[ianharper]

Guys

as things move forwards with the eco movment will it not be harder for guys with TM's to be part of it?

respect

Ian Harper

[Ian Gourlay]

Went to a meeting on the Environment on Monday evening.

\through carbon trading schemes you can offset the damage your car  does for £20

A Truckmount should not cost much more than £80 to off set

[carpetguy]

Offsetting, sounds like " crisis management " to me, something the present government have shown to be involved in, throughout the country, in every area.

Avoidence, is good management, but it means, facing up to reality and taking measures which will avoid a situation developing.................rather than waiting for the inevitable to happen, blaming everyone else and spending 20 times, what it would have cost to prevent, in attempting to resolve

It's been known for 40 - 50 years that measures would have to be taken, but the warnings have been ignored and apparently, we are beyond redemption, with ice melting at an alarming rate, etc.

[ianharper]

can we be sure that customers will think that offsetting is ok? if you use it in your marketing message?

or will they look for a more friendlier answer to their needs?

its not easy this one, woolsafe are going to do a kite mark for products that have been looked at from malefactor to end use. it might be a good idea if we had something that was like the british standard kite mark. where you get audited on a periodical basis.

does any one know about any schemes? for it to work it wold have to have national recognition, something that already know about like the british standard.

I think given the choose if prospects are faced with two alternatives they would go for the eco one. Evan if they don't fully understand or follow this type of life style.

what do guys think?

[Matt Read]

Don't know about the future,but at the present time 95% of my customers just want the best clean possible,and although we know there's not much to choose between eco and conventional products the main perception of joe public is that eco cleaning isn't quite up to it.

The country may become greener as we go on but i doubt all the mums who drop off their kids near my house in their 4x4's every morning, are going to be put off by me using a couple of quid of petrol for my truckmount to clean their carpets.

Someones got a lot of persuading to do before it becomes an issue for t/m owners in my opinion.

[prodry]

Carbon Costing For Carpet Cleaners

Send me cheque for £20.00 and I will plant a tree in my garden and send you some stickers and logo of a tree and you can tell all customers how green you are and that you are carbon costed.

Offer open to limited numbers as I have only a small garden.

[Derek_Walker]

To be honest, there are far more pollutive practises that the customers are performing than truck mount users. Just think how many of them use petrol mowers and outdoor heaters and it brings it all into perspective. How much difference is there in the carbon costing between using the electric for portables and petrol truckmounts, plus you have to use fuel to get to the job in the first place. Until the manufacturers bring out a viable alternative there is not alot we can do.

[Glynn]

What wil tree surgeons and gardeners do ? Make a donation for a new tree for the trees they have just cut down

[spindle]

fishermen putting fish back

[craigp]

even if your using a portable you still got drive to the job, lol

[carpetguy]

Like most of you, I don't feel clients of our services, will find it easy, to see any real advantage to the environment, from using " green " cleaning products.

They just don't, or don't appear, to have a dramatic effect, on the environment, so there would only be a cost to the operator, of promoting, products, with no likely benefit.

If anyone wishes to pursue the green route, good luck to them, but, will it really benefit the business, rather than just make you, feel good.

When the local authorities, education authorities, etc, start turning off lights when out of use and control the heating of buildings, stop wasting millions on inefficient practices, each year, the general public, including me, will find it very hard to take their preachings, seriously.

God............that is totally negative, but, is it realistic...............or can this industry really have a major impact on " saving the planet "


 

[Ian Gourlay]

Offsetting, sounds like " crisis management " to me, something the present government have shown to be involved in, throughout the country, in every area.

Avoidence, is good management, but it means, facing up to reality and taking measures which will avoid a situation developing.................rather than waiting for the inevitable to happen, blaming everyone else and spending 20 times, what it would have cost to prevent, in attempting to resolve

It's been known for 40 - 50 years that measures would have to be taken, but the warnings have been ignored and apparently, we are beyond redemption, with ice melting at an alarming rate, etc.

I cant remember the exact number we at  I think its 20 but its not to late but when we reach 50 it will be. Mumbo Jumble I know and with China and India striving to reach western standards it seems hard to know what we can do unless the entire world is singing and united to the same aim like in the coke advert.

[carpetguy]

Know what you're saying Ian and looking at the scientific analysis, it's all happened before cars or planes were invented.

 Volcanic disasters have contributed more to global warming than anything humans have, over thousands of years...........but we have no chance of controlling volcanoes, or earthquakes.

It seems, there is a 3000 year cycle of cooling / heating up, but I'm not sure where we fit into that pattern, at present.

I am very far removed from " idealism ", but appreciate, that if Western society was less demanding of consumer goods, the explosions in China's and India's economies would not be a concern...............and...............God help us when South America and Africa join the club, because they will, it only takes Western investment, to start the ball rolling

rob

[craigp]

surly the biggest waste of energy is lighting up our streets from 12am to 4am how many peoples walking about then? what a massive cost to light up the streets for so few people.

[Nathanael Jones]

If you could get your hands on a diesel TM,.. going the Bio diesel route would be a huge step in the eco direction. And it would save possibly £500 -£1000 a year in fuel costs even after paying the duty.

[Ian Gourlay]

Rob

And forgot to mention mother Russia

[ianharper]

check out my test site. its just an idea at the moment and has loads of mistakes

http://www.the-most-thorough-carpet-cleaning.150m.com/

respect

[CARPET KNIGHTS]

With all do respect, where do you think that the energy comes from to power your portables and heaters and so on and so on. Just because the power comes down a little round plastic tube filled with copper, There is a huge massive coal burning, gas guzzling or radio active waste producing power station at the end of it.

Portables also use water which takes a lot of energy 1, to process it 2, to pump it (which is a high energy consuming process) and 3, to clean it again.

The true way forward to eco friendly ceaning is surely low moisture or dry cleaning but first they have to evolve in such a way that they can be used in as diverse a situation as HWE

Cheers Goron

[ianharper]

Goron

how are you?

points taken.

if we all make little changes then together we will make big ones.

how about boi fuels and LPG these would make TM a lot more eco friendly, and something the use in your marketing, and cheaper to run.

also using the offsetting message in your marketing? say somthing like "dont feel guilty we carbon offset  for every job we do for you"

Just think what Great PR it would be you planting a tree in your local area or say one of your clients home? send it to your local paper to use. you would get FREE advertssing. plus you can then cut this out and use in in your marketing and portfolo that you show your clients.

plus this links with your web site mesage. and if you are using M-Power rounds it all off

http://www.carpetknights.co.uk/index.html

BTW do you have that bulk mail sales letter that you put the coffee packet on still?

Respect

Ian Harper

[paul_smith]

Hi Ian,

M power is carbon costed at neutral,use this fact in selling now.
Goron makes a obvious but valid point,super powerfull porty's use plenty of leccy,would be interested to know if there actually is any difference between the TM and porty for eco issues,

Paul