Environment Industry Magazine - Issue 27

ISSN 2043-0140

Issue 27

Marine Energy Priority Substances Care for the Wild EMEC Joe Hennon

value loves waste Used catalytic converters often contain precious metals of considerable value which can be recycled and recovered by a reliable and trusted partner. With over 100 years of service and an established culture of integrity, BASF Metals Recycling can provide customers with superior overall value. When waste is valuable, it’s because at BASF, we create chemistry. www.converter-recycling.basf.com Our recycling services include: ■ Automotive catalytic converter substrates ■ Spent chemical catalysts ■ Industrial resins, filters and sludges ■ Targets and shields ■ PGM jewelry and dental scrap ■ Electronic scrap

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from th e

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Editor Welcome to issue 27 of Environment Industry Magazine. I am writing this from the Regal Airport Hotel in Hong Kong, I have just completed a 14hr Flight not including a short stopover in Doha or the typical faffing around to get into and out of the airport. I mention this, not to boast about being in Hong Kong (although it is an amazing city) or to allude to my considerably increased carbon footprint, or even to debate the terrible stress involved in long distance travelling nowadays. The reason I mention this is for an excuse, I can’t remember when I last slept and that may have a considerable impact on what I write here.

I am particularly proud to introduce this issue of the magazine; firstly of course, we have the usual outstanding editorial content Alan Davies AM (Minister for Natural Resources, Wales) discusses Energy Wales. The country has an abundance of natural renewable energy sources. In particular, two things Wales is not short of is wind and water, and it has become a world leader in harvesting these resources.

Another world energy leader is the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Neil Kermode talks to Dave Flanagan about EMEC’s research and development in marine energy generation. (This editorial is also the inspiration for the front cover courtesy of our brilliant inhouse artist Shay, you will see his illustrations scattered amongst the pages of this issue). On top of this we have the EU Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik with his thoughts on Air Monitoring.

2013 has been dedicated European Year of Air by Janez, so his editorial has particular relevance.

Interestingly we have a number of editorial submissions from Europe this issue. VinylPlus, the organisation, on the PVC industry’s transition towards sustainable development. We also have Patrick Lambert Director of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation, Patrick is writing about Eco-Innovation. In addition, we have Joe Hennon EC Spokesperson for the Environment and Guitarist for Shantalla a Celtic band based in Belgium. You can listen to them here www.shantallamusic.com

Contact: Vivek Pandey (Director) Tel: 0161 341 0156 Email: vivek@environmentmagazine.co.uk

There is so much great editorial that I don’t have room to outline all of it and there are so many gems. I would like to draw your attention to, especially the INNSA editorial by Mike Clough.

The Invasive Non-Native Species Association is newly formed. The industry has needed a clear governing body for some time and this association will give much needed guidance and support to the organisations dealing with the eradication of non native species. Environment Industry Magazine has pledged to support this important fledgling organisation so you will hopefully hear a lot more from them. Do take some time to read their introduction editorial and we have thoughtfully given details on how to join on the following page.

The second reason I am so proud of this issue of the publication is that we have completely overhauled the look and feel of the magazine.

This redesign is entirely the work of Adam our senior graphic designer who has taken one of the leading environmental publications and taken it to a whole new level. He has taken the original premise of developing a trade publication that looked like a consumer magazine and improved it. This is the best designed magazine we have ever published and probably the best looking and most readable trade publication available.

I am confident that the magazine design will only get better issue by issue. Therefore, I recommend regularly perusing the magazine, not only to keep abreast of what the experts and influencers are saying but also to see this stunning publication evolve with Adam as the designer.

Coincidently we have just launched our subscription service to enable you to do just that you can subscribe at www.environmentmagazine. co.uk/subscriptions/levels (QR code below).

Checkout our subscription advert in the news section for 15% off. The offer ends soon though!

Alex Stacey Editor

BlooGlobe Limited, 254a Bury New Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 8QN

Alex Stacey Tel: 0161 3410158 Fax: 0161 7668997 Email: alex@environmentmagazine.co.uk

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.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 3 |

Contents Energy

News 6

News

26

56

Energy ambitions for Wales -- Alun Davies, Welsh Government Minister for Natural Environment

The Watercooler

28

Jason Drew

30

Steve Grant

Agriculture, Food & Packaging 32

Sustainable packaging in the food and drink industry -- Jane Treasure, Head of Food at Costa

60

Fracking - tipping the scales of climate change -- Julie Carter, Senior Consultant Argyll Environmental

64

Generating an industry -- Dave Flanagan speaks with EMEC’s technical director John Griffiths and managing director Neil Kermode

68

Solar Energy will help the UK overcome woes of fuel poverty -- Luc Grare, Senior Vice President, Solar Sales and Marketing, Renewable Energy Corporation

Air Quality 34

Can we afford not to pay for clean air?

-- Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment

Land Management 70

38

Technology is key to the future of LAQM -- Jim Mills, MD Air Monitors

Wind farm developers delivering on peat habitat -- Dr Geeta Puri, Principal Consultant, Atmos Consulting

72

Conservation

The Brownfield Briefing awards -- Ian Grant, Managing Director, Brownfield Briefing, Newzeye

42

Gone Forever -- Philip Mansbridge, CEO of Care for the Wild

74

The great gas protection debate -- Peter Atchison, Director at PAGeotechnical and Chair of EIC’s Contaminated Land Working Group

48

Sustainable Pest Control -- Simon Forrester, Chief Executive of the British Pest Control Association

Sustainable Build & Civil Engineering 52

Invasive Species -- Mike Clough, Chairman Invasive Non Native Specialists Association

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76

The use of recycled and secondary materials in residential construction -- Graham Perrior, Head of Standards and Technical at NHBC

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Timber & Forestry

Water

80

100

84

104

Will sustainability drive innovation in the timber industry?

-- Paul Clegg, Chief Executive of Accsys Technologies

Priority Substances - an update on forthcoming changes -- Hazel Davidson, Derwentside Environmental Testing Services (DETS)

An MTC perspective on the EUTR -- Sheam Satkuru-Granzella, Director, Malaysian Timber Council

With careful monitoring, reused water can help tackle the global water crisis -- Jo Cooper, Intellitect Water

106

Ocean Acidification -- Helen Murray, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Transport 88

110

Britannia Rules the Clouds -- Nicola Clay, Director, Coastal and Marine Environment, Royal HaskoningDHV

Waste & Recycling

Collaboration and context: the key ingredients to tackling the challenges posed by water -- Mark Tindale, Arup Associate, Water

Miscellany

92

A new metals recycling regime -- Ian Hetherington, Director General of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA)

96

High value resource recovery from waste -- David Winstanley, Managing Director of Remondis UK

C a s e

98

S t u d i e s

Sustainability Pays: the PVC industry’s transition towards long-term sustainable development -- Dr Brigitte Dero, Director General VinylPlus

112

Environmental Prosecutions

114

Product Guide

116

When Business meets Environment -- Patrick Lambert, Director, EACI of the European Commission

118

Go Green this Autumn -- Cathryn Hickey, Executive director of the National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies

121

Kebony and the Mary Rose

122

Thamesmeade Football

124

Knauf Insulation

125

PyroVore ST

126

RetroFit

128

ThermaSkirt

129

Kebony Coffee Bar

130

KiWi Power

132

Battersea Power Station

133

Famous last words -- Joe Hennon, European Commission Spokesperson for the Environment

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 5 |

News Red Hot Praise for Health Initiative

For the second year running, the North of Tyne Winter Warm Partnership (NTWWP) has worked across the North East local authority areas to bring together existing experts in their field to look at the direct effects of cold homes on the region's health.

The partnership has published its results and found that investment in making homes warmer not only saves the NHS money but saves lives too.

Organisations sharing their expertise included Warm Zones, the three local authorities, Citizens Advice Bureau, Age UK North Tyneside, Primary Health Trusts, Health through Warmth, Red Cross and the Home Improvement Agency.

The North East has alarmingly recorded the largest increase in the number of winter deaths in the UK, with a staggering 26% rise year on year. The severe cold weather is dangerous especially for vulnerable people; the cold weather increases the risk of heart attacks, which in turn accounts for 40% of winter deaths. In an attempt to reduce this figure, the partnership identified those vulnerable households in Tyneside and Northumberland as being at risk and took steps to protect them over the cold winter months. 30,000 homes received warm home information and around 3,000 homes were visited to offer free checks and advice. Warm Zones and Health through Warmth delivered free insulation and heating services while draught proofing was organised through Home Improvement Agencies.

EV charge points installed at London Underground car parks

UK Power Networks has recently completed the installation of 60 Electric Vehicle (EV) charge posts at 12 London Underground (LU) car parks across the capital.

The charge posts have the capacity to charge two vehicles simultaneously, can provide charging at either fast (7kw) or rapid (22kw) rates, and are accessible through the Source London charging network. The new charge points will enable London’s power distributor to plan for the future impact with large clusters of rapid charging points will have on the capital’s electricity network. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles’ Plugged in Places Scheme and UK Power Network Services provided Funding for the charge points. The installation of the charge points, manufactured by Siemens, will allow EV drivers to connect conveniently with public transport on the Metropolitan, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Central lines. The charge points are located at: Loughton, Snaresbrook, Newbury Park and Redbridge (Central line); Cockfosters, Oakwood and Arnos Grove (Piccadilly line); Stanmore (Jubilee line) and Rayners Lane and Chalfont and Latimer (Metropolitan line); Blackhorse Road (Victoria line); and High Barnet (Northern line).

How do you bin yours? New campaign launches to reduce chewing gum litter

The Chewing Gum Action Group (CGAG) has launched a new advertising campaign with the aim of reducing littered gum across the UK. Encouraging gum chewers to ‘Bin it your way’, CGAG, which is chaired by Defra and funded by the chewing gum industry, has partnered with 16 local authorities and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)to tackle a problem which blights Britain’s streets.

The campaign, now in its eighth year, sees industry working with councils and BIDs to develop local initiatives to reduce chewing gum litter. Results from previous years demonstrate the significant impact of the campaign on gum litter levels. Following 2012’s activity, gum litter levels fell by an average of 54% in participating areas, with some authorities reporting even better results. Cardiff Council reported a 93% decrease whilst Nottingham City Council and Coventry City Council announced drops of 88% and 85% respectively.

The new advertising campaign features professionally choreographed and highly innovative dance moves, encouraging gum chewers to dispose responsibly of gum litter in a fun and engaging way or face a fine of up to £80. The dynamic, brightly coloured adverts will appear in a range of locations across participating local authorities and districts, including roadside banners, bus stops, lamp-posts and telephone kiosks.

Launching the campaign Minister for Local Environment, Lord de Mauley said: “Chewing gum litter is a real nuisance which is difficult and expensive for councils to remove. I’m fully behind this campaign which encourages people to look after their local communities and keep our streets clean and tidy.”

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News

Bullring rings the changes with new electric vehicle charging posts from APT

Architects appointed for Woolwich regeneration scheme

Countrystyle awarded biowaste treatment contract

‘Probably the best recycling programme in the world’

AA number of sophisticated electric vehicle (EV) charging points from APT Technologies, have been upgraded at Bullring Birmingham.

Bullring’s Selfridges Moor Street Car Park has had two Dual Outlet wall mounted units installed in a bay dedicated to charging on Level One as part of an upgrade programme. The new posts feature data sim cards that can be loaded into the charging points, and the units then fully communicate all the usage statistics with the back office system that enables improved monthly monitoring and reporting.

Tim Walley, General Manager at Bullring, says: “At Bullring we understand the importance of this greener option of travelling and continue to lead the way by offering our customers who travel by electric vehicles the opportunity to recharge their vehicles whilst visiting the centre.”

The Evolt charging posts are robust yet versatile units with dual charging outlets that are simple to access and use. The units supply secure payment using contactless RFID proximity cards and each has a digital screen that displays information such as user ID, energy consumption and charging times and LED lighting to show charge point status.

The posts are part funded by the Government’s Plugged in Midlands Electric Vehicle Charging Network managed by Cenex.

Countrystyle Group has been awarded an interim biowaste treatment contract

by Buckinghamshire County Council.

Under the contract, Countrystyle is responsible for the receipt and treatment of approximately 30,000 tonnes of green waste and mixed food and green waste from three of the four District Councils in Buckinghamshire. As part of this contract, Countrystyle will also provide bulking services and haulage of all materials to treatment facilities using their own fleet of vehicles.

The biowaste materials will be treated at Countrystyle’s Ridham In-Vessel Composting facility in Kent or at the Laverstoke Park Farm Open Windrow Composting facility in Hampshire. The biowaste will be processed into a PAS 100 certified compost product, which will be used by farmers as an organic fertiliser to improve agricultural lands.

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Architects Pollard Thomas Edwards are working with developer Lovell on a £269m project to redevelop three former Woolwich council estates for the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The three estates, built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, have come to the end of their natural lives and there is a need for comprehensive redevelopment.

The project, in partnership with asra Housing Group, will see the demolition and redevelopment of the 1,064-home Connaught, Morris Walk and Maryon Grove estates and their replacement with 1,500 new mixed tenure homes including large family houses, mews houses and courtyard apartments. Both mid-rise mansion blocks and higher rise blocks will take advantage of long-distance views to the Thames.

The new neighbourhoods will include around 35% affordable and shared ownership homes transforming what are essentially mono-tenure estates into mixed and balanced communities. The scheme will also create clearly defined public and private green spaces: private back gardens for family houses and a series of parkland arteries connecting the surrounding neighbourhoods.

Pollard Thomas Edwards’ proposals will provide a high-quality solution which seamlessly integrates each of the former estates with their immediate neighbourhoods to create a strong sense of place and a specific and identifiable character, where people will want and choose to live - ‘One Woolwich’.

Construction work for the three estates, which occupy around 12ha, should start in 2014 following an extensive stakeholder consultation programme and the plans successfully completing the full planning process.

The Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) has announced that Carlsberg UK has become its newest member and has also joined the funding partners of the “Every Can Counts” recycling programme. Carlsberg UK is the first brewer to join Alupro and its membership marks the company’s commitment to increase the recovery and recycling of its aluminium cans used across its portfolio of beer and cider brands, which alongside Carlsberg and Carlsberg Export includes Tetley’s, Tuborg, San Miguel and Somersby.

Through its funding partnership of the successful “Every Can Counts” programme, Carlsberg aims to take the ‘away from home’ recycling message directly to consumers, in particular at outdoor events such as music festivals.

Already this summer Carlsberg UK staff have been supporting recycling promotions under the Every Can Counts brand Festivals in across the UK.

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

SEAL Analytical acquisition of Thomas Cain

SEAL Analytical, the leading global supplier of automated colorimetric analyser instrumentation has announced the acquisition of Thomas Cain, a manufacturer of automated chemical addition, sample preparation and digestion systems for the analysis of mercury and metals in environmental laboratories.

Thomas Cain designs, manufactures and distributes the DEENA range of graphite block digestion systems which are supplied throughout the world.

The company also designs and manufactures a range of automation options for these systems which reduce or remove the need for manual intervention in hazardous processes during sample digestion. The Thomas Cain ERICA sample preparation systems provide a fully automated liquid handling system for mixing samples, standards and reagents. Ranges of standard and bespoke consumables for different sample and digestion types are available for both systems.

The acquisition further enhances SEAL Analytical‘s capabilities in the water and soil analysis markets by increasing the installed base of laboratories served and widening the range of products and services offered.

Waste King helps clean up Dunstable Downs

When the National Trust (NT) wanted to clear rubbish that had collected on Dunstable Downs, it thought to hire a skip - but Waste King explained that clearing the rubbish by hand is both a ‘greener’ and more cost-effective option.

So the NT engaged a two-man team from Waste King - a specialist collection, clearance and recycling company based in Hemel Hempstead – to spend a day clearing rubbish from this ancient and rare chalk downland rural habitat in Bedfordshire.

The Downs’ great beauty, combined with their easy accessibility, attracts a great many visitors throughout the year – and the almost inevitable by-product of this popularity is the accumulation of rubbish.

Glenn Currie, Waste King’s managing director, said: “Waste King’s team collected eight cubic yards of rubbish on Dunstable Downs. This not only left the area less ‘polluted’ but, by carrying out this exercise by hand, helped to prevent unthinking damage to the environment, especially the area’s plant life. Moreover, there are some items – especially some of the results of fly tipping - that can’t be put in skips. So, if you want to remove all the rubbish, it can make sense to use a ‘Men in a Van’ service.

This service ensures that all of the customer’s unwanted waste is not only collected but also disposed of responsibly, importantly, Waste King guarantees that over 90 per cent of all the waste collected is recycled.

PET is the most recycled plastic material in Europe, with the equivalent of more than 60 billion bottles recycled in 2012.

PETCORE EUROPE Chairman Roberto Bertaggia said: “Despite the poor economic situation in the European region, the consumption of PET bottles is still showing clear trends of penetration into new market segments through innovative packaging and the recognised capability of PET to be recycled. From a sustainability perspective, our industry is thrilled to have achieved an overall collection rate in 2012 of more than 52% of all post-consumer PET bottles available in the region. With the exception of two members, all EU Member States managed to achieve PET recycling rates above the Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive target of 22.5% for plastics.”

In 1931, a noticeboard was installed on Dunstable Downs proclaiming the following poem:

Friend, when you stray, or sit and take your ease, On moor, or fell, or under spreading trees, Pray, leave no traces of your wayside meal; No paper bag, or scattered orange peel; Nor daily journal littered on the grass.

Others may view these with distaste and pass.

Let no one say, and say it to your shame, That all was beauty here until you came.

“Given the amount of rubbish we collected – and the time that the Rangers spend dealing with litter on the Downs - perhaps there should be a similar notice on display today,” smiled Glenn Currie. “That said, Waste King is more than happy to clear any amount of rubbish from any location – especially one as significant and splendid as Dunstable Downs.”

Invertek Drives shortlisted for ENDS Green Economy Award

Powys based variable speed drives manufacturer, Invertek Drives, is delighted to announce that it has been selected as a finalist in the ENDS Green Economy Awards 2013.

The awards, formerly the Green Business Awards, aim to celebrate the pioneers of Britain's ‘brave new green economy’ – other shortlisted companies include Amey, Costain, The Co-operative Group, Dell and Skanska.

Invertek’s entry in the SME energy efficiency innovation category (supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change) focused on the company’s extensive investment in its Optidrive range of variable speed drives.

This latest announcement follows success in the UK Energy Innovation Awards earlier this year where Invertek won the Best International Trade category, as well as success in last year’s Made in Wales Awards where they also won the Technology Award. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 9 |

News £1 million funding opportunity unveiled for UK low carbon businesses Environmental impact company Berti Investments now accepting applications for their Berti Green Accelerator Programme.

Berti Investments is a young and inspiring environmental impact company that invest in growing, entrepreneurial, low carbon businesses in the UK. Their concept is clear; Berti supports innovative organisations that are dedicated to carbon reduction and environmental best practices.

The Berti Green Accelerator programme was launched in 2012 and attracted more than 80 companies from all over the UK to apply for investment and business support. This year, the programme, in partnership with leading global investor Coller Capital, is busy searching for three UK low carbon companies to help deliver their shared vision of creating a long-term positive impact on the environment. The process is shaped by three simple stages: an initial online application submission, presenting in a finalist selection event, then going ‘Dragon’s Den’ style into a final pitch. The three winning companies will be awarded with a free 12 month mentorship programme from Coller Capital, and access to a £3M funding pool from Berti.

Firefly Solar, specialists in Solar Energy Solutions, was one of the 2012 winning companies and serves as a case study of how funding and mentorship can have a measurable impact on small business. Berti’s funding has allowed Firefly to move from the start-up phase into a sustainable growth phase. Firefly received six months of first-class business support and expertise from Hamilton Bradshaw Impact Partners, and £550k of investment from Berti Investments to help their business advance to the next level.

Andy Mead, Founder & CEO, Firefly said: “With the economic crisis making it difficult for small businesses to access funds, the Berti Green Accelerator Programme (BGA) has filled the much needed gap for British cleantech SMEs. The people behind BGA share a common vision with Firefly Solar. This shared vision paired with the extensive experience of the management of Berti Investments and their extend network has enabled Firefly to get the advice and support it needs to grow in a sustainable manner.

Without Berti, Firefly would not have been able to move to new premises, expand the staff and grow the business at the same speed. The management at Berti has ensured that their time is made available to Firefly on an on-going basis.

Firefly has had access to a high-profile network of business leaders as a result of association with Berti. This culminated in appointing Jeremy Leggett as Chairman - one of the industry's leading thinkers.”

It’s clear to see why the Berti Green Accelerator programme is popular, but it is by no means an easy ride. The judging criteria is strict: companies must be able to demonstrate long-term, sustainable growth strategies that align with the programme’s impact-focused approach to investing. Many entrepreneurs lack experience and knowledge about certain aspects of their business, operating without financial or operational expertise. Berti Investments recognises the restraints and dilemmas these entrepreneurial businesses face, and has dedicated itself to breaking barriers and allowing entrepreneurial companies to access capital, business networks, and elite, hands-on support from experts.

Smart Investment

The low carbon sector is a key growth area in the UK, but many young, innovative start-ups entering the marketplace find themselves struggling to secure the necessary funding they need to thrive, and may also lack the guidance and mentorship they need to grow. Investor confidence in the UK’s green industry has been at an all-time low, meaning that these SMEs have to really stand out from the crowd to get the attention of investors in this hugely competitive landscape. This is where the Berti Green Accelerator Programme steps in. Berti believes in the power of smart thinking, combining investment and expertise to ensure a greater chance of building a sustainable, successful business. Berti is fully in tune with the increased scarcity of natural resources, and therefore looks to support businesses that will solve some of these related environmental and social problems.

Applications for the Berti Green Accelerator programme are now open and will close on November 7th 2013. The Berti Green Accelerator is in partnership with Coller Capital and supported by Irwin Mitchell, ecoConnect and FORE Partnership.

+ For More Information www.bertiinvestments.com/berti-green-accelerator

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For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

New evidence proves that vehicles running on LPG are lower carbon than petrol cars

This includes on average 11 per cent lower CO2 tailpipe emissions compared to the equivalent petrol model. The evidence, taken from an extensive database of vehicle testing information supplied by car manufacturers to the German government, was presented by environment expert Dr Eric Johnson of Atlantic Consulting, as part of the World LP Gas Forum in London, which is being held in the UK for the first time.

“We’ve generally known that auotgas LPG is lower carbon than petrol, but this recent evidence proves it conclusively. Indeed, what had been a trickle of automotive emissions data has now turned into a flood in recent years, which will surely give further support of the benefits of using autogas LPG and driving a bi-fuelled car.

Currently, cars powered by autogas LPG are available directly from the showroom of more than 20 different vehicle manufacturers in Europe, offering drivers savings of up to 40 per cent on their annual fuel bills. However, in stark contrast, UK motorists are being overlooked by car makers with little appetite to offer showroom ready models. Despite this there are currently some 160,000 vehicles in the UK that are powered to run on autogas LPG with an estimated 12,000 cars being converted in the aftermarket each year to run on the cheaper, cleaner fuel.

In the UK there are some 1,400 autogas LPG refuelling installations, 225 of these operated

by Autogas Limited primarily at Shell forecourts, making the fuel readily available across the country.

Conveniently most petrol cars can be converted to run on autogas LPG and it is estimated that by 2020 there will be almost 23 million vehicles worldwide running on LPG.

PTS and CPS tackle fuel poverty through launch of eco scheme Leading merchants Plumbing Trade Supplies (PTS), and City Plumbing Supplies (CPS), both part of the Travis Perkins Group, are playing a key role in the government’s ECO initiative by launching schemes with assessment provider Toriga and boiler manufacturers Ideal Heating and Valliant. ECO, which stands for Energy Company Obligation, will see the six major UK utility companies spend £325 million over the next two years. The funding will pay for energy efficiency improvements within vulnerable households, where residents receive benefits and currently spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel.

The PTS team has been busy recruiting 100 specially selected installers who will fit the new Ideal high efficiency boilers into eligible households, at no charge to the homeowner. CPS has simultaneously been working with its chosen installers to fit Valliant boilers across the UK. The installers, who are all PAS 2030 accredited, will be marketing ECO in their local areas with PTS and CPS branches supplying the boilers and paying for their time. Energy efficiency assessments will also be conducted by the official assessment and Green Deal provider of the Travis Perkins Group, Toriga.

ECO is open to fuel poor households, designated as those with annual incomes lower than £15,910.

The scheme is restricted to private sector tenants and those living in private housing who are in receipt of certain benefits and tax credits, such as pension credit, child tax credit, income support or a disability premium.

The 'genetics of sand' may shed new light on evolutionary process over millions of years

An evolutionary ecologist at the University of Southampton, is using 'grains of sand' to understand more about the process of evolution. Dr Thomas Ezard is using the fossils of microscopic aquatic creatures called planktonic foraminifera, often less than a millimetre in size, which can be found in all of the world's oceans. The remains of their shells now resemble grains of sand to the naked eye and date back hundreds of millions of years.

Dr Ezard’s paper opens the debate on the best way to understand how new species come into existence (speciation). The debate concerns whether fossil records such as those of the planktonic foraminifera, contain useful evidence of speciation over and above the molecular study of evolution. Molecular evolution traditionally uses evidence from species that are alive today to determine what their ancestors may have looked like, whereas this new research promotes the importance of using fossil records in conjunction with the molecular models.

Dr Ezard, from Biological Sciences and the Institute for Life Sciences at Southampton, says: "Because planktonic foraminifera have been around for many millions of years and rocks containing groups of their species can be dated precisely, we can use their fossils to see evidence of how species evolve over time. We can also see how differences between individual members of species develop and, in theory, how a new species comes into existence.

The controversial hypothesis we test is that the processes leading to a new species coming into existence provoke a short, sharp burst of rapid genetic change. This is controversial because it is very difficult to detect these new species coming into existence accurately without the fossil data; it is more commonly determined from assumptions made from the study of species alive today using molecular evidence."

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 11 |

News

Window scrappage scheme launched by Anglian Home Improvements

Anglian Home Improvements has launched a new window scrappage scheme enabling homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and get up to £3,000 off when they upgrade to energy saving windows.

From 2nd October 2013, old windows can be traded in for money off Anglian’s A-rated energy saving EcoGain windows, which not only keep draughts out but also trap sunlight to help to heat the home, bringing energy bills down. The advanced technology and attention to detail behind Anglian’s EcoGain windows make them some of the most thermally efficient double glazed windows on the market.

The promotion will run throughout October and November, giving homeowners a chance to upgrade their windows before the worst of the winter. The more windows you replace through the scrappage scheme, the greater the discount.

The average home leaks up to £280 of energy every year, with windows being one of the most problematic areas in terms of energy and heat loss. In fact, a huge 30% of a home’s energy can be lost through inefficient windows and doors, which is particularly disturbing in light of the ever increasing energy prices.

For more information, visit www.anglian-window-scrappage.co.uk

Wirral, Biffa and Police launch safe driving campaign

Municipal contractor Biffa, Wirral Council and local police have joined forces to try and cut driving-related dangers to Biffa’s crews who collect recycling and refuse from Wirral households.

The initiative is backed by a police-supported protocol for reporting, investigating and prosecuting offences that could cause injury or damage. These include cars being driven on pavements, or driving too close and so endangering Biffa crews; cars hitting Biffa vehicles, crew or bins, whether or not injuries or damage are caused; and threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour towards Biffa staff.

The protocol is supported by the Environmental Services Association (ESA), the trade association for the waste and resource management sector, of which Biffa is a member. The ESA sees this protocol as a model which other waste management companies and police forces could draw on when tackling this important issue.

Countrystyle awarded biowaste treatment contract

Countrystyle Group has been awarded an interim biowaste treatment contract by Buckinghamshire County Council.

Under the contract, Countrystyle is responsible for the receipt and treatment of approximately 30,000 tonnes of green waste and mixed food and green waste from three of the four District Councils in Buckinghamshire. As part of this contract, Countrystyle will also provide bulking services and haulage of all materials to treatment facilities using their own fleet of vehicles.

The biowaste materials will be treated at Countrystyle’s Ridham In-Vessel Composting facility in Kent or at the Laverstoke Park Farm Open Windrow Composting facility in Hampshire. The biowaste will be processed into a PAS 100 certified compost product, which will be used by farmers as an organic fertiliser to improve agricultural lands.

The Wirral campaign, asks drivers to be patient, tolerant and safe when they encounter Biffa staff and their vehicles out collecting refuse and recycling in the area.

According to Biffa business manager Gary Robinson, there has been a worrying increase in the number of ‘near-misses’ where his crews have been endangered by impatient drivers who don’t want to be held up for a few minutes.

The incidents reported by Biffa’s Wirral crews in 2012-13 include driving too fast and too close to get round collection vehicles, squeezing too tightly past crews on narrow roads, and even mounting pavements.

Across Biffa’s 40-plus local authority contracts last year, there were close to 670 reports of bad driving incidents and near-misses, with three Biffa staff actually being hit by vehicles.

Gary commented: “My crews are only trying to do their job. That’s what local residents want and expect them to do. All we’re asking for is some consideration by other road users. Our vehicles don’t hold up traffic for long, and drivers are usually soon on their way, so it really isn’t necessary to get impatient, frustrated or angry.”

Saying that drivers wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, behave in such an irresponsible way if a bus was dropping off schoolchildren or the elderly, he added: “So why should they when Biffa workers are out doing their important job?”

CRedit360 named among global leaders for proven sustainability software by independent analyst firm

CRedit360 has been named as a leader in the global sustainability software market by the 2013 Green Quadrant Sustainability Management Software Report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. With 93% of companies surveyed placing enhanced data quality at the heart of sustainability performance management, absolute precision in collecting, managing and analysing social and environmental data is vital. Award-winning sustainability software specialist CRedit360 ranks among the five leading software providers worldwide for its proven technical capabilities, strong understanding of corporate sustainability challenges and consistent delivery across all key areas. | 12 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Incidents of dangerous or impatient driving, as well as threatening or abusive behaviour, will be reported formally to local police who have committed to investigate such incidents. Offenders could face fines, community service or court prosecution.

MORE DRYING, LESS TIME! Our new Gorenje tumble dryer D9664E has a remarkable capacity of 9KG and one of the best energy ratings on the market!

Our D9664E comes with a heat pump meaning we offer a A-40% energy rating and Senor IQ technology so your laundry is dried just right every time!

www.gorenje.co.uk

News

Refocus: The Castlegate MIMA Photography Prize Artist Gayle Chong Kwan has unveiled a large scale photographic work, over 38 meters wide it is sited at the prominent riverside location of Castlegate shopping centre in Stockton-on-Tees.

This commission has come about through collaboration between mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), Lathe Investments Limited and Angelo, Gordon & Co (the owners of Castlegate shopping centre) and Stockton Borough Council.

Chong Kwan was invited to produce the inaugural commission by an esteemed panel of selectors: Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph; Professor John Kippin, Lecturer in Photography, Sunderland University; Greg

| 14 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Hobson, Senior Curator of Photography, National Media Museum, Bradford; Kate Brindley, Director, mima; Reuben Kench, Head of Culture & Leisure, Stockton Borough Council; and Tim Cornford, Asset Management Director, Lathe Investments Limited.

The commission launches REFOCUS: The Castlegate mima Photography Prize, a new biennial prize for photography.

Following a period of local historical research and engagement with local residents, Chong Kwan has created Arripare a mythical island seemingly hovering between arrival and appearance or departure and disappearance.

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Arripare

Gayle Chong Kwan

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 15 |

News

Global investigation reveals true scale of ocean warming

A new, comprehensive, global study, including researchers from NERC's delivery partner, SAMS, has found that the world's marine systems are reacting to climate change on a scale greater than scientists previously thought. The report, 'Global imprint of climate change on marine life', was led by the University of Queensland along with 17 institutions across the world, including the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), of which NERC is a partner institution.

The three-year research project, shows that complete shifts are widespread in a number of marine biological responses, including the distribution of species and phenology - the timing of nature's calendar. It also shows that these shifts are comparable to or greater than those observed on land.

One of the report's lead authors, Professor Mike Burrows in the Department of Ecology at SAMS, said the study was "the most comprehensive review of published reports of the effects of climate change in the sea. Most of the effects we saw were as expected from changes in climate. So, most shifts in the distributions of, say, fishes and corals, were towards the poles, and most events in springtime, like spawning, were earlier. Despite the increase in temperatures in the ocean being smaller than on land, the changes in ecology were every bit as evident in the sea, and sometimes even bigger."

The team worked through hundreds of published papers to compile a global database of observed marine biological responses to regional and global climate change.

| 16 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Among numerous parallel observations, the report shows that over a 40-year period the global average of species displacement was 75 kilometres, which is up to ten times the figure for terrestrial displacement. The most noticeable effects were seen in phytoplankton, zooplankton and bony fish.

"Some of the biggest shifts in relation to changing climate were in the North Sea, with some fish and plankton shifting northwards at up to 200km per decade over the last 50 years" said Mike Burrows.

The researchers also found that spring phenology in the oceans have advanced by more than four days, nearly twice as fast as on land. The strength of response varied among species, with the greatest advancement of up to 11 days in invertebrate zooplankton and larval bony fish.

Other evidence indicating that climate change is the primary driver behind the observed changes was the opposing responses within a community of warm-water and cold-water species.

In total, 83% of all the observations, whether for distribution, phenology, community composition, abundance, or demography, across different populations and ocean basins, were consistent with the expected impacts of climate change.

"The effects of climate change on marine life might not be immediately visible, but when, for example, fish we are used to catching in Scotland, like mackerel, shift away from our waters in search of cooler climes, the economic and political consequences can be severe", said Mike Burrows.

Flรกvio Mendonรงa

News

Staffordshire County Council chooses APT Technologies to provide vehicle charging solutions

Staffordshire County Council, in conjunction with the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) and the Government funded Plugged-in-Place Scheme is acting on its environmental responsibilities by providing electric vehicle (EV) charging posts from APT Technologies, supplier of the Evolt range of futureproof EV charging solutions.

The venture has been set up to work with local businesses, to help them to generate environmentally conscious transport options for staff and visitors. The scheme is focussed on the eastern quadrant of the town where the presence of major employers attracts increased traffic.

APT Technologies has installed eight dual outlet single phase posts and four dual outlet single phase wall mounts, which provide a total of 24 charging points located at Stafford station, the Borough Council Southwalls car park and Castle Hill car park, Staffordshire Technology Park, Staffordshire University, Staffordshire hospital, Perkins Engines, Alstom Power and Stafford’s Ministry of Defence base.

The design of Evolt’s outdoor dual charging posts, which includes an anti-tampering mechanism, is ideal for both roadside and car park locations. Already built to last, the charging posts’ design has recently been further updated to ensure that they blend in with the environment. Simple to use and fully compliant with EU regulations, the systems provide a user-friendly service that also prevents electrical theft

Accoya® wood Life Service Extended to 70 years

Following third party testing of Accoya® - the worldleading modified wood manufactured by Accsys Technologies – its expected service life is now independently reported as extending to 70 years when used for window joinery in the UK and Europe.

The tests were carried by TRADA Technology and following their findings researchers confirmed that when Accoya is used for window joinery, which includes glazed doors, it can achieve a service life of 70 years, if used in Europe.

Bryan Crennell, Director of Sales and Marketing at Accsys Technologies, said: “These findings reaffirm that Accoya is one of, if not the most superior wood product on the market today. Given our confidence in Accoya we already offer our customers a 50 year warranty on the product, however we, like I’m sure many of our customers will be, are thrilled that to learn that Accoya has been independently verified as durable for up to 70 years.”

| 18 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Homes built with SIPS save £50,000 on energy bills

Households are paying more for less as energy bills rise despite reduced consumption, with the average home in England and Wales using eight per cent less electricity and 25 per cent less gas in 2011 than in 2005, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics today.

But homes built with modern techniques will save their occupants nearly £50,000 on energy bills over 25 years compared to traditional houses, according to new research.

The figures, based on a typical four-bedroom detached house, come after increased demand for new homes saw the construction industry expand by its fastest pace in a year in June.

SipBuild UK - which supplies and constructs structural insulated panels on-site - found savings increase from £1,000 in the first year to £3,225 in year 25 based on a five per cent annual fuel price increase. According to industry regulator Ofgem's latest report, utility bills have risen on average £270 over the past three years - an increase of nearly 10 per cent a year. It also predicts that gas and electricity bills will rise by £95 over the next year for a standard tariff, dual fuel customer based on a current average annual bill of £1,420 per year.

SLR provides Specialist Planning Advice to World’s first Tidal Lagoon scheme

Leading environmental firm SLR Consulting has been appointed to provide strategic planning advice for the world’s first tidal lagoon power station in Swansea Bay ahead of an application to the Planning Inspectorate later this year.

The project, by developer Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay PLC (TLSB) will be capable of generating 240MW of renewable energy on both the flood and ebb tide, providing enough electricity for all of Swansea’s domestic use. The lagoon will also act as a sporting and leisure destination for water sports, along with opportunities for walking and cycling on the lagoon wall.

SLR is supporting TLSB through the provision of specialist Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) consenting advice as well as preparing the project’s supporting Planning Statement, alongside input from the client’s legal advisors DLA Piper. than supercar enthusiasts may like).

To achieve the target fuel consumption figure the XL1 was aerodynamically optimised, adopting the classic ‘tear drop’ shape and utilising innovations such as removing traditional wing mirrors and replacing them with small cameras called e-Mirrors which transmit exterior images to interior displays.

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The Urdaibai estuary and biosphere reserve, Bilbao, Spain.

Scottish ospreys help Spain reintroduction Twelve young Scottish ospreys have been released on the north Spanish coast near Bilbao, as the first stage of a five-year project to restore breeding ospreys to the Basque country.

Last year, the Biscay Regional Council and the Urdaibai Bird Center asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for permission for the project. SNH issued a special licence in 2013 to Roy Dennis of the Highland Foundation for Wildlife to collect 12 young ospreys from nests with more than one young in the Scottish Highlands and Moray.

The 12 ospreys were all released in the Basque country and are faring extremely well. Five days after being released, one of the birds even caught its first fish in the estuary.

Once released, the young birds were able to come back to nest platforms containing a daily supply of fresh fish which they would take away and eat, as if a parent had provided food for them.

The birds were released at Urdaibai estuary to the north of Bilbao. This estuary is regularly used by migrating Scottish ospreys, travelling to and from West Africa in spring and autumn. In fact, it was the temporary home in spring 2008 of the famous osprey, Logie, tracked by Roy Dennis using the first GPS satellite transmitter fitted to a British osprey.

At that time, Aitor Galarza, who is now involved in the osprey reintroduction, found and photographed

Logie. This resulted in a partnership between Scotland and the Basque country to restore breeding ospreys.

This project follows the successful reintroduction of ospreys to Andalusia in southern Spain, which involved birds from Germany, Finland and Scotland.

The first pair to breed in 2008 was a Scottish female and German male. In 2013, the project team in Andalusia identified 13 breeding pairs. The osprey had been extinct for many years in mainland Spain.

In early July this year, suitable nests were visited between Caithness and Strathspey and 12 young birds were selected. They came from nests on private land or Forestry Commission Scotland land.

Birds were inspected by Jane Harley of the Grantownon-Spey vet practice on 8 July and at dawn the next day they were taken to Aberdeen airport and flown

by British Airways to Heathrow. Roy Dennis and Dr Aitor Galarza from the Biscay Department of the Environment accompanied the ospreys and were able to feed them en route to Spain at the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow Airport.

Later that night, they reached the specially-built cages overlooking Urdaibai estuary to the north of Bilbao. Three birds were placed in each cage and were fed by the bird centre staff on fresh fish delivered through openings in the back of cages. The young ospreys were unable to see the people feeding them and during July they grew to full-size, learnt to fly and were able to watch activities on the estuary.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 19 |

News Re-usable gas cylinder collection

UKLPG, the trade association of the LP Gas industry and The British Compressed Gas Association (BCGA) have recently joined forces to launch a telephone service to ensure the prompt collection of empty cylinders from civic amenity (CA) sites.

LP Gas and industrial gases are sold to customers in reusable cylinders that remain the property of the individual gas companies. The cylinders themselves are valuable assets, but they often end up in the waste stream where they can cause issues for CA site operators, due to their potentially hazardous contents. It is therefore essential that cylinder brand owners work to ensure that they are notified of their assets being discarded, and in turn, collect them promptly.

However, despite deposit and rental schemes and guidance to customers regarding their return, more than 150,000 reusable and serviceable gas cylinders are brought to CA sites. In the past, the system has relied upon sites to contact each company directly, which could be very time consuming.

However, this new scheme, launched on the 1st July, aims to simplify the process. Where there is not a pre-existing arrangement already in place with a brand owner, calling a maximum of three telephone numbers will ensure prompt collection of all UKLPG and BCGA member companies’ reusable cylinders, free of charge.

To have BOC cylinders collected call: 0800 111333 To have Calor Gas cylinders collected call: 01179 413721 For all other gas cylinders call: 0845 017 7049 By law, branded gas cylinders belong to the individual company and if there is no routine authorised collection arrangement at that site already in place, calling the telephone contact points means that cylinders belonging to UKLPG and BCGA members will be collected within 15 working days, free of charge to the CA site.

Wigan Council improves highways drainage with Yotta DCL bespoke gulley surveys

Wigan Council has awarded Yotta DCL a contract to undertake gulley silt level surveys following a recent asset inventory survey performed by the company.

The highways technology and surveying company has completed the first of an anticipated three surveys across 1040km of Wigan council’s highway network, collecting detailed gulley data for 58,000 gullies in just 10 weeks. Wigan Council will use the data to provide silt depth trends over a three-year period subject to funding, which will help determine how frequently road gullies need emptying enabling the Council to plan more effective, targeted gulley cleaning to reduce the risk of possible flooding and inconvenience to motorists.

Wigan Council currently cleans classified road gullies annually, with those draining unclassified and residential roads cleaned every three years. The surveys will help with monitoring whether this level of treatment is sufficient for the different road types or if additional cleaning is necessary to keep the gullies flowing effectively.

As part of the survey Yotta DCL has also collected gulley condition data for the Council, so that the asset management team has detailed information on the current condition of frames, tops and pots.

This will assist us in prioritising long term planned programmes of maintenance to repair cracked gulley pots for example.

| 20 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Lantra set to launch new business tool

Supporting skills and boosting productivity in the land-based and environmental industries has always been a key priority for Sector Skills Council Lantra. The organisation is launching a brand new Business Centre website this year, which assimilates a range of resources designed to help businesses flourish and grow.

The Business Centre contains a variety of tools including a Business Performance Checklist, Health and Safety List, Business Planning and Performance Analysis Templates, advertising job opportunities, Work Experience Guides and important financial guidelines. Through using these resources businesses can reap a host of benefits including improved staff training and performance management, increased staff motivation, better financial understanding and more effective health and safety policies.

Unlike other online web solutions, Lantra’s Business Centre provides information and guidance specific to industries in the land-based and environmental sector, such as agriculture, forestry, veterinary science and animal care.

Leadership and management training also forms a key part of the Business Centre. With its vast experience of supporting businesses in the sector, Lantra recognises the importance of training and development and has created a suite of Leadership and Management qualifications. In addition E-learning provides a practical, flexible and convenient method of learning, designed to fit around learners’ needs and availability.

Lantra’s Skills Manager, a tool for recording skills and training needs, also forms a key part of the Business Centre. Skills Manager is based on the National Occupational Standards (NOS), so it outlines the skills required for employees’ roles. Skills Manager allows employers to record and update employees’ skills, training and qualifications in one central location.

For further information please contact David Seffen on 028 7946 9326 or david.seffen@lantra.co.uk.

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Retro Expo relocates to London with an exciting new format and line up

In response to industry feedback, Retro Expo will be taking a different format this year. The two day event, now taking place on 05 and 06 December at the Business Design Centre in London, will comprise of five core elements: • The Retrofit Summit - a one day policy conference on 05 December exploring the refurbishment and energy efficient retrofit of existing buildings from a national, strategic perspective.

• The Retrofit London Conference - supported by the Mayor of London, this event on 06 December will explore the challenges and opportunities of low carbon retrofits in the capital.

• A series of workshops looking at the technical aspects of retrofits.

• An exhibition of retrofit innovation featuring approximately 70 exhibitors including leading names such as BASF, Kingspan, ABBE and SIG360 Retrofit • The Retro Expo Awards Ceremony The Retrofit Summit builds on the success of last year's Retro Expo, which took place over three days at the NEC and attracted over 3,000 visitors. Aimed at policy makers and senior personnel from the public, property, construction, legal, finance and project management sectors the Summit programme will follow two themes: Winning Business and Retrofit Better.

The conference will look at how to engage with customers effectively and will examine the challenges of delivering retrofits in order to meet demand. Key note speakers include: Peter Whittington, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills; Solitaire Townsend, Futerra; Brian Berry, Federation of Master Builders; David Adams, Willmott Dixon Energy Services; and Terry McGivern, Institute for Sustainability.

The Retrofit London Conference, developed in partnership with the Institute for Sustainability, will draw upon the expertise of experienced retrofitters and disseminate best practice from clients who have already piloted retrofit projects, providing social housing stock landlords, businesses and other local stakeholders with strategic and practical support to better develop their approach.

This event is one of 12 regional Retrofit Roadshows that is shining a spotlight on the low carbon building refurbishment and retrofit opportunities on a region by region basis across the UK. This year's Retro Expo Awards have 12 categories recognising excellence in retrofit products, innovation, design and delivery across the domestic, commercial and public sector markets. Winners will be announced at The Retro Expo Award ceremony taking place following the Retrofit Summit on the evening of 05 December 2013 at the Business Design Centre in London.

Entry to Retro Expo is free.

Tickets for the Retrofit Summit cost £195 per person + VAT. To book your Retrofit Summit tickets, download a programme or to register for Retro Expo please visit: www.retro-expo.co.uk

Carbon Trust unlaces the ‘carbon bootprint’ of watching football

New research by the Carbon Trust unveils the ‘carbon bootprint’ of watching football. The research finds that when watching on your own then the lowest carbon way to watch football is by using a smartphone or tablet connected to broadband internet. Emissions for this can be as much as eight times lower than watching on television, mostly due to the smaller size of the screen. Thanks to advances in technology more fans are choosing to follow their team live on computers, smartphones and tablets. In the UK 27 per cent of smartphone owners, and 63 per cent of tablet owners, are now using their device to watch live TV. But the research reveals that when it comes to impact on the climate, then streaming on a personal device can also be the highest carbon way to watch the broadcast of a game. If mobile data is used then this increases the carbon bootprint of

watching the game by at least ten times compared to a broadband connection. Mobile data transmission can be very energy intensive - watching a whole game could have the same associated emissions as driving ten miles in an average petrol car.

In general sharing a television screen with multiple people, either at home or in the pub, remains the lowest carbon way to watch football per viewer.

Different devices and screen sizes can vary greatly in energy consumption. With televisions LED screens are most energy efficient, followed by LCD and then plasma. Watching on a plasma screen could result in lifetime emissions a third higher than a similar sized LED television. Similarly a laptop could result in less than half the emissions compared to watching on a desktop computer.

Going to see a game live at the stadium is the most carbon intensive way of watching football particularly for an away game – due to the impact of transport. But food and drink consumed during a game can still make a significant contribution to an individual bootprint, depending eating and drinking choices.

To show this impact of a stadium full of fans the Carbon Trust has worked with The FA to calculate the carbon bootprint of The FA Community Shield game between Manchester United and Wigan. This is estimated to be approximately 5,160 tonnes of carbon dioxide, with 5,000 tonnes of that amount coming from fan travel. This is equivalent to the total annual emissions from energy use for around 1,000 average UK households.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 21 |

News

Geography students from the University of Derby visit the tanneries in Marrakech

Geography course gains rare national accreditation

TThe University of Derby’s BSc (Hons) Geography course has been officially accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES). It is only the third Geography-related undergraduate honours degree course in the UK to achieve this status.

The IES is a UK-based professional body, founded in 1971, which promotes and raises public awareness of environmental science, and the work of scientists and academics working in the sector. It is regularly consulted by government and other agencies, and has members around the world.

Accreditation with the IES means that Derby students can join the IES with Student Member status for free, which carries professional benefits which may be of help in their future career.

Mapei awarded Energy Saving Trust recommended certification

Mapei has been awarded Energy Saving Trust recommended certification for its external wall insulation system, Mapetherm System. The system utilises sustainable alternatives to traditional insulation materials and demonstrates the firm’s ongoing commitment to providing sustainable building solutions, for both commercial and domestic application.

The Energy Saving Trust recommended approved Mapetherm System consists of adhesive, insulation, base coat, mesh, primer and finish. The system helps retain heat and guarantees significant energy savings. It has already achieved considerable recognition worldwide, in building solutions.

| 22 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

News Avery Dennison Cleanflake™ portfolio receives sustainability award at label industry global awards

Avery Dennison has been named winner of the Sustainability Award at the Label Industry Global Awards for its CleanFlake™ Film Portfolio - which features a switchable adhesive that debonds at the recycling centre to make PET recycling more effective.

With more than two billion PET containers a year failing to enter the recycling stream, finding a way to recycle them and improve the yields of recycled PET (rPET) is an extremely important industry goal.

CleanFlake is a patent-pending adhesive technology that “switches off” when submerged in a recycling bath so the label cleanly separates from the PET flakes.

Although these labels adhere firmly to PET bottles or containers during use, they detach readily in a conventional recycling facility and float to the surface of the bath, allowing clean PET flakes to sink to the bottom for easier reclamation and improved rPET yields.

This is the second consecutive year that Avery Dennison has taken an award home during Labelexpo for the CleanFlake innovation. The company received the Global Green Award during Labelexpo 2012 in Chicago. In addition, the product has received the Society of Plastic Engineers Environmental Award in the Design for Sustainability category this year and the Koreastar, Asiastar and Worldstar packaging awards between 2012 and 2013.

Plans announced for the capital's first heat from waste network

Southwark Council and its recycling and waste partner Veolia Environmental Services have announced plans to supply heating and hot water to parts of the borough generated through the South East London Combined Heat and Power energy recovery facility (SELCHP). The heating network will be the first of its kind in London and will mark the first time that the heating potential of the SELCHP facility has been fully realised since it was built in 1990’s by CNIM SA. The scheme, to be complete by the end of the year, represents an overall investment of £7 million. Following the construction of the Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility on Old Kent Road, Southwark Council is already able divert more of the borough’s waste than ever before from landfill, This scheme offers further environmental improvements by allowing waste that cannot be recycled to provide low carbon heat to five estates in SE16.

Switching off the existing gas boilers on the five estates in Rotherhithe will result in a reduction of around 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per annum.

The pioneering scheme presents a viable alternative to traditional gas fired boilers.

It will provide sustainable and secure heating for the Southwark homes it serves and promises to deliver long-term energy cost savings to residents. The scheme will run for 20 years, after which the council will decide whether to retain the scheme or revert to the traditional supply of gas.

Since its inception, the SELCHP facility has generated electricity, which fed into the National Grid but until now, the extraction of heat, in the form of hot water created as part of the energy process, has not been possible. The facility processes around 430,000 tonnes of waste each year. deaths in the UK, with a staggering 26% rise year on year. The severe cold weather is dangerous especially for vulnerable people; the cold weather increases the risk of heart attacks, which in turn accounts for 40% of winter deaths. In an attempt to reduce this figure, the partnership identified those vulnerable households in Tyneside and Northumberland as being at risk and took steps to protect them over the cold winter months. 30,000 homes received warm home information and around 3,000 homes were visited to offer free checks and advice. Warm Zones and Health through Warmth delivered free insulation and heating services while draught proofing was organised through Home Improvement Agencies.

| 24 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

5-7 MAY 2014 PRAGATI MAIDAN NEW DELHI, INDIA

POWERING INDIA’S GROWTH

CALL FOR PAPERS

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FRIDAY 25 OCTOBER 2013 Join experts from the Indian and international power industry for the joint annual POWER-GEN India & Central Asia, Renewable Energy World India, HydroVision India and DistribuTECH India 2014 conference and exhibition as the event returns to New Delhi under the theme Powering India’s Growth.

POWER-GEN India & Central Asia has an unrivalled reputation for attracting senior executives and industry leaders from across the globe. This is your opportunity to impart your knowledge and experience and join this informative, quality event reaching the region’s key decision makers.

We invite you to be a part of the rapid investment in India & Central Asia by speaking at this event and adding to the debate about key implementation challenges for India’s electricity sector and long term sustainable energy supplies, as growth and demand for power intensifies.

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT TODAY: Renewable Energy World India HydroVision India Amy Nash Conference Manager T: +44 (0) 1992 656 621 E: amyn@pennwell.com

POWER-GEN India & Central Asia DistribuTECH India Samantha Malcolm Conference Manager T: +44 (0) 1992 656 619 E: samantham@pennwell.com

www.power-genindia.com www.distributechindia.com

www.renewableenergyworldindia.com www.hydrovisionindia.com

FOR DETAILS ON SPONSORSHIP AND EXHIBITING OPPORTUNITIES VISIT THE WEBSITE TODAY. Event Organizer:

Presented by:

Supporting Organization:

News / The Watercooler

Kebony receives the TTJ Award for Engineered Timber

Kebony’s revolutionary, sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood has been awarded the Timber Trades Journal awards for Achievement in Engineered Timber. This award recognises that the design and construction of KREOD took engineered wood to a new level with technically demanding and ground-breaking applications in joinery and construction. Kebony was used for the construction of the new London landmark, KREOD. The structure is innovative, organic in form, environmentally-friendly and inspired by nature. Kebony, KREOD’s primary component, is a pioneering company at the pinnacle of global, environmental and sustainable innovation.

First chair of BREEAM Europe board elected

The new BREEAM Europe Board has elected Sverre Tiltnes, CEO of Norwegian Green Building Council (NGBC), as its first chair.

Tiltnes is a leading innovator in the Norwegian building and real estate sector, Before his appointment as CEO of NGBC, he spent five years as manager of Norway's EcoBuild programme and was project manager of the country's unified selection process, which led to BREEAM being chosen as the national environmental assessment method.

Eaton Names new President – EMEA

Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton has named Kurt McMaken president – Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

Prior to this appointment, McMaken served as vice president, finance and planning, for the Electrical Sector’s EMEA Region. He joined Eaton in 2001 as an associate in corporate planning and development and was named senior vice president, corporate development and treasury, in 2009. Prior to Eaton, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.

Reconomy continues to grow its team

Reconomy has appointed Tom Seward to the role of National Corporate Account Manager. Bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise pertinent to the role, Tom will oversee the strategic development of Reconomy’s national key accounts across a varied client portfolio that includes major blue chip clients such as Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey.

Winners of the Ocean Exchange2013 awards announced

Each award includes a $100,000 prize from worldwide sponsors Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL). Advancing a commercially viable shipping and logistics solution for increased sustainability through zero-emissions, transport on land and at sea, the WWL Orcelle® Award of 2013 and $100,000 has been awarded to ECOsubsea and their ecological way of underwater hull cleaning.

ECOsubsea has developed technology that allows ship owners to clean their vessels in an environmentally responsible way while in port and conducting cargo operations. The ECOsubsea hull-cleaning system meets the key challenges that include: high collection rate of biofouling debris; preservation of vessel coating during cleaning; and safer operation through greatly reducing the need for divers.

This year’s $100,000 Gulfstream Navigator Award 2013 was given to WITT Energy Harvesting Transmission Collecting Power from All Sea Motion by WITT Limited: The device takes natural energy, which is produced by the movement of water, wind, humans, animals or vehicles, and converts it into usable energy. These Solutions reduce the use of nature’s resources and waste and increase productivity and economic wellbeing.

Chris Gray joins the Institute of Groundsmanship as Head of Education

Chris Gray has been appointed head of education at the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG). Armed with more than 30 years’ experience working in the turf care and education sectors, His background includes practical experience in both the private and local authority sectors - having maintained and managed golf courses, bowling greens, cricket, football and rugby pitches,. He was also a full time lecturer at an agricultural college and more recently an office manager at an awarding organisation. A Fellow of the IOG, Chris holds IOG qualifications NPC, NTC, NID and NDT, as well as an MSc a post-graduate diploma in computing, a BSc (Hons) degree, and diplomas in geography and information technology.

ETI expands its Smart Systems and Heat commercial team

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has recruited three more specialists to its Smart Systems and Heat (SSH) commercial team The ETI SSH programme is focused on developing systems that deliver efficient heat and comfort to meet local requirements across the UK. It was launched last year by Prime Minister, David Cameron.

John Farrington joins as Partnership Development Manager on secondment from ETI Member EDF Energy. John will be responsible for securing project partners, including local authorities, and developing commercial consortiums and collaborations to support demonstration delivery of the designed systems in the second phase of the programme. Tony Dicicco joins as Policy and Economics Manager, having previously held a number of senior roles with EDF Energy and npower. As Policy and Economic Manager, his focus will initially be on identifying the policy and regulatory implications of the programme. Finally, John Higgins joins as Commercial Manager from Babcock Support Services where he was previously Head of Commercial for its NonDefence Support Services. John will be responsible for researching, identifying, developing and formulating commercial, financial and contractual structures to support the programme.

| 26 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

SummitSkills has announced today that Keith Marshall, OBE is stepping down as Chief Executive of the organisation.

Recent weeks have seen the culmination of a great deal of hard work and activity, with the Board deciding the organisation’s strategy into 2014 and an immediate restructure in preparation for that change. This has cut costs and reshaped the organisation recognising current conditions.

SummitSkills will sharpen its focus on activities that bring greatest value to the sector.

Ian Livsey, Chair, said ‘Keith has led the organisation for the last ten years through challenging and changing times in the sector. We are grateful for his commitment and achievements and he leaves SummitSkills with our thanks and best wishes.

ENVIRON appoints senior specialist for unconventional gas and oil sector growth ENVIRON has appointed Rob Jones as a Consultant to strengthen the firm’s UK and European technical expertise and increase business opportunities in the unconventional oil and gas sector, in particular shale gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Rob Jones has over 22 years’ experience in geology, geoscience, environmental risk and project management. His expertise includes deep rock characterisation, geochemistry, quantitative soil and groundwater risk assessments for chemical and radiological contaminants, EIA and Environmental Statements, and provision of planning, permitting, environmental and financial advice. He joins ENVIRON from Cuadrilla Resources where, as Environment and Planning Specialist, he provided environmental, geoscience and planning expertise to its exploration and development teams.

New Education Manager joins RFS

Phil Tanner has been appointed Education Manager for the Royal Forestry Society (RFS) with a mandate to deliver first-class support for those working in woodland management, for students and educational establishments.

Phil, 33, was formerly Curriculum Team Leader for Countryside Management qualifications at Moulton College (part of the University of Northampton), and before that ran countryside courses at Cirencester Sixth Form College. He gained his BSc(Hons) in Countryside Management at Aberystwyth University, spending time in Montana University's Forestry Department studying the impact of squirrels on forestry He also ran a rare breeds farm in North London and acted as a Conservation in Action Warden for the National Trust.

Bluesky Appoints Donna Lyndsay as Business Strategist

Aerial mapping company Bluesky has appointed Donna Lyndsay to the position of Business Strategist. With over 20 years’ experience in the Geographic Information industry Lyndsay brings a wealth of skills and expertise in the development and launch to market of exciting geographic data products.

Lyndsay previously held positions with Landmark Information Group, Stanfords map shop and Earth Resource Mapping before establishing her own specialist consultancy business.

BRE Appoints Business Development Director

Dr Miles Watkins has joined BRE to take up the key new position of Group Business Development Director. Miles will lead on formulating commercial strategies for the organisation A professional environmentalist with an outstanding career, Dr Watkins spent 17 years at Aggregate Industries before joining BRE. His final role was as Director of Sustainable Construction, where his responsibilities included marketing, safety, innovation and external and internal communications. Dr Watkins is a founding member of the UK Green Building Council.

Chaudfontaine Joins the EWS Pioneers

Chaudfontaine has become the first European mineral water bottling plant to receive a goldlevel European Water Stewardship (EWS) certificate The EWS certification, which guides water users to assess and improve their water management, was handed over by Control Union Certifications in Chaudfontaine, Belgium. This gold-level certificate highlights the work that Chaudfontaine has completed on their journey to becoming a water stewards.

Renewables expert joins SgurrEnergy

SgurrEnergy welcomes Alan Mortimer, as director of innovation. After over 20 years in leading roles at ScottishPower, Alan’s new role will be pivotal in shaping SgurrEnergy for the challenges of the next decade, to ensure that the company’s success and growth continues.

Joining the workforce of over 180 global staff, Alan will inform and guide SgurrEnergy’s strategic direction and bring his decades of experience in the electricity supply industry to bear on SgurrEnergy’s future service and product offerings to the renewable energy sector.

AMEC appoints new Managing Director of Environment & Infrastructure Europe business

AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has appointed Rob Brown as Managing Director of its Environment & Infrastructure Europe business, reporting to John Pearson, AMEC’s Group President, Europe.

Mr Brown is a chemical engineer with more than 20 years management experience in environmental, waste, oil and gas and related industries, most recently with URS and Worley Parsons.

Record rating for repairs company

Kier in Boston is celebrating after being awarded High Scoring New Entrant in the BITC 2013 East of England Environmental Index.

The company employs over 80 people throughout the region carrying out repairs and maintenance on approximately 9,000 homes in Boston, Lincoln, Grimsby and Nottingham. The company recently underwent a project to develop a strategy of environmentally friendly work practices and cultural change, analysing data including fuel costs, mileage and productivity to embed efficiencies.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 27 |

News / Opinion

Jaso n Drew / Sustai nabl e R et reat

Sustainable Re t r e a t ?

The Industrial revolution is over and the sustainability revolution has begun.

Sustainable development is out and sustainable retreat is in. This changes the game for everyone. Let me explain.

Development is a comfortable word. Revolution is an entirely different matter, everybody and everything is swept up in it and changed by it. The sustainability revolution is by definition all-encompassing and will deliver a complete rethink of everything we have taken for granted as it sweeps over our ex. Sustainable retreat will be at its core.

This revolution will be more exciting, faster paced and more durable than the industrial revolution. It will smash old industries apart and create brilliant new ones. Revolutions by their very nature often drive unwanted change and some good will be swept away with the bad.

It is already creating fascinating new businesses and whole new industries that most of us are not aware of yet. It’s like being back at the dawn of the Internet age with all its possibilities.

The future used to be predictable, an extension of the present. That is no longer the case - the future is not what it used to be. To many it will seem disjointed and hard to understand. That is because for the next two decades there will be for the first time in human history two concurrent but separate futures. A part of our world will be racing towards a technological future and making innovation leaps that are hard for most of us to understand. The other future is a race towards a complete rethinking of how business works and interacts with 9 billion consumers and Mother Nature. The two futures will merge again within the next fifteen years, and at that point the future of the 21st-century will be sealed - for good or for bad.

The business of technology will be radically different. Some of the clear megatrends punching into the future include 3D printing, which will eclipse the Internet as a revolutionary business enabler. Whilst an American recently printed and fired a 3-D gun at home, the investment by NASA of $100 million to research the printing of food outlines where this technology will lead. From advances in genomics and nanotechnologies to a tipping point in computing power where software designs code humans hardly understand. Technology will change far faster in the next ten years than in the last. Just a decade ago there was no iPhone, Skype, Facebook or twitter to name a few of the things we now take for granted.

Existing Companies add 'green bolt-ons' to fundamentally doomed, outdated business models. staple of the last fifty years is gone forever and will be replaced by upgradability as the core attribute of all new products.

Peer-to-peer sales will become a trillion-dollar business and asset-sharing models will explode old concepts of ownership. Who would have thought that tens of millions of wealthy consumers would be sharing over 500,000 bicycles in major cities across the world?

Radical transparency in markets will drive new forms of governance. Ethical frameworks will replace legislation as drivers for corporate behavior from taxation issues to product lines. Look at the backlash against Nikon, who sponsor wildlife and conservation through their camera brand, but also produced a range of telescopic sights for big game hunting in Africa. Or Starbucks who volunteered to pay more tax after a consumer outcry over their tax avoidance in the UK. Companies will need to be ethical to their core – not just compliant in their annual reports.

Risks both corporate and personal will increase. New environmental legislation will now put the onus on the individual to understand what is reasonable and right, rather than rely on the letter of the law.

We will also have to take some bold moves and look at re-invention in our transnational institutions which are products of the industrial revolution and incapable of reform. We should close the UN, FAO, IMF and the World Bank to start with. We need institutes for peace, for the seas and to provide employment for the young and empower the poor – these amongst many others are the challenges of the 21st century.

The future is broken but full of opportunity.

Lets get repairing the future.

These scientific shifts are interesting but they mask the underlying fact that all businesses will be doing whatever they do in a wholly new operating environment within the next 15 years.

Sustainable retreat will define the 21st-century in business. By that I mean doing things so differently that we consume almost nothing in the process of consumption. Those companies extending their life cycle by adopting ‘green strategies’ such as minimizing waste in their production methods are simply prolonging their inevitable demise. They have not understood the radical change needed to survive the 21st-century.

There will be a new market understanding – the 19th century was about production, the 20th about selling and consumption and the 21st about sharing, repairing, durability and upgrading. Multigenerational product development – a

| 28 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Companies will need to be ethical to their core – not just compliant in their annual reports.

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www.environmentmagazine.co.uk F acing the future

News / Opinion

Steve G rant / Ocean Co n ser vat i o n

Steve Grant One can only imagine what future generations will make of us.

It's difficult to comprehend – for me and, I suspect, a great many others. The alarm bells have been sounding for some years now. I remember watching Jacques Cousteau warning us of the dangers of taking our oceans for granted back in the seventies, but we took little heed of his now prophetic words.

Now, the oceans are in real trouble.

I take the view that we should do everything we can to protect and preserve the natural world whether or not there is a direct benefit to us, on the grounds that as the world's dominant species, we have the clear, attendant an undeniable responsibility to do so. However we have turned out to be desperately poor custodians of the planet. Now, we are going to pay the price.

Now, we are in real trouble.

The oceans are becoming more acidic at the fastest rate we know of – and we are confident of the data for the last 300 million years. As I said – it's difficult to comprehend. The International Programme on the State of the Oceans has stated that “the acidification of the worlds oceans is unprecedented in known history, and that we are entering an 'unknown territory' of marine ecosystem change, exposing organisms to intolerable evolutionary pressure”.

Alex Rogers, professor of biology at Oxford, said that "The health of the ocean is spiralling downwards far more rapidly than we had thought. We are seeing greater change, happening faster, and the effects are more imminent than previously anticipated. The situation should be of the gravest concern to everyone since everyone will be affected by changes in the ability of the ocean to support life on Earth." He told us this in the same week that Gary Barlow said that it would be his last X Factor. No prizes for guessing which statement got the headlines.

It is a catalogue of disaster.

Increased acidity dissolves the calcium carbonate which forms the basis of reefs, shells and plankton at the very foundation of the food chain. Phytoplankton produce 40% of the world's oxygen. The effects of climate change and increased acidification are yet to be understood, but concentrations of phytoplankton have declined by about 40% since 1950.

The implications are mind-boggling, and make no mistake – they reach straight up the chain to homo sapiens.

On top of this, we continue of overfish. No country in the world is tackling overfishing in any meaningful way, and over 70% of the world's fish populations are over-exploited – some drastically so. We are still hoovering the ocean floor, sucking up everything and leaving a barren underwater moonscape behind – a desert that takes decades to recover even when the seas are healthy.

Add to that the fact that we are de-oxygenating the huge coastal areas principally with fertiliser run-off and sewage. A sea without enough oxygen is effectively dead.

The oceans have so far borne the brunt of the effects of climate change by absorbing excess CO2 from the atmosphere, and by absorbing heat on a planetary scale. Some 93% of the global warming increase has been absorbed by the oceans. But there is a heavy price to pay, and as the oceans have shielded us from the worst effects of warming on land, its profound effects are only now beginning to be grasped – and none of it is good news.

So what are we to do? As always, the solutions require than governments of different nations work together to better manage fishing – including lengthy moratoria in some areas – that effluents of all kinds are reduced if not eliminated, and perhaps most importantly that we take concerted action on CO2 levels.

With that in mind, it's hard to be optimistic.

One can only imagine what future generations will make of us.

| 30 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Agriculture, Food & Packaging

Jane Treasure / Sustai nab i li t y / Co sta

Sustainable Packaging in the Food and Drink Industry

By Jane Treasu re

Head of Food at Costa

The food and drink industry is key for sustainable growth across the country. As the largest manufacturing sector in the UK (FDF) the industry has a responsibility to help build a environmentally friendly, healthy and resource efficient future whilst also ensuring consumers are given the right information to understand how change has a positive impact on their lives.

| 32 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Cutting waste across the food industry

Packaging is a very important part of any food business, as this is not only what can draw the customer to a product but it is also one of the biggest produces of waste in the UK. An estimated 10.8 million tonnes of food packaging was disposed of in 2010 (gov.uk).

Recently, we re-designed our packaging to reaffirm the corporate responsibility and sustainability credentials of the business. The new packaging has been designed to use fewer resources, saving over 18 tonnes of paper annually.

It was imperative that we changed this part of the business for the better. Re-designing packaging doesn't have to mean a radical overhaul of a traditional product your customers know and love; the important thing is to look at the materials used to create packaging and what materials can be saved.

To ensure our customers see what this means in the long run for our business we have set ourselves a target to achieve zero waste to landfill by 2017.

Customers will be able to track our progress and understand how changes to products will enhance our ability to meet this target by 2017.

A one-stop source of nutritional information

Packaging has become a customers' one-stopsource of information about the contents of a product. The re-designed packaging features the government's new front-of-pack nutritional label that was developed as a hybrid of nutritional labelling by leading food, drink and health organisations such as the British Heart Foundation, the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) and Diabetes UK. The label is intended to eradicate any confusion that has risen over nutritional labelling in the past by creating one consistent measurement of calories, fat, saturates, sugars and salt within a product across the food and drink industry.

Costa is the first major coffee shop in the UK to add this new label to its food packaging. Clearly highlighting the nutritional information of food products is extremely important to help customers make healthier choices and we have a responsibility to ensure this process is made as easy as possible.

This is particularly important in a coffee shop environment, where consumers make quick decisions about the product they would like to buy.

In an increasingly fast-paced world the new frontof-pack label will enable customers to make more informed decisions about the products they select.

Sourcing and Certification

Packaging is a vital source of information about the provenance of the food in a product. Labels and certifications throughout the food and drink industry allow customers to see where their food is from and that those along the supply chain have been treated fairly. There is a growing trend for customers to be brought closer to the origin of food, as recent scandals in the food industry have raised awareness of the gap between consumers and farmers.

For the first time our product packaging will now include the Costa Foundation logo, The Foundation was established to support coffee growers around the world, with the aim of relieving poverty, advancing education and improving the health and environment of coffee-growing communities. Labels and certifications are extremely important in giving a face to those who produce what we drink and eat, encouraging consumers to see the impact of sustainable sourcing across the entire supply chain.

Sustainable Storytelling

Savings in waste across the food industry are not as evident to customers as changes in price, flavour or store design. However, it is important to demonstrate the wider impact of products they buy on the environment.

One way to illustrate changes is to set clear goals and targets that are transparent to consumers.

Costa's parent company Whitbread created the 'Good Together' corporate responsibility programme in 2009 to establish targets for team and community management, customer wellbeing and environmental management. Setting clear goals for 2017 is helping us to further innovate our packaging and products. We hope that we can continue to save resources whilst improving products for our customers in years to come.

An important step in corporate social responsibility

Improving packaging in the food industry is an important step towards developing the sector in a sustainable way, as it can cut waste, help customers make healthier food choices and demonstrate an ethical and sustainable supply chain. Companies like ours have an exciting opportunity to drive change in the industry by taking the initiative to make changes that have a big impact on the environment.

It is important to remember that sustainability in the food industry is not just about saving resources.

Packaging is also important to help customers make healthier, informed choices and the new government-led nutritional labelling will add clarity to key information on food content.

The food and drink industry has a unique opportunity to encourage customers to support sustainable changes and to help them understand that changes to packaging are just as important as changes to the price, flavour or design of a product â–

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 33 |

Air Quality

Janez Po to čni k / Clean A i r / Euro pean Co m m i ss i o n

Can we afford not to pay for clean air?

Europe is trying to move out of an unprecedented economic crisis. Many people are losing their jobs.

Poverty is on the rise. Confidence in the future is weak. In these sobering times, one might ask the question: can we afford to take time to discuss air quality? ►

By Janez Potočnik

European Commissioner for the Environment

| 34 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Web: www.ec.europa.eu/environment/air

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 35 |

Air Quality

Janez Po to čni k / Clean A i r / Euro pean Co m m i ss i o n

By applying existing technology on the widest possible scale, we can reduce health impacts by as much as 100,000 premature deaths a year...

Janez Potočnik speaking at Green Week, Brussels 2013

Green Week

We cannot avoid this crisis any more, but it would be unforgivable if we do not draw lessons from it. And one important lesson is about the sustainability of our behaviour. This crisis results from unsustainable growth fuelled by financial excesses. We borrowed to keep consuming and to keep the economy going.

With hindsight, we can conclude that this was not sustainable.

overtaking dirty water and lack of sanitation. Air pollution concentrations in some cities, particularly in Asia, already far exceed World Health Organization safe levels, and they are projected to deteriorate further to 2050. Only 2% of the global urban population are living within acceptable particulate matter concentrations below the WHO Air Quality Guideline.

What is less widely accepted is that this same model of growth not only digs into our finite financial reserves, it also digs into the planet’s finite natural reserves. We seem to be locked in a system of production and consumption that relies far too much on taking more than what we can give, and of what our planet can give. We are running down our stock of natural capital – the water, air and other ecosystems on which we ultimately depend. We are indebting ourselves in an unsustainable way.

I believe we can engineer a transition to a more sustainable growth model where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. Air quality is a good example of how.

Imagine this same resource-intensive system multiplied over and over to meet the needs of the additional 2 billion people foreseen to join us on the planet by 2050. In just one generation there will be more additional people on the planet than was the total population at the beginning of the 20th Century.

This is the equivalent of 140,000 people per day. Or the equivalent of the entire population of my country Slovenia in two weeks. All aspiring, and rightly so, to the same life style we enjoy today.

Will the equivalent of two planets be sufficient to satisfy the needs and aspirations of everybody? If we continue using our resources at this same rate, by 2050 we will need three times more material resource, and 70% more food, feed and fibre. And just in the next 20 years, we will need 40% more energy and water. This is simply not conceivable.

When it comes to a battle between economics and physics, there can only be one winner.

We often think about the consequences in material resources. But what does it mean for the precious resource that is a prerequisite for life: the air that we breathe?

Urban air pollution is set to become the world’s top environmental cause of premature mortality, | 36 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

This is one of a few areas where we have seen an absolute decoupling between economic growth and emissions. The air we breathe today is much cleaner than in previous decades. And the problem of acid rain that ravaged Europe in the 1980s has been practically solved, by an 80-90% decrease in emissions even while major economic growth has taken place. This is thanks to a solid air policy at EU level – based on science, evidence and costeffectiveness.

However, we are still far from our objective to achieve levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Despite progress made, the figures of today are not acceptable. According to our latest data, more than 400,000 Europeans died prematurely from air pollution in 2010.

Some of the EU air quality standards that were established in the late nineties are still not being respected – in spite of the extra time and flexibility that EU Member States have had to implement the standards. This has led to a situation where the majority of countries in Europe are infringing EU law on air quality. As a consequence, the health of many people is suffering, and costs to the health suppliers and the economy are rising.

This has a direct cost burden on healthcare, on companies through lost working time, and on the economy as a whole. We estimate that lost working

days due to air pollution cost the European economy €12bn a year in 2010. This puts additional pressure on already highly stretched public health budgets.

Air pollution also puts a heavy burden on the environment. Two-thirds of the EU's nature protected areas, Natura 2000, are currently threatened by it – mainly through ammonia emissions from agriculture and nitrous oxide from combustion. Agriculture itself suffers from lost crop yield due to ozone damage, with impacts of around €3bn a year in 2010.

By applying existing technology on the widest possible scale, we can reduce health impacts by as much as 100,000 premature deaths a year, and eliminate a third of the eutrophication impact on Natura 2000 sites. Moreover, we can achieve 75% of the gain for 20% of the overall cost.

Acting on air pollution is therefore not just an environmental and health concern, but also an economic imperative. More than a cost, it is an investment into a healthy and productive society.

In addition, it turns out that air quality is a central concern for many people in Europe. According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, 80% of European citizens understand well the impact of air quality on health, especially cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, allergies and asthma. Citizens also understand the damage that is being done to the environment, with almost four out of five EU citizens worried about the effects of eutrophication through the growth of algae and the death of fish in lakes and rivers. And over 70% of citizens surveyed are asking public authorities to take action at EU, national and local levels, even in times of austerity and hardship.

In this context, we cannot afford inaction. The European Commission will present later this year a revised and strengthened air policy strategy, with the following key components: • Ensure full compliance with our existing air quality policies and our international commitments, by 2020 at the very latest; • econdly, to set clear targets for further improvements of air quality in the period beyond 2020;

Web: www.ec.europa.eu/environment/air

• Thirdly, to propose an effective combination of measures to achieve these targets; • And fourth, to open up opportunities for European business in the rapidly expanding markets for pollution abatement technology and services.

Environmental problems know no borders, and we will all be sharing the same air for some time to come. The Rio+20 Conference in 2012 did not bring all of the results we were hoping for at global level, but it did set in motion a process that will start a transition towards a green economy.

An economy that places social, economic and environmental interests on an equal footing, and that will allow us to live within the limits of our planet. For me air quality is definitely an important part of this transformation. And Europe has a key role in driving this transformation.

In light of this, Europe must of course meet our international obligations. The recently amended Gothenburg Protocol includes new emission ceilings for 2020, including for particulate matter, and our legislation needs to be fully aligned with these developments. We will also work to ensure broader ratification of the Gothenburg Protocol, so as to extend effective emission control to countries outside the EU. The other side of the coin is to ensure coherence internally with existing European legislation.

In the transport sector, the already agreed Euro Standards for cars and trucks should cut emissions as expected; and emissions from

bulldozers, and excavators need to be reduced. In the energy sector, we need to limit emissions from small scale combustion and consider additional initiatives for medium-scale combustion. In agriculture, there is significant scope for better methods to limit harmful ammonia emissions. In parallel, binding international commitments for 2020 are to be reflected in an upgraded National Emission Ceilings Directive.

Acting now for cleaner air will bring significant cost savings in the public sector as well as cost savings for companies. The cost of lost working time in many parts of Europe can be very significant. So investing in clean air brings many economic and social benefits as well as environmental ones.

There are also economic opportunities favouring an ambitious policy. Let's take the US and China as examples.

We know that the US air quality legislation is among the most stringent in the world – with California leading the way. We also know that China is now stepping up their air quality monitoring requirements and emission controls significantly.

And we know that other emerging economies will follow suit. This will create an enormous demand for products and industrial processes that emit less. This is why a strengthened air quality regime in the EU will actually benefit European competitiveness. Weakened air quality standards, as some call for, would in fact be a major disservice to our industry. Let's not kill industry with kindness.

So as we can clearly see, clean air is not only about protecting the environment and the health of our citizens but also offers economic opportunities. Not only in the savings we make from fewer premature deaths and fewer lost business hours and less hospital costs, but also in business opportunities that investment in clean technologies generate.

As part of the upcoming review of EU air quality policy, the European Commission will be looking at how we can really create opportunities for innovation in the clean air sector, to support our industry to invest in clean technologies for clean air. This is a sector where many European companies are world leaders in an expanding market with potential to create new growth and new jobs.

We have achieved a lot in the past years to improve our air quality, but we still need to make progress. Our health and our environment require it, and our economy will benefit from it ■

+ For More Information www.ec.europa.eu/environment/air

Air Quality

Ji m Mi l l s / A i r Mo ni to r s / L AQ M

Technology is key to the future of LAQM While politicians debate the future of local air quality management, Air Monitors MD Jim Mills points to the opportunities presented by new technologies. In this article, Jim explains how many of the monitoring objectives, including cost reduction, can be met by deploying the latest developments in instrument, data management and communications technologies. As a result, it is now possible to reduce both the capital and operational costs of monitoring, whilst improving data capture rates and both the quality and availability of data.

New technology – data management/communications

The value of data is highest when it is new, so with the benefit of the latest cloud-based data management and communications technologies, it is now possible to view data in near real-time. This brings a number of important additional benefits because the creation of a live communication pathway provides air quality management professionals with the ability to continually assess instrument status, and thereby to implement proactive service regimes that avoid costly emergency call-outs.

The ‘problem’ with new technology is that it usually requires extra capital, so the launch by Air Monitors of ‘AQWeb’ is a major development because it provides access to new technology without any capital cost. Instead, users are provided with a data gateway, software and communications package at no capital cost and access to the data is provided as part of a service contract. Many local authorities across the UK have already signed up to AQWeb and now enjoy the benefits of live data and improved data quality and capture rates.

New technology – gaseous pollutants

The cost of new monitoring sites need not be preclusive as new technology makes it possible to monitor more locations at a fraction of the cost of traditional stations. In the past, measurement data has been supplemented by modelling but this can lead to significant inaccuracies. The launch of AQMesh is therefore enormously significant; by dramatically lowering the capital and operational costs of monitoring, these new low-cost monitors measure air quality at the point of use – in the street, outside the shop, next to the bus station, by the school… anywhere. AQMesh 'pods' are completely wireless, using battery power and GPRS communications to transmit data for the five main air polluting gases to 'the cloud' where sophisticated data management generates highly accurate readings as well as monitoring hardware performance. AQMesh pods will not replace all traditional monitors, but they will decrease the cost of monitoring whilst radically improving the availability of monitoring data, especially in urban areas where air quality varies from street to street. ►

| 38 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Air Quality

Ji m Mi l l s / A i r Mo ni to r s / L AQ M

In the street, outside the shop, next to the bus station, by the school… anywhere. AQMesh 'pods' are completely wireless, using battery power and GPRS communications to transmit data.

New technology – particulate pollutants

Extending working life of existing technology

For those that need to measure both fine and coarse particulates simultaneously, a dichotomous format version of the 1405 is available (1405-DF) for continuous monitoring of both PM2.5 and PM10. This provides a substantial reduction in cost, power usage and space requirement in comparison with two individual instruments.

Summary

The latest TEOM FDMS instruments have met the MCERTS performance standards and the EU Equivalence designation criteria (Defra and MCERTS approval) for both PM2.5 and PM10. The existing TEOM FDMS models (1400 series) used in the AURN and in many local authority sites also continue to enjoy full equivalence designation and if maintained correctly will continue to offer good service for years to come. However those considering replacement or buying new monitoring equipment now have the ability to choose these new lower cost models (1405 series) with the highest level of certification of any PM monitor currently on the market.

Air Monitors has also launched a new ambient dust monitoring technology that will complement existing PM monitoring technology. The FIDAS (Fine Dust Analysis System) offers additional information on both particle size distribution from 0.18 – 18 microns and the number of particles in each size range. It also provides continuous real-time simultaneous mass concentration measurements of TSP, PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. This will provide new highly valuable information to inform air quality management strategies. Importantly, FIDAS runs on low power and without air conditioning and uses no consumables; all of which combine to lower running costs.

| 40 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

With growing pressure on costs, local authorities are naturally looking to extend the working lives of their existing equipment, so it is important for service companies to stock manufacturers’ spares and consumables, and to employ staff with high levels of experience. As the founder of ETI (in 1992) and Monitor Europe (in 1998), Jim Mills currently employs many of the engineers and other technical staff that were previously with ETI and Monitor Europe. The unparalleled experience of the Air Monitors service team combined with full access to all manufacturers’ spares ensures that the stations serviced by Air Monitors enjoy very high data capture rates and low maintenance costs.

It is extremely worrying that 60 years after the Great Smog of London, thousands are still dying prematurely as a direct result of air pollution. Effective air quality monitoring is therefore essential if we are to tackle this problem, and the current debate should focus on how best to take advantage of the opportunities that new technologies present.

Clearly, less monitoring would lower costs, but so would the introduction of new technologies and practices, without reducing our commitment to address the health problems resulting from air pollution ■

+ More Information www.laqm.defra.gov.uk

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| 42 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Ph i li p Mansb r i dge / Endangered Sp ec i es / Care f or t he W i l d

Web: www.careforthewild.com

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Conservation

Ph i li p Mansb r i dge / Endangered Sp ec i es / Care f or t he W i l d

Heading out on patrol.

Philip Mansbridge (author) removes a poacher's snare.

In a world of hashtag information, sound-bite headlines and image saturation, do we ever take the time to join up the dots? What happens when we put these snippets together, when we merge the facts into a story rather than a sentence or a Tweet? What happens when we open our eyes to the bigger picture?

When it comes to wildlife, maybe our generation needs to step back and take stock. Right now, it is not hard to get the facts about flagship animals being under fire, but the plight of endangered wildlife is just one area where snippets of information sewn together paint a far more worrying picture.

Many of us will know that rhinos are under severe threat for their horn – believed to have mystical medicinal powers, such as curing cancer, hangovers and more, or perhaps more worryingly, now seen by many as an asset just to show status.

Likewise, lots of us know that elephants are killed for their ivory (as many as 40,000 per year in Africa alone now – that’s one each 15 minutes slaughtered), that elephants have strong family bonds and exceptional emotional intelligence.

Tiger lovers may know that there are now only around 3,200 tigers in the wild owing to poaching for skins, body parts and even capture for the pet and entertainment trade – there are more, in fact, in captivity in the US than there are in the wild across the world. Some well-informed nature lovers may even be aware that lion bones are the new de-riguer additive for wines and potions for virility and strength in parts of Asia – a demand driven by the difficulty in sourcing tiger bones owing to enhanced protection and reduced numbers.

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But, what happens if we put these facts together and what does this really mean for wildlife? If we look at the latest recognised extinction predictions holistically, it soon becomes apparent that the picture is much worse. By 2035, just 22 years from now, there will be no wild tigers, lions, rhinos or elephants on the planet. Not one! Just like with other magnificent creatures we wiped out in days gone by when really we did not know better, it will be too late.

We are now the only generation that can act, the only generation that can stop this from happening, the only generation that can prevent our own children from growing up in a world where magnificent animals like these exist only in cartoons and zoos. All of us hold the key to this – whether we are in Europe, Africa, Asia or anywhere. If we fail we have let ourselves down as custodians and guardians of our planet.

The relatively sudden escalation of poaching and demand for these animals is not too complex. The rapid rise of the middle classes in parts of Asia, most notably China and Vietnam has created a massive market for these illicit wildlife products. The decision to sell ivory stockpiles by CITES as recently as in 2008 has also caused a massive issue, as illegal ivory in places like China and Japan continues to be masked by the ‘legal’ ivory trade established via these sales, which despite CITES’ own predictions that flooding the market would reduce price and reduce demand, did the counter opposite and pushed prices and demand up significantly. ►

Web: www.careforthewild.com

Many of us will know that rhinos are under severe threat for their horn – believed to have mystical medicinal powers, such as curing cancer, hangovers and more, or perhaps more worryingly, now seen by many as an asset just to show status.

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Conservation

Ph i li p Mansb r i dge / Endangered Sp ec i es / Care f or t he W i l d

The nature of the poaching has also changed. No longer is it the man and spear image so many of us may still have – owing to the money involved and the complexity of moving goods internationally, now poaching is organised to levels at which no one could have foreseen just a few years ago. The illegal wildlife trade is now recognised as a $20bn per year industry, fourth only in size to the international drugs trade, money and counterfeit goods and people smuggling.

Helicopters, night vision and AK-47s have replaced the rustic weaponry of old, as have new techniques to kill, such as poisoning water supplies and salt licks where elephants go to refresh, poisoning poached carcasses to kill vultures which could give the poacher’s locations away, and even mass killings with automatic weapons wiping out entire generations of elephants in just a few moments.

It’s not just animals that are suffering – over the last decade over 1000 rangers have died in action protecting their native wildlife, and that is only according to official figures. Many countries do not report, and estimates suggest that this could be as high as 5000 deaths over the same period. That means widows, parentless children, communities without their people. Likewise, the money from ivory and rhino horn has deep and devastating effects on the people of Africa and around the world and has been proven to fund militias and terrorist groups, such as the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, and even Al Shabaab who recently carried out the Nairobi Westgate massacre – 40% of whose entire operations are reported to be funded by ivory poaching.

So, what can be done? Simply, the answer right now lies in a shift in China and Vietnam. Demand reduction, education and a willingness to take action and make change is vital. China needs to say no to ivory, to shun it, to close its state owned ivory carving factories, to stop selling legal or illegal ivory in its state owned department stores and to make it clear that ivory ownership does nothing for your social standing other than make you look barbaric and ignorant. Businesses in China need to ban the use of ivory as business gifts and politicians and celebrities need to come out and say ivory just is not cool anymore.

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By 2035, just 22 years from now, there will be no wild tigers, lions, rhinos or elephants on the planet. Not one! Just like with other magnificent creatures we wiped out in days gone by when really we did not know better, it will be too late.

Web: www.careforthewild.com

We can educate our children that wildlife does matter, and that together we can make sure it is still there for them, and their children.

Care for the Wild and the Tooth Fairy team up to raise awareness of the ivory trade and the plight of elephants.

In Vietnam, the government needs to step up its fight against the use of rhino horn – to advertise, to talk to its people, its children and to enforce. Close down the shops selling rhino horn grinding bowls, raid the pharmacies selling illegal rhino horn capsules, recognise the issue and take action – quickly and effectively.

After all, rhino horn is only made of keratin – just like human fingernails.

But this involves everyone – not just the Chinese and Vietnamese. It requires us to push at all levels, to make our voices heard and to say this isn’t acceptable anymore. To say that we will not sit by and watch our wildlife be eradicated. We can support charities working in the field, pressure our governments to invest in wildlife protection from their international aid and development money, to discuss the issues and the outrage at high levels and to offer help and solutions to countries and agencies worldwide that need it.

We can educate our children that wildlife does matter, and that together we can make sure it is still there for them, and their children. In this digital age we need to look at new ways of doing this, share best practice and speak to stakeholders on their level. Care for the Wild has just launched an awareness and fundraising campaign focussing on elephant poaching, teaming up with the Tooth Fairy to alert children and their parents to the fact that a child losing teeth is like an elephant losing its tusks – except that when an elephant loses its tusks, it dies.

If we can get simple, charming, tailored messages like this to the people in consumer states we can win this battle. Doing nothing though, is not an option. #stillhope ■

+ More Information Care for the Wild: www.careforthewild.com Watch the Tooth Fairy campaign video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7G_GqlSXXk

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Conservation

Si mo n Fo r rester / Pest Co ntrol / BP C A

Sustainable Pest Control Simon Forrester, Chief Executive of the British Pest Control Association, looks at ongoing battle between nature and public health pest control, and asks: Can it ever be sustainable?

Pest control is vital to eradicate and prevent infestation from pests; those species that have a detrimental effect on the health of humans, are the cause of damage to structures or foods, cause negative public reaction and loss of goodwill, breach legislation, and ultimately increase fear among the population.

Pesticides have a vital role in controlling pest species, and they have been used in various forms for millennia. Countless lives have been saved across the world through the control of diseasespreading insects and rodents. Mosquitoes can transmit potentially deadly diseases like West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever and Malaria, and rats spread Weils Disease (Leptospirosis) that can cause liver failure. And it’s not just damage to human health - millions of tons of food are rendered useless by insect damage; studies suggest not using pesticides reduces crop yields by more than 10%, and pests can quickly consume or spoil stored products if left unchecked.

Pesticides themselves are not perfect, they can cause severe adverse effects on human health if

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misused. The World Health Organisation estimate 3 million people in the developing world each year suffer from severe poisoning from pesticides, resulting in 18,000 deaths. Also there are significant environmental problems caused by pesticide drift or spills which contaminate air, water and soil. In the UK, pesticide residues are found in a range of nontarget species, and calls to limit their use to reduce this risk have never been louder.

Use of pesticides is therefore a delicate balancing act between the harm caused by the pest, and the potential harm from the use of the pesticide. Over the years there has been a constant push towards safe, sustainable, but effective pest management and control. EU legislation is risk-based, and provides a high level of protection. Chemical companies wishing to introduce new pesticides must spend millions of Euros on detailed research data on chemistry, toxicity and fate in the environment before products can be launched, and then every formulation must also go through a lengthy (and costly) registration process to ensure the risk is acceptable. Product registrations have a five or ten year life span, so for manufacturers, the decision about whether

to produce new active ingredients always comes down to commercial concerns, and at present new products seem unlikely to surface.

The latest EU legislation has led to the loss of around 80% of active pesticide ingredients, often those products which a pest controller might have turned to in the event of a problem infestation. The loss of these ‘get out of jail free cards’ coupled with restrictions on the use of those products retained is changing the way pest control is conducted. For example permanent baiting outside for rodents is almost a thing of the past due to environmental risk to non-target species. Control of infestations requires targeted use of rodenticides coupled with close monitoring. This results in a move away from the traditional eight visits per year to a more intense programme, which add up in terms of staff time on site, travel costs and the like.

Pests are, by definition, simply organisms that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The majority of public health pest species have lived alongside man for hundreds if not thousands of years – indeed, rats and mice are called ‘commensal’ pests, ie

Web: www.bpca.org.uk

they live from our table. The issue we face is that as our practices evolve to limit pest activity, so the pests themselves adapt. And with the typical rodent reproducing six to eight times a year, with litters of up to 16 babies, it is only a matter of time before learned behaviour or genetic mutation render our current best efforts to manage the pests redundant.

A good example of this is in the use of acute poisons, ie those which act instantly to kill the pest. Rats and mice encountering a new food source for the first time will normally test feed (called neophobia) and may not take a substantial quantity for many hours or even days, and when a small amount is taken which causes illness, the rodent quickly learns to avoid such meals, rendering the poison useless. This learned behaviour is also seen in rodents who have learned to avoid break-back and sticky traps after seeing their brethren caught.

One other way in which pests adapt is through resistance, for example in rats to Warfarin, an anticoagulant (blood-thinning) rodenticide discovered in the 1940s. Within ten years of its first use in the UK, rats across large swathes of country had developed resistance to Warfarin through genetic mutation. Those rats who had adapted to resist the active ingredient were able to reproduce and pass on their resistant gene, while those susceptible died out.

Since then, chemical companies have developed second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs), which were introduced from the late 1970s

to great effect. However, our rodent population has once again evolved to become resistant to some of these products, and across the UK there are areas where certain products cannot be used effectively.

Since then, changes on methods of use have helped limit the spread of resistance, but this battle is one which in the long term, only the rodents can win.

resistance issue), but they will require a modern pest management specialist who is trained and competent in the use of new technologies. The professional public health pest industry can meet the challenges of providing safe, responsible and sustainable pest management – but only with the support of you, their customers.

So if the long term prognosis is so bleak, how can pest control be seen as sustainable? Again, research, development and implementation will involve a cost.

A number of new and innovative systems are being introduced to the pest industry such as electronic monitoring systems for rodents, reducing the cost and environmental burden of regular on-site visits.

The alternative treatments administered include heat treatments, cryogenics (freezing using Carbon Dioxide gas), new generation insecticide gels, pheromone lures and pesticide free materials in preference to the more traditional insecticidal spray treatments that are often dispersed over a wide area.

Rodent bait boxes full of toxic bait can be replaced by non-toxic monitoring stations which pick up the earliest signs of an infestation. Where possible it’s preferable to control pests before they even enter the building by protecting the perimeter. Recently it has also become possible to control mice almost invisibly by using specialist bait stations that control rodents within the walls of a building before they become active within open areas.

If your pest controller is the stereotypical ‘rat man’ you may need to reconsider your choice of pest control contractor. While a flat cap and whippet may be endearing, you should demand a professional, skilled in modern techniques. Similarly, if you constantly choose the cheapest contractor, your organisation is effectively involved in a race to the bottom, not the top. This race may prove costly - it could end in infestation, prosecution and negative publicity. Choose a pest control contractor through a proper tendering process, and get specialist advice, or you may find you under or over-estimate what should be in the contract, wasting money and/or storing up long term problems.

Such developments are ‘green’ (ie use no toxins) and also more sustainable (as they bypass the

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimises economic, health, and environmental risks. IPM has been around for thousands of years, and started when man first became an agrarian society. It protects people and food as well as the environment. IPM integrates the use of inspection, physical and chemical control to achieve a pest free environment. A competent contractor will work ►

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Conservation

Si mo n Fo r rester / Pest Co ntrol / BP C A

to these principles. The use of inspection tools such as non-toxic monitors and pheromones is an essential aspect of any IPM program, and a great deal of planning is required for a comprehensive IPM scheme. IPM does not mean you cannot use a pesticide – it requires the targeted use of pesticide to control infestation as and when it occurs, minimising non-target exposure and resistance alike.

Pest management (ie not just control) requires a professionally trained and suitably qualified pest control technician who is committed to the principles of Continuing Professional Development. Due diligence on the company chosen is one thing, but who’s actually on site spraying pesticides about?

Look for the BASIS PROMPT card – over 2,400 UK technicians have one.

The European pest management industry is currently producing a European Standard for Pest Management Services (EN 16636) which sets out the requirements and skills pest control companies need to deliver a professional service. EN 16636 makes recommendations covering the whole pest management process. Topics include root cause analysis, client and site risk assessment, formal client proposal, delivering the agreed service and formal report and recommendations. Next year pest control companies will be able to be assessed against the standard, which will provide a shorthand for professional pest control providers.

The key aspect of control on site needs to be the thorough use of inspection principles to define the potential risks before pest activity develops. This is proactive pest control – as access to pesticide becomes more restricted it is essential that we embrace these principles. The days of blanket spraying with insecticide and perimeter baiting with rodenticide are numbered – hence the end of the ‘rat man’, and the rise of the professional pest controller who will use the minimum of biocides wherever possible, using other means to limit the pest population through their understanding of the biology and habits of pest species, emphasizing control not eradication. A holistic ‘root and branch’ approach to pest control is vital and today, many biocidal treatments can be replaced by procedures that are preventative in nature and that don’t use chemicals.

The responsibility for pest control cannot simply be devolved to the contractor – all parties need to take an active role in the prevention of pests on site. Sustainable pest control requires that the contractor’s recommendations be carried out (such as hygiene, proofing, and good storage regimes).

Many customers make the mistake that they are paying for how much pesticide the contractor spreads around the site, where in fact the ‘cost’ is the knowledge and experience of your contractor to keep you pest free.

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We may have to accept that sustainable control and legislation may require more regular inspections with restricted use of pesticides. For those locations with pest issues, comprehensive monitoring can flag it early and allow targeted control. IPM principles such as good hygiene help improve the efficacy of any

insecticide treatments (insecticides and rodenticides tend to succeed better in clean conditions, and pests will look elsewhere if there is no food for them). Any reduction in the use of toxic chemicals must be better for the health and wellbeing of staff, visitors and the contractor himself, who is in contact with pesticides every day.

In conclusion, sustainable pest control will need to move away from heavy reliance on pesticides, but they remain an important tool in the box. Pests will continue to adapt and survive – it is very likely that in another 2,000 years our descendants will also have pest problems – though what these pests will be is the stuff of science fiction.

For now, control requires a partnership between you the customer and your professional contractor to create and maintain a pest free environment.

Cost should not be the only consideration when considering which pest contractor to use - we are no longer ‘ratmen’, BPCA members are trained operators who provide a skilled service. Remember the best way to fight back in the war against pests is to have professionals on your side ■

+ More Information BPCA can assist readers of Environment Industry magazine with free advice on tendering for pest control contracts. Readers are also encouraged to subscribe to alexo magazine, BPCA’s free publication for end users who place pest control business. To find a local pest management professional visit www.bpca.org.uk

Conservation

Mi ke Clough / Japanese K no t weed / I NNS A

Invasive Non-Native Specialists Association:

Why we need a Trade Body

OVER the last ten to fifteen years the problems with non-native invasive plants have taken a higher public profile as more people have become aware of the problems they can cause. Recent articles in newspapers and high profile television coverage have ramped up the panic leading to mortgages being refused and a spate of high profile litigation.

This increase in profile has led to a flurry of new companies coming into the industry and proclaiming themselves ‘experts’ in the field of invasive species eradication. Some previously successful companies have had a downturn in business and are looking to offer additional services to increase their revenue stream.

Established companies in the field of invasive species management who have traded for over ten years and have tried and tested methodologies in place have been losing work to unregistered inexperienced businesses that offer treatments and warranties with no follow up and no idea of what they are doing.

There are a huge range of invasive non-native plant species established within the UK and each requires a specific knowledge of growth habit and legislative requirements. There is not a ‘one hit’ strategy that works for every type of species, each requires tailor made methods and detailed follow up and aftercare.

The majority of these invasive non-native species cannot be treated in a single season. It could be a huge seed bed that will continue to regenerate for years after the parent plant has been killed such as with Giant Hogweed. Or perhaps a rhizome network beneath the ground which acts as a storage organ such as Japanese Knotweed – in either of these cases an aftercare management plan is an essential tool to complete the eradication process. Some strategies may take several years to completely eradicate a target species with repeat visits an essential part of the process.

The Invasive Non Native Specialists Association (INNSA) is the industry body for companies involved in controlling and eradicating invasive non-native species.

Membership demonstrates professional knowledge and understanding of invasive species and the best methods for eradicating them. Registration with INNSA provides members with a recognised accreditation backed by a comprehensive insurance scheme.

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By Mi ke Clough,

Chairman Invasive Non Native Specialists Association

INNSA aims to: • • • •

Encourage the highest of standards within the industry Improve the business climate in which the industry operates Promote and protect the interests of its members Represent members and sectors interests at all levels of the legislative and regulatory process • Provide members customers and clients with peace of mind and quality standards assurance.

Customers need to know that the companies they employ are operating to agreed standards and that the prices they quote can be for comparable works.

Using the Environment Agency Code of Practice as a base mark for the services provided INNSA members will work within a framework of standards designed to ensure the right product is offered and the right service delivered.

All works offered to domestic customers will come with an insurance backed guarantee designed to give peace of mind to home owners and to ensure that in the event of a company ceasing to trade – all warranty commitments are honoured.

INNSA will require members to go through a strict process of application and will be required to be BASIS qualified as well as having strict financial checks carried out during an annual audit. ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 will also be a requisite of members to ensure that clients know that all processes within the company are monitored and measurable.

Training will be offered to new members where appropriate, and newsletters and website will aim to keep members aware of any new issues within the industry. There will be a conference on an annual basis and respected figures within the industry will be invited to speak and inform members of research and development within the industry.

Web: www.innsa.org

Japanese knotweed has become a problem in many areas of the UK, costing huge amounts of money to control its spread.

We look forward to a world where works can be offered on a level playing field and the ‘smoke and mirrors’ approach of less reputable companies disappears as quickly as they arrived.

Like most business owners in the environmental sector I am faced with a constant dilemma, I want to give something back but I have to try and offset that with a view of finding a way that at the same time I get some benefits to our business.

What’s in it for me?

Having worked in the Japanese knotweed industry for almost 10 years and seeing the changes that the market has gone through and the influx of new contractors coming into the industry I welcomed what I saw as the potential to set a minimum standard when approached by the CML and RICS to sit on a steering group in 2010.

Negotiations took place throughout that year and it was decided that this group would be managed by the PCA, a respected trade body looking after a multitude of contractors from a wide ranging skillset. Whilst potentially a good step for what this group required, both myself and a number of other contractors felt this appointment lacked enough direction towards changing attitudes and opinions of a wider market and was led purely toward the domestic market. Although an important sector and one that is indeed newsworthy I found myself asking what the desire would be within the group to tackle wider ranging issues that covered invasive species as a whole and not just those that could be found within the streets of your local town.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find satisfactory answers to my concerns and made the decision to step away from the group, this coincided with a number of other market leading professionals coming to the same conclusion. It was out of these discussions that INNSA was born and it was a relatively easy decision for Ebsford to be part of the steering group.

The joining process hasn’t been easy, the management committee has set extensive membership criteria. ISO and Basis are a requisite as is a range a specific technical competencies, but we’ve been given time to process and helped all along the way by a number of high level contractors and consultants with vast experience. Just having the access to these people and learning from them has been more than worth the membership alone and we feel more able to offer our clients a higher level of service now we have goals in place for how we manage our business.

So, I probably haven’t addressed the question that I raised in the first five words of this title, what’s in it for me? It’s hard to measure fully, but as a contractor I can see a change coming and having the ability to sit down with a client, a legislator or indeed anyone who is involved in Invasive Species and say we are part of a trade association that is committed to making the industry better is powerful. INNSA works regardless of the species, regardless of the type of client and regardless of financial recompense and this will make a difference to everyone. It is relevant to all stakeholders at all levels, why would a major contractor with multiple sites be impressed by or interested in a company who is part of a group that sets standard for only domestic markets?

I’m proud of Ebsford and the work we do and I know that all of our fellow INNSA members share this, what comes across from this early stage is that if INNSA grows and more clients demand the standards they set then we could have an industry to be proud of, something that has sadly diminished over the past 5 years ■

+ More Information INNSA: www.innsa.org Ebsford Environmental: www.ebsford.co.uk

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Conservation

Mi ke Clough / Japanese K no t weed / I NNS A

The Invasive Non-Native Specialists Association (INNSA) Registration with INNSA provides members with a recognised accreditation backed up by a comprehensive insurance scheme.

INNSA aims to • encourage the highest standards within the industry • improve the business climate in which the industry operates • promote and to protect the interests of its members • represent members’/sectors’ interests at all levels of the legislative and regulatory process by providing an interface between the industry and the government, other industry and non-industry organisations, the media and the general public • provide members’ customers and clients with peace of mind and a quality standards assurance.

The INNSA Registration Scheme INNSA is open to membership applications. Please note that membership approval is confirmed following an independent verification process, and full details are available on request. Please register your interest in joining INNSA online at www.innsa.org/register or by email to join@innsa.org.

The Benefits of Registration: Registration demonstrates commitment, expertise and professionalism in your field It does this by • operating a third-party validation scheme for members • providing a comprehensive insurance package for members • providing a forum to discuss issues • agreeing industry priorities and positions on commercial and regulatory matters • encouraging industry best practice through the establishment of voluntary standards • monitoring and anticipating legislative developments impacting on the industry • lobbing UK, EC and international authorities to influence legislation and other controls • developing and providing guidance and information to members on legislation and other requirements • promoting new business opportunities by providing a portal to members’ products and services • ensuring value for money for its entire membership

How can I Join INNSA? If you would like further information on the scheme, please contact: INNSA Secretariat c/o Suzanne Hardy Itadori House, Melton Street, Radcliffe, Manchester M26 4BR Tel: 0161 723 6457 Email: info@innsa.org

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Who administers the scheme?

Industry representatives act as the steering group on all registrations, and currently include • Japanese Knotweed Solutions Limited (JKSL) • Ebsford E nvironmental • Environet UK Ltd • Invasive Plant Company • Japanese Knotweed Control Ltd • RSK Group • Delta Simons

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

Energy

A lun Dav i es / Energ y i n Wales / Gw y nt y Mô r

Energy ambitions for Wales Welsh Government Minister for Natural Environment speaks about the Welsh Government’s ambitions for Energy in Wales

by A l u n Dav ies

Welsh Government Minister for Natural Environment

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Web: www.wales.gsi.gov.uk

image courtesy of Partnerships for Renewables (Roland T. Frank)

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 57 |

Energy

A lun Dav i es / Energ y i n Wales / Gw y nt y MĂ´ r

Wales has 1200km of coastline, strategically located deep-sea ports, accessible grid infrastructure, a manufacturing base, and up to 6.2GW of estimated generating capacity even without the vast potential of the Severn Estuary.

Here at the Welsh Government we are very aware that our future well-being, both in material and social terms, depends upon us producing sufficient supplies of affordable, low carbon energy.

As a nation, we are very well placed to take advantage of the opportunities offered by low carbon energy because our geographical positioning and climate mean that we are very rich in energy resources. However, the challenge is realising the potential of that energy resource and transforming that potential into a successful and sustainable low carbon industry.

If we can fulfil that potential, we really will be in a position to build the fairer and more prosperous Wales that we aspire to and ensure a better quality of life for the people of Wales, both now and in the future.

Like many governments, we have big aspirations but in order to achieve them there are a number of pieces of the puzzle that we must get in place. One major part of the puzzle is ensuring that we attract investors and investment into Wales. Our country needs to be seen as a place where investors want to spend their money and one where they are confident they will get a good return.

We are working hard to ensure that Wales is seen as being open for business and business-friendly but we know we cannot do this alone. That is why we are working in close partnership with the energy companies and the industry more widely and that we are listening to them and learning from their

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experiences and expectations. We know we cannot reach our ambition of becoming a global centre for energy without a strong relationship with the sector and without creating the sort of stable environment that attracts long term and sustained investment.

Another key part of the puzzle is unlocking the energy potential that exists in Wales so that we can maximise the associated economic, social and environmental benefits and ensure that those benefits translate to a better quality of life for people right across Wales.

Wales has significant assets in virtually every energy source. We have substantial wind resources, both onshore and offshore; significant wave and tidal energy potential; one of the best solar resources in the UK; scope for more biomass and hydro; and existing nuclear sites and expertise in the nuclear industry. We also possess the key infrastructure to

Wales has significant assets in virtually every energy source. make the most of energy opportunities in terms of our roads, railways, deep ports and electrical and gas grids.

Thanks to the efforts of Welsh Government and the industry the total amount of electricity generated from renewable resources in Wales has been steadily increasing over the last decade and rose by 33 per cent between 2010 and 2011. This increase was mainly as a result of increased wind generation

Visit Wales Image Centre

and we expect this figure to rise further when the Gwynt Y Mor offshore wind farm starts generating in 2014 and adds a further 576MW to the mix. This would take our total installed capacity to around 1.5GW. We are making good progress but we know we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball.

In terms of energy production and indeed energy conservation, we are very proud of our strategic energy programme, Arbed. This programme has seen us investing in the retrofitting of homes in some of Wales’ most deprived areas in order to make them more energy efficient and affordable to heat and to enable additional small scale, renewable energy generation. For example, many homes have been fitted with solar panels, outside wall cladding, loft and wall insulation and class A boilers.

We estimate that the Arbed project will have improved 4,790 homes in Wales in some of Wales’ poorest areas by the end of 2015, and as all Arbed projects use local labour, and our contractors are obliged to offer apprenticeships opportunities, the scheme is also offering a real boost to local economies right across Wales.

We believe that the integrated and cross Government approach that we have used for Arbed - the same approach incidentally that we have used to support the Anglesey energy programme - really does deliver and it is one that we plan to keep employing in our work with the energy sector.

Another key part of the puzzle is ensuring that communities that live around energy infrastructure

Web: www.wales.gov.uk

The Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm.

RWE Innogy

The Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm.

RWE Innogy

genuinely see the benefits. If we are to achieve our low carbon ambitions, we have to take Welsh communities along with us. We have been working hard with the onshore wind industry and Renewable UK Cymru on this and an industry declaration has recently been finalised which includes a commitment from onshore wind developers to ensure maximum community and economic benefits.

In addition, recently consented developments in Wales have included commitments to provide at least £5000 per MW to communities hosting onshore wind developments. It is this sort of best practice that we need to keep building on.

I cannot talk about our aspirations for energy in Wales without mentioning marine. Whilst marine energy is still very much in the early stages of development, it has huge potential and we want to see Wales at the forefront of harnessing wave and tidal energy from our seas. Wales has 1200km of coastline, strategically located deep-sea ports, accessible grid infrastructure, a manufacturing base, and up to 6.2GW of estimated generating capacity even without the vast potential of the Severn Estuary.

Our key resource areas for marine are concentrated

...this [33%] increase was mainly as a result of increased wind generation and we expect this figure to rise further when the Gwynt Y Mor offshore wind farm starts generating in 2014 and adds a further 576MW to the mix.

off Anglesey and Pembrokeshire and we have already mapped our wave and tidal resource. We have also commissioned a study to forecast the possible economic benefits of the marine energy industry in Wales and the number of jobs we can expect to see if our waters are fully exploited.

We also already have two leading marine energy projects in Wales, one off Anglesey and one in Pembrokeshire, and recent progress would suggest that the SeaGeneration Wales project off Anglesey would see Wales housing the first tidal array in the UK, and maybe even the world by 2015. This would be quite an achievement.

We really are passionate about the Welsh energy industry because we believe it can and will generate wealth and deliver jobs. We will keep working in partnership with business to make this a reality ■

+ More Information www.wales.gov.uk www.seagenwales.co.uk www.rwe.com

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 59 |

Energy

Juli e Car ter / Frac k i ng / Cli mate Change

Climate Change.

No longer a hy pothetical phenomenon, nor even an issue for the distant future.

There is a 97% consensus amongst the scientific experts and scientific research that confirms that humans are causing global warming1 and that climate change is happening now. In the UK, climate models predict that we will experience more heavy rainfall, more flooding, rising sea levels, faster coastal erosion, more heat waves, droughts and extreme weather events as the century progresses.

Julie Car ter Senior Consultant, Argyll Environmental

FRACKING: | 60 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

The implications of this include significant threats to our food and water supplies, loss of habitats and species and the introduction of new pests and diseases. These kind of predictions indicate that the UK gets off relatively lightly (at least initially) compared to some parts of the world. The scale of climatic changes are already rendering vast areas uninhabitable by humans, through sea water inundation, from floods that wipe out crops, spread diseases and destroy homes, the expansion of deserts turning farmland to wasteland, and the exacerbation of forest fires and hurricanes which have been seen to cause immense and widespread destruction.

tipping the scales of climate change?

Web: www.argyllenvironmental.co.uk

Already climate change is charged with contributing to the deaths of almost 400,000 people per year.

In order to address the threat of climate change, the UK has a legally binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), in its Climate Change Energy Plan (March 2013) itself recognizes this as a huge challenge, stating that ‘achieving that will require a massive change in how we use and generate energy’. Surely, this should underline an intention to move towards a less carbon-intensive system, with greater investment in energy efficiency, low carbon technologies and clean renewable energy – i.e. a move away from our reliance on fossil fuels.

So how does the exploitation and use of shale gas sit with our target for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions? Shale gas is being heralded by its UK supporters as the cleanest form of fossil fuels. This is because compared to oil and coal, natural gas does produce less carbon dioxide on burning. As such, it is being claimed that shale gas could contribute to the UK hitting its carbon target because ‘it burns

cleaner than coal and it might replace some coalfired generation’. However, there does not appear to be any scientific back up to these claims. In contrast, the latest academic research in the United States is providing the first hard evidence that the ‘cleanestburning’ fossil fuel is not actually any better than coal when it comes to climate change.

Already climate change is charged with contributing to the deaths of almost 400,000 people per year.

The extraction and use of shale gas produces huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane. Natural gas mostly comprises methane and how much methane leaks during the entire lifecycle of shale gas is a key question in terms of its implications for global warming. Most of the methane losses come from leakage during drilling as well as during flowback of the fracking fluid. Further losses occur during compression of the gas and during pipeline transport.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with significant implications for global climate change due to its short-term potency. Over a 20 year time frame each unit of methane is 72 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

When high concentrations of natural gas were detected in routine air sampling in Denver, Colorado in 2011 this instigated an investigation by researchers affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (UC). The gas was linked to emissions from a nearby hydraulic fracturing site. The results of the initial research released in February 2012 indicated that leakage rates from the wells were around 4% of the total gas production.

Most scientists are in agreement that any leakage above 2% in gas production makes the fuel a dirty source of energy and at least as problematic as coal.

Tom Wigley, a leading climatic modeller of the Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reported that 'unless leakage rates for new methane can be kept below 2%, substituting gas for coal is not an effective means for reducing the magnitude of future climate ►

44% Within the next 20 years, methane will contribute 44% of the greenhouse gas load produced by the U.S.

Over a 20 year time frame each unit of methane is 72 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 61 |

Energy

change'. The results of the NCAR study, conducted in 2011 showed that the substitution of gas for coal as an energy source results in increased rather than decreased global warming for many decades.

Further results from studies on the heavily fracked natural gas fields in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of Colorado and the Uinta Basin of Utah, released in January this year, indicate that the leakage rates may actually be as high as 9% of the gas production.

Leakage of 4%, let alone 9%, should call into question the value of shale gas as a viable fuel. The implications for climate change associated with such losses are enormous.

Recent data from two Cornell scientists and others indicate that within the next 20 years, methane will contribute 44% of the greenhouse gas load produced by the U.S. Of that portion, 17% will come from all natural gas operations.

Some academics and the gas industry have branded the findings as exaggerated, but given the limited amount of research that has taken place on the effects of fracking to date, scientific data is scarce and there is no evidence to the contrary. Further studies are clearly necessary to validate the initial results and are currently being conducted by the NOAA and UC as well as by the Environmental Defense Fund and other academic and industry parties.

The Committee on Climate Change, the statutory body set up to advise the UK government on greenhouse gas emissions recently urged government to give up on its ‘dash for gas’, stating that it is 'completely incompatible' with UK carbon targets’. Despite this, in the recent budget, George Osborne announced that fracking companies will get a tax incentive for developing gas fields and will be able to offset their exploration spending against tax for a decade. The Government has also indicated that it will step in, if necessary, to improve liquidity and market competition and establish an Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil.

| 62 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Juli e Car ter / Frac k i ng / Cli mate Change

Meanwhile, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) website advertises the government’s moves to create a more efficient, low-carbon economy to meet its legally binding targets for reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions. There is very little reference on the DECC website to shale gas, and no information how the government intends to mitigate its effects on climate change in order to meet its emission targets.

It seems that the decision to pursue shale gas generation in the UK will be to the detriment of the move towards a less carbon-intensive system.

The government’s support for shale gas gives a clear message that short term energy security is higher up its agenda than tackling the threat of climate change. No surprise then, that climate change was not among David Cameron’s priorities for the UK’s G8 presidency which were announced on 1 January.

His statement read: ‘As the Chair of the G8, the UK has a unique opportunity to lead in … taking concrete action with other G8 countries to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges’. For some reason, climate change didn’t make it onto the list of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Many scientists suspect that the rapid exploitation of unconventional gas deposits such as shale and coal bed methane could result in such huge methane releases that they could help tip the planet into an ‘alternative climate system’.

It seems that the decision to pursue shale gas generation in the UK will be to the detriment of the move towards a less carbon-intensive system, distracting from the necessary drive for greater investment in energy efficiency and clean renewable energy and locking us into an insecure and highcarbon energy system. It also seems short-sighted in that it has not weighed up the reported economic

benefits that shale gas can offer against the potential costs of dealing with the effects of climate change in the UK. Adaptations to climate change include the additional spending needed to improve measures such as building new flood defences and transporting water for agriculture, treating an increase in the range and severity of diseases, and replacing buildings and other infrastructure affected by rising temperatures or water levels.

The cost of adapting to climate change was estimated in a report by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2009. However, more recent reports and studies indicate that the UN has seriously underestimated the expected annual cost of dealing with climate impacts and that the true global costs may be in the region of £39 trillion (bearing in mind that the total world economy in 2012 was worth £33 trillion).

Surely a rational approach would be to use scientific evidence to develop a better understanding of the possible climate implications of fracking before the government pushes further ahead with its promotion of unconventional gas as a future UK energy resource. The painful repercussions of failing to address climate change are being felt around the world right now. It is myopic to press ahead with the development of inland gas reserves without conclusive evidence that fracking does not impede our ability meet our carbon reduction targets ■

+ More Information Visit the Argyll Environmental Website www.argyllenvironmental.co.uk 1

Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature, Environmental Research Letters, Volume 8, No. 2, May 2013.

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Energy

Nei l K er mo d e / Joh n G r i f f i th s / Mar i ne Energ y / E M EC

Generating an Industry Dave F l a n aga n s p ea k s w i t h E M EC ’s te c h n i c a l d i re c to r Jo h n G r i f f i t h s a n d m a n ag i ng d i re c to r Ne i l K e r m o d e a b o u t t h e Eu ro p ea n M a r i n e E n e r g y Ce n t re Even on an otherwise calm summer’s day, the Fall of Warness in Orkney is in constant motion. It surges, boils and swirls, its restlessness the result of seabed topography that squeezes the ocean between the islands of Eday and Muckle Green Holm into a fiercesome eight-knot tidal race.

As spectacular a location as it is, it’s not a place you’d want to go swimming or pleasure boating. But if you’re a tidal energy developer, then this wild and unforgiving corner of the Orkney Islands is probably the centre of your universe.

Invisible from the surface, but lying slap bang in the middle of Fall of Warness tidal stream, are eight test berths belonging to the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). Each berth is connected to the national grid, via a substation on the nearby island of Eday. EMEC operates a similar facility for testing wave energy generators at Billia Croo, on the west coast of the Orkney mainland.

That’s as dramatic a location as the Fall of Warness, open to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean, with waves as high as 19 metres recorded.

Spend half an hour rocking and rolling in a boat over the Fall of Warness, or stand onshore at Billia Croo during the full force of a winter storm, and it’s blatantly obvious why Orkney was chosen as the location for a marine energy test centre. If devices can operate here, and survive the monumentally harsh conditions, then chances are they’re going to work anywhere in the world.

| 64 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Now, ten years after EMEC was established in a public sector leap of faith involving Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish and UK governments, Orkney Islands Council, the European Union and the Carbon Trust, Orkney is witnessing unrivalled levels of marine energy activity, with more devices being tested in the islands than at any other location on the planet.

As engineering challenges go, harvesting energy from the ocean is right up there with the early days of aviation, or the space race. It’s that complex. Tide tables are about as good as it gets in terms of predicting the ocean’s behaviour, particularly around Orkney. The working environment is continually challenging and biologically hostile towards traditional engineering materials and techniques.

So, you might ask, why bother?

..the promise of thousands of homes powered with energy harvested from the sea is no longer seen as the daydreaming of idealistic eco boffins.

The World Energy Council has estimated that around two terawatts (two million megawatts) of power could be generated from Earth’s oceans – about double current world electricity production. Closer to home, the Carbon Trust estimates that 20 per cent of our electricity - equivalent to the output of Britain’s nuclear ►

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Energy

Nei l K er mo d e / Joh n G r i f f i th s / Mar i ne Energ y / E M EC

test berths, EMEC operates two smaller-scale wave and tidal sites for device, technique and component testing in less challenging sea conditions.

to persuade people this was an industry that needed to be supported. It was all very pioneering and, at times, very iffy!”

The 22-strong team at EMEC provide a range of consultancy and support services with their expertise much in demand from emerging and planned test sites around the world. To date, EMEC is assisting with the development of marine energy centres in Canada, USA, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea, with several other nations seeking advice on how best to develop testing facilities.

Ten years on from EMEC’s creation, there’s a palpable buzz around the marine energy sector in Orkney, with a sense that significant progress is now, finally, being made.

When development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise began exploring the potential of marine renewables in the late nineties, Orkney was just one of several potential locations for the siting of a test centre that would, it was hoped, create an entirely new industry in the north of Scotland and bring a major economic boost in the process.

EMEC's managing director Neil Kermode. power stations - could be harvested from UK waters.

Around 10 per cent of Europe’s wave power is focused on Scotland’s coastlines, with a potential of around 15 Gigawatts. And Scotland also boasts about a quarter of Europe’s tidal stream potential approximately 18 Gigawatts.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the potential of marine energy, both environmentally and economically. However, progress towards even the lower end of wave and tidal energy generation projections has been slower than hoped, mostly because of a lack of major investment in a sector perceived as high cost and high risk.

But the pace is undoubtedly picking up, thanks in no small part to the pioneering work being undertaken at EMEC. Based in the town of Stromness on Orkney’s west mainland, EMEC is both open-air laboratory for wave and tidal developers – the centre itself doesn’t design or build devices - and a global industry standards setter. In addition to its 14 full-scale wave and tidal

Winter view of Billia Croo, EMEC's wave test site. | 66 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

What swung the balance in Orkney’s favour was its combination of consistently big waves, strong tides and cost minimising factors – the distance between the coastline and deep water is relatively short and Orkney also has a connection to the national grid.

Sheltered waters, harbour facilities close to major wave and tidal resources and all the room needed to organise an entire industry were added attractions.

“We effectively started out with a blank sheet of paper and had to make it up as we went along,” says EMEC’s technical director John Griffiths, who has been with the centre since its inception. “Nobody had ever created a facility for testing wave and tidal devices before. Equally, developers back then were taking a step into what was unknown engineering territory, trying to design technologies to function in the most hostile of environments.

“It was all done on a shoestring and none of us really knew what we were doing, least of all the developers.

Every time we came across a problem we’d sit down and think about how we were going to deal with it.

We got lots of things wrong and, in the early days, we relied heavily on the very few leading companies around who were all struggling themselves, limping along between grants. We spent a lot of time lobbying

EMEC

“Every step forward taken by developers over the past decade has been hard won,” says EMEC’s managing director Neil Kermode. “Nobody said marine energy would be easy, but many of the fundamental technical challenges have been tackled successfully and we now have a variety of prototype devices out there generating electricity to the grid. Equally, we’re seeing major blue chip investors throwing their weight behind some of the technologies which should help increase momentum as the industry moves towards deployment of full-scale tidal and wave arrays.”

Whilst that goal of full-scale wave or tidal array deployment may still be a decade or so away, the promise of thousands of homes powered with energy harvested from the sea is no longer seen as the pie-in-the-sky daydreaming of idealistic eco boffins in garden sheds. Indeed, thanks to EMEC’s grid-connected test berths, the Orkney community - already almost entirely reliant on renewable energy from wind turbines - frequently taps into power generated by the wave and tidal devices off its shores, so there’s no doubting the technology actually works.

For example, Alstom’s 1MW tidal turbine, connected to EMEC’s Fall of Warness test site in January of this year, has gone on to generate over 10MWh of electricity in actual operating conditions. And Scotrenewables – an Orkney based marine renewables developer – is advancing plans to develop a full commercial scale 2MW version of its innovative floating tidal turbine, which has been successfully trialled at EMEC. Meanwhile, at EMEC’s Billia Croo wave test site, Pelamis Wave Power continues to test its P2 machine – the world’s first commercial scale wave energy converter to generate electricity to a national grid

A diver at work at the EMEC test site.

Mike Brookes-Roper

Web: www.emec.org.uk

EMEC

The Billia Croo test site and the EMEC wildlife observation point at Black Craig.

from offshore waves – ahead of planned deployment in major arrays earmarked for the Pentland Firth, Western Isles and Shetland.

of the water,” predicts Kermode. “These machines will all need support services, so the industry could eventually become a major employer."

In all, five different wave energy machines are currently on site at Billia Croo, with six tidal devices either generating, waiting to be installed, undergoing commissioning, or receiving post-test maintenance work in harbour. That’s more marine energy activity than at any other location on the planet.

“Importantly, there’s a strong sense of community ownership towards marine energy development in Orkney,” he adds. “People here have been quick to recognise the potential of the industry and there’s a feeling of pride that this internationally important work is happening right on their doorstep.”

“It’s incredibly exciting to witness,” says Neil Kermode. “I think we’re now starting to see a major shift in attitudes towards marine energy, with growing global recognition of the sector’s enormous economic and environmental potential, and that’s largely because of the innovative work taking place in Orkney.”

Although Orkney’s economy has traditionally been centred on agriculture – most notably beef farming – islanders have an understanding of the ocean and a tradition of using its resources sustainably.

Renewables have always made sense to Orcadians, with wind power a well-established technology locally.

It’s no surprise then to find the entrepreneurially minded and resourceful Orcadian community embracing the marine energy sector, with a host of support service businesses springing up on the back of EMEC’s presence. Recent estimates put the number of marine renewables related jobs in the island at 250, in sectors ranging from manufacturing to consultancy. That’s all good news for the Orkney economy.

“The scale of the resource around Orkney is huge, so the numbers of machines eventually destined for the waters around the county will amount to thousands, not the dozen or so presently popping in and out

There’s a real sense of urgency with the testing and development activity taking place in Orkney and a recognition that the planet really, really needs this to work.

Whilst the Orkney community continues to look for new ways to support and benefit from the emerging marine energy sector, improving on-shore facilities has been the priority for public sector agencies in the islands, with Orkney Islands Council nearing completion of a major harbours development programme. The scheme has seen the creation of Scotland’s longest deep-water berth at Hatston, near Kirkwall, and the expansion of harbour facilities at Lyness on the island of Hoy. Work is also well underway on a new pier at Copland’s Dock in Stromness, aimed squarely at developers using EMEC’s Billia Croo wave test site.

But the elephant in the room as far as further progress in the sector is concerned remains the thorny issue of grid capacity and transmission charging. At the moment, the grid connection from Orkney, and indeed other remote areas bursting with

wave, tidal or wind potential, simply can’t cope with current or projected renewables output.

“Traditionally, we’ve mined for fuel and burned it insitu,” says Kermode. “Fossil fuels are finite, so we’re going to have to harvest energy from renewable sources and transmit it to where it’s needed. Not only will that require major investment in infrastructure, it’s going to need a fundamental shift in thinking about energy.”

Equally, transmission charges have traditionally been much higher for developers generating in remote areas compared to those working closer to major population centres. There’s been some movement

by Ofgem towards a fairer system, but whether that’s enough to encourage further investment into the sector remains to be seen.

However, neither of these issues seems to be dampening the enthusiasm of Orkney’s marine energy industry.

“It’s a refreshingly optimistic field to work in,” concludes Kermode. “There’s a real sense of urgency with the testing and development activity taking place in Orkney and a recognition that the planet really, really needs this to work. Make no mistake, marine energy is a long game, one requiring enormous focus and dedication and there are many challenges still to overcome, but we’re heading in the right direction, accelerating and seeing real results.” ■

+ More Information Visit the European Marine Energy Experience Website: www.emec.org.uk Title image: Marco Caliulo environmentmagazine.co.uk | 67 |

Energy

L uc G rare / Solar / R EC

Solar Energy will help the UK overcome woes of fuel poverty The energy market is somewhat in a state of flux – energy prices are rising, the big six energy companies are dominating the UK market, yet people are seeking alternative ways to fuel their increasingly energy demanding lives. Businesses and consumers alike are beginning to understand that alternative energy consumption is no longer an eco-friendly nice to have, it’s a must have, as prices continue to rise above levels of inflation.

Eco-warriors in action

Lu c G rare

Senior Vice President, Solar Sales and Marketing, Renewable Energy Corporation

Over the past two weeks, energy prices and fuel poverty have dominated the headlines. Ed Miliband, Labour Party Leader, has been seen as fighting the corner of the seven million consumers being ‘ripped off’ by the UK’s energy giants and has heavily dismissed the possibility of an 8.2% increase in costs. However, the Energy Helpline has commented that “the flood gates are open” and this price shift is here to stay because ultimately companies are working against tides of diminishing fuel supplies.

In the eyes of businesses, this is another cost they will need to address whilst trying to retain a healthy bottom line.

All is not lost though and in a bid to stay as energy savvy as possible, many consumers are taking energy consumption into their own hands. Solar power is leading this charge and in early September, new investments worth just under £220m by Citybased groups were announced – heralded the “best possible kind of endorsement” by RenewablesUK. More recently, the Department of Energy & Climate change has stated that sensitively-sited solar energy will be central to the growth of renewables in Britain.

The introduction of feed-in tariffs (FiT) effectively kickstarted the adoption of solar and its impact cannot be underestimated. Even once the government

| 68 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

reduced the generous subsidies, solar remains an effective way to counter-balance the high price of electricity in the UK. While energy costs rise every year, solar power protects consumers by providing an additional income to offset the price of electricity.

Further backing this trend is the government’s Green Deal initiative – giving businesses funding to help improve their energy efficiency. The scheme is quite new but Greg Barker, Energy and Climate Change Minister, recently revealed over 71,000 Green Deal assessments have been completed. Furthermore, over eighty percent those who have completed an assessment say they are in the process, of or are intending to install “at least one energy saving measure”. Combined with feed-in tariffs, solar is a compelling long-term investment with an average return of 7.9 percent over 20 years.

UK business is changing the way energy is consumed

As well as the rise in domestic installations, UK businesses are starting to show commitment to largescale adoption of solar. The Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme has had considerable success in assisting large scale generation. Despite the digression of ROCs for large ground-mounted installations announced earlier this year, the stability and relative security offered in investing in larger projects remains appealing and serves as a great boost for the UK solar industry.

Another factor affecting the rise in UK businesses adopting solar power is the example the countries European business counterparts are setting. REC is experiencing a huge growth in its UK business due to successful European solar installation projects and

by February next year it’s estimated that our overall UK market share will rise to eight percent.

Web: www.recgroup.com

IKEA in Germany is one of our most recent success stories. The 14,000 square meter installation, on the rooftop of a store in Regensburg, Germany, was connected to the grid at the end of September 2010.

The 432 kW installations save 398 tons of CO2 emissions per year. A second rooftop installation covering 4,300 square meters was installed on a store in Freiburg, Germany and connected to the grid in December 2010 – helping to pump energy back into the nation whilst the 150 kilowatt installation offsets 132 tons of CO2 per year.

The rise of smart grids, smart metering and smart billing is rapidly changing the industry and savvy business users are fast realising the benefits.

It is estimated that by 2020, 200 million smart meters will be installed across Europe. In the UK, the government has also committed to installing 30 million smart meters in homes and small businesses. The potential implications for energy use are huge, with trials of smart metered homes in Europe typically showing an instant nine percent increase in energy efficiency.

REC has also worked with UK partners to create solar plants and therefore support the steep growth of adoption. In 2011, REC successfully developed, constructed, financed, sold and received the 25-year feed-in tariff accreditation for the 5 MW Durrants solar power plant located on the Isle of Wight, UK. The Durrants solar power plant produces 5,400 MWh of electricity yearly and includes more than 19,000 high performance REC Peak Energy modules. The installation offsets 3,500 tons of CO2 per year and provides enough energy to support 1,450 homes and businesses per year. In addition, REC supplied solar panels to the 5 MW for Ebbsfleet solar plant in Kent, UK. These projects are located in locations with excellent irradiation – again dismissing a rise in energy prices and showing how renewables can provide high returns.

For businesses in particular, the appeal of smart meters lies in the ease of use and its ability to cut out unnecessary billing hassle which ultimately ensures a healthy bottom line. Similarly, self consumption for business is becoming increasingly important and many see the small rooftop-segment market promising, combining self consumption and FiTs to maximize profits – cutting through the UK’s fears of rising energy costs.

REC believes in Britain to make a stand

Despite the news agenda covering the UK in a cloud of energy doom – there are clearly options and action being taken by the UK’s consumer and business community. Solar power is on the rise and although adoption has been slow there are now foundations in place to help the market reach maturity and the success of solar-adoption across other European nations is setting a clear example for the UK: it can be done, and it can be done well. With energy prices never far from the news headlines, solar offers attractive return and low risk for both businesses and consumers ■

+ More Information Renewable Energy Corporation: www.recgroup.com

It is estimated that by 2020, 200 million smart meters will be installed across Europe. In the UK, the government has also committed to installing 30 million smart meters in homes and small businesses.

As the alternative energy consumption market continues to strengthen, attention is turning toward updating the electricity grid to accommodate the increase in energy generation. Through projects like these there is bound to be more the rewards reaped through the commitment of UK businesses that are becoming more committed to introducing alternative energy solutions.

REC is experiencing a huge growth in its UK business due to successful European solar installation projects.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 69 |

Land Management

Dr G eeta Pur i / W i nd far ms / Peat L and R esto rat i o n

Windfarm developers delivering on peat habitat enhancement THE strains on the public purse mean that habitat protection and restoration are way down the priority list for funding, yet over 50% of the UK’s soil carbon stock is held in peat lands which are among the most degraded and at-risk habitats in Britain.

Dr G eeta Pur i

Principal Consultant, Atmos Consulting Yet significant areas are now being enhanced as onshore wind developers adhere to what has become de facto best practice. They are committing a share of revenue to the protection and enhancement of the peat lands they are building on, and we are now seeing measurable benefits as these important European habitats are restored.

These benefits will only increase as we begin to see the earliest turbines reaching the end of their useful life and developers focus on next generation wind farms on the same or adjacent sites. While the first generation may have been commissioned at a time when central government held all the cards, and planning consent was not required, redevelopment now brings them squarely within the local planning systems. Even if not seeking to redevelop on exactly the same site, developers have a powerful imperative to include a strategy to reinstate the land to win favour with planners.

In short, developing on peat land involves an allencompassing focus on environmental impact from concept to decommissioning and way beyond. As government guidelines develop, ambiguity on what developers can and should do before, during and after construction are being addressed.

Nevertheless this is still a fast-moving, specialist and increasingly high-tech field, as consultants and engineers use sophisticated GIS and analysis tools.

Keeping ahead of the curve and being in a position to base environmental impact assessments (EIAs) on the latest data and thinking is no mean feat.

Luke Partridge

| 70 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Clearly a decision or proposal to develop on peatland has significant impact on the shape and content of the EIA that will be an integral part of any planning application. Planners will look for a scientifically-sound peat management plan, to show how peat physically disturbed and removed during construction will be dealt with. They will want to see a comprehensive peat slide risk assessment (where required) and know how those risks will be mitigated, with particular reference to protecting water courses. In addition, they will look for a credible carbon balance (often referred

Web: www.atmosconsulting.com

Wind turbines in particular, are widely perceived by the layman to be the problem. In fact, they are emerging as a potential solution. solution. It is onshore wind developments that have led to a significant volume of high quality peat depth data being compiled in support of applications.

Data covering several hundred to several thousand hectares in extent now exists. In my ideal world this would ALL be in the public domain.

Invited delegates at the seminar included representatives of Natural Resources Wales and engineering consultants CH2M Hill. The afternoon session was led by Dali Nayak from the University of Aberdeen, who was a key player in designing the Carbon Calculator.

Carbon balance analysis

Consultants and engineers use sophisticated GIS and analysis tools when developing on peat land. to as payback) analysis. Of these, it is the carbon balance analysis that has always had the most potential to be subjective, and the development of Carbon Calculator at Aberdeen University, a project I have been involved in from the outset, is going a long way to solving this dilemma. Using this tool, developers can submit robust planning applications and planners have a background against which to assess them. The tool is in the public domain, and developers are to be encouraged to share all their data as well, as and when doing so is commercially viable. Local authorities and central government now have accumulated valuable data on the peatland resource and this can be used to look at the state and extent of the national peatland resource.

As a past scientific advisor on the environment to the Scottish Government, I have a particular interest in peatland and its carbon stock. I commissioned and managed the Carbon Calculator Research Project and the ECOSSE soil carbon model project, and facilitated their use for policy units within government. My work on this project has been informed by my experience in drafting guidance for

site surveys on peatlands and providing input to related guidance for peat landslide risk assessment and waste peat management. That said, it is important that experts share their experience and expand the public knowledge base, especially now we are acquiring relevant field data from operational windfarms.

The Welsh Peatlands Seminar we at Atmos Consulting organised and hosted at Bangor University in September, provided an excellent opportunity for researchers, consultants and restoration practitioners to consider the important issues and latest thinking about peat management and restoration and identify the gaps in our knowledge.

While it was noted in the opening address that the biggest threat to peat uplands actually comes from air pollution and longer-term climate change, it is renewable energy developments, and wind turbines in particular, are widely perceived by the layman to be the problem. In fact, they are emerging as a potential

Aberdeen University’s Carbon Calculator is now widely adopted method used to assess the net life cycle savings in carbon associated with wind farms.

There are no real alternatives to this tool and, in truth, it has few critics. Nevertheless, everyone involved tis development and use is committed to its on-going and continuous improvement.

Since its publication in 2008, the Carbon Calculator has already gone through a number of refinements as a consequence of further research, and is becoming a more effective assessment tool. Carbon calculation scenarios can present very different outcomes depending on the assumptions made, for example the extent to which drainage can affect peat can vary significantly based on different scenarios, and users of the Carbon Calculator will need to develop methodologies that enable them to take multiple scenarios into account.

The calculator remains a key tool in demonstrating the contribution of the wind industry to carbon reduction targets, and not just for peat habitats, and I am delighted there are now firm plans for further analysis on Scottish data, the results of which will be made publically available â–

+ More Information www.atmosconsulting.com

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 71 |

Land Management

Brow nf i eld Br i ef i ng Award s

By Ian Grant Managing Director, Brownfield Briefing, Newzeye

Now in its ninth year, the Brownfield Briefing Awards have become the flagship event for the brownfield community, and is one of the highest industry accolades that a company can receive.

Organised by Brownfield Briefing, the annual awards recognise technical and conceptual excellence in projects that have been underway over the past 12 months. These awards reflect both the advancements and current state of the industry.

Hosting the ceremoney will be engineer and BBC presenter, Kate Bellingham.

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Comedian, Patrick Monahan, will be providing the evening's entertainment.

Web: www.brownfieldbriefing.com

Context

There are two new awards this year including Best Campaign for Brownfield.

The industry has had to withstand attacks from the pro-greenfield lobbies.

Clearing up dereliction and decay not only benefits the environment and regenerates towns; it’s good for the economy too. It’s a lesson that Whitehall, currently pursuing greenfield development, may have forgotten.

In Britain, a whole range of factors is encouraging people to move into cities. It’s where the work is, they’re fed up with traffic congestion and fuel is, long-term, becoming more expensive. So it is where we should plan to build the homes we need and avoid the need to destroy greenfield land – that’s farmland in a country that grows only two-thirds of its food and natural land that supports its vital biodiversity.

A report called State of Nature painted an accurate picture of the threats to our wildlife contained a trenchant attack on brownfield redevelopment, on the bizarre grounds that a few brownfield sites are home to a handful of rare invertebrates.

Beautiful Brownfields photo competition 2013

Following a successful first year of the Beautiful Brownfields photo competition, it's back for 2013!

Designed to celebrate the artistic, unusual and extraordinary characteristics of brownfield land, the Beautiful Brownfields photo competition is a chance for you to submit your take on what makes a beautiful brownfield. Entry is free.

Now we also know that excessive greenfield development doesn’t only destroy intensive farmland, it destroys natural land too. Brownfield developers have a proud record of protecting biodiversity on those rare sites where it matters or compensating with improvements elsewhere.

This country’s new emphasis on greenfield development has been sold on the basis of a housing crisis. The continuing ability of the brownfield sector to clean up land and make it ready to reuse is a powerful response to that.

2013 Awards categories: • Best Use of a Combination of Remediation Techniques • Best In-Situ Treatment • Best Conceptual Design • Best Scoping or Operation of a Site Investigation • Best Project Closure/Verification Process • Best Public Participation • Best Re-Use of Materials • Best Scientific (or Verification) Advancement • Best Building or Redevelopment on a Brownfield Site (new category 2013) • Best Campaign for Brownfield (new category 2013) • Best Young Brownfield Professional

2012 winner 'The Green Room', by Chris Thompson, Peak Environmental Solutions

The other new award this year is Best building or re-development on a brownfield site, reflecting the influence of sustainability and sustainable development and the wider influences coming into the sector.

Construction Youth Trust supports young people whose journey to work can be challenging due to barriers relating to their financial circumstances, lack of awareness of opportunities, low self-esteem, gender or ethnicity.

It is also good to see last year’s new award: Best Scientific (or verification) advancement, attracting high quality entries reflecting the continued advances of science and technology applied to our sector, bringing increasing cost and resource efficiencies when applied correctly.

It supports young people’s journey to work through an integrated service that enables them to raise their industry awareness and aspirations, increase their confidence obtain construction and employability skills. They also acquire experience in the industry; receive financial support, career advice and guidance and mentoring, access training and employment opportunities. The Trust achieves its goals by undertaking a number of programmes ranging from individual bursaries to construction skills courses, and from work placement schemes to guidance sessions ■

The awards will be presented by BBC presenter, Kate Bellingham. Originally an electronics engineer specialising in computing, Kate Bellingham began her broadcast career on Tomorrow's World.

Her engineering background, her degree in physics from Oxford University and her experience as a computer programmer came in useful during her four years as a presenter on the flagship science and technology programme. Kate has also worked on educational programmes for the Open University and BBC Schools and presented Testing Times - examining the challenges faced on major infrastructure projects.

Comedian Patrick Monahan will be providing the evening's entertainment with a twist of funny. Patrick started off on the glamorous Irish/Iranian/Geordie circuit in his native home land of the north east of England before being invited to perform all over the world.

The charity of choice this year is Construction Youth Trust. It is important for the industry to provide job opportunities and training to young people during these still tricky but improving times. Construction Youth Trust is a registered charity working with young people to help them access training, education and employment opportunities in construction.

The judging panel for the 2013 Awards are:

Mike Summersgill, Chair of the Judging Panel, SEnSe Associates LLP Jonathan Atkinson, Environment Agency Clive Boyle, CRB Environmental Dr Richard Boyle, Homes and Communities Agency Tony Burton, Independent Consultant Sarah Dack, Hyder Consulting Ian Grant, Managing Director, Brownfield Briefing, Newzeye Jonathan Steeds, Atkins Professor Stephan Jefferis, Environmental Geotechnics

+ More Information www.brownfieldbriefing.com

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 73 |

Land Management

Peter Atch i so n / Gas / R eg u lat i o n

The Great Gas Protection Debate The principles of gas protection of structures against gases emanating from the ground were developed in the late 1980’s, increased in volume during the building boom of the late 90’s and have “come of age” since the crash of 2006-2007. Divided into three areas, the principles consist of determining risk according to site specific data of gas generation, sensitivity of receptors, and propriety of solutions provision. The major omission in this highly theorised process has always been the effectiveness of the solutions once installed.

Peter Atch i son

Director at PAGeotechnical, Chair of EIC’s Contaminated Land Working Group

For many years the business has been driven by suppliers of materials designed for the purpose, who looked for multiple routes to market on a presumption that the products themselves solved the problem. This has developed a market where 'what one uses' has become more important than 'how it is used' and a 'hands off' approach by clients, designers and regulators, and has allowed dangerous levels of confidence to be drawn from expectations not necessarily fulfilled.

Fortunately all this is changing: With the development of BS8485 in 2007, linking a full code of practice to two important detail documents CIRIA C665 (detailing the risk determination of sites and receptors) and NHBC’s own speciality guidance (detailing the specifics as relating to domestic dwellings) we now have a framework of documents detailing how gas protection should be determined, designed and provided. The final link in the chain is ensuring that the quality of the work is adequate.

Remember that in providing a gas resisting membrane, one is essentially installing an airtight plastic barrier into the footprint of the building. If we imagined this as a balloon or tent fabric then the expectations and provision of these installations

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would be considerably improved. Unfortunately there is still a feeling in the market (driven by cost conscious operators) that gas protection is simply a 'posh damp-proof membrane' (dpm). Whilst at one stage in the 1990’s we saw gas protection being fitted to many developments unnecessarily (It was cheaper to simply fit something, than to ascertain whether it was really needed) this approach is still pervading and leads to a base level of solutions provision commensurate with the virtually non existent risks. The problem now is that in current financially constrained times, this protection is only being called for when the risks are somewhat more substantial (as determined by much better analysis and risk assessment tools), and yet many construction professionals still accept the low performance installations of the 90’s as a default.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Many of the professionals involved in this sector, as well as the providers and regulators, are becoming increasingly aware of the real risks associated with this sector and the means are being developed to match these in the solutions provision. For many years it has been driven by materials suppliers, suggesting that so long as their lovely, highly technical membranes/ ventilation solutions are used all will be well. The reality is that the material is only as good as it’s installation and in order to fulfil their potential these high tech materials need careful and accurate installation. A whole industry has grown up in the professional installation of gas protective measures and the solutions designed by professional engineers can now be installed to levels where they can perform as detailed.

Specialists in gas membrane installation have been around since the 1990’s and while it is generally the case that these companies do provide an excellent

Web: www.pageo.co.uk

PAGeotechnical specialises in the management and risk reduction of contaminated land, and is able to provide design support and specialist services for clients and their professional advisors.

service, their use, particularly in house building, has been resisted by developers in favour of their ground workers doing the work on a cost and programme basis. Since the reduction in house building of 2006 it is no longer the case that there are insufficient specialists around, so any pre-disposition to self installation is normally based around perceived cost savings.

“It seems particularly odd that work done by qualified professionals to the best standards should be subjected to very intense scrutiny whilst low-grade work done by less experienced hands should be ignored.”

This is where the real problem lies: The cost of installing a gas membrane correctly is somewhere about 80% of the total cost. The material only really represents about 20% of the cost in domestic works (although in large industrial developments it may be nearer 50%). This has brought about the fallacy that gas membrane installation can be easily accomplished by ground workers who have installed dpm's previously. This has been perpetuated by many suppliers (masquerading as manufacturers) whose vested interests are solely in membrane volumes and not in the ultimate solution. NHBC had been leading the market in insisting that on Amber 2 sites, the membranes should be installed by specialists but of course in the absence of any recognised qualifications in this sector this has unfairly disadvantaged some diligent well trained ground working contractors and allowed cowboy elements to develop; it’s as easy as sign writing “specialist” on the side of their vans.

Fortunately Construction Skills saw an opening to develop standards and qualifications in this sector and in 2007/2008 a working group developed standards for the installation of gas resisting membranes (VR612 and VR613 available on the UK standards website www.ukstandards.co.uk).

These are the absolute standards agreed for the installation of gas protection solutions and can (and should) be adhered to by anyone installing these materials into designs on UK construction sites. The next stage is to qualify the workforce and an NVQ level 2 qualification has been developed around these standards, the first assessments started in 2012 and there are currently two assessors with capacity in their programmes. The industry has been slow to respond and it needs regulators and clients to demand proof of qualifications and check the quality of work on sites before committing to accepting a particular offer.

The final part of the model is validation: this is mentioned in the BS and has been used to great advantage by a number of practitioners. Validation can and should mean different things in different circumstances. In reality validation is a means of checking that the work done has been completed professionally, appropriately and in line with the specification. It is difficult to accept varying levels of solution in an area such as this. It is tempting to say that if fitted it needs to be absolute. The risks however are not uniform and therefore it is possible to accept varying levels of solution in line with the risks; this is how the documents are written. Therefore validation can vary from the simple visual inspection (often the most important part of the process) to checking of individual welds or full membrane integrity testing using tracer gas. Bizarrely one tends to find that the higher levels of validation are called for on the best installed membranes and this is something that the

industry has got to work on. It seems particularly odd that work done by the best qualified professionals to the best standards should be subjected to very intense scrutiny whereas low grade work done by less experienced hands should be ignored. There is a CIRIA document about to be released which comprehensively covers this aspect of the work and will go a long way to solving this final problem.

We still have a way to go but at least there are now opportunities and procedures available to check the workmanship, standards and qualifications of people doing this important specialist trade, thereby offering clients and regulators the opportunity to check and record details ensuring that good quality materials fulfil their potential in quality designs that work ■

+ More Information PAGeotechnical UK Standards CIRIA CITB

www.pageo.co.uk www.ukstandards.co.uk www.ciria.org www.citb.co.uk

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 75 |

Sustainable Build & Civil Engineering

G raham Per r i o r / R ec ycled Mater ial s / NH BC

Bedding sand made from crushed glass.

The use of recycled materials in construction

As the house building industry works toward resolving the 2016 zero carbon challenge, new ways of designing, producing and fitting increasingly sustainable homes are continually appearing. Some of these are proven and will become standard practice in the years to come, Graham Per r ior

Head of Standards and Technical at NHBC

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while others are still being assessed for their longer-term impact. â–ş

NHBC

Sustainable Build & Civil Engineering

G raham Per r i o r / Car b o n Chal lenge / NH BC

The use of alternative aggregates in new build home construction is an area where we are seeing significant change. The use of both recycled and secondary materials appears to be increasing as the home building industry explores the potential benefits. However, as with any material, application or process used in home building, it is important to understand the potential pitfalls and risks as well as any benefits.

Most aggregates used in the UK come from natural, primary sources, for example dredged or quarried sand, or crushed rock. However, today non-primary aggregates are being increasingly used and these fall into two categories: • Recycled: arising from sources like demolition or construction of buildings or other structures, or from civil engineering works; for example crushed concrete or spent railway track ballast. These are recycled by processing into appropriately-sized particles, removing any contaminants, and applying quality assurance procedures.

• Secondary: produced as a by-product of mining, quarrying or other industrial activities; these aggregates will be either natural, or manufactured. They include by-products of china clay, slate or metals extraction, and coal power generation.

Figure 1

In both cases it is important that house builders ensure any non-primary aggregate meets the regulatory mechanisms for the re-use of materials on and off site to ensure that the products have been fully recovered and are no longer considered to be a waste.

The UK already has the highest proportion of aggregate demand met from recycled and secondary aggregates in the EU and that trend looks set to increase as more organisations note the benefits.

The benefits fall into two categories: environmental / social, and business (see Figure 1 – from P6 of report.)

The NHBC Foundation’s guide assesses the main applications for non-primary materials in residential construction. It considers the types of recycled or secondary materials that can be used for each application, their sources, and practical issues or limitations.

An in-situ crusher producing recycled concrete aggregate (RCA).

necessarily be suitable for an end use in the construction of homes, even if they meet the relevant quality protocols. This is mostly due to issues in their shape, grading or composition, for example colliery spoil with high levels of sulphates.

The applications considered in the guide are: • aggregates for vibro stone columns (for ground improvement on sites for residential development) • fill beneath buildings • hardcore • pipe bedding and surrounding material • drainage (stormwater drains and soakaways) • coarse aggregates in some types of concrete for domestic use (including reinforced) • private drives or pathway construction (asphalt, concrete or sub-base) • bedding/laying sand for paving etc • hydraulically bound mixtures (for pathways and hard standing)

While there are clear benefits of using recycled or secondary materials, there are also some broader limitations which should be considered, as well as lessons that have been learned on sites across the UK.

These limitations are a key point for house builders, as not all recycled or secondary materials will

Other potential pitfalls include the inappropriate use of recycled and secondary materials occasionally

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Despite their potential environmental benefits, some non-primary aggregates may not always represent the most sustainable option in a given project. For example, some may not be available locally, and their transportation could result in increased levels of embodied CO2, negating the intended carbon reduction.

Some aggregates may necessitate modifications to concrete mix proportions, meaning their emissions change.

NHBC

leading to problems with stability and appearance of homes, causing costly remedial measures. These kinds of pitfalls are assessed in the guide, with case studies.

As with any building material, the key to using recycled and secondary materials as aggregates is ensuring they are being used appropriately; their risks must be carefully assessed against their potential benefits. A wide range of high quality non-primary aggregates are available, and when used correctly they may help builders, specifiers and architects better meet the sustainability agenda while maximising efficiency of resources ■

+ More Information The use of recycled and secondary materials in residential construction is available to download at www.nhbcfoundation.org/recycledmaterials

Timber & Forestry

Paul Clegg / Sustai nable Ti mb er / Accoya

Will Sustainability Drive Innovation in the Timber Industry?

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Paul Clegg

Chief Executive of Accsys Technologies

Web: www.accoya.com

Paul Clegg, Chief Executive of Accsys Technologies, manufacturer of Accoya® wood, gives his personal view on how increasing environmental consciousness is having a dramatic impact on the timber industr y.

Following the recent industry gathering for Timber Expo, I have been asked to set out what I believe to be the main environmental challenges facing our industry.

I should say, at the outset, that I am not an environmentalist. But I am passionate about how our environment is shaping our timber and building industry, and how we need to adapt to meet changing requirements.

I run a relatively small company by industry standards, which uses the innovative process of wood acetylation to create cutting-edge products like Accoya that expands the possibilities and role of wood. We do work closely with environmentalists, and if anyone wants to check the potential of wood acetylation in mitigating climate change, please read the illuminating article (see right for link) by Dr Pablo van der Lugt, our Sustainability Manager, and a renowned expert specialising in global environmental change.

Rather, my view is one of a champion of an innovative process creating leading-edge products that could make a significant impact in environmental standards within our industry and beyond.

A lack of profile – and subsidy

I should say that I find it extraordinary that the timber industry as a whole is not regarded as the most high profile of environmental industries. We seem to live in a world where most mainstream environmentally-friendly products are supported by some kind of subsidy. Yet we as an industry receive relatively little political profile or indeed financial support compared to some other sectors. We have barely advanced beyond commonplace malignment.

We should be recognised as environmental leaders. With timber, we use the most environmentally sustainable of major raw materials, on ensuring this sustainability.

Moreover, the application of increasingly advanced manufacturing techniques from the mill down through the value chain allows us to break into more mainstream and conventional industries, taking our environmental best practices with it.

Regulation has a positive market influence

The Potential Role of Wood Acetylation in Climate Change Mitigation, Dr Pablo van der Lugt www.accoya.com/wp-content/ uploads/2013/06/Accoyaarticle-isste-25-EIM.pdf

What we are finding now, more than ever before, is that there is a broader range of drivers contributing to the environmental debate. Influences stretch from the lofty heights of the acclaimed EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the Lacey Act in the US through to increasingly aware architects’ specifications and building regulation codes – as well being driven by the rise of a conscientious and informed consumer. ►

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Timber & Forestry

Paul Clegg / Sustai nable Ti mb er / Accoya EUTR and Lacey – Setting new high standards

Of course, legislation like the EUTR and the Lacey Act in the US will also be fundamentally driving change and opinion. It was reported recently that, since the legislation came into force earlier this year, Interpol has confiscated some $40 million worth of illegal timber in South America, demonstrating that the authorities are taking an increasingly aggressive stance against illegal logging practices even though detailed expectations resulting from these new regulations are still being formulated. As a result, imports of tropical hardwoods are significantly decreasing. Hopefully, illegal timber will soon become as internationally stigmatised as dealing in ivory or drugs.

Increasing regulation on timber products and manufacture continues to improve product quality.

This is contributing to a genuine revolution in opinion forming within our industry. You just have to look at the huge increase in attendance at influential trade shows like Ecobuild and Timber Expo to realise how important these drivers are becoming.

We are seeing perception changes in large public sector and Government projects, some of which are now insisting on using legal and certified timber and specifying its performance and environmental detail, such as the 2012 London Olympics. We need to continue to press for sustainable specifications to be even more demanding, backed by increasingly powerful consumer and influencer opinion.

Commercial drivers

It is clear that environmental awareness is growing in the UK – and in many ways this is helping our industry by driving investigation and openness to ‘new’ materials by the building industry as a whole, as well as many other sectors. In our company’s niche of having a modified timber product with impeccable environmental and performance standards, our job can be seen as pushing against an open door at times.

Of course, our biggest challenge here is to convince our customers that the use of our products is commercially justifiable over the longer-term. Straight environmental credentials are not enough – they have to be accompanied by commercial guarantees.

One of our more successful marketing tools for the joinery sector is a cost calculator that shows our products, which initially are at a premium, will ultimately be cheaper to competing products due to changes in working practices, faster processing time and less customer complaints and call backs. This would have been unheard of ten years ago but these whole life cost comparison tools really can make a difference.

Timber is now becoming regarded as less of a basic commodity and more of a high value, highly researched, and regulated material.

It is clear that products like ours are focusing on the longer-term – and changing attitudes along the way.

While perhaps disruptive in the short term, over time, the EUTR and the Lacey Act will change the balance of the perception of our industry. They will add to our perceived legitimacy by keeping so-called ‘back actors’ out of our markets. This global legislation is set to become a powerful force behind a dynamic and burgeoning movement that insists that wood has to be harvested in an environmentally sensitive manner. This was simply not on the agenda in years gone past.

Historically, our industry has suffered from a lack of regard for regulation – but this is changing fast.

Now, when our consumers specify or buy a window, they are urgently seeking this environmental security - as well as everything from high-performing thermal properties (of both glass and frame) to materials compatible for a carbon zero building.

This increased accountability is fundamentally changing the perception of timber. It is now becoming regarded as less of a basic commodity and more of a high value, highly researched, and regulated material. This, for me, is the key opportunity and core challenge of our environmentally conscious time.

The Importance of added-value

Everywhere we look in today’s building industry, from window and door frames to external cladding, we are witnessing a rising demand for speciality and addedvalue products fuelled by regulation and increased specification. This is where the timber sector can excel, at developing the high-performance end of the market by developing genuine innovation.

Traditionally, our industry has thrived on producing vast amounts of basic commodities - from posts to pallets, fencing and cladding. Now, some of the more enlightened companies such as Medite, Masisa, Arauco and several others (including Ikea) are taking control of the whole process – owning, or at least heavily monitoring, the forest, the processing plants, the manufacturing operation, the product range and the distribution channels - allowing more control and value to be added throughout the process to meet this rising demand.

As an industry, we should be producing a fitfor-purpose solution with materials that are environmentally regulated and sustainably harvested.

Accsys is at the sharp end of that process. We are servicing our own added-value market with modified wood. We are already seeing engineered timber

Dwelle.'s timber-clad micro-buildings aim to create living spaces that suit a wide market.

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A unique structure created by Odeaubois and ACT Lighting, called OVO.

beams and systems enabling 12+ storey wooden buildings to be built in London and soon in British Colombia. The age of the wooden sky scraper is hopefully not far away!

The application of wood is becoming sophisticated and innovative; both for more mainstream internal and external uses as well as new applications previously not served by wood-based products.

Accoya, for example, now adorns everything from my local Waitrose store through to KFC restaurants in New Zealand. Tricoya is now used in areas where wood-based panel products previously feared to go.

We are creating products which allow architects and specifiers to explore new boundaries and push the building envelope - and this is just in the building industry.

Well informed consumers are becoming a powerful force in driving this move towards addedvalue and high performance products.

An important related issue to this, for us to note as an industry, is that as we move towards more addedvalue products fuelled by environmental scrutiny, our processes have to match our products. There is no point us promoting environmental credentials of our products if the process used to create them is a harmful and polluting one.

Acetylation has to be a clean process. Accoya, for example, has been awarded the internationally recognised Cradle to Cradle® Gold certification

Lucia Carretero

as it successfully met all the standard’s criteria, including no trace of problematic chemicals and the use of over 50% renewable energy during the manufacturing process. We are now pro-actively embracing ISO standardised environmental product declarations and other environmental standards, declarations and certifications as long as they are technically credible.

established, whatever the economic climate.

Increased consumer demand also means we need to establish a clear brand for our products – another impact of the move away from ‘commodity’ trading.

We need to use specific and strong brand values to demonstrate performance, and differentiate from other products in the increasingly global market place.

Informed “brand aware” consumers driving demand

As legislation increases, as well as price, the performance of our products will need to continue to improve. There will be a higher demand for higher performance.

As I mentioned earlier, well informed consumers are becoming a powerful force in driving this move towards added-value and high performance products. Architects are now not the only ones driving this type of decision making criteria. Every product they recommend can be evaluated by customers who have access to a Google search engine, leading inevitably to a discussion forum or review site based on peer group evaluation and endorsement.

Our ultimate goal is get informed individuals and consumers to request our products, and to drive final demand through the supply chain.

Already, we are seeing a huge increase in internet traffic from consumers to our product pages. It is ultimately both the consumer and trade customer who will drive change, as they respond to the changes in demand. We need, above all, to add-value and refine our product’s environmental benefit. A high performing environmentally sound product should also generate better returns.

It is interesting to note that this rise in consumer interest is also occurring during challenging economic conditions over the last few years – showing that environmental concerns are now firmly

The move away from mass commodity selling and replacing it with more added-value products means we can produce on a smaller scale, reducing cap-ex costs and gaining higher capital returns. It is a good business model.

This officially heralds the start of the speciality product era for much of our industry, encouraging less volume and higher value, which should be the maxim that we now follow ■

+ More Information Accoya: dwelle.: Timber Expo: OdeauBois: ACT Lighting:

www.accoya.com www.dwelle.co.uk www.timber-expo.co.uk www.odeaubois.be/en www.actlighting.com Title image: Lucia Carretero

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Timber & Forestry

Sheam Satkur u- G ranzel la / R eg ulati o n / M TC

An MTC Perspective on the EUTR The implementation of the long-debated and long drawn out EU Timber Regulation, heralded as a necessary move to reduce and eventually eliminate illegal logging worldwide, has entered its 5th month of being implemented – has it succeeded in introducing the changes it set out to accomplish?

Sheam Sat kur u- Granzel la

Director, Malaysian Timber Council

The EUTR has definitely seen some positive change in the behaviour of timber industries in some countries although it is doubtful as to whether it will succeed in reducing and eventually eliminating illegal logging, one of its prime objectives. This is purely due to the fact that the international trade in timber is not the root cause of illegal logging or deforestation in most countries. The main underlying causal factors such as economic development, poverty and agriculture to feed growing populations seem to have been somehow lost in translation. Aggravating factors such as lack of harmonised implementation in the EU-27, lack of coordination and effort on meeting its requirements and lack of clarity on what is sufficient to constitute acceptable Due Diligence under the requirements of the EUTR have resulted in some doubt on how effectively the EUTR will be implemented.

Some disturbing trends have also been noted in the build-up to March 2013 when the Regulation came into effect. Statistical evidence from major tropical timber consuming markets in the EU shows a shift away from tropical timber products (Sources Stats UK TTF, Eurostats, ETTF) etc. This, sadly, also encompasses the imports of sustainably produced tropical timbers from the more advanced producing countries who have successfully obtained independent 3rd party certification, such as Malaysia. The required levels of Due Diligence being exercised by select buyers in the EU went far beyond what is required under the EUTR to the extent of even questioning the credibility of independent 3rd party certification schemes such as PEFC & FSC. In some instances, Legality Verification was receiving higher levels of acceptance under the EUTR compared to the 2 internationally accepted certification schemes. There is of course the real risk that focus on Legality alone will undermine existing achievements of sustainability or detract future interests in pursuing sustainability. This comes at a time when the uptake of the 3 pillars of sustainability is at its peak. â–ş

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Timber & Forestry

Even though the word ‘tropical’ is completely absent from the text of the EUTR, the primary reason for the EUTR’s existence is to support the EU FLEGT VPA process and to regulate trade in products from non-VPA partner countries. This would level the playing field between competitors. However, noting that most partner countries and some countries who are still in negotiations with the EU on FLEGT VPAs ARE indeed tropical countries, there is an assumption/perception that the EUTR therefore is implicitly targeted towards tropical countries who are NOT YET in a position to deliver FLEGT-Licensed timber, all of whom are perceived to be High Risk. It is this unfound notion that has caused purchasers in the EU to demand the impossible from tropical timber supplying countries. Malaysia, who is in its final stages of negotiations on a FLEGT VPA with the EU (despite more than a third of its natural forests being independently third-party certified under the MTCS since 2003 and PEFC-certified since 2009) fully supports the implementation of the EUTR, evidenced by all the measures taken in attempts to steer the industry towards meeting the Due Diligence requirements under this legislation.

This perception that ALL tropical countries are to be deemed High Risk is indeed a sorry state of affairs as it has resulted in tropical countries doubling their efforts in order to continue supplying to high value markets within the EU whilst most non-VPA large competing suppliers to the EU go unregulated.

Russia and China spring to mind, neither of whom has tropical timber resources but are major suppliers of timber and wood products to the EU with the latter supplying copious volumes of every foreseeable tropical timber product imaginable. Over scrutiny on actual tropical timber producing countries will most definitely result in a disincentive for any other tropical country to embark on forest and industry certification if market access is impractical or simply non-viable.

Implementing either sustainability verification or even Legality verification comes at a high cost of necessarily increased resources, both human and financial, being available to the authorities and stakeholders on the ground.

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Sheam Satkur u- G ranzel la / R eg ulati o n / M TC

Under the EUTR, such perceptions of tropical countries being deemed High Risk is perpetrated by several stakeholders, resulting in a proliferation of Due Diligence schemes being offered to governments and industries, undoubtedly at a financial cost.

What has made it most difficult is each organisation vying to offer the BEST Due Diligence system to be utilised. This may look to be the BEST on paper but is worthless if it is burdensome to the daily workings of the industry, is anti-competitive and makes it impossible to implement and/or monitor on a daily basis, which will only cause all to shy away from using tropical timber, resulting in a forced consolidation of the timber industry, to the benefit of timber’s less environmentally-friendly competitors. It will also lead to loss of more market share under existing difficult trading conditions.

Congo in Africa is another country that has progressed in leaps and bounds over the years, proving that despite ongoing difficulties and challenges in Africa, it is willing to bite the bullet and pursue legality and sustainability, like Malaysia did nearly 2 decades ago. It is indeed a shame that the BBC Panorama decided to focus on Congo instead of picking a location where worse atrocities have been ongoing and are still taking place. Focusing on those who are trying simply takes the shine of all the hard work, commitments and political struggles that these countries go through.

Countries like Malaysia who is in the process of implementing its Timber Legality Assurance System (MYTLAS), the basis of which is in line with its current FLEGT VPA negotiations with the EU, should be applauded for taking such measures even though the negotiations are yet to be finalised. It shows the country’s commitments towards taking Legality verification seriously, over and above what has already been achieved in implementing SFM, the MTCS and obtaining PEFC endorsement since 2009.

It is very encouraging that some European timber federations in certain EU member states – key markets for Malaysian timber products – have already

acknowledged the value of MYTLAS in assisting member companies satisfy EUTR requirements, particularly those which are ‘operators’, first placing timber on the EU market. The use of the MYTLAS licence, they say, has been instrumental in providing the necessary details on forest source and other key EUTR due diligence elements for most Malaysian products.

This is not to say that Peninsular Malaysian companies now face no issues or challenges regarding the EUTR. All Malaysian exporters of secondary, tertiary and processed products, like most EU manufacturers of such goods, certainly find it very burdensome accounting for all the different timber species used, particularly if the processing chain utilises off-cuts from sawmills or manufacturers of other products.

Furniture is another sector voicing difficulties in satisfying EUTR due diligence requirements, again echoing feelings in the European furniture industry.

Some compromise is needed in these areas, so that the entry of products from more responsible countries, such as Malaysia, are not impeded, which would only result in the loss of market share for both Malaysian and EU businesses.

The EU definitely needs to bolster its efforts on ensuring even implementation of the EUTR across the EU where huge disparity in implementation currently exists, even in Western European member states, never mind Eastern Europe. All stakeholders need further assistance in the interpretation of their rights and obligations under the EUTR, if only to allow for responsible trade to develop further. Tropical timber supplying countries like Malaysia who have invested millions over the years in meeting market requirements deserve a lot better, particularly to be recognised and acknowledged for their efforts, commitments and achievements to date ■

+ More Information www.mtcc.com.my

Transport

Ni cola Clay / L o nd o n Br i tannia A i r po r t / Thames E st u ar y

Britannia rules the clouds Ni cola Clay

Director, Coastal and Marine Environment, Royal HaskoningDHV

The future of aviation in the UK is currently one of the hottest political and economic topics and the issues and potential solutions are being hotly debated in the political, business and environmental arenas with key figures supporting different options. The Airports Commission has been tasked by the Government with undertaking an objective, impartial and strategic review of aviation capacity and recommending the way forward – the process has cross-party support which will in turn facilitate the delivery of the outcome. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of Europe’s leading independent project management, engineering and consultancy service providers is providing expertise on maritime engineering and the marine environment to the TESTRAD team that have developed the London Britannia Airport. ►

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Web: www.testrad.co.uk/london-britannia-airport

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Transport

Ni cola Clay / L o nd o n Br i tannia A i r po r t / Thames E st u ar y

A rendering of the airport's interior concourse.

London Britannia Airport

London Britannia Airport will be a multi modal transportation system solution for central London and the broader metropolitan Greater London region, as well as importantly extending hub airport services to the rest of the UK. It will serve as a worldclass, sustainable transfer passenger hub, providing a rich menu of frequent non-stop destinations for UK citizens, businesses and cargo.

London Britannia comprises five key components: 1. An offshore Airport platform with runways, navigational aids, and other aeronautical functions comprising the transfer concourses complemented by extensive business, retail and leisure facilities.

2. Onshore O&D Passenger Terminals and Terminal Gateways located in strategically important locations.

3. High speed airside links between the Airport and the O&D Passenger Terminals.

4. Future dedicated airside link between central London and the Airport.

5. An onshore logistics park for logistics, freight forwarding facilities, operational support and other collateral development adjacent to the Airport.

London Britannia is one of a number of proposals for airports in the Thames Estuary, however unlike most of the other schemes, London Britannia will completely separate people from planes: giving passengers the benefits of air travel but without the damaging impacts to residents from noise and poor air quality. The profile for the most disruptive noise (that associated with take-off and landing) is entirely over water. London Britannia would remove the noise and air quality issues that currently blight the quality of life of the residents of west London. In terms of well-being and quality of life this would deliver a significant environmental benefit for hundreds of thousands of people. By placing the runways offshore we are ensuring that people will not be affected by the most disturbing noise associated

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with aircraft landing and taking off. Planes will, of course, still fly over populated areas but at very high altitudes (i.e. over 10,000ft), which is presently the case in much of south east England, as well as most other major world regions.

The airport will have capacity for more than 170 million passengers per annum with 5-6 runways built on a new offshore island.

Site selection in the Thames Estuary

The development of a new hub airport will inevitably have environmental impacts wherever it is located.

Decision-makers will need to balance the different types of impacts for example effects on biodiversity and effects on the well-being and quality of life of people. Royal HaskoningDHV has used its wide knowledge of the Thames Estuary, our detailed understanding of environmental legislation and our experience of designing and assessing major maritime infrastructure projects to select the most suitable location for the offshore airport. The Thames Estuary is important for its biological and physical environment as well as its commercial use as a port, for renewable energy and fishing.

The shallow waters of the estuary provide nursery grounds for species such as bass, herring and sole while the sandbanks host cockles and oysters. The outer Estuary is an important area for spawning sole and there is a localised herring spawning ground.

Other commercial species such as cod, sprat and whiting are also found. The intertidal mud and sandflats and the network of shallow channels and sandbanks provide feeding grounds for waders (coastal) and divers (offshore). The Thames Estuary is fringed on both banks by designated conservation sites and the open waters of the outer estuary are part of a designated site that extends up the east coast of England as far as Norfolk. On the Essex coast is the Essex Estuaries European Marine Site comprising a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Areas (SPA). While on the Kent coast are further SPAs. Offshore is the Outer

Thames Estuary SPA and the Margate and Long Sand SAC. SACs and SPAs are designated under the Habitats and Birds Directives. Each SAC and SPA also comprises constituent Sites of Special scientific Interest (SSSI). Nearly all of these sites are primarily designated for the feeding grounds they provide for over-wintering birds. The exception is the Margate and Long Sand SAC which is designated for its sand bank habitat. In recent years surveys carried out by offshore wind farm developers identified significant numbers of red throated divers in the parts of the outer Estuary and east coast of England and studies

by Natural England have confirmed the importance of the shallow waters as feeding grounds for this species.

Taking all of the above features and bringing in expertise from our team members on the necessary footprint of the airport as well as hydrodynamic modelling, we carried out an objective review to identify potential sites in the Estuary that were of sufficient scale to host the airport. Our review identified four possible areas – Gunfleet Sands, Shingles, East Barrow and Kentish Flats. Maplin Sands (the site of the proposed airport in the 1970s) also met several of the criteria but was screened out on the basis of the very large numbers of birds that use the extensive mud and sandflats.

The four shortlisted sites were screened against engineering criteria, likelihood of achieving consent, cost and access time. Importantly, at this stage the views of the Port of London Authority were sought as to which site they would prefer. The outcome of the second stage of the review was the selection of the Kentish Flats site as the optimum area for construction of the offshore airport.

Hydrodynamics: tides and morphology

Once the Kentish Sands site was selected the important task of aligning the offshore airport with the tidal flows in the estuary was started. Changes to tidal currents, waves and potential effects on

Web: www.testrad.co.uk/london-britannia-airport

offshore morphology or the coastline are important considerations for marine infrastructure projects and the Thames Estuary contains a series of major sandbanks that are aligned with the tides form both the North Sea and the English Channel. Our expert team undertook flow modelling using a suite of established calibrated modelling tools to investigate the footprints of impact for the airport.

The results of this work show that the airport is not expected to significantly influence tide or surge propagation upstream into the Thames Estuary.

The airport platform and its orientation (as well as suiting the runway configuration) has been planned and designed to minimise the impacts on tidal flows within the area. In essence it utilises the existing sandbank configuration and its existing deep-water channel alignments.

As the estuary width narrows then effects of reclaiming part of the estuary increase – a construction essentially represents a blockage to the flows. The airport schemes proposed for the inner estuary locations will need to be very carefully considered as to whether the changes they cause to tidal currents and waves will increase flood risk, erosion or sedimentation in important environmental sites or the channels and berths of the commercial port. These issues are not significant at the London Britannia location.

Biodiversity in the Thames Estuary

As previously mentioned large parts of the Thames Estuary are designed for their conservation interest – predominantly for the feeding grounds the mudflats provide for overwintering birds. The most important sites with respect to bird numbers are the mudflats that fringe the inner estuary and extend north along the Essex coast. These intertidal areas host thousands of birds during the winter. In our experience, bird numbers of this level are not compatible with an airport both in terms of safety risk from bird strike and also the complexities of

compliance with the conservation legislation that protects the sites. It is clear that the development of an airport at an inner estuary site (e.g. the Isle of Grain) would result in considerable loss and fragmentation of The Thames Estuary and Marshes Special protection Area, one of the most important bird feeding grounds in the UK. With respect to bird strike, a Government commissioned report for Cliffe (adjacent to the Isle of Grain) found that an airport in that region would face the risk of a loss of aircraft greater than most, if not all, existing airports in the UK even after all bird management measures were in place.

Further offshore, away from the coastal feeding grounds, bird numbers are considerably lower although (London Britannia will be in a designated conservation site - the Outer Thames Estuary SPA and the Margate and Long Sands SAC which are designated for red throated divers and sand bank habitat respectively). London Britannia will be located on Kentish Flats – the home of an existing offshore wind farm. The construction of the Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm has resulted in the almost total displacement of red throated divers from the wind farm site and its immediate area. Construction of other offshore wind farms in the Thames Estuary has also potentially displaced red throated divers. A review of the available bird data for the sites suggests that the majority of the site has 0-10 birds with ~300 at most. These figures should be compared to London Heathrow where bird management measures are required to deal with ~2000 geese.

Noise

Noise impacts are the overwhelming constraint on airport expansion at the three main existing London airports. For example, at Heathrow, noise levels are already considered to be towards the upper level of tolerability and with reportedly a quarter of all people affected by aircraft noise in Europe located in west London under the Heathrow flight path, ‘people’

issues cannot be ignored. Similarly, at Stansted and Gatwick, the impacts on people living near the airport have been considered sufficiently significant to require constraints on runway operations and limits on expansion of operations. It is clear that while people want to use airports and want airports to be accessible, they do not want to live with the noise impacts from aeroplanes.

Noise is the most significant single impact affecting people living near airports. One of the biggest advantages of the London Britannia that its noise profile will be located offshore – away from population centres. The indicative noise profile for London Britannia for the initial phase of 5 runways (produced using a series of assumptions to estimate anticipated noise levels) shows the noise profiles lie over water. The full 6 runway development also has the noise profiles over water. Within this zone, aircraft noise is expected to reach levels that are considered incompatible with residential land uses, but which occur entirely over the estuary, avoiding any populated areas. As with any airport there will be aircraft over flights outside this zone however the most significant and intrusive noise levels will be located over water.

Only an airport in the outer estuary can offer such limited noise impacts. Airports in the inner estuary are close to villages and residential areas and will inevitably result in significant disruption to these communities.

The Balance…

While London Britannia is located further from London than the inner estuary options, in practice this distance relates to an extra few minutes on a high speed train. These additional few minutes clearly outweigh the higher bird strike risk, higher environmental sensitivity and greater number of people affected by noise associated with the inner estuary options ■

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Waste Management

Ian Hether i ng to n / Metal s R ec yc li ng / BM R A

A new metals recycling regime

BRMA

Ian Hetherington, director general of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), explains what the Scrap Metal Dealers Act has brought to the industry following its coming into force across England and Wales on 1st October.

The new Scrap Metal Dealers Act came into force across England and Wales on 1 October this year, bringing a series of changes to metals recycling.

The Act is a significant milestone and a cause for celebration following a campaign to bring legislation for the metals recycling industry up to date. It introduces an effective licensing system and a robust regulatory framework in place to fight against metal theft.

Industry wide cash prohibition

The revised Act tackles the exemptions from the ban of cash payments for scrap metal brought in under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act. From 3 December 2012, the LASPO Act made it an offence for anyone to buy scrap metal for cash or by any form of payment other than a crossed cheque or electronic money transfer.

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However, some metal traders – such as motor vehicle salvage operators – were exempt which resulted in unfair competition in the industry. This resulted in a loss of business for a number of traders which exposed them to potential job losses and closures.

Before this revision, many people undoubtedly still took their scrap to collectors who continued to pay cash either legally through loopholes in the LASPO Act or illegally. This also provided a potential outlet for the sale of stolen material. The revised Scrap Metal Dealers Act has ended these exemptions by extending the ban on cash payments to all metal dealers including traditional scrap yards, mobile collectors and motor vehicle salvage operators.

The new licensing system

Under the new Act, all scrap dealers – whether sitebased or mobile – must apply for a licence from their local authority in order to continue trading legally. In addition, the EA will now operate a national, public register of scrap metal dealers. There are two types ►

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Waste Management

Ian Hether i ng to n / Metal s R ec yc li ng / BM R A

of licences available, each valid for three years although a licensee can hold only one licence in any local authority area: • Site licence • Collector’s licence (mobile collectors will need licences for every local authority area in which they collect) Councils have been empowered to refuse, alter and revoke these licences if, for example, a business breaks the new rules. Therefore, licensing authorities must check the suitability of applicants to operate as a scrap metal dealer. Applications for licences should be accompanied by basic criminal record checks on all site managers, directors, company secretaries, shadow directors and partners.

In addition, applicants have to pay a fee to cover the costs of the new licensing system under the recovery of allowable expenses for the following: • Assessing, administering and processing an application • Reviewing by licensing officers • Consulting on the suitability of the applicant • Consulting enforcement records in order to determine the suitability of the applicant • Reviewing any relevant offences on basic criminal record checks certificates • Making the licensing decision • Producing and issuing the licence • Processing contested licence applications • Any site inspections and visits The Treasury has recently issued guidance to help local authorities set Scrap Metal Dealers’ licence fees but it is up to individual councils to set their own.

Initial indications show that there is considerable variation in charges set by different licensing authorities. The BMRA is keen to foster fair and consistent fees across England and Wales.

Scrap metal dealers can apply to their local authority for a licence until 15 October; they will be automatically issued with a temporary licence. The temporary licence will be valid until 1 December, the new Act’s enforcement date, while the council processes their application in full. This is crucial to minimise disruption to metal recycling businesses as those operating without a new licence after 1 December 2013, may be issued with a closure order and flouting this could result in an unlimited fine.

BRMA

The sale of metal and enforcement

Those who sell metal will now have to produce verifiable identification which is recorded and kept for two years by the dealer to improve transparency in the sector. This means that if the scrap metal is found to have been stolen the seller can be traced, which will help to track down and prosecute metal thieves.

Significantly, there are increased penalties, with higher fines and sentences for scrap metal traders who break the law by selling or buying scrap for cash, operating without a licence or failing to record sales.

Challenges

The new Act received royal assent in February earlier this year (2013), meaning that local authorities have had seven months to put together a licensing system from scratch and deal with an increased workload.

The opening date for temporary applications was pushed back from 1 August until 1 October and the enforcement date from 1 November to 1 December which is proof that implementing the new regime has been a huge undertaking. Indeed, a survey of councils conducted in the summer found that most were unsure about the format of the new licensing system. Many blamed the government for the lack of information that delayed the Local Government Association (LGA) circulating guidance.

Elsewhere in the UK The Scottish Government announced its plans in April to hold a consultation on regulatory change and introduce new laws to tackle metal theft that are likely to be implemented in 2015. The new regulations will be similar to those of the updated Scrap Metal Dealers Act but will focus on identification and licensing rather than a restriction on cash payments. The BMRA is already working with the Scottish Government to identify and agree a system for Scotland that is most suited to the scrap metal industry in Scotland and works for all involved.

Meanwhile, the consultation process is due to start in Northern Ireland. Similarly, the BMRA will be on hand to offer support and advice from its experience of campaigning for updated legislation in England and Wales.

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As the timetable provides registered scrap metal dealers with a very limited window to apply for a new licence, the BMRA has told its members to contact their licensing authority to ensure they are in a position to handle the new licensing procedures.

The BMRA has also created a model application form for members just in case any local authorities failed to produce them. This belt and braces approach is helping BMRA members to comply with the new Act and protects them against possible closures and prosecutions from 1 December if councils have not processed their applications in time.

Keeping the industry updated

The BMRA has held numerous meetings with members to prepare them for the requirements under the new Scrap Metal Dealers Act as well as issuing email bulletins. As further details are finalised, we will continue to communicate these to members and will send out leaflets, posters and a comprehensive guidance document.

However, the BMRA and our members can only do so much. Central government still needs to finalise a list of relevant offences which will affect an applicant’s licence being granted and requirements for verifying the identity of scrap metal suppliers. It’s important that councils get it right as all provisions of the new Act should be fully in force by the end of the year ■

+ More Information www.recyclemetals.org

Waste Management

Br ig i tte Dero / P VC / EC

Sustainability Pays Dr Br ig itte Dero

Girector General VinylPlus

The PVC industry’s transition towards long-term sustainable development

For decades, sustainability was considered by many as an unnecessary extra for businesses and incompatible with making a profit. Today, it is understood that sustainability can lower costs and serve as a catalyst for innovation, which in turn may increase revenue and create a differentiating edge, all particularly desirable in times of economic crisis.

The slowdown in Europe has more than ever established the need for a globally competitive industrial sector. The EU hopes to bring industry’s share of its GDP to 20 per cent by 2020 from its current level of 15,6 per cent. To achieve this goal the Commission’s Industrial Policy Initiative puts competitiveness and sustainability on equal footing. "Today we tabled the conditions for the sustainable industry of the future in Europe, to develop the investments needed in new technologies and to rebuild a climate of confidence and entrepreneurship”, said Commissioner Antonio Tajani when the plan was published.

These policies aim at increasing resource efficiency as a way to create jobs and new opportunities for Europe, improve productivity, drive down costs and boost competitiveness while minimising energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The work carried out under the VinylPlus initiative is totally in line with all these objectives, a rare example of an industry turning itself around successfully

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through voluntary action – resulting into a unique long-term framework to improve the way its products are manufactured.

Moving from awareness to action

Polyvinyl chloride, commonly known as PVC or vinyl, is the third-most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. Its versatile performance delivers important benefits, making it the material of choice in many applications and sectors such as construction, transportation, electronics and health. Despite its many uses, or perhaps because of that, PVC has followed a long a windy road towards sustainability.

Twenty years ago PVC was under the spotlight due to concerns about the way it was produced and disposed of. In 1997, the European Commission decided to undertake a ‘horizontal initiative' to develop a policy to be applied to all PVC waste streams. The Commission launched five independent studies leading to the publication of a Green Paper on PVC in July 2000.

Initially aimed to address its waste management needs, the entire PVC value chain – resin manufacturers, additive producers and converters represented by their respective European Associations, ECVM, EuPC, ECPI, ESPA - united voluntarily to launch the Vinyl 2010 programme

in the year 2000. However, participants already showed a clear intention to go beyond responsible waste management and a number of longer-term sustainable development principles were introduced in the Voluntary Commitment signed by all founding partners.

Vinyl 2010 was a 10-year programme to move the industry closer to becoming truly sustainable.. The achievements of Vinyl 2010 were particularly notable when it comes to waste collection and recycling. In 1999 there was no infrastructure for recycling of PVC in Europe and it was dismissed by many as an 'unrecyclable' material. At the end of the programme almost one million tonnes of PVC had been recycled in Europe. Problematic additives such as cadmium stabilisers have been phased out. The substitution of lead stabilisers is on track to be completed by 2015.

From Vinyl 2010 to VinylPlus

Achieving the goals initially set in 2000 gave the PVC industry the necessary confidence to launch a new programme in 2011. A new ten-year Voluntary Commitment was signed under the name of VinylPlus which presents a much more holistic view of sustainable development in the long run.

Although the challenges the industry is facing are greater, the VinylPlus members and partner companies – around 130 today – have come to

Web: www.vinylplus.eu

realise that this is the only way forward and hence subscribed to even more ambitious targets than Vinyl 2010. When it comes to waste management, the industry aims to recycle 800,000 tonnes per year of PVC by 2020 including 100,000 tonnes of difficult to recycle waste.

learn about sustainability issues. Today, the platform boasts more than 3,000 members from over 115 different countries who regularly engage on creative competitions to come up with ideas and solutions to today’s global challenges not limited to just PVC.

Scientific investigations and the implementation of these industry initiatives have helped to reassure users and consumers about the use and safety of PVC applications including those made out of recycled raw materials. In addition, Life Cycle Assessment and eco-efficiency studies have shown that for many applications, PVC’s environmental performance is comparable to or even better than alternative materials.

Turning industry-specific challenges into opportunities

Some might argue that this kind of voluntary initiatives are merely windowdressing or an attempt to pre-empt legislation and taxation burdens. VinylPlus is certainly a lot more than that. The European PVC sustainability programmes have enabled the industry to improve its reputation and gain respect from all its stakeholders including the most critical ones. Its partners and members believe it’s possible to be both sustainable and profitable which is why progress is regularly measured, documented and verified in order to demonstrate the accomplishments of the industry’s commitment to sustainable development.

As clearly captured by the Member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim, who is part of the VinylPlus independent Monitoring Committee, “legislation is not necessary the best answer in any situation, and here is a perfect example of an industry doing something on a voluntary basis to act in the interest, not only of themselves or of the consumer but of the European Union as a whole“.

The road to success through collaboration

“Chemistry is not the problem, chemistry is the solution”, said Lars Josefsson, Chairman of the PVC Forum Sweden, at this year’s 2013 Vinyl Sustainability Forum in Istanbul. He presented an innovative R&D project combining chemistry and forestry in a sustainable way, using bioethanol from lignocellulosic waste to make chemical feedstock. Both sectors have “common goals and targets” so, according to Josefsson, it was only logical to pair PVC, which is looking for new bio-based energy feedstock, and the forestry sector, which is looking for new markets now that the use of pulp for paper production is decreasing.

The work being done in Sweden clearly exemplifies one of the key principles behind the success of voluntary commitments like VinylPlus: collaboration. All its members are committed to finding solutions that no single actor can implement so they are proactively reaching out to broader stakeholder groups in order to achieve their business goals, while giving priority to sustainability innovation as the only meaningful way to make it work for many years to come.

The same collaborative mentality is at the backbone of VinylPlus’ bottom-up approach which has allowed the industry to exchange views and receive critical feedback about its activities and goals. On-going open dialogues with technical, political and civil organisations as well as with society at large are one of the critical success factors for the new 10-year programme.

For example, VinylPlus runs the Sustainable Thinking Platform, which is an online community targeting young people from all around the world to discuss and

The VinylPlus commitment sets out ambitious recycling targets, product stewardship guidelines on the use of controversial additives, R&D initiatives and the promotion of a sustainable development culture. All key targets are measurable and have fixed deadlines. Progress towards these goals is audited by external sources and approved by an independent Monitoring Committee composed of representatives from European institutions, trade unions, consumer associations, and the industry.

Thanks to its partnership with The Natural Step (an international sustainability NGO), the industry pioneered an open process of stakeholder dialogue based on this NGO’s System Conditions for a Sustainable Society, and identified a series of key challenges for PVC manufacturing - emissions, energy and raw material consumption, recycling and sustainable use of additives. In addition, raising sustainability awareness is a key component of the programme, recognising that progress will be equally dependent upon widening understanding throughout industry, as well as in society generally.

“Your cradle-to-cradle approach is exactly what is needed. So, if you look into your supply chain, subsidiaries and other contacts, that kind of conversation and dialogue is part of how we need to do things in the future […] Together we must create and catalyse transformation and change”, highlighted Ambassador Tomas Anker Christensen, Senior Advisor at the United Nations Office for Partnerships at the 2013 Vinyl Sustainability Forum.

What’s next for PVC?

The industry is working towards the more efficient use and control of PVC production throughout its entire life cycle. It also wants to mitigate climate change through reducing energy and raw material use, and when possible switch to renewable sources while promoting sustainable innovation. In addition, the use of PVC additives is being reviewed in order to move towards more a sustainable use of substances.

There are still many challenges ahead, that is true, but the PVC industry has not been resting in its laurels. All the solid work done in the last 13 years is the best springboard to take VinylPlus to the next level. In the words of European Union’s Director of DG Enterprise Gwenole Cozigou, “the PVC industry has a great role to play” in light of the current EU 2020 strategy which must be supported by three key pillars: innovation, skills and sustainability.

Will the PVC industry rise up to the challenge? Will VinylPlus continue to improve the way PVC is manufactured? VinylPlus is working hard to demonstrate that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand, living in harmony to navigate through the economic crisis. Keeping the value-chain together and collaborating the way it’s been done so far are the best guarantee of success ■

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Waste Management

Dav i d W i nstanley / P VC / R emo nd i s UK

High value resource recovery from waste David Winstanley, managing director of Remondis UK – the British division of one of the world’s largest waste and recycling organisations, explains why waste should be viewed as a valuable asset and how the UK still has much to explore when it comes to making the most out of its waste materials.

As the global economy returns to growth, it is essential that the UK positions itself to take advantage of the opportunities that emerge.

British businesses, and the British economy as a whole, have some fundamental strengths; namely science and innovation, advanced manufacturing and world-leading professional services. One of the key opportunities, however, that the UK should increasingly look to exploit is the prospect of producing high value resources from its waste. To look at waste as an asset and invest in getting as much value from it, wherever possible, is an absolute necessity.

Times are changing and waste management companies, consumers and the government alike are all growing increasingly aware of the issues surrounding waste processing and the importance of sorting and recycling. However, there is still much more to learn about the vast amount of materials that can be reprocessed and repackaged to be sold on to generate income. In addition to helping increase the chances of creating a sustainable society, these processes can also help to move companies up the waste hierarchy. The waste we send to landfill consists of many materials from which we could recover more resources and extract better value, both for our community and our economy. We could all benefit from getting better productive value from our waste.

In order for UK companies to make the most out of waste and ensure that, where possible, we can recover materials that are valuable to the economy, a range of actions need to be set out to help us deliver new solutions to deal more effectively with waste in Britain.

Clearly, the exploitation of fossil fuels is reaching its end; supplies of vital metals and scarce raw materials are only sufficient for a few more years. The dangerous consequences of ignoring the diminishing

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fuel supplies and the effect our consumption is having on the environment have become apparent not only to industrial requirements but also to the consumer in their everyday lives. Recognising the problem we have, however, is not enough; we must act immediately. As an industry, we must research, invent, plan. It has been said before that, in an ideal world, we would send nothing to landfill but recycle everything. This should not be looked on as an ideal, but instead as an inspirational reality; a closed loop economy is the only solution to the scary prospects facing not only the UK, but the world.

As the population grows, the waste that is produced and, therefore, has to be managed inevitably grows with it. While this is a major challenge, it also presents us with significant opportunities. The more waste we produce, the more opportunities we have to create resources that can be reused in our everyday lives. On top of this, greater waste volumes create the need for new waste and resource recovery infrastructure. This demand requires those in the waste management industry to be innovative, to discover new ways of processing waste and perhaps, most importantly, to investigate what valuable resources can be created from different materials.

To meet these challenges, the industry must invest.

Making investment in an uncertain economic climate may seem a daunting prospect but it is not only desirable but essential to the long term survival of UK business. Remondis Group aims to lead by example by investing in processes that will enable us to recover valuable resources from waste. This has been demonstrated in the UK with the opening of a new site in Prescot, Merseyside, where we have invested more than £10 million in a state-of-the-art hazardous waste transfer and recycling facility.

The opening of the Carr Lane plant means that the business is now able to accept and process up to 69,000 tonnes of material each year and, in

processing this material, we are aiming to set new standards for the hazardous waste industry in the UK. There are many examples of where we are already recovering valuable resources from the waste we receive. For example, we use waste oils that are not recoverable to be used again to make secondary fuels for powering incinerators, cement fuel to replace coal/oil. We can also take precious metals from many of the types of waste we receive which saves us re-mining and we can use rendering fats and oils from farming to make diesel to power trucks. The possibilities are endless and it is up to waste management companies and those that represent us to explore every avenue and ensure that opportunities to recover assets aren’t missed.

Another key theme to remember is that, not only does the transformation of waste to valuable resource make the most of the waste that is produced; it also reduces the need for us to create new products and use up valuable natural resources that are diminishing at an alarming pace. Through growing technical knowledge, we are able to reclaim increasingly more raw materials. This results in closed material cycles, which effectively contribute to the conservation and protection of our natural resources. Using our own laboratory, which is fully equipped for pre-acceptance, acceptance and transfer of waste, we are constantly looking to extend the portfolio of materials we can re-use and the list of valuable assets we can produce at our waste management facilities.

Remondis collects and processes more than 25 million tonnes of recyclables each year. The flagship site in Lünen, Germany, takes in 1.2 million tonnes of waste a year, of which one million tonnes is reused or recovered for energy.

Web: www.remondis.com

Globally, Remondis collects and processes more than 25 million tonnes of recyclables each year. Thanks to intensive research and development work, the majority of this significant waste stream is fed back into the economic cycle or used to generate energy – through high quality reclaimed materials, strongselling branded products and eco-friendly fuels. For example, our flagship site in Lünen, Germany, takes in 1.2 million tonnes of waste each year, of which one million tonnes is reused or recovered for energy. As a business, Remondis is constantly looking to improve these figures further and implement the lessons learnt in Germany at other sites, such as in the UK, to lead the way in producing a closed loop cycle globally.

Alongside this focus on the closed loop economy, it is also important to maintain and develop the quality standards for the effective recovery and reuse of waste resources. The Environment Agency in the UK requires that, during the treatment of hazardous wastes, the principles of waste reduction are maintained. In order to be able to create an everincreasing number of closed-loop material cycles, we work with our global sister companies, such as those in Lünen, not only to share best practice but also to transport that which we can’t process in the UK abroad to be dealt with in the most effective manner. Remondis implements its authorised transfrontier shipment (TFS) of hazardous wastes from the UK to sites, such as Lünen, where the raw materials are either thermally utilised or made into alternative fuels for use in cement kilns or power stations, for example.

in our mission to create a closed loop process.

Remondis UK has been set up specifically to provide UK manufacturers with R-coded options for the reduction and recovery of their waste.

In order to achieve the level of recovery of valuable assets that is necessary, UK government needs to set standards that our industry can work within without unnecessary administrative and financial burdens.

As an industry, we need to invest in and grow our resource recovery infrastructure. Building better systems to handle waste and recover resources will depend on careful long-term planning and decision making for land, transport and other facilities. It will involve major contracts, major construction projects and investment from both business and government.

National and local governments will need to work closely together to plan effectively, to make it work and, particularly, to overcome barriers such as lack of education, lack of investment and a desire to only think of the short term effects of our processes.

We are all responsible for effectively dealing with the waste of our activities. We will all need to work together to make the vision of a zero waste society a reality and to ensure that the UK gets full value from its waste ■

+ More Information Visit the Remondis Website: www.remondis.com

Ensuring that valuable assets are produced and that no opportunity for extracting value is missed involves all areas of the waste management industry. This includes making the most of every stage of the waste processing procedure. We do this by ensuring that the way we handle, package and transport waste is carried out using the most cost-effective and efficient method possible. This saves energy and helps us

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Water

Hazel Dav i d so n / Env i ro nmental Quali t y Standard s

Priority Substances

an update on forthcoming changes Hazel Dav id son Technical Marketing Manager Derwentside Environmental Testing Services (DETS)

Introduction

Priority Substances include compounds considered potentially toxic to human life, and for a number of years a list of 33 compounds was used as the basis for monitoring a range of pollutants in surface waters in order to determine the status of the water body. The list of 33 is split into Priority Hazardous Substances (PHS), Priority Substances (PS), plus a further 19 Specific Pollutants (SP), with associated Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) values listed for each compound, and the monitoring of data should ensure all member states are working to comply with the Water Framework Directive (WFD) aim of achieving ‘Good Status’ for all surface water.

PS compounds to PHS status, and stricter EQS values for 9 existing compounds, plus monitoring of some substances in biota, rather than just the water. Following this, 10 additions to the Specific Pollutants list are proposed. These changes will have a significant impact on the industry. The Priority Substances Stakeholder group consists of interested bodies representing several industry sectors, providing a forum for these stakeholders to present comments and feedback to the regulators. At the last meeting held on 15th July detailed discussion of these changes took place, following presentations by DEFRA and the Environment Agency.

The European Commission has recently introduced changes to the WFD, with 12 additional compounds (6 PHS and 6 PS), reclassification of three existing

The Environmental Industries Commission actively lobbies government on behalf of its members, and has a Water Management Working Group and a ►

Table 1: Changes to Priority Substances List

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Water

Hazel Dav i d so n / Env i ro nmental Quali t y Standard s

Table 2: Existing PHS and PS showing revised EQS values

Laboratories Working Group, both of which are very concerned regarding the issue of Priority Substances.

The EIC recently presented a written submission and oral comments to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry into water quality.

PHS, PS and SP

In Table 1 (previous), three columns list PHS, PS and SP: the existing and unchanged compounds are shown in black type, with the three reclassified compounds di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), tributyl tin compounds, and trifluralin - all shown in green. Compounds where the EQS value has undergone revision are shown in purple, and the new additions are shown in blue for the PHS and PS lists, with the proposed additions to the Specific Pollutants shown in red. This takes the sum total of PHS and PS to 49, and the SP proposed list now totals 28.

• Note 1: Cypermethrin appears twice, and it will remain on the Specific Pollutants list until its transition onto the Priority Substance list in 2018.

• Note 2: Polyaromatic hydrocarbons were previously represented in the PHS list by benzo(a)pyrene, but this has now been extended to include four other PAHs. • Note 3: All the following Tables are courtesy of the Environment Agency.

Table 3: New PHS and PS compounds plus EQS values

Changes to EQS values

Table 2 demonstrates existing PHS and PS compounds with the revised EQS values. Table 3 demonstrates new PHS and PS compounds with their EQS values. Table 4 demonstrates existing SPs with their revised EQS values. Table 5 demonstrates the proposed new SPs with their EQS values.

All tables courtesy of the Environment Agency. u-PBT denotes Ubiquitous Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic status.

Most of the revisions are lower than the original EQS values, and this will present some problems analytically, as discussed in the next section.

Table 4: Existing SPs with revised EQS values

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Web: www.dets.co.uk

Table 5: New proposed SPs with their EQS values

Analytical Limits of Detection

Most of these compounds are organic in their structure and require complicated solvent extraction procedures in order to prepare them for analysis by sophisticated instrumentation such as GCMS. Many of these EQS values are extremely low: for example, Cypermethrin has a specified annual average of 8 x 10-5 which is equivalent to 0.008 parts per trillion.

In practical terms, this would require an analytical LoD of 0.002 ppt, as a method should be able to achieve values of five times lower than the stated EQS to give adequate certainty and reproducibility of data. These LoDs are simply not currently available with existing laboratory instruments and methods.

Even if the technology was available at a sufficient sensitivity, it would require 5 - 10 litres of water per sample for extraction, and ‘clean room’ operating conditions for preparation and analysis. Another possible problem is obtaining extraction solvents of sufficient purity to avoid background contamination.

Methods for the analysis of biota at these levels will also need to be developed – measuring contaminants in plant or animal tissue is thought to provide more robust data than simply analysing the water, due to bio-accumulative effects which concentrate the contaminant.

All these issues will significantly affect the costs of monitoring for these compounds to such low levels. Although this is initially aimed at monitoring surface waters for the WFD, the follow-on requirements will be for effluents, ground water, and landfill monitoring, so the impact of these additional compounds and lower EQS values will impact many sectors of the environmental industry.

Time Frames

• Transposition of revised directive within 2 years – August 2015 • Existing PHS, PS and SP compounds: revised EQS apply from 2015 (assuming analytical methods available by Dec 2014), with compliance by Dec 2021 • New PHS and PS compounds: apply from Dec 2018, with compliance by 2024

There will also be the establishment of a ‘watch list’ to provide information across the EU on the occurrence of emerging pollutants, where there is currently a lack of monitoring data. The first list of 10 compounds will be identified by August 2014, and include estradiol (E2), ethinylestradiol (EE2) and diclofenac. A need for pharmaceutical substances may also be required, but compounds will not be moved from the ‘watch list’ to the Priority Substances list unless they are considered to be problematic across the EU. River Basin Management Plan 2 – consultation for this phase will take place in June 2014 and will look at the cost beneficial programme to reduce environmental levels of chemicals, determine what improvements in status can be achieved, and will not include judgements on affordability.

Final Basin Plan – will be published in December 2015 with a programme of measures for implementation during 2015 - 2021

Costs

An estimate of possible costs was presented at the Priority Substances stakeholder meeting by the Risk and Policy Analysts (RPA) and this was extrapolated over the six year cycle of the River Basin Management Plan. Costs to the agricultural industry associated with finding alternative compounds to Bifenox and Quinoxyfen are not considered to be significant, but the replacement of Cypermethrin could potentially cost €13m. In the UK, the monitoring costs over six

...if there is a risk of failure, then monitoring must be done. years are estimated to lie between £15.9 - £26.5m, split mostly between surveillance monitoring (fixed network of sites for long term trending) and operational monitoring (focusing on the areas of pressure which may cause a water body to fail).

These are risk based – if there is a risk of failure, then monitoring must be done. The overall figure includes some smaller estimated costs associated with investigative monitoring and the Watch List, although it is difficult to give accurate figures for these, particularly as the full list of substances on the Watch List is not yet known.

Summary

The significant changes required by the WFD for Priority Substances will impact heavily on the UK environmental industry. Initially, the main costs will be carried by laboratories involved in developing methods attempting to meet the revised substances and EQS values. Although a year (needed by Dec 2014) seems a reasonable timeframe, on a practical level it is not, as method development is time consuming and costly, and must be fitted into existing analytical schedules. It may also be difficult to source standards or Proficiency Testing Schemes which cover these substances. Following the implementation of these methods (providing this can be done), the costs will then fall on Local Authorities responsible for specific River Basin Management data. Similar costs will then be experienced by other industry sectors, as the requirement for monitoring other types of water will follow on from this change.

Risk assessments will always be required to identify substances of potential concern ■

+ More Information Hazel Davidson Technical Marketing Manager Derwentside Environmental Testing Services (DETS) Chair: EIC Laboratories Working Group Participant on: EIC Water Management Working Group, Priority Substances Stakeholder Group Web: www.dets.co.uk

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Water

Jo Co o p er / Water R euse / Mo n i to r i ng

With careful monitoring, reused water can help tackle the global water crisis With rapid growth in demand for reused water, there is a growing requirement for online in-pipe water quality monitors to ensure that water is safe for its intended purpose. In this article, Intellitect Water’s Jo Cooper explains the advantages of the latest technology, the ‘Intellisonde TSE’ (treated sewage effluent) water monitor, which has been developed specifically to meet the demands of this application.

Wastewater has been reused and recycled for centuries but the variety of applications for reused water is on the increase. Reused water is commonly used as irrigation water for agricultural, horticultural and municipal purposes, in addition to industrial uses such as washing and cooling. However, with pressure on the availability and cost of freshwater, the volume of water being treated and reused is growing rapidly and new sources of reused water are being exploited more than ever before.

The requirement for monitoring reused water

In many instances, reused water is likely to come into contact with people, either through the consumption of a product that has been irrigated or cleaned with reused water, or by breathing air containing steam or aerosols of reused water. It is common practice, therefore, to filter and chlorinate (or chloraminate) reused water so, in addition to common water quality parameters such as turbidity, conductivity and pH, it is also necessary to monitor residual chlorine to ensure that treatment has been effective.

The most significant risk from reused water is exposure to pathogenic micro-organisms derived from faecal contamination. However, physical and chemical properties are also important because they can encourage the growth of bacteria, interfere with treatment or disrupt the operation of water fittings.

Background

The global population is currently estimated to be around 7 billion, which means that the figure has doubled in the last 50 years.

This places enormous pressure on natural resources such as water, especially given additional changes in land use and weather patterns. As a result, it is estimated that in 2030, 47% of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress, so it is necessary for water to be conserved and utilised as efficiently as possible. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that 70% of water demand is for agricultural use (20% for industrial and 10% for domestic use) and water withdrawals for agriculture are growing at a faster rate than population increase.

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Stringent water quality standards protect drinking water quality; however there are few regulatory standards for reused water. Nevertheless, the British Standards Institute (BSI) has produced guidelines for both greywater and rainwater reuse. BS 8525 specifies a range of water quality levels depending on the intended use – these include pH, turbidity and residual chlorine. Compliance with these parameters is designed to ensure public health is not compromised.

In addition, the USEPA and USAID published the 2012 Guidelines for Water Reuse to facilitate further development of water reuse by serving as an authoritative reference on water reuse practices.

Extending to over 600 pages this document informs and supplements US state regulations and guidelines by providing technical information and outlining key implementation considerations. It also presents frameworks should authorities decide to develop new regulations or guidelines. Importantly, it also details more than 100 new case studies from

around the world. For example, it explains why salinity is an important consideration for reused water that is destined for irrigation.

Intellisonde TSE

Occasional collection and subsequent laboratory analysis of water samples provides a useful indication of water quality, but fails to reveal water quality trends or sudden changes that may have dramatic effects downstream. Continuous monitoring of multiple parameters is therefore advantageous, but reused water is often under pressure in pipes, so traditional monitors are likely to be unsuitable and/ or not economically viable.

The Intellisonde TSE is a multiparameter in-pipe water quality monitor. Initially developed for treated sewage effluent applications, it is equally wellsuited to other types of reused water – greywater for example. Depending on the intended use and the level of control required, up to ten parameters can be monitored by one instrument. Options include: Free Chlorine, Mono-Chloramine, Dissolved Oxygen, pH/ORP, Conductivity, Ammonium (or Nitrate), Temperature, Turbidity and Flow.

The sonde can be inserted easily into a by-pass flow cell arrangement or into a pressurised pipe down to a minimum 4 inch diameter. Most of the parameters are factory calibrated, so the unit is quick and easy to install and maintain. No chemicals are required for the operation of the sonde, so operational costs are lower and service visits are less frequent in comparison with traditional technologies.

Measured data is stored in the sonde’s internal logger and can be retrieved directly into SCADA or other systems via a serial or analogue link.

Alternatively an optional built-in GPRS modem can transmit historical data from the internal logger or can relay monitoring data for viewing in real-time.

In summary, as the options for recycling water continue to expand in the face of the global water crisis, monitoring technology has developed considerably so that this important resource can be exploited without compromising human health ■

+ More Information Intellitect Water: www.intellitect-water.co.uk

BATHING WATER PROTECTION THROUGH REAL-TIME MONITORING & SOURCE MITIGATION SMART & SIMPLE, LOW COST SENSING TECHNOLOGY

BLOCKAGES & CSO SPILLS REPORTED IN REAL-TIME

FROM PUMP CONTROLS TO CONTAINMENT WEIRS Data is delivered over our private and secure Radio Data Networks to Gateways that interface directly to existing SCADA / outstations. There is no need for cellular coverage, mains power or to modify manhole covers. Â Small scale PC based systems are also available for private site operators such as airports.

Water

Helen Mur ray / Mar i ne / Ac i d i f i cat i o n

Ocean Acidification Hel en Mur ray

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

The ocean is absorbing high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 has been mainly produced by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels. When absorbed, CO2 dissolves in seawater to form weak carbonic acid and, as more CO2 is taken up by the ocean’s surface, the pH of seawater decreases.

Already ocean pH has decreased by about 30% since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Such an alteration in basic ocean chemistry is likely to have wide implications for ocean life, especially for those organisms that require calcium carbonate to build shells or skeletons. There may also be serious consequences for important marine cycles and food webs, with impacts expected to reach far beyond that of the marine environment, influencing the health and wellbeing of human society through the alteration of marine ecosystems and the subsequent changes in the goods and services provided by the marine environment.

Some of the impacts of ocean acidification may be direct such as the effect on fisheries, which humans worldwide depend heavily on for food.

One billion people rely on fisheries for their primary source of protein. As ocean water conditions continue to deteriorate, declines in key organisms are likely to have a ripple effect throughout marine ecosystems and food webs, threatening seafood yields in communities that rely on the ocean for

THE term ocean acidification is used to describe this on-going decrease in ocean pH, moving towards a less alkaline and therefore more acidic state. It is the little known consequence of living in a high CO2 world, commonly dubbed as the “evil twin of climate change”. The ocean has absorbed approximately a third of the CO2 produced by human activities and put simply, climate change would be far worse if it were not for the oceans. their livelihoods. All fisheries depend on healthy ecosystems and every fishery is potentially at risk due to fundamental changes to the marine ecosystem.

Other impacts are more difficult to assess, such as shrinking coral reefs, which are home to 25% of all marine life on the planet and are already challenged by rising seawater temperature and other stressors, exacerbating the consequences arising from ocean acidification. The loss of these reefs would also result in the degradation of key sea defences that are depended upon by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, as well as denting eco-tourism revenue in some coastal areas.

There is already evidence that ocean acidification is starting to impact on marine temperate and polar ecosystems. In fact, colder water absorbs higher levels of CO2 than warmer water and therefore organisms within these regions are being affected in a variety of ways.

Ocean acidification is still a relatively new field of research, with most of the studies having been conducted over the last decade. While it is gaining some attention among policy makers, international leaders and the media, there is still much to be understood about the issue itself, how it will affect the marine environment and the subsequent impact upon society. In response to the need for more knowledge about the impacts of ocean acidification,

environmentally, socially and economically, an international team of scientists created a document - ‘20 Facts about Ocean Acidification: a summary of OA research and understanding’ which expands on a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) developed in 2010.

The FAQs and fact sheet are intended to aid scientists, communicators and policy advisors asked to comment on details about ocean acidification.

In all, 63 scientists from 47 institutions and 12 countries participated in writing the FAQs, which was produced by the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Project and the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) as well as the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme (UKOA), of which the Knowledge Exchange element is led

by Plymouth Marine Laboratory. UKOA investigates the impacts of ocean acidification, including coordinating how the knowledge gained will be made available to stakeholders, policy makers, scientists and the public.

Given that ocean acidification has the potential to change entire marine ecosystems, we are only at the early stages of estimating its possible consequences. However through international scientific collaboration we can start to understand more fully the causes, effects and possible future mitigation for this globally relevant issue ■

+ More Information UKOA: www.oceanacidification.org.uk OA-ICC: www.iaea.org/ocean-acidification EPOCA: www.epoca-project.eu BIOACID: www.bioacid.de MedSeA: www.medsea-project.eu Plymouth Marine Laboratory: www.pml.ac.uk Sea Grant (Washington): www.wsg.washington.edu Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Project: www.us-ocb.org

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Web: www.oceanacidification.org.uk

20

Facts About Ocean Acidification

1 2 3 4 5

- Ocean acidification (OA) is a progressive increase in the acidity of the ocean over an extended period, typically decades or longer, which is caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. It can also be caused or enhanced by other chemical additions or subtractions from the ocean.

Acidification can be more severe in areas where human activities and impacts, such as acid rain and nutrient runoff, further increase acidity.

- OA has been well documented with global observations conducted over several decades by hundreds of researchers.

It has been definitively attributed to human-generated CO2 in the atmosphere that has been released primarily by fossil fuel combustion and land use changes.

- Many shell-forming marine organisms are very sensitive to changes in pH and carbonate ion concentrations; conditions predicted for the coming decades may prove very stressful to these organisms. Corals, bivalves (such as oysters, clams, and mussels), pteropods (free-swimming snails) and certain phytoplankton species fall into this group.

- Average global surface ocean pH has already fallen from a preindustrial value of 8.2 to 8.1, corresponding to an increase in acidity of about 30%. Values of 7.8–7.9 are expected by 2100, representing a doubling of acidity.

- The pH of the open-ocean surface layer is unlikely to ever become acidic (i.e. drop below pH 7.0), because seawater is buffered by dissolved salts. The term “acidification” refers to a pH shift towards the acidic end of the pH scale, similar to the way we describe an increase in temperature from -20°C to -0°C (-4°F to 32°F): it’s still cold, but we say it’s “warming.”

6 7 8 9

- OA is also changing seawater carbonate chemistry. The concentrations of dissolved CO2, hydrogen ions, and bicarbonate ions are increasing, and the concentration of carbonate ions (which provide chemical building blocks for marine organisms’ shells and skeletons) is decreasing.

- Decreases in the availability of carbonate ions force marine organisms to spend more energy building and maintaining their shells or skeletons. For some organisms, spending more energy on shell formation may leave less energy for other biological processes like growing, reproducing or responding to other stresses.

- Acidity is the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in a liquid, and pH is the logarithmic scale on which this concentration is measured. It is important to note that acidity increases as the pH decreases.

- The biological impacts of OA will vary, because different groups of marine organisms have a wide range of sensitivities to changing seawater chemistry.

10

- Impacts from OA at any life stage can reduce the ability of a population to grow or to recover from losses due to disturbance or stress, even though news reports have often focused on juvenile forms that are highly vulnerable to acidification (e.g.

Pacific oyster larvae).

Continued Overleaf ►

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Water

Helen Mur ray / Mar i ne / Ac i d i f i cat i o n

11

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- OA will not kill all ocean life. But many scientists think we will see changes in the number and abundance of marine organisms.

Many marine ecosystems may be populated by different, and potentially fewer, species in the future. It is unclear whether these biological impacts will be reversible.

- Areas that will likely be particularly vulnerable to OA include regions where there is natural upwelling of deep water onto the continental shelves, such as the west coast of North America, the oceans near the poles where lower temperatures allow seawater to absorb more CO2, and coastal regions that receive freshwater discharge.

- Evolutionary adaptation is a slow process, requiring many generations, and OA is occurring at rapid pace compared to the speed of reproduction of some organisms. However, organisms have demonstrated an incredible ability to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions, including reduced pH; the role of evolution in OA responses is being studied.

- Long-term pH decline could exceed the tolerance limits of marine species that live in coastal waters, even though they may have evolved strategies to deal with fluctuating pH on short timescales typical of coastal environments (where the daily and seasonal changes in seawater pH are much greater than in the open ocean).

- The current rate of acidification may be unprecedented in Earth’s history; it is estimated to be 10 to 100 times faster than anytime in the past 50 million years. During a much slower acidification event that occurred 55 million years ago (the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum), there was a mass extinction of some marine species, especially deep-sea shelled invertebrates.

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- Full recovery of the oceans will require tens to hundreds of millennia. Over decades to centuries, neither weathering of continental rocks, deep ocean mixing, or dissolution of calcium carbonate minerals in marine sediments can occur fast enough to prevent OA.

- Geo-engineering proposals that seek just to cool the planet will not address OA, because they do not tackle its cause: excess atmospheric CO2. Proposals that capture CO2 and store it away from seawater will mitigate the effects of OA somewhat, but most such proposals are now only cost- or energy-effective on very small scales. For example, buffering the global ocean with mined calcium carbonate would require anannual application of at least 30 times as much limestone as ismined by humans today.

- Blue carbon is under investigation as a way of locally offsetting CO2 levels. CO2 from the atmosphere or seawater can be captured in salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows as organic material that can be stored for decades.

This is called “blue carbon.”

- Reducing nutrient runoff might offset some of the local changes caused by OA, and could increase the overall health of marine ecosystems. But this would buy only a little time, because the root cause of OA is global atmospheric CO2 emissions.

- Ocean acidification represents yet another stress on marine environments that may endanger the flow of goods and services to marine-dependent communities. Humans around the world depend on the ocean for food, water quality, storm buffering, and many other important functions. Disruptions to marine ecosystems can alter these relationships.

Water

Mark Ti ndale / Water R esources G rou p / A r u p

Collaboration and context:

The key ingredients to tackling the challenges posed by water

Mar k Tindale

Arup Associate, Water Last month, over 200 organisations from across the globe gathered in Stockholm for World Water Week. Since 1991, this event has provided an annual focal point for the discussion of global water issues, from personal health and wellbeing, through to crop irrigation and economic and international development. The event itself is growing every year, and with the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG) currently predicting a 40% gap between the demand and supply of fresh water by 2030, the urgency for global water management solutions has never been more apparent.

The private sector has attended World Water Week in force over the years and, encouragingly, the latest event continued this trend, with Shell, Pepsi, BP, SAB Miller, Coca Cola, Nestlé, Eskom, Sasol, BAFF, Unilever (amongst others) all present. On the other hand, there appeared to be limited attendance by mainstream financial institutions, something that’s disappointing to note considering the need for greater education amongst this group regarding how pressing the issue of water is and how investment can be effectively evaluated.

in Scarce Environments, is based on the analysis of over 40 projects where work has been done to tackle water scarcity – from Shelanu Farm in South Africa, where measures have been taken to reduce water consumption in grape production, to Hai Basin in China, where an innovative eight year programme aims to manage water use through quotas for evapotranspiration. Together the report and framework aim to provide decision makers – political figures and investors – with overall visibility of the associated cost and potential impact of water scarcity initiatives.

...the report and framework aim to provide decision makers – political figures and investors – with overall visibility of the associated cost and potential impact of water scarcity initiatives.

Specifically, there is the real need to evolve current water valuation models in order to better demonstrate and quantify to the private sector how poor water stewardship could lead to poor decision making, increased capital and operational costs and significant business risks. There is also a need for much better data to inform decision making.

The challenge in such an undertaking was establishing a set of defined criteria against which the impact of such wide ranging initiatives could be compared and evaluated against effectively. The scope the framework has to take into consideration is significant – there is no single ‘water crisis’ after all, it’s a global phenomenon that manifests itself in different forms from country to country, region to region and location to location.

In light of this, Arup has worked with the 2030 WRG to introduce a framework to compare and evaluate water initiatives. The report, Managing Water Use

Sitting alongside this is the fact that water affects every aspect of our lives – from personal health and well-being; through to the food we eat; products we

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buy; the shape of our towns and cities and economic and international development. Effective advice on water strategy has to account for all these factors and do so in a digestible manner that is meaningful for time-short political figures and decision makers.

From Arup’s work on Managing Water Use in Scarce Environments, several key takeaways clearly emerged as pressing areas to consider going forward: • Prioritisation should be given to interventions and water-activity that focus on reducing consumptive use of water • There needs to be an increased focus on the development of the supporting mechanisms and models that incentivise and control reductions in this consumptive use • Intervention decision making must be based upon detailed water resource planning and understanding of the specific local context • There has to be a standardised data collection and reporting mechanism that enables accurate monitoring of impacts on consumptive use, including return flows and withdrawals • Priority should be given to those interventions that deliver the greatest basin level benefit at the lowest unit cost • Partnerships between the public and private sector that enable water risk to be reduced, whilst maximising basin level water scarcity benefits, are crucial to project delivery on a practical basis

Web: www.arup.com

Water passage through a typical water basin.

When an approach takes these factors into consideration and with the evaluative framework in place to measure success, then progress can be made.

The integrated Orange-Senqu River System, for example, supplies water to 60% of South Africa’s economy and to neighbouring Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia; it is under extreme water stress and severe water shortages could be experienced in the near future. Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), is located in the catchment and experiences annual mean water losses of 44% (36,000,000m3), and in some areas in excess of 80%. Like many other South African municipalities, it does not have the necessary capacity, instruments or resources to reduce its water demand.

The intervention to address this involves a publicprivate partnership between the ELM, Sasol New Energy and GIZ, with additional participation from ORASECOM (the Orange-Senqu River Commission).

The project itself reduces Sasol’s water risks whilst simultaneously reducing the municipality’s costs and its increasing water supply security. Meanwhile it supports the wider ORASECOM’s objectives which are to reduce stress on the water resources of the Orange-Senqu River.

The project involves pressure management, network leakage reduction and domestic leakage reduction in over 80,000 properties. 10,000,000m3/yr of water has been saved in phase 1, and it is forecasted that this will increase to 12,000,000m3 by 2014. What’s more, financial savings of almost $10m are expected which will be reinvested in the project and will in turn create further savings.

What this example illustrates is how collaboration (an innovative performance based public-private partnership involving industry, local government and funding agencies), coupled with education and awareness building, as well as significant buy-in from stakeholders, can deliver tangible benefits when measured against an appropriate barometer of progress. Crucially, however, we are not suggesting this approach simply be lifted and dropped onto another context and water issue. The key to its success was a granular awareness of the local context and circumstances, and adapting a tailored approach in response to these.

In order to achieve this, I firmly believe that the discussion of publications and case studies is crucial. We need to do more to promote robust evidence and real-world examples showing the ways in which cooperation between different sectors is vital for water management and its connections to broader economic and social development. We all have a duty to share best practice and also those initiatives that have not worked, to inform current and future action that will encourage more investment and political support in tackling the micro/macro challenges posed by water ■

+ More Information www.arup.com

The tension for any water reform is maintaining this local focus while also satisfying broader macroeconomic and geographical contexts – it would be detrimental to deliver reform for one local area that negatively impacts nearby locations, for example.

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Misc / Environmental Prosecutions

Tyneside firm ordered to pay £14,400 over odour emissions

A Tyneside business has been ordered to pay more than £14,400 after it allowed excessive odours to escape from a waste facility. Impetus Waste Management Ltd, which operates a waste transfer warehouse at Davy Bank, Wallsend, admitted two charges before North Tyneside Magistrates' on 18 September.

Cowdray Estate prosecuted for Midhurst river pollution that killed 4,000 fish

The company was fined £9,990 and ordered to pay £4,311.33 costs, with a victim surcharge of £100.

Investigating officers visited the site in August last year, following complaints of odours from nearby residents. The odour was escaping from a building in which general waste was stored. The facility’s doors were open, allowing the smells to escape. It also appeared that no odour suppression systems were in operation around one of the doors.

The Cowdray Estate of Cowdray Park, Easebourne, Midhurst, West Sussex appeared at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on 9 October. The Estate pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined £5,000, ordered to pay costs of £10,596 and £120 victim surcharge.

Odour complaints were also received in January this year. An officer visited the site on three occasions to carry out ‘sniff tests’, and he concluded that the odour present would cause serious detriment to the amenity of the locality outside the site boundary.

Environment Agency cracks down on illegal waste sites

The Environment Agency reported that it stopped 1,279 illegal waste sites last year – the equivalent of 25 sites every week – in its second annual waste crime report, published today. The number of sites stopped increased by 70 per cent on 2011/12 figures, attributed to the Environment Agency’s crackdown on illegal sites, which saw an Illegal Waste Sites Taskforce set up for two years.

The Environment Agency has prosecuted the Cowdray Estate for polluting 5km of a West Sussex watercourse which resulted in the deaths of 4,000 fish at a Fernhurst fish farm.

In July 2012, the Estate carried out routine forestry activities at Verdley Wood on its grounds to provide timber for commercial use. The logging and transportation of the cut timber during the very wet conditions that month resulted in the escape of soil sediment from uprooted trees and the wet ground conditions. This highly polluting sediment ran off the wet land and into a local watercourse - having a major impact on a tributary of the River Lod which runs through the area.

On 10 July, the owner of Surney Fish Farm near Fernhurst contacted the Environment Agency to report a major fish kill at the premises. On arrival at the latest incident, Environment Agency officers confirmed that the fish farm had been significantly polluted by sedimentation. This pollution was traced to Verdley Wood where forestry activities were still ongoing by Cowdray Estate staff.

The Estate was instructed to install siltation traps in the watercourse to minimise any further pollution and to stop all work at the site immediately.

Investigations found that 5km of the watercourse had been adversely affected and the pollution had entered the fish farm killing over 4,000 fish. As a result the water intake into the fish farm had to be stopped for a number of days which had additional adverse impacts for the business.

Legitimate waste businesses report that they are being undercut by these illegal sites, which can offer waste collection, treatment and disposal at cheaper prices than their competitors, but which have no intention of disposing of this waste safely. It is estimated that waste crime diverts as much as £1bn every year from legitimate businesses and HM Treasury.

Some of the major crimes stopped this year include illegal exports, serious dumping incidents and illegal waste sites where waste is burnt or and buried with no environmental safeguards in place. Illegal waste sites can cause misery for local communities with infestations of flies, acrid smoke and ugly piles of waste affecting homes and quality of life. They can also lead to serious pollution incidents.

£60,000 fine upheld against United Utilities for Davyhulme permit breaches

A court has upheld a fine of £60,000 against United Utilities for breaching environmental permitting regulations at Davyhulme Waste Water Treatment Works.

United Utilities pleaded guilty to two breaches of permit conditions between 28 April 2010 and 9 December 2010 at its site in Rivers Lane, Urmston. On 27 September, Manchester Crown Court upheld the £60,000 fine previously imposed by Trafford Magistrates Court after an appeal by United Utilities.

Judge orders Thames Water to pay up for sewer flooding after 10-year delay

Thames Water was appealing against fines totalling £204,000 imposed in 2011 by the Bromley Magistrates Court, for letting raw sewage flood homes, gardens and a local stream in Wimborne Way and St James Avenue, South London, back in 2003.

Over a period of two months, from February to April 2003, raw sewage repeatedly escaped from the local sewer system into properties, a street and into St James’s Stream.

His Honour Judge Leonard QC sitting with two justices at Southwark Crown Court, rejected Thames Water’s appeal, upheld the fines and increased the amount that the company must pay its victims - from £2,000 to £3,000 for a homeowner impacted by the sewage and from £250 to £1,000 to an allotment holder. The court also ordered Thames Water to pay the Environment Agency’s appeal costs of over £10,000.

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The Environment Agency’s prosecution followed extensive investigations which began when the company reported a fire at the site. The investigation established a unit to treat ‘siloxanes’ – residue which builds up in engines and reduces efficiency – had caught fire and exploded. Subsequent investigations showed permit conditions had been breached: Between 28 April 2010 and 9 December 2010 the company had not operated the siloxane plant in accordance with its permit; it had not obtained the Environment Agency’s prior written approval to install two carbon filters and blank off the stack at the plant, in contravention of its permit conditions.

Further investigations established the company had no formal procedures in place for start up or the shutdown of the siloxane plant, emergencies or maintenance, which was in contravention of a permit condition requiring the company to manage and operate its activities in accordance with a management system identifying and minimising the risks of pollution.

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Northumbrian Water Ltd fined £10,000 for Ouse Burn pollution

Northumbrian Water Ltd was fined £10,000 on 24th September, for causing sewage pollution to a stretch of the Ouse Burn in Ponteland.

Northumbrian Water Ltd, of Abbey Road, Pity Me, County Durham, was also told to pay costs of £3,802 to the Environment Agency, which brought the case. The company was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £1,000.

On 13 March 2012 a member of the public contacted the Environment Agency through its incident hotline to report that there was raw sewage in the Ouse Burn at Callerton, Ponteland.

Officers visited the Burn site the following morning, where they located the source of pollution, about 200 metres downstream of Armstrong Street, Callerton. The discharge was from a combined sewer outfall with a flap valve next to Pipe Bridge over the Ouse Burn, which was believed to be part of the Northumbrian Water Ltd sewer network.

Severn Trent Water fined £30,000 for breaching environmental permit

On 27 September 2013, Severn Trent Water Ltd pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates’ Court to one charge relating to a breach of their environmental permit conditions. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £2,046.66 in costs.

Severn Trent Water Ltd at Rushmoor Sewage Treatment Works discharges into the River Tern, near Telford. The permit that the site operates within ensures that the performance of the site is not allowed to adversely affect the local watercourse. The permit requires Operator Self Monitoring (OSM), which involves samples being taken from the treated effluent at the sewage works.

On 10 November 2011 when sampling took place by an external consultant, they noticed pollution in the final effluent which indicated a failure within the works. Severn Trent Water failed to inform the Environment Agency until 18 November 2011.

An Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said: “Severn Trent Water should have informed us of the incident immediately so that we could monitor the impact on the River Tern and take any necessary remedial action. By failing to do this, they significantly increased the risk of harm to aquatic life and environmental damage to the watercourse.”

Companies fined for illegal waste activities

Two companies have been fined a combined total of £26,000 following a major Environment Agency investigation into the illegal handling, storage and export of hazardous waste. Chemson Ltd, of Northumberland Dock Road, Wallsend, near Newcastle, and the Empress Green Trading Company Ltd, of Woods Lane, Oldham, were sentenced today at Bradford Crown Court, along with Joanna Potts, 46, an officer of Empress Green.

Their illegal activities were discovered by the Environment Agency when it followed up complaints of dead fish in a pond fed by the River Ryburn, at Triangle, near Halifax, in September 2009. An investigation into the incident resulted in those involved in the trade that saw hazardous waste deposited at the site being sentenced by the court.

Chemson, which admitted one charge of depositing controlled waste without a permit, was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £15,000 in legal costs.

The Empress Green Trading Company Ltd, which admitted one charge of depositing controlled waste without a permit and one charge of exporting prohibited waste, was fined £8,000 with £7,000 costs.

Joanna Potts, who admitted one charge of depositing controlled waste without a permit and one charge of exporting prohibited waste, was handed a conditional discharge for her offences, and ordered to pay £2,500 in costs.

Firm fined £6,000 over illegal hazardous waste shipment

A Middlesex company has been fined £6,000 for sending hazardous waste to a site in Middlesborough without a valid environmental permit being in place. Regal Rank Ltd, of Eastcote Lane, Harrow, appeared before Teesside Magistrates on 30 September, after admitting one charge of depositing waste without a permit.

The firm was prosecuted by the Environment Agency following investigations that took place in April 2012. Investigating officers discovered that Regal Rank had sent a consignment with various waste chemicals to a site in Middlesborough. Regal Rank is under an obligation to ensure that such shipments are sent only to sites that are legally allowed to accept hazardous waste. But in the case of the destination of this consignment, no environmental permit was in place.

As well as the fine, Regal Rank was ordered to pay £2,562.72 in legal costs and victim surcharge of £15.

£43,920 penalty for unpermitted waste activities

On 26 September 2013, Wolverhampton based company S&B Waste Management & Recycling Limited and John Chamberlain (61) of Halesowen, were both sentenced after pleading guilty at Stafford Magistrates’ Court to waste offences. The charges related to the unpermitted operation of a waste management facility on land in Essington. The company was fined £12,700, ordered to pay £27,000 in costs, along with a £120 victim surcharge.

In addition to the above fine, as part of the process the Court granted the request from the Environment Agency to make an Order under Regulation 44 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations, for S& B Waste Management & Recycling Ltd to remove the waste to a lawful disposal facility and restore the land to its original condition.

John Chamberlain was fined £1000, ordered to pay £3,000 in costs, along with a £100 victim surcharge.

Leicester man imprisoned for illegal waste activity at his home On 23 Sep 13, Leslie Collins of Whitwick, Leics was sentenced to 34 months imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court. Charges related to operating an illegal waste facility, breech of ASBO and criminal damage.

The 68 year old was given 16 months imprisonment for breaching environmental legislation and a further 18 months to run consecutively for breaching his ASBO and criminal damage.

The Environment Agency and Leicestershire Police worked together to investigate illegal wood waste activities being carried out at the defendant’s home in Whitwick between 17 Feb 2012 and 13 November 2012. There was no environmental permit in force authorising Mr Collin’s activities. The activities carried out were done so in a manner so as to undermine the living conditions of his neighbours. Part way through the offending period on 17 October 2012, Collins was convicted at Loughborough Magistrates Court for similar earlier offences. Despite being fined by the Court, Collins resumed his unlawful waste wood business the following day. Mr Collins also caused damage to a neighbour’s drain and poured a foul liquid containing urine, human excrement and other material over his neighbour’s fence on two occasions.

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Misc / Product Guide

World first satino black introduces cradle to cradle dispensers

Satino Black scores a world first by launching Cradle to Cradle(C2C) certified dispensers. The dispensers are made from recycled plastic and complete the C2C certified Satino Black product line, which consists of toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, foam soap, alcohol gel and toilet seat cleaner.

Among other benefits, the C2C certificate guarantees that the dispensers are free of harmful chemicals and therefore suitable for technical closed-loop recycling: the plastic can be re-used infinitely without loss of inherent value. Furthermore the use of 100% green electricity guarantees CO2 neutrality.

• For more information please visit www.vanhoutum.nl

Second generation of automatic sorting equipment for waste portable batteries Optisort, announces the launch of the OBS 2.0, the company’s second generation battery sorter.

The OBS 600 includes a new feeding system which allows a throughput of 8 batteries per second, improved line up with more accurate classification and new ID-units with enhanced accessibility for maintenance. The system also comes with a feature for recirculation of unidentified batteries which decreases the rate of unidentified batteries to less than 3%. With the new features the total throughput per hour increases to over 600 kg. The OBS 600 provides increased throughput, higher purity rates and lower maintenance • For more information please visit www.optisort.com

New Eco Fashion collection launches at Highstreet Prices

Eco-Fashion brand Rapanui has launched a new 2013/14 collection designed to compete with the high street. The new on-trend range of t-shirts, tops, vests and hoodies is derived from bamboo, eucalyptus and organic cotton and starts from £9.95.

Created from sustainable materials and made in a factory powered by wind turbines, the new collection is designed to meet the needs of the trend conscious at prices that are accessible.

The collection features a sustainable ‘fashion basics’ range of plain sustainable garments as well as a mix of bold on trend designs, all of which are 100% traceable ‘from seed to shop’ giving consumers concrete evidence of exactly where and how their clothing is made at a time when consumers are increasingly distanced from the source.

• For more information please visit www.rapanuiclothing.com

Stop the rot in food and drink processing

A proven and accredited epoxy coating system, Ultracoat from Fernco Environmental, has become the champion of the food and drink manufacturing industry, as it provides the ultimate in repair, rehabilitation and protection of grease traps, settlement tanks, manholes, and all other trade effluent chambers. Due to the chemical composition of the trade effluent, chambers traditionally built with concrete and brick will become corroded over a period of time. Effluent may then leach out into the ground, and groundwater will also infiltrate into the drainage network. As a result, the structure may become unstable, maintenance becomes more expensive and the facility may experience downtime. Furthermore, environmental issues may become legal issues.

Thanks to the highly chemical resistant (pH 2-14) Ultracoat epoxy spray applied coating system, these structures can be efficiently repaired and permanently protected, extending their life by up to 50 years. In addition to settlement tanks, Ultracoat is suitable for bunds, manholes, grease traps, reservoirs, tunnels and a whole host of other structures at risk from corrosion. Independently tested and approved according to a range of international standards.

• For more information please visit www.ferncoenvironmental.com

New Voltis ECO delivers 3-phase multitap transformer flexibility

Four new 3-phase multi-tap voltage optimisation systems designed to offer quicker installation, faster payback and greater in-use flexibility have been launched by energy saving specialist MarshallTufflex.

The new Voltis ECO range will appeal to users requiring an entry level ‘no-frills’ approach to voltage optimisation. Installers simply determine the ECO unit required (100A, 200A, 300A or 400A) and select the tapping setting most appropriate for each installation. This multi-tap transformer approach drops the voltage by 11%, 9% or 6%, depending upon the level of incoming Mains (245Volts or above, 240Volts or 235Volts). Voltis ECO units are lighter, smaller and fitted with integral feet for floor mounting. They have no moving parts, require no maintenance and make savings as soon as installation is complete.

• For more information please visit www.marshall-tufflex.com

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For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Paragon Territory Optimiser improves service operations and delivery fleet planning

Stream, bridge, process, store and link with MetStream

Paragon’s Territory Optimiser software provides users with even greater efficiency gains and operational cost savings. The optional planning module enables transport planners to create territories with balanced workloads within distribution or service routes. Using Territory Optimiser to pre-plan before running the routes and schedules through Paragon ensures compact delivery zones for efficient routing, which reduces transport costs, improves mobile staff productivity, and advances customer service levels.

This provides a full and true picture of each driver’s territory together with his or her assigned jobs.

Paragon Territory Optimiser provides advantages for two types of delivery: when customers need to be served by a regular driver or when a depot can deliver to different areas on different days. Applications include home and wholesale deliveries, van sales, hygiene and facilities servicing, and field services.

Gill Instruments Limited has launched the groundbreaking new data solutions platform ‘MetStream’.

Comprised of a hub and supporting software, MetStream enables users to obtain multi-channel data via one single unit streaming it across to different outputs. Users can access data via tablets, smartphones and PCs, whenever and wherever they are. The idea behind MetStream originated from a gap in the market, based on limitations of using dataloggers or personal computers for data management.

A completely new solution to an age old problem, MetStream is unmatched in the marketplace.

The MetStream hub is compact and hard wearing, designed to enable users to browse a dashboard style interface and adapt it to meet their needs, depending on the sensor equipment linked to the hub. Furthermore, sensors are not limited to work only with Gill Instruments own branded products.

• For more information please visit www.paragonrouting.com

• For more information please visit www.gillmetstream.com

New highly efficient Aquionics UV-LED transmittance monitor

The PearlSense T254 is the world’s first transmittance monitor to use UV-LED technology. The monitor provides UV disinfection system manufacturers and operators with highly accurate UV transmittance (UVT) readings in all conditions over an extended lifetime, ensuring proper UV dosing and efficient operation.

It features a patent-pending fixed position single lamp and sensor design with an automatic two-point reference check. The design provides more accuracy than products using conventional UV lamps and sensors. A UV-LED light source allows instant activation and highly efficient, mercury-free operation. The PearlSense T254 is capable of battery and solar-powered operation, and can be used in a variety of configurations including handheld operation, installed directly in a pipe or bracket-mounted in an open channel environment. The monitor can withstand unlimited cycling without lamp degradation.

UVT is used to track changes in water quality, and can also alert the presence of organic compounds and other issues. UVT values are communicated to the control system of a UV reactor and used in calculating the most efficient treatment process. From large municipal water treatment facilities to small food and beverage applications, consistently accurate UVT values can save energy and ultimately provide superior water quality.

• For more information please visit www.aquionics.com

U Mole expands suction excavation options

U Mole is pleased to announce the launch of the latest MTS Suction Excavation system. The MTS CITYSUCKER, is a new design of suction excavation equipment that is suitable for mounting to a MAN TGL 12.250 12 tonne twin axle chassis or other suitable alternatives. The MTS CITYSUCKER is a neat, compact unit for use in tighter urban situations and limited access sites where larger excavation units might find difficulty operating or manoeuvring.

It is a significant expansion in the suction excavation options U Mole has on offer. This very manoeuvrable, quiet and yet highly productive system will enable clients, both on the hire side or as purchased equipment, to complete jobs that they may not otherwise have been able to attempt, and all whilst causing minimum disruption to the local area, its population and the environment.

• For more information please visit www.groundforce.uk.com

Daikin Europe launches new heat recovery ventilation units

Daikin Europe has updated its VAM and VKM heat recovery ventilation unit ranges to include CO2 sensors and optional filters that can reduce energy loss and maintain high air quality in commercial environments. Quick and easy to install, the new units also offer night time free cooling when part of a complete climate solution, reducing running costs and carbon emissions even further. As building regulations continue to raise energy efficiency standards in design, buildings have become more airtight, reducing fresh air circulation and resulting in lower oxygen levels and increased potential for allergies, odours and condensation build-up.

• For more information please visit www.daikin.eu

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Misc

Patr i c k L amb er t / Eco -Innovati o n / E ACI

– the success of the CIP Eco-innovation Initiative Patr ic k L amber t

Director, Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) of the European Commission Economic benefits

The grant targets innovation projects that can be quickly turned into successful businesses, generating new income from existing or new markets. The study found that most of the projects have a good potential to generate income. It is estimated that the 126 projects are generating additional business sales (within the company and among partners) of around €260 million by the end of the projects, and rising threefold to €840 million two years after project end.

If the anticipated business revenues materialise as planned, each €1 of EU grant funding will have generated €20 in additional European business revenue over a five-year period.

It is possible to create a profitable business by developing smart ecofriendly solutions.

The Phobior project, for example, is ‘closing the carbon cycle’ by using CO² to grow algae producing omega-3 rich fatty acids. These fatty acids are essential to the human metabolism and are currently sourced from fish oil, despite concerns about over-fishing and pollutant contamination such as mercury. By commercialising an innovative photobioreactor, Phobior is harnessing a natural source of omega-3 which avoids exploitation of fish stocks and puts CO² to good use.

This is just one project that is co-financed under the Competiveness and Innovation (CIP) Eco-innovation initiative. A recent study has shown that the initiative has been successful, leading to concrete results.

Looking at projects funded in the first three years of the initiative, 126 projects received total funding of €86.8 million from the EU, matching investment provided by the projects. Some of the findings are that co-operation across several countries is a key component for obtaining the desired results.

Moreover small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main actors in this initiative. In figures, around 70% of the projects involve partners from more than one European country; and projects comprise on average 4 partners. Partners operate in the manufacturing sector (37%), the environmental services sector (34%) and technical and scientific activities (25%).

The study confirms that the programme in the first three years offers good value for money based on the projected environmental, economic and employment benefits which far exceed the public resources spent on supporting the projects.

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Gross profits on average are estimated to be some 18% of sales, confirming the commercial potential of the projects. The Initiative is important to make these innovation projects economically viable by shortening the payback period for the investment and thus mitigating risks. SMEs expect that the grant will shorten the payback period by around 20% on average. The EU’s financial commitment also works as a catalyst – a quality stamp – for accessing additional funding.

The environmental savings generated by the projects are estimated at approximately €40 million.

Environmental benefits

The aim of the Initiative is to reduce environmental impacts through the use and application of new, commercially viable products, processes and services. The environmental benefits correspond to the annual consumption/waste generation of a city in the EU of about 125,000 people and water savings of a city of 350,000 people. So even this small group of 126 eco-innovation projects can have a very significant environmental benefit.

As we know, the use of energy and materials, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases and the disposal of waste, generate environmental impacts, such as global warming and contamination of air and water. The environmental savings generated by the projects are estimated at approximately €40 million at the end of the projects, rising to €833 million after two years (and further after five years). This is almost ten times the amount paid out to these projects from the EU budget.

Employment benefits

Apart from being a source for growth and profits, the eco-innovation projects supported by the Initiative also generate employment. The new business activities have led to the creation of 8 jobs, on average, in each project!

Benefits to SMEs

Because of their size, SMEs usually have more difficulties to obtain EU grants. It is another success of the eco-innovation initiative, that most project partners are small and medium sized companies.

The grants are particularly important to SMEs given that the smaller the company, the more difficult it usually is to secure external financing for innovation.

In addition, two thirds of projects that sell their innovative products or services to other businesses expect that this demand will be mainly from SMEs; with consequent benefits to the competitiveness of SMEs.

Conclusions

The analysis of the results show that the CIP Ecoinnovation Initiative is money well spent, as the expected environmental, economic and employment benefits outweigh the costs to the public purse by far. Public funding is very important for businesses, especially SMEs, to bridge the financing gap that is frequently present between the development and testing of the innovation and bringing it to the market.

The operation and funding of the Initiative has supported promising European developers of ecoinnovations by providing the risk capital that would otherwise not be accessible. It is also helping to create future innovation options for Europe through demonstrating successful innovations to other companies which can further develop and deploy these ■

+ More Information Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation: www.ec.europa.eu/eaci Eco Innovation Initiative: www.ec.europa.eu/environment/eco-innovation

Web: www.ec.europa.eu/eaci

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Misc

Cath r y n Hi c key / G reen Deal / NS A ET

Go Green this Autumn While the Green Deal may have had a slow start, this autumn could be a key turning point for the scheme as consumer confidence and understanding grows, plus colder temperatures make end users more aware of the need to keep warm and how much this costs.

Cathr y n Hickey,

Executive director of the National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies

ACCORDING to the latest figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), public awareness of the Government’s Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is mounting, rising from 10%, before the scheme was launched, to 22% in June 2013.

This percentage is only set to increase as more Green Deal assessments are successfully put into action – delays caused by various technicalities have meant that although many assessments have taken place, only a few have come to fruition. While it is easy to be critical of the scheme’s slow start, we should concentrate on the positive effect it will surely have on Britain’s buildings and the businesses delivering services under it. Anyone involved in related industries would be wise to support and promote the Green Deal – for the good of our environment and our economy.

For those that don’t know, the Green Deal offers energy efficiency improvements, such as insulation and boiler upgrades, paid back through the savings made on fuel bills – effectively a ‘loan’ attached to the property. What’s key is the Golden Rule, i.e. the savings made must be equal to or exceed money spent on Green Deal measures. For hard to treat properties, such as period or particularly run down

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homes, additional funds are being supplied by the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

Green Deal measures span from loft insulation and low energy lighting to renewable technologies, covering a large proportion of building and construction related sectors – a huge opportunity.

Beyond technical installers, the scheme relies heavily on Green Deal Advisors, tasked with visiting properties, assessing their energy efficiency requirements and drawing up a plan which is then passed on to a Green Deal Provider, the gateway to available funding.

The National Skills Academy delivers Green Deal Installer and Advisor training from its approved centres, located nationwide.

The Green Deal is governed by a strict Code of Practice, so, in order to get involved, you need appropriate training and your business in order in terms of processes such as customer warranties and insurance. Once the Code of Practice has been met, the Green Deal Quality Mark is awarded. The National Skills Academy delivers Green Deal Installer and Advisor training from its approved centres, located nationwide.

Knowledge is key

Beyond technical training, if you want to successfully engage with any new business venture, you must ensure your approach to customer services and promotion is also on-point.

The unfortunate delays in the Green Deal may have left some end users despondent; the task of reigniting their interest falls largely in the hands of the installers, specifiers and the client facing representatives who have to help consumers make decisions about their buildings. To this end, training does not finish with practical skill – it must also involve general knowledge improvement and then keeping this knowledge up to date.

Think beyond frontline installers. Who answers your phones? Who greets visitors to the building?

Do they know about renewable technologies and energy efficiency? They don’t necessarily need to be experts, but a grounding in the basics is useful and may greatly assist in making a sale or helping a customer to feel like your company knows what it’s talking about.

To assist those looking to deliver services under the Green Deal or ECO schemes, the National Skills Academy has launched an e-learning course. The primary aim of the course is to help Green Deal

Web: www.nsaet.org.uk/shop

installers, advisors or anyone interested in finding out more, understand how these schemes work and what they cover. It is particularly useful for staff tasked with selling or explaining the benefits of energy efficiency and the Green Deal in general.

Because it is online, users can log-on to the course at a time and pace to suit, accessing additional documents and policies, which can be reviewed at any time. Learners are also asked to test their knowledge once a module has been completed, enabling them to assess their level of learning.

The course has been split into two modules, which can be studied in any order, but it is recommended that both are completed. Module one provides an overview of everything to do with the Green Deal, how it works with the ECO, the Green Deal Quality Mark and Code of Practice. Module two specifically deals with installer requirements, providing guidance on certification and registration, plus Publically Available Specification (PAS) 2030:2012, the standard to which all Green Deal Installers must operate.

As well as building a bank of knowledge so you can confidently advise customers, this new resource will help businesses, whether large companies or sole traders, decide if the ‘green’ marketplace is for them

and whether they are ready to take up this very real commercial opportunity.

Promote your business

If you’ve made the effort to up-skill staff to deliver services under the Green Deal, the next crucial step is to promote your business’s expertise.

The National Skills Academy’s launched a free sales and marketing guide for small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Tips include how to take advantage of the Internet, using flyers and other hard copy marketing material, as well engaging with the media. The tool provides users with a tailored marketing plan, based on a series of multiple choice questions completed online.

Training through the National Skills Academy in itself is a promotional activity, helping to reassure customers that you’ve achieved industry leading qualifications to the highest standard. Those who successfully complete our technical and Green Deal Advisor covurses are eligible to join the Trained Installer Register www.nsaregister.org.uk, an online database of National Skills Academy qualified tradespeople, searchable by postcode.

As part of the registration, you will receive liveried work wear, van stickers and National Skills Academy

guides, such as our booklet describing energy efficiency improvements which can be used when talking through the benefits with consumers.

The Green Deal, along with the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed in Tariffs (FiTs), are giving a much needed boost to building related trades.

If delivering services under the Green Deal is something your business could offer, make sure your team has the right skills and knowledge to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity ■

+ More Information The National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies delivers Green Deal Installer and Advisor training through its network of approved centres, located nationwide.

E-learning, supporting guides, plus the Trained Installer Register, are available to view on NSAET website: www. nsaet.org.uk/shop.

The Green Deal and ECO online learning package is currently available at a discounted price of £22.00 + VAT

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Misc / Case Studies

case studies

| 120 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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Case study Kebony and the Mary Rose Kebony is the wood of choice for the new Mary Rose Museum

Kebony AS, is delighted to unveil its contribution to the new £27m Mary Rose museum, which recently opened to the public. Kebony’s award-winning alternative to tropical hardwood and toxic-treated wood has been selected as the material of choice for the decking at the museum for its sustainable, aesthetic and durable qualities, able to withstand the harsh sea-front environment.

The Mary Rose museum is an important monument to the UK’s maritime history, housing many of the 19,000 artefacts that were retrieved from the hull of the Mary Rose which was raised from the seabed in 1982. The building is designed to complement the shape and design of the Mary Rose, to re�lect the signi�icance of the site. The historical treasure in the heart of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was launched in 1511 and saw 34 years of service as Henry VIII’s warship, before sinking in 1545. The building’s opening coincides with the �inal phase of the ship’s conservation, which when complete will preserve the ship for the next 70,000 years.

An appropriate choice, Kebony wood is sustainable, environmentally-friendly, non-toxic, easily-maintained and resistant to decay. Its impressive durability and long lifespan in harsh climates makes Kebony the perfect choice for this new harbour-side landmark. Kebony is also beautifully aesthetic and will evolve over time to achieve a silver-grey patina, perfectly complementing of its marine setting.

Jan Terje Nielsen, Marketing Director at Kebony, comments: “It is wonderful that Kebony has been selected for this incredible building. The use of wood in this project is a crucial design aspect; it was a vital construction material 500 years ago and the innovation of Kebony and the Kebonization process means that wood can continue to be used in construction and building without threatening our environment or natural resources”.

In recognition of its revolutionary approach, Kebony was twice acknowledged as one of the world’s most promising clean technology companies in the highly competitive Global Cleantech 100. Other accolades received by the company include being shortlisted for the Ethical Corporation Responsible Business 2013 Awards and longlisted in The Guardian’s 2013 Sustainable Business Award. Kebony has also been recognised for its innovative technology and high performance product, in the last year these include Best Business Award for Best Innovation, shortlisted for the Housebuilder Best Product Award, and inclusion in Cleantech Connect’s top 50 Most Innovative Company’s.

Contact Visit www.kebony.com for further information.

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study Thamesmead football An iconic new grassroots sporting facility, designed to integrate effortlessly with its environment, has been of�icially opened in Thamesmead by Football legend Sir Trevor Brooking CBE.

Built thanks to funding through the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity, and other contributors, Sporting Club Thamesmead boasts an outstanding new changing pavilion, �loodlit third generation (3G) arti�icial grass pitch (AGP), and multi-use games area (MUGA) and represents a muchneeded investment to an area that has signi�icantly lacked in community facilities, particularly sports facilities, for many years.

The club building and the layout of the outdoor facilities have been designed by architects Saville Jones to reinforce the open nature of the site and to keep the impact of the built form on the land to a minimum. The design philosophy was that the building should ‘touch the earth lightly’, creating minimal impact and allowing the building to be appreciated as part of, and not simply placed on, the land.

A sensitive environmental approach to the design of the structure was then developed, with the principal environmental objectives being to minimise the amount of energy and other resources used in the construction and operation of the building, and to encourage biodiversity.

The latter has been achieved by replacing the grass lost with a sedum roof providing an environment for nesting birds and insects and ‘sinking’ the building into the ground.

The earth mounding around the perimeter has been seeded, concealing part of the building from view. The structure literally grows out of the ground. The earth also acts as an insulator and increases the energy conservation.

The main principles to create an integrated environmental strategy have been to incorporate ecological approaches in both the design philosophy and construction. These include: • Maximisation of daylight by incorporating roof lights and large areas of glazing • Natural ventilation, with mechanical cooling only in high activity areas.

• Some use of recycled materials that can be recycled at the end of their life • The integration of landscaping including safe cycle paths and footpaths to encourage eco-friendly means of transportation • Rainwater harvesting, the collection and recycling of rainwater stored in an underground cistern to reduce mains water consumption.

• Solar thermal panels to provide hot water • Ground source heat pumps generate the space heating, via an under �loor heating system. | 122 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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Case study (cont) Thamesmead football

To gain funding for the project, Trust Thamesmead worked in partnership with the London FA to secure a £769,112 grant from the Football Foundation. Funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government (via Sport England), the Football Foundation is the country’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 9,500 grants worth more than £410m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £560m.

Across London alone, the Football Foundation has awarded 125 grants worth £22m towards grassroots sports projects worth £52m.

Additional funding for the club’s new �loodlit 3G AGP and top-of-the-range �loodlit MUGA came from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), in the shape of a £75,000 grant, in order to create a much safer environment for players throughout the year.

Funded with £6m each year from the Premier League, the FSIF is the country’s largest provider of grants towards projects that help improve the comfort and safety of lower league football grounds in both the professional and amateur game. These improvements range from new football stands and turnstiles to �loodlighting and improved provision for disabled supporters. In total, the FSIF has awarded 24 grants worth £3m towards grassroots sports projects worth £11m across London.

The project has also received £200,000 funding from The FA, as part of their capital allocation within the Whole Sport Plan agreed with Sport England. This is awarded to support the sustainability of community clubs and create more opportunities to participate in sport within a high quality environment.

Speaking at the opening of the site, Sir Trevor Brooking CBE said: “I am so pleased to be opening such a fantastic facility. Projects such this one in Thamesmead, are so important for the local community. They help increase participation in our national game by allowing more people to play, purely for the love of it. They are also critical to supporting The FA’s agenda for developing more home-grown talent.

“The funding provided by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government, through the Football Foundation, is making a real difference, with stunning new facilities, such as this one, springing up right across the country. I congratulate everyone involved, including the London FA, for their work in making this happen.”

Contact For more information: www.footballfoundation.org.uk Or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FootballFoundtn

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study Knauf Insulation Knauf Insulation’s innovative ThermoShell® Internal Wall Insulation (IWI) system has been installed at a hard-to-treat property for homeless people, as part of an energy ef�icient retro�it programme from St Vincent’s Housing Association.

Funded by the Green Deal Go Early scheme from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the project involved the installation of a number of energy ef�icient systems at the housing association’s Redfearn House in Rochdale, including air source heat pumps, mechanical ventilated heat recovery systems and A-rated window replacements. The retro�it to the building will signi�icantly improve the quality of life for the clients, as most were experiencing fuel poverty and struggling to maintain their utility supply prior to the works.

Callum Jones, Development and Sustainability Of�icer at St Vincent’s Housing Association said: “This project, which was completed at the end of March 2013, had an objective to bring the old inef�icient property up to current standards, for more affordable bills. Having been on Knauf Insulation's Internal Wall Insulation (IWI) training course at its ThermoShell Academy, in Birmingham, we knew that this system was a must-have to improve the thermal performance of the building - which would ultimately provide a comfortable environment for the tenants. As we were tackling this retro�it as a fabric �irst approach and had to meet a certain deadline, due to funding, Knauf Insulation’s IWI system was ideal as we could install this on a room-byroom basis - meaning tenants would not be disturbed for too long and they could enjoy the bene�its straight away.”

Knauf Insulation’s ThermoShell IWI system is BBA certi�ied and has been speci�ically designed for upgrading solid wall properties - providing the most effective solution to ‘whole house-low energy’ refurbishments by delivering outstanding thermal performance.

The system consists of thermally engineered studs (EcoStud), which eliminates thermal bridging, and Earthwool®, water repellent, glass mineral wool slabs (EcoBatts) that are friction �itted between the EcoStuds to �ill the vacant space. The system is only available to approved installers that have completed training at Knauf Insulation’s ThermoShell Training Academy. The academy is designed to train installers to ensure that they provide a quality service and installation of the system and this enables Knauf Insulation to offer a 25-year guarantee on the system. Each course consists of a full day of training, with the delegates having a thorough theoretical workshop in the morning followed by a practical session in the afternoon – putting what they have learned into practice. After attending the course, the tradesmen will have permission to install Knauf Insulation’s systems but will only become fully accredited once they have completed up to three installations that are checked and veri�ied by the team of Knauf Insulation Regional Technical Managers (RTM’s).

| 124 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Contact For more information please visit www.knaufinsulation.co.uk

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Case study PyroVore ST Engineering �irm DPS Global has of�icially unveiled its ground-breaking compact and highly secure waste destruction facility for the defence sector.

Engineering �irm DPS Global has of�icially unveiled its ground-breaking compact and highly secure waste destruction facility for the defence sector The PyroVore ST series waste management technology has already generated signi�icant interest from the defence sector and trials have been undertaken to date by both land and sea forces.

The technology, which has been designed for different defence applications, will maximise security when dealing with waste produced by the army. It also has the capability to provide electricity for ground and sea forces. The PyroVore ST series technology involves staged and separated pyrolysis and gasi�ication of wastes to produce small amounts of ash and heat. This enables military bases and naval vessels to utilise their waste as a substitute for fossil fuels thereby reducing CO2 emissions and providing a more cost effective energy solution.

The land-based version sits in a 40ft container that can be transported to forward operating bases to enable all waste to be disposed of on site.

Neil Young, Managing Director at DPS Global, said: “We believe that our solution is the �irst of its kind that addresses the challenges of waste management for land and sea forces across the world. It allows the army and navy to manage their waste on site, even in the remotest locations. In doing so it safeguards against any security risk posed by the collection of waste and removes any associated costs of doing so.”

“It also provides a cost effective energy solution for the defence sector. Most wastes have a high carbon and hydrogen content, which is exactly what fossil fuels contain. It is the reaction of the carbon and hydrogen with oxygen, which releases the energy that can be used within a military base or on board a ship.”

“In addition, our solution means that naval ships do not need to return to port to deal with their waste, enabling enhanced operational ef�iciencies.”

The PyroVore accepts around 85% of the European waste catalogue of materials with no pre-treatment required and due to its small scale can be easily installed on an aircraft carrier or located in a military base.

Contact For more information: www.dps-global.com

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study Retro�it BRE launches exemplar retro�it project, The Smart Home, on its Watford site. The house demonstrates the signi�icant energy savings that can be made through smart technology alongside fabric improvements and occupant empowerment.

BRE's pioneering future-focused Integer House, built 15 years ago, has undergone an extensive retro�it and renamed The Smart Home. Through a joint BRE and British Gas project, it has been re-equipped with a host of ultraenergy-ef�icient features and functions, making it super �it for the future.

The Smart Home was launched by Mayor of Watford Dorothy Thornhill and former St Albans MP Kerry Pollard, who supported the original project back in 1998.

Using cutting-edge technology, design and building techniques, the innovative retro�it has made the house 50% more energy ef�icient and halved its carbon emissions, upgrading it from an E to an A/B EPC rating.

An intelligent, whole house living system with occupation sensors for a range of purposes controls the heating, lighting, ventilation, water and security. The latest air source heat pump technology has been integrated to provide heating via app-enabled advanced controls, and improvements have been made to the solar thermal water heating and air tightness.

The house has a new-to-market solar thermal system, and an integrated PV array has been installed into the conservatory glazing to generate most of the home's energy requirements and shade clear glass against excess heat.

Innovative 3 mm thick insulating plaster has been applied �inished in heatre�lective paint to improve thermal performance, whilst paint with lightre�lective particles on the internal walls dramatically increases brightness and reduces lighting needs.

Speaking at the launch BRE CEO Peter Bon�ield said: “The Smart Home will inspire and in�luence the industry in the same way as it did in its original guise as the Integer House. Thanks to our partners British Gas and the many others who been involved in delivering the project’

With the Smart Home we wanted to address a range of issues that relatively recent homes might face like energy ef�iciency and overheating but also look at the next generation of innovations that our existing and new homes and their occupants will bene�it from. The project will enable informed decisions to be made about design, products and installation, and how occupants interface with buildings though smart technology.”

To counteract upper �loor overheating, Phase Change Material (PCM) has been incorporated into the upper �loor walls. Ducted skirting, reclaimed timber �loors and an FSC certi�ied kitchen have been �itted, and doors and windows have been replaced with the latest uPVC double glazing incorporating recycled

| 126 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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Case study (cont) Retro�it uPVC. The very latest Velux windows have been installed, and the front door showcases new generation electronic locking, including a car style remote key.

Contact Further information: www.bre.co.uk

Kerry Pollard MP said "Energy costs are at the forefront of people's minds now and this issue is moving right up the political agenda. The Smart Home initiative is a major step forward in securing renewable energy and a most exciting development for BRE." Smart Home product listing: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

Energain Phase Change Material When the room temperature rises above 22°c, the polymer/wax compound in the wall panel melts to absorb the heat, slowing temperature rise by up to 7°c. The wax solidi�ies when the room temperature falls to 18°c and the stored heat is then released back into the room. www.energain.co.uk

•

Ecodan Air-Source-Heat-Pump Ecodan harvests energy from outdoor air and converts it to heat for heating and hot water, even in temperatures as low as -20°c.

For every 1kW of electricity the system uses, the house bene�its form 3kW of heating. http://domesticheating.mitsubishielectric. co.uk/about_ecodan

•

Honeycomb Collector This solar-thermal collector uses a honeycomb layer of transparent insulation made from polymer that allows sunlight to pass into the collector and heat the absorber surface. It also creates an air buffer to reduce heat loss during convection. www. tigisolar.com

•

Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) The original sloping glazing has been replaced with transparent BIPV glazing panels that can produce electricity from light coming from either side, making them a �lexible option in terms of orientation. www.polysolar.co.uk/technology.php

Roof Light The triple-glazed roof light, which includes a rain sensor, can be programmed to automatically open and close. This means it can be used to help regulate indoor temperatures to support the Energain Phase Change Material solution. www.velux.co.uk

Insul8ed energy saving paint The coating used on the walls of this room contains various materials, including micro glass spheres, which re�lect heat back into the room, preventing heat loss through walls and ceilings.

When used externally, solar heat is bounced back off the building. www.so-10.com

LED lighting The halogen lights used in the original Integer House have been replaced by more energy-ef�icient LED (light emitting diode) lamps. Overall LEDs also use less power and last longer than other lighting solutions. These LEDs are part of the automated system. www.osram.com

•

•

•

•

Synco Living The home automation system comprises intelligent, app-enabled heating controls and lighting sensors that have daylight and motion detection to regulate lighting levels. It uses the global KNX standard so different appliances, devices and systems can communicate with each other.

Multirock (Flexi) Insulation Two layers of insulation have been �itted in the kitchen and living area ceiling, to achieve a U-value of just 0.19 W/m2K. It creates a warm comfortable space, while also reducing noise levels up to 40 decibels. www.rockwool.co.uk/products Dulux Paints A range of highly re�lective, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) water-based paints are used throughout to improve thermal ef�iciency, indoor air quality and �inish. The Ecosure Matt product, for example, has no added solvents and has 35% less embodied carbon than other paints. www.dulux.trade-decorating.co.uk

Ian Williams Ltd Ian Williams is one of the UK's largest property services companies, at the forefront of looking after the built environment with particular expertise in the social housing, education and commercial sectors. www.ianwilliams.co.uk Nationwide windows Nationwide Windows are manufacturers and installers of high performance windows and doors particularly in the social housing and new build sectors. www.nationwidewindows.co.uk/ Kawneer – Stick Curtain walling This dry-jointed system is suited to vertical, sloped and facetted applications. Removes reliance upon on-site sealing and ensures excellent weathering performance. www.kawneer.com

Eurocell Eurocell windows and doors offer a high level of energy ef�iciency, and incorporate a high level of recycled content. They are BRE Green Guide A rated for environmental performance, have a whole window U-value of up to 1.3W/m2K and have a BFRC Window Energy Rating of A. www.eurocell.co.uk

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study Thermaskirt When the under�loor heating in the A&E department of North Tees Hospital failed, the hospital faced the critical challenge of providing heating with the minimum of disruption. ThermaSkirt, the innovative heating system offered by Discrete Heat, provided the ideal solution.

Richard Speight, senior engineer at the hospital, discounted the replacement of the under�loor system as signi�icant closure periods would have been necessary. Likewise, the potential installation of low surface temperature (LST) radiators required the remodelling of the department’s layout to accommodate the radiators, bulky casings, and associated pipe work. The slim and ef�icient ThermaSkirt provides heating through the skirting boards throughout the A&E ward, and is both unobtrusive and effective. Introduced at North Tees by renewables experts Revolution Power Ltd, ThermaSkirt is an easily controllable system which considerably reduces energy costs for the hospital.

ThermaSkirt also helps to prevent the spread of infection in the StocktonOn-Tees hospital. A high standard of cleanliness is of paramount concern at North Tees and the scrutiny of all sources of infection, combined with a rigorous cleaning regime, is the means by which this is achieved. The control and elimination of MRSA and C. Dif�icile for the hospital is helped by the installation of the ThermaSkirt, free of grills and slots, it requires virtually no maintenance and is extremely simple to clean. These are signi�icant advantages over LST radiators, which are now recognised as potentially dangerous to health, allowing bacteria and spores to collect and thrive.

With minimal disturbance to the fabric of the building, and the retention of much of the original pipework, the whole reinstallation has come in many thousands of pounds under the original budget.

ThermaSkirt is a radiant panel designed to replicate a skirting board trim, whilst providing a gentle, consistent and energy ef�icient heat throughout the room at low level. Its even distribution of heat makes the A&E department a more comfortable environment for patients. The discrete casing of the ThermaSkirt means that risk of injury is eliminated, there are no trip hazards, and its discrete form increases the navigability of the busy hospital environment.

Commenting on the project, Richard Speight said “I was impressed with the concept of the ThermaSkirt system from the off, but a bit sceptical it could do the job. Reports from other hospitals gave me the con�idence to give it a go, and I cannot tell you what a difference it’s made. The installation of the whole job was done in a few days, and we were back up and running. The staff are very happy with the new heating system”.

The bespoke solution provided by Discrete Heat extends throughout the department, where ThermaSkirt integrates easily with both the �looring as a typical skirting trim, and at higher levels. The result is a completely sealed heating system which can be cleaned in parallel with the �loor, ensuring the highest quality in cleanliness and patient care whilst reducing maintenance and cleaning costs. It provides a cost-effective heating solution that gives North Tees A&E department greater �lexibility of room layout.

| 128 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Contact Further information is available from Discrete Heat on 0845 1238367 www.discreteheat.co.uk

For more news, editorials, and product reviews, visit www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Case study Kebony Coffee Bar Kebony wakes up and smells the coffee with the unveiling of their coffee bar - the perfect pit stop for the environmentally-conscious coffee lover.

Norwegian Global Cleantech 100 company, Kebony is delighted to unveil its latest project, the Kebony coffee bar, constructed of Kebony’s Southern Yellow Pine and complementary architectural titanium, it featured at the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition Salone Internazionale del Mobile (Milan Furniture Fair). Exclusively commissioned by Wallpaper*, and working in collaboration with talented young architect Hoi Chi Ng, the bar served coffee to for the duration of the exhibition, appropriate to its surroundings at the contemporary design gallery.

The coffee bar is curved to create a separation between espresso, which is served on one side of the bar, and freshly brewed coffee, which is served on the other, creating two distinct coffee stations. It is part of the ‘Coming Soon Coffee’ project created by Hoi Chi Ng and Matthias Suchert, borne out of their love of coffee. The project aims to experiment with different single origin beans, brewing methods and water to create a unique coffee experience. The project they run alongside their day job; they are constantly experimenting all things coffee, whether it is beans, roasting style, grinders, brewing methods, water and even customises their machines to match their ideas. As a result, Kebony’s contemporary alternative to hardwood is the perfect material for his project.

Kebony is an award-winning alternative to tropical hardwood and toxictreated wood that is sustainable, environmentally-friendly, non-toxic, easilymaintained, aesthetic and resistant to decay. It’s impressive durability and long lifespan makes Kebony the perfect choice for a range of uses including: decking, �looring, cladding, roo�ing, windows and indoor and outdoor furniture. Kebony’s pioneering Kebonization* process transforms sustainable wood species into those with comparable, and often superior, attributes to tropical hardwood making it a long-term, cost-effective choice.

In recognition of its revolutionary approach, Kebony has twice been acknowledged as one of the world’s most promising clean technology companies in the highly competitive Global Cleantech 100. Other accolades received by the company include being shortlisted for the Ethical Corporation Responsible Business 2013 Awards and longlisted in The Guardian’s 2013 Sustainable Business Award. Kebony has also been recognised for its innovative technology and high performance product, in the last year these include Best Business Award for Best Innovation, shortlisted for the Housebuilder Best Product Award, and inclusion in Cleantech Connect’s top 50 Most Innovative Company’s.

Contact Visit www.kebony.com for further information.

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study KiWi Power KiWi Power completes successful commercial demand response trials in London. Companies earn over £150k in two months of successful demand response trials.

KiWi Power, the UK’s leading smart grid and energy demand management company, has announced the completion of successful summer trials with a number of commercial and industrial sites across London that participated in UK Power Networks’ Low Carbon London project.

Funded by Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund, Low Carbon London is a £28.3m pioneering learning and demonstration programme which is using London as a test bed to support the development of a smarter electricity network.

Ziko Abram, director and co-founder of KiWi Power, said: “We are very pleased with our customers’ participation and performance in Low Carbon London this summer. We are now working with UK Power Networks on an upcoming winter trial, as well as helping our customers optimise their demand response participation by taking part in National Grid’s system balancing programmes and reducing their energy bills with triad management. We are also exploring ways that demand side management can help other distribution network operators across the UK manage their networks in a ‘smarter’ way.”

UK Power Networks, together with KiWi Power, trialled demand side response (DSR) as part of the broad smart grid options being investigated on the Low Carbon London programme. In addition to traditional DSR, the trial used Active Network Management (ANM) to deliver fully automated triggering based on the real time electricity distribution network operation.

ANM allows power companies and utilities to make better use of existing grid capacity to help integrate energy storage, demand-side management, renewable energy and other controllable resources on the grid.

Demand response, which forms part of the Low Carbon London programme, is a way of altering industrial and commercial consumers’ electricity demand by offering �inancial incentives. This commercial approach encourages users to consume less energy during peak periods, enabling power companies to manage the network requirements more ef�iciently and understand the potential for demand response to support distribution network constraint management.

Michael Clark, Low Carbon London programme director, commented: “The trials have included a wide range of commercial and industrial facilities around London. We have used a variety of automated and manual dispatch signals, which has provided signi�icant learning to how our distribution network might use demand response and Active Network Management in our business as usual operations.” | 130 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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Case study (cont) KiWi Power

Trials KiWi Power recruited industrial and commercial businesses from across London to take part in the trials. Participants, including hospitals, hotels, water treatment plants, public sector facilities and commercial buildings, were asked to turn down their non-essential energy use or run their standby generators in response to a dispatch signal from UK Power Networks. Some customers running combined heat and power (CHP) units were also asked to increase or decrease their grid consumption in response to a signal from the utility.

Over the course of the summer trials, UK Power Networks called on KiWi Power’s customers to deliver a total of 45 times across its portfolio. KiWi Power delivered a total of 47 MWh of demand response, equivalent to powering 783,000 60-watt light bulbs for an hour or one 60-watt light bulb for 89 years, or enough energy to boil water for 338,000 cups of tea.

International hotel chain Marriott had several of its London hotels participating in the trials. John Conlon, senior director facilities and project management for Marriott International Europe, said: “Through participation, we have gained deeper insight into our energy use through KiWi Power’s smart meters and software. We have successfully been able to turn down some of our non-essential systems for up to an hour without any negative impact on business operations or customer comfort levels. We are now looking to increase participation in demand response across our portfolio.”

Another company participating in the Low Carbon London programme with KiWi Power is Royal Free Hospital. Jit Kaked, deputy director of estates, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust commented: “The Low Carbon London programme is using the city as a test bed to support the development of a smarter electricity network. It's important for us to work with GPS-approved demand response suppliers during these trials and also a company that offers peak tariff charging management in addition to the range of demand response opportunities, such as National Grid’s balancing services – STOR and frequency response. We look forward to the trust continuing with the different demand response programmes as they evolve in the market.”

Contact For more information: www.kiwipowered.com

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Misc / Case Studies

Case study Battersea Power Station Kebony’s sustainable wood is a feature in Battersea Power Station’s pop-up park

Kebony are delighted to announce their contribution to Battersea Power Station’s pop-up park. The pop-up phenomenon has this year brought to life many disused spaces in London for the bene�it of local communities. The latest space revival is a pop-up park, set in the shadows of Battersea Power Station, which is open to weekend visitors. The pop-up park, designed

by LDA Design, uses Kebony wood to create features from the electrical remnants of the power station, providing a series of structures to frame the views of the imposing towers and the river Thames.

Kebony is a pioneering company at the pinnacle of global, environmental and sustainable innovation, the Kebony wood is a sustainable, award-winning product and is a primary component of the park. The designers aimed to incorporate the old industrial aspects of the site into the new park to create an environment that complements the history of the area. Kebony’s Southern Yellow Pine was used in the pop-up park for both its aesthetic and hard-wearing qualities, making it a sound choice for its exposed, river-side position.

The unique Kebonisation process is applied to softwoods and endows them with the strength and durability of tropical hardwoods so that the wood becomes resistant to wear and decay. For some time wood had become unacceptable for use in construction due to environmental pressures and regulation. Kebony’s new wood is fully compliant with the EU Timber Legislation, which came into effect earlier this year and bans illegal tropical timber from entering the market. Kebony therefore allows wood to again become the material of choice for architects, developers and designers and diverting demand from tropical forests. Kebony’s new wood has been used in a number of high-pro�ile, international projects, including the new Mary Rose museum, the Bexhill Beach Shelters and KREOD.

The park’s designer, Cannon Ivers of LDA Design said: “We speci�ied Kebony’s timber as a sustainable alternative to tropical hardwood, which is typically selected for its durability in external landscape projects. Working with Kebony to create the bespoke appearance we were after was effective and ef�icient. We continue to consider Kebony timber in our future projects.”

Jan Terje Nielsen, Marketing Director at Kebony, added: “Battersea Power Station’s pop-up park is a fantastic project and has been strikingly designed, aided by the use of Kebony’s wood, the park is a beautiful place from which to view the power station at close quarters”

| 132 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Contact Visit www.kebony.com for further information.

Misc / Famous Last Words

Joe Hen no n

What kind of world will my grandchildren live in?

It's a question most of us ask ourselves but one with which I am becoming increasingly concerned the more I get into environmental issues.

I have been interested in the environment for decades but it is only since I became the European Commission's Spokesman for Environment four years ago that I have really begun to understand the scale and nature of the problems facing us all.

Answering journalists' daily questions and travelling with Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik to events and conferences means I am extensively briefed about everything from air and water pollution to biodiversity and green economics.

Joe Hennon

European Commission spokesperson for the Environment

In the course of my work I regularly meet NGOs, businesses, government Ministers and attend multilateral interna tional negotiations. At the same time, being also a pagan and a professional folk musician, I'm in regular contact with many alternative communities and environmental activists. What bothers me is that, despite decades of enthusiastic and sometimes headline-grabbing environmental activism and the obvious good intentions of all the political, business and civil society leaders I meet, it's clear that the world is still heading for very big trouble.

One of the main problems facing the world is us.

Humans. Both our sheer numbers and the things we do.

At the beginning of the 20th Century. Tthe global population was 1.5 billion. Now it is 7 billion and within one more generation it will be 9. If we were all still hunter gatherers that might not be a problem, but

we're not and it is. Humans need food, water, land, energy and raw materials. And as our population grows and our levels of development increase we need more and more of everything: buildings, roads, cars, clothes, appliances.

We extract 58 billion tons of raw materials from the Earth each year. By 2050 we will probably need three times that amount. The demand for food, feed and fibre will increase by 70%. But already today 60% of the world’s major ecosystems on which these resources depend are degraded or are used unsustainably. To take just one example, by 2030 we will need 40% more water than we can currently access.

During the past two centuries, we have relied on cheap and plentiful resources for the amazing improvements we have made in our living conditions.

But that model – where the richest 20% per cent use 60 times more than the poorest 20% per cent – simply cannot be sustained on a global level. Quite apart from the obvious fact that it is unjust, it is also physically impossible.

We live on a planet that has physical limits. That might sound like Sybil Fawlty's famous Mastermind subject – the bleeding obvious – but clearly that fact has not yet pierced our collective psyche. If it had we would not be so blithely ignoring it.

To any alien looking at our activities here on planet Earth, our obsession with constantly producing, consuming and throwing stuff away, our reliance on fossil fuels, our pollution of air and water, relentless degradation of ecosystems and carefree attitude towards biodiversity loss would seem like either ignorance or wilful self-destruction.

In Europe, all talk in recent years has been about 'the crisis'. As if there is only one – the economic and/or financial crisis. Climate change seems to be yesterday's news even though it has not gone away.

The resource crisis lurking around the corner never gets a mention. In fact, the environment seems to be increasingly seen by some highly influential people as a nuisance – a hindrance to the Holy Grail of Growth. ►

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In Europe, all talk in recent years has been about 'the crisis'. As if there is only one – the economic and/or financial crisis. Climate change seems to be yesterday's news even though it has not gone away.

The fact is that unless we transform the way we produce and consume, then we will find ourselves in much deeper economic trouble than we are in now. Any future growth will depend on making the environment part of our economic policy. We need to urgently take a leaf out of nature's book and move towards a circular economy where we re-use, repair and recycle, but most importantly where we produce using less material and don't consume unnecessarily.

The European economy is built on decades of resource intensive growth. We use 16 tons of raw materials per person per year. Worse, we throw away 6 tons of that.

The global competition for resources will mean that we will have to increase resource productivity, particularly in Europe where we import six times more raw materials than we export. If Europe wants to retain an industrial base, it must start to innovate, invest and specialise in the activities where it will have a comparative advantage in the global context of competition for resources.

At least we have made a start. The European ecoindustry alone (waste management, recycling, innovation etc.) has created 1.2 million new jobs since 2000, employing today around 3.4 million people. But it is the greening of the wider economy that is the big challenge and which will produce the most new jobs. Evidence points to an increasing number of green jobs, – the most recent estimate is of around 20 million jobs or 5% per cent of the workforce.

Transforming our economy will need action in a wide range of policy domains: from energy, transport, construction and agriculture to combating climate change, preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. | 134 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

But will it happen or will we just continue with 'business as usual' until the laws of economics kick in and we find that most of the world's population can no longer afford to live the kind of lifestyle we have come to expect? Who is going to make it happen?

Our politicians are, for the most part, tied-in to 4 year electoral cycles. Their record so far in concrete measures such as eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies or shifting taxes from labour to pollution and resource use is not exactly inspiring.

Neither is their record in encouraging industry to take a longer-term view and to invest in technologies that will reduce the impacts on resources. Our business leaders are tied-in to, at best, annual cycles during which they are answerable to shareholders and under pressure to show profits. Our economies are locked into the resource intensive industrialisation and post-industrialisation growth paths of the past centuries.

For change to happen, industry and investors need to be on board. Rather than fighting the power of capital, or trying to legislate away its environmental downsides, market forces need to be harnessed to turn economies onto a track that is sustainable economically, financially, socially and environmentally. We need green economics.

But industry and investors also need to take environmental concerns on board. Rather than trying to convince everybody how damaging environmental regulation is for their competitiveness, they should use all that money and energy to find solutions to our long term challenges.

Smart companies will be getting ready. They will see that natural resources are a significant factor of production. Today resource costs have become more critical to manufacturing productivity than labour

costs. Producing more with less will be central to the future competitiveness and growth of all developing and developed economies. Actuaries and risk analysts are already starting to look at companies' ability to resist input scarcity, price-volatility and supply disruptions.

We live in market economies and the role of the market will remain central. It is the best means we have, but a free market alone is not enough to bring about the necessary changes. Markets don't ensure efficiency in the allocation and use of resources if prices don't reflect the true costs of resources, if rewards to capital are disproportionate to other inputs, if managers on annual contracts are induced to make short term investment decisions, if directors' business decisions are overly influenced by bonuses based on short term share price.

Planning a transition to a sustainable economy is the only way to avoid going from a financial to an “environmental credit crunch”. Because what is happening at present is that we are spending our natural capital as if there were no tomorrow.

And I have barely mentioned climate change.

Watch out grandchildren ■