Carbon Footprint

Organic Fertilisers

afinder — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 05:17:08 +0000

This is one for the keen gardeners amongst you.

Organic fertilisers do work and don’t cost as much as you’d think. Total Grower Services, plant nutritionist and pest management experts, have been pushing the benefits of biological farming to Australian growers for the past 10 years. Now, with proven track records in banana horticulture, paw paw horticulture, broadacre, table grapes, wine grapes and sugar cane they’re itching to get their Petrik products out to the general public.

Read about how they saved Tyrell’s Wines from an overspray of herbicide on their wine grape crop.

Green Electricity – So It Is Overpriced

afinder — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:34:57 +0000

Queensland Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek says customers are being overcharged for the cost of gas-fired electricity.

Mr Langbroek says the ‘greener power’ is pushing up the price.

“Most people are willing to support green power as long as it’s priced fairly,” he said.

“But there doesn’t seem to be any effort from this long term Labor Government to put downward pressure on electricity prices.”

Energy minister Stephen Robertson says Queenslanders pay less for their electricity than some other states – and Mr Langbroek is wrong.

“Proof of that is the so-called ‘green power component’ of electricity bills represents just 0.3 per cent of the last retail price increase for electricity in south-east Queensland,” he said.

“It is not correct to say that this is having a significant distorting effect on electricity prices.”

Our Say

The government are a bunch of lying idiots. Queensland has one of the highest costs of electricity anywhere I have ever lived. Proof in point: a friend of mine moved from FNQ to Adelaide so he’s swapped using air con for using both heating and air con – his electricity bill was cut in half and that’s for a family of four.

And back to a point I made a while ago. It’s the electricity companies who are going to go down the pan if they don’t start investing in green technologies so why should consumers pay more for that investment? Surely we should pay less so that more people take it up, thus reducing everybody’s carbon footprint and allowing the electricity companies to move away from coal fired production.

Carbon Pawprint

afinder — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:09:19 +0000

If you own a cat (or are a very clever cat yourself) and you want to know how to help the environment while helping yourself then how about some green cat litter? It’s not actually green, it’s kind of gray-ish. And is made from 100% recycled paper. I’m not particularly keen on most cat litters because you always get that vile smell of ammonia coming out of used litter unless you use that nice crystal stuff. Now I used to use that crystal stuff and very happy I was too but I’m not joking when I say that this recycled paper litter is better. It doesn’t smell, it’s bio-degradable so you can dig it into your garden. And it’s substantially cheaper.

Have a look at their website: http://www.breeders-choice.com.au/

And no, I don’t work for them. It’s just good.

Environmentally Friendly Flooring

afinder — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:11:51 +0000

Many people don’t know it but bamboo is an environmentally sound option if you’re looking to lay a timber floor.

Bamboo flooring is a smart choice for the environment as it is a green and sustainable product harvested from controlled bamboo forests. It takes one tenth of the time it takes traditional timbers to grow to harvesting size. And is manufactured using non-toxic glues and water-based coatings in a waste free environment.

Solid bamboo flooring has 6mm of solid bamboo from the top surface of the floor to the tongue and groove, whereas floating floors have only 3mm or 4mm of timber on the top surface. Therefore bamboo flooring has between 50% and 100% more surface thickness that can be refinished prior to the replacement of the floor. This could be as much as an additional 10 to 15 years more life for your floor compared to a floating timber floor.

Why Pay More For Green Electricity?

afinder — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:30:11 +0000

Hands up who thinks electricity companies are ripping people off by making you pay more for green electricity?

It’s in their best interests to invest in the technology anyway. Otherwise, when current fuel runs out or becomes cost prohibitive they will all be out of jobs. It’s about time governments gave them a kick up the balls and made them all acknowledge this. If anything, green electricity should be cheaper to encourage more people to use it which would then increase their revenue streams to further invest in the technology.

Artificial Trees to Cut Carbon

afinder — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:27:51 +0000

Engineers say a forest of 100,000 “artificial trees” could be deployed within 10 to 20 years to help soak up the world’s carbon emissions.

The trees are among three geo-engineering ideas highlighted as practical in a new report.

The authors from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers say that without geo-engineering it will be impossible to avoid dangerous climate change.

The report includes a 100-year roadmap to “decarbonise” the global economy.

Sharks Use Snot To Hunt Prey

afinder — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:23:19 +0000

Nothing to do with your carbon footprint I know but this article is a must…

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2084040.htm?enviro

Green Builders

afinder — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:22:41 +0000

I’ve been looking for a company to build me an energy efficient house which will keep my carbon footprint as low as possible without me going off-grid. Queensland Home Builders are a Sunshine Coast project builder who have come up with the goods. They operate from the Gold Coast, through Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, right up to the Whitsundays in the North. Steve and Lisa have been really helpful from the start, giving me suggestions and innovations rather than me having to come up with everything. And best still, they’re aiming at the lower end of the market. That’s poor people like me who haven’t had parents handing them down properties that cost $2 in 1960 but are now worth heaps.

So, thanks Steve and Lisa, and keep up the good work.

Carbon Smart

afinder — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:48:13 +0000

Has anybody seen that website that’s being advertised on TV – www.carbonsmart.com.au? They’re basically paying landowners to revegetate their land that the government has previously paid them to clear. About time too. Doesn’t take a genius to realise that clearing land in a climate as harsh as Australia’s is going to lead to everything turning to dust and either blowing away or washing away in the rain storms. Anyway, I’m going to look into it further. Might be worth buying a cheap block out bush and planting it out.

Australians Have the Biggest Carbon Footprints

afinder — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:58 +0000

Did you know..?

Australians, (then Americans) on average have the largest carbon footprint in the world. Basically, this is because of our huge dependence on fossil fuel and most Australians have ginormous homes compared with the rest of the world.

Read this at Zero Your Carbon.

One of the problems is though that we’re subjected to the most ridiculously high electricity prices and are then offered the option of paying more for carbon offsets. Hmmm, now I think that the electricity companies are taking the proverbial a bit there. Especially considering when we run out of fossil fuel all their electric will have to come from renewable energy sources anyway. So, in effect, they’re asking us to pay for their investment in something that they are going to need otherwise they’ll go out of business. Sounds like a rip off that the government should do something about.