The eco-friendly wooden computer that could spark a revolution

Even in the design-obsessed 21st century, when our iPod Nanos come in all the colours of the rainbow and flat-panel TVs are hung on walls and admired like works of art, wooden computer are still capable of turning heads. But this one aims to do more than make a fashion statement – its goal is to save the planet.

This is the prototype of what its manufacturers, PC World, claim is the UK's first truly carbon-neutral mass-market PC. Due to be launched in October, it uses between 13 and 17 per cent of the energy of a standard desktop computer. And if it sells well, it could spark a revolution, reversing our ever-growing appetite for power-hungry gadgets.

"There has been an increasing interest from the public for a green computer," says Peter Lyons of DSG International, the parent company of PC World and Currys. "In the past, environmental products have asked consumers to make a compromise. That's why they haven't been very successful – previous low-power units have performed very slowly so they can't do as much as a standard computer. But this is going to have the same sort of power as one of the average units on sale at Christmas – and it will cost about the same, too."

Lighter than a standard mini-tower, the PC (which is yet to be named) is easily moved. It doesn't have a fan, which saves energy and also makes it very quiet. Users will save around £29 a year on their electricity bill, based on an average of five hours' use a day. PC World also intends to offset the carbon emitted in the production and delivery of the machines, and plans to offset some of its customers' carbon emissions by giving them an energy-saving light bulb or two. All the packaging will be produced from recycled materials, and there are no instruction manuals - everything has been put on CD. The base unit will cost around £399, and the screen an additional £100.
Across the UK, the output of about two-and-a-half 700MW power stations is accounted for by gadgets left on stand-by. The UK's DVD players and video recorders consume over £255m worth of electricity each year while on stand-by, producing over one million tons of CO2. Mobile phone chargers left plugged in are responsible for a 250,000 tons of CO2.

If the green PC catches on, it could be the tipping point. But in the meantime, make sure you don't leave your PC "sleeping" all day – switch it off or get a laptop (some use just a tenth of the power of desktop PCs). But it might not be long before you have a PC built with the environment in mind. And soon you might be able to get the wooden TV, hi-fi and DVD-player to match.
full article

UK gets first desalination plant

The UK's first desalination plant providing drinking water for Londoners and people in the south-east has been granted government approval.
The plant in Beckton, east London, will start producing water sometime in 2009, in times of drought or low rainfall.

The site will provide up to 140m litres of drinking water a day - enough for nearly one million people.

But critics say the plant is a "sticking plaster" solution to the water crisis.

Planning permission for the plant was granted by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department of Communities and Local Government.

It is expected to run for up to 40% of the time over the next 25 years but critics say it is unnecessary.

Climate change

Richard Aylard, from Thames Water, said: "The desalination plant is a vital part of our plans to secure future water supplies to the capital.

"With pressures such as climate change and population growth, the plant is essential alongside our continuing progress in reducing leakage and proposals for a new reservoir in Oxfordshire."

But environmental campaigners condemned the government's approval of the plant.

"It is a sticking plaster solution to the water crisis we have in the south-east," said Rob Oates from the World Wildlife Fund.

"The government should instead conduct a bigger, strategic review of people's water usage and work to reduce demand and leakage, introduce metering in homes and encourage residents to install water-saving technology."

He added: "At the moment, half of the drinking water supplied to homes is used for flushing toilets and washing dirty clothes, which is madness."
full article

Raft of flaws found in popular carbon offsetting schemes

A television documentary has uncovered flaws in a series of carbon offsetting schemes intended to make good the global warming gases emitted by flights and other polluting activities.

An episode of Dispatches on Channel 4 on Monday entitled "The Great Green Smoke Screen" will show academics and environmentalists questioning the ethics and impact of offsetting - and suggesting that offsetting schemes have not been effective as claimed.

Two of the country's biggest carbon offset companies, the Carbon Neutral Company and Climate Care, and offsetting schemes at BA, BP and Sky are scrutinised by the programme.

Carbon offsetting has becoming popular in recent years as a way for individuals and business to mitigate the effects of emissions, for example from cars or planes, as publicity has grown about the threat and speed of climate change.

Dispatches claims that schemes run by Climate Care, and promoted by BA, took no account of the "multiplier" effect which increased the damage done by aviation fumes in the stratosphere by a factor of three. In other words, the schemes funded by BA passengers only mitigate one third of the damage that their flights cause. Climate Care, which uses a multiplier of two on its website, told Dispatches that it was unhappy about the way Britain's biggest airline ran its scheme.

A project funded by BP to siphon methane gas from excrement at pig farms in Mexico will only produce half the savings claimed on the company's website, which is now being amended.

In Bulgaria, Sky funds a hydro-power plant that turns water into low-pollution electricity but the manager, Vladislav Tsvetkov, said that Sky's money, though welcome, was "not required" - a view backed by the Bulgarian bank which lent the capital. The manager later retracted his comments and the Carbon Neutral Company which administers the offsets insisted the money had been critical in establishing the plant.

At Donkleywood forest in Northumberland, the Carbon Neutral Company said the planting of the trees helped the climate. But it emerged that 70 per cent of the funding came from the Forestry Commission.

The programme analysed the behaviour of the electricity suppliers which offer customers the opportunity to match their bills to wind and solar power with "green tariffs" while doing no more than meeting their legal obligations to buy renewable power.

Dispatches questioned whether big companies such as HSBC and Sky had any right to claim they were "carbon neutral" as a result of buying offsets to undo the effects of their pollution. Instead the programme hinted that more should be done to limit the polluting activity in the first place.

Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford University, told the programme: "It's very, very fashionable for big companies who are actually engaged in pretty polluting activities to somehow embrace the slogan that they have gone carbon neutral, so we can go on consuming their products knowing that actually we're not damaging the environment. If only it was that simple.

"The idea that they can assuage their consciences by buying some offsets in the international market as a substitute to cleaning up their act - this is good perhaps PR and publicity, but substance I think is seriously lacking."
full article

Energy debts jump

Soaring prices mean two million people owe their energy supplier an average of almost £200, according to the energy regulator
Two million people are now in debt to energy companies as fuel bills have soared, according to new research.

Official figures from Ofgem, the energy regulator, have revealed that the average energy debt has jumped by 33 per cent since 2004, from £150 to just under £200.

Commentators have warned this could be just the tip of the iceberg: the figures include only those with an official debt-repayment plan, not those who have simply fallen behind with their repayments, according to comparison site uSwitch.com.

It said people could save an average of £210 a year by switching to a cheaper dual-fuel supplier, leaving them with enough money to clear their debts and enjoy lower monthly bills.
The debt crisis has been fuelled by a sharp rise in energy costs. The average bill soared by £277 between January 2006 and January 2007, but price cuts so far this year have amounted to just £84.
full article