Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Practical Thinking

You can always trust the Americans to come up with simple, practical solutions to problems that bureaucrats want to solve with over-complex regulations and processes. Here's one that is so stunningly simple I'm actually annoyed I didn't think of it myself.

Regular readers will know that I'm a global warming skeptic, but that doesn't meant I'm pro waste or in favour of continues pillage of our environment.

So against that background, here's a great idea...

Make Thursday the new Friday.

It's stunningly simple. A workplace just starts work an hour earlier in the morning and finishes an hour later in the evening, Monday through Thursday, and then is closed on Fridays, with the lights out and air conditioning off. For most, that would mean a miniscule change to working hours because I remember my deskbound days were usually 7.30ish to 6.30ish anyway.

It's already in trial in places like Utah, where about 17,000 civic employees have been working the 4 day/40 hour week for about a year, saving the state around US$1.8mil.

Bloody brilliant. 20% less commuting. 20% less air conditioning and lighting. Big drop in power and fuel consumption. It saves money and the environment at the same time.

THIS is the sort of solution we ought be be looking for instead of stupid emissions trading schemes and meaningless reduction targets.

Brilliant. When can we start?

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