IRONY ALERT - Aunty says switch off. Not her, of course

Watching (on a PIP on my PC) Breakfast BBC News.

Just loved the way they intro'd a piece on an energy saving story about the Isles of Scilly.

'What one thing could you switch off now?'...pause... 'Er... not the TV of course'.

First image I see? A person switching off her TV.

Always a bit dubious about 'days', and this one seems no different. However, it did gain the community some PR to share notions like not running a power shower for 5 minutes before getting in it.

O....k.

Actually, all this energy awareness seems to be spinning on its own axis to me. Not that any that is shared is in any way not worth knowing, but there is a ton of money saying very few, blooming obvious things and... over and over. Good enviROI?

Just look at the latest EST ad that this would appear to be coinciding with.

If not having a bath and switching down your fridge is the best they can do after all this time, I think the money could really have been spent better elsewhere, on issues where folk may well be persuaded by pragmatic advice.

Addendum - the event site, sadly not shared by the national broadcaster. Interesting stuff, if a bit 'busy'

BAN - Rise of the quangos

A wee while ago my door knocked and a young lady stood there with a leaflet.

'Did I know about the energy savings grants?,' she asked. I had to say I knew of some, but not this one.

And hence I was seduced into a process, culminating in a visit from a surveyor, which resulted in... zippy. Because the house was old, and complex...and.. and, I did not qualify.

Despite this, I was still fairly onside, as it seemed a commitment of funds in areas I can endorse, namely proactive doing.

But now, thanks to a twitter link, I am looking at this (read the comments for a reality check the Brain-strains behind this one will never have):

Ban sales of poorly insulated homes, says Energy Saving Trust

And hence I am thinking not so much of a bonfire of the quangos, as promised, but a Hydra of them. Limitless numbers of offices, people, boards, pay, pensions, perks, comms budgets consuming bazillions all just stopping things. What a lovely metaphor for the age.

And hence I propose the next, and ultimate of them all: BAN - Ban All Now!

More DEFRA initiatives

are announced on the DEFRA website today.

There is the new ActOnCo2 Advice Line which purports to provide "free, tailored, impartial advice from the Energy Saving Trust on how to reduce your carbon footprint." (Hey, stop laughing, I didn't write it!) The EST gets "more than £100 million over the next three years to deliver a broader programme for green homes."

Then there's the Green Neighbourhood Initiative which will give "a green makeover to up to 100 neighbourhoods in England with an aim to reduce their carbon footprints by more than 60 per cent." This one is also delivered by the Energy Savings Trust and is "backed by potentially more than £10 million over the next three years from the Government’s domestic Environmental Transformation Fund."

And of course the CERT scheme comes into effect today which "doubles previous obligations by energy companies to help people make their homes more energy efficient and reduce household emissions. The total investment is estimated at around £1 billion a year for three years."

Anyone else spot the rather strange disparity? The Gov spends 'potentially' £110 Million over the next three years, but the energy company's are 'obliged' to spend an estimated £3 Billion over the same period.

And the difference? Well, CERT will almost definitely achieve something, whilst the EST's new doodads are yet more 'advice lines' and 'initiatives', and we all know what happens with 'initiatives' don't we?

Addendum (Junkk Male): Green drive 'neglects old homes'

There was also an interesting set of questions raised in a post on a safe2say 'government pessimistic' site that was rather spoiled by diving off into some very un-PC territory ranting. I feature a sample of the key points:

'Benn prattles on about "zero carbon homes" and other fantasies like THREE MILLION new homes etc! Hot lines and targets and grand plans and all of this tripe and hot air left unchallenged! THREE MILLION NEW HOMES????
Just where are these fantasy houses going to be built? Just who is going to pay for these homes? How many are council houses? With waiting lists for council homes at record levels and mass third world immigration at record levels just how will services be created to service all these new homes? How many more hospital/school places are needed?
NuLiebour have been allowed to get away with blatant lies about how many houses they are going to build for years now!

I do feel the British public are getting weary of spin without hint of substance.

Addendum 2 - Concern over 'zero carbon' homes - It just gets better, or worse, depending on your view. Well worth a read (net pie chart on consumption). I am intrigued as to how a target can be met when the definition of the measure is still in doubt. It is also depressing how few deem any of these measures as very useful in comparison to a new kitchen, especially when they mostly will save money... to afford the new kitchen. That said, there is a real fear that green means expensive, and that needs addressing. A good start would be by those in power not screwing things so that's exactly what it does mean!

AD - Energy Trust & Direct Gov

As some may know, I spent much of my life as an ad man.

So I know what it takes to get an ad in front of the right audience in the right way.

Beyond the vast amount of (expensive) person hours involved in creation and execution, there is also the huge media spend. Colour pages in Sunday papers do not come cheap.

So in the great enviROI scheme of things, I was just wondering what these two beauties were intended to do, and whether they even came close to doing whatever it was that was actually intended. And whether they were worth the money for a single inseration now decorating the bottom of a parrot cage, when that money could have been better invested, well, anywhere.

I defy anyone to tell me what the Energy Savings Trust one is about and what you are meant to do. The Direct Gov's message is clearer, but I remain unconvinced that this really will have motivated many to, well, do whatever they are on about.

This kind of advertising, at least in this form, is vanity stuff, pure and simple. At best it is serving to add a bit of profile to the various departments in some kind of comms budget p*ssing contest.

But with such executions there are no winners, and by diverting funds from where they could do much more good, there are a load of losers. Us.

Is it possible to agree and disagree at the same time

Mixed feelings on this one - No more greenwash, groups tell Government

The start... had me nodding away.

Then I ran into this: 'The good news is that there is now a broad consensus that climate change is real and man-made,'

Really? I am a total convert to doing all we can to reduce whatever we can and avoid waste wherever possible, because I do think there is negative climate change. But at best, on present evidence, I can only accept that whatever might be causing it man is simply making things a lot worse than it need be, and hence any moves to correct 'our' impact need to engaged with asap and big time. Getting some to the notion that mankind's numbers, activities and ambitions might be having an impact at all is proving tricky enough, and I am not sure going for the whole hog in this way won't spark more unnecessarily divisive and distracting stalling debates. Green simply cannot be viewed in such black and white terms if we are to achieve consensus enough to move on and make a difference together.

Meanwhile, on slightly less lofty local issues, to be slightly uncharitable one might ponder whether all these different quangos - with all these different departments and all these different budgets to meet all these different targets - may be competing a tad too much to allow a single (or at least sensibly coordinated) set of messages get through to the hapless punter at large.

I've lost count of the number of different ways I can measure just my carbon footprint, and often feel actual public purse funds would be better spent on tangible initiatives that help me actually DO something, rather than prop up vast empires of folk with massive comms budgets to share various box-ticking awareness-obsessed visions.

It's not just what you switch off. But what you are now switching on.

This is worth a gander: The Ampere Strikes Back

I am so relieved that we set up Junkk.com to be inspirational as opposed to judgemental. Because there are a lot out there who are telling us what do or simply being snotty that I reckon would fall pretty foul of a few pithy comebacks.

Don't like my bottle or Perrier? Betcha ditched the old TV for flatty as soon as Comet dropped the prices, eh?

And look a DAB radios. This is the direction we are being forced in... by whom?

Pass the remote vicar!