You have no items in your shopping cart.
Questions about a product?
Countries around the world realise task they face in the coming years is how to create a more sustainable environment while still competing in the global economy.
Businesses have often been reluctant to change their practices for fear of them impacting on their bottom line.
However, the annual Climate Competitiveness Index, compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and non-profit organisation accountability, suggests that many nations are already making strides in this area.
The report analysed the activities of 95 major countries across the world. Together, these nations account for 97 per cent of the world’s economic activity and 96 per cent of its carbon emissions.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, was shown to be performing well in many areas. It was named as an “outstanding example” of a country which is making significant strides towards a low carbon economy.
The country was also said to have achieved “consistent progress” in combining climate accountability with performance, which UNEP said is the key to increasing Climate Competitiveness.
Sweden, Denmark, Japan and France were all shown to be performing well in this area. North Africa and the Middle East region were of the worst performers in both areas.
In terms of the performance index, the UK was shown to be the strongest nation in the world. However, it lagged behind a number of other European countries when it came to accountability.
UNEP suggested that the countries which performed well in the index had a strong record in reporting and managing carbon emissions, as well as developing their range of low carbon products and services.
It said that a network of organisations dedicated to the support of low carbon growth was present in those which performed best.
But in Bolivia, Ghana, Vietnam and Bangladesh, concern among members of the population was a key driver and in Scandinavia and Singapore businesses were playing a major role.
We would like to hear your views and opinions on how you think the UK is if fairing against other countries, if the low carbon economy drive is effecting you and how.
This house, in Crossway, Kent, is one of the first zero-carbon homes in the UK. It was designed by architect Richard Hawkes. Photograph: PR
If your sole experience of “green homes” is TV’s Grand Designs, chances are your idea of an eco-home looks like the one in Kent above.
But reality is a world away from the super-insulated and vaulted Crossway above, much as we love new build eco-homes.
Most of the energy-efficient and energy-generating homes of the future will look more like this Nottingham house, or this London end-of-terrace:
Appalled by a throwaway US culture, Amy and Adam Korst have embraced recycling, given up convenience food and boycotted excessive packaging – but cannot persuade their cat to switch to biodegradable kitty litter.
If you want to save the planet, don’t count on your cat. An American couple who set out to live for a year without producing more than a single small carrier bag of rubbish have discovered it’s far, far easier for humans to adapt to a greener way of life than felines.
Appalled by their country’s throwaway culture – the average American throws out about 4.5lbs (2kgs) of rubbish every day – Amy and Adam Korst, a couple living in a small logging town in Oregon, embarked on a personal quest last month to drastically reduce their household rubbish.
“As environmentalists, I feel like we are bombarded by so many different messages: buy local, buy organic, do all these things. And at the end of the day you don’t really see the difference it has made,” said Amy Korst. “But if Adam and I can get our total garbage output down to 5lbs at the end of the year, we’ll have really made a difference.”
Reduce your energy usage by arranging your FREE Home and Office energy survey today! Phone 0800 118 5722 to contact our friend advice team, we are here to help you and the environment.
(more…)
Energy companies have been told by their regulator, Ofgem, that they must calculate their customers’ direct debit payments more accurately.
The regulator has responded to widespread complaints that energy firms have been setting direct debit bills too high.
Cash surpluses built up by customers eventually offset subsequent bills.
But consumer organisations have accused energy firms of using excessive direct debit income as an interest-free loan.
“Ofgem reviewed the direct debit arrangements of the six major suppliers after customers complained about significant increases in amounts they were being asked to pay”, the regulator said.
“The new condition in suppliers’ licences would mean they must ensure payment levels are clearly and accurately explained and based on the best available information.
“Suppliers will also need to be able to justify why they are holding onto credit surpluses built up by a customer,” the regulator added.
Better explanation
The curbs on excessive direct debit bills will come into force this winter.
They will affect the bills of the 40% of energy users who pay their bills this way.
In March this year, Ofgem published an initial report on its investigation into the direct debit complaints it had been receiving.
These first emerged last autumn.
Peter Luff, MP for Mid Worcestershire, accused firms of raising direct debit payments even when their customers’ accounts were in credit.
The consumers’ association Which? subsequently accused energy firms of milking their direct debit customer base.
But Ofgem concluded that there was no evidence that gas and electricity firms had been systematically setting their direct debit charges too high.
Instead, the regulator said that firms should make better efforts to explain their billing calculations to customers.
A spokeswoman said this was still its view and there had been no change in its policy.
But after a consultation exercise it wanted to change formally the licences of the energy firms so that if there were any problems in the future it could take swift action.
“We will be watching the situation very closely,” said the spokeswoman.
As part of war on climate change, or at least as part of the PR game of trying to look as green as possible, the Government is trying to get us all to have smart meters installed in our homes to measure our energy use.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change reckons the smart meter market is set to be worth £9bn by 2020, and one company believes it has got a head start on many of its rivals.
However, even the Aim-listed BGlobal, which manufacturers smart meters, concedes that one of the problems facing the smart meter industry is that customers can change energy provider. Utility companies are therefore reluctant to pay for the meters and leave them in the homes of people who then opt to use other providers.
(more…)
Our green makeover is in its final stages – and the last few steps are a hard slog through refurb fatigue.
Tom’s maisonette makeover is almost finished. Photograph: Tom Lipinski.
With the structure of our eco-loft extension finally complete, we have thrown ourselves into insulation overdrive. We want to do away with central heating – in the loft to start with, but eventually in the house as well – so we’ve taken an almost Scandinavian approach to the entire “separation from the elements” concept.
We insulated over, under and between the timber structure. We squeezed silicone in between the cuts and joints. We added vapour barriers and thermo-reflective breather membranes on both inside and outside of the insulation and then we taped up all the joints for good measure. The bits we couldn’t get to directly received a generous dose of tightly packed Rockwool or expanding foam. In the end we consumed over 12m³ of Kingspan and nearly 30 rolls of Rockwool – most of it ended up in the loft.
At the end of this process we ended up with an object looking more like a spaceship than a conventional loft conversion. But,desperate circumstances – the issues of climate change and running out of natural resources – require equally desperate measures.
(more…)
Dye-doped DNA nanofibers can be tuned to emit different colors of light.
By adding fluorescent dyes to DNA and then spinning the DNA strands into nanofibers, researchers at the University of Connecticut have made a new material that emits bright white light. The material absorbs energy from ultraviolet light and gives off different colors of light–from blue to orange to white–depending on the proportions of dye it contains.
DNA light: Coating an ultraviolet LED with DNA nanofibers containing dyes creates a bulb that emits bright white light.
The researchers, led by chemistry professor Gregory Sotzing, create white-light-emitting devices by coating ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with the material. They are even able to fine-tune the white color tone to make it warm or cold, as they report in a paper published online in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
The new material could be used to make a novel type of organic light bulb. The light emitters should also be longer-lasting because DNA is a very strong polymer, Sotzing says. “It’s well beyond other polymers [in strength],” he notes, adding that it lasts 50 times longer than acrylic.
The color-tunable DNA material relies on an energy-transfer mechanism between two different fluorescent dyes. The key is to keep the dye molecules separated at a distance of 2 to 10 nanometers from each other. When UV light is shined on the material, one dye absorbs the energy and produces blue light. If the other dye molecule is at the right distance, it will absorb part of that blue-light energy and emit orange light.
(more…)
You can cut a surprising amount of wasted energy with clever use of your central heating controls. These can include:
• thermostats for heating and hot water
• radiator valves with thermostats included
• electronic timers
Taking a few simple steps can save you money and reduce your carbon footprint:
• use the timer to make sure the heating is only on when you need it
• when you move house, ask the landlord or the people moving out to show you how the controls work
• if you’re having a new boiler or hot water cylinder put in, ask the person installing it to talk you through the controls – and ask for a follow-up visit
• try turning the thermostat down by just one degree Celsius – you could save as much as 10 per cent on your heating bills
Switch off all electrical appliances at the plug instead of using the ’standby’ function. Appliances are still using electricity when on ’standby’, and account for a massive 6% of all electricity usage in the home.
Although UK energy bills have been rising, you could actually save money by using energy more efficiently throughout your home.
Most of us are not used to thinking about how we use the energy that powers our homes. But simple changes to your daily habits can have a huge effect on the gas and electricity bills that drop through your door.
The energy saving tips and information on this site are designed to help you control the impact of rising energy bills without effecting your lifestyle.
The key is to see your home differently
The key to making big savings on your home energy bills is to view your home as a living energy system with individual parts that affect each other.
