Raise money for charity by web searches with VeoSearch.com

Received a comment following my post on the free eco search engine called Ecocho, letting me know about a search engine that supports sustainable development charities.

Veosearch gives money to a number of Sustainable Development projects through the online searches made via the site. It has just launched in the UK having started in Paris.

Their press release is available here.

Every search generates advertisement revenues. 50 % of these revenues are distributed to the charities on the site.

The searches are in partnership with Google, Yahoo, Ask, Exalead so should be pretty good.

The charities are engaged in at least one of the three main pillars of Sustainable Development: social work, environment protection or sustainable economics. The list of charities can be added to and can be found here.

For more information on Veosearch works visit the FAQs area, and to support specific charities, you need to register an account. After that, you support the charities you want by clicking on “add” or “+” on their own pages. These will then automatically be part of your selection and will remain until you change your selection.

Looks like a good idea and I will get round to changing the search engine on my blog to help generate revenue for one of the charities. More info on how to do this or other ways to show your support for Veosearch and its fundraising follow this link.

Norwich to get Connect2 pro-cycling funding for river crossing between city and Whitlingham Park

Sustrans, the UK sustainable transport charity, have been successful in the People's £50 Million Lottery Giveaway for their Connect2 project.


Sustrans will use the funding to invest in walking and cycling UK-wide as part of the 5-year Connect2 project in partnership with local authorities.


One of the Connect2 projects is up to £1 million to benefit Norwich by providing a river crossing from the City to Whitlingham Country Park.


The planned route would stretch from Whitlingham Country Park over the River Yare and River Wensum and behind Norwich City Football Club. Photos of the event to launch the Norwich bid can be found here.

The Tour Norfolk site has good information about Whitlingham Country Park and its facilities.

The former gravel quarry is now an excellent centre for water sports, and a great place for walking, cycling and wildlife. The official web site Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre is here.

Sustrans are the charity behind the National Cycle Network, Safe Routes to Schools, Bike It and TravelSmart.

This might inspire me to pump up the tyres on my old bike and brave cycling again after more than 10 years!


I came across the excellent Norwich Cycling Campaign web site, which provides useful information to promote cycling and cyclists in Norwich.

NCC are also campaigning against the insane decision by Norwich City Council to pilot the use of our cycle lanes by HGV's, which I previously blogged about.

Launch of first free eco search engine in the UK

Got an email about a new search engine called Ecocho.

The name “ecocho” means “Ultra ecological” derived from: “eco” for ecological and “cho” meaning “extremely” or “ultra” in Japanese.

It is a free search engine, which plants up to two trees for every 1000 searches made via the engine.

With over 1.5 billion internet searches made in the UK every month, if every search was made via ecocho.co.uk, that would equate to a maximum of 3 million trees every month. It's essentially a really easy way to offset your carbon footprint.

It might not be Google but it works and has a worthy aim. Why not give it a try?

Here is their press release:

Search your way to a greener planet. World’s first “ultra ecological” search
engine launches in the UK

ecocho.co.uk, the world’s first free green search engine that offsets carbon emissions at no cost to the user, launched this week in the UK and 14 countries across the world.

Powered by Google and Yahoo, ecocho.co.uk is an Australian initiative designed to fight climate change by sponsoring the planting of up to two trees for every 1000 searches made. Switching to ecocho.co.uk is a simple step towards saving the environment without sacrificing quality search results.

Founder of ecocho.com, Tim Macdonald said “In the UK alone, people conduct over 1.5 billion Internet searches a month*. If we can capture just one per cent of that traffic, we will make a significant contribution towards lowering the impact of harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”

In Australia, ecocho will purchase carbon-offset credits through the New South Wales Government Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme (GGAS) and KPMG will check the acquisition, registration and retirement of the carbon credits.

“ecocho.co.uk aims to reinvest 70 per cent of the site’s revenue in carbon-offset credits and as the site progresses, we’ll begin to support similar carbon-offsetting schemes in other states and countries,” said Mr Macdonald.

“The search engine is one of the easiest ways people can change their everyday behaviour to make a positive impact on the environment.”

To find out more about the initiative and start offsetting your carbon emissions, visit http://www.ecocho.co.uk/
-Ends-

*
Data supplied by Nielsen Online, MegaView Search, February 2008

Notes to Editors:

Ecocho.com buys carbon-offset credits using money generated through advertising on the website. Carbon credits are then used to invest in tree growing initiatives. The site is powered by both Yahoo and Google technology; the user can choose their favourite search engine to power ecocho.comecocho.com is a completely free service.

The process of “carbon-offsetting” involves contributing to a reduction in the amount of damaging carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – trees qualify as a recognised form of carbon-offsetting. The name “ecocho” means “Ultra ecological” derived from: “eco” for ecological and “cho” meaning “extremely” or “ultra” in Japanese.

About echocho.comecocho.com is owned by Yield Media, a subsidiary of Photon Group. The young core group of staff responsible for the ecocho.com is passionate about climate change issues and creating behavioural changes that impact the environment now.

How to live off-grid

Got sent a review copy of "How to live off-grid" by Nick Rosen.


Apparently he is an award winning journalist and documentary maker, for PBS Frontlineand Channel 4 Dispatches amongst others.

This is a new concept to me, living "off-grid" but I guess it may be something we all could do well to find out more about. With the credit crunch, building a yurt in a forest maybe the only option for some of us!

"Off-Grid" means living without mains water and power, sewage and a landline. If you are cut off from the mains you have no choice but to conserve power and water as much as you can, and perhaps, as Nick Rosen would say, makes you more in harmony with nature.

The book charts his journey around Britain in a camper van meeting people who live outside the system and off the grid, i.e. not on mains water and not on the national grid for electricity.

For more information about living off-grid, you can go to Nick Rosen's site.


Read this book whilst waiting for my daughter to be born last month, and it was interesting, challenging and informative. Made the hours of waiting and worrying a lot more bearable.


The style annoyed me a bit at first as it was part travel log, part off-grid guidebook but I soon warmed to it. In some ways, it was like a conversation, rather like a blog, and because of this, it did bring some of the characters and experiences Nick Rosen had a bit more to life.


The UK certainly has some eccentric and some inspirational people around, as well as some con-merchants cashing in on the green thing.


Worth a mention is Nigel Lowthrop, who on leaving the RAF, bought Hill Holt Wood , moved his family there and created a social enterprise with a sustainable income from the wood that involves the whole community and helps disadvataged children. Politicians are taking an interest in learning from and replicating such pioneers and schemes, which must be a good thing.


I am not sure I will rush to buy an old bus off eBay, off-grid it with solar panels etc and fill the tank with old chip fat and drive my family into the wilds of the UK.

Can't afford it for a start and all the energy saving measures I would like to install at home are just beyond us financially because the technology is so expensive still in the UK.

Not only that, trying build a house in the middle of no where off-grid seems like too much hassle to navigate the labyrinthine planning regulations and application process.

If you are rich, you can probably find a way through quite easily. That said, the book has some innovative, brave and driven people, like Mr Lowthrop and family, who make a success of it.

Good luck to them and I would heartily recommend this book as an enjoyable window on the world of living off-grid.

Another option to manage junk and unwanted communications

In this lead up to the local elections, I am more conscious of the amount of junk mail we get through our letter box.

Most people have come across the Mail Preference Service, which is a free service to help you manage that unwanted junk mail that usually ends up straight in the recycling unread (at least if you are anything like our household).

I got an email about a new free service called Choose Your Mail, which takes the MPS a bit further by allowing you specify what direct mail you don't mind receiving.

Apparently, UK households receive something like 6.3 billion items of junk mail per year and most of it ends up in the bin unread.

In addition, if you receive annoying cold calls on the telephone, there is also the Telephone Preference Service to try out.

It isn't foolproof but it does reduce the calls a bit.

I haven't tried this yet but there is also an Email Preference Service to, which is another weapon against spam.

Trading Standards are the place to go if your life continues to be hounded by unsolicited calls, post or emails.

Future of waste in Norfolk - have your say

Norfolk County Council is inviting residents of the county to have their say on the future of how household waste is managed in the county.

You can complete the questionnaire online , or download it, or request it by email.

The deadline for completed questionnaires is 11th April 2008.

Visit this link for some useful background and related links to help you decide on what the priorities are.

The annoying and undermining thing for me was that I got a hard copy of this questionnaire about waste management in Norfolk as an insert when I bought a copy of the Eastern Daily Press newspaper today, which was wrapped in clear plastic just to emphasise that it was on sale for 25p today.

Big thumbs down to the EDP for being rubbish by creating unnecessary rubbish with this needless packaging!

Make your town climate-friendly with the Greenpeace EfficienCity

Greenpeace has just launched a natty 3D interactive virtual city called "EfficienCity".

Its aim is to show how we in the UK can fight climate change, although it is being blogged about all over the world like at the excellent EcoGeek site.

It is a fantastic resource with a huge amount of information on the different options available to us, from saving energy to generation from renewable sources.

The way it is presented and the large amount of photographs, videos, and technical presentations make it a brilliant educational resource for individual citizens, schools, and the workplace.

You can even download the whole thing to run it offline with a PC version (51.5MB) and a Mac version (53.6MB).

You can take it further than just learning and you are invited to join Greenpeace's campaign to put pressure on you local council to find out what they are doing about climate change and securing a sustainable energy for the future. You can encourage your council to work with experts in Greenpeace to increase access to decentralised energy generation.

Whatever your views on Greenpeace, this is an excellent educational resource about the options we have to respond to climate change. Tell as many people as you can about it.

More on a UK Ban for Patio Heaters

There is a good review of the debate on patio heaters on the Mygreenweek site.

Although this opens the debate more on the potential energy inefficiency and harm caused by patio heaters, suggesting it is not so clear cut, I would urge people to consider the fact that it is not just CO2 and water vapour that is emitted, they also give out other harmful, unfiltered by byproducts and gases, as pointed out by Leo Hickman of The Guardian newspaper.

We know that B&Q will stop selling patio heaters when its current stock is sold. Wyevale were the first when they announced they would stop selling these back in April 2007.

In the UK, there is increasing support for a total ban on these heaters with various campaigns, perhaps led most prominently by Friends of the Earth. I came across this plain speaking one called Patio Heaters are Evil. Definitely worth looking at if you are considering buying one of these things.

You can read the full details of the EU's Energy Efficiency Motion in its full proposal, which includes the proposed withdrawal from sale of patio heaters.

It is obvious that this is going to be most strongly opposed by the pub and catering trade who have had to deal with the smoking ban introuduced last summer in the UK. I have seen figures that suggest it could cost the pub and the catering industry £250 million per year in lost trade.

Maybe if we ban smoking completely as well then we can have the double benefit of improving human health and reducing the gases that cause climate change? ;-)

Cheap Dimmable Energy Saving Light Bulbs at B&Q

Went to a B&Q on the inner ring road in Norwich as I'm doing some decorating.

Spotted that this B&Q was selling off the switch dimmable version of the DigiLux Dimmable Energy Saving Bulb.

At £6.98, you won't get a better deal and I'm guessing that this deal will be nationwide.

The 20W bulb is equivalent to 100W.

If you don't fancy replacing light switches with low voltage dimmer switches to try out the dimmable version of these bulbs, then the switch dimmable version may be the answer for you.

You switch the light on and off in various sequences to dim the light and apparently it has a memory for the last setting and can easily be reset.

In the "Light Garden" with Greenpeace

Came across this video that gives some insight into what is now possible with energy saving lighting, and shows a fun, artistic way in which the myths about CFL bulbs can now be dispelled.

This lighting installation, the "Light Garden" was commissioned by Greenpeace and designed by the Jason Bruges Studio and made the shortlist for the "most innovative lighting"category at the 100% Design Show in London in September.

Varilight bulbs were used in the work.



For more info on this project, go to this link on the Greenpeace site.

Dimmable Energy Saving Light Bulbs Are Here!

I've been waiting for some bright spark in the UK to start producing with energy saving light bulbs that work with standard dimmers and at last, someone has!

It is the DigiFlux Dimmable and comes in 2 varieties and are equivalent to 100W bulbs. Screw and bayonet fittings are available.

The company that manufactures these is Varilight.

One works with a standard dimmer switch so long as it can cope with a minimum load of 20W (as pictured), and the other works with a normal light switch, which you flick on and off to control the clever electronics in the bulbs.

I bought one from Nigel's Eco Store and it cost me £10.95. The bulb that works with a standard switch is slightly more expensive (I think a couple of quid more) and I guess that is because of the extra electronics in the bulb.

The bulb works brilliantly and the light is really good. It warms up quickly as well.

The slight niggle is that the bulb hums a bit and it is noticeable.

Small price to pay though for reducing my electricity bill and producing less CO2!

In addition, my dimmer switch may need replacing to cope with the low loading on it and Varilight supply compatible ones so I'll investigate.

These bulbs are excellent and highly recommended.

Great to see that the company has won a Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation. Well deserved.

Killing time, not the planet, and save a few quid!

If you haven't read it, do try to buy or borrow a copy of "The Rough Guide To Ethical Living" by Duncan Clark from the library.

Some good discussions, facts and thought provoking ideas about how to change your life for the better.


Here's a simple idea and change we have made at home.

We have a wall mounted clock in our kitchen/diner and yet we have one on the microwave as well.

After reading this book, what a pointless waste of time, electricity, natural resources and money.

This clock used to be on permanently and that amounts to about £7 per year, as in this standby state, you still use about 98% of the power required when it is used for cooking.

Apparently, this amounts to an approximate saving of 29kg CO2 from switching off.

We forget sometimes but for the past year, we usually switch off the microwave after use.

In our house, this £7 extra will get spent and probably on the mortgage repayments! ;-)

You can make your neighbourhood better with mySociety

If your neighbourhood has a problem with graffiti, unlit lampposts, fly tipping, broken paving slabs, why not do something about it rather than get cross behind closed doors?

There is a fantastic web site that was started in February this year called Fixmystreet.com(formerly Neighbourhoodfixit) and it provides a straightforward and effective way to notify your local council of such problems.

This site was built by the charity mySociety and funded by the Department for Constitutional Affairs Innovations Fund.

I have tried it out a couple of times relating to graffiti and was amazed at how quickly Norwich City Council responded and removed it. Well done them! :-)

Regretfully, the individual/s came back and added more graffiti on 2 of the 3 sites I reported, and the web site provides a feature to allow you to report the status of problems, not least to report when they are fixed.

I haven't given up yet.

Who knows, my next step might be to find out who my District Councillors, County Councillor, MP or MEP are using another of mySociety’s services TheyWorkForYou.com, and sending them messages via their WriteToThem.com site?