| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Barefoot Andrew |
Are you a carbon neutral business?Various big businesses seem to be jumping on the green bandwagon and brandishing themselves as 'carbon neutral' - Sky for example. But what about us small businesses? Should we be doing similarly? Is your business carbon neutral? Would you consider publicising it for the benefit of your business profile?As a software engineer, the main resource requirement of my work is electricity - and since I work from home, and buy green volts from Good Energy, then does that make my business vaguely carbon neutral? I'd be wary of making a song and dance about it though. My gas-fired central heating isn't carbon neutral, and whilst it's heating the house it's also heating the front bedroom - the office. Occasionally I have to see clients; my 2.5L Volvo certainly is not carbon neutral. And if a new software venture takes off I'll be thinking about new machinery purchases... not very green either. What about you and your business? A. |
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| jema |
I am not about to claim carbon neutrality, there is actually a green datacenter somewhere, but I am far more comfortable doing my business on the basis of competence than greenness.
I certainly would not want to be seen making the carbon neutral claim and then having to retract it. |
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| AnneandMike |
It's largely a con created by purchasing so-called "carbon offsets" which are as unproven as faeiries. Better to be completely honest and publicise what you are doing - the electricity from good energy is definitely a point to make (might even encourage others to consider it). | ||
| OP |
Your 2.5L Volvo may not be carbon neutral, but it probably does more MPG than a Toyota Prius. | ||
| OP |
Maybe you should try to work out how much carbon you actually create (aren't there websites which help do that?). When you know that you can then make better decisions about where in the business the carbon is really being created and how you compare to, say, IBM etc. I quite like the idea of running the business on green electricity ... but I wouldn't publicise that because you are just asking to be caught out somewhere else. My business is similar to yours, our main raw materials are electricity and chocolate (organic fair trade ... but still a lot of food miles...). | ||
| Barefoot Andrew |
A. |
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| boisdevie1 |
I'm not carbon neutral but doing my best to reduce my overall effect on the environment by:
Recycling Composting Food scraps to next doors chickens Buying local wherever possible from small suppliers Buying free range eggs, bacon and sausage Energy efficient bulbs Ecover stuff 30 degree wash etc etc. |
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| Fee |
Tis something I've thought about too, Andrew, but although we buy green energy and have a fairly green car (159g/km carbon emissions and we only use one car), I still wouldn't like to make such claims. | ||
| Maxwell Smart |
Carbon Neutral is a marketing ploy and band aid designed for mass consumption. Its not really a valid way of combating climate change and can lull people into a false sense of security.
Wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole in otherwords. |
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| Barefoot Andrew |
Meanwhile Ecological Hosting - http://www.ecologicalhosting.com - are offering environmentally friendly hosting starting from £20+VAT / year apparently. Saw their ad in Clean Slate; I've not yet had a proper rummage around their website.
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| Fee |
Doesn't really say what they mean by ethical hosting from my quick scan 
Other than them being 'ethical vegetarians' and having a 'virtually veggie dog'
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| dpack |
i redistribute a lot of tree seeds with a reasonable measure of success
i was looking at some of the oaks from 4 years back this morning and they could make it 
does this help ? some of us on here have done a fair bit to reduce our carbon use but we are few and they are many and i dont think a lifetime tree planting will make much difference but it makes me happier |
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| yelloh |
Speaks someone who has obviously never owned a 2.5L volvo. Mine was an auto and struggled to get 25mpg. I get your point that the prius mpg isnt great but perhaps if we are serious about getting the best mpg we should all buy micro cars. Got some details of a french model that has a 3 litre tank which does about 450kms.
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| boisdevie1 |
Some modern cars like the VW Polo 1.4 diesel get around 65mpg plus. Which actually works out better than a Prius. So perhaps we should all get more efficient cars.....
then use them a damn site less than we do. I'm sure many people could cut down their vehicle use. But here on downsizer I suspect many of us already do that. Sadly we're in the minority. |
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| cinders |
We have always cut own car use,Can't afford the petrol
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