Al Gore will be speaking in Hong Kong

3) Ethics and Sustainability
Date Thu, Aug 9, 2007, 18:00 - 22:30
Venue Conrad Hong Kong, Pacific Place, Hong Kong
Speaker US Former Vice President Al Gore
Cost HKD1600.
Inquiries The British Chamber, 852.2824.2211

source: Sweet 'n Sour daily newsletter

cool california fitness in Hong Kong

I regularly do my workouts at different branches of California Fitness here in Hong Kong.

Witht the outside temperature bein high (+30C) it is nice to do your workout in a little chillier environment. As someone who is concerned about the environment, the thing that put me off is the aircons blasting, lights are on etc. Even when no people are working out in a particular section.

On the other side, my preferred work out is cardio stuff, like cross trainers, spinning classes and indoor rowers every now and then. Not a big fan of indoorrunning though. Anyway, the trick is that when you do those things you are using, actually wasting energy. As you don't do anything with it. And as others includigding Engadget, I had the thought...why not use it.

Now in the last weeks there was some maintenance going on in the central branch of California. After they were done signs were hang up with the text "powered by you", I didnt really think anything about it as it is of coz powered by me! THATS THE PURPOSE OF A WORKOUT! DUH!

Now today I decided to take a look at the big yellow box. Now to my surpise that "powered by you" had a complete different meaning.

The guys at California did some really cool stuff, by linking up a number of machines to generators! WOW Isn't that a cool things. So by working out you actually contribute electricity to the aircon and lights. With the lights they had done had done something else as well, by only switching on the majority of lights when people are working out.

Now the only are for improvement is the information provided is not really standard. Information related to CO2 savings and power contribution. As the CO2 normally is expressed in Kilograms or Tonns...they do it in liters....

Anyway, they did their homework and the conclusion is that within 2 years the savings will offset the extra energy used to manufacture the equipment.

Take a look at the next video as well:

cool california fitness in Hong Kong

I regularly do my workouts at different branches of California Fitness here in Hong Kong.

Witht the outside temperature bein high (+30C) it is nice to do your workout in a little chillier environment. As someone who is concerned about the environment, the thing that put me off is the aircons blasting, lights are on etc. Even when no people are working out in a particular section.

On the other side, my preferred work out is cardio stuff, like cross trainers, spinning classes and indoor rowers every now and then. Not a big fan of indoorrunning though. Anyway, the trick is that when you do those things you are using, actually wasting energy. As you don't do anything with it. And as others includigding Engadget, I had the thought...why not use it.

Now in the last weeks there was some maintenance going on in the central branch of California. After they were done signs were hang up with the text "powered by you", I didnt really think anything about it as it is of coz powered by me! THATS THE PURPOSE OF A WORKOUT! DUH!

Now today I decided to take a look at the big yellow box. Now to my surpise that "powered by you" had a complete different meaning.

The guys at California did some really cool stuff, by linking up a number of machines to generators! WOW Isn't that a cool things. So by working out you actually contribute electricity to the aircon and lights. With the lights they had done had done something else as well, by only switching on the majority of lights when people are working out.

Now the only are for improvement is the information provided is not really standard. Information related to CO2 savings and power contribution. As the CO2 normally is expressed in Kilograms or Tonns...they do it in liters....

Anyway, they did their homework and the conclusion is that within 2 years the savings will offset the extra energy used to manufacture the equipment.

Take a look at the next video as well:

nr of Blue Skies hit the sky

The discussion about airpollution has dominated the media for the last months.

It was then even more surprising that when I picked up a newspaper last Saturday, the headline read:

NINE YEAR HIGH FOR HONG KONG'S BLUE SKIES

Hong Kong would not be Hong Kong if this was opposed immediately.

The article stated that in a 10 week period from May to July, HKG has seen the lowest number of days with HIGH airpollution in the last 9 years. This means a limited period of time, rather then saying the airquality was such and so in the first half of the year.

It was used by the government to claim that improvement measures taken have the desired effect. Altough opposers didn't rule out the fact that there might be an improvement, their counter arguments were that its a short period of time, the winds have been favourable and.... altough there has been an increase in clear day numbers...the pollution levels are still not up to internernational standards.

The government used data gathered from roadstations that measure a number of factors like windspeed, temperaturre, humidity, and a the presence of a number of pollutants. The api (pollution index) can be found HERE

Anyway, I believe that improvement measures should be taken by all parties involved. Including business people operating cross border with China, locals in Hong Kong, governments etc.

Improving the environment is not that difficult. As long as I see people waiting in cars for a long time with the engine running so the aircon can be switched on, aircons in restaurants and shopping malls are on crazy cold then I am not sure whether people are really willing to improve.....