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Thursday, 6 July 2017

When You Realise You've Been Investing in Tobacco for Years

I had a bit of a shock this week.

I have been investing in several funds for some time, and when I delved into what they had invested in, I was pretty shocked.

A large chunk of the fund I'd invested in seemed to be buying stock of Tobacco companies and god knows what else.

I do not see a long-term future in the products they make, let alone condone the health, social and environmental issues tobacco causes around the world.

Starting today, I have begun to research the principles behind socially responsible investing.

In the next few weeks, I hope to try to understand where I have been going wrong and to choose a fund manager who has some dignity left.

I'll let you know of my progress here, once I've investigated where I should switch to.






Friday, 19 October 2012

Big Brand Data Centres - How They Look To Lower Cost and Energy Consumption


With an increasing amount of business being performed over complex computer networks, the need for larger data centres is becoming more and more pronounced. One of the associated problems with this increasing demand is the higher energy requirements needed to continue operations and the higher energy bills faced as a consequence.

A number of businesses are looking at new and increasingly radical ways of powering their data centres and reducing the amount of expenditure being spent on energy. This has become a particularly important issue as cloud technology begins to emerge as the technological format of the future and a greater amount of information needs to be stored in data centres.


Energy Consumption

Recent reports highlight the fact that energy consumption by data centres and their server racks has increased by 63% over the last year, putting them under financial pressure and raising concerns over how environmentally friendly they are.

With this statistic in danger of increasing in the future, it’s an element that industry insiders are keen to tackle as soon as possible. This has been illustrated by recent moves by Microsoft who are aiming to ensure their public image is not tarnished by accusations of huge energy wastage at their data centres.

Statistics show that the world consumes around 38 GW of power in data centres, a figure that has to change in the future. Though the importance of such centres is expected to grow as cloud technology becomes more and more popular, the actual energy consumed is hoped to remain stable.

Tackling Wasted Energy

Experts have proposed a number of measures that could pave the way for lower energy consumption in the future. One of the most interesting ideas is the use of low energy ARM processors, such as those found in the new Raspberry Pi devices. ARM processors are being developed to run low energy servers that can be packed into high density data centres – although they are a way off being able to power large server systems. As they continue to develop and become more prevalent, with a larger development base, they may be the technology that alters the way we store data in the future.

Google have also given a potential glimpse into the future with their recent decision to power an Oklahomadata centre with wind energy. This follows moves by the firm to improve their green image through the use of other alternative energy sources. As more and more companies come under fire for wasteful or poor environmental policies it seems as if energy sources like wind power may become the preferred means of keeping growing data centres running.

This will happen in one of the two ways mentioned above. Either technology will be developed which runs more efficiently and in a smaller space or cleaner sources of energy will be used to power the centres.

If not, the industry will either become unsustainable or tarnished by such a negative environmental image. In an age that’s increasingly concerned with eco issues, this would lead the overall industry to suffer financially – something which institutions are unsurprisingly keen to avoid.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Recycled Beer Bottle Glasses - Grolsch Goblet

I have not started Christmas shopping yet - but have been looking for great eco-friendly gifts to buy for people over the last few days.

I found these beer glass goblets, made from recycled beer bottles.

I am sure you could fashion one yourself if you hang around in a high street after most Friday nights in the UK.

Probably a bit too dangerous to do that, so these glasses make an unusual gift for the beer lover, as well as giving a good recycling message.

My personal favourite is the tumblers without the labels. Labels seem silly to keep, as they will not last long in a dishwasher.

Thursday, 29 April 2010

Free Showersave with Savewatersavemoney

free showersave
www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk are giving away free showersave attachments for your shower so you can start saving money by reducing your water usage.

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Competition: Win a Wattson Energy Meter

Would you like to track how much energy you are using in your home? Well the Watson Eenrgy Meter can provide this service!

win a wattson

The Watson provides is a great gadget that gives a useful useful indication of your current energy consumption levels with different coloured lights. Blue indicates low energy use, whilst red indicates extreme power sapping appliances are in use!

Watson Energy Meter Competition
Win a Watson with Uswich Energy

Available to buy at the following gadget retailers:
I want one of those £99.99
Firebox £99.99

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Sony Ericsson Elm has Green Credentials

Sony Ericsson have expanded it's GreenHeart portfolio with the Sony Erisscon Elm, which is due for relase shortly.

The Sony Ericsson Elm phone will benefit the environment and help reduce CO2 emissions through:
• Recycled plastics
• E-manual in phone
• Free from hazardous chemicals
• Low power consumption charger (EP300 GreenHeart™)
• Walk Mate eco application
• Green calculator
• Minimized packaging

The Elm will be shipped with a GreenHeart™ personal handsfree; the Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-60J, which is a step towards reaching the 100 per cent GreenHeart™ accessories goal of Sony Ericsson.

"The Sony Ericsson Elm and the Sony Ericsson Hazel phones offer consumers a green choice without compromising on features or fun. These mobile phones also give consumers a better voice quality experience, with Noise Shield, Clear Voice and Intelligent Volume Adaptation. Both phones offer an easy-to-use social networking experience featuring the Widget Manager application, which allows users access to their social networking page via the stand-by screen and quickly switch between different social networks." said Fortuné Alexander, Global Marketing Director at Sony Ericsson.


Sony Ericsson announced its ambition to making all of its accessories 100 per cent GreenHeart™ compliant by 2011.

“Building on the established heritage of our parent companies we have worked continuously to maintain our leadership position by committing to reduce our own CO2 emissions by 20 per cent and product life cycle CO2 emissions by 15 per cent by 2015.” said Mats Pellbäck Scharp, Environmental Director at Sony Ericsson.


“The Sony Ericsson Elm phone, Sony Ericsson Hazel phone and the VH700 are a testament of our continued commitment to the environment and are part of the ongoing roll-out of our GreenHeart™ strategy announced in June 2009.” continues Mats Pellbäck Scharp.


Steve Alder, General Manager Group and UK Devices for O2, said: “Offering Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ phones to our customers has been a part of our strategy to integrate sustainability across all our products and services thereby helping our customers reduce their environmental footprint. As an industry it is essential we embrace innovation in this area and incorporating greener credentials across our product portfolio is certainly a focus for us moving forwards.”

UPDATE: View Sony Ericsson Elm Greenheart now on Vodafone!

Good to see some movement on this, hopefully other manufacturers will follow. Remember to recycle your old mobile phones!

Monday, 25 January 2010

John Lewis Supports Eco Home Exhibition

John Lewis are supporting the Eco Home Exhibition at the Geffrye Museum, over the next few weeks.


"The mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’
is prompting us to rethink our habits and behaviour. This exhibition will offer visitors food for
thought on what they can do to make small but important eco changes in their homes."


The Exhibition runs until Sunday 7 February 2010 in East London.

John Lewis now stock a great range of energy efficent appliances and recycling bins for the home.

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Recycled Lego Cufflinks

Check out these recycled lego cufflinks below. They are wicked! Would also make a great stocking filler this year.



Just £5 :)

Sources:
Eco Wedding Shop
Christmas Gift Guide

Monday, 16 November 2009

Organic Cotton Shopper Bags

Check out the great rwange of eco-friendly shopper bag selection on lovingthatbag.com. Here is a Twiggy looking like a top model on an M&S shopper bag:



They seem pretty cool to me, they are great for going to the supermarket in style or for general use. Lets hope they can find more suppliers for environmentally friendly handbags to sell. I would really like to see a lot more online merchants selling some recycled fashion products over the next year, not just the tiny independent bag makers who are doing a fine job.

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Mobile Phone Recycling Trebles in the UK

Good to see that cash-strapped britons are selling their old mobile phones instead of keeping them in a drawer at home!

Source: Hitwise - Mobile Phone Recycling Trebles


Jolly Green Blogger recommends Mobile Phone Xchange - they pay out the best money over the searches we have tried.

Time to sell my E71 as I have just upgraded to a HTC magic Google Phone...