thegreenguy - Adam Vaughan

Closed for holiday - back soon

I'm off to Greece this weekend for a fortnight, so the blog'll be a little quiet. For anyone wondering - we are flying and we had to go to Greece anyway for family reasons. We worked out an itninerary (via Man in Seat 61) for doing the whole shebang by train and boat, which involved a brilliant-sounding Transylvanian section. Sadly, it also involved manically rushing around and spending only one night in every city. I've given up on carbon offsetting, but I'll be doing some DIY offsetting this autumn by properly insulating our new house.

Lib Dems publish plan for Zero Carbon Britain

With some nice headline ideas like no petrol cars by 2040, the development of high speed rail and removal of planning barriers to green energy tech such as wind turbines. Read the summary here, and the full doc here. Interestingly, this manifesto carries exactly the same monicker as the Centre for Alternative Technology's recent carbon-cutting vision.

Are you ready for a recycled tootbrush?

If so, the Recycline Preserve is yours for £2.86 over here soon. It's apparently 100 per cent recycled plastic - 65 per cent of which is old yoghurt pots - though I'm guessing for 'yeuch' notions of hygience, the bristles aren't recycled (I've mailed to check). There's more 'brush info here.

Top 10 green gadgets

Head over to the Guardian to read a list of my favourite energy-saving and eco gizmos. If the prospect of a solar beach bag, energy-saving kettle and bamboo laptop pushes your buttons, there should be something for you. I have to say (I would, of course) that the new widescreen design's looking mighty fine on the GU Environment section.

New Smart matches Prius MPG (almost)

Fancy the ecological and economic bonuses of the Prius but could live without the £18K price tag and monster size? Step this way. I've just had a heads-up from Smart, which next month is introducing a 60.1 MPG ForTwo that virtually matches the Toyota Prius's sterling 65.7 - without any of the hybrid trickery. If Ken's new plans for the congestion charge go ahead, it'll also merrily trip free into Westminster (it's rated at 116g/km). I'm aiming to blag a test drive soon.

Solar backpack for £60

I know, I know - I said I wouldn't do eco product news. But a solar backpack for £60? You know green goods are going commodity when a sun-powered bag comes in at less than half the price of rivals such as Voltaic System's backpack. And has a battery built-in. Of course, you get what you pay for: the bag's not as handsome as its pricier cousins, and I'm guessing the charge times are slower than the Voltaic due to the much smaller solar panel (there are no specs on the bag shop's site).

Eco kettle deathmatch (AKA reviews of Tefal Quick Cup, Eco Kettle & Plunger Kettle)

Some quick kettle facts for you: modern ones use 3,000 watts (about 300 energy saving bulbs), 28 per cent of us overfill them and the average Brit drinks 27 cups of tea or coffee every week. In other words, our crap tea-making skills are emitting a lot of pointless carbon. I've been guilty of overfilling in the past, which is why I've recently been living with three different 'green kettles' that stop you from wasting water and electricity: (from l-r in the picture)the £64 Tefal Quick Cup, £35 Eco Kettle, and £60 Plunger Kettle. Click through to see how they square up.

Sterling eco products send-up from The Onion

Take a look here for some high grade green satire by the web's finest spoof 'paper. [found via Nigel's Eco Blog]

I'm off to Big Green Gathering - any recommendations?

I'm off today for my inaugural visit to The Big Green Gathering. Any recommedations for must-see talks, people or acts? I confess we're travelling by car, though it is a car club one, plus there are four of us and enough camping equipment inside to open our own Millets store. If all goes according to plan, I'll be posting some photos of the festival over at Newconsumer.com this weekend. [Photo: gavinandrewstewart]