www.everythingsgonegreen.co.uk

It was pleasing to see the news this morning that Triodos, the environmental & social investment bank, are doing well.

According to Third Sector, the charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprise website, Triodos Bank has increased lending & investment by 73% over the last year.

In 2008 Triodos Bank lent just over £200 million whilst in 2009 that had increased to nearly £250 million. The bank has increased future loans from an expected £30 million to around £150 million.

Triodos Bank’s customer base has grown by about 15% over the last year as greater numbers of clients have sought to invest in environmental and socially-beneficial causes (not to mention ethical and sustainable investments too).

Triodos Bank’s growth areas have included offshore wind projects and waste processing facilities plus organic farming and food projects. Scotland and Wales have seen the greatest increases in the amount of lending.

Personally, I’ve been mulling over getting an account with Triodos Bank for a number of years, but I think now is the time to get started

Tesla motors, the makers of the Lotus-based Tesla Roadster electric sports car, are currently showing at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

On display at the Tesla Motors stand is their 1000th production car, a one-off custom Roadster Sport, and their 750th production car still covered in the road dirt from its 2,700 mile drive from Los Angeles to the motor city.

The 750th roadster was driven from LA to Detroit to demonstrate its range and drivability. The 1000th roadster is to be sold for $175,000 and the full amount will be donated to charity including a children’s charity, a food & waste charity and two environmental charities: the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation.

If you’re in the area go see the Tesla stand and show your support for electric vehicles. The show runs until the 24th of January and the amount of gas-guzzlers on show seems to be diminishing as car-makers focus on more economical and zero-emission cars.

A friend has just come back from CES 2010, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Now whilst the green in all of us asks why should we be interested in MORE gadgets to make last year’s model obsolete and thus generate more waste, CES 2010 had quite a green theme this year.

But apart from the show being carbon neutral I wanted to say how impressed I am with YoGen.

YoGen is a hand-held device with a pull-string that, when drawn, it turns a mini flywheel alternator, thus producing power. Apparently about 1 minute of pulling the string is enough to charge a mobile phone.

YoGen comes in two styles: black and clear. YoGen is also available for either the universal LG/Nokia/Sony Ericsson Micro-USB or Apple 1-3 Mini-USB. Unfortunately (for me anyway) the YoGen isn’t yet available for the iPhone 3GS but it *is* compatible with iPhone 3G.

If you want yourself a YoGen for free power then visit the YoGen store and pick up a YoGen for $39.99

Whilst Governments bicker over reducing CO2 emissions and take too long to consider giving away money to poorer countries to help them in the fight against climate change, the world is changing, and not for the better either.

For years the term biodiversity has been bandied around as an important factor in identifying the richness of the environments on this planet and the flora and fauna supported within each connected ecosystem. But now the United Nations has decided that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.

For environmentalists, green people and nature lovers everywhere, every year should be a year of biodiversity but the UN campaign aims to create an awareness of the threat to the world’s dwindling natural populations.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has stated that species are being destroyed at about 1000 times the natural rate and is quoted as saying that

“business as usual is not an option”

which fits nicely in with not only biodiversity but the sustainability message too.

As usual, it’s human activity that’s encroaching upon the natural world with city-building and agricultural practices mainly to blame for the decline in biodiversity. I’d also throw in the lack of knowledge and education on sustainable practices plus the west’s greedy demand for the use of ever more natural resources plus the willingness of people to sacrifice nature for the sake of trade and money without the slightest thought for the consequences.

There will be plenty of material available after the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity today, so keep your eyes open for some incredible work in the fight to slow down man’s destruction of the natural world.

And think about the portent from some biologists who believe that if we don’t do anything this could be the earth’s sixth “great extinction” where the previous five were all caused by natural disasters such as asteroid strikes!

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has been running a consultation for the regulation of inorganic phosphates in domestic laundry and cleaning products (DLCPs) since October 2009. The closing date of the consultation is 21^st January 2010.

The consultation by DEFRA’s Water Quality Division seeks to gather comments on the banning of inorganic phosphates for forthcoming regulation.

In their own words, DEFRA states that:

Many rivers do not meet EU standards for phosphorous content. Phosphorous reduces the oxygen content of water and harms aquatic life. A ban will help to reduce inorganic phosphate pollution and mean the water industry has to use less energy and chemicals to remove phosphorous from sewage effluent.

So, by banning inorganic phosphates:

1. Britain’s rivers will be cleaner as the water quality improves, meeting EU targets at the same time.
2. Our aquatic life will no longer be harmed and
3. By not adding additional chemicals to DCLPs the water companies will not need to purchase and use further chemicals in order to treat waste water to remove the chemicals that were added to it elsewhere in the first place!

Banning inorganic phosphates from DCLPs looks like a win-win-win situation from here. Not only do we clean up our rivers & environment and help our wildlife but we also make huge efficiencies by banning inorganic phosphates. With the water industry using “less energy and chemicals to remove phosphorous from sewage effluent” you would expect their costs to decrease; they would be more energy-efficient, they would have less overhead in having to not purchase and use additional chemicals and their treatment methodologies would be simplified with less processes.

In addition the water industry would be taking another step toward their corporate social responsibility which is good for their conscience and good for their public image. Efficient, clean and green; what could be better?

The only losers in this equation would be the manufacturers of inorganic phosphates but with demand for phosphates increasing, particularly due to the increase in world population and the demand for meat & crops, phosphates will continue to be used in artificial fertilisers. However, as phosphates are a finite resource prices have increased massively, so discontinuing their use is an economic benefit for manufacturers of DLCPs.

The alternatives are plant-based environmentally-friendly products such as the excellent Ecover range of cleaning products (such as their lemon & aloe vera washing-up liquid or non-biological washing powder) which have minimal impact upon the environment.

So, if you have any thoughts on banning inorganic phosphates from domestic laundry and cleaning products then head over to theNetregs “Detergent regulations consultation”, read the details of the consultation and tell them your thoughts on the matter before the 21^st January 2010.

The deadline of 1^st January 2015 for the complete “ban” (with it being an offence to market DLCPs with more than 0.4% inorganic phosphates) has been set up to allow the industries concerned time to change their products and packaging, although with the speed at which they can launch products, this seems far too generous (five years to remove inorganic phosphates and “redesign” the packaging?!)

For further reading about see the Wikipedia entry for phosphates or the excellent SNB phosphate recovery website.