Broker with an emphasis on ethical lenders

We get this a bunch.......

Ethical and Moral is a fluid and opaque context to suit our personal needs...................we all make those value decisions every day !


As a scientist and a pillaging geologist by background, and spending a bit of time in My native country of Germany..............I will bite

One can likely have a much larger impact by changing personal consumption habits and buying decisions, and by doing so influence others by daily example, and thus develop a deeper understanding of what those decisions REALLY mean, consumption wise of resources generally.

We all know the obvious things we can change on a practical daily basis. Run LED light bulbs, smaller, more fuel efficient cars, take a train instead of a plane for long distance travel (now there is a big one, not so easy in OZ).

Some big ones that many DONT do and arent aware of yet:

Drinking Water:

Drink water from your municipal supply, with point of consumption purification.
Its not just the oil and energy used to package and TRANSPORT the stuff, but its also the effects of some larger local production places that draw from aquifers and affect the local ecology in doing so. In the US, most lower cost bottled water I recall comes from plant treated municipal supply, a slightly better solution.

Us Germans love our bottled Kurwasser. We are great at recycling the bottles.............. but mostly have little care or want over the Energy Impact of the production, packaging and transport of same. We generally make a personal judgement call over the benefit over the impact, without knowing the core data to do same. German society generally is very focussed on energy conservation, Solar production and domestic waste separation, recycled sewerage etc so its not like they dont care. Its a value call.


Hot Water:

For many households, this is the number one energy consumer. Solar systems have been around and mainstream since the 80s. We just replaced one from 1985 !

Buy quality product that will last. Unlike Photovoltaic cells that produce power, thermal accumulation technology doesnt change hugely every few years. Buying a cheapy unit that needs replacing every 10 years uses heaps of energy and resources to replace, transport and install.

If one cant do that, because you are in a rental, can you switch to off peak ? yes its still chewing power from the grid, but at least you will be using dead base load, and save a few bucks in the process.

Gas............. love the fact that you can run this for 24 hrs a day Especially relevant to businesses or those of us with teenage kids . While touted as an energy efficient method of HWS, due to the energy being produced at use point, and a "clean burn" , Solar will still beat this out over a longer term, once the energy "cost" of production of the solar HWS has been " energy and resources amortised". LPG is worse still than Natural Gas,

Eat local Produce.

Self Explanatory - even a veggie and herb patch can make a significant personal impact. That bit is like the eutopia of all homes have solar and battery power, but also has significant upstream impacts that might not be all good.


More fuel efficient transport


Thats an interesting one that has been a little oversold at this time I suspect

Not even walking is free from an energy viewpoint , neither are pushbikes, minimalist yes, free ? no.

Hybrid and More recently Full Electric vehicles

Someone else more skilled can do the detail research, but I have a hunch, just a hunch and not enough time.

Based on an average 15 k per year travel cycle,

Hybrids SOAK up more energy than they give back, unless the 15 k is all city slow use.

EVs will take 5 to 10 years to be neutral, assuming 2 things - that conventional cars dont become more efficient, and your battery set in the EV lasts that long.

Further, this all assumes that one buys a NEW car, and doesnt replace an old one that needs to go to the wreckers.

What if..................... minimalist thinking. My nephew has an ovloV C30 DRIVe diesel. Its a 2011 I think and is a decent safe and fun car to punt around.

Compare to say a Nissan Leaf, ok thats a little bigger, but its as close as we can get in OZ

If he keeps the C30 vs owning the Nissan, whats the nett energy impact, if we use CO2 emissions as a guide to USE consumption, the Volvo emits 1500 kg of CO2.

The Nissan Leaf emits ZERO for that same distance. But does need grid power = 1650 kg of CO2 in mainland states of Oz, but only 400 kg in Tassie, because much of the grid power comes from Hydro.

So for the moment, id say keeping the volvo alive vs sending it to the wreckers is a good minimalist decision, seeing the Leaf also needs an investment in energy and resources producing the product

Where the benefit will come middle term, is we can produce enough Power to run the EV on renewables, which isnt yet a real option for mainstream Australia.............


Govs, and corporations SHOULD do more and many are. But as one of my biz mentors says......... YOU DO IT.

Feeling good about one's decisions isnt a bad thing at all. As an example, your concerns have allowed us to share this information with many peops, and if just one takes notice and takes some of it on in their personal life.........

Any fool can count the seeds in an apple, No genius can count the apples from the one seed.


Ta

rolf

 

Im not suggesting that this selecting ANY business based on one's value set is wrong, that was not my intention. We all have our values in different ways around different things like sex, politics and religion and as any diplomat will tell us - dont touch these.

the term ethical to describe not funding Fossil fuels and related business is a bit to " all encompassing" for my liking.

I prefer specifics, dont like generalisations and opaques .

We dont lend to companies or individuals that receive revenue from the discovery, extraction, research, processing, marketing, retailing of fossil based products or services.

That I dont think we will see, which is one reason why I said, values are fluid and opaque, personally and corporately. I know this because mine are. Discretionary discernement is human and Darwinian.



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rolf


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The O'Rielly Family can help you navigate this.

have known Dad for near 20 years, and Brendan for near 10. Strong focus on clients needs and outcomes

Team MMO - Canberra's leading mortgage professionals

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