Posted by Greenbang on March 13th, 2008
Two observations about the European Green IT Summit today, even though we’re not even there.
Well the first is that it’s happening - and that in our opinion is a very good thing. Well, it’s a very good thing, providing that a lot of people don’t get up on stage and say: “We must act now.”
Now then - some interesting but questionable and headline-hungry PR stats came through the digital letterbox today. The report, sent by on behalf of 1E, said:
“A worrying proportion of UK IT managers are still not feeling the pressure to reduce corporate power consumption and carbon emissions, according to new research from 1E, the specialist UK based provider of PC power management software for Windows environments.
The survey, commissioned by 1E, of 100 IT managers from enterprise organisations revealed that, despite growing pressure from business leaders, internal CSR teams and government legislation, around one third of respondents still feel zero pressure to reduce power consumption.
These findings are all the more surprising given that almost 90 per cent of respondents also claim to be aware of their employer’s broader environment policy. The fact that only 23% of IT managers surveyed by 1E have direct ownership of their corporate power bills explains this trend.”
Sorry, but Greenbang doesn’t buy that. We’ve got a some of the biggest names heading down to a place to talk about just that at this summit - the debate has moved on from six months ago 1E.
How many CEOs do you know who ignore rising costs of anything - fuel, labour or entertainment. Despite the results, we think they are wrong.
However - the Greenbang reader survey is on its way to completion (please fill it out if you haven’t yet done so.)
One thing it’s showing is that a large number of people who read and get jiggy with Greenbang are women. That really echoes something we’ve seen in the sustainability industry - sisters are sustaining it.
But the big names at this event contradict that. Look at the European Green IT Summit’s list of speakers - is it us or there just three women on the speakers’ list?
Posted by Greenbang on March 12th, 2008
It’s been suggested that at the Olympics, the athletes will be chauffeured around in heavy-duty 4×4s made by a well-known company based in the UK.
These are big mommas. Sweet when you’re in one, but for everyone else, the term that seems to have stuck in the media is “gas-guzzling Chelsea tractor”.
And given that the 2012 Games are set to be the greenest we’ve ever seen, we’re off to a bit of a bad start here.
It’s also been rumoured that the London authorities would charge a full-whack congestion tax on these cars at the time of the games.
So here’s a bit of random speculation and an idea for the London Olympic committee and for a company that makes these cars.
Say there are 300 4×4s running around (we heard it was a lot more, but we don’t have the info to back it up), and every day, each car is taxed £25. That’s £7,500 a day made in taxes.
Times that figure by 18 days (roughly the number of days in a typical Olympic event) and that is £127,500.
That’s a lot of tax. But also a lot of CO2 being pumped out by these machines, which nobody wants to see.
But what if they used this carbon capture technology we’ve been banging on about? Perhaps, and this is just a perhaps guys, if the claims are true, they could cut their emissions by 80 per cent or more. That would bring the tax band right down on these monster machines.
Then you get the argument - well if you used smaller cars, you could get the carbon emissions down even further. And you’re probably right. But this was just a random idea for the two organisations…
Carbon capture seems to highlight one thing, however - it doesn’t fit into the tax man’s model at the moment. So the big question is that for this to be accepted, will the tax man be flexible enough to change the way he taxes things?
If he’s smart, he’ll find a new way of taxing people - accepting something like this would win a lot of votes. This is where tax folk tend to be quite innovative themselves - although, the poll tax wasn’t exactly a goer really, was it?
But as we said before, we don’t know whether the carbon-capture claims can be backed up. All we know is that a lot of BIG BIG companies are offering big big money to the guys behind it.
Posted by jumperhead on March 11th, 2008
There are many things that are universally accepted that are not necessarily true. Tomato ketchup is the natural compliment to chips (the pickled egg is the daddy in this category), for example, or black suits everyone (if that were true, Goths would be style leaders). Now the University of California is about to dispatch another such truism to an early grave: daylight saving is not A Good Thing for the environment, according to the academics.
By analysing two Australian states, one which pursued daylight saving and one which did not, and found that daylight saving state actually used more energy.
Here’s the skinny from the horses mouths:
“Our results show that the extension failed to conserve electricity,” wrote the student researchers. In fact, they said, it appears that energy suppliers experienced higher peak loads in the mornings than before, and that morning wholesale electricity prices rose sharply in response.
“The decrease in evening electricity demand and the increase in morning demand almost perfectly balanced each other out,” said Hendrik Wolff UC Berkeley’s Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, a native of Germany, in an interview, noting a slight but statistically negligible increase in overall usage.[…]
Wolff recommended that DST - first instituted in the United States to save energy at the end of World War I - be removed as a component of national energy policy and assigned to other legislative and governmental forces that might consider it more in terms of its impact on traffic accidents, crime and culture. “For the 21st century, if we want to keep Daylight Saving Time,” he said, “we should find better, more efficient arguments for it rather than just energy conservation.”
Posted by Greenbang on March 10th, 2008
Hi there
With the launch of the new website out of the way, we’re now looking for some new sponsors and advertisers for Greenbang. This is so we can spend more time writing, researching and making little films on innovation.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, give us a shout. We’d love to see how we can work with you.
Email me: dan@greenbang.com
Thanks
Dan - Chief blogger - Greenbang.
Posted by Greenbang on February 28th, 2008
Yo yo. Word up. Etc.
Just a reminder to take a look at this talk next week in London on “Green & Global Market Instability – How to keep the Climate Change agenda on course”.
It’s on Wednesday, 5th March 2008, 17.00-19.00, at One Silk Street, London.
Check out: http://www.greenbizevents.co.uk/events/ggmi/ for more….
The credit crunch is hitting home everywhere. This event will explore the implications for the Climate Change agenda:
Posted by jumperhead on February 19th, 2008
Have you been walking around the supermarkets, secretly cursing the arrival of Easter eggs ever earlier on their shelves, but not wanting to admit it, in case it’s a sign on early onset curmudgeon-ness or old age? Greenbang has.
Still, Greenbang was slightly cheered to hear Cadbury is doing away with all the fluff and nonsense associated with the festival of Jesus’ death, and making a packaging free egg.
The eggs are called Treasure Eggs and will just be foil wrapped, rather than cased in a plastic sarcophagus, and “represent a reduction of over 75% plastic and 65% less cardboard than previously used in standard eggs” according to the chocolate firm.
Other eggs will find their packaging on a diet too. “This Easter, the amount of plastic used will be reduced by 247 tonnes and cardboard by 115 tonnes, saving over 2,000 trees as a result. In total, as a result of the combination of launching the un-boxed Treasure eggs to avoid excessive packaging and reducing packaging on the standard eggs, Cadbury will save 1130 tonnes of packaging this Easter,” says Cadbury.
Posted by Greenbang on February 15th, 2008
Patricia Pascoe of Kyocera Mita.
Pat is about to retire from Kyocera but has backed Greenbang from the beginning - Kyocera is our sponsor.
Her colleagues wrote in to wish her all the best:
“She’s retiring at the end of this month having founded our Green Card Network and run it for the past 7 years. During that time she has planted literally thousands of trees for Green Card members – she does it to welcome new members to the network. (Not personally, obviously – she gets the Woodland Trust to do it).
“Anyway, I think it’s about time that somebody planted a tree for her. And the publicity might help to recruit the 4 new members she needs to hit her target of 4,000 before she goes.”
So who should we send a tree to next then? You tell us…
Posted by jumperhead on February 14th, 2008
Feast your gorgeous orbs on this silver bad boy. It’s Nokia’s Remade phone, made of 100 percent renewable or recycled materials and it’s being shown off by the manufacturer this week.
It’s not actually a working model, more something Nokia’s boffins are messing around with in their labs - hell, the thing doesn’t even make phone calls at the moment - but hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.
It’s the second eco phone concept off the blocks from Nokia recently. How long before all this gets onto the shelves in the real world? Greenbang is getting gadget envy.
Posted by jumperhead on February 13th, 2008
What can toy cars teach us, apart from if you keep things in their original boxes they’re worth far more on eBay? Apparently, they can show us a whole load more - for example, you can stick a fuel cell just about anywhere.
Toymaker Corgi has unveiled a fuel cell powered remote control car, named the H2GO.
Power for the H2GO is delivered by an on-board hydrogen fuel cell, where sun and water supply the fuelling unit with renewable, clean energy for unlimited play.
The first of a new range of toys to be launched under the brand name H2GO, the futuristic car was designed by acclaimed designer Professor Luigi Colani. The car boasts an eye-catching aerodynamic design and is made using lightweight environmentally-friendly wheat based plastics.
The H2GO is the result of a unique strategic partnership between Corgi International and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, a global leader in fuel cell development. Going forward, both companies aim to develop and produce a range of new toys using hydrogen fuel cells, making the H2GO brand a recognized global leader in clean energy toys.
Greenbang senses an early contender for her Christmas list.
Posted by Greenbang on February 11th, 2008
Howdy there
Welcome to Greenbang version 3. Nothing has changed other than we’ve had a facelift to make Greenbang look prettier and easier to handle.
Now we’ve got this in place, it should enable us to do a bit more and make it easier to find stuff.
Massive thanks to all the boys and girls who worked on this.
And as for you, we’d love your feedback on this.
Have a good day and drop us a line.
Dan Ilett
