.
    
  • Compost bins can be purchased relatively cheaply and some local councils offer free compost bins.
    
  • Find Your Local Council Contact Details.

For more information on how to reduce food waste, visit WRAPs new site Love Food, Hate Waste.

The study, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world, consisted of a detailed survey of households and a physical analysis of their rubbish. It was designed to not only quantify the amounts and types of food waste being produced but to make links between this and the attitudes displayed by and disposal options available to the household.

A representative sample of 2,715 households in England and Wales was interviewed in July-October 2007, and several weeks later the waste from 2,138 of them was collected and analysed. These households were all within a group of 11 geographically representative local authority areas chosen to reflect a range of collection systems, including food waste collections. Participants were asked about their perceptions on a range of issues concerning household waste, focusing on food.

Households were informed that as part of the research their waste would be collected for analysis, asked for their signed consent, and given the chance to opt out if they chose. Bin analysis was only carried out with those who consented, which was the vast majority. A period of four weeks then elapsed before their waste was collected for analysis to ensure that any temporary behaviour changes as a result of increased awareness of the research had dissipated.

We used industry standard waste analysis techniques to sort and categorise the waste. We then defined the food waste as either: avoidable food waste – where the food has been thrown away because it is no longer wanted or has been allowed to go past its best. Examples include an
apple or half a pack of cheese; possibly avoidable food waste – where the food waste could possibly have been avoided but incorporates food items that can be eaten but that many choose not to. Examples include bread crusts and potato skins; and unavoidable food waste – where the food waste results from food preparation and includes foods such as meat bones and hard vegetable or fruit peelings such as melon rind.

After analysis, the waste was disposed of safely on the same day, with the assistance of the local authority or their contractor. Where facilities existed – in just under half the authorities involved – the food waste was sent for composting. The result of this detailed survey and physical analysis is a comprehensive analysis of how much food we throw away, who is throwing it away, and what it costs society.

Pictures: World's Largest Offshore Windfarm

Pictures from BBC Pictures

The world’s largest offshore wind farm, the Lynn & Inner Dowsing, is set to provide 194 MW of power to the National Grid after completion this year. The Government wants energy companies to build 33 gigawatts of offshore wind farms by 2020.

The MV Resolution is the world's first purpose-built vessel for installing offshore wind farms. It uses its six massive legs, each half the length of a football pitch, to hoist itself out of the water at a rate of a metre per minute to create a stable platform. The turbines are secured approximately 25m below the North Sea. Some 70 crew live onboard the 130m by 38m vessel, which can carry up to 10 wind turbines measuring 100m high, almost 100m in diameter from the blade tips and weighing 260 tonnes each.

Each turbine can power 2,500 homes, with the whole wind farm eventually able to supply 140,000 homes.

Join the Eco Revolution

Aldous Snow played by the fabulous Russell Brand in a music video by the fictious Infant Sorrow from the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", at cinemas now, promoting a tongue in cheek eco revolution.

Why Buy Eco Fashion?

Green is the new black in the world of fashion according to the BBC's new thread magazine online, where you can find out more on ethical fashion, the above video link explains why organic cotton is a must for any eco friendly person, as well as advice on how to dispose of last seasons collection, should you be that way inclined.

For more from the BBC on ethical fashion, and how your garments are made, visit the Thread Magazine website or check out Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts on BBC3 and available on iPlayer. The series follows six young fashion addicts as they experience life as factory workers in India, making clothes for the British high street. Working in the mills of India’s cotton belt and stitch clothes in cramped back rooms, sleeping next to their sewing machine. See how it changes their attitudes to cut-price clothing.

Top 100 Foods Wasted in UK by Weight

The following tables list the top 100 types of food making up avoidable food waste in terms of the estimated annual weight for all UK households. Avoidable food waste is made up of food items that could have been eaten if they had been managed or stored better. The food may not have been fit for consumption at the time of disposal because it had gone mouldy or had been spoilt or it may have been thrown away because it was no longer wanted. Avoidable food waste excludes items that could not have been eaten such as bones or items that some people choose not to eat like vegetable peelings or bread crusts. These tables include both items thrown away whole and those partially consumed.

Food type (Weight in tonnes, % of Avoidable Waste)

1. Potatoes (359,000, 9.7%)
2. Bread slices (328,000, 8.8%)
3. Apples (190,000, 5.1%)
4. Meat or Fish Mixed Meals (161,000, 4.2%)
5. World breads (e.g. naan, tortilla) (102,000, 2.7%)
6. Vegetable mixed meals (96,000, 2.6%)
7. Pasta mixed meals (87,000, 2.3%)
8. Bread rolls/baguettes (86,000, 2.3%)
9. Rice mixed meals (85,000, 2.3%)
10. Mixed meals (85,000, 2.3%)
11. Bananas (84,000, 2.3%)
12. Bread Loaves (75,000, 2.0%)
13. Yoghurts/Yoghurt Drinks (67,000, 1.8%)
14. Sandwiches (63,000, 1.7%)
15. Cakes (62,000, 1.7%)
16. Lettuces (61,000, 1.7%)
17. Tomatoes (61,000, 1.7%)
18. Cabbages (56,000, 1.5%)
19. Cooked rice (55,000, 1.5%)
20. Mixed vegetables (53,000, 1.4%)
21. Oranges (51,000, 1.4%)
22. Carrots (46,000, 1.2%)
23. Onions (43,000, 1.2%)
24. Pears (42,000, 1.1%)
25. Sodas (42,000, 1.1%)
26. Milk (40,000, 1.1%)
27. Cheese (40,000, 1.1%)
28. Mixed Salad (37,000, 1.0%)
29. Cooked Pasta (36,000, 1.0%)
30. Mixed Snacks (36,000, 1.0%)
31. Melons (35,000, 0.9%)
32. Coleslaw (33,000, 0.9%)
33. Pizzas (32,000, 0.9%)
34. Chicken Portions (32,000, 0.9%)
35. Cucumbers (32,000, 0.9%)
36. Chocolate/sweets (31,000, 0.8%)
37. Sweetcorn/Corn on the Cob (30,000, 0.8%)
38. Sausages (30,000, 0.8%)
39. Pork Portions (29,000, 0.8%)
40. Biscuits/Crackers/Crisp Breads (27,000, 0.7%)
41. Water (27,000, 0.7%)
42. Beans (excluding baked beans) (26,000, 0.7%)
43. Grapes (22,000, 0.6%)
44. Ham (22,000, 0.6%)
45. Plums (20,000, 0.6%)
46. Squashes/Cordials (20,000, 0.5%)
47. Breakfast cereals (20,000, 0.5%)
48. Cook-in sauces (19,000, 0.5%)
49. Fruit juices (19,000, 0.5%)
50. Eggs (19,000, 0.5%)
51. Fish (19,000, 0.5%)
52. Beef portions (18,000, 0.5%)
53. Dough (18,000, 0.5%)
54. Celery (17,000, 0.5%)
55. Strawberries (16,000, 0.4%)
56. Peppers (15,000, 0.4%)
57. Chicken drumsticks (15,000, 0.4%)
58. Flour (15,000, 0.4%)
59. Chicken breasts (15,000, 0.4%)
60. Mushrooms (15,000, 0.4%)
61. Broccoli (15,000, 0.4%)
62. Sandwich spreads (14,000, 0.4%)
63. Baked beans (14,000, 0.4%)
64. Bacon (14,000, 0.4%)
65. Peaches (13,000, 0.4%)
66. Milkshakes/milk drinks (13,000, 0.4%)
67. Crisps (12,000, 0.3%)
68. Lemons (12,000, 0.3%)
69. Beetroots (12,000, 0.3%)
70. Fruit pies/strudels/crumbles (12,000, 0.3%)
71. Jams (11,000, 0.3%)
72. Pheasants (11,000, 0.3%)
    
73. Dips (10,000, 0.3%)
    
74. Mixed fruits (10,000 0.3%)
    
75. Butter/margarine (10,000 0.3%)
    
76. Herbs/spices (10,000 0.3%)
    
77. Dessert cakes/gateaux (9000, 0.2%)
    
78. Cream (9000, 0.2%)
    
79. Pineapples (9000, 0.2%)
    
80. Crumpets (9000, 0.2%)
    
81. Pastry (9000, 0.2%)
    
82. Chicken products (9000, 0.2%)
    
83. Pet food (9000, 0.2%)
    
84. Yorkshire pudding and other batters (8000, 0.2%)
    
85. Cauliflowers (8000, 0.2%)
    
86. Uncooked pasta (8000, 0.2%)
    
87. Leeks (8000, 0.2%)
    
88. Milk puddings (custard etc) (8000, 0.2%)
    
89. Doughnuts (8000, 0.2%)
    
90. Oils (8000, 0.2%)
    
91. Mayonnaise/salad cream (7000, 0.2%)
    
92. Spring onions (6000, 0.2%)
    
93. Peas (6000, 0.2%)
    
94. Turnips/swedes (6000, 0.2%)
    
95. Parsnips (6000, 0.2%)
    
96. Burgers (6000, 0.2%)
    
97. Lamb (6000, 0.2%)
    
98. Pickles (6000, 0.2%)
    
99. Nuts (6000, 0.2%)
    
100. Mangos (6000, 0.2%)

Source: WRAP