London Aware 08
Posted: Monday, 12th May 2008, 6:46 pm
Great ideas and passion were green and sustainable at last weekend's London Aware event in London's Barbican centre.
This was the first time the event has been held, and it is hoped it is not the last. It was pitched as "a meeting point for everyone - businesses, charities and experts, as well as people who are taking their first steps into a greener world." And indeed it was all that.
At Tenbees we are great fans of innovation, so it was great to meet innovators young and old, established and fledgling. The pipe-toting inventor of the wind-up radio, Trevor Baylis, was there to encourage people with an idea to speak to him, and he looked to be pretty busy.
Nearby were a group of students who were vying for the Student Eco Award, among the items that caught our eye were:
Tamara Maynard's CSwitch concept which is a key-fob device that switches off non-essential power when it detects the last person leaving the house (it switches it all back on when you return).
Anastasia Gerali's ClearOil can is a redesigned oil can that is used by the catering industry. It is designed to filter used cooking oil for recycled biodiesel. It has a filter built-in that will separate the 'good' oil from the animal fats, water, and other impurities that is not recyclable.
Beth Grainger came up with a simple CO2 emissions card that fits in your wallet or purse. It simply tells you how much CO2 you are producing for each kilometre you travel for your current mode of transport. Very simple, very handy.
 On yer bike!
We are all being encouraged to give up the car for the bicycle. Isn't it silly then that we still use mineral oil to oil the chain? Green Oil thought so too, and this is why they came up with "Green Oil" which contains "no solids like wax, Teflon, graphite or plastic, or any environmental nasties." Not only is the oil environmentally friendly, but the company operates a bottle return scheme, refunding you 20p when you take the bottle back to the bike shop.
Next to them was Pedalite, a rather nifty lighting system built into pedals. Like dynamo torches of old, they operate by kinetic energy, but unlike the dynamo torches of old, they do not suddenly go out when you stop. The makers claim that it uses less that 1% of your cycle power, so it won't be a grind either.
Retrofit your house
It was a shame to see the event was light on eco-house type of products, presumably they were all at the Grand Designs event, but that's not to say there was nothing of interest. We all know that toilets waste a lot of water, and we are being encouraged to either fit a toilet hippo, or a dual-flush loo. Of course the problem with a hippo is that you can't select the flow for the occasion, and fitting a new loo can be expensive. Up steps Peterton's Dual Flush, a retro-fit dual flush that allows you to go dual without the huge expense.
Another interesting company is SolarVenti who sell dehumidifiers that require no external power. Instead they have a panel that fits on the side of the house. The panel supplies the energy to power the unit (solar), it draws in fresh air through small holes in the unit, then dries it before pushing it into the house. SolarVenti were invented in Denmark where they have been a great success.
So you have your house. You want to make it greener. But where on earth do you begin? Do you rip out all the old stuff, and fill it with new eco-friendly products? Perhaps, but that's not always the most eco-friendly thing to do. This is where the Green Homes Concierge Service steps in. They have a team of energy assessors who come to your home and figure out what the best plan of action might be. But they go further: they have a list of accredited suppliers, with whom they help you achieve that greener home more easily. At the moment, the service is limited to London, but expect similar schemes to pop-up everywhere soon.
Living greener
Summer is here. Everything is green and lush, and we are tucking into our salads, and now many of us are also thinking about growing our own. Thinking is perhaps where many of us stop – we can't even keep easy-to-care-for plants alive, what hope do we have for serious plants like lettuce or tomatoes? This is where a rapidly growing network of enthusiasts is stepping up to the mark. Food Up Front is a London based "urban food growing network" that supplies the knowledge, equipment, support and sheer enthusiasm to those who want get started.
Comedians joke about it, but it is well known that a huge amount of methane (a greenhouse gas more potent that CO2) is being emitted thanks to meat production, so it was no surprise to see the Vegetarian Society and Viva (Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals) present. Of course, when we have stopped laughing and think about it, we realise they have a point: we really do need to think seriously about the amount of meat we eat.
High-Tech
We have featured Very-PC before, but it's worth noting their presence at the event. Very-PC think about computers, a lot. Then they build computers that have all the muscle you need, but do not consume the energy of a typical computer. Then, at the end of the computer's life, they have thought about recycling too, so they include as little plastic as possible.
At UK Aware they were showing the Hive, which is proving to be hugely popular with schools. Think about this: you have 7 students who need access to a computer. The conventional thinking is to buy 7 computers. Very-PC is not very conventional. They provide ONE computer, that allows 7 keyboards, monitors, and mice connect to it. Don't forget that this computer is also highly efficient, so you are using a fraction of the energy of 7 computers, at a fraction of the maintenance. It's no wonder schools like it.
Recycle it!
They say, whoever they is, that one man's rubbish is another man's treasure. We have become so used to thinking that everything is disposable that it's difficult to see any worth in things when they have reached the end of their "useful" life. Thankfully, not everyone thinks the same way, and this has led to some wonderful, and weird, innovations.
HubCapCreatures are what they seem: they are creatures made out of discarded hubcaps. One man's obsession? Perhaps, but they can be found in homes and public places up and down the land.
NeoCreative, a design and marketing consultancy specialising in projects that have a "positive commitment to culture, society and the environment", put together an intriguing display of products for the home, almost entirely made out of recycled materials from goblets made out of old grolsch bottles to a cutlery candelabra.
We particularly loved the idea of recycling natural rubbish, in the form of plates made out of Areca leaves. The leaves are not especially grown to make these plates; they are just found lying around. And the process for making them is almost as simple: they are collected from the ground, soaked, moulded and cut to shape. No chemicals are used, it's "just leaf ... and spring water" as The Wholeleaf Co put it.
As the plates are just leaves, when you are finished with them you just do what you do with dead leaves: put them on the compost heap.
All in all it was a great first event, and we believe they are planning others around the country. Check out their website for more information.
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