UK High Street giant Marks and Spencer has announced plans to replace glass bottles in the 25cl wine range to plastic. The move is aimed at upping their green credentials by reducing their carbon footprint.

By changing the packaging of their 25cl wine range, M&S are hoping to save around 525 tonnes of packaging a year. Plastic not only uses less energy in the manufacturing process but it is also lighter than glass and this means that carbon emissions from the transportation of the bottles should be lower.  Read more... (190 words, 1 image, estimated 46 secs reading time)

British supermarkets pledged in 2006 that they would try and cut the number of plastic bags being given out by 25 percent by spring 2009. Incredibly, the campaign to reduce the reliance on plastic bags has seen the target smashed by nearly halving the amount of plastic bags being given out.

In May 2009, the big six supermarkets gave out 452 million plastic bags. This figure compares to May 2006 where 870 million plastic bags were used. This means that the number of plastic bags given out has been reduced by 48 percent.  Read more... (228 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

Tyre manufacturer Yokohama is now selling tyres that consist of 80 percent non-petroleum materials. The main ingredient in the new tyres is orange oil.

Yokohama have named their new tyre the Super E-spec and it has already been received well in the automobile industry – the Super E-spec won the Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award in 2008.

The tyre uses orange oil, a sustainable product, alongside natural rubber to reduce the amount of petroleum used in making the tyres. The tyres are also said to have a 20 percent reduction in rolling resistance therefore giving consumers better fuel efficiency.  Read more... (198 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

British supermarket Sainsbury’s is hoping to up their green credentials by introducing new packaging for some of their cereal ranges by ditching the cardboard box exterior in favour of recyclable plastic bags. The move is hoped to reduce packaging by a third.

Sainsbury’s have already tested the packaging idea on one range, their Rice Pops cereal, and are now extending it to other cereals. Each product must be tested to ensure that the plastic bags give the cereal enough protection otherwise consumers will get their product home and end up with a bag of dust. Different cereals will react differently when transported due to friction and movement.  Read more... (217 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

Supermarkets could soon be using the power of shoppers to help power their stores. Using technology similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) currently being used in some Formula One cars, kinetic plates can be used to generate electricity.

Kinetic plates are positioned in the entrances and exits to the supermarket car park. Every time a vehicle runs over the plate, the kinetic plate is pushed down. This creates a pumping action through a series of hydraulic pipes and this drives a generator where energy is captured and used to power the checkouts. The plates are able to produce around 30kw an hour.  Read more... (192 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

The green revolution has not passed the agriculture industry by. Farmers are increasingly turning to eco-friendly pesticides to tend their crops – pesticides which have low toxicity and high efficacy. Termed bio-pesticides, they are a recent development in the fields of biotechnology and molecular biology.

Bio-chemicals and microbials are two types of bio-pesticides. Bio-chemicals are non-toxic and are similar to naturally occurring substances in their structure and functionality. Biochemical pesticides control pests without toxins, unlike most traditional pesticides that kill the pests. Microbial pesticides are genetically modified organisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoans or viruses. Microbial pesticides stop pest by causing a disease to the pest, or by producing a toxin specific to the pest.  Read more... (228 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

When upgrading your PC, there are several things you can look at in a bid to own a more environmentally friendly PC.

Processor
If you are on the lookout for an environmentally friendly processor, go for one with a low thermal design power (sometimes known as thermal dissipation power). The TDP is the meximum amount of power that a processor will consume and therefore dissipate as heat – this means that a processor with a low thermal design power will use up less electricity than one with a high design thermal design power.  Read more... (361 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Asad are the first UK supermarket to stock ‘Green CDs’. These environmentally friendly CDs give customers the chance to purchase their favourite artists’ music in fully compostable packaging. ASDA have chosen to go for a more eco-friendly product after research indicated that up to 25% of all plastic music covers get thrown away within 12 months of purchase.

The range, named ‘Ecopac’, is manufactured by Universal Music and is made from 100% recycled and recyclable paper-foam. Asda’s parent company Wal-Mart have already had sold more than 2 million CDs using the Ecopac material since it’s debut in their stores 6 months ago.  Read more... (163 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

A survey of 2,000 people across five countries in Europe by research firm Canalys has shown that the majority of European consumers are happy to pay a small premium for environmentally friendly technology.

The research found that 55% of consumers interviewed agree or agreed strongly with the statement ‘I would pay up to a 10% premium for electronic products that were manufactured in a more environmentally conscious way.’ The survey also showed that there was little variation in attitudes between the genders, income groups, or different education levels. Researchers have said this is probably down to the increased media coverage of environment and green issues over the last year which has helped raise the profile of eco-friendly goods across all social groups.  Read more... (174 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

Taking advantage of the latest fashion to ‘go green’, Schroders are offering investors the chance to invest in green shares through their climate change fund. Named the ‘Schroders Global Climate Change Fund’, it offers investors the opportunity to invest in companies who are actively looking to reduce their carbon dependency.

The fund will be launched in September 2007 and will be co-managed by Simon Webber and Matthew Franklin. It is expected that there will be between 50 and 80 stocks.  Read more... (229 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)