Oil Prices are the Highest Ever
Oil prices hit an all-time high this morning as US light crude was up to $102.80 a barrel in East Asian trading. Yesterday oil was $102.59 a barrel, but today’s peak figure beats the record high of $102.53 for a barrel of oil back in April 1980.
The shaky state of the US economy has weakened the dollar and the weak dollar makes oil a cheaper for investors in other currencies.
Now if oil prices aren’t a good reason to go green then I really don’t know what it will take to make people snap out of their excessive ways!
E-Day O-Dear
Remember it was E-Day yesterday? Well, E-Day was actually a 24 hour period from Wednesday into Thursday.
The whole point of E-Day was to reduce demand for energy by switching off unneeded devices, turning things off standby mode (mobile phone chargers, electric toothbrushes, PCs, TVs, Sky digiboxes, etc) and make an impact on energy use in this country just for one day!
And what happened? Well, E-Day seems to have been an unmitigated… DISASTER!
OK, that’s a bit strong, but did we reduce our demand and use of energy? Did we f***!
Official figures from the E-Day site show that energy demand actually went up. OK, it was a cold night in some parts of the country but it was a pretty poor result.
Despite the effort that went into this action it’s a disappointing result to a great idea.
One comment on the BBC website made us chuckle even though it was a tad on the sarcastic side; it went a little something like this…
“Maybe they should have used more energy in promoting E-Day”
Yeah, right… very funny.
The organisers of E-Day had expected a drop of something like 2-3% in energy demand whereas energy use actually went up by 0.1%. The 2-3% figure is apparently the same as if two whole coal-fired power stations had been “removed” from the national grid. That would have been quite some saving.
Let’s hope there’s a bit more interest in the next E-Day and we can all make a bit more effort, aye?
M&S Charge 5p for Carrier Bags
After the little town of Modbury in Devon banned carrier bags last year, it has taken a long time for anyone else in England to catch up.
In fact nobody has caught up yet, there are just schemes to deter shoppers from using the dreaded polluting plastic bags, of which a staggering 13 billion are given away free every year across the country. Taking around 1000 years to decay, it’s no wonder something needs to be done about the “white trash”.
Step in Marks & Spencer, the forward-thinking, environmentally-friendly eco-warrior of big-name high street retailers, you know, the guys who bought us Plan A (Because there is no Plan B).
Well, OK, Marks & Sparks haven’t quite gone the whole hog yet but they are going to charge shoppers a whole 5 new pence to buy a carrier bag in future. And the future is not now, the future is 6 May 2008. And for a month before the levy comes into place, those nice people at Marks & Spencer will be giving away long-lasting placcy bags that discerning shoppers can reuse.
So what’s bought this about? Well, M&S ran a trial in 50 of its stores where they charged a mere 5 pence for their plastic carrier bags and demand for the oil-derived receptacles fell by 70%. Seemingly the scheme had a great impact and the 5 pence “tax” made shoppers think.
It’s all part of M&S Chief Exec Sir Stuart Rose’s commitment for the chain to reduce their waste to zero to landfill, as detailed in their Plan A. So come on all you other big name stores… where’s your plans to charge for carrier bags?
Recycling Support for SMEs Withdrawn
WRAP, the Waste and Recycling Action Programme, has withdrawn its scheme to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Small businesses to you and me) do their recycling.
In a shock move, just four months after the scheme was launched, WRAP pulled the plug on their “Funding Support Scheme for Recycling Services to Business”.
The scheme was introduced in October last year to give UK small businesses a boost in going green by supporting the groups that offer recycling services to small business.
Defra, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs slashed its budget to WRAP’s scheme by 30%.
Sad.
E-Day
Just to remind you folks that it’s E-Day today…
From 6pm make sure you turn off those lights you’re not using, turn off the TV when it’s not being watched, don’t leave those devices on standby (PCs and printers) and let’s see if we can use a little less energy, aye?
Or are we preaching to the converted?
Basically, if this is successful there will be less demand, less consumption and less energy wasted. Think of all those PCs that are left on overnight, all those machines on standby, all those offices and buildings lit up at night, needlessly consuming electricity.
E-Day lasts for 24 hours from 6pm on Wednesday 27th February until 6pm on Thursday 28th February.
Remade Nokia
Nokia’s President and CEO unveiled a new concept Nokia mobile phone that is, at last, pretty environmentally friendly.
The new Nokia concept mobile, branded “Remade” is supposedly constructed from nothing new, thus reducing the carbon footprint of the device, using less raw materials, reducing landfill waste and making the whole production process more energy efficient.
The Nokia remade is a recycled, post-consumer piece of modern technology. Made from recycled aluminium (old drinks can), plastic from recycled plastic bottles, old car tyres and, rather than the old acid-etched circuit board, the green mobile phone has printed electronics.
But before you rush out and ask for a Nokia Remade to replace your funky iPhone or N95, remember that this is just a concept phone. For now.
Let’s hope Nokia do the right thing and start using recycled material in ALL their products.
Green Leap Day
The National Trust has a novel idea for environmental work this leap year with it’s own Green Leap Day.
All of the Trust’s 4800 staff are being encouraged to take February 29th off and focus their efforts into green projects. The idea is that staff will work on going green at home with numerous simple household tasks such as:
- Changing lightbulbs to energy-efficient lightbulbs
- Draught-proofing windows & doors
- Insulating loft spaces
- Building a compost-heap in the garden
- Organising the household recycling
- Fixing up environmental transport, making sure bicycles are fixed
Staff who have already gone green are being encouraged to help out in community projects such as at their local schools.
The whole idea revolves around people actually getting up and doing work for the environment rather than merely talking about it… So we’d better get on with some work then, shouldn’t we?
Ed - This might not be ideal for every business but what a great idea - if only other big organisations had the foresight and the balls to do their bit for the environment and not just on 1 day in every four years either, but at least it’s a start!
Car that Runs on Air
Over at the BBC there’s a great video story on a car that runs on air.
The car, well, a small van actually, has a tiny engine that runs on compressed air and uses other fuels for longer journeys. That means that during the urban cycle the vehicle makes absolutely no emissions at all. Except, for now, a bit of noise.
Inventor Guy Negre, an ex Formula 1 engineer, said that:
“The first buyers will be people who care about the environment”
Which is highly likely as the vehicle is reported to be capable of up to 140 MPG.
Monsieur Negre has been promising to deliver this concept for about 10 years now, but with the backing of Tata, the Indian manufacturing giant, the concept is close to completion.
Tata’s backing helped MDI Enterprise S.A. to put the finishing touches to their Compressed Air Technology (CAT) engines.