In this day and age, everyone is looking to cut costs and their carbon footprint. We need to do more in the electrical industry to cut carbon and reduce emissions.
I am always encouraged when I read of electricians talking about electric vans and finding ways for their customer to save money and help the environment by fitting eco-friendly products such as the Vphase unit and low energy lamps in their homes.
With the world now internet and technologically advanced, one would wonder why there is so much needless environmental waste still around. Upon scanning my local electrical wholesaler, I see all these publications and leaflets sitting around and I wonder what resources it has taken out of the earth to get them there.
From trees used to produce the paper, to the many road miles needed to distribute the magazines and leaflets, not to mention the amount of electricity consumed to print these items in the first place, many of which end up sitting around collecting dust on shelves in months to come once they've been superceded by more up to date products and prices. I find it quite alarming to think of how much resouce or carbon as its known nowadays one company could potentially use to distribute a simple magazine – but we all know it does not stop there, as these same companys produce many more magazines or leaflets during the course of a year.
In the world of Twitter, Facebook and blogs, I see no reason why getting information out to people is necessary by means of huge catalogues, leaflets etc when this can all be done on line through these on line outlets.
Off-line methods seem so much slower too – think of your tax return! It just seems to take 3 times longer to process anything off-line than online. When producing on line content, it can be uploaded instantly, changed when needed, mistakes rectified without cost, less planning, more doing.
As a reader you cannot place your opinions or comment against articles – if you wish to make a comment for example, you would need to send a letter (ok - quite possibly e-mail it) but you would still need to wait for weeks and weeks for it to appear – if at all! On-line, all comments appear instantly and you quite possibly get an answer in minutes – no star prize though unfortunately!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not adversed to buying a decent book now and then or even a subscription magazine based around my favourite hobby, I understand that adverts are an integral part of any publication, but when adverts become the majority content, it always seems to me that the whole point of the publication then becomes lost in the mass of adverts and the lack of quality content.
So why are readers – and advertisers – using massive amounts of much needed resources when they can achieve the same outcome on line whilst using minimal resources. If they were to put their budgets they use for one edition into an on-line campaign, not only would they receive a better return on investment, but they would become more eco-friendly in the process and be able to sleep better at night knowing they are doing the right thing and helping to reduce the burden on our fast diminishing resources.
For more information on how to reduce your carbon footprint visit the DirectGov website here - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Greenerhomeandga...