The Memorygirl Matrix

crickett1234

Karmacat wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]"when you go shopping for a green product - especially insulation of whatever sort (roof, wall, window, slab, roll, recycled, whatever), but any green product really - what are you looking for? What do you think about the green premium? Would you pay extra, or do you think its a con? Have you looked for a product that simply isn't sold in this country? Do you think there's enough information out there about the relative merits of the products, or does it all sound like a whitewash, or too complicated?".[/FONT]

Well, for me, I would love to be greener, but it is all so expensive. Walking around a Good Homes show a while back, some of the prices make me wince!! :eek: I think more people would be greener (which surely has to be the point of it all!) if it were cheaper to do it. My hubby definitely would! :rotfl: Plus, the choice! My goodness it is baffling!

Hope that helps!

se999

Hi KC,

I'm not sure about green claims either. e.g. I tried Ecover washing up liquid, didn't find it very good and had to use tons compared to Fairy, so on saving on quantity, shipping volumes and packaging Fairy won, even though technically Ecover is marketed as greener, I suppose if you were near one of the places where you can refill the Ecover containers it would swing back towards Ecover. But honestly Fairy did the job much better

I do try to buy local as much as possible to reduce food miles etc, and reduce/reuse/recycle, and be as green as I can be in the situation I'm in.

clairewop

To be honest I would try to be greener if it wasn't so expensive too, we do recycle and collect food etc,

Memory_Girl

My Goodness - haven't you lt been busy:D

Well done scottishlass - universe or earings we don't care - YOU DID IT:j:j. Tea and Hob Nobs on me.

Crickett1234 - wel done you for sticking to the facts and sending him off to make it someone elses project. Does he not realise that we need you here being my marketing guru and you haven't got time for his stuff:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:???

fantasia322 Woooohoooo!!!! Gotta love the Universe for sorting that out for you. :T:T For Nov Payday!!!!:T:T

Karmacat - think there a theme going in response to your question. Plain , simple, English (not jargon) comparisons. Don't baffle us with pseudo-science just give us the facts and let us make up our minds. Unless its beauty products in which case "because I'm worth it" :D:D

Clairewop I've hijacked the quote to use as something that will be a wee suprise for you all later!!!

In the meantime - off to do the school run in the bus - home for tea and then .....................




...............New Website going live tonight:j:j:j


Stand by your monitors :rotfl:

Memorygirl

maryb

I wish there was more 'whole life' information available. For instance every journalist will tell you that modern fridges are much more efficient. But our old fridge still works and we would save at most 75 KwH per year if we replaced it. Even if the new fridge lasts as long as the old one, I'm sure that's well outweighed by the carbon cost of extracting the irion ore, making and transporting the steel, then transporting the finished product etc. Against that you could offset something from recycling the old fridge but it's impossible to work out whether it's greener overall to run it into the ground or buy a new one now.

If it were possible to have some information like this then I for one would feel less suspicious I am being greenwashed

Tescodealqueen

Karmacat have to agree about comparisons need to be easier. I use low energy lightbulbs generally but in my kitchen the previous owners put in at least 30 of the halogen bulbs. The green version cost about £10 each:eek: but I can get ordinary ones 2 for a £1 in the pound shop. I would love to change but its a terrific outlay without convincing evidence.

We are good about reusing and recycling and would like to do more but sometimes are not able to get enough coincrete information about the benefits to justify the additional expense in these strained financial times.

Firewalker

Karmacat, I agree with the point others already have made about easy to follow comparison. I also think that part of sorting out through the jungle of beeing green is also to postion 'green' in a broader context - green use but how green is disposal, for instance.

Firewalker

Souk08

MG off out to play tonight but did some research today (and bought a top) for Sun. Can you PM me a plan and I'll be on when I surface tomorrow. TOMORROW IS MY BDAY!!!!

Hugs to all. Will catch up tomorrow but need to get the toenails done etc just now! X

Souk08

Just realised that read like I bought you a top. Not unless you want to look like Bet Lynch on cider! The top was for me!!!!

troglodyte

Hi KC,

Well we do try and use 'green' alternatives, we always use Ecover washing up liquid (I find it perfectly fine and have used it for about 20 years) and bath cleaner but didn't have a great deal of luck with their washing liquid. For most other cleaning I just use a damp cloth or wipe around with the dish cloth wrung out in the washing-up water - although I did finally come to the end of the bottle of bleach I bought in 1990 and have splashed out on another :rotfl:Tried Eco-balls in the washing machine too but not really convinced if they work that well. Almost always dry washing on the line or on airers unless it's an emergency. Have bought lots of recycled plastic insulation stuff when it was on offer at a certain DIY chain. We've installed solar water heating 2 years ago and find that effective. We've just bought a fancy Swedish waterless toilet to use as our second loo - more expensive than a regular one (especially as we could have used a perfect toilet we were given on Freecycle - but have now passed that on again) but we saved on not having to do lots of plumbing etc too. So yes, we do buy 'green' stuff and are prepared to pay a bit more if it seems worth it. We are not rushing out to replace things we already have though, as Mary said it isn't clear if it is really better once you take into account manufacture of the new thing and disposal of the old-but-still-working thing. For example I have a 1997 (I think) diesel car that has done over 190,000 miles and I don't plan to replace that until I have to. However I do cycle if I'm just going a short distance (less than 10 miles, say) and haven't got a huge amount of stuff to carry. I also have an old fridge-freezer I was given free about 7 years ago. Thought it would be temporary but it still works fine. No doubt it is less energy efficient than a new A-rated one but in terms of cost, if we were to replace this with a brand new one it would take about 20 years for the energy savings to make up for the cost - and many new things don't even last that long these days! And of course how does the disposal affect the environment? Lifetime questions of manufacture, transport etc are very difficult to answer.

Hope all these ramblings help!