The Environment

This has been annoying me for some time..

"we're as green as walking to the supermarket" on the back of Ocado vans.

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/content/information3/olgasAugust

Can someone explain just how that can be true? Carbon offsetting? Do they take into account their contribution to congestion? Do their vans have 0 emissions? I just can't get it into my head how that statement can be true.

See also: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/ocado-the-ecofriendly-firm-that-runs-on-diesel-1983906.html

P.S. I'm no greenie but I find it funny there's only one other thread with "environment" in the title considering some of the do-gooders on here.

pay some money to a company to plant trees for you, say you're a carbon neutral company, idiots feel better about themselves using an "ethical" company.
It's all a con, like FairTrade.

98% of their vans run on biodiesel, and counting only the spurious 'carbon [dioxide] footprint' this is green

I believe (at least for meat eaters) that the co2 cost of the energy expended in walking or cycling is actually pretty fucking high, so it may well be technically true.

Plus you'd have to get your shopping home, and if you bought enough to justify a home delivery you'd almost certainly have gone home on a bus which is a filthy mode of transport, or a cab, which is not far behind.

It's all about the carbon footprint. Of course we know that the real environmental cost of biodiesel is catastophic, whereas dinosaur oil is actually the ultimate form of recycling - taking waste landfill and making fuel from it.

What really pisses me off is that they paid some twat of a 'brand consultant' just to knock the 'av' off avocado.

And can I get investors for Nana, my home-delivery start-up? Can I fuck.

Wouldn't it be nice if you wouldn't have to go to the supermarket to get everything rather that walking to the shop.

I'm quite lucky in my village to have pretty much everything - chippy, kakab shop, a spar and a local shop, barbers, haidressers, chinese, PO...
This is the same all the way up the valley. Ok not all of the local shops are locally owned, you get the occasional Spar, Coop etc but the majority are local. The only thing I struggle with is fruit - we grow our own veg.

I guess supermarket delivery vans are quite 'green' in a sense. A van can take about 15/20 loads of shopping in one delivery. So that's stopped 15/20 cars from making more congestion and adding their emissions to the environment. The van probably does 2 cars worth of mileage but as mentioned they use biodiesel. So they're good in one way but at the same time the drivers are pretty scary and as inconsiderate as the stereotypical taxi - parking directly outside the house in the middle of the road when there's a parking space a few meters away

At Xmas we had our Fortnum's hamper delivered by goat and then we roasted and ate both the goat and it's 'driver'. An entirely green holiday.

This has been annoying me for some time..

"we're as green as walking to the supermarket" on the back of Ocado vans.

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/content/information3/olgasAugust

Can someone explain just how that can be true? Carbon offsetting? Do they take into account their contribution to congestion? Do their vans have 0 emissions? I just can't get it into my head how that statement can be true.

See also: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/ocado-the-ecofriendly-firm-that-runs-on-diesel-1983906.html

P.S. I'm no greenie but I find it funny there's only one other thread with "environment" in the title considering some of the do-gooders on here.

Less stores spread out all over the place and centralised depots immediately cuts down on emissions due to less wagon runs to the stores. By delivering by van in bulk rather than people pootling to the shops for a couple of bags, they're immediately ahead.

I reckon it works out.

Fewer.

I'm a bottle of wine and a few beers in, and I'm watching the wire.

I'm typing with a drawl, y'all.

And can I get investors for Nana, my home-delivery start-up? Can I fuck.

Heh!

Wouldn't it be nice if you wouldn't have to go to the supermarket to get everything rather that walking to the shop.

I'm quite lucky in my village to have pretty much everything - chippy, kakab shop, a spar and a local shop, barbers, haidressers, chinese, PO...

There once was a day when that list would have been 'Greengrocer, butcher, fishmonger, PO' and to see what it's transmogrified into is amusing and a bit depressing all at once :(

This has been annoying me for some time..

"we're as green as walking to the supermarket" on the back of Ocado vans.

http://www.ocado.com/webshop/content/information3/olgasAugust

Can someone explain just how that can be true? Carbon offsetting? Do they take into account their contribution to congestion? Do their vans have 0 emissions? I just can't get it into my head how that statement can be true.

See also: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/ocado-the-ecofriendly-firm-that-runs-on-diesel-1983906.html

P.S. I'm no greenie but I find it funny there's only one other thread with "environment" in the title considering some of the do-gooders on here.

By sheer coincidence, I saw an equally stupid or possibly even more stupid slogan on the side of an Abel & Cole van the other day. I can't remember it exactly (although I could probably be less lazy and search for it), but it was something like 'I'm a bicycle in the body of a van'.

The slogan 'as green as walking to the supermarket' is as good as meaningless, as you have no idea what they've factored into their calculations. I don't think that reductionist calculations of environmental cost make much sense, anyway. There are so many factors that you really can't quantify. It would take a study of monumental proportions to take in all of them.

For me, one of the most important worries about that sort of delivery method is that it will over time undercut local businesses, concentrate actual retail, and ultimately only benefit really large companies. I don't believe that this is a good thing, as it removes all the benefits of smaller businesses.

Longer-term, if it continues to be successful and to grow, I think that it has the potential to do tremendous harm. Any consideration of whether something is 'green' has to take into account whether it can grow indefinitely, and this definitely can't.

Anyway, there would be reams to say about that here. I might come back to it later.

And can I get investors for Nana, my home-delivery start-up? Can I fuck.

First Waffa, now Nana. Where will it all end?

less wagon runs

Fewer.

What really pisses me off is that they payed some twat of a 'brand consultant' just to knock the 'av' off avocado.

'paid'

Fuck! Why do I keep spelling paid as payed? All the bloody time.

Shopping from home is potentially by far the greenest method. Supermarkets have huge energy bills with bright lighting, heating the shop floor in conjunction with permenantly open fridges etc.

Food can be kept perfectly in storage for non display purposes at a tiny fraction of the cost inc. delivery.

Tax pun, Will.

I like it. I like that people have these little quirks in their writing. It adds character.

Less stores spread out all over the place and centralised depots immediately cuts down on emissions due to less wagon runs to the stores. By delivering by van in bulk rather than people pootling to the shops for a couple of bags, they're immediately ahead. I reckon it works out.

Yeah but the issue is not being better than multiple people driving to the shops, the issue is it being greener than me WALKING to the shops.

greener than walking to and viewing the stuff on display at the shops, keeping the shops customer freindly is the biggest economic and environmental burden by far

PAYE - you're worried about all that tax you've not paid and syphoned off to your Swiss accounts..

it probably appear very stupid to the regular cyclists.

I remember someone talking about how buying item in smaller amount is better as it mean you'll go to the shop regularly and get the item you need/want every now and then, rather than once a weeks to take the car out and buy everything you possibly need to last a week or two.

greener than walking to and viewing the stuff on display at the shops, keeping the shops customer freindly is the biggest economic and environmental burden by far

Huh?

They're not closing shops and swapping them for vans.