Energy input labelling

Being an environmentally aware consumer isn't easy. For most people it goes about as far as buying the occasional recycled product and maybe shopping at Body Shop or your local equivalent.

But if you want a measure of the environmental impact which a product's manufacture has, you have little information available. You might be able to guess that a recycled product uses less energy, or you might know about the toxic chemicals used in the production of many things (e.g. plastics, bleached fabrics and paper). But there is no standard measure to enable you to compare the green-ness of two products.

Therefore I would suggest products should carry on their label an estimate of the total energy used in their manufacture. This would be a figure in joules or kilojoules. This takes into account the amount of fuel used to produce the item, and the cost of transportation of raw materials, components, and the final product. it may also factor in the ease or difficulty of disposing of the product after use by estimating the energy needed to dispose of it.

You would then be able to go into a shop, look at two products on the shelf, and be able to say "this one is (probably) better for the environment." Admittedly there are weaknesses with this for the socially-concerned consumer, as it doesn't take into account the difference between hydro-electric electricity and diesel power, the pollution produced, or the condition of the workers. Alternative measures, such as amount of carbon dioxide produced in manufacture, or some combined general index/rating, are possible, but the energy used is an immediately significant figure.