What I am going to rant about is what was printed proudly on the back of every card by the card manufacturer: "We run our company on 100% certified renewable energy" and "Paper made with 100% Windpower."
I've seen a few paper mills. Even toured one. Never saw one that was "off the grid" and hooked up to it's own windmill. Power companies do not run separate lines from their windmills direct to another facility. The power generated from the windmill is put into the same circuit as all the other electricity generated by the other sources the power company has. Including natural gas, coal and nuclear.
And again I say certified to what and by who. What is the governing body who issues the certification? Is it a trade origination? Is it a state or federal government regulatory commission? Is it an independent testing or standards board? Where is this certification? Can a view a copy of the signed document?
Doing estimating and project engineering for a living, I deal with a lot of certifications. You don't just say "it's certified" and that's that. Things need to be certified to something. "In compliance to AS9100" or "heat treatment IAW AMS-H-6875" means something. "100% certified renewable energy" is a marketing tag line that has no meaning. Technically coal is renewable, if you wait long enough.
This "100% certified renewable energy" is something stamped on the back of a greeting card,with the sole purpose to tug on your heart strings and make you think you buying a product from a company that cares.
It bothers to think that people are dumb enough to read a statement like that, and buy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment