The UK Hemp Expo

Well if you know anything about hemp, then you know of its incredible properties, and mutltitude of uses. This is one of the most sustainable crops available, and if laws were relaxed a little could do so much more to help with current environmental issues. Anyway, the biggest UK exhibition is almost upon us:

5th, 6th and 7th of May 2007, at the Telford International Centre.

The UK's biggest and best hemp and accessories exhibition.

Featuring the latest and greatest in new inventions, clothing, bags, food, books, alternative therapies, healing, music, famous names and famous faces, seminars, new seed strains, vaporisers and much, much more.

Exhibitors, inventors, wholesalers and retailers will be coming from all over the world to show the best in hemp and accessories. Everything you could ever need to will be under one roof, including top advice from some of this planets experts.

Tickets are only £5.00 each and can be pre-booked from the website (click on the banner below).

What's wrong with this picture.

If you have flash installed then take a look at this website, now I understand the sentiment, but using something that does possibly
3 miles to the gallon to promote it!

Does this seem strange to you, or is it just me? That is probably one of the most environmentally 'un-friendly' vehicles I know of, and in their own words to: 'raise awareness of environmental issues'! Can you say the word 'irony' Honda?

Can software be environmentally friendly?

Well, lets start off with a happy new year to you all!

I work in the IT industry, and have always had more than a passing interest in software ... or more precisely, free software. I think everybody loves something for nothing!

But what has this to do with being green, or environmentally friendly?

The answer to this can easily be seen by just walking around the software department of any large computer store ... PC World in the UK is a good example. You'll see row, upon row of big, bright colourful boxes, excessive plastic wrapping, and other eye catching gimmicks.

These boxes contain nothing more than a single disc, and perhaps a booklet or a manual, and yet most are large enough to hold perhaps 20, 30 discs or more!

It's rather sickening to think that the majority of this packaging will quickly end up in the bin as soon as the software gets into the home or office where it is going to be used. It is a dire waste of resources and materials, and all for the sake of self promotion.

It is intended to be big and brash so that the consumer is attracted to it. Unfortunately, its boldness is just such a waste. Even if you recycled most of the packaging, you still have the energy and resources expended to produce it, and spent again to recycle it.

This is where free software has the advantage. Unless it comes on a disc on the cover of a magazine, then you need to find it and download it from the Internet. The ecological advantage of this is now obvious - no waste from over ambitious packaging!

Now this is also true of commercial software or shareware that you can pay for online and download, but, as with most people, I prefer free when I can get it, and if I want a backup of the install file I just burn it to CD.

This brings us to our next problem - where to download from?

There are thousands of sites that you can download software from, the trouble is much of it is not free. It expires after 30 days, or useful features are crippled after a set length of time, or worse still, your computer gets infected with some malware, spyware or some other nasty! Another thing I have found in the past is that it's not always easy to find what you actually need, or there are a dozen titles that 'appear' to do what you want ... leaving you wondering which one do you download?

A good starting point for downloading safe free software is the Lessfuss Collection. It's free to join and has one perhaps two of any type of program considered to be the best of its kind currently available making your choice a lot easier. All of the programs are free to use forever, and they are also selected because they do not contain any adware, spyware, or malware.

Now, with broadband becoming more prevalent, I urge you all to download your software from now on instead of purchasing overly packaged 'boxed' versions. Yes, software can be green or at the very least 'greener' if you follow this advice. So get downloading, and leave those overly packed puddings on the shelf!

Green TV

green.tv is the first website to bring together films from a whole range of environmental organisations and independent filmmakers and make them available to anyone anywhere.

You'll need a broadband connection to take full advantage of the green.tv website, but if you do have, then it is well worth a visit.

It is currently still in beta, but the film quality is excellent and the information invaluable.

If you want to keep abreast of the environmental news worldwide, and prefer to 'watch' instead of read, then this site is really is the business.

Eco-friendly Electricity

So, you want to do your bit for the environment and use renewable energy, but you can't afford to install solar, wind, or other means of green power in your home - what can you do?

Well, there is something you can do, you can do it right now, and you can make a difference!

With the deregulation of the UK's energy market you can choose who supplies your electricity, and make your voice heard with your money.

"The other thing that not many people realise is that we can now all choose who supplies our electricity, and therefore how it's made, so wherever you live in the country you can actually choose to have your home or business supplied by clean energy. The funny thing is switching takes about five minutes but it's the biggest single step you can take to reduce your emissions and protect the environment."

There are several green suppliers about, but only one that stands out for value AND their future plans, and that company is Ecotricity. Why Ecotricity you may ask?
Well, Ecotricity was formed in 1996, and have so far (Q4 2005) invested in and constructed 11 windfarms with more at planning stage and construction starting on several other projects.
Just click the previous link and take a look! (link opens in new window).

"Wind is an abundant source of energy that will never run out. It's also the world's fastest growing energy source and in the UK we're lucky enough to have around 40%of Europe's wind resource, potentially enough to power the country 3 or 4 times over".

There are other 'green' suppliers including; Green Energy UK, and Good Energy, but both of these companies have 'bought into' the green energy market by purchasing existing renewable sources including wind and hydro (water) from other companies. Their actual investment in new projects has so far been zero. An interesting comparison of green and traditional suppliers (including their 'green' efforts) can be found at www.whichgreen.org.

Ecotricity promise to match the price of every regional supplier, so therefore it should cost you no more than you currently pay, they also promise to invest the profits from you back into renewable resources, therefore increasing the amount of UK energy produced by environmentally friendly means.

So make a difference now - change your electricity supplier to Ecotricity and you know you are not only making a difference, but your money is also being invested in all our futures.

Further interesting facts and figures regarding electricity and wind power can be downloaded from here . ( in PDF format - Free Adobe Acrobat Reader required: www.adobe.com )

Building for a Future

Building for a Future (Winter 2005/6 Edition) is a quarterly magazine that provides information to help you create healthy and ecological homes and buildings, or as the magazine states on its cover, it's:

"the independent journal for 'green building' professionals and
enthusiasts".

I have always had a 'green' outlook and understanding, yet am relatively new to much of this applied specifically to homes and buildings, so this publication was quite an eye opener for me.

First Impressions

The review copy of the magazine arrived in a large brown envelope - but I am assured that the regular subscriptions are mailed wrapped in recycled content film. The publication itself had a heavy matt full colour cover, containing pages of equal quality on a lighter medium, and yes, it is printed on 100% recycled paper by Cambrian Printers - who themselves seem to have a very ethical approach to their trade which is reassuring.

Although the information within would be your reason for acquiring Building for a Future, it's presentation, manufacture and composition are always of interest to me, as this is where some organisations fall over with their use of new paper stocks or choice of packaging.

I can gladly say that Building for a Future came through as a shining light in this regard, with the 'green' attitude maintained throughout. This demonstrates to me a high degree of care and belief in their subject matter, right down to the attention paid to its overall production.

Contents

Obviously, the real interest is the contents, and this too does not disappoint. On first glance I was intrigued by the word 'interactive' on the cover, half expecting a CD ROM or similar to drop from its pages, but on closer inspection the term 'interactive' refers to the fact that every article has a corresponding thread on the Building for a Future forum. This is a fantastic idea, and one that I hadn't encountered before. It gives the readers the opportunity to give feedback to the authors of the various articles, or perhaps ask questions and for the authors to respond. This makes it truly interactive, and in a very useful way.

As stated above, I am reviewing the Winter 2005/6 edition here and the articles themselves cover quite a broad spectrum including:

• Timber build at the Eco Project
• Rooftop wind energy
• Continued existence of asbestos in our homes
• Converting tower blocks to sustainable energy
• Greener Plumbing
• Passivhaus system from Germany
  

There is much more besides, and each subject is given sufficient space to allow for a reasonably in depth analysis or review. I like this, as it means the topics aren't just skimmed over or given a fleeting glance, but have the room to give more information, images, facts, statistics, graphs and illustrations where they apply.

Accompanying the articles within Building For A Future are the website addresses of the various projects or organisations where they are available, giving you the opportunity to further explore or research any particular projects or topics that interest you.

A few of the articles in this edition were accompanied by various performance figures and accompanying graphs or statistics, which in a few cases were over my head. But it does go to show the depth of the magazine, and the scope which it covers. It is very suitable to for a professional in this field, but contained more than enough to interest and teach the casual observer or keen amateur alike. I'd say that I fall into the amateur enthusiast category, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it, coming away with a lot of useful and worthwhile information.

I did notice when reading through this issues forum postings, that the article Beware of the Blanket Approach quoted some insulation depths/thicknesses that were questioned by a reader. The author of the piece quickly replied with the fact that this was indeed an error and listed the correct values. This really shows the power and the value of the 'interactive' facet of this magazine. It gives the rare opportunity to question the author, to correct mistakes (which happen to us all on occasion), and to add of further information or links should the need arise - even after it has gone to press! This really adds value to the publication.

Another feature of the website, is being able to purchase back issues of the magazine from Autumn 2000 - as long as an issue still has copies remaining. If not, then no need to worry as you are able to download back issues of the magazine in PDF format (Adobe acrobat reader required). If you really want a taster of what this magazine has to offer, then download a back issue.

The magazine has its fair share of advertisements - as have all magazines, but not in such a way as to degrade or detract from its excellent content. All of the ads are related to the topic of the magazine, so many people will find them useful when the time comes to source materials, services, or contractors.

Conclusion

Overall, I must say it was a pleasure to read Building For A Future - it was clear and beautifully produced, had good editorial, nice imagery, not to mention informative with great web support.

Christmas Shopping Time

Christmas can be a tough when you have to decide what to buy for that 'someone special' in your life. So, I have compiled a short list of some green and eco-friendly UK sites that may well be of interest or provide inspiration. This list is by no means comprehensive, just a taster of what is available.

Green Warehouse - A good selection, including a good choice of personal hygeine products.

The Green Shop - A massive array of sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Nigels Eco-store - Eco or environmentally-friendly stuff .. that doesn't cost the earth!

Alana Ecology - Mostly products for animal conservation - how about a bird table!

Origohome - Soft furnishings and other environmentally friendly organic and natural materials.

Green Building Store - Selection of natural paints and other building materials.

Select Solar - All things solar, from 12v chargers to gifts and gadgets.

The Bin Company - Bio degradable bags, compostable carrier bags and other waste solutions.

Spirit of Nature - Organic Clothing and Cosmetics.