Posted by admin Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:44:00 GMT
I have now updated the appearance of this blog. I hope you like it!
All the credits go to my colleague and friend Felice Mancino, the greatest graphic designer I have ever known. Thank you, Felice!
My html+css skills don't really do justice to his original designs, though.
Posted by panu Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:56:00 GMT
I just saw today a nice demo of the power consumption of laptop, desktop PC and a mobile device. Of course I knew that laptop beats PC hands down, but this made it really concrete.
Additionally, the comparison to a mobile device gets one thinking how we could drive this even much, much further!
Posted by panu Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:39:00 GMT
Starting 1st January this year, Chicago has added a 5 cent tax on every water bottle sold. The Daily Green reminds about the seven deadly sins of water bottles.
Good idea for any area where drinking good quality water from the tap is an option! I don't mind paying a bit extra on the occasion I need something to drink. I have to confess that I quite often go for a (diet) soda, but I don't think the price has much to do with the choice, as some skeptics say in Chicago tribune.
Posted by admin Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:12:00 GMT
Just for fun this time:
Cheatneutral is a tongue-in-cheek website that makes fun of carbon offsetting by comparing it to offsetting the cheating in a relationship.
Seriously, the point that these guys make is very good.
Posted by admin Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:03:00 GMT
I was earlier reporting of an environmentally friendly taxi service in London. Thanks to Harri K, I have now a pointer to a similar one in US New York area, Ozocar. "Service, style, and sustainability" - very similar lingo to Climatecars in London.
Good to have such a choice!
Both Treehugger and NYT report that hybrid taxis are on the way.
Posted by panu Thu, 03 Jan 2008 06:47:00 GMT
Local newspaper today reported of a guy called Ari Derfel from Berkeley, California, who has saved all his trash for one full year. He is telling about his experiences in his blog. He has a full set of pictures of the piles as well.
I like his message a lot. There's no such thing as 'away'. A bit similar thought than the Blue Man Group video some time ago, where the message was that there are no emergency exits on earth.
PS. Some of the pictures look like my garage when I haven't done the recycling for some time. I'm glad that I don't need to store those in the living room, though.
Posted by admin Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:15:00 GMT
I have the luxury of having a garage where I can store stuff. Car is not one of them - there's never enough room for it.
Garage is my temporary storage for all recyclable materials. I try to recycle all paper, cardboard, metal, glass, garden waste and wood. I also try to recycle any larger burnable material, e.g. styrofoam or other packaging e.g. after a larger purchase. (Shamefully, I don't recycle biowaste, yet.) Today it was the time to take the recyclables to recycling containers around in the neighborhood. We needed to drive with a full car twice.
Where I live, I can recycle paper, cardboard, metal and glass for free. If I would put the same as mixed waste in black plastic bags and let the garbage guys take them, it would cost me 2.27 € per bag. Two car fulls of junk is maybe some 15 bags. I just saved close to 34 €!
For garden waste, burnables and wood I can drive to the nearest recycling center. With sorted waste, that costs 5 € for a regular car (trailers or vans will be more expensive). For each load of about 8 bags, I'll save again some 13 euros. For non-sorted junk they'll charge 11 €. By the way, I find the recycling centers one of the best services by the local authorities. The centers are super clean and easy to use, and on top of that, the personnel is very friendly. They also rent big trailers for 5 € for transporting junk back to the recycling center.
The most tangible way of seeing the savings is of course when taking the bottles back to the supermarket. Today, I returned 98 bottles and 19 cans, and I got 20 € in return. I bought a very nice bottle of red wine (Italian Barolo) with that. That'll compensate nicely for the half an hour of extra trouble!
Posted by admin Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:04:00 GMT
In our neighboring country, Sweden, king Carl Gustav has publicly been a proponent of sustainable living. Aftonbladet has earlier reported that the king is recycling and offers rather tap water than bottled water. As he likes his cars, so far he has had 9 gas-guzzlers in his garage. However, today Aftonbladet reported that the king has been seen driving a Volvo S30, a compact car with fairly good exhaust values. I'm happy to see that people don't just talk anymore, but also act. Especially it's important that public figures show a good example in this.
By the way, if you are interested in the exhaust values of cars, have a look at the Ekoake search service by Finnish authorities. You can search for cars with the max CO2 emissions or gas consumption. If you see such services in English, please let me know!
Posted by admin Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:03:00 GMT
Being energy efficient is increasingly creeping into offices too.
ITworld cites that flat panel displays consume 67-75 % less energy than old bulky CRT monitors. I assume that nobody is really buying CRTs anymore, so it's perhaps more interesting question how to further save energy in using flat displays. For example, will screen savers actually save energy? The Green computing guide by University of Colorado reminds that "if screen saver images appear on your monitor for more than 5 minutes, you are wasting energy". So adjust your screens to go to sleep after 20 min of inactivity.
Posted by admin Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:01:00 GMT
Greenpeace has today published a report about energy efficiency of new Finnish houses (in Finnish, sorry). They claim that with construction that use latest low energy techniques can reduce energy consumption to one third.
With the increasing price of energy in any form, this sounds like a very attractive proposal!
My own house is warmed with night electricity. It heats a large pot of water during the night with cheaper electricity, and then releases it slowly during the day. While this makes sense money-wise, it will still consume as much or maybe more energy than direct heating with electricity. I need to start considering changing the heating system to something that makes more sense both for costs and for environment.
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