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Produced in sunny Southwold since 1872, Adnams has long been behind some of Britain's best loved homegrown beers. And now, the company says it's brewed a beer that can be called the UK's first carbon neutral beer.
'East Green' is brewed in Adnams' eco-efficient brewery, which has an Energy Recovery System that recycles 100% of the steam created during the brewing process and uses it to heat 90% of the following brew. The beer is made with locally grown barley to minimise CO2 emissions from transportation, and type of hop that's naturally aphid-resistant is used, cutting the use of pesticides significantly. To ensure their carbon emissions were as low as possible, Adnams worked with The University of East Anglia's carbon reduction CRed team, throughout the project. Let's drink to that!
Facebook servers and your computer use energy, which puts CO2 in the air. Boo! Step in Greenbook, the latest must-have facebook accessory which aims to offset the carbon generated by all those millions of tapping fingers.
Greenbook works by buying renewable energy credits; certificates that prove that electricity produced by traditional (potentially harmful) means were replaced by equal amounts of energy produced by green methods. Unlike many such schemes, Greenbook does not rely on tree-planting for its carbon offsets. Instead, it invests in 'green power', namely renewable sources such as solar and wind power. To pay for this, it has to get companies to sponsor it: the more users sign up, the more sponsorship they get. So why not sign up today? I promise it's far more rewarding than being a zombie.
Related: How to make your website carbon neutral
We internet types like to think of ourselves as 'green', and online is considered by many to be an earth friendly way to run businesses, communicate and have fun. It's paperless, instant and clean. But how green is it really?
It's been claimed that the digital industry has as big a carbon footprint as aviation -- and while aviation is slowing down, digital is growing at a tremendous rate. There are only so many planes you can fit in the sky, but the internet is virtually limitless...
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It's not good enough to keep an eye on your own carbon footprint nowadays: if you've got a virtual identity on Second Life or any other dark corner of the web, you need to ensure that he or she is living responsibly too! After a shocking bit of research showing that each Second Life avatar consumes as much electricity as a real life Brazilian, Big Green Switch has started a campaign to help SL residents offset their carbon footprints.
Here's how it works - a SL user purchases our set of 10 beautiful exclusive trees for 3000 Linden Dollars (L$) and 100% of the money goes into a dedicated Big Green Switch offsetting fund. Periodically, the fund is converted into UK Sterling and invested in tree planting schemes via the UK's Tree Appeal organisation. SL land owners can also carbon offset their sim for a further L$1000.
[Via Virtual Economics]
The Rt Rev James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, has a suggestion for his congregation as they prepare to make the usual chocolate and alcohol sacrifices for Lent: give up carbon. The Christian thing to do is to help those in need, and by living a greener lifestyle we begin to stem the tide of suffering inflicted on some of the world's poorest people.
Bishop Jones has teamed up with Christian humanitarian group Tearfund as a response to what he heard from youth groups in Liverpool, which was that helping save the Earth - or at least the people on it - was their top priority. Together they suggest the usual small but useful measures: change to energy saving lightbulbs, recycle, use fewer plastic bags, give the dishwasher a day off and do whatever else you can to generally reduce your carbon footprint. After 40 days, it might even become a lifelong habit; you never know.
Oh, and a word to the Greek Orthodox community: if you're going for the full 40 days of semi-vegan goodness, the Lent fast for us starts on March 10th.
Gadgets are never going to be the most eco-conscious addition to our lives, but slowly technology companies are getting wise to the fact that not only is green living necessary, it's also fashionable, and woe betide the company that loses its cool factor.
For whatever reason, quite a few companies - Nokia featuring among the most recently notable - have decided to show off their green credentials. In his keynote speech announcing the instantly controversial MacBook Air, Steve Jobs made sure to point out that the case was manufactured from recyclable aluminium, and no mercury, arsenic or brominated flame retardants were involved in the process. But there were two quieter eco-friendly nods that also caught Shiny attention.
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Despite celebrating the world's gadgetry next week at CES and containing the blindingly brightly lit Las Vegas, Nevada has taken steps towards producing more green energy.
The 14-megawatt Nellis solar energy system has the distinction being the US's largest "solar photovoltaic system", at least until California's whopping 80-megawatt project is completed. Here come the numbers: 72,000 panels arranged over 140 acres aim to produce 30 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity, powering one quarter of the Nellis Air Force Base it is installed at. That's 25% of the energy needed by some 12,000 residents, all of which sounds pretty positive to me (before us Shiny Shinies covering CES board that carbon-spewing jet, of course).
Produced in sunny Southwold since 1872, Adnams has long been behind some of Britain's best loved homegrown beers. And now, the company says it's brewed a beer that can be called the UK's first carbon neutral beer.
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