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21/12

Going Places? Go Green!

by Brendan Buzer

Eco Drive

Your Green Guide to Travel

If you are planning a holiday road trip for the festive season in 2011, but want to keep your carbon footprint to a minimum, we’ve got some quick and easy tips for you to keep your travel as eco-friendly and carbon-neutral as possible.

  1. Get ready before you leave – When you realise you have to return home for something, the car is then turned around and your carbon output is doubled for that distance. Eliminate this through careful planning and you will save the environment while saving yourself some very precious holiday time.
  2. When possible, drive with the windows up and the air conditioner off – Some engineers have studied the benefits of both and found that at low speeds one should try to drive with the windows down, however, at highway speeds it is more economic to have the air conditioner on.
  3. Streamline your vehicle – You will greatly reduce your fuel consumption by removing things that are not in use such as roof racks and keeping the load weight to a minimum.
  4. Charge your electronics at home – Using car chargers are convenient but do increase your fuel consumption, the most efficient way to charge your electronics is with a proper plug at home, even better with a solar charger!
  5. Use Public Transport – Or better yet, walk or ride a bike wherever possible. Hiring a car is a nice convenience but if you are in a big city you can more than likely manage with buses, trains, and even your own two feet for a green and fit option!
  6. Before you leave, unplug it all – Check all plug-points in your home and be sure they are all off, especially your hot water geyser. This will save you a huge amount of money and help you be extremely green!
  7. Offset your carbon emissions – Some airlines have options for you to offset the carbon emissions of your flight through them, but you can always search for other organisations that will offset your holiday footprint with some great environmental and community upliftment projects.
  8. Book a Greener Seat on a Flight – Did you know that you can reduce your flight’s carbon footprint by up to 5 times by flying economy instead of first class? (Guardian, UK)
  9. Get a room! A Green one! – There are many green hotels that one can stay at when travelling. Make these establishments your first choice, and no matter where you stay, tell the hotel staff to keep your towels and linens in your room so that you can re-use them during the duration of your stay to reduce water consumption.
  10. Head for Greener Pastures – There are a great deal of beautiful and exciting destinations all over that the planet has to offer. Let Mother Nature be your host this year, it’s good for your health and by visiting parks and outdoor destinations, you can make a contribution to help sustain the natural wonders we have.

From MiX Telematics, Happy Holidays and travel safely!

BrendanBuzer

Brendan Buzer is a Product Manager at MiX Telematics International, based in South Africa. He is passionate about the outdoors and the environment and hopes to convey his enthusiasm for this subject on to others. Follow him on Twitter at @brendanbuzer.

Shawn Graaff - Digital Media, SEO, Social Media Marketing

Shawn Graaff is the Online Content & Social Media Manager for MiX Telematics International. Based in South Africa, Shawn is an American dreaming in digital with a special interest in Mobile for Africa and sustainable living. Follow her tweets about Social Media Marketing, SEO, Content Strategy, and Online Community Management @ShawnGraaff.

Published on December 21st, 2011 in Going Green | No Comments »
7/11

The COP17 Climate Change Talks Explained

by Brendan Buzer

Catering for Green Fleets and Carbon Offsetting, MiX Telematics has a vested interest in the upcoming COP17 – here’s why and what it’s all about…

From November 25- December 5, Durban is hosting COP 17, UN Climate Change Conference, Representatives of 315 countries will attend. The aim is to devise a set of rules to tackle the problem of climate change. The first set of rules, called the Kyoto protocol, were agreed upon 15 years ago. The agreement aims to stop global temperatures rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius. In order for this to happen countries have had to reduce their carbon emissions. However, this agreement ends in 2012 and then there will be no worldwide policy to prevent climate change.

At the conference countries are classified as either Annexe 1 or 2, which is the fancy name for developed and developing countries. Under the current protocol only the developed countries have to set aside part of their annual GDP to developing and putting in place sustainable technologies, as they already have adequate infrastructure and investment in their countries, thus allowing them to channel funds elsewhere.

Inconsistencies in this ranking of countries cause problems. For example, China (Annexe 2) is the largest contributor to global CO2 emissions, closely followed by the USA (Annexe1). These are two of the world’s superpowers and the US believes China should also be penalised financially. China’s argument against this is that looking at per capita emissions China is close to the bottom of the table and the US is highest by far.

This is an example of one of the many problems that has to be overcome in the upcoming talks, if we hope to have some legislation governing emissions in the future.

What can be expected from COP17?

It is going to be interesting. I believe that the Kyoto protocol agreement will be extended for another 2-4 years which will allow time to put together a new agreement, or extend the current one, but with new emissions targets. There is going to be a lot of pressure on China and the United States to come up with some kind of resolution, in order for the process to go forward.

How will this affect us?

Any kind of resolution that is reached will mean the reduction of green house gasses. This is done through putting emissions caps on businesses. If a business goes over this cap they will be liable for a fine. This will target the industries that are responsible for large amounts of emissions. The road transport industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. At MiX we realise this. We already offset our own emissions through one of our own solutions, MiX COI and we are also continually looking for new ways to reduce the companies impact on the environment.

These talks are vital to the continuation of some sort of legislation that governs emissions, with out this the world is in some serious trouble, so let’s hope for the best.

BrendanBuzer

Brendan Buzer is a Product Manager at MiX Telematics International, based in South Africa. He is passionate about the outdoors and the environment and hopes to convey his enthusiasm for this subject on to others. Follow him on Twitter at @brendanbuzer.

Published on November 7th, 2011 in Going Green | No Comments »