Hot Drinks Warming The Planet Too?

If you want to know what small changes in your behavior can mean for the overall health of the planet then look no further than this infographic from the other side of the pond in the UK. They are well known for drinking a lot of tea over there and when you drill down into the numbers it is quite staggering just how much greenhouse gas is emitted because of this habit. It turns out that you would have to drive some two and a half billion miles in an average car to generate as much emissions as hot drinks do in a year.

It makes you wonder about what other small changes we could make to our lives that would lead to huge collective savings in our carbon footprint. Maybe this strategy would work better than trying to get people to make huge, drastic changes which they are much more likely to resent or simply fail at.

Steve Waller runs his own green living blog, aptly named Green Steve and wants to educate and inform people about the ways they can reduce their overall impact on the environment. With posts on recycling, clean energy, green travel and more, his blog has a wealth of useful information.

Where does the UKs electricity come from?

Almost 40 countries across six continents make up for more than half of the fuel that the United Kingdom uses. They are the damning facts of the latest statistics about our fuel production and outsourcing. With so much talk about renewable energy and being self-sufficient, this is just another piece of information that should spark the UK into action.

Dependence on other countries to run our electricity supply is something that we all knew was true, but with just 43.1% of fuel being sourced in the UK we need to sit up and take note. Seeing the facts and figures in the cold light of day just brings home the sheer size of our problem.
With around half of the country’s population keen on the idea of being self-sufficient with their electricity, this research will make us wonder just how we could reach a 100% goal in the next 40 years. Poland, USA, Indonesia, Russia and Columbia all send the coal, while Qatar produces the majority of our liquefied gas and our dependency on imported uranium adds Canada and Australia to the mix. There are countries across Africa, Asia & the Middle East, Australasia, Europe along with North and South America all doing their bit to keep us warm at night.

In a lot of ways, it’s not the percentages that are the shock but just the sheer amount of countries that the UK needs to sustain the population. The research and time that has evidently gone into this was thorough and detailed, and it’s this determination and mind-set that the whole of the United Kingdom needs if we’re going to lower our fuel output. Whether you’re unplugging your laptops before you go to bed or switching your home to good, green energy, slowly but surely we can all make a difference.

Infographic one - continent level

Source: Green Energy, Renewable Energy Company

Infographic two - country level

Source: Green Energy, Renewable Energy Company

Don’t Drive Across Town for Cheap Gas-- Seriously, Don’t Do It

Summer is fast approaching, and with it, higher prices at the pump. While it may make you feel better to drive to a neighboring town to secure cheaper gasoline, it’s almost always more expensive to make the trip. Here is the truth, the math, and some ideas for better ways to spend your money.

$4.00 per gallon seems like a princely sum to pay just for the ability to burn it all transporting yourself from one appointment to the next. So, naturally, $3.95 sounds a LOT better. But unless the nickel-cheaper gas is selling at the filling station immediately next door to the more expensive stuff, you’re better off completely ignoring the cost and just filling up at whichever station is nearest to you. Why?

Let’s use some average numbers for cars. Your vehicle will differ, but this will give an idea as to how the numbers work out when bargain shopping for gasoline. For our example, we’ll use a vehicle with a 15-gallon gas tank. The average combined fuel economy of the car is 25mpg. The service station with the $4.00 gas is next door to our home, but the discount fuel is 5 miles away.

1. Price Only

Gasoline prices seem to bewitch people. You’d never drive a 10-mile round-trip to save $0.75 on a $60 item, but when you drive five miles each way to save a nickel per gallon on a fill-up, that’s exactly what you’re doing. Consider: A full, 15-gal. tank of fuel at $4.00/gal. costs $60.00. A full, 15-gal. tank of fuel at $3.95/gal. costs $59.25. Savings = $0.75. What if you only have a 10 gal. tank? You’ll pay $40 and $39.50 respectively, for a full tank. $0.50 is not much savings!

2. Mileage Matters

If it feels better to get the lower price, and you think the $0.75 is worth the trip, you still lose. You’ll travel 10 miles to get the cheap gas, but you’ll burn more fuel driving there and back than you’ll be able to buy with the money you save. At 25mpg, and assuming you leave your driveway and make the round-trip with no traffic and under optimal conditions, you’ll use 0.4 gal. of gas. At the discounted rate of $3.95, you’ll have to pay $1.58 to buy the 0.4 gal. you’ll use to drive to and from the station. Remember, this trip was undertaken to realize a $0.75 total savings. But instead, you’ve now lost $0.83. Would you drive across town to deliberately spend $0.83 more on a $60 purchase?

3. Higher Prices = Less Reason to Travel for a Deal

Every time the cost of fuel goes up, the cost per mile traveled goes up with it. And it consequently makes even less sense to drive out of your way to save a few cents. At $4.50 and $4.45 per gallon at our dueling stations, you’ll still only be traveling for a $0.75 total discount, but now it cost you $1.78 to make the 10-mile trip. Now you’ve spent $1.03 more than you would have if you just bought the $4.50 gas.

4. What about a HUGE Sale?

In the above example, the nearby station offered $4.50 gas. What if the 5-mile-away station had a HUGE sale resulting in $4.25 gas? You’ll spend $67.50 and $63.75 respectively to fill up, resulting in a savings of $3.75. But, you’ll spend $1.70 in extra fuel costs for the privilege. The total savings on filling your tank = $2.05… about a 3% savings. If you were buying any other item in the $60 price range, would a 3% discount entice you to drive across town? Chances are you’d laugh if you saw an advertisement for a HUGE 3%-off sale.

5. Time is Money

We haven’t accounted for your time in these examples, but you can safely assume that the 10-mile round trip (driving time only, unimpeded, at 55mph) will add a bare minimum of 10.9 minutes to your fueling experience. If you make minimum wage ($7.25/ hr), that 10.9 minutes of your time is worth $1.32. Now, even the HUGE sale example is only worth $0.73 in savings. You get the idea – it’s no deal to travel for gas savings!

6. Do This Instead

In lieu of the cross-town fill-up trip, spend a few minutes making sure your car is ready for the summer. Check the air pressure in your tires, test the battery charge, make sure all exterior lights are functioning and swap out your windshield wiper blades. That will take you about the same 10.9 minutes you formerly spent driving around looking for cheap gas, and is a much better way to spend your valuable time.

Battery Operated Vehicles Gaining on the Gas Guzzlers

Are we hearing the death throes of the internal combustion engine? Will the whine and purr of electric motors replace the muffled roar of gas powered vehicles?
Seems every time we turn around electric ATVs, motorcycles, and other vehicles are sneaking silently up on us, especially as battery technology improves, and the cost of gas jumps over $4 per gallon in some parts of the country.

The plus side of battery operated vehicles

Electrics are not just better for the environment, but today’s battery operated vehicles really do have some distinct advantages:

Lighter and quieter
Electric ATVs and motorcycles run on smaller motors and use lighter batteries, which makes them a lot lighter than their gas-powered counterparts. Electrics are also a lot quieter. So If you're off-roading through a park, you can actually enjoy the peace and quiet as you explore nature.  And while die-hard outdoor enthusiasts may not like your tires ripping through the landscape, they won’t be able to complain about air pollution or noise as you pass by.

Instant torque
Electric vehicles out-accelerate their gas counterparts in the low-end power curve. Electric energy moves through their motors at the speed of light, so there’s no lag time between the twist of the throttle and power to the wheels. Torque is instantly transferred to the drivetrain. In fact, electric ATVs and motorcycles have three times the amount of torque compared to the gas-powered vehicles. Perfectly suited for heavy pulling, hauling or steep climbing.

Low maintenance

Electrics simply have fewer moving parts, which means less repairs, reduced maintenance chores and lower operating costs. An electric ATV or motorcycle needs no oil changes, and you don’t have to replace hoses, filters, or exhaust systems.

No more $4/gallon gas
Finally, no more trips to the gas pump with an electric ATV or motorcycle. Just plug them in to charge the battery and go. Some electric ATVs can run an average of 2.5 hours on a single charge. If you do a lot of desert off-roading, there’s even a solar charger, so you can charge your ATV  with free power from the sun.

Zero pollution
Gas-powered ATVs emit as many pollutants as four cars in one hour (there are no pollution controls on ATVs).  Clearly, the environmental impact of electric ATVs and other battery operated vehicles is next to nothing. It could be argued that the pollution is just pushed up the supply chain to more coal-burning plants, but with electric you have the option of buying your power from additional sources like wind and solar, unlike gas, where petroleum has to burn to get your vehicle moving.

More manufacturers getting juiced on electrics
More manufacturers are getting into the game. Brammo, a top manufacturer of electric motorcycles, makes bikes that can exceed 100mph. Not bad for a motorcycle that doesn’t use a drop of gas. They even make motorcycles designed for racing. Other jumping on the electric off-road bandwagon include Polaris and Barefoot Motors. The recent EV Taiwan & Motorcycle Taiwan exhibition saw a 25% increase in exhibitors, indicating the surge in popularity of electric vehicles. The Hong Kong government is even replacing its gas-powered motorcycles with Brammo’s electric ones.

Yep, electrics are taking off
Battery operated motorcycles, ATVs, and other electric vehicles are seeing an increase in popularity, with new technology creating better-performing vehicles. As fuel prices and environmental concerns increase, the move to electric vehicles will continue to gain more traction.

George Zeed lives in Grants Pass Oregon and works for ImpactBattery.com. An avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, he writes about topics related to all kinds of recreational vehicles and accessories. He is also the "go to guy" for information when shopping for items like motorcycle battery chargers and solar panels

Greener Ways To Dispose Of A Dishwasher

Dishwashers can’t always be repaired and often need replacing. But what do you do with an old dishwasher you want to get rid of in an eco friendly way?

Unless it is broken, the chances are you haven’t given a thought to how you are going to get rid of the old appliance when you’re out shopping for a new one.

But when your new dishwasher arrives for installation, what are you going to do with the old one? Store it in the garage or leave it out on the garden for the neighbours to wag their fingers and disapprove over? Here are your options when it comes to green ways to dispose of your old dishwasher.

Sell It 
If it’s still in working order then you could sell the dishwasher. An old machine to you could be like treasure to someone else. You could try putting an advertisement in the local press, or advertising it on a website. The chances are that someone will take it off your hands quick smart.

Give it away
Assuming again that the dishwasher is in working order, why not try giving it away. No doubt there are plenty of people on your street and in your neighbourhood who would love a dishwasher, but because of other financial commitments can’t afford it. A good will gesture will be rewarded by the happy smiles on their faces.

The Weee Directive 
The Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (Weee) Directive is a European Directive with UK regulations, which aims to recycle and safely dispose of electrical equipment, by assisting the public with environmentally friendly ways of disposing of unwanted or broken electrical items. This does include your dishwasher. Shops that are signed up to the scheme must help customers to recycle their old items for free by paying for the local authority run recycling centre to come and collect the dishwasher from your house at no cost to you, or collecting it for a fee when they deliver your new dishwasher. You’ll notice that a lot of stores offer this option for a few pounds - it is inexpensive and an easy way to ensure your old dishwasher is removed from your home. We advise you to check that the store you are choosing to buy your dishwasher from is a member of the Weee directive when you go to purchase it.

Your Local Authority Tip 
Your council will have a recycling centre and can usually collect and dispose of the dishwasher for you. They often charge a fee for this service. Parts maybe re-usable and the remainder will be disposed of in a safe environment.

A Second Hand Shop
There’s no reason why a second hand shop specialising in white goods would not take an old dishwasher off your hands. Even if there are dishwasher problems with the device, many electrical experts buy and repair old white goods equipment, selling them on for a profit.

Upcycling – The New Recycling

For years, the green and nature-friendly call has been to "reduce, re-use, recycle", but now there's a new term to add to the list. Upcyle. The concept is simple; instead of recycling something by breaking it down into something of lower quality, you re-invent something useless or disposable and turn it into something of a higher quality.

Upcycling is big business, with interior decorators, designers, and fashion moguls all getting in on the act. The goal for those companies is to make a process of "closed loop manufacturing". You take the useless product that would otherwise be headed for landfill and make it into something awesome, with as little waste as possible along the way.

Anyone Can Upcycle
Upcycling isn't just something that big name designers are doing. Many home based entrepreneurs are getting in on the act. A search for "upcycled" on Etsy will reveal a huge list of jewellery, ornaments, and even shabby-chic small furniture items that have all been made out of boring items that were given the upcycling treatment.

If you're re-modelling your home, you might want to think about upcycling. Those old wooden doors you're getting rid of might make good headboards for your bed - or, if they're multi-panel wooden doors, they could have their panels ripped out and turned in to a giant pop-art picture frame.
Even something as boring as skirting boards can be upcycled. If you're artistically inclined, chop your skirting boards up and paint them to make picture boards. Otherwise, cut, sand, and varnish them to make cutting boards. Some people even make skirting board sculptures. Your imagination is the only limit.

Look at Things From a Different Angle
The old adage about one man's trash being another man's treasure is as true today as it was when it was first said. If you're clearing out your house, stop and examine each item before you consign it to the bin. With practice you'd be amazed at the creative ideas you come up with.

Old glass light covers can be painted and turned into desk tidies. Staircase spindles can be spruced up and made into candlesticks, and a battered old suitcase could become a pet bed. The more artistically inclined you are, the wilder and more creative your upcycling projects can be.

Safety First
It's always nice to breathe new life into old stuff, but don't put your health, or the health of others, at risk. Converting wooden doors into picture frames is one thing, as long as you make sure they're well-made and hang properly, but messing with electronics is not a good idea unless you have some training.

It's best to stick to cosmetic items, or creative storage, for your first few projects. If you plan on attempting something more ambitious, or something that would involve electricity or fire, then make sure you know exactly what you're doing. Test the finished product carefully before you try to use it under normal circumstances. That might feel overly paranoid, but if you spot even one problem or design flaw, those tests could save your life.

Writteny by Amy Fowler on behalf of UK Oak Doors, suppliers of wooden doors and skirting boards that are just as useful when upcycled.

Production Materials For Truly Eco-friendly Coffee

"Eco-friendly", when applied to coffee, has become something of a marketing asset. For a retailer chasing the 'Green Pound' it's important to come across as a responsible, caring company. For the consumer there are a number of factors that may lead them to make the purchase - does they feel good that the produce is from a sustainable source? Is it that they care for the welfare of those individuals working to bring them the coffee?
However, that applies to the coffee itself. If you want a truly enjoyable drink then it's important not only to consider the coffee, but also the espresso cups you're using to drink out of. For if the coffee has been produced to high green standards but the cup is made by a toxic, harmful process then it diminishes the value of your efforts.

It's not necessarily easy to understand the processes of how a cup is made when considering the environment, so it's perhaps useful to start with the materials themselves - porcelain, clay and glass.
Porcelain is arguably the material used in most coffee and espresso cups because of its versatility. It's easy to mould into unique, interesting shapes and has the capacity for application of colour making it aesthetically pleasing. Porcelain is also good for heat retention, meaning the drink will stay warm or hot for a reasonable amount of time.

Porcelain is made by firing a combination of natural base materials in a kiln, including clay, flint and silica. Kiln-firing can be eco-friendly depending on the kiln. Newer kilns are specifically designed with emission-reduction and energy efficiency in mind, which can be increased by using carbonaceous waste materials. Porcelain manufacture doesn't produce any by-products that can't be recycled back into the manufacturing process.

Clay is a natural material that has been used as in building everything from structures to smaller items for thousands of years. Clay, as mentioned above, is used during the manufacturing of other building materials due to its useful attributes. Clay is used in coffee or espresso cup production but is not as versatile as porcelain for colour application, and not as good at retaining heat as glass. Clay is considered to be fairly eco-friendly.

Glass is considered, at least by many consumers, to be one of the most environmentally-friendly materials, especially when used in packaging. Glass has the benefit of not adding anything to the taste of the food or drink it can contain. Combine that with its ability to be sculptured into any shape and its great heat-retention qualities and glass appears to be an excellent material for coffee cup manufacture. Glass can be recycled, making it comparatively sustainable as a building material. However glass is created at high temperature meaning whether it is eco-friendly or not depends on the type of fuel used to create those temperatures within a glass factory. When compared to plastic, glass is certainly more eco-friendly.
Next time you consider buying eco-friendly coffee spare a small thought for your coffee cup - does it meet your high standards?

This article is a post from Espresso Deco (http://espressodeco.com/), a UK coffeeware retailer.