In a move sure to please all the greens out there as well as mobile phone users at large, the world’s biggest mobile phone companies- that is, phone manufacturers and network operators- are set to go ahead with a much needed plan to introduce a universal charging device which would be compatible with all handsets, regardless of  model or manufacturer.

As it stands, the huge variety of shapes and sizes means that forgetting one’s own charger when going away for any length of time inevitably means dead batteries and a useless weight in the pocket. Many, whilst staying over at a friend’s, have felt a feeling of terror and nervous expectation as they rifle through drawers and cupboards, searching for the right model amongst a snake pit of black plastic forms. Not only do chargers differ between brands, but also across different models of the same manufacturer- the connector often slimming down as technology progresses and newer models come off the shelves. Whilst some of us keep a range of our old chargers, either for emergencies or in the hope of recycling them, this still results in a huge amount of waste: wasted energy in making the new chargers, and waste in the environment from the defunct chargers thrown away by unconverted non-recyclers. (A tip for those who are unsure of how to recycle chargers- put them up on your local Freecycle, or send them free-post to Help the Aged.)

The extra good news is that the chargers- which will last us longer, as we won’t have to update unless they break- will also consume up to 50% less standby energy than current models.

New handsets should all be able to support the universal charger by 2012, and firms behind the move include Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Orange, 3, AT&T and Vodafone. The move will be a global one.

The new charger will use a micro-USB connection between it and the phone. According to the GSMA (an umbrella group representing the interests of the world mobile communications industry) the new charger could save up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers. In February the EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said on German radio that there were currently more than 30 different kinds of charger in use across the 27-nations of the European Union.

Welcome news for the environment and workaholics.

Posted under Environmental News, Lifestyle & Fashion, Product Innovations

The Pure EcoPlus One Mini is another example of a radio that tries to keep the environment in mind. Though not powered by renewable energy sources, it is incredible energy efficient, and has picked up several awards, including one from the Energy Savings Trust.

Ecogo, prime purveyor of eco friendly goods, are full of praise for the little energy saving radio:

“High quality sound and low power consumption.

This small but perfectly formed DAB digital radio from Pure is jam packed with great features and comes recommended from the Energy Savings Trust! Experience sound quality like never before at such an affordable price, and tune into up to twice as many stations as FM! The One Mini is compact, light enough to be used as a portable radio – great for BBQ’s and holidays, and gives out punchy audio quality and volume.

It comes in a choice of three attractive colours – something for everyone!”

Developed by Pure, the EcoPlus One Mini is a steal at the price at which it gets offered, and is one of the company’s most loved products; Pure certainly push it as one of their best items.

The company themselves have moved to portray the EcoPlus as symbolic of the endeavours of their company, writing on their website that,

“EcoPlus™ is a statement of PURE’s on-going commitment to our environment and its future. It indicates that environmental impact has been considered in the design, manufacture and transport of our products, and has driven both what we do and how we do it.”

At the heart of EcoPlus is the requirement to reduce the power consumption of our products while playing audio and also in standby. All EcoPlus products are packaged using cardboard produced with a minimum of 70% recycled material, and finished using water-based varnish. All internal pulp trays are 100% recycled, and the user documentation is printed on 100% recycled paper using Soya-based inks. We also encourage our customers to recycle all packaging materials.

For some time it has been common in the consumer electronics industry to package products in boxes which are larger than required so that the boxes stand out more prominently on the retail shelf. The boxes of EcoPlus products are designed to be the smallest they can be whilst still ensuring the integrity and security of the product inside. This maximizes the number of products which can be shipped in each container, and thus minimizes the environmental cost of transport”.

A very committed statement from Pure, certainly, and the EcoPlus is quite rightly their pride and joy when it comes to environmentally friendly products, and their product line in general. An endorsement if one were needed, for a nice little eco friendly radio.

Posted under Articles, Product Innovations

UNITED STATES

Power Shift 2009 is starting in Washington today. It is the world’s largest lobby on the march and it is in front of the Capitol in the US capital. But can they squeeze more green mileage out of the American political establishment at this point in time?

Enormous amounts of money to save failing economies have been a recurring feature over the last year. To address the financial crisis, almost every government has been ‘forced’ to set up bail-out plans for the banking eco-system in particular but also on a more general level. Now hopes are growing among environmentalists that instead of being the usual case of dealing with the economy first and the environment later, it could fuse into one objective in an attempt saving both. Barack Obama is among them and in more than one way; his presidency could be one rare historical moment. Turning a crisis into an opportunity, the $787bn economic recovery plan is putting that theory to the ultimate test. Pessimists read ultimate as in the last before the global collapse, optimists read it as the ultimate as in the Big One, an unprecedented Green New Deal. In short, the opportunity to set up the architecture of a low-carbon, sustainable economy.

Incubated at a liberal think-tank, the Centre for American Progress, the green recovery plan was produced late last year to be presented virtually on day one of the Obama presidency. The green elements in the well over one thousand page package include, among other things:

• Funding to insulate domestic and public buildings
• Tax breaks and loans for solar and wind power firms
• Investment in a new electric grid
• Expansion of subways and inter-city trains

Ultimate success (or failure) will depend on whether or not Congress manages to push through legislation expected this year in three areas: expanding public transport, developing wind and solar energy and moving to cap carbon dioxide emissions. As vast sums of money begin to flow into the US economy, and other governments prepare to commit even more, observers around the world will be watching closely to see whether saving the economy can, in fact, also save the planet.

A world holding its breath…

And then we have the voices from the other side of the argument. Those that are beyond bail-out plans and a reversal, also those that would say that the society as we know it is beyond its best before date by such a large margin that we stand before a cataclysmic change. One of the loudest and most furious is James Howard Kunstler, author with one book about this epic shift called The Long Emergency and frequent blogger on the topics of environment and economy. He says:

It’s not too late for President Obama to start uttering these truths so that we can avoid a turn to fascism and get on with the real business of America’s next phase of history — living locally, working hard at things that matter, and preserving civilized culture. What a lot of us can see now staring out of the abyss is a new dark age. I don’t think it’s necessarily our destiny to end up that way, but these days we’re not doing much to avoid it. *

While he is often viciously direct and thereby can come off like a scarecrow, he speaks with many years of observation of suburban America behind him. Strongly opposed to most of what it stands for and especially its dependence on car transportation, he does not believe in boosting the US (and the rest of the world) back to happy consumerism. And where phrases like ‘getting the green economy roaring’ can hold some comfort for many of us, JHK is waiting for the western world to wake up, repetitiously prodding it from the web.

Best of luck.

.

* Blog post ‘The Abyss Stares Back’ by James Howard Kunstler on Clusterfuck Nation Blog 23rd of February 2009, read the full post here

Posted under Climate, Environmental News

Podcars, small driver less cabins on an elevated rail system are now being investigated as an efficient addition to public transit systems. Basically roller-coaster technology paired with what looks like the monorails from World Exhibition in Seville 1990, the podcars sports a major difference; they are single units taking a small number of passengers instead of trains. The networks would be a realisation of classic futuristic visions from the 60′s. The benefits include an extensive flexibility both when it comes to destination and travel time. Intended to run 24/7 with very short intervals the system delivers the passengers to the chosen destination bypassing other stops.

A South Korean company is preparing for full-scale tests under European conditions in the city of Uppsala (an hour to the north of the Swedish capital Stockholm) where a testing facility with the world’s longest podcar track is built.

Hopes are high for the completely computerised system that would offer fast and flexible public transport that could ease traffic congestion. A high initial investment would quickly reach a both economic and ecological break-even if implementation and travel habit adaptation are major issues to be solved. Planning applications are only one type of obstacles that could prove insurmountable  especially in historically sensitive areas. Estimates indicate a low environmental impact in comparison to today tram and subway network and by combining the privacy of the car with the efficiency of rail transit we could be heading for cleaner cities while offering the individual a sustainable way of getting from A-Z without stopping at BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY.

Currently a number of Swedish municipalities are investigating the possibilities to cooperate on the project and the group, going under the name Kompass hopes for authorisation to begin planning for a functional system in Uppsala, Umeå or Stockholm.

* YouTube video with the Uppsala Podcar up and running, click here.

Posted under Cars & Transport, Environmental News

Make your own electricity! A great idea, especially when you look at your latest bill. Perhaps you can even feed it back to the grid, making them pay for electricity you produce. The People strikes back. It is also eco-friendly. Well, is it?

Micro generators fitted to a roof or wall mounted on private houses have found some buyers over the last few years, partially due to subsidies through the UK government’s Low Carbon Building Programme, and then some more in 2006 when DIY-chain B&Q launched a campaign, selling the Windsave 1000 (a 1kw mini wind turbine) for £1500. It was a package and included installation, feeding the electricity straight into the building’s standard ring mains supply for 230 Volt. Plug-and-play, the way we like it today. Since no batteries were involved it was a matter of use it or lose it, the electricity generated. These types of units are referred to as SWTGS (Small Wind Turbine Generator system). The idea of having your own SWTGS with a SSEG (Small Scale Embedded Generator) does sound sweet.

The trouble with this model -and many of its competitors- is that there is so much, well for want of a better word, trouble. It especially when they are put up in an urban setting. They are, first of all, not reaching the amounts of electricity that they claimed to produce. One example comes from Donnachadh McCarthy, famous for having the greenest home in England. He calculated that in its first 3 months, his turbine had powered one energy-saving bulb for around three hours a day and had created a total of 1.6 kWh. This equals more or less 20p worth of electricity. In three months. At that rate, for the Windsave 1000 to cover its 2006 sales price, it would take one thousand eight hundred years. Which means that there are only 1797 to go? The internet, on blogs and forums, is littered with similar stories. On the one hand the manufacturers claiming that it will cut your electricity bill by 30% which almost certainly it will not unless you live on a hill or in the middle of a large field with consistent, strong winds for it to produce 1000kWh per annum.

The Windsave 1000 nominally generates 1kW at 12 metres per second wind (27mph), and starts generating power as soon as the wind is over 4 metres per second. Turbulent wind and lower wind speeds result in far lower power outputs.

For it to produce enough energy to become carbon neutral, or whichever criteria fits best, it is probably not thousands of years but far of the map all the same. Small horizontally orientated wind powered generators in urban areas forced to use erratic winds simply does not work. Under these circumstances it will spend most of the time chasing the wind, not harnessing it.

We will be presenting different models in our new Eco Build directory. In the right conditions, the right wind turbine does a good job.

Posted under Eco Build, Gas & Electricity, Product Innovations, Renewable Energy

A note on old school barbarians. They probably had a fairly organic, no-nonsense sort of approach to things in general; almost surely good at recycling, reuse, dealing with resource scarcity and, we are inclined to believe, rarely washed. Straightforward and honest if you will. The Roman Empire that the Vandals and Visigoths helped bring down, for all its roads and hot baths and technological superiority, was a large and unsustainable machine built on ideas of continuous expansion/growth, progress and war-induced peace, brimful of greed, deceit and vanity. This ex-empire is sometimes brought up today as a case in point to illustrate what happens now. In the words of Glen W. Bowersock, ‘from the eighteenth century onward, we have been obsessed with the fall; it has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline, and, hence, as a symbol for our own fears.’ And if the decline and fall of the Roman empire is a valid precedent to our contemporary predicament, Arnold Toynbee, a British historian, might have added that in an environment of societal collapse, people resort to:

• archaism (idealisation of the past);
• futurism (idealisation of the future);
• detachment (removal of oneself from the realities of a decaying world), and;
• transcendence (meeting the challenges of the decaying civilization with new insight, as a Prophet).

What we have today is a rock n’ roll mixture of the above four points and many of the elements of what is believed to have usurped Roman hegemony such as lead poisoning, environmental degradation, deforestation, overly populated cities, civil wars, shortage of raw materials and low mining output. The difference is the magnitude and speed with which things happen these days. Some things just stay the same and greenwashing is a modern variant of good old deceit.

In a more down to earth kind of way, greenwashing would be using eco-friendly laundry powder or organic olive soap perhaps. And in many cases of corporate greenwashing that is probably part what is going on, they will make a big show of using green products wherever it can be seen from the outside. But the company in question may also boast that ‘We are proud to announce that we are now Carbon Neutral’ or ’100% of our Office paper is recycled’ or just about any ‘We have started to [insert favourite eco activity here] and intend to [insert bold statement here] in our upcoming blablabla.’ In the end, as individual actors [one person or a multi-national corporation] we can first of all see to minimising our own impact. This makes [eco]switching to a low-impact alternative a vital first step and cannot really be underestimated as such, be it locally produced groceries for a family dinner or implementing energy-saving measures in the company HQ. So far so good.

Indeed, as 2008 showed, not many companies can afford a 100% crash-and-burn attitude towards the environment but must be able to flash a brochure full of green credentials in the face of journalists or inquisitive customers. Of course, in a world as weird and crooked as ours, many of them will be hard put to it when there is such a large difference between what they are actually doing and how they want to come off publicly. Therefore, it is when reading BP statements or F1 Carbon offset measures in Mexico that we raise an eyebrow. ‘Aha… Greenwashing…’ A frustrated Ian Thompson says:

All this supposed ‘green’ focus is nothing more than an attempt to sell us products. What these companies have recognised is that consumers want to buy green products so that they can feel better about themselves. I’m willing to bet some of these companies would cheerfully club seals or burn rainforest if people liked the idea and it got them more sales *

Healthy suspicion is hereby encouraged if not outright demanded. And it is easy to shout ‘boo’  at what seems like green lies. (I usually do auth. note). To then instead try and make a case for greenwashing will of course be a tightrope walking exercise; how can something like willful trickery and intricate lying be, if not defended, then at least understood and to a certain degree accepted?

Let us try and keep it simple then. Any one thing/action that can have a positive influence on human-nature-human relationships must be good. With a bombardment of greengoing corporate messages around us and even if we sometimes get sick of doublefaced book keeping, what we can try and do is hold them to it. James Murray would prefer it if we gave them the benefit of the doubt:

Surely all that matters is whether they are seeking to cut their environmental impact or not and whether they are doing so effectively? In fact, I prefer it if their green initiatives are driven by a desire to make profits, as at least that gives them the ultimate incentive to make sure they are successful. [..] Green marketing messages might run ahead of a company’s overall ability to deliver green products and services, and will almost certainly run ahead of their ability to decarbonise their operations. But what they demonstrate is the company’s awareness that these products and services are desirable and will resonate with customers.**

So having read that and realising that nothing of this is simple, we are almost back on square one. What do we make of greenwashing? Murray has a point when he says that profit will be the best incentive for companies to really fulfill green promises and that green marketing demonstrates awareness. But to accept that we live in an age where demonstrating awareness is good enough is simply not good enough. To conclude, let people and companies and politicians boast and make claims. And then, when they quiet down a bit, hold them to it, Organic Barbarian Style.

* Blog post ‘CES 2009 Greenwash’ by Ian Thompson on Silicin Valley Seuth, read it here  here.

** Blog article ‘Is Greenwash really all that bad?’ by James Murray on Businessgreen Blog, read it here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Corporate, How To's & Guides

Masdar City. You might know of it: the zero waste, zero emissions, zero everything, solar powered city of tomorrow being built in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On completion, planned for 2014, it will house 40 to 50 thousand people in a 100% renewable energy, totally sustainable, celebration of technology and design signed by architect Sir Norman Foster. The video advertisement ends with the slogan ‘One day, all cities will be built like this.’ In the birds-eye perspective renderings it looks more like a fortified Roman settlement, a square and walled-in energy efficient enclave. Like those, it relies on a meticulous precision, engineering genius and an enormous initial investment. The wall in question is intended to protect from hot desert winds and while that sounds like a good idea it makes it look very much like an overgrown gated community. As a centre of research into renewable energy, it is a bit confusing and/or interesting that it is located in the UAE:

Abu Dhabi has one of the world’s biggest per capita carbon footprints and sceptics fear Masdar may be just a fig leaf for the oil-rich Gulf emirate. Others fear Masdar City -on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City- may become a luxury development for the rich.’*

It is by no means an impossible place, it will indeed exist and construction is now underway. Compared to other utopias it might be a little less unrealistic in terms feasibility but as THE solution it is as far away as any previous Eldorado. First of all, at a projected cost of almost £12 billion, the money-is-no-object-attitude is a somewhat disrespectful and misleading approach to the urgency and magnitude of the problems we have to deal with. 45.000 of ‘the best people from academia and corporations’ will have to wait another 5-6 years before definitively moving into Masdar. The impossibility of the slogan is of course the ‘all cities’ part of it, the reality of today being that over half of the world’s population now live in cities or urban settings and every week one more million move from countryside to cityscape. The kind of capital, planning, control and conformity necessary to erect and maintain something like Masdar is very far away from the everyday on-goings of the poorer suburbs of Rio de Janeiro or Johannesburg or London or Younameit City.

Let us hope the Abu Dhabi of 2014 at least can function as a source of inspiration, something that can show a functional and full-scale implementation of technologies that could be helpful to some extent. Connected to Masdar all kinds of pretty impressive projects are taking off, some of them more generally applicable than others. And not everything there is dependent on computer regulated plumbing; ‘the city will make use of traditional Gulf architecture to create low-energy buildings, with natural air conditioning from wind towers.’ We can try to pick up some threads from the Formula One of cities and other similar projects while we attempt to come up with more generic and low-cost interventions. Both the silvery cutting-edge and the rustic old-school solutions are needed. But as we are waiting for the evaluation of the first few years of Masdar City, use the meantime to find out how we can [eco] switch our habits and try to contribute

* Article ‘Work starts on Gulf “green city” ‘ from 10 February 2008 on the BBC website, read it here.

See the promotional video on the Masdar Initiative on You Tube link here.

land leif ahnland

Posted under Climate, Eco Build, Environmental News, Renewable Energy

What is Green Energy?

Green energy is all about the production of 100% renewable electricity which typically originates from wind turbines, solar panels and hydro. Its paramount purpose is to combat the emissions of carbon dioxide with zero tolerance vis a vis the involvement of fossil fuels. Good Energy and Ecotricity are lucent examples of green energy suppliers. Doubtlessly, they are conquering the market by offering competitive prices and having the environment at heart. By switching from a conventional energy supplier to a green one, you are also proving that you care for the environment.

What about Green appliances then?

Green appliances have grown in importance and popularity as they stand out to help customers like you and me and above all, the environment. Rooted in their design, they operate similarly to ordinary appliances, with the exception of being energy efficient. They save you money and tackle the problem of climate change as less CO2 is released.

Below is a list of greeny stuffs one should begin to consider:

Green Energy is the Best! It is Anti-CO2 and it makes your bill smile too J

• Apply to a Green Energy company such as Good Energy which supplies 100% renewable electricity. Read our article on Good Energy to understand how it rescues our planet.
• Even conventional energy companies such as EDF offer green tariffs.
• You can install your own domestic wind turbine and/or solar panel depending on your location. Why depend on coal and oil when you can benefit from wind and sun?
• Switch your normal light bulbs to eco ones which utilise 80% less energy and once switched on, they shine as brightly as ordinary bulbs. Your bill will drop significantly.
• We encourage you to buy the Energy Saving Recommended Green Appliances as they are the most energy efficient appliances available on the market. For your information, this brand is a government body that certifies green appliances which ecoswitch.com is currently reviewing.
• Check for the Energy Saving Recommended Green Appliances logo on the products before you buy.  
• Make the switch to an energy efficient dishwasher which saves 40% of energy. It lowers both your electricity and water bills. Among the most popular ones is the Whirlpool ADG 7560 model.
• Choose an Integrated Digital TV (IDTV) instead of a standard one as the former saves you money on your energy bills.
• Order a green kettle as it can reduce your electricity bill by 20%.
• Eco fridges and freezers are designed to reduce emissions of CO2 and alleviate the use of electricity by 60%. The result will reflect on your bills too.
• Cut your energy consumption by 1/3 when doing your laundry by buying a green washing machine instead of an ordinary one.
• An Energy Saving Recommended printer uses about 25% less power when being switched on and 40% less in sleep or standby mode when compared to a normal printer.
• Instead of a desktop buy a laptop, or even better, an eco laptop such as Asus, MacBook or Sony. Desktops might be cheaper in price but they use ten times more energy than laptops.
• Cooking is a passion for most of us. Why not enjoy cooking whilst using less energy with an A/A energy rated oven such as the Leisure LEVC66W 50cm Double oven or the Leisure 100cm CM101FRKP Dual Fuel Range Cooker?
• Did you know that cooking in a microwave saves more energy than in a conventional oven? How more efficient will your cooking time be if you use an microwave oven such as the Whirlpool AMW510.
Now that you know the tricks, stop thinking that you were born to pay excessive bills. Make your money worth it and be gentle to our environment!

Posted under Gas & Electricity, House & Home, How To's & Guides, Money & Finance, Renewable Energy

There is no escape from paying bills. The continuous rise in gas and electricity prices does not ease the situation either. But fortunately, you can change your lifestyle habits which will not only cause a drastic reduction in your bills, but will also save energy and the planet too.

Save Energy and Start Paying your Bills With A Smile:

1. Switch off every light when you leave the room

2. For background sound, favour the radio over the TV

3. Unplug your devices after the battery is charged. For example, mobiles

4. Use a washing line or drying racks, rather than an electric drier

5. Avoid keeping your room thermostat more than 21C

6. Keep the water thermostat less than 60C

7. Boil your kettle with only the amount of water needed

8. Use the water once the kettle is boiled to avoid reheating

9.      Remove washed clothes from washing machine within 2 hours to avoid rewashing

10. Hang your clothes after ironing to avoid another ironing session due to creasing

11. Utilise the eco setting on your washing machine and/or dishwasher

12.    Keep your fridge running properly by defrosting it regularly

13. Turn off the dishwasher prematurely to allow the heat inside complete the job

14. If you have a heater, programme it to drop by half or off after an hour

15. During the day draw the curtains to allow free light to penetrate

16. At dusk close your curtains to retain the heat

17. Keep the back of your fridge clean to boost its efficiency

18.    Switch to a green energy provider such as Good Energy or EcoTricity

Save Water As It Saves Life:

1. Use baths sparingly

2.      Utilise a (non power) shower

3. Use a bucket of water for car washing rather than a hose

4.      Use a watering jug for plants

5.      Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth

6. When washing by hand, use a bowl to soap dishes and avoid running water

7.      When rinsing, use warm water to speed up washing.

8. Use hot water from the kettle to degrease the sink rather than bleach

9. Favour the plunger over the toxic unblocking solution

10. Make sure that you turn off all taps properly after use

11. Check that there are no leaks in the water pipe system

Be Green and Wise in the Kitchen:

1. Use a toaster to make toast instead of a grill as the toaster is more energy efficient

2. Boil water in a kettle to use for cooking

3. Remove contents from the fridge to cool to room temperature before cooking

4. Maximise the efficiency of your fridge by keeping it full

5. Use a pan matching the amount of food to be cooked

6. Use the smallest pan as far as you can

7. Use a pan that matches the size of the burner, not smaller, to avoid 30% of heat loss

8. Cover the pan with a lid to avoid the loss of heat

9. Keep the oven window clean to avoid opening the oven during cooking time

10. Use the right lid for the right pan to avoid loss of heat through the peeps

11.    Turn off the heater prematurely to allow the steam to complete the cooking

12. Use less fat and liquid to cook at a quicker pace

13. Plan your cooking and make extra to freeze and reuse

14. Leftovers take less time to be reheated. Use them as quick ‘fast food’

15. Pressure cooker and microwave are more energy efficient compared to the oven

Waste can be Recycled

1. Turn your wasted vegetable and fruit peelings into compost

2. Use the compost to plant your own vegetables, fruits, herbs or flowers

3. Do not buy excessively to avoid wastage

4. Reuse aluminium foil for packing food

5.      Where possible, buy loose fruit and vegetables without the wasteful packaging

6. Donate your clothes which you do not use anymore

7. Reuse plastic objects for other purposes

8. Use plastic food containers to plant herbs

9. Use shoe boxes to store items

10. Use food before they expire to avoid wastage. If expired, convert them into compost

11. Recycle cans, paper, plastic, etc…

12. Reuse newspaper for cleaning windows, for instance

13. Think twice before buying

14. Take your Recyclable bag or Bag for life to the shop

15. Reuse old T-shirts to sleep in or when doing messy work such as painting

Good Luck!

Posted under Gas & Electricity, House & Home, How To's & Guides, Lifestyle & Fashion, Money & Finance

Bio fuel is in one respect the oldest form of man-made fuel in the world; long before industry boomed and the industrial period began, biological organic matter was the chief source material for fuels.  It was only until the relatively more powerful use of fossil fuels became dominant that bio fuel found its admirers dwindling; in the age of industry, it has suffered relatively low popularity, though that point stands for most alternatives to fossil fuels, which is the source material for over 80% of annual energy production across the world.

With the rising interest in climate change affecting governments, individuals and the world’s media, though, fossil fuels are seemingly on the decline; whilst more than three quarters of energy production has consistently come from the source for a number of years, this has gone hand in hand with dangerous levels of carbon emissions, of which it is reported that fossil fuels contribute more than 20 billion tonnes annually. With experts suggesting that global natural resources can only induce half of that figure, and global warming increasingly becoming a world concern, investment into alternative energy has risen by over 140% in the two years.

Of these alternative energy types, bio fuel is one of the most prominent, and it seems that man-made fuels have come full circle. Though production of the fuel is substantially lower than solar power and even hydroelectricity, it remains one of the most important examples of alternative energy.

And indeed, research into the field has reaped rewards, with new developments granting the industry potentially greater fuel efficiency.

Experts have now suggested that the use of a bug that thrives on detritus will increase the speed at which the original biological matter is broken down and converted into fuel. It will originally be used in the production of ethanol, but it is hoped that the bug can increase efficiency of bio fuels across the industry. Indeed it is believed that the bug can also increase then range of material included in the conversion process; more hardy, it is believed to be able to break down tougher plant and animal life that current conversion techniques cannot.

It will certainly strengthen the case for a return to bio fuel as renewable energy types gain momentum, and it could perhaps do with the positive press after some controversial statistics have begun an increasingly polemical debate on the ethical standards of bio fuels; the World Bank reported that the consumption of crops across the world for bio fuels has resulted in a rise of 75% in world food prices.

The debate does not simply centre on economics. On their website, Friends of the Earth have questioned the actual environmental impact of bio fuel production, claiming that they could actually produce more green house gases than the process reduces; it is generally argued that CO2 emissions from bio fuels are offset by the consumption of carbon during the source supply’s lifetime, but the organisation claims that the combined energy cost of planting, production, conversion and transport negates the theory.

On a similar agenda as the World Bank, they take the rising food price to be an indication that bio fuel production could directly affect food supply levels for some of the earth’s most poverty stricken populations.

Posted under Articles, Environmental News, Renewable Energy