Did you know that bottled water is not just bad for the environment but also for your health? Take a look at this presentation to find out more about why you shouldn’t drink bottled water…
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Tags: healthy living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living, Water Conservation, why save water
A team at Australia’s Queensland University has invented a waste treatment plant to treat household waste and waste water. The plan works on waste to produce methane, which is a clean, renewable source of energy and class A+ standard recycled water.
Though this recycled water is not good enough for drinking, yet it can be used for toilet flushing, gardening. Not a bad idea. Could help conserve a whole lot of water. It would be interesting to see when it is launched commercially. We sooooo badly need to save water! Apartment complexes which generate gallons of waste water would do very well to install a waste treatment plant like this. Could perhaps help save them plenty of dough in their energy bills too.
Tags: environment conservation, green living, Save Earth, science & technology, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living, Water Conservation, why save water
Earth Hour is a good way to raise awareness of the issue of global warming and how our collective effort can save our beautiful planet. However, while a whole lot of people participated in the earth hour on 28th of March and switched off all non-essential lights for an hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, it was weird to see the same people switch on a galaxy of lights immediately after and go about their business as usual. Well, is that what earth hour is all about? All hype and little substance? Do people participate just to sound ‘cool’ and ‘with it’ or do they really understand the meaning behind the campaign?
If negating global warming and saving the planet really mean the earth to us, then why don’t we make “consuming less” a way of life? Why do we need to switch on a sea of lights on the Vegas strip? Why do office building have most lights on even long after all staff has left? Why do hotels and restaurants have a sea of lights on all the time? Why do we keep our windows covered with blinds? Why don’t we use natural light? Why do we keep the AC on in our cars when the weather outside is pleasant enough? Why do we first stay all the time in air conditioned environs and then go for sauna and visit spas and gyms to sweat and get rid of toxins?
Tags: environment conservation, Global Warming, green living, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living
Last night on my way to Gurgaon for an outing, I noticed all these beautifully lit up office complexes on the highway. They looked attractive from a distance, orderly lit and their interiors shining through the glass walls. It was all calm inside, not a soul could be sighted and one felt compelled to imagine the frenetic pace of activity therein during the day. And then it struck - why were all offices in these buildings so well lit up when there wasn’t a soul working at that time? Who pays for their electricity bills? What a sheer waste at a time when all companies are looking to cut costs!
And think of its repercussions on the environment. It is a colossal loss of energy. We all know there isn’t surplus energy in the country. Why keep thousands of lights switched on at night in offices where people work during the day or atleast not after 11pm? Can’t that energy be used to light up villages in the state that are often plunged in darkness?
Tags: Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living
At a time when everyone is trying to tighten one’s purse strings, at a time when we need to sit up and take notice of global warming and reduce unnecessary consumption and hence wastage, there is a lot one can save by following these very simple tips in the kitchen.
Tags: environment conservation, Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting, Sustainable Living
Ever noticed how many times we open a wrapper, see a gift and then later rewrap in a new shiny gift paper and keep aside to pass on to someone else? Most of us know gifts are a terrible waste - you end up giving and receiving things one is not likely to use and the gifts often get recirculated or shoved away somewhere for use later and are just forgotten about. Yet, we all buy gifts - and yes it causes global warming in the production and distribution of the smallest of products. And then we drive down to a mall and waste time, energies and money (and increase our carbon emissions) in buying a gift and wrapping it up in one of those fancy, non-biodegradable wrappers. I feel its against the diktat of common sense and thankfully most of my friends and family agree with the view. We have, with mutual understanding, stopped exchanging gifts at general get-togethers, dinners, festival times. And in the rare case that I do buy a gift, I wrap it in newsprint or used A4 sheets.
Not just global warming but also higher costs for corporations. A recent report by McKinsey & Co. suggests that data centers are grossly under used leading to tremendous wastage of energy on a global scale and causing major cost inefficiencies at the corporation level. With one of the companies which they studied, they observed that a third of their 500 servers had utilization rates below 3%; and about 2/3rds had utilization rate below 10%. Wow, what a waste of power. If not for global warming, then atleast to pare their costs, companies need to work out processes to better manage their data center capacities.
McKinsey’s research brings up interesting findings like, almost every company can double its data center energy efficiency through better, cohesive data center management, better planning, and increased accountability. And this will lead to more efficient energy usage, cutting down in terms of both capital investments for setting up or expanding a datacenter (including expensive real estate) and recurring costs, and, a good level of reduction in CO2 emissions! Plenty of incentives to do what is necessary. And indeed I can’t help saying that common sense isn’t so common after all. While it would seem to be common sense to expand capacity only when the current set up is fully utilized, it appears that companies end up spending billions more than necessary because of poor management.
Well, now that we are officially heading towards times when cost-cutting and reduction of overheads will be the key to survival, I thought it was a good opportunity to initiate some steps in our small office as well. I checked up with a friend who owns a mid-sized firm and they are well on their way to making such changes a way of life at his workplace. The good thing is that each of these measures also has the potential to reduce greenhouse emissions. Heres a partial list of what they have started doing:
What’s your office doing? Any other ideas?
Tags: Global Warming, green living, Save Earth, Stop Wasting
Reckless texting, net surfing and emailing is killing the planet! Surprised? Thats exactly what my reaction was when I heard it for the first time. This gentleman, I met last year, heads a Cooling solutions company that specifically looks after Data Center cooling. During the course of an informal conversation, I learnt facts that were appalling. Like everytime I forward a fun sms to a friend, somewhere at some data centers it is taking up energy enough to light up a football field!
Data Centers, typically the size of a football field, house servers which work behind the scenes everytime we send that sms, or email or access the internet. They are power hungry and generate immense heat, green house gases. According to a study by McKinsey, by 2020, the greenhouse gas emissions from data centers would have surpassed those by the airline industry. Data Centers will be major contributors to Global Warming!
And so understandably, there is immense interest in innovations for Green data centers. However, while that happens, lets do our bit to save the planet:
The information technology has impacted our lives, and, more importantly, the way we communicate with each other, radically. But in our enthusiasm, lets not forget that until further advancements ensure Green Data Centers we’ll be better off if we keep our ‘data center footprint’ to what is necessary.
Its difficult - ask me! I make a living out of internet services - but possible.
Do you find yourself being irresistibly drawn to a SALE? Do you find yourself picking up stuff you don’t really need now or will ever? All because it seems like a good deal? Do you often find your wardrobe full of stuff that you have never used, but bought at a good sale in the hope of finding a use for it someday? Don’t worry, you have plenty of company All of us are like that. Well, atleast have been like that at one point or another. And whether we like it or not, we end up adding to the global warming, by our impulsive shopping. I am filled with guilt when I imagine the power, fuel, resources used in manufacturing, transporting, warehousing and retailing that has gone into making that piece of scarf I bought at the last sale but have hardly worn. And I haven’t counted in the cost of packing it and the fuel I wasted driving to the store!
So this new year I have resolved to look the other way when I see a hoarding proclaiming sale. Unless I really need something, I won’t buy it. And I will de-clutter my home and give off the un-used stuff to those who can find better uses of these.
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