Mark Daniels: I should be greener

You only have to look to the motoring industry to understand what I mean but, whether you believe it or not, environmental issues are here to stay and it can be extremely good marketing to have 'green' policies in place and to boast about them a bit.

The trouble we face is that public houses, by their very nature, are simply not carbon friendly buildings. Customers want cold beer, so temperature-regulating devices are required to keep cellars cool and ensure cold lagers are dispensed at the tap.

Then there are fridges galore, for cold bottle stock. To go with the beer customers want hot food, so kitchens are constantly on the go. And all of this is usually happening in a quiet village pub built when Queen Anne sat on the throne.

I spent a bit of time on the Internet, trying to find out how large my carbon footprint is, and what I can do about it. Apparently I'm worse for the environment than Richard Branson's fleet of 747s but I can save the planet by planting forty trees.

With rising beer costs, fuel prices, longer opening hours, cheap supermarket booze, the smoking ban, Alistair Darling, plastic glasses, Sky versus foreign satellite, underage drinking, binge drinking, drink driving, rising utility bills and large measures, it's little wonder that most landlords I know haven't addressed the environment subject yet.

Because, having looked into it myself, it's simply too expensive and complicated to explore.

Going green shouldn't be the arduous and costly task it is. Over the past year I've put in place separate recycling bins while another company collects our waste vegetable oil to create tree-friendly bio-diesel, but one of my most effective policies is to simply switch off lights in rooms no longer in use for the evening.

Electricity companies charging a climate change levy and banning traditional light bulbs in favour of expensive energy efficient ones is simply not conducive to making publicans want to embrace green policies.

Last year, after spending a considerable amount of time and money refurbishing our pub, my wife and I were disappointed to discover that most energy efficient bulbs wouldn't fit our new light fittings, and the only one that did cost £10.00 each.

With twelve fittings and ever-increasing electricity bills, I'm still sceptical about the amount of money these bulbs are saving.

As the manufacturer's own brochure boasts: "our energy saving lamps are just as affordable as approximately five litres of petrol." So, not very then.