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Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Steely determination leads to first ever Climate Week

Posted by ericww on January 18, 2011

David and Victoria Beckham in Silverston Circu...

Image via Wikipedia

Not before time, 2011 sees the first ever Climate Week and its associated Climate Week Awards.  The week itself runs from 21 to 27 March and the main driving force behind getting this event going is Kevin Steele.

Steele is a consummate and entrepreneurial social and environmental campaigner with an impressive track record and CV.  He was the first CEO of Enterprise Insight (now Enterprise UK), which brought together the Institute of Directors (IoD), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Federation of Small Business (FSB) around one Board table, and spearheaded initiatives such as Make Your Mark and Global Entrepreneurship Week.  Other credits to his name include co-founding National Family Week and conceiving the Trade Justice Movement.

And, when it comes to reeling big brands and corporate partners into the equation, Steele is a tenacious deal maker.  Case in point for Climate Week is Tesco, which is the week’s headline partner (other supporting brands are: Aviva, EDF Energy, Kelloggs and RBS).

So what’s on offer?  Pleasingly, the Week has begun to embrace the idea of pulling ‘green’ topics into the consumer mainstream (see a multitude of Home Zero Home posts passim for various blathering on this approach to taking eco messages to the masses).

Among the first shots in Climate Week’s communications activity is research that identifies the iconic personalities who are most likely to inspire people to do greener things.

According to the research, undertaken by Millward Brown to mark the launch of the Climate Week Awards, David Beckham is more likely to inspire us to save the planet than green fan Leonardo DiCaprio.

The research found a strong correlation between familiarity and green influence, showing that celebrities who are not actively ‘green’, like Beckham, still have tremendous potential to wade in on environmental issues. This also explains why, amongst female celebrities, X Factor judge Cheryl Cole beat known environmentalist Gwyneth Paltrow to be the woman most likely to make people more eco-friendly.

The Climate Week Awards will celebrate inspiring achievements by the greenest businesses, communities and people in the UK. Everyone will have the chance to influence the way society combats climate change by running an event for Climate Week, entering for an award or voting for their own Climate Week Hero

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Posted in Eco business, Environment, Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Recycling on a grand scale as magical theatre arrives at Waterloo International

Posted by ericww on September 28, 2010

IT TAKES a real vision for recycling to turn a mothballed £135 million international railway terminal into something that can bring enchantment and joy to thousands of people.  But that’s exactly what the people behind a wonderful and intriguing new production of The Railway Children have done.

Remember Waterloo International?…  Gateway to the continent via Eurostar services to Brussels and Paris, and another milestone of “entente cordiale” post the completion of the Channel Tunnel…

Waterloo International closed its barriers for the last time in November 2007, with St Pancras International taking over as London’s gleaming new terminal for international passenger rail services.

For anyone that’s passed through Waterloo in the intervening three years, as the cobwebs and dust have gathered and the rails have begun to rust, it is an obvious symbol of wasted investment, neglect and decay of a construction that once won the highest possible British architectural award for elegance.

Fortunately, the elegance still exists from a construction perspective and in a theatrical context now too.  E.Nesbitt’s classic story of The Railway Children has been brought to life within an amazing ‘black box’ theatre construction over two of the disused platforms, surrounded on either side by a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It’s a triumph of practical and creative utlilisation of redundant space, but it also creates a unique atmosphere that makes you feel that you really are observing a busy Yorshire railway station at the high point of Britain’s age of steam.

I defy anyone to sit in the audience, close their eyes for a moment and not feel like an actual steam locomotive has just roared past at top speed – thanks to the amazing trickery and effects within this production.  With your eyes open, you will also see a touching collective performance from start to finish, and scenery changes and movements that are as slick as anything the operator of the Clapham Junction signal box could pull off!

I’ve never posted a review for any kind of production on this blog before, but I would highly recommend The Railway Children live at Waterloo Station – with a real steam train – for all the family.  The production runs until January 2011 and you can buy tickets [here]. Enjoy!

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Everyone’s ‘talking’ about solar power

Posted by ericww on August 6, 2010

SUDDENLY it’s difficult to avoid news stories in the Press and on TV and radio about solar power.  The recent boom in media interest kicked off in The Times on 28 July, 2010, which reported the launch of a new company, Isis Solar, which is offering to fit solar panels to 18,000 homes in the UK for free.

Another company, HomeSun, waded in this week with a similar offer, reported on Sky News and in the Daily Express.  And that follows previous offers from companies such as A Shade Greener.  Here, we have captured and linked the main news items discussing these various offers and the companies behind them.

When Home Zero Home launched last year (one year ago this month in fact) we felt we were pretty late to the party with regards looking at green issues, and in particular steps people can take in the home to become ‘greener,’ save energy and perhaps save money as well.  But, even then, you wouldn’t find too many major news outlets covering stories about solar power… not in a positive way anyway.

So, it’s good to see that solar power has made it to the top of the news agenda at last.  Here’s our pick of the latest stories, in case you missed them or need to catch up:

Sky News (05 August, 2010)… HomeSun wants to enable people to produce their own power by offering their system in return for a share of the savings they make on their electricity bills

Media kick-off: The Times reported "free solar power" for the people on 28 July, 210

Daily Express (05 August, 2010)… BLAZING relentlessly in the heavens, 93 million miles above the surface of the Earth, it’s our greatest untapped resource

Bloomberg (05 August, 2010)… The U.K., known for rain and gray skies, enjoyed record installations of solar panels in July after the government guaranteed prices for electricity from renewable energy up to 10 times market rates

Solar Power Portal (05 August, 2010)… Joining the likes of ‘A Shade Greener,’ renewable energy provider ISIS Solar has revealed that it will install an initial 18,000 solar systems, for FREE in the south of the UK. Many more companies are expected to follow suit as the year progresses, taking advantage of the UK’s generous feed-in tariff, while providing free renewable electricity for the homes it selects.

PV-tech.org (05 August, 2010)… Taking advantage of the UK’s feed-in tariff, Oxford-based ISIS Solar said it will install 18,000 rooftop solar systems, free of charge. The company will begin by installing the systems in the south of the country, but will move north as the year progresses, reports PV-Tech’s UK-based sister site.

The Sunday Times (31 July, 2010)… bills could jump sharply this year. Isis Solar, an alternative-energy firm…outweigh the upfront costs. The Isis Solar deal came as British Gas announced…fed back to the national grid. Isis saidsolar panels generally produce enough to cover…

Mail on Sunday (31 July, 2010)… British Gas customers and consumer groups have reacted angrily after the utilities giant’s profits almost doubled while millions of people struggle to pay bills.  Customers are being urged to take action by switching to a cheaper fuel deal before winter

Daily Mail (28 July, 2010)… Thousands of homeowners are being offered the chance to loan their roofs to a solar power firm in return for cheaper electricity bills.  Householders who agree to having the panels installed free of charge will see their bills fall by up to two thirds

The Times (28 July, 2010)… the chance to rent their roofs to a solar power company in exchange for cheaper electricity bills. The company, Isis Solar, will pay for solar panels to be…average household electricity bill. Isis Solar, which plans to install a 3.3…


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Posted in Media, Solar power | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Green Britain Day should be everyday, right?

Posted by ericww on June 16, 2010

JUNE 17 (tomorrow depending upon when you read this post) marks the second Green Britain Day in the UK.  It’s quite possible you have missed this fact, as there’s only been limited noise about it – but there are a lot of good events happening, which are geared towards getting lots of people involved in a good cause.

Organised by EDF Energy with Eco-Schools, London 2012, the Eden Project and Global Action Plan, the day aims to inspire Britons to cut the UK’s carbon footprint in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At HZH, it’s fair to say that we suffer from a mildly cynical view of these kinds of special ‘days’ and ‘weeks,’ which are designed as a focal point as part of a wider plan or promotional activities, geared to generating media interest and, subsequently hopefully, mass consumer participation.

Now we don’t want to knock what is a good, worthy effort.  That’s not our job.  You can buy The Sun or the Daily Mail for that.  But we do wonder whether Green Britain Day should just be every day?  On the basis that that’s a big ask, and it’s best to eat the elephant in small bites etc., we’ll take the day for now – but let’s hope green days are the norm rather than the exception in the not too distant future.

Of all the events that form part of this year’s Green Day push, then Team Green Britain Bike Week does it for us (19 to 27 June).  This is an annual opportunity to promote cycling and show how cycling can easily be part of everyday life. Demonstrating the social, health and environmental benefits of cycling, the week aims to get people to give cycling a go all over the UK. This year, the aim is to make ‘everyday cycling for everyone’!

As part of this, there’s even a celebrity bike auction, where you can buy Lord Sugar’s drop handlebar racer.  The current highest bid on that is £1,000.  Let’s hope it gets a few more bids otherwise, Sir Alan, ‘You’re fired!” (Sorry, I just wanted to say that!) :-)


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