WEEKLY Q: Evil Ecover? Heatwave opportunity?
OK two questions for you this week:
1) Is Ecover evil?
Turns out that Ecover are owned by the same peeps behind Group 4 Securicor and that Group 4 Securicor are apparently connected to the folks with the security contract at Guantanamo Bay. Oddly enough (ahem) I am having trouble establishing this last fact via any reliable and widely accepted mainstream media source.
Will this stop you buying Ecover and prompt you to look for other alternatives instead? Is Ecover tainted in your eyes?
2) Is the UK Heatwave an energy opportunity we are failing to capitalise on?
The UK is in the grip of a major heatwave with temperatures soaring uncharacteristically into the 30s for many days and weeks. If we all had solar panels etc on our houses/offices etc could we not store the excess energy for later? How much heat energy would there be to convert and capture? One month's worth?
Thoughts?
Namaste
Al
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posted by City Hippy @ 10:21 PM
6 Comments:
We've got soaring high temperatures in the US as well. I've wondered just how much energy we could be gathering from it, too! But I have no idea how to figure that out.
I guess with all the global warming effects (heat waves, hurricanes, etc.) we'll be able to access plenty of solar, wind, and/or wave energy we'd like if we invest in those alternatives! (How ironic)
Actually I touched on the wind angle before Modigli here. Sadly you are right - the weather will offer us all too many chances for energy capture in the coming years. Perhaps the only silver lining in what is happening?
Katie...I agree about encouraging them to do good and will keep you posted - have asked Ecover for info.
Namaste
Al
Ecover is 100% owned by Jørgen Philip-Sørensen, who is also Non Executive Chairman of Group 4.
Group 4's corporate and environmental crimes should be enough to make people boycott them (as the Green Party did in '93), but in 2002 they took over the American company Wackenhut, which is much, much worse.
Wackenhut was set up by former FBI agents, hired ex-CIA operatives, created dossiers on millions of American citizens, had ties with right-wing terrorists, runs a secretive Guantanamo-style detention centre in New York, etc etc. Not a nice company.
Spoke to Jamais Cascio - previously of Worldchanging - as I know they are a clever bunch and this is what he had to say:
Solar power has less to do with heat than with light -- that is, the electricity is generated largely by photons in the visible light frequencies, not the infrared frequencies. A sunny winter's day is able to produce just about as much power at noon as a blisteringly hot summer's day. That said, Oxford produced a report a couple of years ago identifying how much power could be produced by a distributed/home power network in London relying on home solar, microwind turbines, and cogeneration boilers -- there was the potential for over 50% of domestic power consumption to be handled in this way.
http://worldchanging.com/archives/002705.html
Moreover, in very hot climates, it's actually more energy-efficient to install white rooftops than solar panels to power cooling.
http://worldchanging.com/archives/000587.html
The UK may not have another heat wave like this one this summer, but they're likely to be recurring events in the years to come. A campaign for white rooftops would make a world of difference.
So many good points...sincere gratitude to Jamais for the input. White roofs it is people!
Namaste
Al
You can buy Clearspring online or check for local stockists at: http://www.faithproducts.com/
Aside from ethical issues, I find their washing liquid (clothes) and dishwasher liquid are better quality than Ecover anyway.
If anyone out there is aware of a cleaning products etc...company in Canada that sells green and cruelty-free products, Id love to know. Did some searching today for detergents, recycled paper products etc, looking for Can. online stores, no luck except for a couple with very high prices and not much to pick from. U.S. of course has oodles but shipping and all the border delays makes this a no go. Help much appreciated,if you can. Thanks, G
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