Low Impact

Wasted food costs money as well as the environment

Most things that we buy or use go through a similar lifecycle.

1. The item is produced and transported to the customer
2. The item is used or consumed by the customer
3. The item is disposed of.

This general pattern is common to most things we consume, with minor variations. An apple is produced by a farmer and delivered to the supermarket. The customer eats the apple (so its useful life is pretty short!), and the apple core is thrown in the bin. A fridge is manufactured, delivered to the customer, and after 5 or 10 years of faithful service, sent to the tip.

Where things get a little absurd… Continue reading

Garnaut’s proposed emissions cuts for 2020 are surprisingly mild

The news broke a few days ago that the Australian government’s climate change policy advisor, Professor Ross Garnaut has proposed two emission reduction targets for Australia for 2020. He proposes a cut of 10% if the rest of the world gets on board to globally reduce emissions. If other countries choose not to sign up, he suggests a cut of 5% by 2020, with a final target of 60% by 2050.

I think a lot of people are surprised at these figures. Garnaut is on the record as saying… Continue reading

We could be using our roads as a source of renewable energy

I came across this story in a few different places – basically, researchers in Massachusetts are proposing that we could use our black asphalt roads as a power source. The concept is straightforward. The sun strikes the black surface of the road, and heats it up, the heat is transferred to a power generator (such as a Stirling Engine), and electricity is generated.

It has the feel of one of those ideas that makes you go “why didn’t I think of that?!”. Australians in particular Continue reading