Elise and Karen

It seems that when Melbourne Cup Day sneaks up on us  Christmas is just around the corner and this year, with the first Tuesday being the 1st November, it gives us all a sense of urgency.

For the first time I decided to close our office and support the local fundraising for Children with Disabilities and the Intellectually Impaired .

The whole team at Lois Buckett Real Estate were keen to attend a fabulous luncheon and fashion parade at the Lennox Point Hotel.

Yonika and Paula

We enjoyed a sumptuous meal, an excellent fashion parade sponsored by Le Chelle and C-Shell in Lennox Head and were swept away in Melbourne Cup Fever.  Hats (or fascinators) off to a wonderful event. And many thanks to Tracey Everingham and her team of hard working volunteers who made the day happen.

We’re on a roll with environmentally-friendly work tips and here are five more great ideas if you have the ear of the boss.

1. Cleaning Products

Whether you’re using an independent cleaning person or the building management has staff in place, now is the time to switch cleaning products to greener versions to drastically reduce indoor air pollution and to avoid adding questionable chemical residue to our waterways. Obviously this is easier to do when you don’t have to go through building management.

But even if you can get a building to change one product to green, you’ll really be making a difference.

2. Energy Initiatives

Change light bulbs to energy efficient ones and put up signs reminding staff to pull the plug at the end of the day on things like coffee makers and microwaves, and to turn the power off on their computers.

Standby on many computers equals energy guzzler.

3. Paper Products

Set up a digital file sharing system and make an initiative to print as little as possible. Paper should be 100 per cent recycled, and either unbleached, or bleached without chlorine. When you do print, use both sides. Speaking of printing – refill ink cartridges rather than buying new and if that’s not possible there are plenty of places where you can take them for recycling.

Reuse anything that is printed on one side only as scrap paper, reducing the need for new notebooks in the office. New notebooks, toilet paper, paper towels, business cards and more can all be found in eco-friendlier versions. If you send out lots of mailings at work, choose eco packing materials.

Reuse boxes, shred papers for packing material and look for padded envelopes containing recycled fibre.

Consider cancelling all your newspaper and magazine subscriptions and go online instead.

4. Stock Your Kitchen

Much of the waste that is created during the day in an office is takeout food containers, coffee cups and water bottles. If you have a kitchen, use it. Simple things can make a huge difference. Fill a cupboard with reusable mugs, plates, glasses, and utensils. Stick a bottle of eco dish soap by the sink. Put in an under the sink water filter. Plug a coffee maker into the wall. Take it a step further by filling it with Fair Trade/organic coffee and putting organic milk in the fridge. You don’t need plastic or wooden stirrers when you have spoons in the cupboard. Sugar and tea also come in Fair Trade/organic versions. Bulk sugar has less packaging than individually wrapped paper packets. Coffee filters, like all paper products, now come in unbleached versions.  If you have a microwave, put a few microwave safe glass containers in the cupboard (it’s not a good idea to put plastic in the microwave).

If you have a bottle of hand soap or sanitizer in the kitchen, make sure it doesn’t contain an antibacterial (like Triclosan).

5. Try carbon offsetting your business

Whether you’re a unique boutique, a mobile business or a large company – or something in between, you’re impacting the environment and if you want to do more about carbon emissions and the boss thinks it’s a good idea, try offsetting.  Carbon offsetting is a way for businesses (and individuals) to invest in in projects that prevent or reduce greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere.  Check out the various options and pricing at Yonderr.

If you have any other tips to help create greener workplaces we would love to hear from you – drop us a line today.

To read the full story, please click here

Story source: www.yonderr.com.au

Australia’s biggest home lenders cut mortgage rates soon after the central bank reduced the cash rate for the first time since April 2009.

Westpac took just 15 minutes to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) 0.25 percentage point rate cut in full on Tuesday. It will lower its standard variable home loan rate (SVR) to 7.61 per cent from November 14.

Westpac is the nation’s second biggest mortgage lender by market share,

Bank of Queensland (BOQ), and Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Australia’s biggest home lender, followed suit, cutting their SVR to 7.61 per cent and 7.56 per cent respectively.

BOQ’s rate cut will take effect on November 11, and CBA’s on November 4.

ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank (NAB) said their interest rates were under review.

The cuts by the bigger Sydney-headquartered lenders come almost two years after Westpac ignited public outrage by lifting its SVR by 45 basis points after the RBA’s rate hike of 25 basis points.

Last November CBA did the same, with its rivals passing on rate rises of between 35 and 43 basis points, helping to prompt a Senate inquiry into competition within the banking sector.

NAB has consistently tried to undercut its rivals to win market share, and last Thursday posted a record annual cash profit of $5.5 billion on strong growth in home lending and deposits.

Westpac retail and business banking group executive Rob Coombe said economic weakness in Europe was having a negative effect on Australian business and consumer confidence.

"A reduction in interest rates will provide a timely boost to sentiment and generate a positive flow-on effect for the broader Australian economy," he said in a statement.

The rate cut will reduce repayments on an average $250,000 mortgage by about $41 per month, he said.

BOQ managing director Stuart Grimshaw announced the rate cut on his first day with the bank as its new boss, saying that with Christmas approaching it was the right thing to do.

CBA has 27.8 per cent of Australia’s home loan market.

Westpac has a 26.4 per cent share, while NAB has 15.6 per cent, ANZ 14.3 per cent, Suncorp 2.8 per cent, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank 2.6 per cent and BOQ 2.2 per cent according to figures from the banking regulator.

Westpac will report its annual result on Wednesday followed by ANZ’s profit result on Thursday.

Story source: www.ninemsn.com.au

Homeowners have been granted a long awaited reprieve, with the Reserve Bank opting to drop interest rates by 25 basis points.

The cut continues what is becoming a tradition, with the Reserve Bank changing the cash rate on Melbourne Cup Day for the sixth year in a row.

It is also the first time in a year that rates have shifted in either direction, with last year’s race tarnished by a surprise 25 basis point bump.

The Reserve Bank’s decision comes after the TD Securities-Melbourne Institute data revealed inflationary pressure was at a 19-month low.

The Institute’s inflation gauge showed a 0.1 percent rise in headline and trimmed mean measures, prompted largely by a massive drop in fruit and vegetable prices.

The rise keeps inflation at a 19-month low of 2.6 percent, well within the Reserve Bank’s target band.

The Reserve Bank last cut interest rates in April 2009. Following a steady climb in 2010, interest rates have stayed on hold since last November.

The last time the Reserve Bank stayed put on Melbourne Cup day was in 2005, midway through the cash rate’s year-long stint at 5.5 percent.

Story source: www.ninemsn.com.au

Fixed term mortgages hit 3.5 year high in October

Basic variable rates were the most popular with new home loan borrowers only 11 months ago, but today they have been far surpassed by ongoing discount rates and fixed rates, according to loan approval data from Mortgage Choice, Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker.

At that time, the no-frills product type accounted for 34% of the broker’s new approvals. Today, this sits at less than 16%, the second lowest point since Mortgage Choice began recording such data in January 2003.

Fixed rates are now more in demand than they have been in well over three years, and although the popularity of ongoing discount rates dropped for the first time in October they remain by far the most popular home loan with new borrowers, accounting for more than 43% of approvals.

Company spokesperson Kristy Sheppard said, “When comparing our October loan approval data to that extracted one year ago, it’s remarkably obvious how much the industry has changed in reacting to subdued housing finance demand and a relatively positive interest rate outlook.”

“Then, basic variable rate was the loan of choice at just over 34% of approvals. Standard variable rate followed with just under 34%, then ongoing discount rate at 17% and fixed rate at 11%.

“That situation has now flipped. New borrowers’ appetite for fixed rate loans is at a three and a half year high of 20% of approvals and ongoing discount rate loans account for 43% of approvals.

“In an environment of rising living costs and economic uncertainty it is unsurprising borrowers are taking advantage of the relatively low fixed rates and attractive variable rate discounts offered by lenders hungry for business.”

The popularity of standard variable, line of credit and introductory rate home loans all fell in October, to 15%, 4% and 1% of approvals respectively. Basic variable demand rose slightly to 16%.

Note: Mortgage Choice currently writes one in 25 new home loans in Australia, equating to approx. $10 billion in approvals per year, hence it provides a clear insight into borrower preferences. The 19 year old mortgage broker has a loan book of over $42 billion.

One in 10 Australian households is in housing stress and at risk of financial hardship and poverty, a new report says.

Renters and first home buyers are most under pressure, with 26 per cent of renters and 15 per cent of first home buyers in housing stress, the Australians for Affordable Housing (AAH) said on Monday.

"There is an entrenched and significant group of people in Australia who face day to day hardship because of their housing costs," AAH spokeswoman Sarah Toohey said in a statement.

Overall, 850,000 households across the country are at risk of financial hardship after paying for housing costs, of which nearly 300,000 are in NSW.

The report, commissioned from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM), found 21 per cent of first home buyers in Melbourne are more likely to experience housing stress, compared to 15 per cent in Sydney.

Hobart and Sydney put the tightest squeeze on renters. Hobart has the highest rate of renters in housing stress at 33 per cent, while Sydney has the highest number with more than 100,000 households facing poverty because of the high cost of renting.

"A secure home is a fundamental building block for everything else we do in life," Ms Toohey said.

"We need to create a housing system that works for everyone."

Story source: www.ninemsn.com.au

It can sometimes feel like making earth-friendly choices means spending more money.  Well, the good news is that being green doesn’t have to break the bank. With a little creative thinking, it’s easy to ditch the high prices of trendy eco products and go green at no cost.

Here are the first five of our top 10 ways to go green on the cheap.

1. Head outside
With the warmer months here (in the southern hemisphere anyway), now is the time to get outside and visit your local park or beach to throw a ball, have a picnic, run, jump, swim or simply commune with nature – and it doesn’t cost a cent. Enjoy!

2.  Read online
Rather than buying newspapers and magazines and then having to worry about recycling, try reading online.  It’s easy and simple and most newspapers and magazines have excellent free content.  You might even find that you expand your reading material by checking out the local press in the US, Europe or China. It’s not called the world wide web for nothing!

3. Reuse your packaging
Food packaging can contain plastics and other materials that are very difficult to recycle.  Ditch the cost of freezer bags (and your use of raw materials) by using old food packaging instead. Bags used to package frozen vegetables, fish and meats are equipped with lining that effectively blocks freezer-burn – and they’ll keep frozen foods just as fresh the second time around. The plastic bags inside cereal boxes are also great for freezing foods, as they also have a moisture-blocker to preserve freshness.

Some of these bags already have a re-sealable closure for easy reuse. But bags that aren’t re-sealable can be just as useful for storing your leftovers. Make sure to wash all your packaging well before reusing it.

4. Choose a vege-based meal
We’re not saying that eating meat is bad. But the livestock industry does carry a pretty heavy environmental footprint, causing many earth-lovers to opt for a vegan or vegetarian diet. If you’re not ready for a full commitment, try serving a vegetarian or vegan meal to your family once a week.

5. Participate in a cleanup
If you want to help keep your neighborhood beautiful but don’t have tons of cash, try donating some of your free time instead by participating in a local cleanup. Spending an afternoon at a cleanup gives you a sense of fulfillment, keeps your town clean and helps you meet other eco-minded people in your area.

Visit your local park’s or council’s web site to find an upcoming park, river or beach cleanup near you. If you’re having trouble, a web search with the word “cleanup” and your town’s name should point you in the right direction.

Stay tuned for our next five green tips that won’t break the bank.

For more information on this, please click here

Story source: www.yonderr.com.au

The housing sector is stabilising as talk of an interest rate rise wanes and Australians are encouraged to borrow more, economists say.

The number of home loans approved in August rose 1.2 per cent to 50,965, official figures show. Economists’ forecasts had centred on a 1 per cent rise in housing finance commitments for the month.

August was the fifth straight month that housing finance commitments had risen.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said total housing finance by value rose 1.0 per cent in August, seasonally adjusted, to $20.848 billion.

JPMorgan economist Ben Jarman said the figures showed the housing sector was stabilising rather than rebounding.

‘‘It certainly means it’s not falling into a hole,’’ Mr Jarman said. ‘‘In the last few months worth of data, the housing finance figures have benefited from the perception that the RBA won’t be doing much in the near term.

‘‘So, if you went back to the start of this year, the RBA didn’t hike rates but there was all the forecast and all the language were making noises that you would get a couple of hikes this year.

‘‘Those aren’t being delivered and things offshore have turned a little bit sour.

‘‘What you’ve seen in the last few months in the home loans data is these fading expectations are helping out and people are coming back and they are happy to take on new debt.

‘‘We’re kind of calling this a mini-rally, but don’t think that this is the start of a tear away in the housing market.

‘‘There’s still a lot of uncertainty globally and that’s what’s keeping the RBA on the sidelines.’’

Mr Jarman said JPMorgan still expected the RBA not to change the cash rate from its current 4.75 per cent until at least the middle of 2012.

‘‘You’ve got a lot uncertainty offshore counterbalancing the domestic inflationary situation here and we see the RBA not doing very much for a while.’’

ICAP senior economist Adam Carr said August’s housing finance figure was a good result and continued a 13 per cent increase in lending since April.

‘‘The pattern we’ve witnessed over the last year is that home lending is posting a dramatic improvement after a GFC induced slump, interrupted only by the floods and the disasters,’’ Mr Carr said. ‘‘Now we’re back on track.’’He expected housing finance data to continue to be strong in the coming months.

‘‘Financial conditions are not too tight, we’ve had an easing in financial conditions (and) lending rates are going sharply lower.

‘‘Don’t forget the unemployment rate is low and income growth is strong, so the prospects are really good.’’

The data also highlighted why a cut in the cash rate was not needed, he said.

‘‘The reason I say that is because the economy is healthy – we don’t need one or two rate cuts.

‘‘We’re either going to get 100 basis points worth of cuts or more because Europe collapses and we have another GFC or, I would imagine, we get none.

‘‘That’s because retailing is accelerating, home lending is accelerating, approvals are accelerating and the unemployment rate is low.

‘‘To argue that we need one or two rate cuts is just absurd.’’

AAP

Source: www.domain.com.au

One of the biggest trends in renovating we might be about to see emerge is the mini-makeover.

Think: paints, cupboard handles, tap fittings, wallpapers (yes, wallpapers going up, not coming down) and the polishing of timber floors. Also light fittings and window treatments. Anything that changes the feel and adds a bit of pizzazz without spending the big bucks.

If that sounds like the ’70s revisited, perhaps it is. Hopefully not with such garish results, though.

And yes, if you are thinking – ‘hang on, hasn’t everyone been doing this all along?’ In part you are right. But the difference is the mini-makeover will be used by householders to make do for much longer than in recent years.

Why will we see this replace bigger aspirations – at least for now? It’s a meeting of several forces.

First, the property market isn’t going anywhere in a hurry at the moment – so the belief that you can do a big reno and flip the property to make a good quid is quickly dissolving.

Second, Australians are saving more than we have in years and there’s a propensity to pay down debt. That means making do with what we have and not taking on huge loans to expand our lifestyles.

It’s also dawning on some people that one way to make money off housing in this current market is not to buy and sell in a hurry, but to shake the housing debt as fast as you can and that way lower your overall costs of acquiring an asset that is free from capital gains tax.

More broadly, employers continue to report that the biggest thing employees are chasing isn’t dollars but work-life balance. Money is still important, yes, but there’s a greater focus on living a life outside of the office, and people aren’t jumping ship for an extra $5,000 or $10,000 like they were a few years ago.

So if they are working less and aren’t prepared to move for a bit more cash, it’s a fairly reasonable conclusion that people will be looking to make their dollar stretch further by extending the life of their current home.

There’s another force – again related to the slowdown in the property market. Industry talk says there’s been a general shift in the mindsets of homeowners – people now expect to stay in their homes for longer. And if you’re in for the long haul, you’ve got the luxury to plan and think – ‘right, I’ll paint that old laundry for now and make it last a few more years before we get around to building a new one’.

After all, you’ve got years to live in the house, and you’re not in such a hurry to get it sorted to flick it back on to the market.

It’s all happening at the same time that we are hearing of the re-emergence of the three-bedder as the house to have – but this time with a second toilet attached. For many, that could mean bye-bye to the media room, the fourth bedroom and the extra study. And who needs those, anyway, when you’re watching movies on your iPad and emailing on your smartphone?

A comfy chair and a flip-down desk that can be discreetly packed away into the wall when not in use might suffice for a study.

And with books, DVDs and music all going digital, there’ll be more space in lounge rooms to accommodate that kind of nifty set up.

I’m not suggesting houses will be totally devoid of all books but you can see collections will get smaller – for example why buy a hard copy dictionary for the study when it’s much simpler and easier to use an app on your phone?

There’s been a school of thought in recent years – which persists today, driven in part by property marketing – that it’s cheaper to detonate a house and start again, than renovate. Homeowners are often lulled by the lower prices that large home-building companies advertise.

True, looked at on a square-metre basis, it might be cheaper to build anew than renovate – some say it costs half as much on average. But if you are being more frugal and making use of what you have, then perhaps the renovation would involve a much smaller extra footprint and be cheaper overall.

The awakening on the cost of debt since the GFC is intermingled with this mini-makeover trend. Obviously it’s an awful lot cheaper to use the money you have saved to fund renovations rather than keep increasing the size of your home loan. And if you can spend a few thousand dollars to make your house more liveable and avoid or put off for several years having to borrow $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, you could be much better off financially in the long run.

When working out how much you should spend on a mini-makeover, it’s helpful to calculate what borrowing the money for the major renovation would cost you and do your sums backwards from there.

The trick to extending the life of what you’ve already got without pouring money down the drain, is getting a good picture of where you want to take your property in the long term (which might involve getting a building designer or architect in), and working out what you can – and can’t – live with for now.

For example, if you want to make do with your ratty old kitchen for a few more years, painting it, and replacing the door handles, taps and even the lights might be a good investment. But upgrading the oven or the range hood to something you may or may not use in the new kitchen is possibly a waste of money.

And of course, like any renovation, you need to be well-researched and enter with eyes wide open so you know what the hidden costs might be.

Story by Carolyn Boyd www.domain.com.au

Next time you are making a cup of coffee in the morning, spare a thought that you are dealing with a potential fuel of the future.

It’s not just aroma – in Britain, engineers have built a car that runs entirely on coffee beans and broke the world speed record for a car powered by organic waste.

In September, a modified Rover SD1 averaged 66.5mph at the Elvington Race Track near York, smashing the previous record of 47mph achieved by a US team that built a car fuelled by wood pellets.

Engineer Martin Bacon, with the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers of Durham, stripped out the old car and refitted it with a ‘gasifier’ and filters which turn waste coffee granules into energy to drive the engine.

The breakthrough car is not the first to be powered by coffee.

Mr Bacon and his team based the design of the Rover on a coffee-powered Volkswagen Sirocco built for the BBC science show Bang Goes The Theory.

That car was driven from London to Manchester in March last year and straight into the Guinness Book of Records, as no car powered by waste material had ever travelled that distance before.

Bang Goes The Theory presenter Jem Stansfield explained that the cars are a genuine alternative to powering engines using fossil fuels.

They work, he says, by burning waste coffee granules, which would otherwise end up in landfill..

“It’s like an old charcoal burner,” he said.

The coffee is heated up like charcoal. Then the combustion gases, generally carbon dioxide and water vapour, are reduced by hot carbon to carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

This is then filtered by a cyclone filter and a rock wool filter and cooled down by a radiator.

“By the end the gas is a lot cooler and cleaner and is piped through to the engine” Mr Stansfield said. “The coffee gas, the carbon monoxide and hydrogen, goes in the cylinders and the explosion drives the engine.”

Coffee powered cars … what a great way to reduce our carbon footprint and
cut the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

To read the full story, click here or visit www.yonderr.com.au

The benefits of natural light, minimal aircon and natural carpets have been shown to have positive benefits for office workers.  Beyond the obvious savings in cost and energy, employees are happier, healthier and more productive.  And remember, you don’t need a carbon tax to become more aware of CO2 emissions.

A recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Green Building Council of Australia says the number of buildings winning Green Star certification has risen from just three in 2005 to 22 last year.

1 Bligh Street in the CBD is one of the 16 new buildings to be awarded six-star green status so far this year. It became the new home to law firm Clayton Utz in June this year and among the green features it incorporates are its own basement sewerage plant that recycles 90 per cent of the water in the building, solar panels on the roof and cooling from “chilled beams” rather than conventional air-conditioners.

“I wasn’t expecting to feel too much difference but having moved into the building it’s surprising how much more natural light there is and how much better you feel generally working in a naturally ventilated building,” 25-year-old lawyer Aman Saxena said.

Colleague Jemma Rowe, 26, shares his enthusiasm for the ultra-modern building, adding that there had been an obvious “positive impact” on staff since the move.

The pair’s sentiments are backed by an increasing body of evidence, including a detailed study with another law firm, Oakley Thompson, after it recently moved into a newly refurbished green building in the centre of Melbourne.

The study, conducted with the University of Melbourne, found sick days had fallen 39 per cent and the lawyers’ billings ratio rose 7 per cent despite the overall hours worked falling 12 per cent.

The survey even found the firm’s secretaries were typing 9 per cent faster in the new building and with greater accuracy.

Professor Deo Prasad of the University of NSW’s faculty of the built environment points out that keeping employees healthier and happier is a major financial incentive for businesses considering going green.

“In the lifecycle of a building the salaries of the people working in the building is by far the single largest cost,” he said.

“If you can improve productivity by, say, 2-3 per cent you are making a huge difference.”

Professor Prasad added that employers are also finding that providing green offices was helping them recruit and retain younger workers from Gen Y and beyond.

“There’s increasing evidence that working in a greener building is more attractive to a certain type of younger occupant,” he said.

Click here to read more

Story source: www.yonderr.com.au

The central bank has decided to keep the cash rate unchanged this month and has opened the door for possible future cuts.

The decision was expected, with all 15 economists surveyed last week by AAP predicting the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would keep rates on hold at 4.75 per cent on Tuesday.

The central bank’s board last raised the rate from 4.5 per cent in November 2010.

But the focus was on the statement accompanying the decision, in which RBA Governor Glenn Stevens indicated he was less concerned that inflation would accelerate.

"The path for inflation may now be more consistent with the two to three per cent target in 2012 and 2013," he said.

That meant rate cuts were now on the table.

"An improved inflation outlook would increase the scope for monetary policy to provide some support to demand, should that prove necessary," Mr Stevens said.

UBS interest rate strategist Matthew Johnson said the RBA appeared to have downgraded its growth and inflation forecasts.

"I think that the bank has gone from thinking that things were too strong a couple of months ago, to being around trend now," Mr Johnson said.

"If there’s a further deteriorating, they’ll ease policy."

He said the statement prompted investors to buy bonds, on expectations that the central bank may soon cut the cash rate.

The December 10-year bond futures contract rose to 95.985 (implying a yield of 4.015 per cent) from 95.96 (4.04 per cent) just before the RBA released its statement at 1430 AEDT.

The Australian dollar dropped to a one-year low 94.65 cents after the statement.

Mr Johnson said Mr Stevens’ statement suggested the bank would be watching unemployment figures very closely, as a gauge of inflationary pressure on the economy.

"But we’re a few months away from having to make that decision."

Mr Stevens said conditions in global financial markets continued to be "very unsettled, with uncertainty increasing about both the prospects for resolution of the sovereign debt and banking problems in Europe, and the outlook for global economic growth."

However, economic activity in China and Asia was continuing to expand, he said.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said Mr Stevens’ statement showed the RBA had become more open to the possibility of lower rates.

"For the first time since the global financial crisis, the Reserve Bank has opened the possibility of rates being trimmed to support the economy," Mr James said.

He said the focus now shifts to October 26, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases consumer price index (CPI) data for the September quarter.

The CPI is a key measure of inflation and is used by the central bank in setting its monetary policy.

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the RBA’s statement was more dovish than recent ones.

"The RBA is keeping a steady hand on the wheel and is more concerned with the inflation outlook," he said.

Mr Bloxham noted that while the European and US economies were slowing, Asia, and particularly China, were going strong or, at least, easing at a steady rate.

Story source: www.ninemsn.com.au

According to the manufacturers cold water laundry detergents wash most clothes perfectly well. Most if us, however, still cling on to our mum’s advice about using warm water to wash our clothes.  However in the process we use up valuable energy and contribute to carbon emissions.  And remember, you don’t need a carbon tax to become more aware of CO2 emissions.

According to TreeHugger, a full 90 percent of the energy used in washing clothes goes toward heating the water, so it stands to reason that using less energy by washing in cold, unheated water would create significant environmental savings. But just how much difference are we really talking about?

The TreeHugger number crunchers came up with some pretty interesting results. It turns out that pressing the cold/cold button (instead of the hot/warm button) on your washing machine has the same impact as driving about 9 miles in a car or the production, transportation and storage of a six pack of beer.

It may not be too surprising that one load of laundry doesn’t make a huge amount of difference compared to, say, not eating meat or dairy. But, multiply those impacts by 392 — the number of laundry loads an average U.S. home washes in a year — and, all of the sudden, there are some real impacts.

Washing laundry in hot water is really wasteful
Washing every load on the hot/warm cycle (in a top loading machine and an electric water heater) for a year is equivalent to burning about 182 gallons of gasoline in a car; in an average (19.8 miles per gallon) car, that’ll get you around 3595 miles. So, wash in hot/warm, or drive almost 3600 miles — same difference.

Similarly, if you wash with the hot/cold cycle (in a top loading machine and an electric water heater), you’ll end up with 2407 pounds of CO₂ per year — just over a metric ton — which is equal to about one US round-trip cross-country flight (6171 miles of long-haul flying).

Using a gas water heater is far more efficient
If you’ve got a gas water heater, the news is a little greener. You’re looking at 3.22 pounds of CO₂ per load, which translates to just over 3 miles in a car; add that up over an average year’s worth of washing, and you’re looking at just over 1288 miles in a car or about 1262 pounds of CO₂, or most of the way from New York City to London by airplane.

Using cold water can really net you some savings
When you use cold water to wash, you just use energy to run the machine — about .24 kWh — without using any energy to heat the water. That .24 kWh translates to about .41 pounds of CO₂ per load, or about 162 pounds of CO₂ per year. That’s about 8 gallons of gas, or 164 miles of driving. Compare that to the 3595 miles of driving that the top end of the emissions scale (washing in hot/warm, using a top-loading machine and water heated with an electric water heater), and pressing that cold/cold button starts to make a sizable difference.

Using an efficient Energy Star machine makes a big difference, too
Energy Star estimates that water savings range from 40 percent to 75 percent with front-loading washing machines, so their relative impact would be comparably less.

What does this all mean? Aside from being a great example of how little decisions add up to make a big difference, it shows how wasteful heating large quantities of water can be. Just selecting the “cold/cold” cycle has the potential to save as much CO2 emissions each year as thousands of miles driven in a car, or even an airplane flight or two.

For the full story click here

Story Source: www.yonderr.com.au

It’s not just houses among gum trees on ¼ acre blocks under threat from the supposed death of the Australian Dream; a report shows man’s best friend is also victim to a shift in where and how we live.

Dog and cat ownership is down across Australia, according to a report from the Australian Companion Animal Council that found high-density living, changing lifestyles and government legislation to blame.

The ACAC paper found that in the past decade Australia’s dog population has decreased by at least 14per cent and its cat population has dropped by about 10 per cent, as latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a decline in the rate of home ownership and rise human population.

Queensland figures from the Office of Economic and Statistical Research reflected the national downturn in pet ownership, with dog ownership in the state falling by 2.1 per cent from 2008 to 2010 as cats dropped by 1.4per cent.

The ACAC paper found slightly more than half of the state’s households accommodated cats and/or dogs in 2010.

And though pooches were more popular than pussies overall, Brisbane was among the survey regions with the lowest proportion of households with dogs.

Speaking from the inaugural Putting Pets Back Into Our Lives thinktank in Sydney, ACAC president Kersti Seksel said the steady decline in pet ownership had brought a $6.02billion pet-care industry to its knees.

But it wasn’t just commerce at risk as communities without pets were worse off as well, Ms Seksel said.

“There’s been lots of research showing pets are not just good for an individual’s physical health and mental health – if you own a dog for instance, you’re less likely to be lonely and more likely to get physical exercise – but you’re also more likely to interact with your community,” she said.

“All pets are down, but we’re focusing particularly on a decline in cat and dog ownership because there’s a lot of research that demonstrates the valuable relationships they share with owners.”

Ms Seksel said the costs associated with maintaining pets, difficulty in finding care during holidays, time constraints and moving to rented accommodation, particularly apartments, were the most common reasons why people no longer included animals in their households.

“There’s a perception that renting or apartment living don’t work with owning a dog but that’s just not true,” she said.

“If you look at America, you see that dog ownership in small space is fine as long as you’re caring properly for the pet.”

A change in Australia’s favourite breed of dog reflected a shift to inner-city living Ms Seksel said, with the diminutive Maltese ousting the German Shepherd from the top spot that the larger dog enjoyed 10 years ago.

Ms Seksel said the 150 participants in today’s Putting Pets Back Into Our Lives conference, including the RSPCA, hoped to find suitable solutions to the problem.

“Whether it’s changing the laws and regulations around pet ownership or educating the public about finding the right pet for them, we want people to realise just how good owning a pet can be,” Ms Seksel said.

Story source: www.domain.com.au