Hello again and thanks for visiting the blog. Time to update the green gazette as I’ve seen a few green newsworthy items that have caught my eye. Today I wanted to point you in the direction of stories about a hotel that lets you earn a free meal by generating clean electricity,using recycled glass to replace asphalt and Puma getting rid of the traditional shoe box.

First then let’s head to Copenhagen in Denmark and look at a very novel idea that encourages hotel guests to help power the property. This might sound like a gimmick (initially I admit I wondered) but the Crowne Plaza stated that if the project is a success it will be introduced at other hotels within the chain. The hotel is offering any guest the opportunity to jump on a stationary bicycle and pedal away to earn vouchers worth over $35 that can be applied towards a meal during your stay at the Crowne Plaza. The goal is to generate 10 watts of electricity from your pedaling which for the average person should take about 15 minutes of effort. It seems like a win-win-win situation to me, green energy is created, a meal is earned, and you get some quality exercise as a result. The hotel takes its environmental issues seriously; the building is CO2 neutral, certified EU Green Building, Green Key certified and member of UN Global Compact. When a hotel representative was asked if the program might be abused she stated:

“Many of our visitors are business people who enjoy going to the gym. There might be the odd person who will cycle just to get a free meal, but I don’t think people will exploit the initiative overall”

Sometimes I read a story that makes my head spin as I’m so impressed by the ingenuity of it. My poor grasp of science always make me only look on in wonder when certain inventions are brought into the marketplace, for example when I think of potential uses for recycled glass I’d never have considered it as an eco-friendly alternative to asphalt. There are different brands on the market but I read this story about ‘filterpave’ with interest, the product is made primarily (95%) from recycled glass. It provides environmental benefits in terms of significantly lowering emissions when laying the surface due to much lower temperatures and also provides benefits by absorbing more oil and other fluids on the roadway that would otherwise run into drains and run-offs. The concept is really interesting and though in limited use at present it shows that creativity is never far from making construction in all areas a much greener proposition. Please read more about this story via this link to KOMU and also at the filterpave website.

Goodbye to the shoe box?

Finally a story that I heard on the radio yesterday that I just had to look into. Leading athletic shoe manufacturer Puma have announced that they are saying goodbye to the traditional cardboard shoe box (where will people now store buttons, knick knacks and assorted junk?) and replacing them with an eco-friendly paper bag. Puma spent almost two years designing the bags which they state will use up to 65 percent less paper than a old school box. The packaging does look pretty cool I must say (I like Puma products anyway so I may be the wrong person to ask) and is called the ‘Clever Little Bag’ the packaging is a composite of sustainable cotton and recycled polyester. Puma executives have claimed that the changes will cut paper use by 8,500 tonnes per year and also save 20 million megajoules of electricity.