Be a GreenBiz Hero

At first glance, Going Green in business may seem expensive, but in fact, many businesses are finding that the rewards are tangible and often surprising. With power costs increasing each year, a good look at what you use and some changes will soon show up on your bottom line. Any business using premises, whether owned or leased, will benefit by a common sense approach.

Lighting should be one of the first areas to investigate, so consider using compact fluoro bulbs, task lighting and timing switches to turn off lights when the area is not used. Space heating is a big user, so look at where hot or cool air escapes. Is your business air conditioning working overtime to heat or cool the entry to your business? If you offer outside seating at a street cafe, could you provide some cosy blankets instead of gas heating - and maybe a funky message about "sharing a coffee and a blanket".

Does your business need instant hot water all day long? One business renting premises discovered that the domestic sized water heater at the premises was set to provide hot water each day seven days per week. As most of the work only required cold water, hot water could be provided by a fast boil electric kettle, and the hot water system was deactivated (with the agreement of the landlord), saving a significant amount in the annual electricity account plus greenhouse gases.

Be a GreenBiz Hero - turn an energy challenge into a positive statement about your business!

(Pic VJNET ex Flickr) 

Green-It-Yourself

So you want to make some renewable changes – but not sure where and how to start? Doing it alone is not easy, and just reading the literature may not be enough. One organisation, the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), has a long reputation in Australia and New Zealand for promoting sustainable technology and practice. Groups meet in most of the capital cities and in New Zealand and share what worked, and what didn’t!. The wealth of experiences is also shared in the ATA flagship magazine, RENEW, with practical articles on solar, wind, micro-hydro, and sustainable transport for the home and small business user, focusing on real-life applications.

As a fairly non-technical unit dweller, I was somewhat unsure when I joined ATA last year. I soon found the welcome mat was out, and everyone’s knowledge and experience is valued. Now I’m on the committee of Central Sydney group, helping to organise speakers. To find out about the group in your area, see www.ata.org.au, or contact me at this blog for the Central Sydney group details.

Simply Solar

Solar is the flavour of the month in Australia with the 3rd International Solar Cities congress being held in Adelaide from the 17th to the 21st February. This is a major international conference and it’s being held in one of the five designated Australian solar cities, which are trialling solar energy options, smart metering and energy efficiency. The other areas are Townsville (in Queensland), Blacktown (NSW), Alice Springs and Central Victoria. These projects are partnerships with the local communities, industry, electricity companies and the Australian government.

Considering how much sunshine Australia receives, we use an extraordinarily small amount of thermal and photovoltaic solar systems. Germany, on the other side of the world and with much cloudier skies, is a global leader in producing electricity from the sun, with 15 photovoltaic plants employing about 40,000 people. Certainly, one motive for this investment is energy generation, but the other is technical know-how, and Germany has developed an industry already exporting solar panels to supply the growing demand around the world.

Australia has ridden on the “back of the coal train” for too long now, and we need to make concerted efforts to reclaim our position as a world leader in developing and using solar technology. The Solar cities project and the conference are to be congratulated, as well as Solar Systems plant planned for Mildura. Let’s look forward to the time when most cities and towns in Australia derive heat and power from a very warm and very abundant Aussie sun.

picture UpMarket Pelican Town (actually Stockton) by Yewenyi ex Flickr

Ten oil filled bottles sitting on the wall..

When most people make a prediction about the future of oil, then it's usually, at best, an educated guess. When the chief executive of Shell, the world's second largest oil company makes a statement, then we should all listen VERY carefully. Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive, is reported to have said in an e-mail to the company’s staff this week that demand for oil and gas would outstrip conventional supplies within seven years. 

If we accept that this man has the best available information to make this statement, then we have several options. At one extreme, we can do very little, and after seven more "fat" years, there will be seven very lean years. Or we make a plan to be off our oil addiction within the next seven years. And that means a total rethink of transport, not just a substitution with a fuel made from trees and plants. That would mean a choice between driving and eating - only some get to drive and only some get to eat!

How and why do we move ourselves and goods around? How can we achieve a similar, or even better result, without traditional transport? Prince Charles appeared at a conference recently as a hologram - removing the need for transport not just for him but for his entourage. Being there in person is great, but we can achieve quite a lot with technology. Quotes are now done by viewing the site from a phone video, video conferencing is used for meetings, on-line training provides services to suit varying time frames, and job interviews can be held by phone and by Skype. And let's get creative with travel - In Japan, there is a mock-up of a working Dutch village, so people can experience the culture, without actually going to Europe. This is just the start. We still want to go out, have fun and new experiences. Being packed like sardines into an aircraft and standing in security queues at airports is an experience, but very few people consider this as having fun.

And if we do travel, then consider what actually needs to be taken with you. If you are relocating, then prune your possessions to what can not be replaced in the new location (give them away or sell them before you go). Why does the fridge need to go? It's often the best one for that particular home. Think ahead to a time when the cost of transporting anything could be seven times what it is today. How much would you transport if the removal cost was seven times higher?

Imagine a world where transport is much much much more expensive and rethink your pattern of moving around. Are you in easy reach of shops and services? Can you easily reach those who definitely need a hug at regular intervals? It's all about to change and the seven year clock is ticking away....

A Celtic Philosopher completes the circle of his life

I learned this week of the sudden death of John O'Donohue, author of the best selling book Anam Cara, which is an exploration of the way we live. It's a special work and resonates with those who question our modern way of life.    John delves into our understanding of life and our emotions as we face difficult times. For me, a pragmatic person from a business background, the book was an about turn.  While John talks about our spiritual nature, he very much aligns with Celtic understanding, of a universe where our natural rhythm forms our spiritual connection, where logic is only one aspect of our being. 
I have been in small business ventures most of my working life and now use my experience to mentor others in growing their businesses.  I have a small team who teach skills such as marketing and business planning. What we also teach is that business is a circle, and not linear.  The relationships with clients are best when they repeated and when there is interaction.  The best team is one that is engaged and involved, the best products are those that are sustainable, and can be re-used, re-made or re-cycled.  The linear economy was about - take, make and use, then throw away.  We now talk about the cyclic economy, and I believe that we need this new approach to all aspects of our modern living and working.  

“The Celtic Imagination” loved the circle. John’s work in Anam Cara is a reflection, rather than an analysis.  It is not a linear, logical thought process, but a circular exploration of what it means to live, to work, to experience external life, to find our interior selves, to age and to die.  Anam Cara means soul friend, which is not the “soul friend” or soul mate that we understand from romantic novels, but a transfiguration of our own deeper self, and an awareness of a deeper connection with others.  John O’Donohue uses the Celtic traditional stories, not to convert us to believing in fairies, or other magical forms, but to release in us a new sense of our own depth, an expanded sense of time, and powerful ways to re-connect with the natural world. 

In this modern time that we now find ourselves, living and working in cities, disengaged from the land and with scarcity of time for friendships, the message of Anam Cara is most significant.  We live in a linear world, where we take from the planet what we need, use it, and throw away the waste.  John O’Donohue has used the Celtic tradition of Anam Cara, to show us how to be a soul friend to ourselves and to our world, and how to transfigure our way of life from a disconnected line to a connected circle of belonging.    

John's legacy and his reflective presence endures.

Power to the people

Just like the early days of the computer industry, when we had to learn a whole new language, terms like CHP and CCHP will soon become part of our vocabulary.

CHP (combined heat and power), also called cogeneration, is the production of electricity and the use of the heat produced in that process.

CCHP (Combined cooling heat an power), also called trigeneration, is the production of electricity and the use of heat and cooling from the same process.

The main advantage of distributed CHP systems is that the waste heat, normally uneconomic to use in centralised power plants, can be used for heating, thus increasing the total efficiency of the primary energy source - which is mainly natural gas. And this results in significant savings over conventional energy production in energy use and in greenhouse gas emissions.

Unless the primary energy source is renewable, the CHP systems are not renewable energy, but they may, in some cases, be the most energy efficient option, especially for cold climates to heat houses and apartment buildings.

CHP and CCHP may be done in very large systems, however, the real interest in Europe is the micro CHP and Micro CCHP systems for domestic use which are undergoing field trials in Europe and the UK, where there is existing infrastructure for supply of gas. But investors are wary, mainly due to uncertainties around the price of carbon, which could change the dynamic and make the investments uneconomic.

So the UK looks like going nuclear, when a simple and well tested option already exists, and could be implemented for a smaller investment.

ICT – the bad and the quite surprising steps!

Until recently, the PC and electronics industry was heavily based on the “throw away” mindset, in a continuous loop of updated models and sleek new gadgets. And as such, according to recent articles, the ICT industry was outpacing the aviation industry in carbon pollution.

The bad is the growing need for power for high capacity servers and data centres, the inefficiency of equipment on permanent standby, the endless waste of old mobile phones and computer components, and the lack of safe ways to recycle source metals from this waste material. But there are good signs of change on the horizon as some major companies are now taking new initiatives – some surprising steps!

New products to optimise data storage and to manage standby are now becoming available, with obvious cost saving benefits for those who take this path. An IBM study showed that power consumption savings of up to 44% could be derived from server consolidation. Cooling efficiency and the green grid are the other buz words to google.

In terms of e-waste in Australia, there is no national approach, but you may find the site http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/computers helpful. Some computer companies are now taking back older models, and leading this in both the US and Australia is Dell computers. According to their Australian web site, Dell will take back any old computer for a small fee of $36 in Metro areas. Their website says to Contact Dell Recycling on 1800 465 890 or email recycling_dell_au@dell.com or for more information.www.dell.com/recycle.

Most of us work with ICT equipment every day and we take all the advantages for granted -well that is – when the stuff works! Being mindful of the long term consequences is not just a surprising step by companies, it's one we can take every day. Just think - the carbon you release is your bad karma, the carbon re-used builds our future.