Get Paid for Reducing Your Carbon Footprint.

It’s always nice to come across environmental innovations that can be used worldwide.

The website MyEex provides a monetary incentive for consumers to reduce their carbon emissions.

A simple carbon exchange program, all you have to do is reduce your carbon footprint and subsequently be rewarded with credits that can be converted into pure hard cash. As much of us all may want to improve our footprint, the colour of money is sometimes a bit more powerful than relying on ones conscience.

All you need to do to participate is create a user profile on their site (free, of course), and using data from your last 12 months of energy bills (electricity and heating) the site will calculate your base usage.

From this point, using numerous tips and a variety of information sources (including participating in a very social manner) you seek to reduce your energy bills. Each month you’ll enter your power usage and you’ll subsequently have any reductions certified and awarded with Certified Emissions Reductions (known as CERs) which are tradable on the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).

Working on one CER being equal to one ton of carbon reduced (at a price of between $10 – $25 USD), your earnings will be paid via Pay Pal.

Definitely worth a try!

Simon Turner

How to Build a Greener Home: The EcoFaceBrick

EcoFaeBrick turns cattle waste into bricks that are greener, 20% stronger and 20% lighter than regular clay bricks.

This Indonesian group was established in early 2009 to deal with the problems surrounding excessive waste in farming areas. From this, the ecological and economical solution of the Cow Dung Brick was born.

Instead of using wood fire the dung bricks are fired using biogas, helping to further reduce carbon emissions (up to 1692 tons of CO2 per year – the equivalent of turning 269 cars into hybrids). A further benefit is that by using 75% of processed cattle waste, 53 hectares of productive agriculture land is able to be preserved.

There’s no visible difference between a traditional brick and the dung brick (see the image below) —with no nasty smell or health hazards.

It’s a simple, practical and worthwhile idea.

Website: www.ecofaebrick.com

Simon Turner

Cascade Green: The Beer That is Good for Everyone!

Beer is often good at the best of times (to drink that is) – and of course in moderation – but the Tasmanian brewery Cascade has gone one better and brewed, full-flavored, preservative free, low-carb beer made from pure Tasmanian ingredients that is 100% carbon offset and certified Australian Government Greenhouse Friendly™.

The emissions that haven’t already been reduced have been offset through accredited offset programmes.

A beer that gives back – definitely worth trying.

Visit cascadegreen.com.au

Simon Turner

Clear the Air

Earth Hour Launched

Simon Turner

Coming Clean: Flying Carbon Neutral

 As part of Marquette Turner’s committment to transforming the way real estate businesses operate, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint.

The major way that we harm the environment is through air travel.  Therefore, through carbon off-setting schemes we ensure that such travel is 100% carbon neutral.

Since 01 Jan 08

We have flown: 4910km

We have offset: 1.507 T of CO2

Face the Facts: Where the Water Flows

§  30% of water use in the home is in the shower.

§  Having a bath can use twice as much water as a shower.

§  Leave the tap running and you will waste 15 litres of water a minute.

§  Retro showerheads use about 20 litres of water per minute.

 §  AAA rated showerheads use about 11 litres of water per minute.

Simon Turner

What Does Your iPod & Kyoto Have in Common?

 To understand the deadlock in the debate on global climate change, look no further than your iPod.

The vast majority of the world’s MP3 players are made in China, where the main power source is coal. Manufacturing a single MP3 player releases about 7.7kg of planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

iPods, along with thousands of other goods churned out by Chinese factories, from toys to rolled steel, pose a question that is becoming an issue in the climate-change debate. If a gadget is made in China by an American company and exported and used by consumers from Stockholm to São Paulo should the Chinese government be held responsible for the carbon released in manufacturing it? Present agreements such as Kyoto look at emissions on a country-by-country basis, requiring participating nations to reduce greenhouse gases released within their borders.

In other words, the manufacturing nation pays for the pollution. Many are arguing, however, that the next global climate treaty should take into account a nation’s emissions “consumption.”  

Experts, environmentalists and scientists argue that the emissions are embedded in goods that move around the world through trade.  Therefore if Australia imports iPods from China, Australian’s should share some responsibility for the pollution produced in making them.

In other words, judgment should be based on a “consumer pays” criteria.

Simon Turner

Where Your Water Goes

Here is a simple breakdown of the average Australian household’s water consumption.

Global Warming in Layman’s Terms

The average surface temperature has warmed one degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) during the last century, according to the National Research Council.

The temperatures were relatively unchanged from 1880 to 1910, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

They rose till about 1945, cooled until about 1975 and have risen steadily to present day.There are several possible reasons for the warming, scientists say.

A change in the Earth’s orbit or the intensity of the sun’s radiation could change, triggering warming or cooling.

The reason most cited for the current warming trend is an increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases, which are in the atmosphere naturally and help keep the planet’s temperature at a comfortable level.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, for instance, has increased by 35 percent since the dawn of the industrial age, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, commonly referred to as the IPCC.

The presence of methane is now 151 percent above pre-industrial levels, but the rate of increase has slowed in recent decades, according to the EPA.

Meanwhile, nitrous oxide increased by about 18 percent during the past 200 years.

Many scientists and experts who have studied global warming believe the increase is primarily the result of human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, emissions from vehicles and the clearing of forests.

Quite simply, for the last 30 years, there’s no way there’s anything natural that can explain it.

There are, however, skeptics who are less convinced of the role of human’s in climate change, arguing that the current warming trend is the result of natural variability, where a planet goes through phases of warming and cooling (as is the case of any fluid-covered planet) and thus the human contribution to it is minimal.

The greatest point of contention is the possible implications for future political and economic policies for the world’s nations.

The lower end of the range could cause more intense hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and flooding, Schneider said. The higher end could lead to the catastrophes commonly associated with the visions of Hollywood filmmakers.

Therefore, whilst scientists cannot agree exactly how much the planet is going to warm up, most are convinced with major certainty that it is indeed going to get warmer.

Simon Turner

The Greenhouse Effect in Layman’s Terms

 The science of how the Earth is warmed is relatively straight-forward.

Energy and light from sun go through the Earth’s atmosphere and strike its surface, which warms the planet.

The Earth emits the energy, but it is trapped in the atmosphere by naturally occurring greenhouse gases — like water vapor and carbon dioxide — which help maintain a warm, comfortable temperature for life to exist.

The earth’s temperature is generally about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (about 16 degrees Celsius).

Without the naturally occurring greenhouse gases, the temperature would plunge to about 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius).

OZone Layer Hole Closing

“This is the smallest hole for a decade”.

The ozone layer is on track to a full recovery, with the latest sets of satellite images showing the hole is shrinking.

“Apart from the (unusual) 2002 hole, this is the smallest hole for at least a decade,” CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric scientist, Dr Paul Fraser, said.

The hole in the ozone layer has been progressively shrinking since the phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halon gases in the 1990s.

“I think our long term prediction is still basically out to 2060 before we’ll get long-term recovery,” Dr Fraser said.

“We’ve got this large reservoir of CFCs and halons sitting in the atmosphere, slowly leaking into the stratosphere where it does the ozone destruction,” Dr Fraser said.“The slow leakage means it will around for a long time. We’re paying for the sins of the past.”

He added that increased levels of greenhouse gases are likely to push delay an ozone recovery by a few decades.  Simon Turner

 

Saving Energy When You Travel: Cars

Try to combine trips in the car.

Several short trips begun when the engine is cold creates unnecessary air pollution.

Saving Energy in the Home: Microwave

When heating a small meal, use a microwave as they use substantially less energy than a conventional oven.

Saving Energy in the Home: Computer

When next buying a computer, consider a laptop as they use considerably less power than a desktop.

Also, be sure to unplug the computer when it’s not in use, as 75% of the power used by home electronics is when the unit is turned off but still plugged in.

Carbon Off-Setting

Marquette Turner has committed to offsetting carbon omissions from the travelling we do and we have been thrilled to use the new carbon offset facility when booking flights through Qantas (Virgin Blue offer a similar scheme).

The amount of carbon produced for each flight is calculated and for only a couple of dollars (depending on where you are travelling) you can offset your emissions and do your bit for the planet.

Simon Turner introduced the “Clear The Air” strategy into our company early in 2007 and Marquette Turner’s commitment to carbon offsets is just one area in which “Clear The Air” aims to improve the environment.

We also have strict policies around the type of paper we use, preferring recycled products wherever possible. We also avoid mass mail outs and restrict the amount we print to help do what we can to create a greener world. 

Our Year 2020 home competition will be held for the first time in 2008 and will involve Primary School children coming up with the best concept and design for a green home of the future. We are incredibly excited and look forward to releasing full details in the new year.

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