The latest Saab ad I think sums up nicely the dilemma we face. Here they are selling a car on the basis of good old grunt - grrrrrreen - in other words, let’s keep driving our cars really fast - with a shimmer of green.
The Australian Greens have taken the company to task for overstating their green credentials. Personally I am more annoyed that they are pushing the ‘lets drive fast message’ as part of the package. Good creative though!
One of the most interesting items on RadioNZ recently was the Nine-to-Noon interview with Dr Jim Watson, head of the BioJoule project. Their intention is to turn a particular type of coppicing willow, one of the varieties bred for basket making, into biofuel, plastics and sweeteners. The plastic is an expanded polyurethane foam has been produced from natural lignin. A major trial is being undertaken in the Taupo area.
The radio interview is here (19′14″). The project has been developed by a subsidiary of Genesis Research and Development Corporation Limited.
The opportunity to grow shrubby willow on low value land to produce ethanol as a transport fuel and other high value by-products such as lignin and xylose has the potential to solve a number of environmental and economic issues for New Zealand.
I have not ascertained if there is any genetrickery involved, but if not, it sounds like a project that has real potential. Wonder if it could even help deal with some of the nutrient overload that has become such a problem in Lake Taupo if, as I assume, it involves plantings in wetter areas, and thus may reduce the excess nutrients from the pastoral land use in the area.
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Holcim are about to launch the next round of their Sustainable Construction Awards. I don’t seem to have received my invitation but then I don’t think my double-glazing efforts will count based on the winners from the last competition.
Of course, Holcim’s plans for a new cement plant at Weston, just outside Oamaru are being opposed by the Waiareka Valley Preservation Society [Scoop story] and the Greens’ Metiria Turei and Russel Norman.
I guess they won’t be planning on using glulam (glue laminated) construction in building their cement plant - but if you are interested in some examples of timber being used for construction that has become dominated by the use of concrete - try these examples from the Glued Laminated Timber Association in the UK, or these by Lilleheden, one of Europe’s leading glulam companies.
Good to see the DomPost creating more greenspace in its weekend edition. This week had a list of how to ‘insulate your windows’. One option was fitting better curtains. Fair enough, most of us could manage that. But the other four required significant architectural rearrangements or at least major renovations:
Sorry, but I think that is just asking a bit much of most of us. Especially when it is cold right now! What I had hoped for was some hints on
A quick scan doesn’t show many options in NZ for low-cost temporary double-glazing. My own idea has been to get some thin - say 2mm - perspex or PVC sheets. Glue some magnet strips to it, and to the windows that most need a second layer in our 1920s house. That way I should be able to easily click them in, with a very good seal, and pop them off when we need to give the room a real airing, or when its sunny and we want the heat to come through.
Will let you know how I get on with that idea or if I come up with something better.