Not easy being green

January 31st, 2008 Alex

Greenbiz.com here. It is a pretty good detailed report that summarizes the achievements from last year. For example, the US has doubled in sales of hybrid vehicles from 2006 to 2007 but that only accounts for 1 percent of all new vehicles purchased. So although, it will not make a huge difference, it is a stepping stone in efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Another factor that was measured was commuting to work. Efforts to increase carpooling and public transportation is not making much movement but I am not surprised. In the bay area, if you work in downtown San Francisco and live in San Francsico, it is relatively convenient to take public transportation. If you live and work anywhere else, public transportation is horrible and some places can almost be impossible to get to.  I don’t see that changing either because the peninsula and south bay are just not meant to be public transportation friendly places. It would take a lot of work and way too much money to make Silicon Valley a public transportation work environment considering how spread apart everything is. The bay area also continues to grow since land is pretty crucial here so people are moving further out as well so the commute continues to grow. Telecommuting however, is on the rise which can be good because by working from home, your carbon footprint is reduced by not having to drive to and from work.

One of the positive factors is the fact that we consume less paper now due to the technology of email and computers. People are printing less now since everyone saves documents on their computers and emails now. That is a great help as having less paper consumes less electricity and power in printing, storage space, and recycling. Companies are becoming more aware of their carbon footprints. The report seems to be both positive and negative at the same time because even though there are efforts in the fight, it is not enough. I guess it is a good motivation for people to do more but on the other hand, it can also discourage people to bother even doing anything since it will take a lot of effort from more people to make a difference. This is similar to the whole voting idea, where people think whether or not one vote makes a difference.

via SFGATE

Entry Filed under: Environment,Green Tech,Local