www.everythingsgonegreen.co.uk

I hadn’t been in to my local branch of B&Q, the DIY store, for many months but, being just down the road from my office, I popped in today to get a light bulb for my fridge and was impressed with the sheer range of energy saving lightbulbs they had on offer.

Unfortunately the little lightbulb for the fridge was only an F-rated one but I did pick up an A-rated outdoor lightbulb too whilst they were at a good price (only £1.00) But anyway, check out this selection – enough green lightbulbs to warm the heart of any green…

Recent high temperatures this summer have meant an increase in use of air conditioning in the High Street according to Make It Cheaper, the business price comparison service.

The recommended operating temperature for turning on the air con is 24°C — as advised on the Carbon Trust’s website — and a third of retailers have been switching on their equipment below this figure, wasting energy to cool down shoppers. Furthermore, off all the stores monitored during the experiment, which took place on a sweltering July shopping day, only one store store kept its doors closed to prevent the cool air escaping!

Using thermal imaging equipment to record the temperatures at shop entrances in Oxford Street, London, the Make It Cheaper team braved 28.4°C temperatures to record the habits of the high street retailers. The research shows that the high street is effectively wasting millions of pounds by squandering energy. Turning on the air con to make shoppers “more comfortable” and then leaving the doors open is akin to leaving the fridge door open (and we all know the fridge works ever harder to stay cold as the cool air escapes)

Jonathan Elliott, the Managing Director of Make It Cheaper, said:

“Shopkeepers in New York get fined $400 by the City Council if they have their doors open with the air con on because it burns so much more energy to cool a shop than it does to keep it warm. This can only be a taste of things to come when the government’s CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme kicks in over here and forces retailers to re-think how they use energy in their stores. There are simple things that staff can do now, however, such as to challenge head office policy, set the thermostat higher, turn off some of the lights and tweak the automatic doors to close more frequently. It is common sense, saves money as well as energy and is everybody’s responsibility.”

The Carbon Trust says that the retail sector emits over 5 million tonnes of CO2 a year and that energy savings of 20% are possible – that’s a saving of more than £300 million!

Key findings include:

• A third of stores operated below 24°C, against advice on the  which recommends their air conditioning doesn’t operate below this temperature
• Whilst there was a difference of as much as eight degrees between outside and inside temperatures, just one store – Debenhams – kept its doors closed to prevent the cool air escaping and the warm air entering
• At 20.1 degrees Celsius and a huge 8.3 degrees cooler at the door than the outside temperature, Next was the worst offender
• Boots, River Island and Ann Harvey did not fare much better, at 21.1, 21.6 and 22.4 degrees respectively. Boots at least had automatic doors, though these were recorded as open almost all the time due to the high volume of traffic into and out of the store

According to figures from The Carbon Trust, the retail sector is responsible for over five million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year. It is estimated that energy savings of up to 20% – equivalent to more than £300m – are possible across the sector. Make It Cheaper say that by switching energy suppliers alone can reduce costs to businesses by as much as 50% and energy efficient measures, such as being frugal with the air conditioning can reduce bills by a further 10-30%.

High Street Coldest Shops League Table:

The experiment took in to consideration a number of factors in measuring the efficiency of the air conditioning in the high street retailers’ premises and took into account factors such as outside air temperature, the shop entrance temperature and whether the doors were efficiently kept closed, left wide open or if they were automatic doors (The sort that slide open as you walk past )

Every so often you find a piece of clothing that you really like. And I mean REALLY like. You like it so much that it becomes your favourite piece of kit and you want to wear it every day. That’s how we feel about the organic t-shirt range from Red Robot.

Not only are Red Robot’s t-shirts made from supersoft, guilt-free environmentally-friendly organic cotton but they’re also incredibly cool too. Of all their range we particularly liked their Mono Turbine in a gorgeous yellow (Aspen gold) with a fantastic distressed print graphic.

Their attention to detail is sublime too, with an embroidered logo on the sleeve. Some of their other shirts also have a  signature single arm ringer; those sort of details are always a nice touch but also the mark of quality.

So if you’re a Joy Division fan (see their Robot Pleasures design), a Quentin Tarantino fan (have a nosey at the Robot Dogs T) or just a lover of great quality organic cotton t-shirts then go check out Red Robot for some additional cool wear for your summer wardrobe.

Well it’s certainly been a week for DIY retailer B&Q. On Friday 13th February they will be selling a million loft insulation rolls at £1 apiece (whilst socks last) and on Wednesday they opened their greenest ever store at New Malden in Surrey.

The new £9 million southwest London store, B&Q’s greenest store ever, is part of their commitment to be a zero carbon emission company by 2012 and boasts a 20Kw wind turbine, FSC timber throughout the build, natural heating, solar panels, rainwater collection and a green roof. Wow! That’s a lot!

Now the building industry has often been branded as one of the least environmentally friendly but B&Q are making a huge commitment to changing that and their range of eco brands and materials is expanding, giving people greater access to greener materials with which to build & renovate their homes. Their “One Planet” range now covers 2000 eco items.

B&Q is just one of 12 companies across the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard which

certifies that an organisation has genuinely reduced its carbon footprint and is committed to making further reductions year on year

And you can see the level of commitment in the long list of improvements to their 50% greener store, and I quote;

• a 20KW wind turbine situated on a 35m tower on the top of the store will help generate energy for the store – it’s the largest integrated turbine yet installed on a building in the UK
• FSC certified timber has been used throughout
• Ground source heat pumps heat and cool the store with geothermal energy which takes energy from the earth using 108 bore holes at 100 metres deep
• Rainwater harvesting – rainwater is collected from the store’s roof and used to water plants in the roof top garden centre and for flushing the toilets
• A photovoltaic system; which converts light into electricity will provide shade for the coffee shop and convert solar radiation into electricity to run appliances and lighting
• Solar thermal water heating panels will generate hot water for the WCs and the coffee shop
• Insulated to the highest levels reducing loss of heat and CO2 through walls and roof
• A green roof planted with sedum; an herbaceous plant, will absorb CO2 and provide added value to biodiversity as well as reducing rainwater run-off
• North-light roof provides higher natural lighting levels and reduces reliance on artificial lighting.  All lighting throughout the store will use energy efficient light bulbs
• Automatic lighting dimming control system will reduce energy consumption
• Natural ventilation from the roof vents help to make the store more comfortable in summer

That’s pretty impressive.

If you want to beat the credit crunch and insulate your home for less then you might like to know that DIY giant B&Q is selling a million rolls of loft insulation for just £1 a roll. The offer, available from Friday 13th February at B&Q stores throughout the country, means that with the average loft requiring 22 rolls of loft insulation to be fully insulated, it is estimated that those who take up the offer could reduce their heating bills by as much as £205 a year.

Euan Sutherland, the CEO of B&Q and Kingfisher UK Division, said of the offer:

“We’ve just experienced the worst cold snap for many years and with money tight people are looking for ways to keep warm and save money. As far as I’m aware this is the first time ever a roll of loft insulation has been sold for £1. If you want one though, you’ll have to be quick because there’s only a million rolls available at this price and once they’re gone they’re gone.”

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas added:

“We are very proud to support B&Q’s cheapest ever offer making loft insulation more affordable and helping householders make big savings on their energy bills. With £1 in every £4 spent on heating an un-insulated home being wasted, this is a great opportunity to save money and help reduce your impact on the environment.”

The £1 roll forms part of a three-roll triple pack “DIY loft insulation” and is a fraction of the usual retail cost thanks to British Gas and the CERT funding scheme. CERT funding means this offer is only available to retail customers. It is not available to trade customers, professional installers or for those involved in the construction of new builds.

The offer is the latest measure from B&Q designed to help people live a more sustainable life and is part of the retailer’s ongoing commitment to the Together Campaign. Last year the home improvement retailer launched a “One Planet Home” range, specifically designed to help people reduce the environmental impact of their home and help them save money. To further help homeowners to lay insulation, B&Q has also produced a How To Insulate your home DVD (£1.98) – a visual step-by-step guide to help the successful completion of the project.

Together Campaign Director David Hall concludes:

“With this groundbreaking offer there’s never been a better time to lag your loft and start saving money. Thanks to B&Q and British Gas over 45,000 homes across the UK could feel the warmth and financial benefit from this offer on top of reducing their carbon footprint. At Together we estimate this promotion will save 12,000 tonnes of C02 saved every year- the equivalent of taking 4,800 cars off the road.”

It’s that time of year again folks, it’s Buy Nothing Day.

Unless of course you’re in North America where it was Buy Nothing Day yesterday, to coincide with Black Friday, that day of retail mayhem where shoppers become so rabid with the hunger for cheap deals that this year a man was trampled to death by the consuming hordes!

The whole idea behind Buy Nothing Day is to just take time out from consuming. Whilst the UK economy is in fairly poor shape after the credit crunch and the country may well already be in recession, the Government is doing all manner of things to encourage people to spend money; tax & NI rebates from the botched abolition of the 10px tax band, a cut in VAT to 15% (albeit temporary) and the slashing of interest rates last month buy a surprisingly hefty 1.5%

Buy Nothing Day is the opposite of the crusade to increase consumer spending. Buy Nothing Day is trying to encourage us to actually spend less. Sure this may go against the grain of what is “best for the economy” but if we spend less, keep our credit cards tucked away and try and reduce the huge consumer debt level that this country has built up, then that may actually be more beneficial for the UK in the long run.

Personally? I have enough food and I don’t need any trivial consumer goods. Today I will need to put petrol in the car and I will spend money seeing a band tonight and buy a beer. As for the rest of the week? Well, I’ll probably have six Buy Nothing Days over the next seven days, so I think that’s cool. And the extra money that I save on my mortgage repayments? They’ll be ploughed into paying off my credit card. The VAT cut? It will probably save me a few pennies here & there on Christmas presents but not food (there’s no VAT on food, remember?)

But the spirit of the day is to get people to think about what they spend their cash on. Of course there will be negative connotations if people stop or slow down on their spending; selling less goods will result in staff layoffs and even shops closing. Whilst bigger retailers might be able to soak up some of the slack it’s the small independent retailers that I fear for.

So I’d urge wisdom to prevail in the concept of buying less; buy local wherever possible, support independent retailers, spend only what you have and don’t resort to credit. Think about what you buy and where you buy it from. Rather than simply tearing down our debt-ridden consumerist society I think it should be re-eductaed, re-shaped and re-built. The economic downturn, whilst painful, is a good time to take stock of how people buy and sell and we could well end up with a more sustainable model than the one we’ve been so used to of late.

My local Morrisons store has a stand near the counter full of Philips Energy Saver lightbulbs. The offer, whilst stocks last, is for Energy Saver bulbs at just 39p each! And, better than that, you can get 5 bulbs for just 59p! Now THAT is a bargain.

I expect this is a heavily subsidised promotion because these particular bulbs have the slogan “Working with E.ON” splashed over them. E.ON are the energy company who are threatening to build the coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, who tried to get football fans to reduce their “carbon footyprint” and whose executive Mark Owen-LLoyd recently quipped that high energy prices meant more profit for E.ON.

We grabbed a handful of 11 watt (60 watt equivalent) and 14 watt (75 watt equivalent) Genie bayonet bulbs. They’re all A band energy efficiency and good for 10,000 hours of light (around 10 years they reckon) We’ll use these in the last of our outhouses like the garage and the workshop.

So if you don’t mind having the name of an energy company with questionable ethics scrawled on the box and the fact that the things are produced in the P.R.C. then you’ve actually got a good deal subsidised by someoone else’s customers. (We use ecotricity)

What’s that? T-Cycle? Sounds like an amalgam of T-shirt and Recycle. And you’d be right!

We spotted T-Cycle this morning; they’re a little company that sell recycled t-shirts with fresh new designs on them and all their designs are bicycle themed.

T-Cycle are well into promoting greener modes of transport, pushing the bike agenda (sorry about the cheap pun there – Ed) and making the fashion industry far more ethical and environmentally-friendly than it has been in our modern, consumerist society.

So have a look at their designs and grab yourself a green, eco-friendly biking t-shirt. And when you’ve finally worn out your beloved threads in a few years time maybe you could freecycle them?

Howies. I don’t think I mention these people enough on this site; they’re a company with a big heart, so much soul and a range of the most excellent ethical outdoor clothing.

I’ve been a fan and customer of Howies for a number of years now and, being a keen biker and walker, I love their t-shirts, jeans, jackets etc. all aimed at people who enjoy the great outdoors.

Personally I swear by their 100% organic cotton jeans. I have three pairs and a pair of their 100% organic canvas jeans too. I won’t buy anything else, especially not those mass-produced brands that use chemical processes to make their range look “worn” (don’t you just hate that?)

They also do great pure lambswool hats, wicked “birdie” gloves (my Mrs. has a pair) and I love their terrific merino wool fleece. But that’s their winter catalogue, so what am I talking about?

The point is, if you love biking, skating, walking or just lounging around in soft organic cotton clothing then give Howies a look-in. Get their new catalogue and have a browse or save some trees and buy something from the Howies website. They’re based in Cardigan Bay, Wales and have a shop in the big smelly city of London. But it is in Carnaby Street and London doesn’t get much cooler than that.

The new Howies Spring/Summer 2008 catalogue is, as usual, a complete work of art. I’ve actually saved all my old ones ‘cos they’re a joy to thumb through, particularly because, between the great ranges of clothes, the good people at Howies sprinkle little gems of wisdom. Their “simple is good” page rings true.

This latest version of the Howies catalogue is entitled “Three Bays” and features international photo shoots from San Fransisco and Cape Town as well as Cardigan Bay, Wales. Hardly ethical taking shots in all these far flung places is it, I hear you say. Well, that’s where Howies are the business… in their own words;

“We didn’t feel it was right to send a group of people on a plane in search of sun. So we packed up the clothes in Fedex boxes and sent them instead.”

How cool is that?

Don’t just sit there… surf!