Enjoying a relaxing sit down in the hairdresser’s chair yesterday, I was regaled with a tale of wasted energy miles. As part of the work to be carried out on an extension, a gas pipe needed to be moved. British Gas were contacted and the customer was told to contact a sub-contractor who would review the work required and offer a quote.. Contact was made, only for the sub-contractor to call back a week later to say they did not deal with people from that post code!
Forget at this point, the fact that British Gas should have sorted that out at the beginning but now ponder the situation that the new sub-contractor is based in Wales and will need to make a three hour journey to the work site, spend two hours fixing the pipe and then another three hour journey back to base. A whole day to be paid for, but only two hours work involved. And they say energy prices are too high!
In the second programme of “Jimmy Doherty’s Farming Heroes” on BBC2, we were entertained by the prospect of non-farting or farting less cows which may come about as a result of a change in their diet.
We are constantly being informed that cows and other livestock produce copious amounts of methane gas which in turn have a dramatic effect on global warming once it hits the ether. Tests are being carried out with cows in Wales who are being fed a garlic based diet. Early results suggest a 15% reduction in methane gas being released by the bovine fraternity as a consequence of this type of diet. If that result was replicated throughout the world, it could contribute significantly in the global reduction of greenhouse gases we are told. Now there’s something to ponder. Garlic flavoured milk anyone?
Watching “Jimmy Doherty’s Farming Heroes” the other evening made for fascinating viewing. There we were in deepest East Anglia watching the sugar beet crop being processed with seemingly everything being used or recycled. Seeing the throbbing, belching processing plant that carried out this process made one cringe at the thought of all this heat and toxicity disappearing into the ether.
But wait. What was this huge glasshouse (apparently the largest in Europe) quietly growing oodles of tomatoes and living right next door to this noxious giant. Amazingly, and via a few miles of pipes, the carbon dioxide produced at the sugar beet plant and the excess heat are pumped across to the tomato growing “nursery” and provides a number of essential ingredients for cultivating tomatoes. It was one of the most incredible uses of cross fertilisation I have seen in a long time whereby one seemingly polluting mechanism was cancelled out by a friendly neighbour only too keen to say “I’ll have some of that.”
Yesterday found me at The Castle Hotel in Taunton, speaking to Bespoke Hotels, a lovely collection of upmarket properties who intend to take their social responsibilities very seriously both for the benefit of their guests and their local communities.
Although I think I covered most aspects of CSR (corporate social responsibility), I omitted to tell them the story of Hamish the oyster (see elsewhere on this blog), and perhaps I should have emphasised more that this isn’t just about “going green”, that it (CSR)embraces so many other aspects of our lives. During the course of my presentation, the room was filled with the smell of burning. Fortunately, it turned out to be the chef smoking the salmon which I thought was a nice touch and just when I was talking about seasonal, local, free range, organic and ethically produced food too!
Thank you Bespoke Hotels – Thank you for listening.
I often think that whilst there are many people who want to “do their bit” towards conserving vital resources such as energy and water, they are often at a loss of where to start. Well, changing your light bulbs to low energy types is a beginning.
The National Trust recently announced it was carrying out this exercise in NT properties and expected to save almost £500,000 for an investment in the region of £150,000. A Considerate Hoteliers Association member hotel in London saved £2,000 per month on an initial investment of £15,000 by doing the same thing. So, it’s a no brainer then, and particularly in these days of rampant energy costs, it surely makes an awful lot of sense. Just a thought.
