The vast majority of the electricity in BC is generated via hydro dams and are therefore very low carbon emitters, although not carbon neutral, but we do import electricity from places like Alberta where they generate electricity by burning coal so we are not entirely environmentally friendly here on the Pacific west coast.
The conference, though, included some key-note speakers, workshops and discussion sessions that covered all sorts of environmental issues in support of the Power Smart drive.
The best speaker was Andrew Winston who is a "globally recognized expert and speaker on green business" and had a very engaging presentation offering corporations some advice on how to reduce energy consumption. He introduced the fact that China is busy constructing the equivalent of 30 Manhattans in China every year and to support this, half the world's cranes are in China right now. China's recession was 7% growth and I attended a talk on the North American economy on the final day and 7% growth is not a recession to anyone, but in these recent economic times, if 7% growth represents a recession in China then you can imagine what their growth figures were prior to the global financial meltdown.
He also spoke of what Wal-Mart are doing with their suppliers. They asked the top 100 suppliers to an event in Brasil last year and 3 days prior, sent them all an agreement that they were being asked to sign live at the event, but sent it in Portuguese. The agreement forced the suppliers to agree to provide their goods in an environmental and sustainable way. This included an agreement not to purchase beef from any land reclaimed from the Amazon (the rain forest area in South American as opposed to the web-based book store), so Andrew's argument was that countries around the world had been trying to stop the rapid decimation of the rain forests in the Amazon for 30 years and Wal Mart have managed it...Wal Mart, that evil corporation that apparently treats their employees badly, pays them very little and their rapid expansion round the world has meant the end of small local retail outlets everywhere.
He also suggested that a recent poll of MBA graduates would be willing to accept a lower salary if the company offering it can demonstrate their green credentials over other corporations. This mirrors what we have been hearing from the States where under-graduates are increasingly choosing universities for their green credentials. Frankly I don't believe a word of that. Whilst it may help them make the decision if they are stuck between two institutions, the main reasons they base their choice on, I suspect, are the course they want to study, the success and quality of the university and how much they can afford.
He gave a couple of examples of initiatives that large companies have tried in an attempt to reduce energy consumption.
Conway made their truck drivers to reduce their speed from 65 mph to 62 mph and they saved $10M, but the best story he told was the distribution company UPS who stopped their vehicles turn left. Turning left in countries where we drive n the right hand side of the road means lots of idling while they wait for the on-coming traffic to pass and increases the chance of accidents. So through this initiative that they drove with the use of GPS they saved 28,500,00 miles of travel and 3,000,000 gallons of fuel.
His strongest message, however, was his recommendation that we greatly reduce our consumption of beef. This industry is responsible for the decimation of the Amazon forests and other agricultural areas around the world, the processing of the meat is energy intensive and then you have to distribute the products all over the world.
Food for thought....
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