Archive for July, 2011
New Label Indicates Products Made Using Wind Energy
From springwise.com:
“The not-for-profit organisation (WindMade™) aims to give eco-conscious consumers worldwide the option to choose products based on sustainability, and hope that informing customers about how goods are made will encourage more businesses to invest in wind power.”
“Supported by a team of large brands – Vestas Wind Systems, The Global Wind Energy Council, WWF, UN Global Compact, The LEGO Group, PwC and Bloomberg – WindMade™ urges other companies to follow their lead, and believes that these collaborations will ultimately offer consumers an opportunity to invest in a fully sustainable futures.”
Cool. Check out their video (because we all love watching videos):
WindMade™, unfortunately, will likely not be too suitable or relevant to us here in Singapore. Last I checked, there aren’t any wind farms in the vicinity currently, and we are huge supporters of local brands and such. In any case, I can totally get behind this labeling scheme.
More please!
Would You Stay in a Concrete Pipe on Holiday
From springwise.com:
“Combining the concept of pod-like hotel rooms, with the growing trend of eco-responsible tourism and the use of waste materials for construction, architects T3arc have created the 20 room Tubohotel made from recycled concrete pipes.”
According to the article, the Tubohotel (which is slightly difficult to navigate given it’s a Mexican site) was inspired by dasparkhotel in Germany. It offers a cheap space for anyone visiting Mexico City (Tubohotel is located 45min from the South of Mexico City), and is fully furnished with “a queen-sized bed, desk light and fan, with space for under bed storage”. You will, however, need to share “communal bathhouses onsite with private showers”.
In truth, these pods definitely look really comfortable. I do not think I would mind staying in there a couple of nights.
Mexico City anyone?
WOOOHOOO!!!! TESLA IS BACK IN SINGAPORE (as a parallel import)
MOTORISTS here who want to draw envious stares while feeling environmentally friendly will soon be able to get behind the wheel of the world’s first electric sports car.
The Tesla Roadster is being imported by a local firm after its American maker closed its Singapore office without clinching any sales.
Prices will start at about $520,000, including a Category B certificate of entitlement.
The 288-horsepower two-seater can go from 0-100kmh in four seconds, hit a top speed of 201kmh, and has a range of 500km in optimal driving conditions.
The firm, FSG Mobility Concepts, claims there will be a strong demand from luxury goods buyers keen to make a fashion statement while displaying their green credentials.
So far, about a dozen people have taken the Roadster for a test drive since FSG opened a showroom in Jalan Kilang Barat. No one has made a booking yet.
But there have been three pre-bookings for its Tesla Model S sedan, which will be available in early 2013 for about half the price of the Roadster.
Tesla Motors, the American manufacturer of the cars, pulled out in February, just half a year after it opened its office at Suntec City.
The withdrawal was due to its inability to get a tax break from the Government’s Transport Technology Innovation and Development Scheme, which would have brought Roadster prices down to about $250,000.
When asked why it thinks it can succeed where Tesla Motors did not, FSG said one of its selling points will be its after-sales service.
It said it is in a good position to offer this service because its parent company EV Hub has experience in converting petrol-driven cars to electric ones.
The firm, which has converted a Porsche 911, a BMW 5 series and a Kangoo goods van, has had ‘hundreds of people’ come asking for the same to be done to their combustion-engine cars, said its managing director David Chou, 41. He added that it can handle minor repairs to the Roadster and Model S, and will engage Tesla engineers for major repairs.
‘If you’re buying a car at that price point, you want to have some level of confidence in who’s servicing your car.’
Mr Chou said FSG, which will officially launch its showroom this evening, will buy the cars directly from Tesla for sale here.
About 1,700 Roadsters have been sold worldwide since their launch in 2008.
Talking about the car’s range, Mr Chou said: ‘You can get from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on $13 worth of electricity.’
Its lithium batteries can be charged by an ordinary household socket, but due to a lack of public charging infrastructure, the car is practical only for those living in landed property.
Tesla has said it will make 2,400 of the current version and stop after the end of this year, when its contract with Lotus Cars to make the bodywork ends.
Besides the Roadster, there are only a few electric cars here, most brought in under a $20 million, three-year government trial scheme for companies and organisations which began this year.
The scheme, comprising a test fleet of 90 electric vehicles, is to evaluate how suitable electric cars are for use here. Most test vehicles will be arriving between now and next year.
What’s the worst food for the environment?
Environmental Working Group conducted an in depth study about protein sources. We all know that meat, especially beef is a high emitter, but it’s lamb that’s the worse offender. And sadly for me, cheese comes in third (No really, it’s tragic…)
That being said, this is a good graph to pull out if you’re concerned about the carbon footprint of your plate.
Meanwhile in Denmark, people bring their bicycles on the train
We seriously love Denmark, and here’s another reason that makes us want to pack our things and move there (or just visit for a long time).
Since 2010, the train network in Denmark (S-Train) allows cyclists to bring their bikes on the train, for free. Now this would probably be considered insane this side of the world, but the idea is a “a growing success”, and they’re trying to make it even better. S-Train is remodeling 10 trains to accommodate twice as many bikes.
Take a look at the picture below (DAMN COOL):
What you’re looking at is a 1 way system, where cyclists get on board at 1 end and move out of the train at the other. Isn’t that just elegant? Another point to note is that cyclists are only allowed in the “Bike Compartment” located in the middle of the remodeled trains, while non-cyclists can board at the front and rear.
Here’s a video of how that works (in Danish):
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Here’s some stats from an analysis (from Cycling Embassy of Denmark):
- A third of all passengers have taken advantage of the possibility of bringing their bike on the S-train for free
- 91% are very positive about the idea whether they take their bike on the S-train themselves or not. Moreover, it makes even more people choose an eco-friendly means of transport if they combine bike and train.
- A whole 27% of the cyclists state that they wouldn’t have taken the S-train if they couldn’t bring their bike for free.”
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I’m trying to imagine how this can be done in Singapore.
(All sensitivities to the existing woes of our MRT of course; don’t start a riot just yet).
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On a related note, check out Cycling in Singapore
Instep Carbon & Sustainability Programme
Olive Ventures is the licencee for the Instep Programme in Singapore and South East Asia.
The Instep program is a science based carbon accounting, monitoring and certification process. It is used by individuals, organizations and events to measure and quantify their carbon footprint, and assist in the monitoring and reporting of their sustainability efforts. It was, for example, deployed in the recently concluded Marina iLight Festival 2011 in Singapore.
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We provide the following services:
- For Organisations and Projects: Instep Carbon Footprint and Sustainability Programme (in accordance to WRI, WBCSD, ISO 14064)
- For Events: Instep Sustainable Events Programme, or ISEP (in accordance to BS 8901)
- For Products and Services: Instep Lifecycle and Labeling Programme
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Instep programs have an will continue to be adopted globally. We are part of a global network with offices in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, UK and Canada.
For example, the ISEP program was used in the following events: Oxfam Trailwalker, Eco Tourism Conf, Dual Triathlon, EVANZ,NCEE, Just 4 Kids Festival, Whangamata Jazz Festival, i Light Festival Singapore, NZ Junior Soccer Championship, Eco Day, Australia University Games, Canada Green Building Councils Conf , TED.
All Instep programmes are based on internationally recognised standards, and scientific foundation (WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol / ISO 14064) and real data. We provide tools and resources to help you measure, manage, mitigate and report your greenhouse gas emissions with credibility and integrity.
Get in touch to find out more.
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Related notes:
- If you are an SME and looking to attain ISO 14064 certification, you may want to check out the QUality for Enterprises through STandards (QUEST) Programme from SPRING.
- If you are an SGX listed company, you should take a look at the SGX’ recent announcement about sustainability reporting.
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Instep Carbon & Sustainability Programme Brochure
Here’s a trick to help you buy healthier food at the supermarket
It’s quite simple really: Use a cart, not a basket.
Good advice from www.bakadesuyo.com:
Researchers report the simple action of flexing one’s arm — which one does to pick up a basket — increases the likelihood of making impulse purchases we’ll later regret.
“Simply flexing one’s arm leads to a preference for vices over virtues, and for smaller, earlier rewards over larger, later monetary rewards,” a research team led by Bram Van den Bergh of Erasmus University in the Netherlands reports in the Journal of Marketing Research. It appears this routine body movement induces an “I-want-this-now” impulse, weakening our ability to think long term.
Crunching the numbers, they found “The odds of purchasing vice products at the cashier for a basket shoppers is 6.84 times the odds of purchasing vices for a cart shopper, all other things being equal.”
The act of flexing our arm to bring something appealing closer to us morphs into an unconscious belief that an object we are drawing close to us must be desirable.
“We propose that we may not always approach rewards because we want them,” the researchers write, “but that we may want rewards because we are approaching them.
We’ll be on this week’s episode of Channel News Asia’s “Saving Gaia”
Sweet.
ACT. will be featured on this week’s (actually, it’s TONIGHT) episode of Saving Gaia, where they will be talking about Greening the Workplace. They’ll be featuring some things that we do.
Cheers to CNA producer Sheryl and the production crews for making this happen.
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Timings:
Wed, 13 July 2011, 8 pm and 11:30 pm
Thu, 14 July 2011, 1 pm
Fri, 15 July 2011, 6 pm
10 Foods for a Healthy Brain
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From Yahoo! Green:
1. Apples: Eating an apple a day protects the brain from oxidative damage that causes neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This magical nutrient that acts as protection is quercetin, which is a phytonutrient.
2. Asparagus: Asparagus is rich in folic acid, which is essential for the metabolism of the long chain fatty acids in your brain.
3. Lean Beef: Lean beef is rich in vitamin B12, iron and zinc. These vitamins and minerals have been shown to maintain a healthy neural tissue.
4. Blueberries and strawberries: Studies show that people who eat berries improve their memory and their motor skills. In addition, their antioxidant properties can protect your brain from the oxidative process.
5. Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate offers incredible concentration powers. It is a very powerful antioxidant containing natural stimulants that increase the production of feel-good endorphins. Trick: You need to find dark chocolate with less than 10 grams of sugar per serving for optimal benefits.
6. Salmon: Salmon contains omega-3 fatty acids, which studies have shown to be essential for brain function.
7. Dried oregano: Certain spices have powerful antioxidant properties. In several studies, oregano was shown to have 40 times more antioxidant properties than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges, and 4 times more than that of blueberries or strawberries.
8. Walnuts: Walnuts are rich in protein and contain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins E and B6, which all promote healthy neural tissue.
9. Whole grains: Whole grains deliver fiber and vitamin E that help promote cardiovascular health, which helps improve the circulation to the brain.
10. Yogurt: Yogurt and other dairy foods are filled with protein and vitamin B that are essential to improve the communication between nerve cells.
