[CARPET KNIGHTS]

There is a lot of talk on the other forums about carbon neutrality what do you guys think?

Goron

[Graeme@Access]

Hi,

As a chemist i can tell you that carbon in a pure form is neutral.

It is insoluble, so discussion of its pH (which is only applicable to species that are dissolved and not suspended) is irrelavent.

Hope this helps

Graeme
Access Cleaning Solutions

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

Graeme is of course right that carbon is a neutral element, however  carbon neutral in the sense referred to by Goron is Carbon dioxide.

A plant is considered carbon neutral if it absorbs as much CO2 in its lifetime by photosynthesis as is produced when it is burnt as fuel.

Lots of scientific terms are abused by marketing types , another being Organic food.

From a CC's point of view , using different chemicals is likely to make very little difference, due to the quantities invloved.

If you want to make  a difference then work locally , driving an extra 10 miles will produce loads more carbon dioxide than you might save by using 20 mls a particular brand.

Use powders so you are not transporting a lot of water.

Take one less flight a year.

Walk to the shops.

All common sense really .

I would always be very sceptical of the claim that one cleaning chemical is more carbon neutral than another as there are multitude factors involved, which none of us can quantify accurately.

I also feel 99 % of customers will see it for the bull it is,  and be turned off by any claims we might make about our carbon neutrality.

Cheers

Doug

[CLEANCARE LIMITED]

Doug

Why have you so many web addresses?
Is this a hidden secret?

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Cleancare,

I have 12 and 2 I manage for others.

The secret is ...........................

Cheers

Doug

[Mark Roberts]

I agree with Doug its all common sense, and just about saving energy, if you can do that you can save yourself some overheads and offer cheaper cleaning, great.

In the UK alone there are 5 individual companies which put out more carbon than all traffic in the UK put together, so until the government gets real and puts real legislation on these companies the things we do are insignificant.
On a global scale even if the whole of the EU went green tomorrow it still would be not be enough to get us out of trouble. The Usa, china and India are the only ones that can make the big difference.

So yep were all doomed, so Im off to have a beer and forget about the whole boring subject 

Mark

[Len Gribble]

Doug

Work Locally and save the planet, think I will give a miss £360 today N12

(Use powders so you are not transporting a lot of water) have a problem I use a TM.

12 how much electricity am I using if I click on each one?

Goron

Do you first clean with AS then clean with MP to save the planet? Or dose MP do the lot?

Mark

You forgot one Tristan De Cunha.


Anyway I will be contributing tomorrow by planting two new Bonsai’s, just love tree hugging.

Len

[stevegunn]

Is there a hidden agenda in this post as the other two forums are rife with this.Maybe some new product on the market :

[Graeme@Access]

 

Now i get what you mean.  Ignore my ramblings about pH, its just neutrality instanly associates my brain with acid base reactions.

So your talking about about carbon neutral in the sense of removing as much carbon from the air as you produce.  Enviromental issues such as these are often disgused for manufacturers gain as Steve implied.

eg.  Using splitter is enviromentally friendly.
This is debatable as the concentrations of phosphate used to make an effective cleaning agent are much higher than those derived from petrochemicals.  If each molecule cost the same amount of energy to reprocess then using splitters would be detremental to the enviroment.  It is the waste reprocessing cost that is often overlooked, so it might be "enviromentally frienldy" to produce a product, but very costly to dispose/reprocess it.

A common misconception is that recycled paper is a good thing.  It costs more in energy terms to reprocess paper than it does to create new paper from trees.  If the trees are grown specifically for paper manufacturing, then enviromentally speaking, its better not to use recycled paper.

Im sure others will not agree, but thats my 2 cents

I would love to examine this new "envirometally friendly" product, so please fire up some details as i have a day off tommorow and have nothing better to do 

Graeme
Access Cleaning Solutions

[Len Gribble]

Steve

Have had a look at the others sites. Can’t see anything new, think a few have been down that road.  Pictures are good may nick them for portfolio.

Goron

Please reply or someone give a nudge what shall I hug?

Neutrality you have got to be joking

Len

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

Hi all

some of you seem to be taking this subject down an unintended route.

I did not mention a single cleaning product in my post just asking what you guys think about the carbon neutral issue. It goes a lot further than just the solutions you use. I have been looking into buying offsets for the carbon that my company emits. it works out about £10 per tonne per year and my van produces about 1.5 tonnes then you have the truckmount and the energy needed to push the water down the pipes.

I don't believe that this should be done to please your custys (if it does then that is a bonus) but should be done out of morals and ethics. to say something like there is no point in us doing anything because the other big boys aren't is i believe a poor comment as surely every little helps.

Len

been out all afternoon with my daughter and just got back but as for what you should hug, surely that should be the wife.

Goron

[Graeme@Access]

Hi Goron,

Your offset is interesting. Do you go out and buy coal then not burn it or donate £15 to a tree planter?

The issue of carbon neutrality will not be solved by burning less fuel or using less energy.  The underlying issue is how we generate the energy required to supply our lifestyle.  Personally, i think the only real solution is cold fusion suplimented with fuel cells.

Cold fusion has been achieved in Cambridge recently, but only for 1000th of a second.  If they can sustain and scale the reaction, then waves or particles (on which ever camp you reside) of photons eminate from the enviromental tunnel. Esentially, you would obtain energy for free in enviromental terms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion
its this but running @ room temp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

Aside from quantum ramblings, fuel cells are completely carbon neutral and one wonders why they have not been embraced by the world. I guess that the main reason is oil and those who control it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

Graeme
Access Cleaning Solutions

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

Graeme the scheme i have been looking at is an organisation that uses the funds to study and produce more sustainable energy sources. So it is possible that the money may be going to the project that you have just described!

Goron

[Len Gribble]

Goron

Granted you did not but the implication was there!

What are you tesco’s (every little helps) next it will asda pat on the backside.

Good for you Quality time, wife in Barcelona spending.  Quote tex message, more expensive than Marbella unquote not sure what that means.

Graeme

Thanks for putting in it some prospective!

Goron

Have a chat with Nick he’s bound to be loaded with the MP.

Len

[Doug Holloway]

Graeme,

I can remember Hydrogen fusion being touted as the way forward during my student time in the 70's .

It was said that development would take 50 years or more but would result in limitless enviromentally sound energy .

Cheers

Doug