Somewhat ironically, after just taking a pop at the Bosch’s advertising campaign, I have heard that sust-it.net has been shortlisted for an award for the Best Campaign in advertising industry’s high-profile Green Awards. Without funding or sponsorship sust-it.net has managed to gain a good deal of PR, which is crucial in driving users to the site. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the awards night.

The planet is very fragile; our limited energy resources are becoming increasingly scarce; and the cost of this energy is surging.

These are the opening lines from the Bosch Planet Savers competition website; so, what do you win if you enter this fantastic planet saving competition? Yep, that great planet saving prize of a long-haul flight to Florida to watch the space shuttle take off! Let’s hope your Bosch appliance lasts long enough to offset all those carbon emissions you contribute to and witness on the trip – bon voyage!

PS I would recommend Bosch consider recycling their Ad agency

Bosch's planet savers advertising campaign

Sust-it is continually looking to refine our energy efficacy database to reflect which products are the best. Fridges and freezers are one area where being small had a major impact on where the products appeared in our energy saving rankings – which was misleading. We’ve now addressed this issue by comparing the electricity consumptions with the actual storage capacity of the fridges and freezers. This allows you to compare the cost per cubic foot of refrigeration storage space and identify those real performance stars.

Top energy savers fridges and freezers include:

Upright Fridges – Miele K9554IDF
Undercounter Fridges – Liebherr KTPES1554
Larder Fridges – Liebherr KB4260
Undercounter Larder Fridges – Liebherr KTPES1750
Fridge Freezers – Smeg FAB40X
Upright Freezers – Whirlpool AFG8131
Frost Free Fridge Freezers – Hotpoint RTM70S
Chest Freezers – Liebherr GTP4726
American Style Fridge Freezers – AEG SANTO 75578KG1

I must admit the rush for flat screen TV has confused me. Firstly, there was the issue of picture quality as the early LCD screens were rubbished compared to a good tube CRT screen. Plasma screens seemed to have the edge on picture quality, with a more natural look and better blacks. However, their major drawback for the energy conscious is that they consume more energy in certain conditions.

Secondly, the issue of what “HD ready” means compared to a “Genuine HD” telly, or “1080” as it is referred to now. So you’ve got a “HD ready” telly, does this mean you will get full high definition images on it? Sorry! NO. Yes, you will get a higher resolution picture than a standard TV, if you have FREESAT HD, SKY HD or a Blu-Ray player, however you will not be getting the full picture that’s being broadcast! Why? Because your “HD ready” TV only has to be able to show a higher definition picture than a standard TV. FREESAT and SKY HD channels are broadcast at 1920 x 1080 pixel Resolution, and your “HD ready” telly may only be 1024 x 768 pixel. Have consumers been sold short? We think so. And where do most people put their nice flat TVs? In the corner of the room, so where are the space saving benefits!

So would I buy the new Panasonic HDTV with its built-in FREESAT receiver? Yes – it’s 1080p, so you will be experiencing genuine High definition programming, that’s good news – plus no subscription too. It’s Plasma, so the picture should be good. Drawbacks, it uses four times more power than my old telly and I can’t record any HD programmes. So I’m holding back until you can get a LED telly (that use less power) with a built in PVR recorder.

How many packets of Walkers crisps equals a days viewing of a 52″ telly? According to Walkers CO2 labelling, 75g of CO2 goes into the atmosphere for every packet of crisps they produce. So how many crisps would the average couch potato have to eat to equal a days viewing of their 52″ LCD telly? A staggering 10 packets! Which will cost you approximately £4 in crisps or 28p worth of electricity.