 |
I'm woken
from slumber by the sound of letters landing on the mat,
and I rise quickly to see the postman riding off down the
road on his bicycle |
| as
I watch through the large conservatory on the south side
of my zero-energy house. |
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 |
After
using the loo, I select the flush setting from
"high", "medium" or "low"
and then wander into the kitchen |
| where
I take a carton of organic milk
from a local dairy out of the CFC-free, highly energy
efficient larder fridge. |
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As the
fair trade coffee is brewing on the biogas stove, I whip
the milk with my solar- powered "Solait"
frother |
| and
listen to the news on the dynamo radio. |
 |
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I see that
the packaging for the courgettes I ate yesterday is
compostable -- the words are embossed in the cardboard
and so need no ink |
| So
I can throw it onto my compost heap. My "Can o'
Worms" is a multilayer system -- the good stuff
comes out of the bottom tray. |
 |
 |
I put on
my organic cotton trousers, my naturally-coloured red
Foxfibre socks, |
| Deep
E Co. hemp and natural rubber shoes and |
 |
 |
a
Patagonia fleece top made from recycled plastic bottles, |
| finally
strapping on my Seiko thermic quartz watch, which runs
off my body heat. |
 |
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Then I get
into my Toyota Prius hybrid engine car, which I run on
electric power through the village, before switching to
petrol to go down the motorway to work. |
| After
dropping off some clothes at the wet cleaners, I go into
the office. |
 |
 |
It has a
passive solar facade and solar panels for electricity,
and is painted in vegetable-based paints. |
| My
chair is made from recycled bottle tops, |
 |
 |
and my
desk is made from a biocomposite material stronger than
oak. |
| Admiring
the smart recycled casing of the CPU unit of my IBM Intellistation E-Pro
PC, |
 |
 |
I load the
printer with locally-recycled Evolve paper. |
| The
printer is a Kyocera, which has a long life drum and
needs only the toner replacing. |
 |
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After
printing out a brochure proof and emailing a memo or two,
lunch arrives. It is delivered by a Brox human power
vehicle |
| and
I choose a packaging-free burrito wrap and an
eat-the-stick ice lolly. |
 |
 |
I've
refilled my tea mug several times today, so I need to use
the waterless urinal on the way to a meeting. |
| I
contribute a few ideas, drawing them on the flipchart
with Prang soya bean crayons. |
 |
 |
Afterwards,
I stop off in facilities and give them my solar powered
mobile phone, which has finally kicked the bucket. |
| They'll
take it to Shields Environmental, who recover and recycle
98.7% of the electronic waste they handle. |
 |
 |
As I walk
across the EarthSquare recycled carpet to the
photocopier, |
| I
pass partitions covered in Rohner Textil Lifecycle
fabric, which uses no toxic dyes. |
 |
 |
The
remanufactured and recyclable Xerox DC265 wakes up to run
off some copies before going into sleep mode again, and I
call it a day. |
| On
the way home, I stop at the shopping centre to buy an
Ikea a.i.r. inflatable armchair (10% of the weight of a
conventional chair) |
 |
 |
and drop
off my Kodak single use camera for processing and
recycling. |
| I throw some laundry into
the AEG86720 on cold wash setting, which gives an 80% energy saving, |
 |
 |
and don my
recycled Dunlop wellies to go into the garden, |
| where
I check on the solar powered ultrasonic mole repeller. |
 |
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After a
lovely dinner of organic Welsh lamb and local veg and
potatoes, I relax by playing my guitar, which is made of
FSC-certified sustainably-grown wood, and then |
| listen
to some music on the computer and my new Sony recycled
speakers before getting ready for bed. |
 |
| The
house senses that it is dusk, and draws the blind
automatically. Another green day has ended. |
|