The green expo at Olympia (Fri-Sat) was a success. Starting from humble beginnings, and being the only green expo in the UK, it promises rapid growth. A small group of 4 people have organised this event putting together over 100 companies.

There was an impressive range of new electric cars just coming to the market and also electric scooters, renewable energy companies offering you to sign up for green electricity, wildlife and conservation groups, and this year's event had a very interactive and educational side, offering people to recycle their mobile phones and showing them how to recycle clothing.

It was very interesting. I popped round on Saturday afternoon and it was in full swing. I am very interested in sourcing organic and non-toxic materials, so it was delightful to pick up leaflets and URL details of sites that sell eco-paints, organic fabrics etc. I ended up with a stash of leaflets of very interesting stuff, but I feel somewhat guilty about the contradiction of going to a green event only to come out with a big pile of leaflets and magazines, which is exactly the opposite of what we want to advocate.

I spotted one product that I think has the hallmarks of a mini-revolution. Their URL is www.nomorepost.com, "The online postal system". I think this is a brilliant concept. They offer a service to send your letter for only 1p, with secure instant delivery. The future is one without any physical post -- all post in future must be electronic. This company certainly has a vision. I don't know whether this particular company will become big, but the idea is increasingly taking root and we are moving in that direction.

I saw a lot of "greenwash" stuff as well, it's tiresome. "Green office materials" or "green printing" seems to me almost a contradiction in terms, but hey, there's a market for everything. Some businesses are circling the green honeypot but there isn't much point to some of the concepts. The ideal green office is paperless, zero footprint and perfectly sustainable - not a conventional office claiming to be printing in a green way. The Ecologist magazine was also present, selling their magazine "for only £2!" (I thought: "hey, shouldn't you be giving away promotional copies at an expo?!). And as soon as I approached their stand they gave me a copy of a booklet "produced with Ecocitry" where they review the good and the bad of the green movement, the truly green products and the greenwashy ones. They should descend from the pulpit a bit and in an exercise of reflection accept that handing booklets just to tell me that Lynx is an environmental rogue full of toxic elements (something that is obvious because the thing smells like a pesticide) is a waste of paper, and a bit of a disappoitnment since they became my minor heroes by announcing to go paperless from June onwards.

Now on to the electric cars, the stuff of dreams and my personal obsession. The brilliant and full of promise Xero company (www.xerotechco.com) were present with a very nice range of electric scooters. This is obviously going to catch on. They look stylish and very practical. They also had a new car that seemed to have just made it to the market. I probed further but the staff there didn't know much other than "you can buy it from the website". Well I hope they improve their sales pitch, to match the sleek and stylish looks of the goods.

It was very nice to see that NICE has come back from the dead (www.nicecarcompany.co.uk) and after going bust has been rescued and spruced up by MEGA, and they're back selling cars. They look nice and practical, modestly stylish (they're not the super-groovy Teslas after all), but they are very much a crust above the appallingly ugly G-Wiz (REVA). The poor old G-Wiz sat like a tired old relative in a corner and no-one was paying any attention (but that's because it's very deja-vu, but credit where it's due, it's still the best-selling electric car in the UK but hopefully not for long if taste prevails).

I am glad some style and choice is seeping through in the UK electric car market. We are definitely moving forward.

Now, anecdotaly: I picked up a leaflet with some explosive news - I think this is going to have so much mileage jokes-wise etc for hardcore greens and all 4x4 haters out there. The ultimate contradiction. Range Rover launched the "Liberty Electric Range Rover". With "orders being taken for 2009 delivery" at the loose-change tag of north of £95,000. This is a lot of fun: "the world's first zero-emission luxury 4x4 -- be a natural born leader, drive change with Liberty". This beats the low-fat low-calorie chocolate triple-fudge cake, don't you think?

Brunella