Modelling environmental claims made by news agencies and other organisations

[ToonTalk]

There are countless 'green' schemes advertised each claiming to be more
environmentally friendly than its predecessor. Consider the WigglyWigglers
claim about their ecover recovery scheme:

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop/category.html?activecategory_id=19&-session=shopper:814364D0143781DDC2kIFFBCDE2D

The claim is:

"...we're cutting down on packaging by selling only jumbo sized bottles -
bigger packs mean better value as well as less waste of course. Secondly,
we're trying to eliminate waste packaging altogether by offering refills
for as many products as possible - with every refillable Ecover bottle
we'll include a FREE, postage paid return label - we call it REcover."

The point is that such claims can be modelled, and the model can include
all the assumptions stated in the text, and others we know to exist. 

Many of the online ordering type green claims are logistics type models,
and so a code library could be created to provide micro-behaviours that for
instance:

* ship product n kilometers
* ship frequency
* environmental impact of disposal of packaging
* environmental impact of transport

etc.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by howard.noble on 2008-08-28 11:31:15

[ToonTalk]

(No text was entered with this change)

Original issue reported on code.google.com by howard.noble on 2008-08-28 11:31:58

[ToonTalk]

Interesting area to explore. I think we should pick areas to build libraries of micro-behaviours
based upon:

1. How broad we expect the appeal of the topic to be. (Should be pretty high here.)
2. How much we know about the subject matter (or have good access to experts)
3. A topic we are personally excited about
4. Ideally an area where we think there is a chance of getting some academics to use
it with students
5 Anything else?

Number 2 may be a problem...

By the way on the topic of larger packages there are complexities. If the goods are
perishable then smaller 
may be better. Also I've seen some laundry packaging that is too heavy for some users.

In the developing world small packages are preferred since they entails a smaller outlay
of money.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by ToonTalk on 2008-08-28 12:40:15

[ToonTalk]

loosely related to this area, e.g. wrt promoting the service. we should update
wikipedia pages such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABM_Software_Comparison with
details of the modelling4all service.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by howard.noble on 2008-09-06 17:43:38