This economic crisis gives us an unique opportunity to do good.
To ourselves and to the planet earth.
The current economic crisis is best defined as a cash crisis, as most of us are feeling, due to vanishing credit from the market both for the individual as well as the corporates. Wether it is your managing the business or managing the home, the biggest challenge is to maintain liquidity. A recent Wal- Mart survey found that unlike in normal times when sales had a uniform pattern throughout the month, even the sales of baby food were up, only during the periods coinciding with the twice-monthly pay checks. Normally parents don't sting with babies. This time, even babies are having to live from pay-check to pay-check.
As we all know cash is the king in depressions. So we all are trying to save cash by all means.
While corporates are dropping old customers who are looking for extended credit from their radar and offering the best deals to the cash buyers, credit card companies are aggressively increasing the rates on customers credit balances, making you pay through your nose for lack of liquidity and forcing you to defer purchases of non-essentials.
Even if you have your job and your credit rating is fine, you are just not taking chances, and saving cash, just in case the markets turn worse. Like all periods of crisis, this also throws open an unique opportunity. This is an excellent opportunity for us to start cultivating some good habits which will save us some cash and do the planet some good.
So let us all save energy, save some cash and save the planet.
One of the easiest way of saving energy is to paint your roof white. If your roof is flat it is all the more important. You could be saving almost 20 % of your Airconditioning Bills which would offset your spending on painting in just a month or two.
In January this year, the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at California published a Reserach paper, on the energy saving and emission reducing behaviour of white roofs . It stated that since the heat is not trapped, and because the heat is reflected back to the atmosphere, it offsets the heating effects of carbon di-oxide emissions. A typical flat and white roof would instantly offset 10 tons of CO2 for every 100 sq m of white roof area. It's almost the equivalent of taking a car off the road for two years they claimed. Amongst the researchers was Dr.Arthur Rosenfeld the legendary Chief of California Energy Comission who has been responsible for developing many a energy saving techniques for the state since the last twenty years.
White Roofs are an accepted phenomenon in some parts of the world. In the Middle East all roofs are kept white to keep out the effects of the fierce desert sun and reduce airconditioning loads during summer. Not only does such roofs reduce the energy bills but also the Green house effect due to lower CO2 emissions that is causing global warming. In Israel, the requirement of painting and maintaining your roof white every year, is mandatory by law.
So let us, on this earth day pledge to keep our roofs white, save our selves some cash and the planet earth from the green house gasses.
In this blog from ecology to economy we discuss practices that are efficient and sustainable for a clean, safe and a better world.
We could be wrong. Tell us if we are & why? We encourage diverse opinion even if it is from commercially interested groups opposed to our thinking
No comments:
Post a Comment