Paying lip-service
The BBC is reporting a new proposed scheme from the Environmental Audit Committee. They’re suggesting the introduction of “personal carbon credit” system, in an attempt to limit the amount of energy that we all use.
The big hole in the plan is the same one that effects carbon offsetting; people who exceed their limit will be able to buy more credits from people who use less than their limit. The problem is that there’s no reduction in the amount of carbon being used, so there’s no reduction to the pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere.
It’ll get you buzzing…
… but only because it’s over 60% sugar!
On SocialSpark earlier, I came across a ‘Spark’ (read: things people want you to write about but they’re not prepared to pay you for it) about these lollipops that are supposed to be unique and give you lots of energy because of the nutrients they contain. Being involved in that sort of industry, I thought I’d take a look and see what they’re actually offering.
First of all I’m amazed at the amount of sugar these things contain. Each serving is 26g, with a 16g sugar content. So, that’ll be where most of the stimulation and revitalising energy is coming from then. Next, is the fact that it contains caffeine – another common stimulant. So far, you’re not getting anything that you couldn’t get from a cup of coffee. They do throw in a little bit of ginseng and guarana – but only 6mg of each; hardly significant values. Finally, they throw in some maltodextrin and corn syrup just to make sure it’s really sweet.
There’s no indication on the site where you can buy these things or how much they are – but you can buy some nice shirts and hats if you want, or enter a competition to win one of the really cheap iPods – but if you ever see them in a store I suggest you pass them by. Unless, that is, you have a very friendly dentist.
From different ends of the scale
Whatever your take on global warming (whether you see it as all a big pile of nonsense made up to frighten the natives, or whether you accept that humankind is hastening its own demise through its wasteful habits*), you’ll probably accept that with the rising cost of energy, it makes sense to try and use less. That way you’ll still be able to afford to feed your kids!
Over at Once Around The Blog, Skimmer’s talking about a new Green web-based community called Do The Green Thing. I took a quick look (I’m going back later for a better look round) and it looks like fun. Each month, they’ll set you energy saving tasks to do, to reduce your own carbon footprint and – if enough people get involved – make a major difference to the planet’s carbon usage. This month’s task is to “Do it in the dark” – whatever you’re doing, do you really need to put an electric light on?
You’ll also find lots of interesting little facts and figures, suggestions of things to do that don’t use as much (or any) energy and you can check up on how everyone else is achieving the current task. And if that piques your interest, you could also check out Skimmer’s Go Green for Gratis – 20 Tops Tips to see other easy ways to go green.
From the opposite end of the global energy spectrum comes news (via O’Reilly Radar, but I imagine its been covered elsewhere as well) that Google are to invest heavily (“tens of millions” apparently) in research into renewable energy sources in 2008. They are seeking to make renewable energy (wind power, solar, geothermal, etc) viable on a large scale and to do it at a cost that is less than coal. Their capital planning includes “investing hundreds of millions… in projects that generate positive returns”.
Alright, they will be focusing on US efforts – at least at first – but for a company with the reach and resources of Google to decide that the time has come to put our energy house in order makes the lip-serving attempts of Government’s across the world look somewhat less than impressive. Yes, they probably have an ulterior motive (but lets face it, they use a lot of energy so at the end of the day they may just want to keep their bills down) but with the rate we’re using up a finite supply of fossil fuels, we need someone to take a major stand. Google have volunteered.
*see Stephen Fry’s excellent article Getting Overheated for more on this debate.
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