Shades of green

HAVING recently learnt that AVF Group has become the world’s first mount manufacturer to go carbon neutral, as the company has offset its carbon emissions by a number of projects producing ‘clean energy’ from renewable sources, I was impressed with the simplicity of this idea. Substantially reducing carbon emissions will be very difficult for most electrical companies since many of them have moved their manufacturing to the Far East and transportation of even the most energy efficient products is likely to offset their energy saving benefits. Since it is difficult to cure the causes we should at least deal with the symptoms.
In March, IER co-hosted with the Energy Saving Trust a round table debate (please see page 26) which was to assess the level of awareness and understanding of energy efficiency issues. It clearly showed that distributors, retailers and customers alike need consistent measures of the benefits of energy saving measures. Although people recognise the EST labels and understand that they need to look for A-rated appliances, they don’t know how much they will save them on their energy bills and how much carbon they generate. Ian Fursland of the Lamp Company summed this up succinctly: “The energy efficiency information should be clear and widely available so, in the same manner as when people buy double espresso they know what they get, people buying an appliance would know what to expect in terms of energy performance”.
Anna Ryland, Editor
aryland@datateam.co.uk