BDPollution

When going green started out couple of years back, businesses were very reluctant not to go towards that. There was a myth that going green was a waste of money and just a business-killer. However over time becoming more environmental-friendly became an investment to companies in the long run.

 I worked on some technical aspects on green investments for businesses/industries in Dhaka and found certain things why it’s worth it

When it came to energy auditing, generally the entire energy flow would be mapped. Then after mapping that, you know where you are losing extra energy. So if you plug that portion of energy down, you save energy. So what’s the benefit of saving energy? Firstly you spend less fuel (with fuel prices increasing, you would be definitely glad if fuel was saved), you save electricity are just some places where you save. However the strongest motivation is money, and trust me you save a lot of money. For businesses

Saving Money    =    Profits.

Anyways I got an article from The Economist on as to why firms go green.

Link courtesy Julika Niehaus- Global Campaign Manager at 10:10

As UK leads one of the largest coordinated global event 10:10:10, the Global day of Doing, this news sounds great. UK embraces renewable energy to a whole new level.

Details, basically this wind farm is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farm situated off the Thanet in Kent. The project was at a cost of £780m ,and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes.

Read more about it.

Yamaha has announced, actually last month that it has added a zero-emission electric scooter to its arsenal. The scooter is a 50cc and apparently can travel five times farther than its gasoline counterpart.

The scooter, EC-03, can travel 43 kilometers on a single 6-hour charge from a normal household power outlet .The model will be launched in September 1st,2010 with a price tag of $2,800.

Courtesy of Physorg.com

Another campaign initiated by my favorite group 350.org in light of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party called the Put Solar On It, there aim to target world leaders on installing solar panels on the roof of where the leaders work. Like the US, the White House, India the Rashtrapati Bhavan; in Mexico they call it Los Pinos.

We all know that installing solar panels will not solve the climate crisis, but will send a strong message, setting an example. This is a perfect opportunity for leaders to get involved on the 10:10 goal.

This year, Earth Day turns 40 and the only thing you can do is TAKE ACTION!. This year, the climate movement is about getting to work and doing something. Last year we saw people taking action.So what can you do? Actually a lot of things,and small things can make a difference. There are some organizing tools for you to check you if you want to organize an event for Earth Day. Other than that the Earth Day Network has a list of events taking place, so if you live nearby drop by.

Students have designed biodegradable packaging for McDonalds. As a school assignment, Andrew Millar has visited McDonalds’s, talking to customers about what they think about his packaging. This is nothing new for McDonalds, as they have been becoming environment-friendly for quite some time. Now the packaging is made from grass paper, which has grease-resistant properties. Read the article here.

Now with March 27th 2010 just round the corner, preparations for Earth Hour are in full swing. Over the last couple of days, I have been conversing with WWF Australia to get Bangladesh aboard as another country to the list of 88 countries who have signed for celebrating Earth Hour. I am still in discussions however in the mean time, IEEE AIUB Student Branch and I have organized a Seminar on Energy Savings, keeping that the theme.

Event Details

Day: Thursday, 25th 2010
Time: 12:30pm
Venue: AIUB Auditorium, Campus 1&5
Address: 58/B, Road-21, Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani,Dhaka

Event Speakers

!) Engr. A.H.M Mohiuddin
Chairman of Power & Energy Society

2) Engr.M.Omar Faruq
CEO & Consultant
Faruq M&E Consultant

3) Syed M.S. Zafar
Managing Director
TERM Magazine- A business monthly

4) Muhammad Faheem Faruq
Local Supporter of Earth Hour

Photo courtesy: ecolights

Over 120 years of use of this technology, Toshiba has finally ended the production of its incandescent lamps, shifting to more environmental-friendly lightning. This will reduce about 430,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions assuming that the CO2 emission coefficient is 0.39kg/kwh. They have shifted to LED lightning and have been promoting it ever since.

via Asahi.com

I came across this eco-fashion website, Ecouterre, and it has some really cool ways to become fashion friendly. The picture for example is jewelry made from discarded rubber bands and paper clips and was made by a NYC architect. It has a wide range of eco-clothes and it not restricted to women but also have a section for men.

I saw a picture of Pop Singer Lady Gaga where she used old cans to curl her hair (i am not sure if curls is the right word, but girls would know better what I am talking about).

A team of scientists have been researching on a new technique where orange peels and newspapers could be used to run your vehicles in the near future. Now it is based on the concept of bio-fuel like using these to produce ethanol as fuel. However the ethanol produced by food causes more CO2 emissions.

This technique not only reduces the CO2 emissions compared to ethanol but it would not require food-based products to produce it unlike bio-fuel. This will benefit cause there are no chances of global food shortages or spiraling food costs.Food-based products are not used for this process such as sugarcane, corn, starch etc. It basically reuses waste products. Although research is still been done to verify the findings.