ISSN 2043-0140
Issue 33
IM P R O V I N G
V E R T I C A L FA R M I N G
98
S E WA G E P R O F I L I N G
1 44
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
124
HOMEWORKING
1 52
N ATA L I E B E N N E T T
1 76
Air Quality
We create chemistry that makes compost love plastic. Most plastics don’t biodegrade. However, ecovioŽ polymers are certified compostable and biodegrade when composted in a controlled environment. Compostable plastics are an ideal solution for food packaging, especially when it comes to disposal with leftover food. Rather than ending up in landfills, the organic waste can be turned into valuable compost together with the ecovioŽ packaging.
www.ecovio.com
CONTENTS
38
News & Comment 8 News 32 The Watercooler 34 Jason Drew 36 Steve Grant 164 Environmental Prosecutions 166 Case Studies 174 Product Guide 176 Famous Last Words Air Quality 38 Capital Gains
-- David Fatscher, Head of Market Development for Sustainability, BSI
42 Understanding real-world vehicle emissions is key to
improving air quality
-- Jon Andersson, Manager After Treatment and Chemical Analyses, Ricardo UK
50
Conservation 50 Ensuring Wild Tigers Live Forever
-- John Goodrich, Joseph Smith, & Alan Rabinowitz, Panthera
60 Investigating the effect of Marine transportation on
Marine environment
-- Fatemeh Shouri, Marketing & Investment Manager, Kaveh Port & Marine Services
Energy 68 Renewable energy requires longer investor commitment than governments can give
80
60
-- Matthew Clayton, Managing Director, Triodos Renewables
74 Why is the UK lagging behind in cutting carbon
emissions?
-- David Ellis, National Sales Manager, Osram
80 An unconventional future for gas in Britain? -- Dr Russell Thomas, Technical Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff
Food & Packaging 88 Agriculture can resolve our ecological woes
-- Richard Tomlinson, Lower Park Farm, Wrexham
98
92 Why 2014 is the year to collaborate and eight ways
to do it‌
-- Martin Chilcott, CEO and Founder, 2degrees
98 Vertical farming: A growing business -- Dan Caiger Smith, Sky Greens
Contact:
Vivek Pandey (Head of Publications) Tel: 0161 341 0156 Email: vivek@environmentmagazine.co.uk
Alex Stacey (Editor) Tel: 0161 3410158 Fax: 0161 7668997 Email: alex@environmentmagazine.co.uk
BlooGlobe Limited, 254a Bury New Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 8QN
Every effort is made to verify all information published, but Environment Industry Magazine cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or for any losses that may arise as a result. Opinions expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect those of BlooGlobe Limited. Environment Industry Magazine welcomes contributions for publication. Submissions are accepted on the basis of full assignment of copyright to BlooGlobe Limited unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing. We reserve the right to edit items for reasons of space, clarity or legality.
| 4 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.environmentmagazine.co.uk
Land Management 104 Technology’s Role in the Environmental Site Assessment Process -- Mark Burnard, Senior Product Manager, Landmark Information Group
Sustainable Build & Civil Engineering 108 Kingston Heights
-- Mike Spenser-Morris,Managing Director, NHP Leisure Developments
104
114 Sustainable Construction
108
-- Dr Paul Toyne, Director of Sustainability, Balfour Beatty
Transport 120 Aircraft carbon emissions will continue to rise -- Ian Williams & Matt Grote, Centre for
Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton
Waste & Recycling 124 A full circle approach to the circular economy
120
-- Liz Goodwin, CEO, WRAP
130 Resource Efficiency – the Driver of
Future Economic Growth
-- Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment
Water 132 Water, Water Everywhere...
-- Alex Stephenson, Operations Director, Hydro International, UK Stormwater Division
138 Industrial SuDS & the Risk from Spills and Firewater -- Brian M Back, Managing Director, Radio Data Networks Limited
124
130
144 Wastewater profiling for monitoring drug use and
assessing community health
-- Dr Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Senior Lecturer
Department of Chemistry University of Bath, et al.
Misc 152 Homeworking
-- Dr Paul Swift, Analyst, Business Advice expert, Carbon Trust
156 Training - Improving green jobs and skills
-- Martin Baxter, Executive Director-Policy, Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment
138
160 Environmental Technology Verification
-- John Holden, Certification Business Group Manager, BRE Global
144
156
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 5 |
from the
EnvIndMagazine
Editor
"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." ~ Albert Einstein I am genuinely excited and proud to be introducing this issue of Environment Industry Magazine. For the last six years we have published one of the best and most respected magazines in the Environmental Sector. Last year we were very lucky to be joined by two of the most talented and dedicated graphic designers I have ever met. Since then the magazine has gone from strength to strength, and has been tweaked and polished with every issue. We have always been noted for the fantastic design and layout of the magazine (especially over the past twelve months) and for the quality of the editorial content. However, it had been suggested that the magazine might on occasion feel a little cumbersome, especially if you have to carry it around at trade fairs and conferences. So from the last issue we changed the magazine from A4 to B5. It is difficult to describe the significance of this decision and the resulting impact on the magazine. This reduced format works so well with our existing designs and layouts, making them even more punchy and authoritative and the new compact size makes the magazine so much more comfortable to read whilst also convenient to carry around. Following this change we have had a great response to the magazine including: “I'm seriously gobsmacked!”; “Aesthetically very good. Content interesting”; “This looks amazing!”; “Thank you so much!”. Also, one of the “unseen benefits” of this change is that we have considerably reduced the environmental footprint of the magazine. We have always used sustainably sourced
| 6 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
paper and ink in our production processes; we are now using much less. This in turn means the magazine weighs less, and therefore is more efficient to distribute. The last issue of the magazine was quite simply the best we have ever produced. In hindsight I can only say we should have made this move years ago. The challenge is now on to improve on this new level of excellence and we start with this issue of the magazine. We are extremely pleased to have Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party writing famous last words. Hopefully this will be first of many editorial comments from her. We also have comment from Janez Potočnik, EU Commissioner for the Environment, and Liz Goodwin CEO of Wrap on the Circular Economy. My personal recommendations this issue would be Dan Caiger-Smith’s introduction to the innovative developments in vertical farming, and John Goodrich’s editorial discussing Tiger Conservation. I hope you enjoy this issue of the magazine as much as I have done, compiling it for you. Finally, I would like to dedicate this issue of the magazine to our graphic designers in recognition of their talent, effort and commitment. If it wasn’t for Adam and Shay we would only be as good as we used to be!
Alex Stacey Editor
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In search of life, 2014
By Mohammad Fahim Ahamed Riyad
| 8 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2014 A fireman is looking for any signs of life after a fire in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. About 400 shanty homes were gutted and four people died in this incident, including a child of six years old. However, no casualties were ever officially reported and the reason of the fire remained unknown. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 9 |
NEWS
Avoid eating wild-caught UK salmon says Marine Conservation Society The Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) latest update of its sustainable seafood guide (www.fishonline.org) reveals continuing problems for wild caught Atlantic salmon. In England and Wales the number of rivers assessed as meeting their conservation targets in 2013 was 30% compared to 53% the previous year. In Scotland, lack of appropriate management measures to prevent overfishing of salmon from rivers where stocks are low, and the absence of internationally recognised conservation limits, have resulted in the species slipping onto the red rated, Fish to Avoid list. MCS Fisheries Officer, Bernadette Clarke says recent calls to Scottish Ministers to limit salmon exploitation can only be a good thing: “Unlike most other members of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), Scotland has not yet set conservation limits for its salmon rivers, and according to NASCO has almost no management regime in place to prevent an increase in coastal netting, neither has it adequate mechanisms to limit catches whether local salmon populations are strong or weak.” MCS says the Scottish Government is planning to consult on the introduction of mandatory measures to protect spring salmon and the charity hopes to be part of the consultation process. Other tea time favourites continue to have mixed fortunes on the MCS Fish to Eat and Avoid lists – cod from both the East and West Baltic all now get a cautionary rating, whilst Northeast Arctic haddock and mackerel from the EU and Norway are all now on the Fish to Eat list. North Sea cod remains as a fish to avoid. Herring from the Western Baltic has also improved its | 10 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
status although should still be eaten only sparingly. Some whiting, often suggested as a good alternative to cod and plaice, find themselves on the Fish to Avoid list. Small whiting are being taken as bycatch in nephrops (scampi) fisheries in the West of Scotland, North Sea and Eastern Channel. “Whiting is being discarded in alarming quantities in these fisheries,” says Bernadette Clarke. “On the west coast of Scotland more than half of the annual catch weight comprises under-sized or low-value whiting which are then discarded. 90% of these discards come from scampi fisheries using small-mesh gears.” MCS says there is widespread use of large square mesh panels to help reduce discarding and improve selectivity, but despite this the amount of fish discarded from this fishery remains high. The charity says further measures are required to reduce discarding and protect the whiting stock in the area which is assessed as being at a low level. The updated Guide now includes some additional entries for lobster and crab and new entries for cuttlefish and squid. The best sources for lobsters are from fisheries where there are measures in force to protect berried or egg bearing females. Surprisingly, current legislation prohibits the landing of berried crab but not lobster. Lobster from the Southwest, Cornwall, and crab from the western channel and the Celtic sea are the most sustainable choices. MCS says it’s vital that the public, chefs, retailers and fish buyers keep referring to the Fishonline website, the Pocket Good Fish Guide or the app version on iPhone or android, to ensure they have the most up-to-date sustainable seafood advice.
NEWS
Mott MacDonald acquires design and build JV partner Bentley Mott MacDonald has acquired its UK water industry design and build joint venture partner Bentley Holdings Ltd (including its subsidiary company JN Bentley Ltd). The move is a natural progression in the highly successful 15 year partnership between the companies through the joint venture Mott MacDonald Bentley. This next stage in the longstanding relationship will allow further development to enhance project delivery for clients, at the same time maintaining the shared ethos and culture that have been a hallmark of the partnership’s success since 1999.
| 12 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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environmentmagazine.co.uk | 13 |
NEWS
Europe recycled over 65 billion PET bottles in 2013! PET is by far the most recycled plastic material recycled in Europe, with the equivalent of around 65 billion bottles recycled in 2013. PETCORE EUROPE Chairman Roberto Bertaggia said: “The demand for PET as the packaging material of choice continues to grow, penetrating new markets with innovative applications. The extraordinary ability of PET to be recycled and reused into a wide variety of end products is part of this success story and is helping towards the movement to a circular economy in Europe. From a sustainability perspective, our industry is thrilled that last year the equivalent of around 56% of PET containers in circulation were collected for reclamation and recycling. There is however still a huge disparity in collection rates amongst the Member States, and all stakeholders need to work together to align the collection processes to deliver
the increased recycling objectives recently announced by the European Commission.” Casper van den Dungen, PET Chairman at PRE (Plastics Recyclers Europe) and a Board member of PETCORE EUROPE, underlined that “the overall collection of PET bottles in Europe at 1.64Mt represents a 7% increase on last year. We still have considerable spare recycling capacity to enable us to recycle more, however one of the factors that will reduce our ability to utilise our available spare capacity is the increasing complexity of some collected baled bottles. Improved and standardised collection and sorting processes would help address this situation.” These findings will be presented during the PET Network Day 2014 conference in Brussels on 9 October. www.petcore-europe.org
Wolseley UK has partnered with the British Forces Resettlement Services (BFRS) to bring former military personnel into its workforce. As part of its strategy to recruit from the widest possible talent pool and attract the best candidates, the plumbing and heating firm is reaching out to ex-forces personnel looking for employment in a civilian role. BFRS is a non-profit organisation set-up to help its 14,000 members find employment when returning to civilian life or continuing their post-forces career, a number which is only expected to grow amidst recent news of armed forces redundancies. Sam English was employed as branch supervisor at Poole’s Parts Centre in March of this year after applying for the role through the BFRS website. Sam said: "I left the army late last year after being injured in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan. I applied for the branch supervisor role, and was delighted when I was hired. Wolseley UK has such a positive attitude towards ex-servicemen and women. With Wolseley UK and its brands actively advertising on the BFRS site, I think that is a really encouraging message to all those who have, or are about to, leave the armed forces and may be worried about their employment.”
Sam English at Buckingham Palace Garden Party after his return from Afghanistan | 14 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
NEWS
Enphase Energy confirm its dedication to the highest quality standards Enphase Energy, Inc. has achieved both the ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2009 certifications in Europe. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are the internationally recognised quality management and environmental management system standards from the International Organization of Standardization (ISO). "The certification to both the ISO 9001 and 14001 standards represents a milestone achievement and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Enphase team," said Paul Nahi, CEO of Enphase Energy. "At Enphase, quality, continuous improvement and environmental stewardship are core values. The ISO certifications underscore Enphase's unwavering commitment to these principles and demonstrate the industry-leading level of systemic quality and reliability we provide to our customers." When Enphase formally began its ISO certification efforts, an interdepartmental team was tasked with defining, documenting and auditing the quality management and environmental management processes. Following these efforts, the world-renowned VDE Testing and Certification Institute conducted third-party audits earlier this year at Enphase's sites in the United States, France and New Zealand. The VDE auditors confirmed that Enphase's comprehensive internal quality and environmental management systems comply with the requirements of both ISO standards. For more information on Enphase Energy's relentless commitment to quality and reliability, please visit www. enphase.com/quality
Corrugated packaging helps discounters to secure a larger market share Supermarket discounters are the fastest growing European retail sector. That growth is down to a number of significant factors: one such factor is corrugated Shelf Ready Packaging (SRP), according to the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO). German discount pioneers Aldi and Lidl are the two front runners across the continent, enjoying growth and increasing market share. The Schwarz Group, owner of Lidl, and the Aldi group are forecast to grow by 5% and 3.5% respectively per annum for the next 5 years, compared with mainstream retailers at less than 2%. The success of the discounters is being aided by corrugated packaging’s eye-catching designs and its efficiency within the shelf replenishment process. Over 90% of the discounters' products use SRP, compared with only about 40% of nondiscounters. At Lidl stores a whole cross-section of food and household items are attractively displayed in corrugated SRP. Lidl also uses corrugated as part of its merchandising strategy, which | 16 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
involves printing a flag of country of origin on boxes and cartons in the fresh produce section. SRP provides significant cost savings: with canned foods, for example, shelf-refill costs are a third lower for products displayed in SRP than those displayed individually. FEFCO’s Secretary General, Angelika Christ, said: “Corrugated has become an integral part of the discounter retail business model, because it’s great for display and great for reducing cost. That’s why corrugated is, and will remain, the number one choice for discounters.”
NEWS
Pembrokeshire business to introduce food waste collection service FOOD waste is a significant problem for hospitality businesses. Every tonne of food waste costs a business £1,800, meaning disposing of it in landfill isn’t just harmful to the environment but bad for budgets too. Thanks to one of Yorkshire’s top environmental advisers, Green Gain, and WRAP Cymru, a Pembrokeshire company is going for business growth through commercial food waste collection service. Tom Goddard and Sons Ltd collects animal carcasses and is looking to expand its core business offering by developing its food waste collection from supermarkets and hotels. With tens of thousands of tourists visiting Pembrokeshire each year, they realised there was a lot of potential but knew it could be a big business risk to invest in an unknown sector without doing some research first. The business approached WRAP Cymru, which works with businesses, local authorities and individuals to help them use resources more efficiently, for support. They commissioned Bradford based Green Gain who collectively have over 50 years of waste management experience, to explore the options. Director Ashley Robb, of Green Gain is working with Tom Goddard and Sons Ltd to identify the best way to engage an industry where 24,000tons of commercial food waste is created each year throughout the county. “Tom Goddard has a reputation for efficient collection of waste from food retailers already in Pembrokeshire,” he explained. “Collecting different food waste demands upfront investment in new vehicles, more staff, marketing and sales and then a feasibility assessment to see if the investment is worth it compared to the potential returns. | 18 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Our role is to assess the current opportunities and needs of the hospitality sector in Pembrokeshire to highlight where Tom Goddard and Sons can grow without diversifying too far from their primary activities.” Grant Goddard, General Manager for Tom Goddard and Sons, said: “We’re ambitious and recognise that commercial food waste collection fits with our core business offering, but we know there are risks investing and expanding into new sectors. Having the support of WRAP Cymru gives us the confidence and competitive edge to take the plunge and invest in a new service that will enhance our business offering, develop our customer base and help reduce the carbon footprint of the many hospitality companies in the area. The service could significantly reduce the commercial food waste that is currently landfilled, and reduce the carbon impact of food production from businesses in the region. Green Gain’s research will hopefully mitigate the risks and help us make informed choices about the messages we send out to the food and hospitality industry in South Wales to generate enough sales to make the investment worthwhile.”
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Biogen wins race to become Wales’ first producer of certified biofertiliser The GwyriAD anaerobic digestion (AD) plant near Caernarfon, developed and operated by Biogen has become the first in Wales to achieve certification under REAL’s not-for-profit Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS). The plant converts food waste into renewable electricity and a co-product called digestate, which Biogen can now refer to as certified biofertiliser. Farmers are increasingly looking to biofertiliser as a cost effective, environmentally friendly and homegrown alternative to expensive, fossil-based fertilisers imported from overseas. The plant, which will turn 11,000 tonnes of food waste per year into green electricity for 700 homes, has been developed as part of the Wales Procurement Programme. This programme was set up by the Welsh Government with the aim of developing a network of AD plants across Wales, strategically sited to make it easier for local authorities to recycle their food waste. The BCS and WRAP Cymru provided technical and commercial expertise to the programme. Ciaran Burns, Certification Manager at REAL, said: “This project is an exemplar for the industry. Working together, the Welsh Government, WRAP Cymru and Biogen have delivered a plant which ideally meets the needs of the local authority whilst deriving maximum economic and environmental benefit from the food waste inputs. This project sets the standard for others in Wales to follow.”
Ruta Dauksaite, Organics Project Manager at WRAP Cymru, said: “It’s great to have the first Biofertiliser certification awarded in Wales. The AD sector is an important business area for Wales, and by achieving certification it means producers can verify that the material is a safe and quality product that is fit for purpose.” Julian O’Neill, CEO at Biogen, said: “We are delighted that GwryiAD has become our third AD plant to achieve PAS 110. The fact that the biofertiliser produced by our plants can now be defined as a product rather than a waste can only help boost confidence in our AD process with our partners in the farming community.” BCS certification demonstrates compliance with the PAS 110 specification and the AD Quality Protocol. This benefits local authorities, as it enables them to count food waste AD towards their recycling targets; it also benefits AD operators, as it enables them to get a better deal in the market for the digestate they produce; and finally it benefits farmers, as it guarantees that the digestate they are using is both safe (meaning no waste handling permits or controls are required) and high quality (helping them meet the demanding requirements of food assurance schemes). The GwyriAD plant is the 18th AD plant in the UK to achieve BCS certification. A full list of certified biofertiliser producers is available on the BCS website: www.biofertiliser.org.uk/members environmentmagazine.co.uk | 19 |
NEWS
The Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) are to expand London’s bus retrofit programme, already the largest in the world, with a further 400 vehicles, bringing the total number of buses fitted with this bespoke technology up to 1,800. A grant of £500,000 from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Cleaner Vehicle Technology Fund will also enable a London fire engine to be retrofitted for the first time, extending technology proven on London’s buses to the London Fire Brigade. More than a 1000 buses have already been retrofitted, with a further 400 in the pipeline. The new funds, which will be supplemented with TfL budget, will bring the total to 1,800. The retrofit process involves fitting a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system to the exhaust of older buses. Successfully trialled in 2012, the technology provides NOx emission reductions of up to 88%. Once complete, the full retrofit programme will make all 8,700 buses in London Euro IV for NOx emissions by the end of 2015, reducing NOx emissions by at least 800 tonnes a year. The Mayor is now, for the first time, extending this retrofit work to London Fire Brigade, and following operational trials hopes to roll the technology out more widely. Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor’s Senior Advisor for Environment and Energy, said: “The Mayor is taking the most ambitious and comprehensive set of measures in the world to improve London’s air quality, an urgent challenge which affects the health and well-being of all Londoners. At the heart of his plans is the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London from 2020, and just last week he published a road-map to how London can meet European requirements for NO2 by 2020. This fantastic world-leading retrofit programme, which we intend to roll | 20 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
out to more public vehicles wherever possible, has a huge part to play, creating cleaner, greener buses and cleaner, more breathable air for London.” London’s green bus fleet is the largest in the world, combining the roll out of new hybrid buses (including the New Routemaster), the early introduction of new Euro VI buses, and the retrofit programme, leading to significant improvements in emissions throughout London. Minister of State for Transport Baroness Kramer said: “It is great to see London putting this funding to good use and leading the way on introducing greener vehicles on the city’s streets, including for the first time a fire engine fitted with pollution reducing technology. This will mean lower emissions and real public health benefits, while supporting skilled jobs and growth in the environmental technologies industries.” The operation of a green bus fleet is one element of a comprehensive set of measures that the Mayor has introduced to tackle air pollution. Over the past four years the Mayor has tightened the standard of the Low Emission Zone, further reducing the emissions of around 150,000 vehicles. He has introduced the first age limits to retire the oldest and most polluting taxis; and has delivered a package of innovative local measures through his Clean Air Fund. The Mayor has also announced plans to introduce an Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London and has tightened the requirements for vehicles to qualify for a 100% discount to the Congestion Charge. The Mayor’s efforts have already been recognised in a newly published study, which has ranked London's air quality 9th best out of 36 world and European cities in terms of health impacts.
NEWS
A leading retail park in Manchester is celebrating the success of its waste management and recycling programme. Manchester Fort Shopping Park in Cheetham Hill now recycles almost 90% of waste collected and is on course to achieve 100% in the near future. The impressive results have been achieved thanks to the partnership between the Fort and B&M Waste Services and Workman Facilities Management. B&M initially identified a number of objectives before implementing the waste management programme including the need to improve the efficiency of waste collections, reduce carbon emissions through fewer waste vehicles visiting the site and increase recycling rates through better waste segregation and avoiding contamination of waste streams. More than 12,300kg of waste is collected in a typical month with a recycling rate of 89%. Going forward, the remaining residual waste will be converted to Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) by utilising B&M’s recently opened £1m RDF
facility in Trafford Park. B&M is responsible for the collection of Manchester Fort’s general and food waste, cardboard, glass and dry mixed recycling as well as providing staff with waste management training. Wendy Mitchell, of B&M Waste Services, said: “We are delighted with the success of our partnership at Manchester Fort. The results owe a lot to the retail park’s staff who we have helped understand the fundamental difference they can make to the successful achievement of the targets and who are regularly informed of their progress. We provide Workman with a comprehensive reporting system endorsed by the organisation Carbon Footprint which details the amount of carbon saved, the equivalent number of trees and car miles and the amount of material reused for RDF. We are particularly excited about the benefits our new RDF facility in Trafford Park will bring, delivering 100% diversion from landfill in a cost effective, compliant and sustainable way.”
Waterwise training launches the first online learning course for British water safety WaterWise Training is launching the first dedicated e-learning course for people and businesses who work on, in, or near water. The WaterWise Training Foundation Course is the first industry training of its kind dedicated entirely to those working in the water environment. For this reason it should be of particular interest to Health & Safety management. The course is being supported by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and endorsed by the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS). John Hallows of the CITB’s National Specialist Team says, “The WaterWise Training Foundation Course is the first of its kind in the sector to focus specifically on water competency and awareness. Our waterways are a potentially hazardous working environment and this course will help to keep more people safe. We are delighted to support it.” Jeremy Melhuish, Director of WaterWise Training, says: “The new e-learning programme is designed to fill an important training gap in the water sector by increasing people’s competency and awareness. The programme has been designed to ensure people work more safely and responsibly in the water environment and meet the needs of employers who owe their staff a duty of care.” | 22 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
From next month the Land & Water Group and the Canal & River Trust will begin training over a 1000 staff using this programme, which will eventually become a contractual requirement. The course is also now available to the public, meaning thousands of people and organisations working, or intending to work, near water can gain recognised training in less than two hours. The WWT Foundation Course is divided into five interactive learning modules and a final online assessment developed with psychometric validity. Those with a CSCS card will have the opportunity to apply for an official endorsement from CSCS following completion of the course. The course is available for preview and public purchase at www.waterwisetraining.co.uk
For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk
C4 Cactus Airflow 2L concept: Just 2 litres/100 km (over 141 mpg) Faced with environmental requirements and economic pressures, many customers today see fuel consumption as a key concern. As a result, Citroën is applying its creativity and technology to a new challenge with the C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L concept. A laboratory for new ideas, the C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L is packed with advanced technologies that illustrate the ambition and ability of the brand to develop innovative responses to the automotive challenges of the present and the future. With the C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L concept, Citroën delivers breakthrough fuel consumption of 2l/100 km (over 141mpg), using:
• Optimised design with a 20% improvement in aerodynamics • Lower rolling resistance “tall & narrow” tyres • Lighter parts to reduce overall vehicle weight by 100kg • Hybrid Air technology, which cuts fuel consumption by 30% • The birth of the C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L concept
The C4 Cactus AIRFLOW 2L project was undertaken as part of the “2l/100 km vehicle” programme set up by the
Plateforme de la Filière Automobile industry group in France. The objective is to reduce the impact of vehicle running costs on household expenditure and to reduce the eco-footprint of car travel. Citroën decided to progress this project using its newest model, the C4 Cactus. With this vehicle, the brand has made a commitment to bring customers more of what really matters today: more design, more comfort and more useful technology, combined with an affordable cost of ownership. More than any other vehicle, the C4 Cactus lends itself to this ambitious exercise – to develop a very low consumption, high-tech concept that is both efficient and attractive.
SLR provides further support for Drakelands tungsten mine development SLR Consulting has helped secure a revised planning approval for a £75m processing facility at Wolf Minerals’ Drakelands tungsten mine near Plymouth. On completion the plant will produce up to 5,000 tonnes of tungsten concentrate and 1,000 tonnes of tin concentrate a year at what is the third largest tungsten resource in the world. SLR Technical Director Stewart Lenton said: “The planning application for the processing plant included the preparation of a full EIA. Both SLR and Wolf Minerals took a very pro-active approach which ensured that not only was the application determined in a very short timescale, but that it also reflected the highest modern standards in environmental compliance.” John Briggs,Mineral Planning and Estates Manager at Wolf Minerals, said: “Our goal is to develop a world-class mining project. We value SLR’s contribution which helped to
ensure that the relevant planning permissions were secured efficiently and in a timely way. With SLR involved across a number of work streams as part of the mine’s development, the preparation of the planning application ran very smoothly.” SLR has worked closely with Wolf Minerals throughout the development of the mine, providing a wide range of multi-disciplinary consultancy services. As well as planning and environmental permitting support, SLR has developed a Materials Management Plan for the excavation work, a Construction Environmental Management Plan and a compliance monitoring tool. SLR has also provided ecology and baseline characterisation support and undertaken noise modelling analysis. In addition, SLR’s geotechnical team is currently carrying out site investigation works to inform and refine the detailed design of the mine void. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 23 |
NEWS
ABTA launches Better Places – a practical programme on sustainability Online modules will help businesses develop and propel their sustainability strategies ABTA, The Travel Association, has launched ‘Better Places’ an online programme which provides ABTA Members with a broad introduction to sustainability in tourism. This free resource demonstrates the business benefits of sustainability, as well as offering practical advice on how to set goals around sustainability, measure the success of these, and ultimately sell the benefits to consumers. Hosted on the Member area of abta.com the step-by-step modules condense the vast amount of information on sustainability more generally, focusing on what is most relevant to travel businesses – whether they are at the very start of engaging with sustainability or have established sustainability plans that can be supported and developed further. ‘Better Places’ consists of 5 key steps: 1. Learn about sustainability – this module is about breaking down the vast amounts of information and providing a guide to sustainability by making it relevant to agents and operators. 2. Create a plan – this module is designed to help ABTA Members to plan and map out current activities, as well as to lay out their strategies for driving their business towards success.
3. Work with your suppliers – this module is focused on how travel businesses can engage key partners and get them to come on board with their sustainability approach. Suppliers are a key way for businesses to magnify their positive impact and give customers greater confidence. 4. Tell your customers – this is about how ABTA Members can use their progress to sell better holidays. This section makes it easy to integrate these messages into day to day sales dialogue. 5. Measure success – This module focuses on encouraging ABTA Members to monitor their performance and to paint the bigger picture with regards to the industry and their engagement with sustainability.
The programme includes lots of practical examples from ABTA Members, told in their own words. Later on this year, ABTA Members using ‘Better Places’ will also be able to complete a baseline assessment tool. This will automatically generate an action plan, tailored for their business based on the individual answers they provide. www.abta.com/member-zone
ERDF selects Elster to support rollout of up to 35 million smart meters in France Elster has been handpicked by ERDF, the public electricity distribution network for 95% of continental France, to provide its customers with new smart meters running the world’s most advanced solution. Known as ‘Linky’, ERDF’s smart metering project is one of the largest planned rollout of PLC technology in the world and confirms Elster’s position as the partner of choice for grid companies and utilities delivering new technologies on a large scale. Elster will supply ERDF with its Linky meter, with G3 PLC technology, which is based on international standards and provides a robust and scalable solution meeting the privacy, security and data protection requirements of ERDF and its customers. The Linky project will create a smart metering and communications network replacing 35 million meters in total, improving the distribution of electricity and cementing Elster’s position as a leading provider of smart metering solutions in France and worldwide. The delivery of ERDF’s solution will be supported by the development of a new manufacturing facility in France. The new manufacturing facility will develop meters for ERDF’s Linky project throughout the mass delivery in 2016 and 2017, and until 2021, when the second phase of the project completes.
| 24 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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Rochdale Borough Council has begun building the first publicly owned solar farm in Greater Manchester to help cement its desire to become the ‘greenest’ authority in Britain. Construction of a 250kW photovoltaic (PV) solar farm has started on around one acre of contaminated land behind Rochdale Leisure Centre, on Entwistle Road. The solar farm will operate for up to 25 years and will then be decommissioned or the panels will be replaced. Work has also begun on adding the council-owned 100kw rooftop solar panels to Heywood Sports Village. The electricity generated from both the Rochdale and Heywood solar panels will be sold back to Link4Life to power the sports complexes. The solar farms are being built by Southern Solar, whose managing director Howard Johns attended the turf cutting. The council has received technical support from Robin Dummet, of Novus Solar Development. Councillor Richard Farnell, Leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Faced with making savings of £51m over the next two years, we needed to come up with imaginative solutions in tough economic times and come up with an alternative as traditional energy sources become scarcer. Options for this site were limited, due to its former use as a waste disposal site and contamination present, so the solar farm has allowed the council to turn this land from a liability to a productive asset.”
Mark Widdup, Director of Economy and Environment for Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We are leading the way as a ‘green’ authority and this solar farm will not only bring in revenue for the authority but help us become more energy self-sufficient in a time where fuel bills are on the rise.” Mr Johns added: “We are very excited to be involved with such a forward thinking project and a proactive council.” Each year the council uses 27.5GWh of electricity to power buildings and offices. The 2012-2013 cost was £2.8m, excluding street lighting and leisure sites. Its annual Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) tax bill in 2013/14 was £272,000. As part of the Greater Manchester Climate Change Strategy, Rochdale Borough Council has agreed to a 48% CO2 emission cut by 2020. Rochdale Green Action Plan is the council’s overarching sustainability strategy. By harvesting its own source of renewable energy, including wind and solar energy, Rochdale Borough Council could generate new multi-million-pound revenue streams, fund municipal services, put land assets to work, underwrite energy security and offset soaring energy prices, as well as fulfil its renewable power and carbon reduction obligations. A pilot turbine on the site of the former Hill Top School in Kirkholt, has been generating electricity since April and plans have been submitted for two more council-owned wind farms in Hopwood.
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NEWS
Fleetmatics exceeds milestone of 500,000 vehicles under subscription Fleetmatics Group PLC a leading global provider of softwareas-a-service (SaaS)-based mobile workforce solutions for service-based businesses of all sizes, today announced it has exceeded a milestone of 500,000 active vehicles under subscription, outpacing the competition. With more than 62 billion data points gathered for benchmarking and insights, Fleetmatics enables customers to focus on their business to realize a rapid and ongoing ROI that can include increased revenue, reduced costs and the ability to grow profitably. One such example of turning business intelligence-driven insights into actionable corrections is customer Express Energy Services with 1,200 vehicles in the field. Following
the implementation of Fleetmatics, Express Energy reported that it decreased fuel costs by more than $80 per vehicle per month (totaling $1.15m per year) and reduced the number of accidents its fleet incurred from 37 in 2012 to 7 in 2013. “Having exceeded 500,000 subscribed vehicles is a significant milestone for our company,” said Jim Travers, Fleetmatics Chairman and CEO. “Our growth continues to be fueled by an underpenetrated global market, a leading software platform, and an efficient web-selling model to small-and-mid-sized businesses.” www.fleetmatics.com.
Glennmont begins operations of 38MW Biomass plant Glennmont Partners, the leading investment manager dedicated to clean energy in Europe, has commenced operation of the 38MW Sleaford straw-fired renewable energy plant. The plant was built by a consortium of Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S and Burmeister and Wain Energy A/S. Glennmont purchased 100% of the equity in the project in December 2011, and financed the construction through a debt package provided by NIBC Bank NV, RBS, Siemens Bank GmbH and Unicredit Bank AG. Sleaford will generate enough electricity to power 65,000 homes as well as providing free heat to local sports clubs and community facilities. It will create and support jobs in local agriculture and has been built to perform to the highest environmental standards. Glennmont Partners continues to develop a diversified portfolio of renewable projects across Europe and across technologies aimed at delivering robust and sustainable returns for its investors. Currently managing a portfolio of more than 300MW of biomass, wind and solar power in France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and the UK, Glennmont is ready to grow its portfolio with early investments from its second fund | 26 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Joost Bergsma, Managing Partner of Glennmont, said: “Sleaford is a landmark deal not only for Glennmont but for the UK biomass industry as a whole. Glennmont has committed itself to leading the way for institutional investors to realise exceptional value from the renewable energy market, and Sleaford is an excellent example of this.”
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McKay Savage
RWM Ambassador Programme awards £15k to Waste Aid The RWM Ambassadors today announced that Waste Aid, a new organisation that connects vulnerable communities to waste management resources and expertise, will receive the first £15,000 Ambassadors’ fund. The donation was made by the RWM event organisers (i2i Events) to help encourage new initiatives in resource management and help support the sector, and another £15,000 fund will be made in 2015. Waste Aid was selected from a range of suggested initiatives, with discussions taking place at the regular ambassador meetings and a final vote last week amongst the 25 industry leaders. The Ambassadors Group includes representatives from across the business supply chain, retail and waste management, as well as the public sector and academics, including SITA, Nestle, Co-op, BAM Construction, CIWM, LARAC, LGA, ESA and WRAP. Waste Aid will shortly be invited to present ideas to the Ambassadors on how the money might be spent. There are currently seven partner Waste Aid organisations in developing countries, already delivering waste management projects in countries such as Kenya, India and Ghana. Mike Webster, chair of Waste Aid International said: “This £15,000 fund from the RWM Ambassadors means we can make a quantum leap as an organisation in the UK. It means we can work closely with our partners in the developing world and start making a significant difference in helping them deal with and generate income from waste. This funding is a key building block for our new organisation and the beginning of something big.”
Sarah Porter, divisional director for the environment events at i2i, which includes RWM in partnership with CIWM, added: “We’re delighted that the RWM Ambassadors have chosen such a worthy cause for the Ambassadors’ fund this year, and one for which £15,000 will make such a significant impact. It had overwhelming support of the Ambassadors and we received great feedback when we announced this at the RWM event today.”
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NEWS
Regional opportunities, strategic thinking and technical solutions WaterWorld Middle East, the region’s premier water event comes to Abu Dhabi in 2014. The event is co-located with POWER-GEN Middle East and supported by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electrical Authority (ADWEA) and the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSCC).. WaterWorld Middle East comprises a busy exhibition floor featuring the premier companies in the water and wastewater sector. Accompanying the exhibition is a dedicated conference programme developed in conjunction with ADWEA and other industry practitioners.
12-14 October 2014 | ADNEC, Abu Dhabi, UAE | www.water worldmiddleeast.com
WaterWorld Middle East will equip attendees and delegates with the skills and knowledge to overcome the technical water/wastewater challenges in the Middle East. Building on over 10 years’ experience in the Middle East, WaterWorld Middle East and POWER-GEN Middle East will replace the now defunct POWER + WATER event, with a high level peer-reviewed programme created for the industry by the industry. • Hear how international water/wastewater solutions are being implemented on a regional basis in the Middle East • Find out how technical water challenges in the Middle East are being overcome in the conference and see technology solutions up close in the exhibition • Network with utilities, consultants, plant owners and operators and water and wastewater system providers • Find out more about the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company’s STEP (Strategic Tunnel Engineering Project) – a multi-billion Dirham programme of work to deliver improved wastewater capacity • Meet with local partners ADWEA, to find out about the latest developments in drinking water production and distribution
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Background Information
Expanding populations, increasing urbanisation and improving lifestyles have all added to significant water demand. Many countries across the Middle East have renewable freshwater sources less than 1000 cubic metres/per person/per year - a level which defines "water scarcity". Despite a limited fresh water supply, the demand for fresh water has continued to rise at a rapid pace. The agricultural sector has and continues to be a prime consumer of water - in some countries accounting for over 80% of the total annual water withdrawals. In the municipal sector, growing population, improving lifestyles and urbanisation have increased water demand. With a lack of groundwater and natural water sources, many Middle Eastern countries have become fully reliant on desalination for their water supplies.
Desalination
Desalination, as it has done in the past, is expected to help meet the deficit. The MENA region (Middle East & North Africa) already plays host to nearly 50% of the total installed global desalination capacity. There are two types of way to desalinate seawater into drinking (potable)
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water: by seawater reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, or thermal treatment (multi effect distillation (MED) or multi stage flash (MSF)). Membrane desalination uses pumps to force water at high pressure through membranes and leave behind the salt. For thermal processes, the seawater is heated up, with the evaporating water collecting and salt left behind. Historically, in the Middle East water and power have been produced in facilities next to each other. Excess power is used to heat the water in thermal desalination plants. Despite its history, desalination technologies are currently developing quickly with a lot of companies pre-empting demand and investing heavily into R&D. Developing trends include improving cost competitiveness of RO technology (membrane improvements and energy recovery devices) and more hybrid plants across the GCC region (recent years have seen GCC demand for desalinated water increasing at a rate of 9-11% but demand for power increasing at a rate of 4-6% (Frost & Sullivan)). A total of 39 million cubic metres/day of desalination capacity is expected to be added between 2010 and 2020 in the Middle East region. This translates into an
approximate investment of between US$ 45 - 50bn. WaterWorld Middle East 2014 will have two conference sessions on desalination: “Thermal Desalination – Energy Optimisation” and also “Membrane Operational Improvements”.
Water distribution/tariffs
After production, water then passes to the off-taker to distribute to consumers. However water lost in leaking pipes, or through water theft, accounts for big losses for utilities around the world. World Bank estimates suggest that on average up to 25-30% of a utility's water is lost in the network as nonrevenue water (NRW). Worldwide this is estimated to cost $14bn per year to utilities. In developing countries, about 45 million cubic metres are said to be lost daily through water leakage in the distribution networks – enough to serve nearly 200 million people. More important is the World Bank suggestion that reducing developing countries' NRW could generate an additional $2.9bn every year. Many utilities in the Middle East have the water supply subsidised by governments, meaning it is provided free of ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 29 |
NEWS
Water in Abu Dhabi
charge to residents. Water tariffs and charging for water is a very political issue. Trying to introduce a cost for water or raise prices is an ongoing challenge. With it costing a lot to produce water and transport it from “source to tap”, this money has to come from someone. Subsidising water is not a sustainable or longterm model. WaterWorld Middle East will have a session called “Water Management Efficiency” which will address the topic of water distribution and losses.
Wastewater reuse
Wastewater reuse and water recycling is going to be a major theme of WaterWorld Middle East. In the past water deficits have been met by adding additional desalination capacity. A cheaper alternative that helps bridge the gap between demand and supply is water reuse. Technology developments now mean that wastewater can be screened, filtered and cleaned up so it can be used to water crops, or irrigate golf courses. It’s also a lot cheaper to produce than desalinating water. For example, recovering a cubic metre of wastewater can typically cost between US$ 0.15 - 0.20. This compares to US$ 1 per cubic metre cost for desalinated water. In some nations, such as Singapore, wastewater is even cleaned up to such an extent that it’s clean enough to drink! This is called NEWater and it’s added to existing supplies. Wastewater reuse and water recycling is going to be a major theme of WaterWorld Middle East, with a session on “Wastewater Reuse Technologies”. | 30 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Spurred on by a buoyant economy and population growth, the GCC countries are looking to invest $130bn over the next decade to meet future demand and introduce new measures to achieve long term sustainable water and energy supplies. With Abu Dhabi’s population currently forecasted to exceed 5 million by 2030, demand for potable water is expected to double. Three major desalination projects are currently in the works but increased water demand will mean further capacity is needed. Water consumption rates are already high in the Emirate State with current estimations putting unaccounted-for distributed desalinated water losses at 20%. Plans have been set out to use new technologies and reduce this by 10-15% by 2030. The Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company is undertaking an extensive expansion of its collection network including a strategic tunnel engineering project (STEP). This multi-billion Dirham programme of work will deliver collection capacity which is expected to be sufficient to meet growth in the coming decades. It has a planned working life of at least 100 years. Four major wastewater treatment works in Abu Dhabi and in Al Ain have been commissioned to replace and expand the capacity of the existing plants, which are coming to the end of their working lives. Financed in the same way as the independent water and power production plants, these independent sewage treatment plants can be expanded as needed. Furthermore, the value of the recycled water produced by the treatment plants is likely to increase as constraints are placed on the use of potable water for non-potable uses such as garden irrigation and industrial processing. Abu Dhabi aspires to become one of the most efficient users of water in the world. To achieve that, it is adopting measures used by the best current performers, such as Singapore. Join us at WaterWorld Midle East and get the full picture ■
+ More Information www.waterworldmiddleeast.com
12-14 OCTOBER 2014
ADNEC, ABU DHABI, UAE www.waterworldmiddleeast.com
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INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE WaterWorld Middle East, the region’s premier water event comes to Abu Dhabi in 2014. Co-located with POWER-GEN Middle East and supported by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electrical Authority (ADWEA), WaterWorld Middle East comprises a busy exhibition floor featuring the premier companies in the water and wastewater sector. Accompanying the exhibition is a dedicated conference programme developed in conjunction with ADWEA and other industry practitioners. WaterWorld Middle East will equip attendees and delegates with the skills and knowledge to overcome the technical water/wastewater challenges in the Middle East. Building on over 10 years’ experience in the Middle East, WaterWorld Middle East and POWER-GEN Middle East will replace the now defunct POWER + WATER event, with a high level peer-reviewed programme created for the industry by the industry.
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• Find out how technical water challenges in the Middle East are being overcome in the conference and see technology solutions up close in the exhibition • Network with utilities, consultants, plant owners and operators and water and wastewater system providers • Find out more about the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company’s STEP (Strategic Tunnel Engineering Project) – a multi-billion Dirham programme of work to deliver improved wastewater capacity • Meet with local partners ADWEA, to find out about the latest developments in drinking water production and distribution
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Enzygo creates a new Traffic Division
Enzygo, one of the UK’s leading multi-disciplinary environmental consultancies, has opened a new Traffic and Transportation Division as a direct response to the general economic upturn and the increased demand for transport and highway related environmental services. The new division, headed up by Barry Roberts, will be based out of the company’s Sheffield office. Barry has over 20 years’ experience in all aspects of Civil Engineering, Highways and Traffic and Transportation and has been responsible for project managing a wide range of private and public sector projects under local authority Framework Agreements.
Air quality specialist joins SLR’s Shrewsbury office
Air quality specialist Gary Wilson has joined environmental firm SLR Consulting as an Associate in its Shrewsbury Office. Gary has over 8 years’ experience carrying out air quality, dust and odour assessments, including undertaking dispersion modelling for transport, industrial, mining and construction clients. He previously worked for SKM Enviros and was involved in projects including the DCO application for a new 100 MW biomass power station in Blyth and a large mixed use development in Rossington.
Daikin UK names new Managing Director
Dirk Slagmulder has been named as the new Managing Director of Daikin Airconditioning UK. Slagmulder joins Daikin UK from Daikin Airconditioning South Africa, where he was Managing Director, overseeing operations from the distributor’s Cape Town headquarters. Previously he worked as Department Manager, Finance and a Senior Corporate Planner for Daikin Europe in Belgium. Slagmulder replaces Peter Verkempynck who, after four years as Managing Director and seven years working for Daikin UK, will become General Manager of Daikin Europe’s Heating Strategic Business Unit, with immediate effect.
Bullock Appoints Marketing and Communications Manager
Bullock has appointed Sarah Smith as Marketing and Communications Manager. She joins the business having worked in the social housing sector for eight years, previously working for Lovell and most recently as Corporate Affairs Manager with Wates Living Space. As well as holding these positions, Sarah was also instrumental in launching the Women in Social Housing (WISH) network in the Midlands. She has also previously been a committee member of the CIH West Midlands and is an Accredited Practitioner of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. As part of her role Sarah will be responsible for all brand management and marketing across the Bullock business.
BRE Group appoints new Non-Executive Director
Catherine Wall has been appointed to the BRE Group Board as a Non-Executive Director. She replaces Chris Earnshaw who took up the role of BRE Group Non-Executive Chairman earlier this year. Catherine has had a distinguished corporate career, spending 25 years at Barclays Private Equity (now Equistone) where she was a Director and partner. She brings to BRE extensive business experience having served as director and adviser on over 20 company boards in a wide range of sectors from business services and automotive to healthcare and retail. Catherine also carries out a voluntary role on the British Red Cross Investment Panel which advises the charity on the best ways to manage its funds.
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Eaton Names Richard Jacobs President, EMEA, Hydraulics Business
Power management company Eaton has named Richard Jacobs president of the Hydraulics Business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this role, Jacobs will continue to report to Bill Van Arsdale, president, Hydraulics Group. He succeeds Astrid Mozes who has been named chief technology officer for Eaton’s Hydraulics Group. Jacobs has been the vice president and general manager of Filtration since 2008. Prior to that role, he was Eaton’s vice president, Supply Chain Management. Previously, Jacobs held a variety of leadership roles at companies including Knorr Bremse, Honeywell and General Electric.
CIGI appoints climate change risk policy expert Jason Thistlethwaite as Fellow
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jason Thistlethwaite as a CIGI Fellow, for research on the implications of climate change risks on the global economy. Thistlethwaite is a postdoctoral researcher in climate change risk in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, and is director of the Climate Change Adaptation Project: Canada at the University of Waterloo. This project was designed “to identify and operationalize practical, meaningful and cost-effective adaptation solutions to the most challenging impacts of climate change facing Canada”. Thistlethwaite holds a Ph.D. in global governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
SEAL Analytical appoints UK Sales Manager
SEAL Analytical has announced the appointment of Nick Watson as UK Sales Manager. Nick has over 17 years of experience in the environmental laboratory sector, working in a variety of roles from Analytical Chemist to Group Technical Manager for some of the world’s leading analytical service providers. Nick’s previous roles have included the management of UK and overseas laboratories that have a requirement for fast analysis times, high sample throughput, ultra-low detection limits and high reproducibility, so Nick already has extensive experience with the SEAL Analytical range of automated discrete and segmented flow nutrient analysers.
Siemens Building Technologies appoints new UK Managing Director
Siemens has announced the appointment of Dr Andrew Robinson as Managing Director of Siemens Building Technologies for UK and Ireland. Andrew brings with him a wealth of experience within the technology and construction industries. Having worked within Siemens since 1998, Andrew has held a number of key positions gaining valuable technical, commercial and programme management experience in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Canada and the USA.
Game changing Thames-heated development wins further acclaim
A renewable heating project that has been described as “game changing” by the Energy Secretary, Edward Davey, MP, has secured the Private Renewable Project of the Year Award at the H&V News Awards. Kingston Heights is a pioneering, £70m, mixed-use development in the heart of Kingston upon Thames which uses renewable heat from the River Thames to provide heating and hot water to 137 apartments and, from the end of 2014, a new 142-bedroomed hotel. The scheme, which utilises Mitsubishi Electric’s advanced Ecodan heat pump technology, produces zero on-site carbon emissions, in contrast to the estimated 500 tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise by emitted by a combustion-based system.
Daikin Emura wins red dot award for product design
Daikin Emura has won the world-renowned 2014 red dot award for product design in the air conditioning category, confirming its status as an icon of contemporary climate control. The annual red dot awards are judged by an international jury of design experts, which assesses products on a number of criteria, including aesthetics, innovation, functionality and their environmental credentials, as well as quality, ergonomics and durability. This year’s awards were contested by 4,815 products, entered by 1,816 designers, manufacturers and architects from 53 countries.
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COLUMN
JA S O N D R E W
There is no such thing as waste - just stuff in the wrong place. As we begin to understand this, new sustainability revolution industries will be created. Let me explain. There is no such thing as waste – every waste stream will become a resource stream within the next decade. Aggregating those dispersed resource streams will become a major industry, which will reduce and in time substantially replace the first time use of natural resources. Closing loops in our inefficient food production and agricultural systems fascinates me. Creating and then discarding nutrients in the form of food waste, abattoir waste and household sewage has a huge environmental impact. Nutrient recycling will in due course become a profitable global industry and food waste a thing of the past. One of my companies, AgriProtein is at the forefront of the revolution. It has just raised $11m to build its first 2 commercial farms, each of which will house 8.5 billion flies – the first in a series of 40 such farms to be funded and rolled out globally. The world’s first commercial fly farm will be opened in Cape Town later this year. By headcount it will be the largest farming operation on the planet. The plant will take in 110 tonnes of organic waste per day, and recycle the nutrients into 22 tonnes of valuable animal protein and other agricultural products. In its simplest form, flies are reared in immense cages within cages under ideal environmental conditions. They are attracted to lay their eggs in one place. These eggs are then extracted from the cages, hatched and then grown into larvae on organic waste material. Just 1 kilo of eggs turns into 420 kilograms of larvae protein in just 72 hours. The larvae are then harvested and separated from the residue, which is nitrogen and nutrient rich compost. The larvae are then pressed to remove the fat or MagOil™ which is high in fatty acids and a valuable feed additive. The larvae are then dried and milled into a protein rich Magmeal™ a natural
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and sustainable feed for chicken, fish and other mono-gastric animals including cats and dogs. The company has received feed product approval in South Africa and believes that larvae meal will achieve European acceptance as an animal feed within 24 months. The first US state has already licensed its use and others will rapidly follow. It is after all what these animals would eat in the wild and what free-range chicken and fresh water fish already eat today. It is what Nature intended the fly for – nutrient recycling and disinfecting waste. Larvae compete with bacteria for the waste nutrients and emit natural antibacterial agents so that they can keep the nutrients for themselves. That is why larvae have been used in wound care for millennia and their use is being rediscovered by modern medicine. Independent academic research has tested and proven the efficiency of this natural protein in a range of farmed animals. Instead of polluting the environment with abattoir and other organic waste, it is turned into high quality protein that can naturally replace fishmeal in industrial farming and help save our seas. Magmeal™ is targeting the existing and unsustainable $12bn fishmeal market. Within 15 years we will consider it as normal to recycle our waste nutrients as we do our paper, tin and glass today. The world urgently needs new and sustainable sources of protein. Fly larvae fed on existing waste nutrient sources is one of these ■
Image from page 1159 of "An encyclopædia of agriculture" by Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius), 1783-1843
COLUMN
STEVE GRANT
Steve Grant In last month's column, I touched on the state of affairs over in Las Vegas, and the utter madness of the situation over there kept popping into my head, uninvited and unsettling. It struck me that it's a microcosm of all that we do wrong – just about every aspect of the ludicrous way we treat the planet can be observed in that strange and surreal mecca. As endless fountains shoot water hundreds of feet into the air and untold numbers of sprinklers maintain lush green golf courses in a state of near perfection, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was no shortage of water; that this was a city blessed with a near-infinite aquifer beneath its streets which allowed the profligate use of a commodity considered precious in every other desert on the planet. The average temperatures from May to September exceed 30C, with June, July & August at 38, 41 & 39 respectively. The average annual rainfall is just 4.25 inches, but since the turn of the century, the city has been in a drought that according the the New York Times, geologists describe as unrivalled for 1,250 years. There have been some notable storms which have uselessly dumped two or three inches on the area in a matter of hours – even causing a flood in September 2012 – but the fourteen year period overall has been the driest in the city's history. In other words, just the extremes we have come to expect with a changing climate. Meanwhile, the illusion carries on as normal, seemingly consuming power and water as though there were an infinite supply. However when one takes a peek under the surface, you find a recent history of water conservation measures that are trying to deal with the issue. Somebody obviously sees the problem, because whilst more water is consumed per person in Vegas than in any other city in the world, it is using about 40% less per capita than it was in 1990. The problem is that the population has tripled over the same period, so overall consumption has almost doubled. It is now illegal, for example, to have a front lawn outside your house, yet 70% of all water extracted still goes to wholly unnatural landscaping and golf courses. And 90% of that consumption is from Lake Mead, formed when the Hoover Dam was built in the thirties. At the time of
writing, Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was first filled, at about 40% of its original capacity, whilst water is being extracted from it at an ever increasing rate. The lake has a huge white 'bathtub ring' around its considerable shoreline, and it is growing daily. Such is the situation that one of the pipes built to extract water for the city is going to be above the waterline, sucking only at air, in the very near future. The second pipe is only 50 feet below it, which won't last too much longer. The original engineers never envisioned such a thing was even possible. The 'answer' is a prime example of short-termist thinking as you will ever find. Build another extraction pipe, but at a much lower level. At the bottom, in fact. Spend over $800,000 doing it, and get it done before the summer of 2015, or the city could run dry. They are installing a pipe designed to suck every last drop out of the lake. The Daily Telegraph recently reported that Rob Mrowka, a Las Vegas-based scientist at the Centre for Biological Diversity described the drought in terms of a “slow spreading cancer across the desert. It’s not like a tornado or a tsunami, bang. The effects are playing out over decades. And as the water situation becomes more dire we are going to start having to talk about the removal of people from Vegas”. Southern Nevada Water Authority concurred, describing the situation as 'every bit as serious as Hurricane Katrina'. Nevada is just one of seven states that rely on the once mighty Colorado River – a river which is now no more than a muddy trickle when it reaches the sea. It is the most controlled, plumbed and redirected river on the planet, and the US Bureau of Reclamation told Congress in 2012 that there simply was not enough water in the river to meet the demand, and that Lake Powell (upriver from Lake Mead) and Lake Mead itself would be meeting demand only by being drained, which is exactly what is happening. The response has been to approve yet MORE extraction up river (thereby reducing the flow) and to allow the unbridled expansion of Las Vegas. So still they expand, building more homes and increasing the population. Still the ludicrous landscaping goes on, and still sprinklers spin wasteful on acres of largely empty golf courses. It's going to be very interesting, and painful, to see what actually does happen in Vegas ■ Photograph: Renee V
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AIR QUALITY
C A P I TA L G A I N S | DAV I D FAT S C H E R
Capital Gains By David Fatscher
Head of Market Development for Sustainability at BSI
By 2030, it has been estimated that 50% of the planet’s population will be urban citizens. In a resource-finite world, making cities more sustainable has become one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Cities are particularly vulnerable to environmental change and can therefore play a key role in tackling climate change. How they respond to this depends in part on access to quality data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Effective measurement enables cities to assess their risks and opportunities, and to create a strategy to reduce emissions thus ensuring that progress towards a lowercarbon environment can be reliably monitored. | 38 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Since 2004, London has produced an annual inventory of GHG emissions to support the Mayor of London’s Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy. This evidence base is used to measure impact, design interventions and track progress in a quantifiable and transparent way. Previously the inventory – the London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI) – covered Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions only from the combustion of energy used within the city boundary: (a) for transport, and (b) to power and heat homes/ workplaces. However, a city as vast and interconnected
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PAS 2070 captures both direct GHG emissions – from sources within the city boundary – as well as indirect GHG emissions – from goods and services that are produced outside the city boundary for consumption and/or use within the city boundary.
as London – and other large cities – inevitably gives rise to the production of GHG emissions beyond its boundaries. Yet, GHG accounting methodologies used by cities vary considerably, covering different scopes and making comparisons between cities difficult. Credible reporting and meaningful benchmarking of data requires greater consistency. Research by the London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC) and Bioregional in 2009 estimated London’s consumption-based GHG emissions, and highlighted the need to include a wider range of emission sources in the inventory. In response, the Mayor of London made a commitment to conducting a more complete GHG emission assessment . PAS 2070, BSI’s specification of the assessment of city GHG emissions, is a response to this challenge. It provides a robust and transparent method for consistent, comparable and relevant quantification, attribution and reporting of city-scale GHG emissions, following internationally recognized GHG accounting and reporting principles. PAS 2070 specifies requirements for identifying the assessment boundaries, the sources of GHG emissions to be included, the data requirements for carrying out the analysis, and the calculation of the results to develop a city-scale GHG inventory. It also captures both direct GHG emissions – from sources within the city boundary – as well as indirect GHG emissions – from goods and services that are produced outside the city boundary for consumption and/or use within the city boundary. Hence the assessment methodologies in PAS 2070 are: direct plus supply chain (DPSC) methodology and a consumption-based methodology (CB). These recognize cities as both consumers and producers of goods and services, and provide a complementary insight of a city’s GHG emissions. The DPSC methodology captures territorial GHG emissions and those associated with the largest supply chains serving cities, many of which are associated with city infrastructures. It covers direct GHG emissions from activities within the city boundary and indirect GHG emissions from the consumption of grid-supplied electricity, district heating and/or cooling, transboundary travel and the supply chains from consumption of key goods and services produced outside the city boundary (e.g. water supply, food, building materials). Meanwhile, the CB methodology captures direct and life cycle GHG emissions for all goods and services consumed by residents of a city, i.e. GHG emissions are allocated to the final consumers of goods and services, rather than the original producers of those GHG emissions. The CB methodology does not assess the impacts of production of goods and services within a city that are exported for consumption outside the city boundary, visitor activities, or services provided to visitors. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 39 |
AIR QUALITY
C A P I TA L G A I N S | DAV I D FAT S C H E R
Although the Greater London Authority (GLA) commissioned BSI to develop the standard, PAS 2070 is intended for widespread use and is the result of expert input from a truly international group of stakeholders, including the City of New York, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of Colorado Denver, University of Toronto, as well as Thames Water, Transport for London, LSD, BioRegional Development Group and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. The GLA had always intended that the PAS would enable it to carry out a more complete assessment throughout Greater London. Commenting at the start of that journey, Michael Doust, senior project manager for Energy and Climate Change stated that: “Although collating data requires time and effort, the requirements set out by the standard are very clear. Measuring and reporting the GHG emissions of a city the size of London is a major challenge, but we're very confident that PAS 2070 will enable us to achieve that very important objective." And evidence of that achievement comes in the form | 40 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
of the GLA’s newly-published case study on PAS 2070 , demonstrating how to apply the standard’s methodology to measure city-wide emissions and including guidance on data collection and quantification, as well as a template for reporting. Assessment results of the DPSC methodology are broken down by the categories stationary sources; mobile sources; industrial processes and product use; agriculture forestry and other land use; waste and waste water treatment; and goods and services (including food and drink, and construction). Assessment results of the CB methodology are broken down by consumption expenditure categories. Among the many findings, the PAS 2070 London case study highlights that using the DPSC methodology:
• London emitted 81 million tonnes of CO2e in 2010. On a per capita basis this equals 10.05 tonnes CO2e per person. • Energy use in buildings is the largest source of GHG emissions in London accounting for 50% of London’s GHG emissions. The use of electricity in buildings
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• Utility services is the largest sources of GHG emissions for London (18.1%), followed by transport • services (17.0%). • 75% of the GHG emissions relate to household consumption, 14% relate to capital investment and 10% relate to government expenditure.
Lars Plougmann
• • • •
released almost 20 million tonnes of CO2e in 2010, whilst the combustion of primary fuels released almost 15 million tonnes of CO2e in 2010. 54% of total GHG emissions come from commercial buildings and the remaining 46% from residential buildings. Transport is the second biggest source of GHG emissions, accounting for 31% of London’s GHG emissions. Aviation contributes most (18%), followed by road (11%) and rail (2%). GHG emissions from waste and wastewater treatment released just over half a million tonnes of CO2e, accounting for 0.8% of total GHG emissions in London. The consumption of food and drink accounts for 13% of GHG emissions. The use of concrete and steel in construction accounts for a further 3% of GHG emissions.
As the study notes: “These assessment results demonstrate the importance of London continuing to target GHG emissions from energy use in buildings and road transport. They also show that aviation, food, and other goods and services consumed by Londoners, previously not captured in London’s GHG assessment, are associated with significant GHG emissions.” PAS 2070 is part of BSI’s growing portfolio of GHG management standards. In 2008, BSI published the world’s first product carbon footprint specification, PAS 2050, which enabled organizations to assess and manage the climate change impact of their products (i.e. goods and services). The 2011 revision of PAS 2050 introduced a framework that enabled BSI to work with individual industries to develop supplementary sector and product group-specific requirements for horticulture (PAS 20501), aquaculture (PAS 2050-2) and, in June 2014, textiles (PAS 2395). This year also saw the revision to PAS 2060, the specification for demonstration of carbon neutrality. PAS 2070 also relates to, and informs, the development of a portfolio of standards with increasing importance and visibility, around smart cities and sustainable communities. As with the rest of BSI’s GHG assessment standards, PAS 2070 seeks to provide a robust and transparent method for consistent, comparable and relevant quantification, attribution and reporting of GHG emissions. In the case of PAS 2070, this will encourage more holistic assessments, greater disclosure and more meaningful benchmarking at the city-scale to help city decision-makers identify key emission sources and their drivers, as well as the carbon dependence of their economy and opportunities for more efficient urban supply chains ■
Meanwhile, applying the CB methodology:
• London emitted 114 million tonnes of CO2e in 2010. On a per capita basis this equals 14.15 tonnes CO2e per person. • Total GHG emissions calculated using the CB methodology are 40% higher than those calculated • using the DPSC methodology.
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Title photo: Barney Moss
www.bsigroup.com environmentmagazine.co.uk | 41 |
AIR QUALITY
VEHICLE EMISSIONS | JON ANDERSSON
| 42 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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Understanding real-world Vehicle Emissions is key to improving Air Quality By Jon Andersson
Manager, Aftertreatment and Chemical Analyses, Ricardo UK Like many towns and cities across the UK and throughout Europe, the city of Brighton & Hove has locations within its central area that experience breaches of the limit values for oxides of nitrogen. It is generally accepted that road traffic is the main source of this pollutant giving rise to the public health concern in these urban areas. In particular, many measurement studies indicate that for NOx, diesel traffic is the most polluting in the vehicle fleet. Street level air quality measurements tend to show the highest levels of NO2 close to road junctions, at congested locations and along road inclines – the monitoring station on Brighton’s North Street combines all three of these characteristics. North Street is the sole central east-west traffic corridor for public transport movements across Brighton & Hove. According to City Council figures for 2012, buses and coaches form approximately 38% of vehicle movements in the area. A further 6% of vehicle movements are heavy goods vehicles and a significant proportion of the remainder are likely to be diesel taxis and other light vehicles. To understand the possible root causes of some of the high emission levels in this vicinity, Ricardo worked with the city’s largest bus operator, Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company, to carry out research using some of the latest Portable Emissions Monitoring System (PEMS) technology provided by HORIBA. The project set out to investigate the actual emissions of a cross-section of the local bus fleet on a route traversing this important transport artery.
Vehicle technology context
Emissions from vehicles are regulated by several European Directives. While the regulatory compliance level at which an individual vehicle is homologated – Euro 1-6 or I-VI – provides some indication of emissions performance, it must be remembered that this is as measured over the regulatory drive cycle and not the duty under which the vehicle is operated in day to day usage. However, actual emissions will vary dependent on real world driving conditions, much like fuel economy figures, so may not be consistent with regulatory drive cycle values. It is arguable therefore that it is essential that large urban fleet operators and city authorities consider not only the technologies fitted to vehicles but also look to optimize the deployment duty-cycles of those vehicles in order to maximise their positive environmental impacts. Recent changes in emissions regulations levels have had extremely positive impacts on the reduction of Particulate Matter (PM). Both light and heavy duty vehicles’ emissions regulations now mandate the use of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) which have proven highly effective in reducing diesel PM to levels indistinguishable from those of the cleanest forms of internal combustion engine. The full benefits of DPF technology will be felt as the vehicle parc renews, and it is widely accepted that the reduction of vehicle PM emissions over time is being reflected in street level air quality measurements. In the UK, there is full compliance ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 43 |
AIR QUALITY
VEHICLE EMISSIONS | JON ANDERSSON
with the European Limit Value for PM10, another standard set for the protection of human health. However, the current issue of concern for air quality is road-side ‘primary’ NO2 – nitrogen dioxide directly emitted from vehicles’ tailpipes – much of which is likely to be derived from oxidative catalysis that assists the very DPFs that have been successfully deployed to control PM. The vehicle level regulation of emissions of Nitrogen oxides is framed in terms of NOx (the combination of NO and NO2) rather than individual species. This further complicates the situation in attempting to quantify the benefits on local air quality of the overall age of fleets (and consequently their Euro level of certification). Moreover, Ricardo experience is that different combustion systems and catalysts have different engine-out NO2 and oxidative ‘abilities’. As such it is not necessarily true that | 44 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
the highest NOx emitting engine has highest NO2, or vice versa; the key to informed understanding is to obtain realworld data on vehicle emissions performance.
Route and vehicle selection
According to Department for Transport statistics, the city of Brighton & Hove boasts the country’s highest – and consistently growing – number of bus journeys per head of population outside London. Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company is by far the largest operator within the city, operating a fleet of approximately 280 modern buses. Bus route 7 was selected for the tests as it traverses the city through North Street and covers a total of 18km (9km in each direction) with significant gradients throughout. In order to provide a cross-section of the Brighton & Hove bus fleet, the tests were carried out on a Euro
AIR QUALITY
VEHICLE EMISSIONS | JON ANDERSSON
IV vehicle fitted with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) aftertreatment technology, a Euro V vehicle fitted with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment, and a further Euro V SCR equipped diesel-electric hybrid vehicle. Each bus was instrumented with HORIBA’s advanced PEMS equipment and artificially loaded with ballast representing a 70% passenger load (for reasons of health and safety, passengers were not carried and the test runs were not part of the regular timetable). The vehicles were tested on multiple trips and in normal traffic during business/shopping hours, pausing at regular bus stops in a similar manner to the normal passenger service. A number of different drivers and driving styles were used in testing one of the three vehicles so that the effects of these variables could also be assessed. Measurements of each vehicle’s emissions of CO2 and NOx were scientifically recorded in real-time. By detailed | 46 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
consideration of the type of emissions technologies installed on the vehicle, estimates were also made of the proportion of NOx emitted as NO2. The real-time emissions data obtained were correlated with GPS measurements so that an accurate analysis of the effects of route topology could be made.
Overall emissions followed expected trend
While there has been much debate about the extent to which regulatory vehicle emissions limits reflect real-world emissions, the three vehicle types followed the expected trend of CO2 and NOx reducing from Euro IV to V and from Euro V to Euro V hybrid on the overall No.7 route. However it was also found that certification level is not necessarily a reliable predictor of the lowest comparative emissions performance at a particular location or instant in time. ►
AIR QUALITY
VEHICLE EMISSIONS | JON ANDERSSON
| 48 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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No obvious influence of driver or driving style was observed on either CO2 or NOx emissions in this study (based on testing of the Euro IV bus). But it was found that CO2 and NOx emissions events were seen to be broadly aligned so that in general, measures taken to improve fuel economy are likely to also have a benefit on NOx emissions.
Traffic flow and route topology were key determinants of emissions
Looking at the results in detail across the whole of the route tested, it was clear that poor traffic flow on the westbound journey is perhaps the major contributor to higher NOx emissions in North Street. Erratic stop-start operation at this uphill stretch of the route, demanding multiple cycles of acceleration and braking would be expected to challenge the performance of EGR and SCR emissions aftertreatment control systems, and rapidly depletes the batteries of hybrids. This strongly correlated with the real-time vehicle emissions data, which demonstrated significantly higher levels at this location when operating in the westbound and uphill direction. Even in the downhill direction, accelerations were clearly the dominant source of NOx emissions. A clear conclusion of the work was that initiatives aimed at smoothing traffic flow at this location and allowing buses to operate without unnecessarily frequent stopstart cycles could have a large positive impact on both NOx emissions and fuel economy.
quality hot spot. Informed by tangible research findings demonstrating how the effects of frequent stopping and acceleration cycles can significantly affect emissions of the bus fleet, the council, the bus company and other local stakeholders are now in a much improved position to make informed judgments on the emissions – and by extension, the air quality improvement potential – of possible traffic improvement schemes.
Mechanisms of real-world emissions must be understood
While many initiatives aimed at improving air quality have focused purely on the certification level of vehicles, the Brighton & Hove research has shown how direct emissions measurements on vehicles that predominate in the location of interest can be far more effective in understanding and reducing air pollution at source. Use of the latest PEMS technology requires expert handling and a thorough understanding of vehicle aftertreatment technologies, but applied intelligently it can yield extremely valuable insights into the true emissions of common vehicle types and validate potential improvement initiatives. By considering vehicle technology deployment, operational management and local traffic and transport policy in this holistic yet focused and cost-effective manner, efforts to improve local air quality should be both better informed and more effective ■
Possible traffic improvements
The results of the research were presented to Brighton & Hove City Council in early July, and appear to be well aligned with proposals already under discussion to improve bus flow in the vicinity of the known air
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CONSERVATION
W I L D T I G E R S | J O H N G O O D R I C H E T A L.
Ensuring Wild Tigers Live Forever By John Goodrich With Joseph Smith & Alan Rabinowitz of Panthera
| 50 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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A male Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) walking through long grass. Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India. Photograph: Nick Garbutt
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CONSERVATION
W I L D T I G E R S | J O H N G O O D R I C H E T A L.
The Siberian tiger.
Photograph: John Goodrich/WCS
| 52 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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It was a crisp clear autumn morning in 2009, sunlight slanting through brilliant autumn leaves as I strolled down an old logging road in a remote corner of the Russian Far East. But my morning reverie was interrupted by the long low growl of a Siberian tiger. Rather than being terrified, I was ecstatic because I had been working in this patch of forest for over a month trying to capture tigers to fit them with radio-collars as part of a research project with the Wildlife Conservation Society. That growl meant that we had finally captured a tiger. But terror was just around the corner because as I approached to see just what we had caught, the growls turned to roars as the cat broke free and charged with gnashing three-inch canines and two-inch claws tipping dinner-plate-sized paws. I lit a signal flare and held it out in front of me, hoping in vain that this would turn him around, but it did little more than provide a surreal aura to the scene as the cat’s face appeared through the flame and I was hit by 400 pounds of tiger moving at 35 miles per hour. And then I was lying on my back, with him standing over me, his face inches from mine. I raised my left hand defensively and he bit it several times in rapid succession. I felt bones crunch and excruciating pain. I took my flare and jammed it into the side of the tiger’s face and he was gone, powering up a near vertical slope and disappearing into the forest in seconds. That was the climax of 15 years of living and working in Russia, studying Siberian tigers. I had been fitting the
cats with radio-collars and following their every move, getting to know each cat intimately - where they roamed, what they ate, when their cubs were born, when they died… For a carnivore ecologist, studying the largest cat in the world was as good as it gets, except for the dying part. These cats I knew so well were not dying of a ripe old age curled up under a tree deep in the forest as we might like to envision – they were gunned down by poachers, chopped up, and sold on the Asian medicinal market and to people wanting a rug under their feet. As a scientist, I felt I was documenting extinction - 75% of the tigers I had collared were poached. I was collecting data and publishing papers on what needed to be done, but the recommendations were not being implemented. Frustrated, I made the move from scientific observer to conservation practitioner. A few years later, when the opportunity to help run Panthera’s Tigers Forever Program arose, I jumped at it. As a tiger specialist, I had worked with and advised the program since 2006. I thought of it not just as a good program, but the best – if any group could successfully lead tiger conservation, it was Panthera.
The Vision
The tiger is one of the most iconic animals on earth. They are a symbol of everything wild and they personify our natural world. It is hard to imagine that a century ago, more than 100,000 tigers roamed the forests of Asia, while ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 53 |
CONSERVATION
W I L D T I G E R S | J O H N G O O D R I C H E T A L.
Panthera's Senior Tiger Program Director, Dr. John Goodrich, collars an anesthetized tiger in the Russian Far East.
today, fewer than 3,200 remain. At this rate, wild tigers are faced with a bleak future confined to a small number of increasingly isolated reserves. In 2006, the world’s leading tiger experts came together to resolve why tiger numbers continued to plummet, despite years of seemingly robust efforts to save them. Led by Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, Panthera’s CEO, and Michael Cline, a founding director of Panthera’s board, the group determined that tiger conservation activities were too expansive, suffered from limited financial and human resources, and failed to monitor their effectiveness. These issues diluted conservation efforts and prevented them from having sufficient impact to stem the tiger’s decline. To be effective, conservationists needed a razor-sharp focus on activities that would mitigate the most critical threats to tigers in the tiger’s most important breeding habitats. We had to “stop the bleeding”, and thus the Tigers Forever strategy was born. Tigers Forever commits to increase tiger numbers | 54 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Photograph: A Rybin/WCS
by 50% at key sites over a 10-year period by mitigating the most critical threats to tigers, and improving the effectiveness of conservation actions. Utilizing rigorous science to maintain constant vigilance on conservation efforts and on the tiger itself, this transformative program is the first of its kind to guarantee success – the recovery of the wild tiger.
The Problem
Despite extensive habitat loss in the most densely populated regions of the world, there are still over a million square kilometers of tiger habitat left, but most is vacant due to killing of tigers and their prey. These vast areas of unoccupied habitat are perhaps the greatest indicator of the magnitude of the poaching problem and the failure of government and conservation organizations to stop it. Virtually every tiger conservation practitioner agrees that poaching is the most immediate and critical problem faced by tigers, whose black-market value is
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Tiger poachers arrested in India. The skin of a poached tiger was conďŹ scated during their arrest.
higher than any other cat species. Poaching of prey and habitat loss are also critical issues that cannot be ignored, but direct poaching is far more urgent. Just as the problem is blatantly clear, so is the solution: we must stop poaching of tigers and prey. It is also obvious that given limited resources, we cannot eliminate poaching in hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of dense, forested habitat where poachers have a clear advantage. Thus, protection must focus on well-chosen core populations in areas small enough to protect, but big enough to encompass populations large enough to survive over the long term. Given the clear problem and solution, and the tremendous resources directed at tiger conservation in recent decades, why are most tiger conservation efforts failing? More organizations claim to be saving tigers than any other cat, yet most efforts are too diffuse, unfocused, insufficient, or incomplete to effectively protect tigers. â–ş
Photograph: Steve Winter, National Geographic
Virtually every tiger conservation practitioner agrees that poaching is the most immediate and critical problem faced by tigers, whose black-market value is higher than any other cat species.
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 55 |
A rare photograph of a tiger in a tree in India. Photograph: Nick Garbutt
| 56 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 57 |
CONSERVATION
W I L D T I G E R S | J O H N G O O D R I C H E T A L.
A vat of tiger bone wine for sale in Harbin, China. Tigers are poached for their skins and other organs sold on the illegal wildlife market for use in traditional Asian medicines.
Photograph: STF/Panthera
The Solution
Developed in consultation with some of the world’s leading tiger biologists and conservationists, the Tigers Forever Protocol is our formula for tiger conservation. Conceptually, the recipe is simple: 1. Focus on critical threats, usually poaching. This is largely a law enforcement problem, which few conservationists know enough about to implement a successful program. In a former job, I found myself in a position where I was advising law enforcement for a protected area in Lao PDR. This was just wrong. I knew nothing about patrolling and ambush techniques, running informant networks, or setting up sting operations. Tiger poaching is serious business. Illegal wildlife trade is a multi-billion dollar business and has been linked to trafficking in drugs, firearms, and humans, and even terrorism. Indeed, some poachers in Laos were also opium producers, and at another tiger site, a local insurgent group funded their activities by poaching rhinos and tigers. In response, Panthera has hired staff from some of the top law enforcement agencies in the world to train anti-poaching teams for | 58 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Tigers Forever sites. 2. Focus on the best tiger breeding sites. With limited resources, we cannot protect all tiger sites, so we must prioritize and concentrate on the best. 3. Start small and develop a model that works, expanding to a larger area only when tiger numbers are increasing. Otherwise, limited resources are spread too thin over vast areas. Ultimately, the areas protected must be large enough to contain viable breeding populations and these populations must be connected to allow genetic exchange. 4. Monitor tiger numbers annually to evaluate success. Tigers are the currency of tiger conservation and if their numbers are not increasing, we need to quickly do something different. 5. Long-term commitment. Tigers reproduce only once every two years, so their populations grow slowly and
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Photograph: Steve Winter, National Geographic
recovery takes years, or even decades. Likewise, training elite enforcement teams won’t happen overnight. 6. Collaborate with government and non-government organizations and local communities. Conservation organizations need to collaborate, sharing resources and expertise, if we are to save tigers. Every Tigers Forever site is a partnership between at least two NGOs and at least one government organization and we bring all of our partners together annually in a meeting to share information and evaluate progress.
The Tigers Forever model is working. Though our program is young, tiger numbers are increasing at sites we do or have supported in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Tigers Forever includes 13 NGOs working at 14 sites in six countries. Tigers are resilient animals, adapted
to living in a wide variety of habitats, from the wet jungles of Sumatra, to hot, near-desert habitat in southern India, to the frigid temperate forests of the Russian Far East. Given ample space, prey, and protection from human persecution, populations will rebound. Two years after I was attacked, we caught a male tiger near the site where I was attacked. He was a beautiful 200-kilogram cat in the prime of his life. I searched the left side of his jaw for scars left from the flare, finding nothing, but I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t him. Either way, I took comfort in knowing that for now, there is still room in the world for tigers ■
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 59 |
CONSERVATION
M A R I N E P O L LU T I O N | FAT E M E H S H O U R I
Investigating the Effect of Marine Transportation on Marine Environment
With case study of Khorramshahr Port and Arvand River
The Sea has been always considered and utilized as one of the main sources of human’s food and facilitating transportation and trading between countries. Over 95 percent of good transportation is done through the marine resources. Therefore, maritime transportation and its related industries, has been expanding more than before and the diversity and variety of the equipment used in the sea will increase. In this case, the environment of these resources has been exposed to unknown elements that will often leave negative effects on it. Therefore, maintenance of this resource and its environment is a necessity. This article investigates the effects of this industry on the marine environment in various aspects, considering the importance of maritime transportation in global trade and growth and prosperity of economy in countries. This article. written in a descriptive style, examines the significance of some environmental effects resulting from maritime transport, often caused by the shipping industry, on the marine environment, and pointing to the resulting problems, and provides suggestions to deal with them.
| 60 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.kavehlogistics.com
By Fatemeh Shouri
Marketing & Investment Manager, Kaveh Port & Marine Services Maritime transportation, due to its reliability, low costs, and the possibility of transfering loads of high value, has a significant share of commercial transactions and has got a significant impact on the state economy. Yet the water resources include diverse environments and a huge collection of different organisms. The necessity of preserving and protecting the environment has a special importance so that it has prompted the human society to develop specific rules and regulations entitled as Environmental Law; however, human beings still could not control their damaging and destructive consequences on the environment and the world is always facing the increasing trend of degradation and pollution of this environment. In fact, transportation and environment are two opposite topics. Since transportation has on one hand significant social and economic advantages, on the other it affects the environmental systems. Therefore, accomplishing environmental policies requires a full knowledge of the transportation industry, its advantages and defects, and its effects on the environment.
1.1 Maritime Transportation
Today, up to 95 percent of the world trade is done through maritime transportation because this type of transport has the advantages of low costs, transfer of mass goods size and weight, quick and safe transfer of commodities. These advantages have caused maritime transportation and sea routes to enjoy special consideration. Therefore, paying attention to development and promotion of this industry is obvious and it cannot be done but through management strategies and developing the available opportunities. Without transportation, there will not be a global trade. In other words, trade will be global when transportation is also meaningful in a global dimension. However, if we want to adopt a specific strategy to plan for economic development, we cannot ignore the obvious role and fundamental importance of the Ports Development. Development of the â–ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 61 |
CONSERVATION
M A R I N E P O L LU T I O N | FAT E M E H S H O U R I
country Ports requires the completion of infrastructures and creating new opportunities. In other words, it is in fact enjoying the new technologies and establishment of new facilities in the field of activity. In the field of maritime transportation, we can mention the development of the shipbuilding industry, modern port facilities, exploration technology and so on. Establishment of such equipment in the sea or other related domains such as ports can enhance the port viability; attract more customers and consequently results in gradual development and improvement of the computational situation of the port and eventually creates benefits for the national and regional economy. The important point is that facilitating the transportation is only one of the applications of maritime transportation in human life. Providing energy, food and agriculture resources, and eventually human life is in need of this resource. Therefore, comprehensive exploitation of this natural resource requires a balance between all its applied fields. Maintaining this balance in regard to the seas is difficult. New infrastructures and facilities that enter the domain of maritime transportation resulting in development of global trade and a countries position affect the marine ecosystem directly and indirectly due to the type of their chemical materials and reactions. From one point of view, transportation facilitates transfer of goods and passengers while on the other side is associated with external environmental consequences. This issue is so important that transportation is known as the main resource for emission of most pollutants and their impact on the environment. These effects can be classified into three parts: • Direct effects: the immediate consequence of transport activities on the environment in which the cause and effect relationship is obvious. • Indirect effects: includes the secondary impacts of transport activities on the environment. The indirect effects are often more than the direct effects but the relationship between them is not well understood. • Combined effects: including those increasing consequences of transport activities such as direct and indirect effects that are often unpredictable.
The complexity of these problems has come along with great controversy in environmental policies and the role of transport.
1.2 Maritime Environment
The importance of the seas and oceans in transport, providing energy, being rich in huge mineral and food resources and their contribution in maintaining the ecological balance, is clear to everyone. The sea ecosystem is full of numerous live animals and species. Any unknown change in this ecosystem is considered a threat to the lives of these animals. However, this aspect is also a victim of abuses of human utilization like other parts of the environment. Use of waters as a result of rapid | 62 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Vince Smith
population growth and industrialization of communities is so diverse and expanded. This exploitation is often done without considering the capacity and power of this part of the environment and for a long time the effective and appropriate measures to protect it were not even thought about. The first step in preserving the marine environment is to identify the source of pollution, or easier to identify the causes of pollution. With the growth of human civilization and establishing new requirements, there also emerged new polluting facilities of which the disposal in the environment will cause a lot of damages. The main sources of pollutants in the marine environment are of different categories such as the pollution from ships, drilling at sea, discharge of wastes and toxics that each of them are divided into several subsections.
2. Model and Method of research
In terms of objectives, this study is applied research and in terms of input data and information collection it is descriptive, so at the beginning of the study five years of statistics about the vessels travelling to Khorramshahr Port has been investigated. Considering that the vessels structure is very effective in the level and also type of
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Year Vessel
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
Passenger
111
124
109
103
101
228
237
227
322
316
105 444
98 459
217 553
124 549
75 492
Container Carrier Other Total
Table 1: statistics of vessel traffic in Khorramshahr Port and Marine administration. (Source: Naval administration of Khorramshahr port) Year Vessel
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
Vessels less than 500
1125
1159
1221
1175
1111
Vessels more than 500
444
459
553
549
492
Wooden Ships
2608
1936
252
155
611
Total
4177
3554
2026
1879
2214
Table 2: statistics of commercial vessels traffic with gross capacity of more than 500 (gt) in Khorramshahr Port and Marine administration. (Source: Naval administration of Khorramshahr port)
contamination, so the type of vessels and the travel volume of each of them have been also investigated separately. Table 1 shows the vessel traffic statistics on the basis of total classification of goods shipping capacity. Also the wooden boats that are mostly wooden and traditional and have unique features, are divided into separate groups. Also table 2 shows the statistics of commercial vessels traffic with gross capacity more than 500 separately. Such vessels due to their larger size have much larger capacity than the small vessels and increase the economic efficiency. Therefore, it is expected that they will replace the traditional and smaller vessels in the coming years, according to the growth of trade and economy and the need for increasing economic efficiency. In table 1, this trend is obvious regarding the wooden boats traffic during 2008 to 2012. As follows, the provided parameters of contamination associated with the maritime transport sector in Khorramshahr port are determined. The information about marine pollution, which happened in the range of the Arvand channel, was collected via statistics of marine safety and security administration in Khorramshahr port and is used for prioritizing the research parameters. According to the definition of research about marine pollution caused by shipping,
the following points are noteworthy: an important part of transport contaminants are related to the shipping industry. Shipping contamination in traditional beliefs are oil contamination caused by dreadful accidents of fuel tankers or surface contaminations resulting from daily operations of ships. In general, in the unofficial but internationally known beliefs until the 1970s damages caused by other environmentally damaging products that were transported by fuel tankers or containers and also vessel waste discharge, primarily sewage and garbage, were identified as sources of contamination. Until the early 1990s, when the atmospheric pollution and then anti-fouling and balance water paints of the vessels were known as the main operational contaminants there was not much focus on the ships as the source of pollution. All the steps of a ship life cycle from build up to parsing affect the environment. That’s why the pollution caused by shipping has become a regional, national, and international concern. Exacerbation of environmental considerations due to ships activities are as follows:
• Transferring the organisms and the chemical pollutants through the Balance Water • Damage to the housing and oil and fuel leakage • Covering the housing with pesticide paints to prevent fouling or scaliness
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2.1 Balance Water
The ship needs balance to stabilize. Earlier, different materials were used as a balancing factor, but today only water is used, primarily from ports and coastal areas. Annually, millions of tons of Balance Water are transferred around the world. Two major environmental problems associated with transferring the balance water are as follows: • Use of contaminated chemical water (containing heavy metals, persistent organic ingredients and foods) and discharging it into the clean environment. • Transfer of living organisms from one area to another. This issue is considered as one of the main concerns. Because non-native or pathogenic organisms develop. This phenomenon, significantly results in severe disrupt in marine ecology or outbreaks of disease.
The second problem is known as one of the most fundamental problems affecting the marine environment. Many living organisms are transferred through balance water. When the balance water loads, these creatures enter the ship through the water or the sediments alongside the ship, and load into the ship through the inlet valve. The consequences caused by transport of marine animals through the balance water are much more than the pollution caused by dangerous substances. Chemicals are finally dissolved in the sea but non-native and invasive species expand and develop. We can also prevent chemical spills by applying some rules but controlling new non-native species is very difficult. Yet the vessels can be required to use modern and technical methods in order to reduce the risks caused by balance water. According to the
international convection of management and control of balance water and ship sediments (International Maritime Organization 2004) all ships with more than 400 gross tonnages should perform a management and control of balance water and ship sediments plan. According to this convection, all ships should carry the instructions of balance water records and fulfill the balance water management process considering the related standards.
2.2 Damage to the housing and pollutants leakage
Increase in transportation along with growth in global trade results in increasing maritime traffic. After that, the risk of maritime incidents may also increase. Maritime accidents in relation to ships carrying dangerous or nondangerous goods, in addition to loss of life and property, result in pollution in the environment through the leakage of pollutants in the sea. This type of pollution affects the environment in both short and long term periods. Short term pollution due to oil seeps into the sea is clearly evident. One of the harmful effects of Maritime accidents that recently received much attention is environmental destruction. The sea with a variety of marine ecosystems (Rocky shores, coral reefs, mangrove forests, etc.) is the habitat of thousands of aquatics and marine accidents can be raised as one of the most effective events on the valuable maritime ecosystems. On the other hand, the Persian Gulf is presented as one of the special areas in law (appendix 4 of one of the MARPOL convections) which indicates the high sensitivity of this area against the pollutions
Fabio Achilli | 64 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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Louisiana GOHSEP
created in it. Therefore, reducing the accidental factors in any way, which reduces the environmental hazards in this region, seems essential. Short term effects of oil spill contamination on the marine species and communities, is clearly visible. Hence, concerns about long term effects on the marine community; for example polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in crude oil are difficult to remove and low levels of oil residuals affect the reproduction of species. Heavy deposited petroleum hydrocarbons, on severity of infection, compared to light petroleum hydrocarbons (Aromatics) have less toxicity but the stay time in the seabed results in them to entering the food network and thus the biological magnification. While Aromatics and other light petroleum hydrocarbons, despite the high degree of toxicity, dissolve in water in the early hours of the spill and enter the atmosphere. So, petroleum hydrocarbons, both light and heavy, can have devastating effects on aquatic ecosystems and influence on the flora and fauna of the area. In general, a large pile of oil pollution at sea can cause poisoning and death for a wide range of marine organisms in a short time (a few minutes to a few hours). Different ways are used to remove oil pollution at sea, including burning the floating oil on water, collecting the
floating oil, collecting oils deposited on the shore, and the natural way of deposition and decomposition by bacteria in different layers of water but this needs a long time. Of other management solutions, actions performed in the Gulf of Finland can be mentioned. In this Gulf all vessels with gross tonnage of more than 300 should report their planned maritime route, any dangerous goods carried and the entry / exit time into / from the port. The purpose is to promote safety in the region, enhance the protection of the marine environment, monitoring compliance with international law, to prevent maritime accidents.
2.3 Vessel housing cover
Despite the continuous researches and experiments, no suitable cover was yet designed for the vessels housing which is harmless to the environment and also prevents the accumulation of contaminants on the housing. Most large ships in the ocean travel according to specific and predetermined schedules of which delay should be avoided. Marine species on the ship housing can reduce more than two or three knots (the speed unit of the ship) of the ship speed. In this situation, to compensate for the slowdown, the ship engine speed increases so that â–ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 65 |
CONSERVATION
M A R I N E P O L LU T I O N | FAT E M E H S H O U R I
Carlos Vega; DVIDSHUB
in this case fuel consumption increases and the fuel storage reduces seriously. Therefore, the vessel owners use materials in the vessel housing cover that stops the growth of algae and also reduces the cost of vessel cleaning. There exists different material for vessel housing cover. It is clear that more expensive material is more effective than the cheaper material. On the other hand, the international maritime organization is still concerned about the living organisms that move between the pores on the vessel housing – because there is a possibility that these creatures can create serious biological pollution in the sea environment. In addition, International Maritime Organization tries to find a suitable coating for the vessel housing that has the best deterrence against this displacement of living organisms.
2.4 Emission of gas and vapors
The most important contaminant element of the environment is the gas emissions from diesel engines in the marine industry. Energy production due to the combustion of fuel leads to the emission of gases in the air. Ships need energy for moving, load carrying, and to heat and cool. The amount of energy required varies | 66 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
depending on the type of ship. For example, pole going vessels (ice breaker) consume more fuel during the year compared to the sailing ships, due to their strong housing and high engine power. Diesel engine’s combustion process produces compounds with high values that carry undesirable environmental impacts. Impacts caused by this sector on the environment are direct impacts. Most gas emissions include Nitrogen, Oxygen, Carbon dioxide, water vapor with smaller amounts of Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxides, Sulfur oxides, reactants, and fireproof Hydrocarbon and particles. Also small amounts of micro pollutants such as hydrocarbons, dioxins and heavy metals are also released. These gases, while applying negative effects on the vegetation on the seabed, play an important role in human health and production of tropospheric ozone.
3. Discussion and Conclusion
Maritime transportation and the environment are two major topics both economically and socially and there is a direct relationship between them. Any small change in the shipping industry can directly affect the marine environment and its ecosystem. Maritime transport
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Over 95 percent of goods transportation is done through marine resources. The importance of the ocean in transport, providing energy, and holding huge mineral and food reserves, is clear to everyone. Its ecosystem is full of many different species. Any unknown change in this ecosystem is considered a threat to the lives of these animals. industry has grown impressively in the last century and had a significant contribution in the production of environmental pollutants. Crisis caused by the development of this industry and its increasing growth has become a national and international problem. Its importance is such that several international rules have been established to control and reduce the destructive effects of this industry on the environment. While, due to the direct and yet reverse connection between these two categories, there has not been observed a significant impact to reduce concerns so far. In this part of the study we expressed the cases and parameters of the study in the Khorramshahr port: the first pollution investigated is related to balance water of ships. As we stated before, one of the devastating effects of balance water is because of using contaminated chemical water (containing heavy metals, persistent organic ingredients and foods) and discharging it into the clean environment and the transfer of living organisms from one area to another. Now, according to the capacity of vessel reception in Khorramshahr port this problem is not highlighted, because almost all of the vessels travelling to the port travel in an area close to the shore including the Persian Gulf region and rarely Sea of Oman. This constant climate largely denies the negative effects of the balance water on the region ecosystem. However, the main problems with the ships balance water that were more observed in the traditional fleet travelling to Khorramshahr port is the simultaneous use of fuel tanks and balance water of ships that causes water pollution when discharging balance water into the sea. Regarding the international convection of management and control of ships balance water and sediments, all ships with a gross tonnage of more than 400 are required to perform the plan of management and control of ships balance water and sediments. It is noteworthy that due to nonapplying this convection for the majority of the vessels travelling to Khorramshahr port, this method somehow loses its necessary application. Now it is suggested that a comprehensive and applicable plan be provided for these vessels. The other recommendation is to obligate the vessel classification Institutions to determine the efficiency of traditional vessels tanks and monitoring
the proper use of these tanks using methods like audit, inspection and culturing. The next parameter of the study is due to contamination caused by marine accidents that cause damage to the ship housing and lead to many oil and harmful substances to enter the marine ecosystem. No doubt, marine accidents are one of the main reasons for marine pollution and the extent of this contamination has a direct relationship with the number of marine accidents. According to the statistics recorded in Khorramshahr port most of the accidents occurred in this area are related to flooding and sinking, collision and groundings of vessels, respectively. These accidents, in case of damage to the ship housing, cause marine pollution. Therefore, the first solution is reducing the number of accidents that is possible through studying different parameters affecting the marine accidents, which does not fit the case of this study. However, another proposed solution is reducing the devastating consequences of marine accidents. One of these measures is double-glazing the tanker vessel housings and the fuel tanks of other ships that reduces the risk of oil spill into the seawater. Regarding the vessel housing cover, using anti-moss colours has negative impacts on the animal and plant ecosystems of the area. Therefore, using lead-free anti-moss colours that have much lower damaging effects than the similar types, is suggested â– Title Photo: Green Fire Productions
+ More Information Resources:
- Jafari, Hasan, 2012, Development of effective strategic ports in developing countries - Jam, Farshad et all , 2011, Maritime Accidents Investigation, access to the safe navigation , International Conference on Persian Gulf - Zamani, Seyed Qasem, 2012, International Law of the Sea and Environmental Protection - Ziaghami, Mahboube, 2010, Oil pollution of the seas and oceans - Safarzadeh ,M et all, 20008, Maritime Transport, Asrar Danesh Publication, Second Edition - Kalantari, Seyed Zabih Allah et all, 2013, Maritime Accidents Investigation and Analysis of Arvand waterway - Mousavian, Seyed Abolhasan, 2007, Environmental impacts of transport and road accidents - Jean- Paul Rodrigue.2013. The Environmental impact of Transportation - Pinder. David and B.Slack. 2004. Shipping and ports in Twenty-ďŹ rst Century.p243
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ENERGY
CO M M U N I T Y I N V E S T M E N T | M AT T H E W C L AY TO N
| 68 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.triodos.co.uk
Renewable Energy requires longer Investor Commitment than Governments can give
By Matthew Clayton
Managing Director Triodos Renewables Energy is an indispensable asset. After food, water, medicines and shelter, energy has become a necessity of modern life, and access to it enables economic development. Despite the benefits, our current energy consumption has a profoundly negative impact on the environment. For many years concerns have been raised about the negative effects of fossil fuel extraction and the air pollution caused by high levels of energy consumption, especially in densely populated areas. Over the last 20 years, evidence of a much more complex, all-encompassing environmental effect of our energy consumption has become apparent: climate change. Increasing evidence – be it scientific or extraordinary weather conditions – have served as a wakeup call and led to demands for a drastic change in our energy production and consumption. What is required is a transition from our current carbon-based energy system to a society powered by renewable energy sources. Renewable energy, alongside energy efficiency measures, is the way forward. Wind and solar energy, hydropower, geothermal power and energy from biomass are the modern alternatives to oil, natural gas and coal: no more polluting and damaging extraction methods, no more
damaging emissions or substances that damage the environment and cause global warming. Finally, the world faces an urgent need to develop clean and renewable energy sources to meet future energy demand in developed and developing countries. Consensus is growing that energy efficient and low-cost energy solutions will play a crucial role in ensuring that more people get access to clean energy.
The bigger picture
Alternative energy sources are already available but they’re not being used or developed efficiently. We need to look at the bigger picture to realise a truly sustainable economy and not just produce more renewable energy. In order to do so we need to: • Increase connectivity on different levels: macro-economic level between countries and sectors and micro-economic levels between suppliers and off-takers within communities. This means improving grid access and functionality by investing in integrated or combined industrial applications as well as improve storage facilities to optimise supply of clean energy. • Decrease the demand for energy by developing a more sustainable economy; it is essential to reduce energy demand on the one hand and to use energy as efficiently as possible on the other. ►
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ENERGY
CO M M U N I T Y I N V E S T M E N T | M AT T H E W C L AY TO N
There is a significant need for investors in building the energy sector since the level of clean energy is approximately 4-10% of the energy demand in Europe.
• Join forces and build the sector together. Financiers and developers need to find each other in long term relationships with long term commitments. It is key for investors to look at the broader picture and enter into commitments beyond governmental programs to build the sector for the long term and show resilience in the short term when programs are adjusted. • And last but not least, let go of the notion that return requirements are predominantly financial return driven, whereas the return requirements also include impact driven returns: such as the amount of avoided burnt fossil fuels, optimisation of energy mix to safeguard long term stable energy supply and increased clean energy generating capacity.
Investment opportunities
Investing in energy is not only a matter of financial return but also a matter of safeguarding stability of energy supplies and contributing to a more stable economic development. There is a significant need for investors in | 70 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
building the energy sector since the level of clean energy is approximately 4-10% of the energy demand in Europe. Building the sector to a desired level of sustainability still requires new money flowing into funds and investment opportunities. Also, more countries are seeking feasible solutions for their energy requirements and are adding renewable energy as an additional source of energy. Governments keep setting targets for renewable energy production for 2020 and beyond. This will require consistent investment schemes in the coming years. At the same time, European governments have scaled back subsidies and support schemes. This is mainly a result of an ongoing decrease in the amount of investment capital needed per MWh produced for renewable energy projects such as solar PV and wind energy. Renewable energy projects can be realised at lower costs than in the past, bringing about the justification for modifying stimulus programs. Tightening national budgets force policymakers to
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look at private capital as a key source for funding energy and climate change related infrastructure. All in all, there appear to be more opportunities than ever to invest in renewable energy. Small, impact minded investors entered this clean energy market already in the 80s. Institutional investors — pension funds, insurance companies, and other long-term investors — joined at a later stage and have strong national focus. However, their approximately EUR 80 trillion in assets form one of the largest pools of private capital in the world and lead policy makers should ask whether institutional investors could help meet the climate change funding challenge. They might be from a capital size point of view, but from an investment point a view it’s a different story.
Business Case: Can Renewable energy outperform fossil fuel related investments?
The general public started to move towards renewable energy a few decades ago by investing in funds and thus
providing risk capital to this sector. Now some pension funds consider to sell or diminish their exposure to fossil fuel related companies because of unsustainable business cases in the long run. Is this a prelude to a large shift into clean energy technologies and investments in clean power generation? Does that mean that pension funds shift investments into renewables or remain with fossil fuels? Can the business case of investing in renewable energy compete with investments in fossil fuels in the short term because of the availability, lack of fair pricing and transportability? Institutional investors put clean energy investments in the category of infrastructure and find their ways of allocating budgets to this sector differently from the way impact investors allocate their entrusted funds. For the institutional investor the technology risk has been a determining factor to step in at a later stage or not to invest in this sector at all. The current developments show large investors taking over operational assets and ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 71 |
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CO M M U N I T Y I N V E S T M E N T | M AT T H E W C L AY TO N
| 72 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.triodos.co.uk
It is only a matter of time before climate change regulations and policies will affect the valuation of companies and businesses related to coal and oil sands or other fossil fuel activities. And it will become increasingly important to investors to anticipate for this change. operational portfolios. Impact investors find their ways through building the sector with experience and long term track records. Impact investors also position themselves with their extensive knowledge and long term experience in defining solid contractual structures and identifying the risks including all the governmental programme changes. Some developments head into highlighting compelling evidence that fossil-fuel divestment is not only a moral responsibility, but a feasible and prudent way to address portfolio risk. More and more fossil free investments become feasible delivering solid returns. In the mean time they help tackle the huge challenge of climate change, advance clean energy development, and increase the health and wellness of communities. It is only a matter of time before climate change regulations and policies will affect the valuation of companies and businesses related to coal and oil sands or other fossil fuel activities. And it will become increasingly important to investors to anticipate for this change. The energy sector has been influenced by drastic governmental measures and adjustments and that will increasingly be the case. However the sustainability of fossil fuel related activities will eventually decrease by the impact climate change has on the economy. Large institutional investors are able to influence politics and therefore are able to shift focus. Supporting fair energy pricing will divide scarce resources amongst different parts in the world and over time will distribute energy more equally. The core business of pension providers or large insurance companies is the long term. It is key they follow impact investors more intensively
since they’re showing that their type of funding does not necessarily come with higher risks and in fact show stable returns in the long run.
Example of investment – Dunfermline wind farm
Triodos Renewables plc provides investors with the opportunity to take a direct and rewarding stake in the transformation of the energy system. Triodos Renewables plc is committed to sensitively siting it’s projects. One third of Triodos Renewables’ portfolio of renewable projects are located on industrial sites. One such project is the industrial area of the Scottish town of Dunfermline. Triodos Renewables plc has built and operates a single wind turbine on the estate of a heavy manufacturing plant. The turbine generates sufficient renewable electricity to meet 40% of the manufacturers demand. The power generated by the project is delivered to the industrial host, offsetting their demand for ‘grey’ grid power. The commercial terms are mutually beneficial to the host and Triodos Renewables plc, allowing the manufacturer to mitigate it’s exposure to volatile energy costswhich represent a substantial component of their production costs. The ability to benefit from competitively priced sustainable power helps to ensure the manufacturers viability, performing both environmentally and social, helping to maintain employment in the area ■
+ More Information www.triodos.co.uk/en/institutional_investors environmentmagazine.co.uk | 73 |
ENERGY
C A R B O N E M I S S I O N S | DAV I D E L L I S
Why is the UK lagging behind in
cutting carbon emissions?
| 74 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.osram.co.uk
By David Ellis
National Sales Manager, Osram
The latest figures on energy consumption from the independent Energy Information Administration paint a worrying picture for the UK - we are lagging behind our European counterparts in meeting our carbon emission reduction targets. The organisation tracks the progress of European Union (EU) member states on meeting the targets set out in the ten-year European Commission strategy Europe 2020. The strategy aims for "smart, sustainable, inclusive growth", including a 30% reduction in per capita energy consumption from 1990 levels. It’s a major environmental commitment. Other energy-related goals include increasing the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption to 20%, and achieving a 20% increase in energy efficiency. The reason behind this is to create a resourceefficient Europe: to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources by decarbonising the economy, increasing the use of renewable sources and promoting energy efficiency. While other Europe 2020 goals focus on employment, R&D and reducing poverty, all are interrelated. For example, investing in cleaner technologies combats climate change while creating new business and job opportunities. An investigation into the latest European per capita emissions data1 (up to 2011) by Osram has revealed the UK is lagging behind its neighbours in the energy consumption stakes. Without radical change in prospect, the UK risks failing to meet the EU 2020 targets of a reduction of up to 30% on its 1990 figures.2 Globally, 19% of the world’s carbon emissions come from lighting sources. Greater efforts to support consumer awareness of the range of energy-efficient lighting products on sale in Europe will help to improve the UK’s green performance. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 75 |
ENERGY
C A R B O N E M I S S I O N S | DAV I D E L L I S
Energy-saving alternatives
An EU directive instigated the phasing out of oldfashioned incandescent lightbulbs from 2012, but around one third of the world’s population still uses this energyhungry, short-lifespan bulb. This is despite much more energy-efficient alternatives on the market like compact fluorescents (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A typical LED can last for as long as 50,000 hours, versus 2,000 hours of a traditional bulb, and reduce CO₂ emissions over three years by as much as 90%.3 As Simon Brammer at sustainable energy charity Ashden sums up: “If I asked you to give me £100 and guaranteed to give you £400 back six months later, would you accept my offer? This is the kind of return on investment that LED light bulbs offer.”4 For the consumer making a wholesale upgrade of lighting in specific rooms or across the home, this translates into significant cost savings over the course of a year. However, a survey of 5,000 consumers across 12 countries as part of the PremiumLight project5 has revealed the message about the savings on both carbon and cost that can be achieved is still not getting through. The survey found that the UK trails behind other European nations for LED light bulb purchases (number 5), indicating this could be an area ripe for improvement. Sweden tops the LED purchasing league, which could be one of the reasons why this Nordic nation is the second most efficient consumer of energy in the table. With such an extensive range of lighting technology available to the consumer today it can be difficult to choose the right light bulb that ticks all the boxes for energy efficiency, cost savings and practicality for each application. For example, halogen is a typical choice for many kitchen downlights and ceiling luminaires, but with a simple switch to LED you could be saving as much as 15kg of CO₂ per year from just a couple of light bulbs in one room. With a reluctance to let go of the familiar incandescent light bulb, many consumers had a natural aversion to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) when first introduced onto the market. But technology has now developed to make LED the affordable, practical option for all, with many of the product features (shape, wattage equivalent, brightness) that people enjoyed in the traditional light bulb. As part of the wider effort to drive down energy consumption and climate change, LED has a massive role to play and the UK must start leading the way in Europe with its lighting purchasing decisions. Global Action Plan6 blames a lack of UK Government policies for the low LED uptake while Mr Brammer ► | 76 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
A typical LED can last for as long as 50,000 hours, versus 2,000 hours of a traditional bulb, and reduce CO2 emissions over three years by as much as 90%
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Position Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
France Sweden Italy Spain UK Denmark Germany Norway Finland Netherlands
Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Consumption of Energy (metric tonnes of CO2 per person) 2009
2010
2011
9.59481 9.82986 14.78188
9.64504 10.39943 15.37792
9.77633 10.27826 15.19154
5.97942 5.49989 6.74197 7.08066 8.32608 8.96413 9.43847
5.98488 6.5229 6.86132 6.71746 8.48287 8.31774 9.7166
5.73277 5.84745 6.57096 6.81521 7.92364 8.43865 9.18705
1990
6.312 6.636 7.325 5.696 10.483 11.108 18.001 (East) 11.059 (West) 8.200 10.675 14.106
2020 Target 4.4184 4.6452 5.1275 3.9872 7.3381 7.7756 20.342 5.74 7.4725 9.8742 Source: eia.gov
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C A R B O N E M I S S I O N S | DAV I D E L L I S
suggests the Government could make lighting part of existing energy efficiency programmes, such as the Green Deal or the Energy Company Obligation. Another factor that could be stifling the potential of the sustainable lighting take-up in the UK is consumer confusion over which products are appropriate for which applications and the energy savings they offer in the long and short term. Expansive aisles of lightbulbs in supermarkets and DIY stores provide huge choice but exacerbate the decisionmaking process for shoppers. There is no reason the UK cannot be the best country in Europe in terms of LED adoption and energy consumption reduction. Everyone has a responsibility to help meet the target, with all the tools and information available to help the public make the right choices â–
+ More Information www.osram.com | 78 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
References: 1 2 3 4 5 6
www.eia.gov www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=90&pid=45&aid =8&cid=r3,&syid=1990&eyid=2011&unit=MMTCD www.lightrabbit.co.uk/calculate-saving www.ashden.org/blog/how-many-incentives-does-it-take-change-lightbulb Energy Saving Trust, Premium Light press release www.globalactionplan.org.uk
As part of its consumer awareness and sustainability programme, Osram is offering the Light-A-Home tool through its website osram.com It gives consumers a chance to assess the ECO-friendly Osram product options available to them in each application throughout a virtual house. The tool can be found via the following link, or by scanning the QR Code below: http://tinyurl.com/osramEIM
ENERGY
T H E F U T U R E O F G A S I N B R I TA I N | D R R U S S E L L T H O M A S
| 80 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.pbworld.com
An Unconventional Future for Gas in Britain? By Dr Russell Thomas
Technical Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff
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ENERGY
T H E F U T U R E O F G A S I N B R I TA I N | D R R U S S E L L T H O M A S
Alan Turkus
Natural gas supply and consumption data 2012 in GWh Supply
Indigenous production Imports (of which LNG) Exports Stock change Transfers
452,094 547,300
Electricity generation Heat generation Energy industry use Losses
144,023 -269 -56 855,047 -2,145 857,191 235,930 213,539 22,392 55,622 12,271
Iron and steel Other industries Domestic Other final users Non-energy use
4,854 105,851 339,080 97,634 5,949
Total supply
Statistical difference
Total demand Transformation
Final consumption
Table 1. Gas Supply and Demand in the UK in 2012 DECC/National Statistics Energy Trends March 2013. | 82 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.pbworld.com
Construction of the National Transmission System, the high pressure gas transport system which holds much of the UK’s gas storage and distributes gas around the UK between import facilities and distribution networks.
National Grid Gas Archive
Britain is facing an uncertain future in the energy markets, needing to balance its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions whilst ensuring it ‘keeps the lights on’. Coal-fired power stations, the backbone of the country’s electricity generating capacity, are gradually being decommissioned, as is its aging fleet of nuclear reactors. In order to meet its legally binding target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 80% of the 1990 level, the UK government will need to rely more heavily on renewable energy sources and new nuclear. Until these replacement sources are fully in place, the country will be in a state of transition. Gas has the potential to fill the void and reduce pressure on the low-carbon and renewable energy sectors, given the significant time lag from project inception through construction to energy provision at the desired scale. Gas from new local sources would also help to improve energy security.
this dependency, Britain will have to adopt alternative methods of heating, such as air-source and groundsource heat pumps, solar heating and the use of biofuels. It will also have to significantly upgrade the energy efficiency of its housing stock. Even with these changes, the electricity infrastructure may struggle to meet the increased demands for heating, with only 9% of homes currently heated by electricity. Thus an increase in the UK’s power generation and electricity distribution capacity will be required to meet the extra demand from domestic heating. Flexibility in future energy supply is dependent upon the UK maintaining its gas infrastructure, without which the viability of some renewable sources of gas (such as power-to-gas, and biogas) would be impacted. Any decline in the existing world-class infrastructure would result in a significant economic loss.
A role for gas
Gas remains an important fuel and one that is increasingly imported, given the dwindling supplies from UK offshore gas fields. While the UK still produces significant quantities of gas, some of which is exported, it is now a net importer of gas as shown in Table 1. Gas transportation around Britain and the North Sea is complex. Britain is an important European gas hub, receiving and supplying gas via its interconnectors with Belgium and the Netherlands, and supplying gas to Ireland via another interconnector. To meet demand, the country is becoming increasingly dependent on Norwegian gas. These ►
Gas will therefore be important as a transition fuel, as gas-fired power stations can be built relatively quickly and they can rapidly produce power to supplement renewable sources. It will also play a key role in decarbonising our economy, replacing coal for power generation until renewable energy and new nuclear can take over. The importance of gas extends beyond the power market as gas provides the base-load supply for heating in the UK. Mains gas heats more than 80% of homes via an extensive and well-maintained transmission and distribution network. To remove
Where does our gas come from?
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T H E F U T U R E O F G A S I N B R I TA I N | D R R U S S E L L T H O M A S
Graham Richardson
imports are provided through the Langeled pipeline and also the Tampen Link and Gjøa Pipeline (through the FLAGS transport system), which provide direct links with Norwegian gas fields via the Easington and St Fergus terminals. The UK is also becoming more reliant on the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from countries such as Qatar and Trinidad. LNG is imported at specialist terminals at the Isle of Grain in Kent, Teesside (GasPort), and Milford Haven (South Hook and Dragon). These facilities have the capacity to import, store and then regasify the LNG so it can be redistributed around the gas network via the National Transmission System.
How much supply do we have?
Britain has a very limited long-term storage capacity for gas. Daily storage capacity is provided by line packing in the National Transmission System. Beyond this, the depleted gas field at Rough provides the largest capacity (3.7 bcm working capacity), equivalent to all the other facilities combined which include depleted gas fields, salt caverns, and an LNG storage facility at Avonmouth. These provide for only 4% of Britain’s total energy demand, one of the lowest in Europe. | 84 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
An unconventional future for gas
The UK has unexploited conventional gas fields in its offshore waters. Although these are likely to be smaller and more expensive to exploit than previous gas fields, they will still be important in terms of energy security. In addition, there are a host of alternative local sources of gas at various stages of development. Each of these could contribute to the UK’s gas supply in the future, helping to improve energy security. A continuing gas supply does not necessarily mean natural gas, but also hydrogen, which could be diluted with methane or used instead of methane. Unconventional gas is one new potential source of gas. The name refers to natural gas held in atypical reservoirs not traditionally exploited. These are primarily sourced from underground shale rock and coal formations and have been widely debated in recent years. While they could make a significant contribution, they are probably not game changing, given that the potential supply is limited. Sources of unconventional gas include coal bed methane (CBM) and shale gas, described in Table 2. Both produce a gas similar in composition to natural gas. Potential new sources of gas, including unconventional gases, are also described briefly in Table 2. ►
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The UK has unexploited conventional gas fields in its offshore waters. Although these are likely to be smaller and more expensive to exploit than previous gas fields, they will still be important in terms of energy security.
Type
Description
Uses
Coal bed methane
Coal bed methane is the recovery of methane trapped within coal seams not previously affected by mining activities. Recovery is undertaken using intrusive drilling methods, usually directional drilling.
Coal bed methane could be utilised at source for electricity generation or conditioned and injected into the gas distribution network.
Shale gas
Shale gas is a form of natural gas that can be present in ‘tight rocks’: geological units such as shale and mudstone which were previously regarded as unsuitable for development and production. Directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing of these rocks allow the gas to escape and be recovered.
Coal bed methane could be utilised at source for electricity generation or conditioned and injected into the gas distribution network.
Underground coal gasification
UGC is quite different from the other forms of gas described. It is formed from the partial combustion of coal to form a synthetic gas formed primarily of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen. It can also be used to produce synthetic oils.
UCG could be utilised at source for electricity generation or conditioned and injected into the gas distribution network. Oils can be produced via the FischerTropsch synthesis process to produce synthetic crude.
Biogas
Biogas is formed from the biodegradation of organic matter.
Power-to-gas
Electricity can be used to form hydrogen through electrolysis reactions. The resultant hydrogen can be used to blend with natural gas. The hydrogen can alternatively be used to form methane through an exothermic reaction. It is a convenient way to store renewable energy.
Biogas can be utilised at source for electricity generation or conditioned for injection into the gas distribution network. This method is primarily used for energy storage. The gas produced is stored until required and then re-injected into the gas distribution network.
anaerobic
Table 2. Types of alternative sources of gas. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 85 |
ENERGY
T H E F U T U R E O F G A S I N B R I TA I N | D R R U S S E L L T H O M A S
Composition (% vol/vol)
*Town gas (coal gas)
*2 Stage Producer gas (analogous to UCG gas)
*North Sea (natural) gas
ΔBiogas from agricultural waste
Carbon dioxide Oxygen CnHn Carbon monoxide Hydrogen Methane Ethane Propane and higher Carbon dioxide
2.0 0.5 3.5 7.5 51.8 27.0 1.2 6.5
3.4 0.2 30.0 16.1 2.6† 47.7
0.6 90 5.1 1.6 2.7
26 0 68 1
* British Petroleum (1972) † Includes higher paraffins × Ricketts, T.S. (1963) Δhttp://www.biogas-renewable-energy.info/biogas_composition.html
Table 3. Comparison of the composition of various types of gas. Recent advances in extraction techniques, such as directional drilling, hydraulic fracturing and dewatering, have made it economically viable to extract the gas held within the pore spaces in mature shale units and coal seams. Indeed, in the US, the industry has been transformed and the price of gas reduced; however, the impact in the UK is likely to be less significant, with unconventional gas meeting only a fraction of our needs. Unlike the US, shale gas produced in the UK should be able to provide multiple wells from a single well pad. Given the estimated 1,000m thickness of the Bowland shale, multiple horizontal wells should be able to be drilled at various depths from one vertical well. Another gas known as coal mine methane (CMM) can be recovered from previously worked mines. There are currently 14 operational CMM gas collection systems, which primarily burn the gas for electricity generation on-site. Gas extracted from coal seams is not a new phenomenon; CMM, originally known as ‘fire damp’, was first extracted and burnt to produce light in the early 18th century. The Point of Ayr colliery in North Wales was one of a number of mines in Britain which supplied CMM to the gas industry in the middle of the 20th century. At the time it had to be converted into “Town gas”, a mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide (Table 3). Town gas was used in the UK for 150 years, prior to conversion to natural gas in the 1970s. It was produced from the thermal decomposition of coal in a sealed vessel | 86 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
(a retort) where the chemical bonds in the coal were broken down and a synthetic gas produced (Table 3). The process has similarities to underground coal gasification (UCG), another technology which could provide gas in the future. UCG provides Britain with an option of tapping into its vast deep coal reserves which are unviable to mine by conventional means. UCG partially combusts the coal in-situ underground, via an ignition well with a controlled supply of air or oxygen. Water is also added to promote the hydrogen generating water gas reaction. The gas produced is removed from the coal seam via a second well and processed above ground. The gas would require significant processing to make it suitable for distribution in the gas network. The hydrogen could be separated and mixed with methane, used to produce methane, or the gas network could be converted for hydrogen transportation. The gas could otherwise be utilised for electricity generation. Shale Gas, CBM and UCG all involve significant environmental challenges to both operators and regulators. Despite recent budget cuts, the Environment Agency has been developing Environmental Risk Assessments for shale gas and CBM and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has developed a regulatory roadmap for shale oil and gas and also a Strategic Environmental Assessment report for consultation. Vitally these all are focused on the whole life cycle of projects from site selection to site closure and monitoring, such
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Daniel Foster
that the industry should not leave a legacy to be resolved by future generations. One of the primary concerns has been the interface between groundwater and the gas production well. The integrity of this well is vital to prevent the leakage of gas, organic compounds or hydraulic fracturing fluids from causing groundwater pollution. This is one of many challenges which provide an opportunity for innovation, developing new technologies which comply with the strict health, safety and environmental standards in force in the UK. The Government, through the Technology Strategy Board, is supporting developing technologies for safe and responsible exploitation of shale gas, the results of which can be used in the UK and exported globally. For both this and the unconventional gas sector to succeed in the UK it is vital that UK onshore gas producers are more open and willing to take a more collaborative approach with regulators, academia and the general public. Hydrogen is also being pursued as a sustainable means of storing renewable energy at a utility scale through power-to-gas technology. This allows surplus renewable energy to be used to generate gas; the latter can then be easily stored, primarily in the form of hydrogen, although methane can also be synthesised. The gas produced can be blended with natural gas, and then re-injected into the gas distribution network. Biogas can play a useful role in supplying gas in rural parts of the gas network with large agricultural industries.
It is produced from the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, such as animal waste slurries, and consists of approximately 60% methane (Table 3). Pilot projects have demonstrated that biogas can be treated to recover the methane, which can be blended with another gas (e.g. butane) to make it suitable for injection into the gas distribution network. Alternatively, it can be burnt at source to produce electricity.
The future supply of gas
In the short to medium term, Britain looks certain to become more dependent on gas, with this flexible energy source playing an important role in the transition to a lower carbon economy. Developing alternative sources of locally produced gas to supplement the UK’s remaining offshore gas fields would provide greater energy security. The gas industry has provided a flexible energy supply to much of the nation for over 200 years, and it still has an important role to play â–
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FOOD & PACKAGING
AG R I C U LT U R E | R I C H A R D TO M L I N S O N
Agriculture Can Resolve Our Ecological Woes By Richard Tomlinson
Lower Park Farm, Wrexham
In a recent interview with The Guardian, the Government’s chief advisor, Sir Mark Walport, advised that we should concentrate less on denying that climate change is happening and focus more on how we can respond to it. Contributing almost 10% of the UK’s GHG emissions, agriculture attracted comment from Richard Tol, an economics professor at Sussex University who specialises in climate change and energy issues, who suggested that “if you are serious about cutting [GHG] emissions, it means giving up cows’ milk and giving up cow meat”. As a fifth generation dairy farmer, I would suggest that agriculture may instead be able to resolve our ecological woes. | 88 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Having farmed organically for the past 15 years, I am passionate about my land and, most importantly, the soil that it contains. Soil, in my opinion, is the bedrock of our society yet, I’m afraid to say, society seems to be hell bent on destroying it. The biological health of our planet is our number one priority, yet we continue to ignore its own biological requirements. Whilst mankind concerns itself with the increasing levels of CO2 emissions, it fails to consider the whole carbon picture, and to recognise that carbon itself is not the problem, rather that there’s too much of it in the air and not enough locked in the ground, where it can lend fertility to the soil. Indeed soil is our most natural and cost effective carbon sink, with the ability to hold more carbon
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than the atmosphere and the world’s plant life combined. I find it incredibly alarming that America’s largest export is topsoil and that Iran has been forced to source much of its wheat this year from that most unlikely of goto countries, the US. 90% of the world’s cropland is losing soil, largely to wind and water erosion, at 13 times the rate at which soil is being formed. Indeed, one could say that photosynthesis is our only true wealth. Without it, soil becomes so degraded that the food we grow lacks nutrients, rain runs off it, bringing drought and ‘desertification’, and whole societies are uprooted. Here in the UK, we may think of ‘deserts’ as immense, featureless expanses of sand, inhospitable areas in distant lands, like the Sahara, the Kalahari and Death Valley, where
the sun rages incessantly and it never rains. However, if we acknowledge desertification as the process by which once fertile land loses all of its nutrients, we may begin to recognise that the problem is becoming a very real one at home. The quality of our soil greatly determines the nutritional value of our food. Over the last 80 years, the calcium content of an apple has almost halved, whilst the levels of iron, phosphorous and magnesium have fallen by over 80%; UK Ministry of Health research has shown that the levels of iron in a steak today are around half of what they were 50 years ago. Both of these facts are a consequence of a dilution of nutritional content in the land, accelerated by years of poor land husbandry and growing crops for maximum yield. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 89 |
FOOD & PACKAGING
AG R I C U LT U R E | R I C H A R D TO M L I N S O N
Our soil is not only the prime source of our food, it also absorbs rain and retains vital water, rather than streaming it away as it would if exhausted of organic matter. Every 1% increase in soil carbon has the capacity to hold an additional 60,000 gallons of water in each acre. Hardly surprising, then, that it is home to over 95% of terrestrial life forms, or that there are as many living organisms in a teaspoon of healthy soil as there are people on the planet, and vitally important when you consider that worldwide demand for water will soon be 40% greater than what is available. But perhaps most significantly of all, our soil provides a solution to the crisis of excess CO2 in the atmosphere, with its far reaching, global consequences. Ohio State University research has established that soil carbon restoration has the capacity to store around one billion tons of atmospheric carbon per year, enough to offset around 10% of total annual CO2 emissions and around a third of the annual human related emissions to the atmosphere. We can’t switch off our carbon emissions but we can sequester them to the ground; if the topsoil of all the land that we currently farm and graze were increased in depth by just 1.6%, it’s incredible to learn that atmospheric CO2 levels would be returned to pre-industrial levels. Since around 1850, twice as much atmospheric CO2 has been derived from farming practices as from the burning of fossil fuels and, in the past 150 years, between 50% and 80% of organic carbon in the topsoil has gone airborne. Indeed, the carbon pools of the world’s agricultural soils have reportedly been depleted by between 50 and 70% (approx. 50 to 100 billion tons of carbon). The antidote to this rapid oxidation is regenerative agriculture: working the land with the goal of building
topsoil. This turns the conventional approach to farming upside down: rather than focussing on growing crops, the intention is to grow the soil. Every day I walk my fields, frequently moving my cows from one paddock to the next, just as soon as they have nibbled the grass sufficiently to stimulate plant and root growth, and they have trampled the ground to a level at which water can seep in and seeds can germinate. And whilst their dung restores much needed carbon to the ground, methane from the dairy slurry is converted into thermal and electrical energy through an Anaerobic Digester, whilst producing nutrient-rich, chemical-free fertilisers for the land. I see soil as the melting pot for our converging environmental, social and economic crises (excess atmospheric CO2, drought, floods, wildfires, food scarcity, desertification, even obesity and malnutrition), enabling us to redress these seemingly insurmountable problems. Since soil is integral to so many biological processes, nurturing it and improving it provides us with many paths towards ecological renewal – with returns far greater than what any of us might see at our feet ■
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937: “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.”
| 90 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
FOOD & PACKAGING
| 92 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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CO L L A B O R AT I O N | M A RT I N C H I LCOT T
www.2degreesnetwork.com
Martin Chilcott, CEO and Founder of 2degrees, looks at the mounting threats and innovative solutions to safeguarding a globally sustainable food supply chain. best practice in order to solve common, practical problems. If we take the example of Asda, in response to the risks posed to its fresh produce from climate change, it created a framework (the Asda Sustain & Save Exchange – SSE) that has since been applied across the company’s trading operations, building an industry leading initiative to work more closely with their producers to adapt and make a more sustainable supply chain. 2degrees have been working with Asda (and brands such as Tesco) on their supply base collaboration programmes and have found a number of headlines that support the compelling business and environmental case for fully-linked collaboration:
Globalisation, the explosion in consumption and resource scarcity loom over our global food supplies, encouraging businesses to outsource, produce off-shore and source materials from the farthest corners of the planet. “Increased droughts, more unpredictable variability [and] 100-year floods every two years” – these were the problems disrupting Coca-Cola’s supply of sugar cane and sugar beets, as well as citrus for its fruit juices. So said the firm’s vice president for environment and water resources, Jeffrey Seabright. “When we look at our most essential ingredients, we see those events as threats.” And earlier this year, Asda, the Walmart-owned UK supermarket, bravely announced that 95% of its fresh produce was at risk from climate change, following a yearlong mapping exercise of its fresh produce supply chain. Whilst industrial globalisation has undoubtedly brought certain benefits and efficiencies, supply bases have also become ever more stretched and less transparent, making them vulnerable and fragmented. Risks around reputation, product integrity, environmental concerns and security of supply risks have increased.
The Case for Collaboration
The answers are too big for one company or government to address alone. It is only through collaboration that you can address the unique sustainable food challenges that the 21st century presents. Operating sustainably cannot be done alone. Co-ordinated, collective action and engagement across whole value chains should result in financial and environmental benefits for all – a process 2degrees refers to as ‘fully-linked collaboration’. Fully-linked collaboration makes it easy for producers, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers to work together at scale, at an operational level, sharing information and
• A small sample of suppliers reported £1.6m in savings in 18 months based on 30 resource efficiency projects that have been implemented as a result of resources provided on the SSE. These projects include heat recovery, ground source heat pumps, LED lighting and smart refrigeration systems. • There was a further investment of around £3.2m by those suppliers in resource efficiency projects, as a result of the advice and support gained from the SSE, enabling long-term savings. • 1,400 CO2e tonnes of carbon emissions saved from the SSE. • For every £1 invested by Asda during 2013 the supply chain directly benefited by £4.
Like ASDA, large international corporations have everything to gain, both in terms of bottom line performance and reputation management. They also have the scale, influence and people power to do this effectively. But while these firms represent a significant aspect of the story, in this global economy it doesn’t write the ending. What of the SMEs and the individual farmers around the world who are the suppliers to the corporates? Those, for example, who supply the coffee beans, the grains and other produce that make their way from the field to the shelf to the breakfast table? How are they ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 93 |
FOOD & PACKAGING
CO L L A B O R AT I O N | M A RT I N C H I LCOT T
managing to adapt to increasing demands from the corporates to become more sustainable? One of the key components of supply base collaboration is that all parties benefit from the gains made. Many of these smaller suppliers can only invest in more sustainable methods and practices if they have the security of long-term contracts to ensure a reasonable payback is achieved. A great example of how collaboration can reap benefits of this is here in the UK, where Innocent Drinks, a large user of blueberries, recognized that there are very few growers of this fruit in the UK. It consequently built a longstanding relationship with the leading grower by establishing long- term contracts. The grower accepted a lower price for his produce in return for the surety of the off-take and was able to invest in his business to improve his yields and service to Innocent Drinks. And it is not just Innocent who recognise the importance of these long lasting relationships, as Chris Brown, Asda’s Senior Director for Sustainable Business, says: “For traders, it’s about making sure we develop long-term relationships with our stakeholders and re-engineer relationships. We are at the start of that journey.”
So, how do you start the work towards the solutions?
To take the next step and engage in fully-linked collaboration you must use technology to your advantage – new technologies make collaboration at scale easy. The Internet, and in particular the explosion in social technologies, has given us the tools to make the necessary collaboration possible. Before this, it was prohibitively expensive for large companies and governments to truly collaborate with their tens of thousands of suppliers. Our story at 2degrees is testimony to the fact that this has changed. The managed platforms we provide for the likes of GSK, Tesco, Asda, Kingfisher, and RBS provide our clients with a unique social collaboration platform, and enables thousands of suppliers to work together with ease, 24/7, in order to cut costs, reduce risk, share ideas and experience and become more sustainable. However, normalizing best practice across a supply chain is not easy. It requires large-scale sharing of experience, know-how and insight, often between competitors. It requires an online platform, facilitation and processes that enable fully-linked collaboration.
tpmartins | 94 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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Leslie Main Johnson
Here are eight lessons we have learnt from our programs that are critical to making fully-linked collaboration work within a supply chain: 1. The program needs to be built from the perspective of maximizing value for the suppliers.
Get that right and communicate it effectively and you will drive engagement. Focus primarily on the customer’s need and you make it hard for yourself.
2. The most important stakeholders to get involved are the operational managers.
These are generally the ‘out-of-sight’ individuals with the responsibility, challenges and collective know-how to unlock the hidden savings and reduce impacts. Make your programs solve their problems and unlock their wisdom.
3. To be really effective, programs have to be focused on a common objective that all suppliers can get behind. This is where the customer leads. In Asda’s SSE , the focus is on making the food supply chain the best invested, most resilient and sustainable there is; and with a clear target of $1bn cost reduction.
4. Benchmarking peers and competitors, as a group, is a very powerful way to get sceptics engaged. Suppliers tend to pay attention and join in if you can show them they are X or Y% less energy efficient than their direct competitors and promise to share the best practice they are missing.
5. To be in a position where companies are prepared to share their best practice with competitors you need the customer’s commercial teams leading,
and providing a compelling incentive for suppliers to share. This could be reward in the form of: better terms, longer contracts, more time spent on joint promotions, etc.
6. Only so much happens without active facilitation. Best done by a third party, you need someone who gets to understand the suppliers as companies and individuals, is trusted and can constantly join the dots, link people up and encourage participation.
7. The big breakthroughs won’t happen openly in front of the customer. Suppliers are too nervous that any savings they might make will be stripped away in negotiation if their customers know about them. This is a further reason why you need third-party, trusted facilitation, that can enable, what some call ‘Blind Collaboration’ where data is collected anonymously so that suppliers feel they can keep most, if not all, of the savings they make.
8. Use collaborative purchasing to solve common problems within the supply-chain and take advantage
of the potential scale to drive down the cost of solutions.
►
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CO L L A B O R AT I O N | M A RT I N C H I LCOT T
Neil Palmer (CIAT)
It also creates an important focal point of action for all the knowledge-sharing. As an example, Tesco’s Buying Club achieves a 25% average saving for suppliers in its supply chain who retrofit their distribution centres with LED lights.
When all eight of these principles are applied, ‘fullylinked’ collaboration takes place and engagement and investment levels soar. The threats to safeguarding a globally sustainable food supply chain are serious and increasing. The world’s resources are finite, but crucially the capacity for business to innovate and adapt is infinite. | 96 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
By taking collaborative action businesses can become more sustainable, ensuring their own economic future, but also helping ensure the future of the planet upon which they depend for survival ■
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Title Photo: tpmartins
FOOD & PACKAGING
V E RT I C A L FA R M I N G | DA N C A I G E R-S M I T H
Vertical Farming: A Growing Business By Dan Caiger-Smith Sky Greens
| 98 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.skygreens.com
All around the world there is growing awareness that we face a frighteningly big challenge in the next three decades: how to feed a population that is relentlessly growing, increasingly urban and due to pass the 9 billion mark by 2050. Scarcity of land, water and over-farming of land combined with increasing crop susceptibility to pests and diseases all mean that traditional, open-field agriculture will struggle to meet the demand sustainably. And so, we are confronted by urgent need to find innovative ways to produce the food we need. Solutions are now emerging in many forms around the world, prominent amongst them Vertical Farming - technology that aims to maximise crop yield for a given area by growing upwards, and to make food growing commercially viable for the first time in infertile regions, islands and remote communities, and most importantly - in our towns and cities.
Case Study: Green Sky thinking – the Sky Greens Story
Singapore is a highly successful island economy less than twice the size of the Isle of Wight, with a fast growing population approaching 6 million. As land is scarce, and currently fourth most expensive in the world, domestic production of fresh produce has historically been on a small scale, with most imports coming from origins such as Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Australia and even further afield. Much of the produce consumed therefore has a high carbon footprint, and has been in transit a long time leading to loss of nutritional value, freshness and taste. â–ş
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V E RT I C A L FA R M I N G | DA N C A I G E R-S M I T H
Jack Ng, founder of Sky Greens.
Added to these issues, food security is important to landscarce countries such as Singapore, and the government has actively encouraged innovative solutions to help achieve it. Enter Mr Jack Ng, founder of Sky Greens, inventor and entrepreneur. He has developed an innovative solution to high-rise vertical farming in urban cities - his Sky Greens technology achieves ten-fold higher yields per unit area of land and have a proven commercial viability. Ng started building his prototype in 2009, and in 2010 a Collaborative Research Agreement was signed between Sky Greens and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore. This private-public sector collaboration resulted in the development of multi-layer troughs in rotating A-frame vertical structures, using exceptionally little energy. Development of the world’s first vertical vegetable farm followed, and has continued steadily ever since. The venture was announced at the start of 2011, and commercialized in 2012. After two years of intensive technical and commercial development, it now produces half of all the country’s domestic production of leafy green | 100 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
vegetables and exclusively supplies the UTC/ Fair Price grocery chain with high quality premium-priced local vegetables. Demand for locally grown vegetables in Singapore currently exceeds supply, as Singaporeans prefer the quality, freshness and taste of local vegetables, soil-grown - not hydroponically - to the highest possible standards with minimal usage of pesticides and chemicals and, as all the water used is recycled, minimal use of water. The vegetables are harvested every day and delivered almost immediately to retail outlets and consumers. The Sky Greens growing ‘towers’ come in heights of 3, 6 and 9 metre heights, and are housed in protected outdoor greenhouses which allow for weather-proof production all year round. Per square metre, they yield ten times more produce than conventional field growing, and use twenty times less water, as all the water not taken up by the plants is recycled. A 6m tower can produce 1250 plants in each crop cycle, and there are other advantages too: the vegetables taste good, as they are grown in specially formulated soil-based media, and reach the consumer freshly picked. The towers are easy to install and ►
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V E RT I C A L FA R M I N G | DA N C A I G E R-S M I T H
easy to maintain, and because the rotary system allows the troughs to be located at the optimum level for easy planting out and harvesting, they offer good ergonomics. Ng also plans for the system to be customized to suit different crop requirements and varying environments, and for the option to offer a hydroponic version. All aspects of the design follow the ‘3R’ principle of Reduce (energy, materials, labour), Reuse and Recycle (water, substrate, organic matter). All in all, what we have here is the world’s first hydraulic water-driven vertical system. It is clever and ground breaking, but it also points a new direction for fresh produce production around the world – although niche at present, it is an approach which seems set to make a significant contribution to the way fresh produce is grown in the future ■
Photography: Sky Greens Pte Ltd
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| 102 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
INVASIVE SPECIES ARE SERIOUS IN THEIR PURSUIT OF DOMINATION.
ARE YOU SERIOUS IN YOUR PURSUIT OF ERADICATION? We are. The Invasive Non-Native Specialists Association (INNSA) is the industry body for companies involved in controlling and eradicating invasive non-native species. Membership of INNSA demonstrates professional knowledge and understanding of invasive species and the best methods for eradicating them. Registration provides members with a recognised accreditation backed up by a comprehensive insurance scheme.
INNSA aims to:
o:
• Encourage the highest standards within the industry
• Represent members’ and sectors’ interests at all levels of the legislative and regulatory process by providing interfaces between the industry and the government, other industry and non-industry organisations.
• Improve the business climate in which the industry operates • Promote and protect the interests of our members • Provide members’ customers and clients with peace of mind and quality standards assurance
SERIOUS? THEN CONTACT US. Registration demonstrates commitment, expertise and professionalism in your field.
www.innsa.org info@innsa.org alternatively call us on 0161 723 6457
LAND MANAGEMENT
SITE ASSESSMENT | MARK BURNARD
Technology’s Role in the Environmental Site Assessment Process By Mark Burnard
Senior Product Manager, Landmark Information Group
| 104 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.landmark.co.uk
With an increasing population, the demand for available housing has never been so high. A 2013 report highlighted that 130,000 new homes were built in total, well below the suggested requirement of 250,000 that are needed in order to keep up with changing demographics. The balance between the need for more homes and the desire to protect the environment is however an ongoing issue and one that takes a great deal of consideration and careful planning. The Government has drawn up plans to build at least three new garden cities to help deal with the housing shortage, while a range of other initiatives have been developed to not only utilise existing brownfield locations, but to also convert unused, commercial sites or properties into residential homes. One such campaign is the ‘Waste of Space’ initiative that is being driven by the ‘Campaign to Protect Rural England’. It actively encourages people to identify potential brownfield sites that are unused or ripe for conversion, in order to start earmarking the sites for possible development. A conservative estimate is that 200,000 homes could be quickly developed on derelict land within our towns and cities. With all large-scale brownfield developments, it is however a requirement to ensure the land is appropriate – and safe – for residential development. If any contamination from previous industrial or commercial activities is present, the land must be appropriately remediated in advance of any development taking place. An environmental site assessment carried out by a specialist consultant will identify any potential risks or hazards that could impact the development, both in the immediate timescale and in the long-term future. Risks highlighted can be anything from potential unexploded ordnance, flood risk or ground instability, through to potential land contaminants that may be present as a result of past industrial activities, such as mining, chemical production, manufacturing or tanneries, to name just a few.
Over recent years, as technology has evolved, the methods used to conduct a site assessment have also started to evolve bringing significant benefits and efficiencies. Until recent years, the Phase 1 desk study was very much a manual process, which involved environmental consultants accessing historical mapping and paperbased environmental reports, which would be overlaid onto lightboxes, printed out or opened up on-screen as multiple pdf documents so they could be cross-referenced to identify any areas of concern. An on-site visit would also allow the environmental consultant to review the site in person and capture photos and notes to highlight any other potential environment risks that may not have been immediately visible in the desk study. On completing the Phase 1 desk study, if it is determined that a risk (or risks) is present, a Phase 2 site investigation will then be initiated in order to undertake more rigorous and intrusive testing of soil, water and even air quality samples, as needed. Today, there are more digital tools and online services than ever before to support environmental consultants in conducting both desk-based and on-site environmental assessments. The days of juggling PDF print-outs of site maps, historical maps and environmental data should be a thing of the past as new software and hardware developments deliver more efficient, and accurate, ways of working. After all, not only is the former time consuming but also open to manual errors. With the advancement of technology, software tools and mobile devices, this way of working is being confined to the history books and, instead, new innovations are being actively embraced. ►
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LAND MANAGEMENT
SITE ASSESSMENT | MARK BURNARD
Environmental consultants can now utilise digital tools and online services for desk-based and on-site assessments.
Now, environmental specialists are able to access digital maps and environmental data that can be quickly assessed in an online environment. This means that from within a single online platform, such as Envirocheck Analysis, professionals can now accurately assess environmental risk factors related to a piece of land, without the need to overlay printed maps, manually draw boundaries or search through rafts of printed reports for potential hazards. This not only saves a huge amount of time, but makes it simple to export the findings directly into their concluding site assessment report. The adoption of devices and smartphones also means desk studies no longer need to be confined to the office, and site investigation data can be captured immediately whilst on site. The use of mobile apps enables professionals to remotely access maps, aerial photography and their notes from historical map and environmental data analysis during the site walkover, streamlining the task, and enabling findings to be directly input into the resulting report. Built-in GPS features make it much easier to geolocate specific features; inbuilt cameras mean you can take photos on site that can be directly integrated into site analysis; plus it removes the need to retype site notes on returning to the office – it’s now possible to ‘sync and go’. | 106 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Meg Stewart
Looking ahead into the future, as technology is embraced more and more, we can see that a number of new innovations will come into play that may help support environmental consultants in their daily undertakings further still. Augmented multimedia, which is often referred to as Virtual Reality (VR), is just one example. One form of VR that is receiving a lot of attention is Google Glass. As an assistive VR device, it provides a small projected image directly in front of your eye. It responds to movements of the head and has a touch sensitive panel to one side for more direct manual controls. We believe technology like this has the potential to provide consultants with a raft of supporting information that can be utilised whilst working directly on site; for example, riskbased datasets could be instantly accessed and viewed, providing the ability to calculate precise coordinates of a specific land feature. Other future-looking technologies include the Oculus Rift, which provides a more ‘premium’ 3D reality offering. If you were to couple this device with a pair of headphones, it is incredibly effective for simulations in controlled conditions. Facebook purchased the company earlier this year so we eagerly await how the technology will be fully exploited, particularly in the environmental industry.
www.landmark.co.uk
Envirocheck Analysis streamlines work processes by giving professionals assess to environmental risk factors related to a piece of land.
A third innovation is Layar, an app that creates layers of information on top of reality. It uses the spatial awareness of a mobile device to plot useful information on the image seen by your mobile device’s camera. It’s not immersive but does allow your view of the world to be augmented with useful information. We believe that each flavour of virtual reality technology has the potential to support the overall environmental due diligence process and so we will be watching this space with an active interest to see what advances can be utilised for our industry. Ultimately, the most recent digital methods for undertaking Phase 1 studies are already streets ahead of the traditional manual approach in terms of speed and accuracy. As more new technologies are introduced to the industry, it will deliver even greater efficiencies to the entire Phase 1 and 2 site assessment process. And, as we see more and more development taking place on
brownfield locations where it will be vital to identify any potential land contamination issues, technology’s role in helping to more accurately pinpoint the risks will be advantageous to all involved ■
+ More Information www.landmark.co.uk
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SUSTAINABLE BUILD
K I N G S TO N H E I G H T S | M I K E S P E N S E R-M O R R I S
G a s o r Wo o d f i r e d d i s t r i c t h e at i n g ? N e i t h e r . T h e wat e r i n t h e T h a m e s w i l l h e at this new development in Kingston, Surrey
IT’S A BALMY afternoon alongside the Thames in Canbury Gardens, a public park bordering the Thames in Kingston, Surrey. Mike Spenser-Morris, the Managing Director of NHP Leisure Developments, is taking a leisurely stroll, contemplating the many issues surrounding the soon-to-be-started development of Kingston Heights, a project that will consist of 137 apartments and a 142-bedroom 4 star hotel and conference centre, located 200 metres from the river. But the issue that was foremost on his mind that day was thermal energy.
| 108 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.zerocarbonpartnership.com
River Abstraction Self Cleaning Screens in position. During the planning application process he had been asked by the sustainability unit at the Greater London Authority to provide a district heating system served by a combination of gas-fired CHP and wood-fired Biomass boilers. It would have been a straightforward matter to proceed down the approved route when applying to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames for the discharge of the Sustainable Energy Condition. But in a world that is increasingly concerned with climate change, carbon emissions and energy efficiency, Mike was determined to find a more environmentally beneficial solution. In his mind, the concept of heavily-laden lorries delivering wood pellets grown far afield in Scotland or Scandinavia or beyond, using loads of diesel and expelling carbon emissions throughout the journey, was far from environmentally friendly. And the volume of carbon emissions produced by burning the large quantities of gas and wood needed to fire the central boilers to provide 2.3MW of thermal power, though less than that of individual boilers, would also be significant. He instinctively felt that there had to be a better solution, and in a moment of inspiration that arrived whilst looking at the water in the Thames, it struck him that it might be possible to harness the solar energy stored in the river water, and convert it via high-efficiency heat pumps into thermal energy - the heating and hot water needed for the development. He realised that if his idea would work in practice, it would eradicate the need for biomass deliveries, and since neither wood nor gas would be burned, it would more importantly result in zero on-site carbon emissions. He contacted a specialist environmental M+E services consultant, Chris White of White Associates, who confirmed that the principle would indeed work – in
theory. And having spoken to Mitsubishi Electric – one of the world’s foremost manufacturers of heat pump technology – and producing detailed projections, he concluded that the ‘open loop’ heat pump system would not only eradicate on-site carbon emissions, but would also be extremely energy efficient. This was particularly due to the rejected heat from the hotel’s cooling being recycled into the internal closed loop circuit to support the production of hot water for the hotel and, if that was satisfied, the heating and hot water for the apartments. Using the industry standard calculation of energy efficiency, the system was calculated to provide a coefficient of performance (CoP) of between 4 and 6 + - making the system at least 5 to 10 times more energy efficient than a combustion-based boiler system. And where so often the advantages of renewable energy are to some degree offset by something detrimental, there is no such issue with the Open Water heat pump system. The water abstracted from the Thames is simply passed through a heat exchanger and immediately returned, untreated and unaffected in any way, to the river. In addition, this energy source – the solar energy (heat) naturally stored in any open body of water – is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Even in the depths of winter, whatever the weather or air temperature above, at 2 metres below the surface the water temperature remains relatively constant at 8 – 10°C. The Thames around Kingston hasn’t dropped below 7°C in the past 25 years, and even if it did, the Mitsubishi heat pump technology will produce the heat and hot water required by the development at minus 5°C! It was apparent that Mike had hit upon an exciting concept, one that would completely eliminate on-site ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 109 |
SUSTAINABLE BUILD
K I N G S TO N H E I G H T S | M I K E S P E N S E R-M O R R I S
The 2.3 MW Kingston heat pump system would remove over 500 tonnes of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere year on year. Both the residents and the hotel will benefit from reduced thermal energy bills of 15% to 20% or more. carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency way beyond what could be achieved with CHP and biomass. However neither Chris White, Mitsubishi or anyone else knew of a single large-scale development where the system had been used before. That lack of any precedent created the greatest hurdle in being able to bring to fruition what was patently a great idea. For almost everyone involved in the development – including Mike’s partners and his main contractors – posed the question: “If this energy system is so good, and has so many benefits, why hasn’t anyone done it before?”. This was a question to which there was no logical answer – inexplicably, it just hadn’t. Mike was convinced that he had stumbled across a hitherto overlooked formula for using existing technology in a new way, but had to persuade those around him that the system would work. He spent many months on online research, as well as calls to organisations such as DECC and the Environment Agency, in the hope of identifying another development where the system had been used. But to no avail. Even though the common elements of the system | 110 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
were established – for example there were numerous instances of river water being used for industrial cooling processes – nowhere in the UK could he find anyone who had actually used the system to produce heating and hot water in a large residential / mixed use development. He eventually contacted the British Geological Survey, who having carried out their own research, ultimately identified a scheme using river water – not in the UK, but in Osaka, Japan – that had been successfully installed and running since 2004. John Nock at Mitsubishi Electric, via the organisation’s Tokyo HQ, assisted in gaining some information about that installation and arrangements were made for Mike, Chris White and other team members, to go to Osaka and meet the engineers who were responsible for it. That long trip to Japan proved very worthwhile, for it provided the necessary evidence required by those sceptical about the system that it would actually work. After months of trying, Mike had at last persuaded everyone that the first open water heat pump system of its kind in the UK should be installed at Kingston. There followed a long and gruelling design
SUSTAINABLE BUILD
K I N G S TO N H E I G H T S | M I K E S P E N S E R-M O R R I S
The affordable housing nears completion in March 2014.
and specification process, which involved in-depth assessment and consideration of alternative solutions for every element of the new energy system. Specialists were brought in to deal with the filtration and abstraction pumps, the heat exchangers, pipework installation and control systems. And finally, 4 years after the process started, the system is installed and working. In the past 4 months the importance of the installation has been recognised with 4 major industry awards from Climate Week, The City of London Sustainable City Awards, the H&V News Awards and the National Heat Pump Awards. The installation has also been welcomed as a major step forward in low carbon, energy-efficient thermal energy solutions by the Rt Hon Edward Davey, who is both the MP for Kingston and Surbiton as well as the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. As guest of honour to formally switch the system on, he referred to it as a ‘game-changer’ that could significantly contribute to reducing the UK’s dependency on imported gas and greatly assist the government in achieving its 2020 and 2050 carbon reduction commitments. He and his senior policy advisors at DECC are now keen to see the Open Water heat pump system adopted on a nationwide basis around the UK, and work is underway designed to ensure that anyone wishing to adopt the system may do so without difficulty. For there are huge cumulative carbon-reduction benefits that would result from the use of the Open Water heat pump system by the numerous developments that | 112 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
are taking place near a significant open body of water all over the country. It might be a river, lake, reservoir or even the sea, since the latest Mitsubishi heat pump innovation is designed for use with brine. As an indication, it has been estimated that the 2.3 MW Kingston installation alone would remove over 500 tonnes of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere year on year. Both the residents and the hotel will benefit from reduced thermal energy bills of 15% to 20% or more. And the electricity to run the system is being supplied from Ecotricity’s wind turbines, making Kingston Heights 100% Zero Carbon. Whilst each new installation will inevitably have different requirements, the cost of installing it shouldn’t be significantly different to that of a combustion-based District Heating system, plus the running and maintenance costs should also be reduced. And with the encouragement of the government’s non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive payments the adoption of the Open Water heat pump system should become a proverbial ‘no-brainer’ - the wholly logical thermal energy system of choice for developments taking place anywhere near an open body of water ■
+ More Information To provide knowledge of the system, Mike Spenser-Morris has established the Zero Carbon Partnership: www.zerocarbonpartnership.com
This
says
the f uture
Ask for SFI
you c are
about of our forest s.
Wood from responsibly managed forests is an excellent choice for any new construction or renovation. Builders and architects are turning to products certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative速 (SFI速) Standard, endorsed by PEFC, to meet green building requirements. By asking for SFI, you are promoting sustainable forestry, helping to improve forestry practices and encouraging responsible purchasing of forest products. Look and ask for wood certified to the SFI Standard for all your projects. Visit sfidatabase.org for a list of SFI and PEFC products. Learn more at sfiprogram.org/green-building. Internationally endorsed by
PEFC/29-1-1
SUSTAINABLE BUILD
| 114 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
D R PAU L TOY N E
www.balfourbeatty.com
Sustainable Construction By Dr Paul Toyne
Director of Sustainability, Balfour Beatty In this article I explore what sustainable construction is or could be, and highlight some issues that the sector in the UK is currently working on. So, what would a truly sustainable construction industry look like? Well, for me it would be a competitive one that provided goods and services to clients serving their end users by maintaining and enhancing their quality of life. In doing so it would be enabling societies to function and maximise social benefit in an affordable manner and without impacting negatively on our natural capital: if anything a sustainable construction industry should help us maintain and restore the natural environment. Construction and more broadly the built environment professions - architects, planners, and designers amongst others - have a vital role to play in the UK’s future. Why? Well, we have an increasing population, resource constraints and a changing climate to cope with. This is against a backdrop of ageing infrastructure (power, transport and water networks) and a global competition amongst nations and their cities to attract investment and talent to address these challenges. The ultimate aim is for us to create resilient, attractive places in which to live, work and socialise and, in so doing, further develop the construction industry so it can increase exports.
The policy context
Construction 2025, part of the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, recognises the challenge that I have briefly outlined and goes further, saying that by 2025 construction will be an industry known for: 1. Talent and a diverse workforce 2. Efficiency and being technologically advanced 3. Leading the world in low carbon and green construction exports 4. Driving growth across the whole economy 5. Clear leadership from a Construction Leadership Council
The strategy sets the following targets – 30% lower costs; 50% faster delivery; 50% lower greenhouse gas emissions; and 50% improvements in exports. Underpinning this strategy is a suite of policy mechanisms and tools designed to support delivering these objectives as well as the overarching principle of transitioning to a competitive low carbon economy. Rather than go into too much detail, I will discuss a few issues to give you the general picture. Developers need to consider the national policy framework which references sustainable development. At the local authority level there are specific plans that need to be adhered to, such as the London Plan. At the building level there are specific regulations that are revised regularly by government, their primary aim being ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 115 |
SUSTAINABLE BUILD
D R PAU L TOY N E
Michèle Turbin
to improve the design and therefore the performance of both domestic and non-domestic buildings. There are 13 parts to the current building regulations and some are very specific to sustainability – for example Part L that covers energy efficiency. The need for the design to be understood during the construction phase is key. There are also certification schemes that rate the sustainability of buildings and major infrastructure schemes such as the Code for Sustainable Homes, BREEAM and CEEQUAL. The RICS estimates that 11% of UK construction spending is on fit-outs and that buildings may have 3040 fit-outs during their lifecycle. They have developed the SKA rating tool to help landlords and tenants assess fitout projects against sustainability criteria that fall within the scope of works. These cover energy, CO2, waste, water, materials, pollution, wellbeing and transport: www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/more-services/professionalservices/ska-rating/
Measurement and reporting
A critical on-going challenge is the measurement of sustainability key performance indicators such as energy consumption and waste. At the national level our understanding of current performance is based on | 116 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
a limited sample of absolute data. More often than not final calculations are based on estimations with a set of underlying assumptions. It is not only construction that struggles with this – in building physics we still have limited actual energy performance data for property and the industry continues to investigate the ‘performance gap’ between the predicted energy performance of the designed building and its actual performance.
Waste and materials
The construction sector has made progress in stopping material waste through designing out waste and re-using or recycling materials, with disposal to landfill being the last resort. The waste hierarchy is well understood and following it informs the strategies of many construction companies. A key driver for waste improvements has been the WRAP initiative of halving waste to landfill. Established in 2008, the campaign saw CEO’s from leading contractors commit their companies to the target and as a result drive actions. WRAP was also a catalyst for waste management contractors. Today’s urban construction sites can now regularly divert over 90% of their construction waste from landfill, aided by a supply chain who have invested
www.balfourbeatty.com
in modern material-recycling facilities. Today the target has moved onto zero net waste. Some large infrastructure projects, like the Skanska Balfour Beatty joint venture M25 for the Highways Agency, claim to be there already, becoming a net importer of construction waste from others for landscaping, balancing ponds and bunds.
Carbon and energy management
Like all sectors of UK business, construction has been improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the sourcing and supply of materials, and construction methods. The challenge is to decouple greenhouse gas emissions from development, especially as construction moves out of the recession. The work of the Strategic Forum for Construction on carbon reduction (as well as waste and water) can be found on the Green Construction Board website: www.greenconstructionboard.org An action plan outlined some key areas for improvement, for example in temporary site accommodation and in plant equipment. In many of the areas recommended actions have been taken, usually where the business case for a return on investment has been made.
Ecology/biodiversity
Typically the construction industry struggles to make a significant contribution to biodiversity as many of the outcomes are decided at the planning and design stage. Clearly site ecology assessments are important, and typically contractors do not seek to create a diversity loss. Green rating tools like BREEAM make provisions for ecology credits, and some developers and local authorities have specific requirements for green roofs. Arguably, the greatest impact on ecology is through the sourcing, manufacturing and transportation of construction materials.
Materials
Accreditation and certification schemes have been set up to help assess the provenance and impacts of supply, such as labour and environmental impacts of manufacturing. Most recognisable is probably The Forest Stewardship Council, which provides independent certifications of sustainable forest management. The BRE BES6001 is a scheme for construction products, such as cement. The Construction Products Association and its product sector groups have done excellent work to demonstrate how they have integrated and â–ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 117 |
SUSTAINABLE BUILD
CO N S T R U C T I O N | D R PAU L TOY N E
embedded the principles of sustainable development into their products. For example, on mineral products: www.constructionproducts.org.uk/sustainability/industrystrategies If we agree that construction in the UK is part of a global industry and affected by global trends, then what are the potential impacts of the demand for materials to meet global construction needs to transform existing and build future urban areas? Will we have enough affordable materials to go around? What will be the availability of steel and cement in 2030, and what will they cost? I don’t think anybody can predict the answer with any certainty. This leads me on to innovation and the application of technology, and the need for skills and training to drive further resource efficiencies. Lean manufacturing such as pre-fabricated modular construction has been around for a while and the construction industry does adopt lean thinking. Taking it further is the philosophy of ‘closed looped’/’cradle to cradle’ and the circular economy, whereby nothing is wasted because a waste resource from one system is a material input for another system. At Balfour Beatty we are involved in exploring this approach on a central London development, and there are other companies exploring this, particularly in Europe. Another current campaign within the construction industry is the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM is a delivery methodology that utilises digital tool sets to visualise, collaborate, simulate, optimise and integrate an integrated data set (the building information model) through the whole asset lifecycle. Typical BIM activities include, amongst others: technology strategy and implementation; workshops and training; 2D to 3D (computer assisted design to BIM) with data attribution; 3D/4D Clash Detection and Design Model Coordination. BIM is considered to be a key enabler in driving efficiencies that will lead to the delivery of the Construction 2025 strategy. Early application suggests that there are clear benefits, and the client community needs to recognise that these benefits far outweigh the costs and push for implementation. The construction industry is also coping with other | 118 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
issues in its pursuit of being sustainable: for example, adapting to climate change, managing water, and building capacity through skills and training. These issues are no less important than the ones I have mentioned earlier. Indeed going further, the economic ‘force for good’ that construction can be to a local community regarding local employment opportunities and the provision of skills and training, is a core component of the area’s economic sustainability. Finally, it is worth mentioning the need for strategies within construction companies so that they can be best placed to deliver opportunities in a sustainable manner. All the major construction and manufacturing companies have in place strategies to minimise and reduce their environmental impacts. At Balfour Beatty our strategy for
www.balfourbeatty.com
becoming a sustainable business is called Blueprint. It is a framework that describes the areas where our company is seeking to improve our performance against our six strategic business goals: client focus, local presence, innovative thinking, efficient operations, responsible behaviour and growth. It is an overarching framework that covers economic, social and environmental objectives. Each of the operating companies has its own Blueprint and this is implemented at every level, including on our construction sites. Within our UK construction business, for instance, all staff have agreed sustainability objectives in their own performance and development reviews and progress is reviewed quarterly. Lastly, the UK construction industry has embraced the challenges of sustainable development. The key to future
improvement will be the push by intelligent and wellinformed clients, supported by a design community that places the principles of sustainability at the heart of their work. There is evidence to suggest that this is happening. Yes, more can be done, and needs to be done ‌ but all in all there is willingness and this makes it a very exciting time to be in construction â–
Title Photo: SparkFun Electronics
+ More Information www.balfourbeatty.com
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TRANSPORT
A I RC R A F T C A R B O N | I A N W I L L I A M S & M AT T G R OT E
Aircraft Carbon Emissions will continue to rise By Ian Williams & Matt Grote
Centre for Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton
| 120 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.southampton.ac.uk
Civil aviation is a global industry and its challenges are global in scale. The industry has grown spectacularly: since 1970, air traffic has doubled approximately every 15 years. In 2012, the global aviation industry provided 57 million jobs and $2.2 trillion in economic activity. Aviation is predicted 5% annual growth to 2030, resulting in projections of 5.9 billion passengers, ~150 million tonnes of cargo, 82 million jobs and $6.9 trillion of global GDP. As a result, civil aviation is going to become an increasingly significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions
The global airline industry consumes in excess of 5 million barrels of oil per day and accounts for 13% of fossil fuels consumed by transport. Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from aircraft engines are proportional to fuel used by a factor of approximately 3.15. CO2 is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and the principal gas emitted by powered aircraft. Civil aviation’s contribution to total anthropogenic CO2 emissions is approximately 2-2.5%. To illustrate the magnitude of aviation emissions, CO2 emissions from flights departing the UK are forecast to increase from 33.3 MtCO2 in 2011 to 47 MtCO2 by 2050 (Mt = million metric tonnes, 1 kg x 109). Clearly, large increases in national emissions are a significant problem for the UK Government, which is already set to miss climate change targets it is legally bound to meet. In 2010, international aviation consumed approximately 142 Mt of fuel, resulting in an estimated 448 MtCO2 emissions. It is also recognised that non-CO2 emissions from aircraft have climate impacts. These emissions include water vapour, oxides of nitrogen, soot and sulphates. Aviation’s total instantaneous warming impact has been estimated at 2-4 times that of CO2 emissions alone. However, the focus of the civil aviation industry’s effort to mitigate its climate warming impact is on reducing CO2 emissions from aircraft. The airline industry faces some major challenges, including how to find an appropriate balance between future growth and environmental problems, and how to accommodate nations’ very different views within a harmonized worldwide approach. In a recent research paper published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, we reviewed the measures available to the civil aviation industry for mitigating CO2 emissions from aircraft. We considered the measures under two categories – policy and legal-related measures, and technological and operational measures. ►
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TRANSPORT
A I RC R A F T C A R B O N | I A N W I L L I A M S & M AT T G R OT E
Policy and legal-related measures
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) serves as the global forum for its 191 member-nations, bringing them together alongside key industry organisations in order to set standards and recommend practices for the development of civil aviation. At its most recent Assembly Session (2013), it approved a resolution to address aviation’s climate change issues. The resolution included goals to:
• Achieve a global average fuel efficiency improvement of 2% per annum up to 2050 • Keep global net CO2 emissions from international aviation from 2020 at the same level • Continue development of a global CO2 standard for aircraft • Develop a global market-based measures scheme for international aviation
Emissions from domestic aviation arise from flights departing and arriving within the same nation; and, as such, can easily be allocated to that nation. Therefore, whilst not specifically targeted, emissions from domestic aviation are included when calculating a nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions for the purposes of assessing performance against legally-binding reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol. However, international aviation crosses national borders and the high-seas, making allocation of emissions to a particular nation difficult. This is important because international air traffic currently represents almost 60% of the total scheduled passenger traffic and about 83% of freight air traffic; emissions follow proportionately. International aviation emissions are currently excluded from nations’ Kyoto targets.
Jpatokal | 122 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
The hard truth is that in setting policy goals, and then determining and implementing the actions necessary to achieve those goals, the ICAO must rely on securing international agreements from member nations. Ultimately, if nations (and hence relevant organisations within those nations) do not want to co-operate with the ICAO, it lacks the legal authority to force compliance.
Technological and operational measures
Civil aviation is likely to depend on fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. Consequently, improved fuel efficiency is a key method for reducing CO2 emissions. Fuel represents approximately 20% of total operating costs for modern aircraft. Market forces thus act on airlines to minimise fuel consumption and provide a financial incentive to pursue fuel-efficient fleets through incorporating new aircraft technology. The industry has made significant efforts to improve fuel efficiency. Measures taken include: • Reducing basic aircraft weight • Improving aircraft aerodynamics to reduce drag • Improving specific engine efficiency, to reduce fuel burn per unit thrust • Use of more efficient alternative fuels • Improving operational procedures, including improvements to Air Traffic Control and optimising route, speed and altitude selections
These efforts have borne fruit. Since 1960, aircraft fuel efficiency has improved by approximately 70-80%, and some estimates suggest a further 40-50% improvement is achievable by 2050.
Map of scheduled airline traffic around the world, circa June 2009.
www.southampton.ac.uk
Tony Hisgett
Impact of measures
Despite all this activity, and even if all the ongoing mitigation measures were to be successfully implemented, it is doubtful that a reduction in civil aviation’s overall absolute CO2 emissions could be achieved if forecast traffic growth in the sector is realised. The gap between traffic growth rates and emissions reduction rates will remain, unless it can be closed through behaviour change to reduce demand for air travel. The typical approach used to induce behaviour change is to introduce a financial disincentive. We calculated that the ticket price increase necessary to drive down demand would value CO2 emissions at up to one hundred times the amount of current valuations. This would translate to a yearly 1.4% increase on ticket prices. To illustrate, this would mean that the average fare paid by British passengers (including long- and short-haul flights) would increase from £170 in 2013 to £195 by 2023. This would be a startling change to the long-term trend of lower airfares. Based upon data from the USA (the nation with the largest aviation network), the price of domestic tickets has dropped by 1.3 % a year between 1979 and 2012, and international fares have fallen by 0.5 % per annum between 1990 and 2012. Price increases are generally unpopular and it is highly likely that any move to suppress demand would be resisted by the airline industry and national governments. In fact, raising prices is unlikely to be enough to reduce demand for something as popular as air travel – regular tax hikes on cigarettes did not significantly impact the numbers of people who smoke.
Conclusions
Carbon reduction efforts in the airline industry will be outweighed by growth in air traffic, even if the most contentious mitigation measures are implemented. Even if proposed mitigation measures are agreed upon and put into place, traffic growth rates are likely to out-pace emission reductions, unless demand is substantially reduced. Securing international agreements, setting action plans, regulations and carbon standards will require political leadership at a global level. This has been absent in previous meetings of a similar nature (e.g. Kyoto, Copenhagen, Rio). Of course, the ICAO and national governments want airline emissions to reduce but are under pressure to take into account the bigger picture relating to business and economic growth, opportunities for employment generated by the aviation industry and global connectivity. There is a huge tension between what we feel we should do to address dangerous climate change caused by anthropogenic emissions and what we will actually do. Nicotine addicts know that they should quit their bad habit because it is expensive and damages their health so they vow to give up - tomorrow. In terms of reducing carbon emissions from aviation, "tomorrow may be decades away" ■
+ More Information Ian Williams: idw@soton.ac.uk Title Photograph: Ulrich Peters
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WASTE
C I RC U L A R E CO N O M Y | L I Z G O O D W I N
A Full Circle Approach to the
Circular Economy
| 124 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.wrap.org.uk
Liz Goodwin CEO, WRAP
There has been much talk about the circular economy. It took the centre stage of this year’s ‘Green Week’ in Brussels. The European Commission recognises its importance with the recently published report, ‘Moving towards a circular economy’. And while there has been momentum in terms of conversation and critical talking points, we are now at a crossroads where we need to turn talking into action. In the UK alone, it’s estimated that businesses could save £6.4bn per year by improving the way they use resources. What’s more, according to Defra, the UK economy could benefit by up to £23bn per year through low cost or no cost improvements in the efficient use of resources. WRAP’s 2020 Vision for the EU is that it could benefit from an improved trade balance of £90bn, the creation of 160,000 jobs and 500 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent avoided. An attractive prospect, I’m sure you’ll agree. People often ask me what my definition of the circular economy is. For me, it’s quite simple. It’s all about sustainable economics, it’s about using as few resources as possible, and ensuring those resources can not only be re-used, but re-used in a way which is regenerating and enhances the earth’s store of natural capital. But why do we need to adopt it? There are currently 7 billion people on earth, and by 2050 projection suggests there will be 9 billion. We know that if, say tomorrow, everyone on the planet adopted a European standard of living, we would require three planets worth of resources to meet the demand. We don’t have three planets, and we simply do not have these resources to be gambling with. We urgently need to adopt a resource sufficient model and see a dramatic change in how we deal with the planets’ resources in order to safeguard them. Our priorities should start with reducing our reliance on virgin materials, and reusing and repairing wherever possible. The era of the linear model ‘make, use, throw away, make another’ is coming to an end. I want to move
to an innovative circular model where we hold on to these valuable resources, treating them as the treasured resources that they really are – there’s not an endless supply of them after all. But I do often find the conversations about the circular economy stalling at the point of recycling. It could be because the full breadth of the circular economy is not understood, with many believing it to be about recycling. Recycling is an important aspect, but there’s so much more to the circular economy than the end of life. Within the waste hierarchy, when a circular approach is applied holistically to supply chains that’s when the circular economy really begins to bloom. It’s about embedding sustainable principles right from the outset, looking at the potential gains offered by re-use and waste prevention and adopting them early on in the lifecycle. The circular economy should be implemented from the word go at the starting point, not at the finishing line. WRAP focuses on the material loops across multiple industries, and by loops I mean the resources that go into producing materials, what happens to them while they are in use and how we can make the loop as efficient as possible so resources can stay in circulation for as long as possible. The loops that we focus on are food and drink, manufactured goods and the built environment – each of these representing around £80bn of UK GDP. What they all share in common is that the circular economy can be applied across the board to them all, highlighting the diverse potential for gains. But let’s look at some of these industries, starting at the top, where arguably the most attention is needed – food. WRAP has carried out detailed research to identify areas where the most resources are being wasted and where WRAP can make most difference. Food comes out top by a mile. Perhaps this isn’t the most obvious choice when looking at the potential for a circular economy, but there is scope I assure you. The way we deal with food, with the production of and ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 125 |
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consummation of in this country, is not very circular at all. Every year, 50 million tonnes of food is produced for consumption, yet 12 million tonnes of it isn’t eaten at all – that’s enough to fill Wembley Stadium 12 times. In fact, the average UK household throws away the equivalent of six meals every week, and the UK as a whole 86 million chickens a year. This costs us as a nation £12.5bn a year, or £60 a month to the average family. In a world where there are billions of hungry people, it’s not right that so much food is needlessly wasted. But what’s even more difficult to stomach is that around half is sent to either landfill or the sewer. Food waste, even when it’s gone well beyond the point of being edible, still holds value. While composting can easily be done at home, anaerobic digestion plants are able to recover nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which can generate energy on an industrial scale. To put it into perspective, every kg of food waste that we collect could generate enough energy to make 14 cups of tea and 24 slices of toast. On a much grander scale, recently Sainsbury’s really pulled out all the stops and took the move to come off the National Grid, powering | 126 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
their store in Cannock only from food waste that’s no longer fit for consumption using anaerobic digestion. Still, there is a misconception that most waste comes from the supermarkets, but in reality it’s mostly waste thrown away by consumers with almost 80% of food waste that goes to landfill coming from homes. Our research shows that avoidable household food waste has been cut by an impressive 21% since 2007 which is of course good news. The packaging it comes encased in also holds a positive story. Plastic bottles for example are now widely recycled with 58% of them making it to the many places they can be recycled. Circular principles are often considered whilst designing packaging, and making the products easily recyclable and clear to consumers is a driving force in this movement. The On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) scheme was launched for retailers to help communicate to consumers what they can and can’t recycle. This initiative, a joint partnership between WRAP and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), has seen over 145 organisations sign up and the label is now being used in over 75,000 product lines – an impressive amount that empowers the consumer. Another almost untapped area that needs consideration is electricals. Currently, only 7% of electricals
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are re-used out of the 1.4 million tonnes that is discarded in the UK every year. Nearly 40% finds its way to landfill, yet a quarter is still in good working order. It’s true that more than half of WEEE is recycled, but the recycling process focuses on steel, copper and aluminium recovery. That’s all very well, but what’s really staggering is that £50m of precious metals such as gold and silver are lost in this process. Mobile phones for example, contain around 300g of gold per tonne. According to our estimations, around a tonne of gold is landfilled every year in the UK. It really is a staggering statistic. Alongside our members of the Electrical Products Pathfinders Group, we’re looking at alternative business models that fare well with the growing concerns surrounding WEEE products. Members include Panasonic, Siemens, Asda, Tesco and B&Q, all of which we are working with to develop specifications for longerlife appliances and demonstrating the value in trade-ins and rental agreements. We also recently launched the Sustainable Electricals Action Plan (eSAP) that focuses on actions to improve product sustainability. There is potential for £800m to be added to the UK GDP, which would also deliver substantial
carbon savings. If electrical product design was optimised, created to last longer, made easy to repair and materials built-in that could be recycled, this would be a significant stride towards improved circularity. Clothing and textiles is another key area, as it has the fourth largest environmental footprint of any industry in the UK. The clothing industry is accountable for approximately 38 million tonnes of CO2, and water consumption is estimated to be 6,300 million m3 according to our research – surely a fashion faux pas? But with this fast paced industry, it means that more than 1.1 million tonnes of clothes are consumed and discarded each year. Of those discards, around a third makes its way to landfill, yet if it was re-used or recycled could potentially generate business income worth over £140m. I recently read an interesting article by Claudia Cahalane that has shown that there are innovative ways of dealing with waste in the textiles industry. A Dutch company, Mud Jeans, manufacture jeans that use organic cotton, recycled materials and are fair trade. But what’s really interesting is, rather than encouraging people to buy their jeans, they offer them for rent for a monthly fee of €5. This way, they keep hold of their valuable fibres, ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 127 |
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which gives them protection from fluctuating cotton prices that have recently tripled in price. They also offer incentives for returning the jeans at the end of use, such as repairs being offered as a free service, or the customer can swap for a new pair. This brings benefits to both the business and consumer. This is just one way the textiles industry can work towards a more circular model, and WRAP are now exploring other ways to improve sustainability across textile lifecycles. This could mean extending clothing life, looking at fibre to fibre reprocessing, and encouraging consumers to re-use and recycle their textiles. This work falls under WRAP’s new initiative, the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) to facilitate the need to change in the textiles industry and we are already making progress, collaboratively. We want the clothing sector to cut the environmental impact by 15%, a challenge that Tesco, M&S, Next and fashion designer Stella McCartney have already signed up to. The benefits are clear. Businesses have the potential to save millions, boost the economy, create jobs and help the | 128 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
environment in one comprehensive solution. Although recycling lends itself as a key component of the circular economy, it’s not just about diverting materials when they reach the end of the line to recycling facilities – that wouldn’t be very circular. It’s about seeing the potential of keeping materials in action, right from their humble beginnings. There should be no end of the line. Businesses can make gains and reap rewards if they consider the circular economy early in the lifecycle. We have the expertise. We can deliver bespoke business cases for organisations to implement circular business models. We support innovation that can identify credible options. And we are here to help ■
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Resource Efficiency: the Driver of Future Economic Growth
It has been forecast that global demand for resources will triple by 2050, including some 70% increase in demand for food, feed and fibre. We already consume some 1.5 planet's worth of resources every single year, and following the estimates, would need around four planets full of resources to satisfy the demand by 2050 under business as usual. There are however limits to growth. – we only have this one planet.
Janez Potočnik
European Commissioner for the Environment
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Europe is extremely dependent on imported raw materials and energy, much more so than many of our competitors. Increased resource scarcity has already led to increased prices for these resources and this trend is set to continue with 86% of European companies saying they expect their material input prices to continue rising. If we look at these facts, it is self-evident that our European economy will not be able to survive - let alone grow - in the future unless we take some radical steps to increase our resource efficiency and move towards a true recycling economy. In this challenge lies a huge opportunity, however. The one who can deliver solutions for the resource efficiency dilemma is also the winner of the new economic race: this means solving the problem of doing more with less getting more added value with less resources. Ultimately, resource scarcity will affect us all, and the one who holds the keys to viable solutions can expect huge demand for those solutions. A common feature of forward-looking businesses is that they don't criticise politicians who promote stricter environmental and climate standards. Quite the contrary, the future-oriented businesses acknowledge the fact that well-targeted, ambitious and properly implemented regulatory framework is the prerequisite for the best companies to grow and our economy to prosper in the long term. Many firms have already recognised the immense challenge and fundamental change ahead of us. What we need is a true leap in innovation to create a system whereby the whole logic of successful business is turned upside-down. In a circular economy there is no waste, products are designed to be durable, repairable and recyclable, and when they come to the end of their life the resources in them are pumped back into productive use again. New business models to deliver greater resource efficiency and circular models include increased renting, sharing, leasing, different types of industrial symbiosis, bio-innovations, remanufacturing. In order to support this change we however also need to change the rules of the game. A lot of our thinking and the bulk of the current legislation is created for the needs of a consume-and-throwaway-society. We need a new regulatory framework that fits the new world order. Legislation is one of the essential drivers of the business revolution, as businesses and investors alike need a stable and predictable regulatory environment in order to change. This was the main driver behind the work of the high level European Resource Efficiency Platform,
which for over a year gathered together politicians, businesses, academics and NGOs to think about what we need to bring the change forth. A set of final recommendations was published at the end of March. These included developing a clear resource productivity target and resource efficiency indicators, eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies, and integrating current and future resource scarcities coherently into wider policy areas. The fingerprints of this manifesto can be seen all over the Commission's circular economy package adopted on 2nd July. The package injects new ambition into European targets for recycling with a 70% rate for 2030 and 80% for packaging waste. It also proposes to ban recyclable materials from going to landfill by 2025 and aim for the phasing out of landfill by 2030. This fits in well with the premise that in a circular economy there should be no place for waste. But legislation-push should be matched by the pull of the market demand for secondary raw materials. On this side too the Commission package makes proposals. From eco-design of products, extended producer responsibility schemes, better organisation of markets and standards for secondary raw materials, the package looks at all stages of the circle. It estimates that whilst the new direct job opportunities in waste management and recycling from the new targets are just short of 600,000, the impacts on the wider economy are far greater, with a 20% reduction in total material requirements leading to a 3% boost in GDP, while creating 2 million new jobs. But perhaps the most compelling reason to embrace resource efficiency and circular economy models is that we don't really have a choice. Further pressure on supplies of resources as demand increases in emerging markets will force us – sooner or later – to use those resources more carefully. The Commission argues that sooner is better than later and that investing upstream will lead to less dislocation downstream. It is said that the best time to plant a new tree is twenty years ago, but the second best time is today. So the seed of Europe's future growth should be sown in time to give us the right trajectory out of the crisis â–
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Water, Water Everywhere... SCENES OF CATASTROPHIC flooding from around the world never seem to be far from our TV screens. More severe weather patterns are afflicting countries across the globe with the same ruthlessness whether rich or poor, developed or developing. They are an ever-present reminder that climate change is moving the goalposts for water management and that we need to respond quickly – and creatively ►
By Alex Stephenson
Operations Director, Hydro International, UK Stormwater Division
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Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are designed and engineered to manage surface water as close as possible to where it falls by mimicking natural paths and processes. In England, according to a recent report by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), our changing weather is likely to result in rising sea levels, increased flooding and summer heat waves. We are going to experience greater swings between flooding and drought. Of all the consequences of climate change, increased flood risk poses the greatest threat, according to the CCC, the body that exists to provide independent, evidence-based advice on climate change resilience to the UK Government and Parliament. In winter 2014, parts of England saw rainfall unprecedented in 250 years of records. In January some areas experienced three times the average and 7000 properties were flooded. Prolonged inundation of the Somerset Levels prompted a national debate on the causes of flooding and it seemed like everyone had a potential solution.
Flood Defence Investment
The Government pledged £270m after the winter floods, but only to repair the damage already done. Memories are short when it comes to paying for flood protection. Funding shortages mean three-quarters of England’s existing flood defences are inadequately maintained, according to the CCC report Managing Climate Risks to Well Being and the Economy 2014, (July, 2014). Built environments are largely made up of impermeable surfaces. Where the pre-developed natural landscape would have enabled surface water to be infiltrated into the ground close to where the rain falls, in the developed environment rainwater is frequently conveyed over long distances through underground pipes. Often the water carries pollution with it, discharging into watercourses or into sewer networks where it has to be treated by energy-intensive sewage treatment plants and risks causing sewage overflows into rivers and the sea. Population growth and continued development are placing ever-greater pressure on the sewer network. Sooner or later our infrastructure will not be able to cope. That’s why many people have been campaigning for decades for a more sustainable way of managing surface water that more closely replicates water’s natural paths and processes.
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Wake-up Calls
There is good reason for investment in flood resilience: every £1 invested in flood defences in the UK has been calculated to save £8 in flood damage. There have been improvements in flood resilience in recent years, but not enough to prepare for the weather to come, says the CCC. Just seven years ago another flooding ‘wake-up call’ prompted a major review of flood resilience in England and Wales. Those devastating floods claimed 14 lives, caused £3.2bn worth of damage and affected 48,000 homes and 6,000 businesses. Two thirds of the flooding was attributed to surface water. The need for change was recognised in the Pitt Review. It recommended a raft of measures most of which became a requirement of the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act. But some important parts of the Act are still to be implemented. Now the CCC has called on the Government to review whether the local flood risk arrangements have been made in line with the Pitt recommendations.
Sustainable Drainage Systems
As part of the Act, new regulations to make Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) compulsory in England and Wales were drawn up for new development. But they have been delayed repeatedly and are still to be implemented. The principle of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) is that they are designed and engineered to manage surface water as close as possible to where it falls by mimicking natural paths and processes. SuDS fulfil the joint objectives of quality, quantity and amenity using a wide toolbox of techniques to deliver attenuation, infiltration, flow control and water treatment. SuDS can be natural features or manufactured devices, or a combination of both. Effective sustainable drainage systems don’t just control water quantity; just as importantly they improve the quality of water being discharged back into the environment. Surface water flows lift sediments and pollutants from hard surfaces such as fields, roads and industrial sites and carry them into rivers and watercourses. The European Water Framework Directive has set important targets to improve protection of the water environment, but there’s still a long way to go. ►
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The Hydro Downstream Defender protects wetland from excessive, rapid water runoff.
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Innovative solutions like the Hydro Filterra combine natural processes with robust engineering. Ecosystems Services
Latest thinking has also linked sustainable solutions to rainwater capture and re-use in schemes such as rainwater harvesting. In particular, there is a growing recognition that better use and re-use of water presents an opportunity to achieve multiple benefits for communities; that water is a resource to be exploited, rather than waste to be ‘managed’ and flushed away. The concept of ‘Ecosystems Services’ places greater emphasis on the multiple value of surface water drainage features to contribute to the economic wellbeing of a community. In this way, the value is justified not just in terms of cost of the drainage, but in terms of amenity benefits provided, for example through landscaping, biodiversity, leisure facilities and so on. Here, there are rich pickings to be had from sharing experience and best practice across the globe. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is an approach to planning and designing towns and cities which began in Australia. It emphasises integrated and sustainable approaches to the water cycle as a whole.
Towards a vision for widespread SuDS
The latest delays to SuDS implementation in England and Wales have rightly prompted frustration. But the sobering fact is they are only applicable to new development. Even when the legislation is in force and the phased implementation completed over the next few years, the flood-resilience contribution made will be just the tip of the iceberg. The real challenge comes in upgrading and improving the existing surface water drainage infrastructure. In the industry we give this the jargon tag of ‘retrofit SuDS’. Because they are often smaller and less grandiose | 136 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
compared with new developments, retrofit SuDS schemes can seem like a poor relation. But in reality, they are the lifeblood of improving surface water flooding resilience and water quality.
The Responsibility of Business
The challenge of retrofitting sustainable drainage to tackle surface water flooding ‘hotspots’ and improve water quality is particularly relevant for commercial and industrial premises. Businesses might have, for example, high quantities of runoff from roofs, car parks, vehicle loading bays or waste collection areas. Each commercial activity comes with its own challenges – and risks – for effective surface water management and pollution containment. At present many businesses do not fully understand the risks and responsibilities. However, as controls for water quality tighten, the need for practical and commercially-viable solutions will grow. The contribution of business needs to cover both better flood protection control and improved surface water quality. The solutions include rainwater re-use – for example collecting water from the vast roofs of out of town shopping centres and using it for toilet flushing or vehicle cleaning. Businesses must also be prevented from discharging polluted surface water into local rivers
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Hydro-Brake installation at Kirkland Bridge dam.
– with pollution ranging from litter and silt, oil, petrol and metals from vehicles to more specific chemicals involved with individual business activities.
Attenuation
A key principle of SuDS is that they deal with surface water as close as possible to the point where the rain falls by holding back flows at peak times and discharging them at a carefully controlled rate – the principle of attenuation. To work, this principle of holding back excess water at peak times must be applied at both a micro and a macro level. Whilst small-scale retrofit schemes and new development SuDS deal with water quality and quantity in urban centres, larger-scale flood alleviation schemes are also needed. They can hold back water in the upper reaches of rivers – before it reaches sensitive downstream areas. Sustainable engineering solutions that work in harmony with the natural environment to create temporary flood storage areas protect urban areas downstream. For example, in Glasgow the White Cart Flood Alleviation Scheme has avoided £millions of damage to property by creating flood storage areas which hold back the White Cart Water and its tributaries Earn Water and Kittoch Water during peak storms in the
highlands above the city. A total of 90,000 m2 of rich and diverse wetland habitats have been created and water is discharged downstream at a controlled rate to avoid flooding in a sensitive part of the city.
Towards Integrated Urban Water Management
Much is already being done to improve flood control and water quality in urban environments in the UK and there is a developing body of knowledge from around the world to inform best practice. But for those of us in the industry, progress still seems painfully slow and hampered by political inertia and low public spending priorities. Yet, the consequences of Climate Change are not going away any time soon and that means we have to regard the need for better urban water management as a matter of urgency. The techniques and technologies are already well-developed across the world for every country to learn from. What’s more, the opportunity exists to enhance the value of our urban environments with a toolbox of natural and manufactured devices ■
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Industrial SuDS & the Risk from Spills and Firewater By Brian M Back, BEng(Hons) CEng FIET MIoD Managing Director, Radio Data Networks Limited Chairman, Environmental Innovation Limited Convenor, British Water
The concept of urban drainage is not new. In fact there is evidence of its use as far back as 3,000 BC by early civilisations to allow rainwater to cleanse and flush city streets in order to combat disease and minimise the risk of flooding. These early urban drainage systems were no doubt the forerunner of what we call today combined sewers. However, the combined sewer is by no means the Holy Grail to drainage and in this modern age where we like to consider the consequences of our actions there is a lot of concern over the legacy of the combined sewer networks, their numerous overflows called CSOs (combined sewer | 138 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
overflows) and the carbon footprint of having to pump, cleanse and dispose of hundreds of millions of cubic meters of rainwater which has unnecessarily become part of a sewage cocktail mix. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) were first introduced in the 1960s for new builds, and in the last two decades has been mandated as part of planning a method of reducing loading in sewers, preventing pollution, recharging groundwater, reducing flooding, attenuating flows and creating civic amenities such as water features. In spite of resistance from the building industry over cost and loss of building land, the support for SuDS is
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A major spill entering a SuDS chamber, swale or pond can contaminate the soil, sub-soil and groundwater requiring excavation and removal of the whole SuDS scheme and the surrounding soil.
almost universal across the water industry. However, like everything in life there is also a risk attached to the widespread deployment of SuDS in particular when used as part of a drainage scheme for industrial and commercial areas. In this modern world dominated by risk assessments it is very disappointing to find that very few industrial and commercial sites, other than those designated under the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH), have ever been subject to risk assessments with regard to pollution from spills and firewater. Hence, it comes as no surprise that similarly very few SuDS schemes
have been assessed and very little thought has gone into their design with respect to risk minimisation. For those not familiar with the term firewater, this is the collective noun for the cocktail of water, fire fighting foam and combustion by-products that is produced during a fire. Just like a chemical spill, firewater can be equally and in many cases more damaging to the environment. During a fire volumes can be enormous, often building up in a matter of a few minutes to many tens of thousands of litres. The consequences can be dire, should a major spill or firewater enter your SuDS chamber, swale or pond. It simply could be the end of your business as you know it! The contamination that could result to the soil, sub-soil and groundwater could be so serious that it requires the excavation and removal of the whole SuDS scheme and the surrounding soil. On top of this are the fines issued by bodies such as in England and Wales, the Environment Agency, and in Scotland the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency SEPA. Plus there are costs for labour and then the potentially even more significant costs associated with the reinstatement of the land, the groundwater and paying for the long term monitoring thereafter. Land values could also drop through the floor resulting in litigation from the land’s freeholders. The list goes on and on, driven by the sweeping powers under the Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/EC which if you have suffered an incident you would have certainly breached. The final shock is from the insurance industry, as often insurance companies turn around and say we are happy to pay for the reinstatement of the building but not cover the cost of fines, the environmental damage and the associated cost due to the bad PR that follows a public tabloid flogging. So what should be done for new projects when proposing new SuDS schemes and how about ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 139 |
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existing ones? There are many good publications and websites worth a visit including British Water www.britishwater.co.uk, CIRIA www.ciria.org, the Environment Agency via the www.gov.uk portal or SEPA www.sepa.org.uk or the www.susdrain.org setup by CIRIA. However, in spite of the volume of publications you will find it virtually impossible to find a document focusing on specifically industrial SuDS, other than references to the use of oil interceptors and various filters to collect and remove diffused pollution from highways and car parks. My personal recommendation is to visit the CIRIA website and download their latest document C736 entitled Containment Systems for the Prevention of Pollution and to adapt the guidance and apply it to your SuDS project.
The risk assessment:
The risk assessment should look at things like what are handled on site, what is stored, are chemicals handled, what is the risk of fire, is the site fully bunded and if so is the capacity just for spills or does it include firewater, are the drains segregated, what is the topology of the land, where will firewater run, etc. Remember that just because
you are not a registered COMAH site do not make the assumption and think you are not at risk! Take the example of a parcel Distribution Company or DIY store warehouse. You will have pallets and shelves stacked with large quantities of substances that may range from paints, soft furnishings, camping gas, through to pesticides. Ironically, many of these items originated from COMAH registered sites, yet often you are not required to be registered to handle and/or store them. Each item on its own has a quantifiable risk, however mixed together in a fire who knows what will result? Probably nobody does in truth and consequentially now you have a risk from both spills and firewater to deal with. Finally, please don’t forget to look at your sewers. Think about what happens if your sewer blocks, can they spill over into the SuDS chamber, perhaps consider the installation of a sewer blockage alarm? Also while we are on the subject of sewers, do not assume it is safe to wash / divert spills and firewater down a sewer – the results can be equally as disastrous and costly as many have experienced after knocking out the local Sewage Works.
Containment of spills and firewater typically requires the construction of an impervious area with sufficient volume to act as a temporary receptor for the estimated peak volume of any spill or firewater incident with sufficient spare capacity to allow for rain. | 140 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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For legacy SuDS it is often necessary to make the most of existing assets. Retrofitting drains with an automated closure device such as a flap valve can turn them into high capacity temporary storage vessels.
Practical SuDS Protection
As CIRIA C736 explains, containment is the best way to deal with spills and firewater. For new builds implementation is usually relatively easy. Typically it requires the construction of an impervious area with sufficient volume to act as a temporary receptor for the estimated peak volume of any spill or firewater incident with sufficient spare capacity to allow for rain. However, for legacy SuDS a different approach is required and one where it is often necessary to make the most of existing assets. In our experience many sites have drains that if retrofitted with an automated closure device such as a flap valve can be turned into high capacity temporary storage vessels. In addition SuDS schemes fitted with oil interceptors should have the outlet of the interceptor closed off so the capacity of the storage equals the drain plus the interceptor. If calculations show that additional capacity is still required, consider creating sacrificial areas, within buildings or car parks. These are areas where small bund walls can be constructed to form high capacity containment areas at relatively low cost, subject to topology and providing the drains are fitted with automated closure devices this can be very effective.
Dealing with Firewater
As firewater volumes can be significant first try to reduce them at source by segregating storage areas to limit the size and spread of a fire. Further, it is also worth considering firewater re-cycling. This concept is not new and dates back to the days of fire ponds where fire services would use water stored within an on-site pond to fight fires or to supplement hydrant supplies. You could perhaps even use your drainage system fitted with a closure valve | 142 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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and suitable takeoff point to create an underground fire fighting firewater reserve where firewater is used to fight the fire.
Summary
We all acknowledge that the introduction of SuDS has brought about significant benefits to the environment. However, many including myself believe it should have been mandated perhaps as long as a century ago. If it had, perhaps we would not be facing the on-going battle with pollution related to sewer surcharges and CSO spills. When used on Industrial and Commercial sites more awareness is needed over potential risks from spills and firewater in relation to SuDS. Risk assessments need to become the norm during both the planning phase and operating phases of schemes as sites often undergo changes of use. New schemes deemed at risk need to be designed to incorporate containment areas, tanks and diversion valves. Existing schemes along with un-protected storm drains, swales and sewers need to be protected. Retrofit containment flap valves are one proven technology that can be used alongside sacrificial areas to provide effective containment. Finally, remember with the rafts of environmental legalisation stacked against you, doing nothing is no longer a viable option! ■
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WATER
WA S T E R WAT E R P R O F I L I N G | B A R B A R A K A S P R Z Y K-H O R D E R N E T A L.
Wastewater ProďŹ ling for monitoring drug use and assessing community health By Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern et al.
| 144 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
www.bath.ac.uk
Wastewater treatment plant Zurich, Switzerland.
Eawag, Peter Penicka
Wastewater-based epidemiology – the concept and historical perspectives Illicit drug use directly and indirectly causes substantial health and social harm resulting in considerable economic cost (e.g. the prevention of drug use, the treatment and care of drug dependence, the suppression of organized crime, etc). Policymakers need accurate information so that they can make evidence-based decisions and assess the impact of interventions aimed at reducing drug use. The prevalence of drug use is traditionally estimated by methods such as
population surveys, monitoring drug-related criminality and hospital records. A common problem is that these methods are time-consuming, expensive and are known to be prone to self-report bias, due to the social taboo related to illicit drug use. Therefore the development of new complementary approaches is encouraged in order to obtain more objective, quantitative, fast, reliable and comparable data covering large populations. â–ş
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Editorial contributors:
Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern1, Lubertus Bijlsma2, Sara Castiglioni3, Adrian Covaci4, Pim de Voogt5,8, Erik Emke5, Félix Hernández2, Christoph Ort6, Malcolm Reid7, Alexander L.N. van Nuijs4 & Kevin V. Thomas7 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK 2. Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain 3. IRCCS– Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Milan, Italy 4. Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium 5. KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands 6. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland 7. Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Oslo, Norway 8. IBED – University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
An innovative and promising approach for monitoring patterns and trends of illicit drug use in large communities is through the analysis of municipal wastewater. This approach is best described as a large urine test, as the collective wastewater represents anonymous urine samples of thousands of people. The level of illicit drugs in wastewater samples, determined by quantitative measurements of specific illicit drug biomarkers, reflects the load (amount) of a particular drug that has been consumed by the population discharging their toilet flushes into the sewer network under investigation. The concept, known as wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), was proposed by Daughton in 20011 and put into practice in 2005 by Zuccato and his coworkers2. Since then, several research groups across the world have implemented WBE to estimate communitywide drug use at local, national and international scales. As proven in recent years, WBE complements existing epidemiology-based estimation techniques and provides evidence-based estimates of illicit drug use at relatively high spatio-temporal resolution.
From sewage to drug-consumption data
The WBE approach is based on the fact that human metabolic excretion products resulting from drug use are collected and pooled by the sewage system, providing valuable evidence of the amount and type of drug consumed by a population. For excretion products which are stable in wastewater and efficiently conveyed to the | 146 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), it is reasonable to assume that the collective amount excreted in a given period is reflected by the load reaching the WWTP in the corresponding interval. Collecting representative samples for this interval is therefore one of the key factors. Concentrations of illicit drugs (parent compounds or their metabolites) in wastewater are used to back-calculate the mass loads of the parent drugs and/or metabolites. These loads can then be used to estimate drug use (i.e. in amount/day), with knowledge of the drug metabolism and excretion patterns. Furthermore, by dividing the rate of drug use by the size of population served by the WWTP, results can be normalized as mg / day / 1000 people, and thus results from different locations can be compared (Fig. 1). Although this concept is relatively simple, various factors influencing its reliability need to be fully understood before implementation on a large scale is possible. Among the most important factors are: human metabolic patterns of the investigated drugs, characteristics of sewer systems (population size in a WWTP catchment, wastewater flow rate), and understanding the fate of drugs (e.g. stability, degradation, partitioning, or sorption in the sewer).
Analytical approaches
The physical and chemical composition of sewage is complex and contains relatively high concentrations of compounds that can potentially interfere with the analysis of the target drug residues3. The trace amounts at which the target drugs are present pose another challenge. To ►
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Figure 1. Key steps in estimating illicit drug use at the community level based on wastewater collected at the inuent of a wastewater treatment plant (from Thomas et al. [3]).
Figure 2. European monitoring campaigns: 42 cities participated in 2013 with a total population of approx. 24 million
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6
Figure 3a. Daily loads of benzoylecgonine during three consecutive monitoring years (from Ort et al. ).
6
Figure 3b. Daily loads of methamphetamine during three consecutive monitoring years (from Ort et al. ). Figures from “Spatial differences and temporal changes in illicit drug use in Europe quantified by wastewater analysis”, Ort et al., Addiction 109 (8). Copyright © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12570/full
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During a one-week monitoring period, samples from the wastewater of a total of over 24 million people were collected every day. The main excretion product of cocaine, ranged from ‘not quantifiable’ in Cluj Napoca (Romania) to over 400-800mg / 1000 people / day in Amsterdam, Antwerp, London and Zuric.
determine concentrations of the target drugs, usually a filtration and pre-concentration step, by means of Solid Phase Extraction that essentially functions as a clean-up, is necessary. The extract is then analysed by means of high pressure liquid chromatography which separates the analytes in the concentrated mixture and enables their determination by a suitable detector. Mass spectrometry is the most commonly employed detection technique that enables trace amounts of compounds to be quantified at high sensitivity. High-resolution accurate mass spectrometry has gained popularity due to its high selectivity and mass accuracy and its ability to not only quantify target drugs, but search for unknown compounds and facilitate a retrospective search on new psychoactive substances.
Europe-wide interdisciplinary initiatives
Fast progress in the field of WBE is mainly attributed to successful international collaboration. The SCORE group, which was established in 2010, brought together experts working on illicit drugs analysis from several European countries (www.score-cost.eu) with the aim of undertaking international studies comparing illicit drug use between major European cities and evaluating different analytical procedures being used in different labs. Supported by the EMCDDA the group established a wider European network (now including 23 countries) which allowed for
the first time to undertake an international study on the analysis of wastewater with the aim of estimating the use of illicit drugs on a European scale3. Europe-wide monitoring campaigns are now undertaken every year. This started with 19 cities in 11 countries in 2011 and covered 42 cities in 21 countries in 2013 (Fig 2). During a one-week monitoring period, samples from the wastewater of a total of over 24 million people were collected every day and analysed by project partners. The results show distinct spatial differences: for example, daily per capita loads of benzoylecgonine, the main excretion product of cocaine, ranged from ‘not quantifiable’ (i.e. near zero) in e.g. Cluj Napoca (Romania) to over 400-800 mg / 1000 people / day in Amsterdam, Antwerp, London and Zurich (Fig 3a). Furthermore, differences within countries could be observed, with lower per capita loads in smaller towns compared to higher values in metropolitan areas. Methamphetamine revealed a completely different picture: Budweis and Prague, Piestany and Bratislava, Oslo, Turku and Dresden, i.e. cities in northern and eastern Europe dominated the scene (Fig 3b). While spatial differences are obvious and findings from wastewater analyses confirm prior knowledge of epidemiologists in a quantitative manner, a comprehensive analysis of temporal changes will require a longer time series. Therefore, it is desirable that cities participate every year. To obtain more representative ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 149 |
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country-wide averages it seems appropriate to expand the number of cities, also including small towns and villages6. In 2012, in order to develop trans-disciplinary and cross-sectoral European research capability for the next generation of scientists working in the field of WBE, the group received funding from the European Commission to start a European Marie Curie Initial Training Network, SEWPROF ITN (www.sewporf-itn.eu). SEWPROF aims to advance knowledge of the epidemiology of illicit drug use and to bridge gaps in the available expertise with the ultimate goal of applying this cutting edge interdisciplinary approach within epidemiological studies of societal health. In order to facilitate international collaboration, the SCORE group received further EU funding in 2014 to establish a COST action (www.score-cost.eu). The Action, which was initiated in April 2014, will develop and expand | 150 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
an existing pan-European inter-disciplinary network, bringing together experts from relevant disciplines interested in the application and development of the quantitative measurement of human biomarkers in sewage to evaluate lifestyle, health and exposure at the community level.
Public health monitoring – new avenues
Urban wastewater houses a complex mixture of chemical substances (dissolved and/or suspended) including a wide range of human metabolic products. The quantitative measurement of these specific metabolic residues (called biomarkers) in sewage from different communities allows information to be obtained on different factors related to lifestyle. Thus far, this approach has been successfully used to determine illicit drug use at the community level and to study illicit drug habits of communities in Europe and worldwide. Other applications have been developed
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+ More Information 'Funding to support SEWPROF MC ITN entitled ‘A new paradigm in drug use and human health risk assessment: Sewage profiling at the community level‘ from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement [317205] is greatly acknowledged. We would also like to acknowledge EU COST action (ESEEM ES1307) entitled ‘Sewage biomarker analysis for community health assessment’.
References 1
2
Neptune Canada 3
to evaluate the profiles of alcohol4, tobacco use7 and counterfeit medicines8. It was hypothesized that the same approach can be extended to other biomarkers for the assessment of community health5 as wastewater can be considered as a ‘diagnostic medium for the city’. For instance, new applications can give information about diet, diseases, health status and exposure to environmental and food contaminants. There is the clear potential to develop a wider range of innovative solutions to quantitatively assess patterns of factors related to health and illness within populations, while also providing a means of collecting data for epidemiological and socio-economic studies in order to evaluate public health. Some of these topics are now under investigation within the above mentioned SEWPROF ITN and the COST action ■
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Daughton, C.G., Illicit Drugs in Municipal Sewage: Proposed New Nonintrusive Tool to Heighten Public Awareness of Societal Use of Illicit/Abused Drugs and Their Potential for Ecological Consequences, in Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Scientific and Regulatory Issues, C. Daughton and T. Jones-Lepp, Editors. 2001, American Chemical Society: Washington, D.C. p. 348-364. Zuccato, E., et al., Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse. Environ Health, 2005. 4: p. 14. Thomas, K.V., et al., Comparing illicit drug use in 19 European cities through sewage analysis. Science of the Total Environment, 2012. 432: p. 432-439. Reid, M.J., et al., Analysis and interpretation of specific ethanol metabolites, ethyl sulfate, and ethyl glucuronide in sewage effluent for the quantitative measurement of regional alcohol consumption. Alcohol Clin Exp Res, 2011. 35(9): p. 1593-9. Thomas, K.V. and M.J. Reid, What Else Can the Analysis of Sewage for Urinary Biomarkers Reveal About Communities? Environmental Science & Technology, 2011. 45(18): p. 7611-7612. Ort C, et al. Spatial and temporal differences in illicit drug use in Europe quantified by sewage analysis. Addiction 2014, in press. Castiglioni S, et al. A novel approach for monitoring tobacco use in local communities by wastewater analysis. Tobacco Control 2014, in press. Venhuis BJ, de Voogt P, Emke E, Causanilles A, Keizers PHJ, Success of rogue online pharmacies: sewage study of sildenafil in The Netherlands. Brit. Med. J. 349 (2014) 4317. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 151 |
MISC | CARBON
W O R K I N G F R O M H O M E | D R PAU L S W I F T
Could homeworking save money and cut carbon emissions for your business?
By Dr Paul Swift The Carbon Trust
Homeworking is not a new concept. For decades there have been advocates calling for practices which enable working from outside the workplace, or claiming that a transformation is just around the corner. The concept began with the widespread introduction of the telephone into homes in the aftermath of World War II, received a boost during the 1970s oil crisis, and took off alongside the rise of personal computing in the 1980s. The potential of homeworking has long been recognised, but until recently it had not spread as far or fast as was predicted. This appears to be changing – between 2007 and 2012 the number of UK employees who ‘usually work from home’ grew by 13%. This was an increase of almost half a million people, taking the total to over 4 million employees out of a UK workforce of 30 million. There are a number of reasons for this rise. First, technologies such as broadband internet, smart phones, | 152 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
cloud computing and teleconferencing are becoming cheaper, easier to use and more widely available. Second, management approaches and workplace cultures are evolving. There is an increased focus on outcomebased rather than process-based staff assessment, and a willingness to explore innovative approaches with the potential to provide significant cost and environmental benefits. But what is the environmental impact of this shift? Now that many businesses are taking action on cutting carbon and becoming more sustainable within their own operations (more fuel-efficient car fleets, sensorcontrolled lighting, etc.), we need a more sophisticated understanding of the environmental impacts of homeworking. Is it a boon, or a burden? At first sight the issue is a simple one. Homeworking reduces employee commuting, which results in carbon,
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If homeworking is embraced by businesses and the public sector, it has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by over 3 million tonnes a year across the UK.
money and time savings. If office space is properly rationalised to reflect lower occupancy, homeworking can also significantly reduce office energy consumption and rental costs. As with any change, however, the environmental benefits offered by homeworking can only be achieved if it is implemented at the right time and in the right way.
Overcoming barriers
Despite its recent growth, there is potential for homeworking to become significantly more widespread than it is currently. Over 40% of UK jobs are compatible with working from home. However only 35% of companies have a policy allowing their employees to work from home. Even where homeworking is offered by companies, between one-third and one-half of employees choose not to accept it. There is therefore resistance to homeworking both on the part of management, who choose not to offer it to staff, and employees, who choose not to take it up. There are a number of reasons why employees might be reluctant to take up homeworking. These include a reluctance to change established habits; concern that the policy is purely driven by a search for cost savings; questions over higher home energy bills; and a nervousness over the lack of regular contact with colleagues and managers. All of these concerns can be addressed. However it is vital that the team introducing homeworking engage extensively and honestly with employees. One way to help inform the discussion is to gather good data on changes to travel patterns and home energy consumption with early adopters. Employees are also more likely to embrace homeworking if it is introduced as part of a broader cultural shift, alongside initiatives such as renewable
energy, provision of facilities for cyclists and car sharing schemes. Concerns can be justified – there is some evidence that employees working from home may be penalised by their managers, if only subconsciously, by the lack of facetime or a visibility of achievement, through slower career and pay progression. It is vital that managers are trained in how to fairly and transparently assess staff who work from home. It is also important to get senior management buy-in early on. This can help define the principle that homeworking is an acceptable option. Correctly implemented, homeworking should involve a combination of working from home and working from the office on different days, depending on job roles. It should also reflect different work patterns and priorities, such that ‘home days’ are dedicated to tasks requiring focus and concentration without interruptions, and ‘office days’ involve interaction with colleagues, communication tasks, and meetings. Perhaps the greatest barrier to the uptake of homeworking is management uncertainty. Managers are often concerned that staff members will work less effectively outside the office. For example, homeworking hit the headlines in 2013, when Yahoo’s incoming CEO, Marissa Mayer banned working from home. An internal memo stated that “some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings". The ban prompted a vigorous debate within the tech community and the wider business world. Two months later Mayer acknowledged that “people are more productive when they’re alone”. She also qualified the ban with “It’s not what’s right for Yahoo right now. [The ban] was wrongly perceived as an industry narrative.” ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 153 |
MISC | CARBON
W O R K I N G F R O M H O M E | D R PAU L S W I F T
employees share a single desk), it offers the possibility for businesses to rationalise and reduce their office space requirements. This can result in both environmental benefits through lower heating and lighting, as well as substantial cost savings from lower rental costs. A good example of successful homeworking is at Cisco, where the average employee telecommutes two or three days each week. This avoids 35 million miles of commuting per year, reducing Cisco’s annual carbon emissions by 17,000 tonnes. Cisco estimate that the increased staff productivity saves them over $300m per year.
Getting it right for your business and the environment
Making the most of the benefits
We have discussed some of the barriers and how these can be addressed, but what are the benefits? A frequently cited benefit of homeworking, supported by several case studies, is higher staff satisfaction. Flexibility over working hours, combined with time saved by reduced commuting, results in a better worklife balance. Improved staff satisfaction can in turn result in higher retention levels. For example, annual voluntary turnover for staff working from home at the healthcare company Aetna is 3%, compared with the company-wide average of 8%. A distributed workforce has the additional benefit of making businesses more resilient to transport disruption and extreme weather events, something a number of organisations have faced with snowfall and flooding in recent winters. Homeworking results in fewer employees in the office. When this is combined with hot-desking (where multiple | 154 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Homeworking represents an opportunity to achieve significant cost and environmental savings. If it is embraced by businesses and the public sector, homeworking has the potential to cut £3bn a year of costs for UK employers and employees and to reduce carbon emissions by over 3 million tonnes a year across the UK. Organisations are keen to achieve these benefits – however there remains a nervousness regarding the impact of having staff outside the office. As the need to reduce our carbon footprint increases, however, it has never been more important to examine homeworking carefully and resolve these ambiguities. In general, homeworking will provide both environmental and cost-saving benefits for organisations when well-implemented. It has a particularly strong impact where employees commute by car and where there is the potential to rationalise office space. It should be noted that in certain circumstances, particularly where offices are energy- and space-efficient and where staff generally commute by public transport (e.g. central London), homeworking could result in an overall increase in carbon emissions. In terms of environmental impact there is no ‘best’ solution to homeworking. Rather, whether and how it is implemented will depends on various factors, including what your business does, where employees live and how they travel, the efficiency of your workplace, and even seasonal differences in weather. It is therefore vital to examine the specific situation of the business and its employees, in order to properly understand the potential impacts. Only then will homeworking achieve optimal benefits ■
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MISC | TRAINING
G R E E N J O B S A N D S K I L L S | M A RT I N B A X T E R
Improving Green jobs and skills Martin Baxter
Executive Director-Policy, Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment The appointment of Liz Truss as Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) offers an opportunity for the government to put the tenure of Owen Patterson behind them. The challenge is huge – arriving in Defra at the start of Summer, the Secretary of State was immediately faced with an in-tray that includes bovine TB and badger culling, the need to secure additional funding for vital flood defence work and significant concerns o ver declining bee populations to name just a few challenges. All of this at a time after the Department took more than its fair share of budget cuts that have scythed through key environmental protection programmes and resulted in a significant downsizing in the number of staff. In addition, the Government’s “transition to a low carbon and resource | 156 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
efficient economy” – led by the Defra, DECC and BIS Secretaries of State through the Green Economy Council - seems to have hit the buffers. Time is short, not just the urgency of dealing with the many environmental challenges we face, but to begin the turnaround process before the general election in May 2015. The recent re-starting of badger culling to control bovine TB, despite evidence that the original cull didn’t achieve its objectives and without independent scrutiny, will make the task that much harder. However, there is an area of environmental policy where significant headway could be made, one which would build on Truss’s past role as Education Minister – that’s in the area of green jobs and skills.
www.iema.net
Skills for a Sustainable Economy
Sustainability is urgently becoming a key competitiveness issue for business and the economy. Business is now facing a perfect storm of pressure on all fronts. By 2020 the global economy could be facing a supply deficit - rising population (with particular growth in the middle classes) matched with increasing scarcity of vital resources, rapidly rising prices of key essential materials and utilities, together with the impacts of climate change – will collectively affect businesses’ ability to operate and meet these challenges. Businesses urgently need to turn these challenges into opportunities. The most effective way of grasping this opportunity is by all businesses becoming armed with a new set of skills – environment and sustainability – to ensure that UK plc and businesses globally can transition to a sustainable economy and really grasp the opportunities to enhance competitiveness and productivity. The Facts Debate around the environment and sustainability is now no longer about “a nice to have” or reputation management, and it is also now moving beyond the need to regulate in order to protect the environment. Significant global and UK trends now mean that environment and sustainability categorically have to become central to all businesses strategies – in order to not only survive but to enable businesses to compete. Environmental sustainability will have profound changes on production processes and manufacturing over the next four decades1. Volatility of supply, climate change, greater use of regulation and consumer pull for
Time is short, not just the urgency of dealing with the many environmental challenges we face, but to begin the turnaround process before the general election in May 2015. eco-products will drive the development of alternative business models and the emergence of a ‘circular economy’2. The business case is clear: Growing population is creating greater demand:
• The UN predicts global population will grow from 7.2bn currently, to 9.6bn by 20503. In addition to population growth, a significant shift is taking place within the global population such that by 2030, 60% will form part of the ‘middle class’, compared with 22% in 19654, creating even greater pressure for goods and services that this part of the population demand • Population growth isn’t just an international issue, the UK’s population is projected to grow by 10.9M people between 2010 and 2035, an increase of over 17%5 • Population increase will lead to increased global demand for resources: demand for food will increase by 50%, water by 30% and energy by 40% - this is known as ‘the perfect storm’6
Business concern is also rising:
• In a global survey of 1000 CEO’s 68% don’t believe that the global economy is on track to meet the demands of a growing population; and only 33% believe that business is making sufficient efforts to address global sustainability challenges.7
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MISC | TRAINING
G R E E N J O B S A N D S K I L L S | M A RT I N B A X T E R
Environmental trends most likely to converge, leading to manufacturing activities becoming more sustainable and resilient. Converging trends are putting pressure on from all directions: • Population growth and the perfect storm create other environmental trends that will converge and force businesses to transform the way they operate: • Increased demand for resources, new markets for goods and the growth of mega-cities are emerging as a result of population growth and urbanisation • Reactive trends such as consumer demand for sustainable products are creating opportunities for business • Disruption to international supply chains due to climate change, limited access to resources and regulatory pressure to reduce emissions as a result of climate change are just some of the environmental limits that the world is now reaching
The business opportunity
The story isn’t all doom and gloom; for businesses that make the transition to a sustainable economy there can be significant rewards in terms of gaining competitive and productivity advantages. The key issue is the huge positive contribution that is made by businesses taking a greener approach. It’s an economic and business opportunity to take advantage of regulatory and taxation changes. CBI uses the term “Green Business” to refer to | 158 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Foresight (2013)
businesses taking green action across the economy...... not just the green sector and estimates that8: • Over one third of UK economic growth in 2011/12 was from green business • Green business in the UK has a £5bn trade surplus • UK’s overall trade deficit 2014/15 would be double without green business exports
Defra calculates that UK businesses implementing resource efficiency measures requiring investment with less than a one year payback period can save £23bn. Where the payback period is beyond 12 months, the savings actually almost double to £55bn9. Environment and Sustainability skills can solve these challenges: Together these challenges and opportunities will fundamentally change the skills landscape for manufacturing and the economy as a whole10, driving demand for: 1. Skills for leaders to be able to integrate sustainability into long-term decision making 2. Enhanced skills and capabilities of environment and sustainability professionals so they can embed sustainability throughout the organisation and its value chain, e.g. foresight and horizon scanning, building the
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business case 3. Increasing environment and sustainability knowledge and understanding of all other workers, so they can play their full role
IEMA is shining a light on these issues (see www.iema. net/skills-campaign) and providing the pathways and support for businesses to upskill and develop the capability to meet the challenges. But the task of meeting the challenges is so vast that no one organisation can do this alone. Government and business need to work with each other and with us to ensure a policy framework is in place, enabling national economies to manage risks and businesses to develop the flexibility and resilience to succeed. In her new role, Liz Truss has the potential to take a leadership position to really catalyse this skills agenda. As a former education minister, she’ll be well aware of the critical importance of unlocking the talent in people, which will be critical to long term success. Environment and sustainability needs to be integrated into the national curriculum, ensuring that young people entering work and starting their careers are able to play their part and drive a positive cultural response to the sustainability challenge. Skills policy and support, aimed at those already in work, needs to address the skills gap at all levels. Focusing on apprentices, without addressing higher-level roles, will not prepare the economy for the changes and challenges to come. Partnership and collaboration are needed to catalyse action – much more can be achieved when sectors and supply chains work together to solve problems and develop solutions across the whole system. Investing in the skills which are crucial to the transition to a sustainable economy offers business the best chance of maximising the opportunities and managing the risk. It’s a “no regrets” approach for preparing for the future – the Secretary of State has a small window to make her mark ■
+ More Information www.iema.net
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Foresight (2013) “The Future of Manufacturing – A new era of opportunity and challenge for the UK” –Project Report, Government Office for Science, London. Change from an economy based on the conversion of raw materials into products which end their lives as waste, to an economy where products are re-used, ‘re-purposed’, repaired, re-manufactured and recycled, cascaded, and recovered rather than being used and discarded. United Nations (2013) World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision OECD Development Centre, Working Paper 285 (Kharas, 2010) Office of National Statistics (2011) National Population Projections, 2010-Based Projections Professor Sir John Beddington, UK Government Chief Scientist (2009) www.govnet.co.uk/news/govnet/ professor-sir-john-beddingtons-speech-at-sduk-09 The UN Global Compact – Accenture CEO Study on Sustainability (2013) CBI (2012) “The colour of growth – maximising the potential of green business” Defra (2011) “The Further Benefits of Business Resource Efficiency” – Oakdene Hollins research report completed for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), London UKCES (2014) The Future of Work: Jobs and Skills in 2030 – Martin Rhisiant, Centre for Research in Futures and Innovation, University of South Wales, Peter Glover, Helen Beck, UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), London
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MISC | TECHNOLOGY
E N V I R O N M E N TA L T E C H N O LO G Y V E R I F I C AT I O N | J O H N H O L D E N
Helping Eco Innovation get to Market By John Holden
Certification Business Group Manager, BRE Global
Environmental technologies play a key role in addressing sustainability challenges as well as contributing to economic growth, with the market ripe for highperforming products and those with a novel approach to solving an environmental problem. At the same time it can be incredibly difficult for an innovation to penetrate the market due to lack of independent and credible evidence of its capabilities. The result is that many groundbreaking products that can benefit the environment are struggling to get the recognition and success they deserve simply because they are new and have no independent confirmation of their performance.
Bridging the gap
Against this background, the EU launched the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) pilot programme – a new initiative designed to provide eco innovators with a route to independent recognition and to speed up awareness and uptake of innovative environmental technologies. | 160 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
The ETV programme gives developers, manufacturers and investors access to objective and recognised performance validation. It comprises assessment and verification of a manufacturer's claims about the performance and environmental benefits of their technology, which in essence means proof that products do what they say they will. For technology purchasers and investors who are committed to finding the best solutions for their needs but are faced with incomplete, inconsistent or unverified performance data, it provides all-important independent and credible confirmation of performance. The scheme has been operating outside of Europe for some time, including in America and Canada, but is not yet widely recognised within Europe. The EU ETV pilot programme aims to remedy this. The programme is one of the European Commission's initiatives under the EcoInnovation Action Plan, with a Government department in each member state overseeing national delivery. In the UK this role is fulfilled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The verification process
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itself is carried out by accredited independent verification bodies, with organisations such as BRE Global working closely with testing organisations and environmental technology companies as they take their products through the ETV verification process. As part of their accreditation, verification bodies delivering the programme must demonstrate that they have the organisational structure, management systems and competence to carry out the verification process to the high degree of quality and rigour the scheme demands. BRE Global has recently undergone its ETV verification body assessment with the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and anticipates receiving its accreditation shortly. To provide clients and the market with reassurance that verification bodies continue to deliver a high quality service they are subject to annual auditing and assessment by their accreditation body (e.g. UKAS) which ensures continued compliance with scheme requirements. The EU-ETV Pilot Programme offers a step-by-step,
risk-managed approach culminating in issue of a 'Statement of Verification', which confirms that the performance of an innovative product has been assessed and found to be both credible and scientifically sound. Results can be used to prove compliance with any relevant legislation, to underpin a bid in public tendering, to convince investors or customers of the reliability of performance claims and to avoid having to repeat demonstrations for different users. As the information produced by the verification process can be made public, it could be used to compare the performance of similar technologies. It therefore becomes an extremely useful tool to convince third parties of the merits of a technology, potentially enhancing its market value and acceptance. It also enables direct and objective comparison between different technologies, which reduces the risk to purchasers and to investors. An additional benefit is that as a recognised EU scheme, ETV could provide manufacturers with access to international markets, as well as nationally and Europe- â–ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 161 |
MISC | TECHNOLOGY
E N V I R O N M E N TA L T E C H N O LO G Y V E R I F I C AT I O N | J O H N H O L D E N
ETV is open to innovative market-ready or commercially available products that deliver environmental benefits for water treatment and monitoring; materials, waste and resources; and energy technologies.
wide, and for SMEs developing new technologies it can add weight to their marketing campaigns. ETV is not a certification scheme or quality label, however it does ensure that technology owners' claims are credible and as structured and complete as possible, presenting a clear assessment of the entire technology's potential and value. The programme is open to innovative marketready or commercially available products that deliver environmental benefits for water treatment and monitoring; materials, waste and resources, including recycling, improved resource efficiency and products made of biomass; and energy technologies, including production of heat and power, reuse of energy from waste and energy efficiency.
Verification in practice
Providing independent verification services to such a wide range of technologies requires a well-defined and managed process. In this respect the ETV verification procedure follows a number of defined steps which are described in detail in the EU ETV Pilot Programme General Verification Protocol or GVP. The GVP is available for download free of charge from the European Commission’s ETV website (http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/etv/). The process begins with an eligibility check, known as a ‘Quick Scan’, in which the verification body reviews basic information about the technology to establish if the ETV approach is applicable. A pro-forma is used to streamline the process and ensure consistency, and the verification body can provide advice to the applicant on the drafting of this. | 162 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Once eligibility is confirmed, advice is given on whether the ETV process is the best route to market for the product, and if so, an initial indication of the verification requirements and likely costs is provided. The next step is the proposal phase. This involves a more detailed review of technical documentation including design concept, specifications, drawings, existing test reports, intended application and initial performance claims. Once again a pro-forma is provided to facilitate the process. This stage enables a definition of the testing regime and parameters required to verify performance data. A key part of the process is ensuring that the right testing has been, or is, carried out. This could either be in-house or through partner facilities, so this stage also involves working collaboratively with the applicant and appropriate test laboratories to decide if additional testing is needed and, if appropriate, to identify where and what testing will take place. A verification contract is then drawn up, which includes a list of any additional tests or analyses to be performed and a detailed cost estimate (excluding testing costs) for the verification procedure. The contract also covers additional elements of the verification process including: • • • •
The scope and limitations of the verification Confidentiality Intellectual property rights Use of verification reports, statements of verification and the ETV logo • Changes to the verified technology • Legal jurisdiction
As every verification project is different assessment against existing international or industry standards is not
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viable so the scheme follows the methodology described in the GVP. This enables the applicant and verification body to agree a unique and detailed Specific Verification Protocol that will be used by the verification body to assess, and ultimately verify, the performance of the technology. A Specific Verification Protocol will invariably include: • A summary description of the technology, intended application and associated environmental impacts • Definition of the parameters to be used in the verification process, including a revised performance claim where appropriate • Testing requirements and data quality • The test and measurement methods to be used, including definition of calculation methods for performance parameters • A description of the way in which operational, environmental and additional parameters are to be dealt with in the verification process
Once the verification protocol is agreed, the chosen test laboratory completes any further tests required and provides a report detailing relevant performance data and test results. This report is used to prepare a verification report, which also incorporates and summarises all information relevant to the verification process including the eligibility check, technical documentation, the verification protocol and agreed test plan. Upon completion of the verification procedure a Statement of Verification is issued, the content of which is agreed by the applicant and the verification body. This short document is the principal outcome of the verification procedure and is intended to be used by the technology owner to prove to the market, and/or investors, that their product does what they say it does. A statement of verification will include the following: • A unique reference number • A description of the verified technology, what it is used for and how it is used
• A summary of the procedures followed by the verification body and those followed by test bodies where relevant, including the statistical confidence range on results where applicable • What was measured, test results and data, how these were obtained, how they were assessed • What has been verified, e.g. the performance, operational and environmental parameters associated with the technology • Any information necessary to understand and use the verified performance claim
The Statement of Verification is then submitted to the European Commission for registering and publication.
Opening doors
The scheme also has the potential to open doors to other areas of support. Through the BRE Group, for example, we could provide access to wider industry and product development expertise, potential investors and, for some SMEs, financial support through our ETV programme. Our BRE Innovation Park network, which showcases innovative new products, offers further opportunities for products to gain the market recognition they need to thrive. As the EU-ETV Pilot Programme becomes better known, I believe it will provide increasing opportunities for the implementation of environmentally beneficial innovations and provide much needed support to the passionate people behind them. The programme has been running for just over a year, and as manager of BRE Global's ETV Programme, it's exciting for me to see awareness growing – including at Government level – and the difference it's beginning to make in the UK and throughout Europe ■
+ More Information etv@bre.co.uk www.bre.co.uk/etv
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 163 |
PROSECUTIONS
Pollution Severn Trent Water given £10,000 fine for pollution in Nottinghamshire
Severn Trent Water pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court to one charge of pollution in Nottinghamshire. They were fined £10,000, ordered to pay £2,659.63 in costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge. The incident was reported by Severn Trent Water who said that water pollution had discharged into the Potwell Dyke watercourse in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, from their combined sewer outfall.
Man ordered to pay for spreading sewage rags and sanitary litter
Environmental Prosecutions
Environment Agency officers found sewage rag and sanitary litter spread across a field used by Richard Fiddian, trading as Norfolk Forest Products. They estimated that 491,851gallons (2,236 m3) of waste was deposited on the site over nearly 3 years. Fiddian was ordered by Norwich Crown Court to hand over £20,125 proceeds under the Proceeds of Crime Act and was also fined £750 and ordered to pay full costs of £3,375.
Water company fined for sewage treatment works pollution
At a sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court, Judge Harvey Clark fined South West Water a total of £150,000 for three offences including failing to return Luxulyan sewage treatment works to normal operation as soon as practicable, exceeding the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) discharge limit of 56mg/l and failing to inform the Environment Agency of any failure that may adversely affect effluent quality. The company was also ordered to pay £3,600 costs.
Somerset farmer fined for polluting stream with slurry
Appearing before Yeovil magistrates, William Turner, of Manor Farm, Hardington Mandeville, Yeovil was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,900 costs after pleading guilty to discharging poisonous, noxious or polluting matter into a tributary of the Chinook Brook, an offence under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.
Slurry pollution costs Beccles farmer almost £12,000
Twice in the spring of 2013 dairy farmer Gerald George Godfrey polluted a stream close to his land. Lowestoft Magistrates’ Court has fined him a total of £6,000 with £5,839 costs and £120 victim surcharge for the pollution incidents. | 164 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk
Pollution
Waste Disposal
Anglian Water to pay £94,000 for sewage overflow
Scrap operator fined £7,000
Anglian Water has been fined £50,000 after sewage contaminated a brook through an emergency overflow pipe killing more than 1,500 fish. The company was also ordered to pay a contribution towards Environment Agency costs of £44,736 and a victim surcharge of £15.
Waste Disposal Wiltshire waste company boss prosecuted for environmental offences
Christopher Downs has received a suspended prison sentence after he was caught illegally transporting and storing clinical waste. He was also banned from being a company director for two years, ordered to carry out 100 hours community service and to pay £5,500 costs. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Stobart Biomass fined £14,000 over waste wood pollution risk
A Penrith-based wood biomass company has been fined £14,000 after one of its waste wood stores in Hull caused a risk of pollution. The firm was in court over its waste transfer operation at Albert Dock in Hull, where it was storing waste woodchip in 2011 and 2012 for the energy from waste industry. Dust from the wood piles was not being prevented from being blown onto nearby areas during high winds in dry conditions. As well as the fine, the company was ordered to pay legal costs of £5,512.73 and a victim surcharge of £15.
Prison for waste land owner
Land owner Roger Frederick Phipps, aged 72, has been sent to prison for 6 months as part of an activated suspended sentence given in January last year. Phipps was sentenced in 2013 to 8 months imprisonment, ordered to carry out 180 hours unpaid work and fined £15,000 for breaching 2 planning enforcement notices. He has yet to pay the court costs and fines. He also failed to remove the majority of the waste from the farm by 30 June 2014.
Devon farmer prosecuted for food and septic tank waste offences
A Devon farmer has been given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay costs for a series of waste offences. Appearing before Exeter magistrates, Andrew Bull, of Little Pullworthy Farm, Highampton, Beaworthy was given an 18 week prison sentence suspended for two years, ordered to carry out 100 hours community service and pay £1000 costs after pleading guilty to a total of five offences involving liquid food and abattoir waste.
Colin Barnes of Podmore Lane, Scarning, Dereham, used the field next to his site as an overflow facility for his scrap business, but the field did not have any hard standing or drainage to prevent leaks from vehicles polluting the environment and it was not authorised to store waste. For repeatedly ignoring Environment Agency advice not to store waste vehicles and parts in a field, he was fined £7,000 by King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court. He was also ordered to pay £4,033 costs.
Waste dealer jailed for 16 months after dangerous shipments stopped at port
Repeat waste crime offender Joe Benson was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court for illegally exporting 46 tons of hazardous electrical waste to Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and the Congo. Broken cathode ray tube televisions and ozone depleting fridge freezers were found in four containers intercepted at ports by Environment Agency investigators between September 2012 and April 2013.
Flooding South West Highways prosecuted for land drainage offences
In 2013 South West Highways carried out painting and repairs on Kersham Bridge at Bridge Reeve near Chulmleigh, requiring scaffolding to be erected under all three of the bridge’s arches and for it to be positioned close to the water - for which they failed to obtain permission. Debris became entangled in the scaffolding that acted like a dam, flooding and badly damaging a nearby property. South West Highways Ltd was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,699 costs after pleading guilty to two Land Drainage byelaw offences. The company was also ordered to pay £2,275 compensation to the man affected by the flooding plus a £120 victim surcharge.
Health & Safety Timber firm fined after worker crushed by tree
A 24-year-old forestry operator, who has asked not to be named, fractured his hip and damaged a knee at Westhide Wood on 24 August 2012. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had not followed established industry procedures to ensure no-one was within the “risk zone” of the machine while it was in operation. Chalford Timber Ltd, of Nordan, Leominster, Herefordshire, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £16,335 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 165 |
Case study
Chester Zoo Goes Wild with Stokbord Recycled Plastic Life in the maintenance team at Chester Zoo is never dull. There’s no knowing what the next keeper will ask the team to build to help create an animal’s natural habitat. Maintenance engineers need to be skilled and imaginative in crafting a wide variety of materials into enclosures and signage.
With enclosures often in warm, wet or humid environments, traditional materials such as plywood can prove short-lived and hard to handle. The solution comes from a surprising – yet highly sustainable – source: Stokbord® - a board made entirely from recycled plastic carrier bags, �ilms and bottles. “Stokbord is a much more sustainable solution for us than plywood. It’s an incredibly versatile material, so it is ideal for the wide variety of uses around the zoo from bird boxes to frog houses, from rodent enclosures to creating signs of all shapes and sizes,” explains the zoo’s Maintenance Foreman Tony Ankers. Now Chester Zoo has begun to use 18mm thick Stokbord from Centriforce Products as a backing board for some of its signs. The Maintenance Section (Civil and Building) has come to recognise its advantages in the joinery workshop as a long-lasting, hard-wearing material that is resistant to wet environments indoors and out. The recycled plastic sheet forms a robust, damage-resistant backing board to which the vinyl-laminated aluminium graphic signs are bolted.
Often the signs have to be cut to an unusual shape to match the theme, for example the outline of leaves for the ant house. Stokbord has all the characteristics of timber. It can be routed to almost any shape, sawed, drilled and screwed into. At the same time it offers an opportunity to use an environmentally-sustainable alternative to timber. “When plywood is routed, it exposes the end grain making it even more susceptible to rotting,” Tony Ankers continues. “This can be a problem as many of our environments are wet, humid or steamy and animal structures need to be washed down regularly. Outdoors signs also need to withstand weather extremes. Plywood can need to be replaced in as little as 6 months and needs to be regularly inspected and maintained. By contrast we know that Stokbord will last for years without degrading. Also, because Stokbord is made entirely from recycled plastic, we are preventing a signi�icant amount of waste from going to land�ill. This is an important part of the Zoo’s commitment to sustainable practices.”
For more information: www.centriforce.com
| 166 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Case study
Gloucester opens its Gateway to Mapei’s eco products at Britain’s greenest services A Mapei decorative �loor system has been installed at Gloucester Services – a new environmentally-friendly service station on the edge of the Cotswolds. Located on the M5 Northbound, between junctions 11a and 12, ‘Britain’s greenest motorway services’ was delivered by AFL Architects. The main building is constructed from local stone and timber, and features an arched grass-covered roof set to receive BREEAM excellent rating. Three individual Mapei products were speci�ied, alongside porcelain tiles and vinyl sheeting, throughout a 1,236m2 area. All �loor works were carried out by Polished Concrete Designs for main contractor, Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd.
Gloucester Services, which opened in May, is a £40-million joint project between a local charity and Westmorland Limited. The charity, Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, will generate income from the service station, to support nearby target communities and charity partners in Gloucester and Stonehouse. The site includes extensive landscaping, along with electrical vehicle charging stations, a wild�lower seeded roof and capacity to switch to bio-fuel pumps. A farm-shop will also feature at the site, stocked with local produce, in place of fast food outlets.
Within the main building, a screed incorporating Mapei’s fast drying hydraulic binder, Topcem was laid over insulation and under�loor heating. Mapei’s two-component, solvent-free Primer SN was applied to provide a key for Mapei Ultratop - a decorative Anthracite-toned surface that gives the appearance of a polished concrete. The petrol station was also completed using Mapei Ultratop Anthracite.
For more information: www.mapei.co.uk
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 167 |
Case study
Improving the Eco-Credentials of a Victorian House Kevin Stanley and Melanie Stanley-Grant, a couple in their mid-30s, recently had a Graf rainwater harvesting system installed. It took just two days to install the system but the bene�its will be long lived.
The price of a rain water harvesting installation has come down over the past few years and is now something that is well within the reach of most homeowners. The system cost £1,500 to buy and install. It’ll pay for itself in around 5-7 years. We may not realise it, but water is our most precious commodity and although you cannot drink harvested rainwater it will cut the use of mains water by around 50% for most households. It can be used for �lushing toilets, �illing the washing machine, watering the garden and car washing.
“As a journalist in the area of housebuilding and renewable energy products and systems I want to be able to live what I write about,” says Kevin. “And as Melanie works as a Marketing Manager for a Housing Association, houses and how they are built and maintained is something that is important to us both.” “We feel as though we are custodians of the house. It’s 131 years old and we want to make it �it for its 250th birthday. Wouldn’t that be something special?”, says Kevin. “By the year 2132 we’ll be long gone, but I’d like to think that whoever takes on our house after us, whether it’s our children who inherit it from us or if we sell it to another young couple in 30 or 40 years from now that they will be getting a house that is still in good condition and has been well loved and well looked after.”
Sadly this wasn’t the case when the couple took it on just over 18 months ago. It was in a very poor state of repair and it had nothing in the way of energy saving devices or renewable energy systems. It was a house stuck in the 1970s in terms of the kitchen and bathroom and decor. “When we viewed the property we fell in love with the high ceilings, sash windows and period brickwork and despite them all being well-worn and in need of repair we saw the potential to breathe life back into the house and renovate it to a good standard. We knew that we wanted to have the period charm of a Victorian house but also that we wanted to prove that even older houses can take advantage of new renewable technologies and show that old and new could live and work together,” says Kevin. “Despite having a small garden we opted for a fairly large tank in order to take full advantage of rain water harvesting. We wanted to make the most of the space we had and of course as the tank is buried underground it doesn’t restrict use of any space in the garden, and it’s much more practical that trying to install a large, heavy tank in a loft space,” says Kevin. The Graf Platin tank holds 3,000 litres of rain water when full, which is enough water for around 25 days.
“As the installation was a retro�it job, it was not as simple as it would have been on a new build - as the house is old some of the guttering had to be reworked in order to direct water from the roof into the tank - but
| 168 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Case study
Improving the Eco-Credentials of a Victorian House (Cont.) this was something that Graf’s installation team were able to cope with. The rest was fairly standard, such as digging trenches across the garden for the pipes to direct rainwater to the tank, and this caused minimal disruption.
“We weren’t exactly sure what we could do to improve the eco credentials of the house at �irst, due to space, cost, or practicality. Renovating an old house can be a slow process, but having a rainwater harvesting system installed was a relatively simple job, which can be done at most stages of the process without too much dif�iculty so it was really pleasing to get such an exciting job completed, to be one step closer to completion, and to be able to improve the eco credentials of the house. It’s important to look to the future, saving water is a big part of safeguarding against future water-shortages or droughts and rainwater harvesting also helps in a small way to attenuate �looding, which can be a real problem in this part of the country.”
For more information: www.graf-water.com/rainwater-harvesting
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 169 |
Case study
EVRAZ ZSMK launched a PCI Facility The �irst Russian pulverised coal injection unit was launched at EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) in April 2013 and started full-scale operation in April 2014. The Tagil team shared their experience in construction and pilot operation of PCI with Novokuznetsk engineers.
July 18th, 2014 the second EVRAZ's PCI plant was launched into pilot operation at EVRAZ West-Siberian Metallurgical Plant. EVRAZ WestSiberian Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ ZSMK) is ranked among the top-5 Russian and top-30 global steel facilities with their products supplied to over 30 countries. Over the 50-years history the plant produced 600 steel grades, all kinds of rail products and 277 shapes of rolled products. EVRAZ ZSMK is on the front line of innovation. It is here that the new rail and beam shop started last year after a large-scale modernization project. The state-of-the-art and high-technology mill was the �irst in Russia to produce 100-meter head-hardened rails. The PCI unit will ensure better performance and competitive advantage of EVRAZ ZSMK, which is extremely important considering the current challenging market situation.
PCI stands for pulverised coal injection. The blast furnace process involving PCI is known since the 19th century, however it only became of frequent practice in the late 20th century. ZSMK engineers �irst tried pulverized coal injection in the 1970's, but it needed further improvement at that time.
Historically they used expensive coking coal and natural gas for the blast furnace process. Today, the unavailable soft coals needed for coke production will be replaced with steam coal. The consumption of coke and natural gas for hot iron production will be reduced by the average of 20% and 60% respectively. This will reduce the production cost of hot iron and �inished goods and will substantially reduce air emissions. EVRAZ ZSMK PCI unit is a state-of-the-art facility covering almost 11 thousand square meters. The weight of its steel structures amounts to 15 thousand tons, which is 1.5 of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The PCI buildings have been precisely designed for safety in a seismic area.
PCI plant is located in proximity to the Blast Furnace area. Production and handling of the pulverized coal fuel is air proof and complies with the latest process requirements. The plant was built with the best equipment by German, Luxembourg, US suppliers. Installation and commissioning involved foreign engineers. The General supplier of the equipment is PAUL WURTH, Luxembourg. The construction costs of the PCI plant exceeded 7 billion Rubles. Presently the pulverised coal fuel injection amounts to 80-100 kilo per 1 ton of hot iron. The hourly capacity of the pulverizers is 160 tons.
| 170 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
For more information: www.ntmk.ru/en/about
Case study
Marriott Hotel exempli�ies superior qualities of Accoya® Accoya®, the world-leading modi�ied wood manufactured by Accsys Technologies, has transformed Marriott’s Springhill Suites hotel in Oceanside, California into a stunning architectural attraction for visitors and locals alike. A three year renovation project is now complete, with more than 60m3 of Accoya siding encasing the hotel. Accoya was also used to add accent to the façade, for balcony railings, Porte Cochere lattice, patio shading structures and trellises and, remarkably, for siding around the hotel’s �ireplace. Accommodating visitors from all over the world, the hotel now stands as a clear example of Accoya’s superior aesthetic qualities, its dimensional stability, and its class 1 durability, even in exposure to the strong UV light and intense heat of the Californian sun.
Nicole Nathan, Principal and Lead Designer at JG Johnson Architects which ran the project, said: “Authentic materials help create architecture that feels rooted in a particular place - an essential quality for hospitality and tourism projects - and Accoya captured the authenticity we were searching for in this beachside hotel. Oceanside, CA is home to the longest pier on the paci�ic coast and the silvered wood there inspired the selection of Accoya.” Bryan Crennell, director of sales and marketing at Accsys Technologies, said: “The renovation of the Marriott hotel with Accoya has delivered exceptional results, not just aesthetically but in performance terms as well. Accoya is increasingly being used on projects such as this and we’re pleased that, whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality and reliability in their work, architects and speci�iers are choosing the sustainable option, as Accoya is carbon negative in window frames.”
Created using Accsys Technologies’ propriety acetylation technology, Accoya delivers outstanding levels of performance, including dimensional stability, Class 1 durability as well as exceptionally high levels of sustainability. Sourced from FSC® certi�ied wood from legal, manageable and sustainable forests, Accoya is an attractive wood product which is Cradle to Cradle Gold certi�ied and which is perfect for a variety of uses from millwork to external siding, structural projects and decking.
For more information: www.accoya.com
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 171 |
Case study
First continuous air quality monitoring stations for Faroe Islands Andrew Kinsey, sustainability director with international construction �irm Mace, explains how the company worked with multi-sector certi�ication body BM TRADA to achieve FSC Project Certi�ication for the prestigious Park House development in central London. The Environment Agency of the Faroe Islands together with the municipality of Tórshavnhas installed two ambient air quality monitoring stations as part of its commitment to monitor the environment and provide air quality data to the public and other interested parties. The stations, which were supplied by Air Monitors Ltd, provide continuous meteorological measurements and air quality data for NO2, NOx and a range of different particulate factions. Rakul Mortensen, an Environmental Chemist for the Agency, is responsible for air quality monitoring. She says: “Air quality measurements have been made in the past, but only on a short-term basis by researchers and consultants, so we are absolutely delighted to be able to conduct our own continuous monitoring, so that we can establish a database of background air quality data.
“The creation of two sites, one urban and one rural, will enable us to determine whether any pollution incidents have arisen from local sources or externally. For example, we received a signi�icant quantity of dust following the volcanic eruptions that took place in Iceland in 2010 and this equipment will enable us to measure any future instances with greater accuracy, so that we can provide the public with informed advice and reassurance." One of the stations was installed in a remote rural location and the other was installed in Tórshavn in the main urban area near the harbour, which is the area most likely to be affected by local sources of pollution.
The Faroe Islands is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark but are not part of the European Union so it does not have to comply with EU Air Quality Directives. However, the Environment Agency is keen to be able to provide the Islands’ 50,000 population with information on air quality. Rakul says: “The main factors affecting air quality are likely to be road traf�ic and emissions from the large number of ships that travel to and from the Islands’ ports. However, the monitoring stations have already demonstrated that air quality in the Faroes is generally good, and well within the requirements of the EU air quality standards."
| 172 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
Case study
First continuous air quality monitoring stations for Faroe Islands (Cont.) Each of the two monitoring stations included a Thermo Gas analyser Model 42i measuring NO, NO2 and NOx in addition to a Lufft WS600 smart weather sensor for measuring wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, pressure and precipitation. Particulate monitoring is being undertaken with the most advanced technology available; each station has been equipped with a FIDAS (Fine Dust Analysis System) which provides continuous real-time simultaneous mass concentration measurements of TSP, PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 and TSP providing additional information on particle size distribution from 0.18 to 18 microns and particle number in each size range. All of the monitoring equipment is connected to web loggers manufactured by Envirologger, Air Monitors' sister company.
Jim Mills, Air Monitors' MD, travelled to the Faroe Islands in March 2014 to assist with the installation of the monitoring stations. He said: "The monitors are similar to many of the stations that we have installed in the UK; they are �itted with web loggers that utilise 'cloud' storage for the data and our software engineers are working with the Environment Agency of the Faroe Islands to develop a website so that the public will have quick and easy access to air quality data."
For more information: www.airmonitors.co.uk
environmentmagazine.co.uk | 173 |
PRODUCT GUIDE
Brochure showcases energy saving potential of commercial Ecodan heating Mitsubishi Electric has launched a new brochure focusing on the marketleading range of Ecodan renewable heating systems and highlighting how individual businesses and premise owners can benefit. The brochure focuses on how Ecodan heat pumps can provide an efficient alternative to traditional gas and oil heating and demonstrates the financial and carbon-saving benefits of incorporating an Ecodan system into a property. In addition to details on the full range of air source heat pumps, the brochure focuses on the new Ecodan CRHV monobloc ground/water source system which provides multiple unit cascade control of up to 960kW capacity. The CRHV heat pump can use renewable heat energy from rivers and lakes, aquifers, bore holes, slinky systems and even take waste heat from industrial processes to increase both comfort levels and efficiency within the building. • For more information please visit http://bit.ly/1yqHgNX
Insects good and bad take centre stage with BeeMat’s newest product offering.
Centork launches modular valve actuation system “for the 21st Century”
Fugro delivers high quality motion dataset for deepwater riser monitoring
The success of BeeMat’s namesake product
Centork has announced the launch of a
Using DeepData pods, Fugro has delivered
since its launch at Glee 2013 has proved to the
modular electric valve actuation system
a high-quality motion dataset from the BOP
company that they have found the winning
designed to deliver a highly reliable,
stack and lower riser of two deepwater wells in
formula. Combining pre-seeded mats with
economical and flexible solution.
the Barents Sea. During a drilling campaign,
weed suppressing properties, whilst also
Conceived as a series of interchangeable
the client recorded motion and strain of the
attracting insects and wildlife to the garden,
modular building blocks, the CK design
wellhead, BOP and riser for two wells, in order
has led to the introduction of the new EcoMat
can facilitate swift delivery from stock.
to quantify fatigue damage incurred by the
range.
Centork CK actuators provide isolating or
wellhead.
The EcoMat Companion Planting Mats -
modulating control of multi-turn, part-turn
The pods are the core of a data acquisition
fits perfect with BeeMat’s existing range of
or linear valves. Operating from single-
system designed by Fugro to operate in
pre-seeded, biodegradable growing mats,
phase or three-phase electrical supplies,
depths of up to 2,400 metres. High-precision
which currently includes BeeMat™, Butterfly
all actuators are environmentally sealed to
accelerometers and angular rate sensors
Mat™ and Bird Mat. Using the proven
IP68 as standard for long-term reliability in
determine motions and rotation at specified
companion planting method, the EcoMat
harsh operating conditions. Plug and socket
locations. Inputs from external sensors such
range features two salad varieties – Oriental
connections for power supplies and between
as strain gauges are also accepted. Operating
and Mediterranean – and a Garden Vegetable
modules assist swift site wiring and provide
in depths of up to 1,400 metres, the DeepData
mat, which includes carrots, sage and spring
a simple connection platform for upgrades
pods achieved a 100% data recording success
onions. • For more information please visit www.beemat.com
and modifications. • For more information please visit www.centork.com/en/range
rate during a deployment of almost one year. • For more information please visit www.fugro.co.uk
ProductGuide
| 174 | environmentmagazine.co.uk
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Excellence repeated maximises the AD mixing process Huntingdon based SYSTEM MIX LTD in conjunction with P&M Pumps, who market the Rotamix System incorporating the Vaughan chopper pump, are an established supplier of digester mixing systems to all of the UK’s waste water companies over the past 20 years and more recently to numerous private sector food waste AD plants. One example of the success of the Rotamix System is at Southern Water where currently over 90% of their total digester volume (82007m³) is being mixed using the Rotamix System. The basis of the success of these plants depends on a durable mixing technology supported by reliable Vaughan Chopper Pumps. Andy Parr, Director of System Mix underlines the reasons for the success of System Mix: “ It is crucial to the AD process that suitable pre-conditioning of solids is carried-out prior to digestion and our system has been proven to be one of the most effective in achieving this. The Vaughan pump prevents re-accumulation of fibrous and fatty material in the digester and this means that material continues to pass through the nozzles. This in turn ensures that digestate is adequately conditioned and actually benefits all post-digestion equipment.” • For more information please visit www.thesolidsolution.co.uk
Saint-Gobain launches CPD series
Saint-Gobain, is launching a new series of RIBA-approved CPD seminars. The CPDs will be hosted at the Saint-Gobain Innovation Centre in central London, giving easy access to a wide range of topics and building on the centre’s already busy programme of events related to sustainable buildings. From September 2014 and continuing throughout 2015, the seminars will be free to attend for architects, designers and industry professionals. British Gypsum, Ecophon, Isover, SageGlass, Saint-Gobain Glass, Saint-Gobain PAM, SolarGard, Swedecor, Vetrotech and Weber will host a variety of insightful RIBA-approved CPD sessions on the latest product and system solutions with supporting technical advice. • For more information visit www.saint-gobain.co.uk
Boss brought to life at BSS training room
Indexator Rototilt Systems to establish a UK presence
Leading distributor BSS Industrial
Swedish tiltrotator manufacturer
has invested in a dedicated
Indexator Rototilt Systems is
BOSS training room to support
establishing a presence in the
customers wishing to become
UK, and will be launching its
familiar
entire range of products and
with
high-quality
the
brand’s
solutions
simultaneously
whilst
boosting
accessories for excavators.
the
knowledge of its sales teams.
Indexator Rototilt Systems will be launching its entire range
The facility, which has been
of
models,
accessories
and
centre
commencing close cooperation
at
Magna
Park
in
control
with
created at the BSS distribution
with
plant
BOSS
Tim Wood and Tom Lomax,
products, including equipment
who will be responsible for
from the distributor’s leading
sales, installation and support
diamond BOSS suppliers Flamco,
throughout the UK.
Alfa Laval, SPC, and Hudevad. • For more information visit: www.website.com
Rototilt sales in the UK have
featuring
renowned
and
Leicestershire, features a mock room
its
systems,
partners
already begun, and a showroom has been set up. • For more information visit: www.website.com
MCERTS award for VOC emissions analyser
Quantitech has announced that the Sick 3006 portable VOC monitor has a new MCERTS certificate, valid to July 2019. The certificate confirms that the 3006 instrument complies with: MCERTS Performance Standards for Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems, Version 3.4 dated July 2012 EN152673:2007, and QAL 1 as defined in EN 14181: 2004. Completely selfcontained, with its own air and gas supplies, the 3006 is a heated total hydrocarbon analyser for monitoring combustion and ventilation stacks from 100ppb to 100,000ppm. Employing a patented miniature heated sensor block with a flame ionisation detector (FID) controlled up to 240°C, the 3006 can be used to monitor steam saturated gases. • For more information visit: www.quantitech.co.uk
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FAMOUS LAST WORDS
C H A N G E I S CO M I N G | N ATA L I E B E N N E T T
Change is coming By Natalie Bennett
Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales At this year’s Bristol Green Week political debate, one of the key points of conflict between Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey and I was Britain’s place in the EU league table for renewable energy production as a percentage of total energy use. I quoted a Eurostat study showing us in 26th out of 28 places; we can not-so-proudly proclaim that we’re ahead of Malta and Luxembourg. Mr Davey spluttered and protested as I spoke, so the chair, Jonathon Porritt, asked him for direct response: where was Britain now? Mr Davey responded that he wasn’t quite sure, but we’d surely advanced a place or two. I felt I could rest my case on this particular issue, without further comment. I think the audience did too. In a country with the rich on- and off-shore wind resources, the tides and the waves, and yes even solar capacity, that ranking speaks for itself. If there is good news on the critically important issues of energy conservation and energy, it has to start with the fact that this “greenest government ever” (what a sick, tragic joke that phrase has become) now has less than a year to run. That’s not to say there’s much hope in a pro-fracking Labour Party, but something more substantial than a switching between two near-identikit parties is in the wind. As electoral guru John Curtis told Democratic Audit recently: “We’re looking at an electorate that’s more willing to experiment.”
Change is coming. It has to.
For environmentally, Britain cannot continue as it is; and that’s also true of our economy and our social structures. To start with economics: Consider the fact that in the world’s sixth-richest economy we have 1 million people who last year relied on the charity of food banks to eat, while 1 in 5 workers is paid less than a living wage, or that the 1% of richest people are soaring away from the rest,
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while they and multinational companies pay only derisory sums in the tax that is essential to the societies they rely on for their wealth. And to turn to the environment: There’s rightfully, with the Paris COP 21 racing towards us, a focus on climate change, but we also need to think more broadly, about the catastrophic loss of biodiversity, the widespread impoverishment of soils, the looming shortages of fresh water, and the plastic soup in our fish-denuded oceans. That can be summed up in the fact that broadly in Britain we collectively use the resources of three planets, but we only have one. Part of the cause of that situation, or at least the failure to even acknowledge it, let alone deal with it, reflects that our politics is also broken. With the three largest parties there’s no new ideas, no plans to tackle our immense pressing problems, no demonstration of understanding that our financial sector is just as fragile, just as dangerous now, as it was in 2007. Politics hasn’t fundamentally changed since Margaret Thatcher. We’ve been stuck with the same, increasingly obviously failing, model since. That makes it a good time to reflect on the nature of political change, which is essential to get critically urgent policy change. I often borrow a term from evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium. When I was taught about evolution at school, the idea was that species gradually changed over millennium, something that looks a bit like a zebra started stretching for leaves on higher branches, and eventually turned into a giraffe. That’s now been debunked, and it’s understood that most commonly long periods of near stasis are broken by occasional periods of rapid change. As with biology, so with politics. It’s been nearly 50 years of stasis since Thatcher leapt on to the British stage, and the post-war equilibrium of the ►
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
C H A N G E I S CO M I N G | N ATA L I E B E N N E T T
Natalie Bennett welfare state and state ownership of many resources was smashed. (And if we’re thinking constitutional reform, it’s nearly 100 years since any real change – going back to when women got the vote.) The next punctuation, the big change in the ways we think about business, about energy, about income, about food, about government, is racing towards us. That puts a particular responsibility on those who are involved not just in trying to shape political change, but also those involved in economic and environmental change, who are leading the way towards trying to shape sustainable systems within our current unsustainable whole. They need to find a way to make that change that works for the common good – change that works to produce a new, truly sustainable structure for the 21st century. How to judge what way to go? I’d propose two principles: First, that we have to ensure that our new model ensures that every human being has access to the resources for a basic, decent, humane standard of living: food on the table, clothes on their back, a roof over their head, and, as important, respect for them as a person and whatever contribution they can or choose to make. We can start with that challenge in Britain but eventually it will have to be global. The second principle is even less negotiable: we have to all collectively live within the limits of our fragile, damaged, dangerously destabilised Earth – not just stop the damage but restore some of the denuded ecosystems, the drained and decarbonised soils, clean up the messes. Turning that into more concrete terms, I think about energy. It’s an obvious statement, yet one rarely made: the cheapest, cleanest, best energy is the energy that you don’t have to use. That applies whether it’s energy not needed to heat
our homes to a comfortable, healthy temperature – as proposed by the Energy Bill Revolution that would lift 9 out of 10 households out of fuel poverty while cutting carbon emissions – or fuel not needed to drive to work because you’ve found a job within an easy walk or cycle in a truly sustainable balanced community, a method of transport that also helps with health, with family life, to build community. And I think about retail. Whether it is the supermarket model built on massive movements of goods, huge volumes of packing and low-paid workers, or the throwaway high street fashion that’s seen developing world factory workers pay in sweat, tears, and, as at Rana Plaza, all too often blood, for the profits of multinational firms, it’s clear that to meet these two criteria we need massive change. Big change means big opportunities. We need more than new thinking, we need new kinds of action, new kinds of models, strong local communities built around small businesses and cooperatives, with community ownership of energy and other resources at its heart. It’s a world of opportunities. I often speak to audiences of young people, at universities and colleges, at public meetings. I feel the need to say to them, on behalf of my generation, “sorry”. Collectively we’ve left our young – burdened with student debt, facing a life of low-wage, insecure employment – with a right mess. But I try also to express the possibilities, the certainty of change, and the options to them, and all of us, to take a positive part in it. Change is coming. That’s great ■
+ More Information www.greenparty.org.uk Title Photo: CaesarJB
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