EIMissue7

APRIL/MAY 2010

CRC ALL-ENERGY 2010 GREEN ROOFS INSULATION FEED IN TARIFF CODE FOR SUSTAINABLE HOMES

Greenbuild EXPO

exhibition and conference of sustainable building

Greenbuild Expo returns in 2010 with an even bigger and better line-up of expert speakers and exhibitors Visiting the event is completely free, including the extensive programme of seminars, designed to encourage sustainable construction and make going green that little bit simpler.

Why you should come: I Choose from 100 free seminars on topics such as renewable energy, green roofing and sustainable refurb. To see the complete schedule of seminars visit www.greenbuildexpo.co.uk.

I

Hear about the latest legislation affecting the construction industry, from Building Regs to the Code for Sustainable Homes.

I

Explore some of the newest products and ideas on the market at the Innovation Showcase.

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Find out how the technologies work and how they can be used on your projects while turning a profit!

– 26th and 27th May 2010 – Manchester Central (formerly GMEX), Manchester

Promoting sustainability in the construction industry For more information or to register for tickets visit:

www.greenbuildexpo.co.uk Sponsored by:

Supported by:

INTRODUCTION FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to issue 7 of Environment Industry Magazine.

The last eight weeks have been the busiest since we started publishing Environment Industry Magazine. Issue 6 arrived from the printers on St David’s Day just in time to be rushed onto our stand at EcoBuild.

As one of the media partners I am pleased to say the event fulfilled our expectations and more. Ecobuild really embodied the economic growth the media is tentatively talking about. Not only were there record numbers of exhibitors but the visitors arrived in their thousands. It was a brilliantly organised and spectacular event and I would like to express my congratulations to Moira Edwards and her team at IBE. Ecobuild also announced the sad news that next year’s event will not be held at the “old faithful” Earls Court, due to building work Ecobuild 2011 will be held at ExCel. The good news is that you will no longer need a mortgage to pay for parking and Ecobuild has the opportunity to grow into the world leading environmental event it deserves to be.

Environment Industry Magazine was invited to a few after show events, one of which was the networking event organised by the Canadian High Commission where we met Dr Robert Beauregard Senior Chair-holder of Industrial Research Chair on Engineered Wood Products for Structural and Appearance applications and Dean, Faculty of Forestry and Geomatics, Professor, Department of Forest and Wood sciences, Laval University, Quebec, who kindly agreed to put pen to paper for us and wrote the timber frame feature on page 65.

You may sense a particular Canadian influence over the next few issues; this is because coincidently, just before the Canadian High Commission soiree, I received a call from the Ontario Government inviting me to a press tour of Sault Ste. Marie the self styled renewable capital of North America. (I should say this is a well deserved title).

I expect that like me a large number of you have not heard of Sault Ste. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie) and to be honest my inclusion on the press tour hinged on the promise of a visit to Niagara Falls.

Ironically the falls were one of the minor highlights of the trip; SSM is a relatively small city of 75,000 residents just north of Lake Superior on the banks of the St. Marie River literally spitting distance from America. (I am sure they do). The first thing everyone should know about is the SSM hospitality; it is not very often that 11 European journalists are welcomed so readily.

The success of our visit was due in no small part to Patricia Pytel and Dishni Jayasuriya from the Ontario Government and Randy Tallon, Director, International Relations, Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation. This relatively small community is leading the world in renewable energy technologies. This was the reason for our visit to showcase this aggressively innovative city.

For me the most outstanding achievement of SSM is the collaboration at every level, within official organisations

and with the community. Where most UK local authorities would tie up developments in red tape and objections the attitude of the SSM authorities was “How can we help you to set up your business here?” Which is why technologies that will genuinely change the world are being developed there, at least twice I felt I was being given a privileged glimpse into the future.

For example SSM has pledged to be the first city in the western world to be zero municipal waste to landfill by 2011. Elementa Group has signed a contract to divert all of SSM curbside waste to its steam reclamation plant which will open later this year. Another phenomenal innovation is Elsin Environmental’s tire processing plant development which literally renders a tire into its component parts (or unbaking the cake as the company explains it). Both of these will feature in issue 8 in June along with an editorial from the SSM economic development corporation on partner engagement.

It is hard to believe that this progressive city is also developing the biggest solar farm in Canada and already has a wind farm producing 189 megawatts of power.

This issue the Canadian influence is from Essar Steel with a case study on their new Cogen Plant which produces up to 50% of the energy needs of the steel plant and from Tom Vair from the Sault Community Geomatics Centre, another unique venture which shows the joined up approach of the city.

Almost as soon as I arrived back in the UK the next environmental calendar fixture was on the horizon, Sustainability Live has the broadest coverage of any event in the environmental arena.

Covering energy, water, contaminated land, environmental technologies and sustainable business it is has the closest affinity to Environment Industry Magazine and therefore is a must visit.

Amazingly despite Iceland doing its best to reduce the global carbon footprint by preventing all flights into and out of the UK Sustainability Live increased its visitor footfall by 20% on last year even without any international visitors.

The event as always was a great success.

Finally before I go the 16th of April was the official first birthday for Environment Industry Magazine.

April 16th 2009 was the day that Kimberley, my graphic designer joined the company and we actually began to develop the magazine. So I would like to say congratulations to Kim and thank you for putting up with me for the last 12 months and Happy Birthday to Environment Industry Magazine.

Until the next time.

Alex Stacey Alex Stacey Managing Editor ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

News

UK SDA Rainwater Harvesting Comes of Age in the UK... By Steff Wright

Pages 04 - 25

Pages 26 - 27

Posturing, Piffle and Platitudes By Steve Grant Page 28

Making Homes Greener By Simon Guy

Do-It-Yourself Renewables By Leonie Greene & Jemma Robinson

Pages 31 - 34

Pages 36 - 38

Planning for Energy Opportunity or Obligation? By Peter Smith

Page 40

Heat Pumps - Contributing to a Sustainable Future By Terry Seward

Pages 42 - 44

Why Insulation is Key to the UK’s Carbon Emissions Target By Neil Marshall

Pages 46 - 49

Window Energy Ratings - The Simple Pages 50 - 52 Method for Registering Your Windows By Giles Willson

The EPC-Exposed By Paul M. Walker

Taking Control of Air Leakage By Graham Copson

The New CRC Energy Scheme: I Don’t Need to do Anything Right Now do I? By David McEwan

CRC By Jean-Yves Cherruault

Build in Wood to Fight Climate Change By Robert Beauregard

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

Page 53

Page 54

Pages 56 - 59

Pages 60 - 63

Pages 65 - 66

Alex Stacey Tel: 0161 3410158 Fax: 0161 7668997 Email: alex@enviromedia.ltd.uk

Environment Industry Magazine is proud to be the official media partner for the UK Sustainable Development Association.

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 EnviroMedia Ltd. Environment Industry Magazine welcomes contributions for publication. Submissions are accepted on the basis of full assignment of copyright to EnviroMedia Ltd unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing. We reserve the right to edit items for reasons of space, clarity or legality.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Pages 69- 73

Beautiful and Affordable Natural Homes without Green-wash! By Barbara Jones

Page 74

Unfired Clay as a Modern Building Material By Katy Bryce & Adam Weismann

Pages 76 - 79

Green Roofing By Dusty Gedge

Pages 80 - 82

Sustainability Key to Sector’s Training By Keith Marshall OBE

Pages 84 - 87

Giant Hogweed By Maxime Jay

Pages 88 - 91

Ecological Mitigation By Dr Andrew Tasker

Pages 92 - 96

The Community Information Utility A New Model for Growth By Tom Vair & Mei Ling

Page 98

Stakeholder Communications Brian Graham

Pages 100 - 106 Contaminated Land By Hilary Allen

Pages 108 - 112 Contaminated Land: Jack of all trades, master of one By Natalyn Ala

Pages 114 - 116 Danny Stevens Suggests Key Manifesto Changes to Secure the Green Vote...

By Danny Stevens

Page 117

Environment Agency Prosecutions

Pages 119 - 121 Making the Future a Better Place By Richard Laverick

Pages 122 - 127 All-Energy Show Preview

Pages 129 - 142 Case Studies

Pages 95 - 96

Famous Last Words By Paul Aitken

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

NEWS HUGE MACHINE DEAL FOR JCB AND VIRIDOR WASTE LTD Five of JCB’s largest wheeled loading shovel models – the 456eZX Wastemaster – are now performing green and domestic waste handling duties across Greater Manchester after being purchased in one of the highest value waste equipment deals in Europe.

The order – which includes a long term repair and maintenance contract with JCB dealer Gunn JCB - was placed

by Viridor Waste (Greater Manchester) Ltd and the five machines are now in action at sites at Sharston, Salford, Rochdale, Stockport and Oldham.

Viridor operates the sites under contract from Viridor Laing (Greater Manchester) Ltd (VLGM) after the signing of a 25 year Private Finance Initiative earlier this year with the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA).

The JCB models are used to load green waste into shredders and for stockpiling general household waste at the Transfer Stations across the region. The machines have been tailored to the exact requirements of Viridor with specialist waste and recycling specifications including: air-conditioning; belly, brake-pipe and cab-screen guards; a carbon air filter; a smart reverse alarm and a wide core radiator.

Viridor Waste (Greater Manchester) Ltd’s Plant Manager, John Turner said: “The JCB models were selected after a successful tender and are proving to be extremely

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

productive and reliable in the arduous waste handling environment we operate in. This is no surprise to us, as a previous JCB model clocked up over 8,000 working hours for us in four years with very little downtime. The choice of tyres offered by JCB for the Wastemaster models is also crucial to our productivity and performance. Depending on the application we operate puncture resistant tyres or, when greater suspension is required, we use the super solid ariants. We have also been impressed with the service from Gunn JCB which has always been responsive” The deal between VLGM and the GMWDA will trigger a £640 million construction programme creating a network of state-of-the-art recycling facilities over the next five years. The waste management project will provide a revolutionary integrated solution for the 1.3 million tonnes of municipal waste which the authority handles each year.

Within the new contract,- Greater Manchester will be able to recycle and compost over 50% of all waste by 2015.

The latest JCB 456eZX Wastemaster wheeled loading shovel features the traditional qualities of high breakout forces and robust construction with the added benefits of sophisticated operation, a larger field of vision, increased comfort, improved performance and serviceability. The model is proving highly successful in waste transfer, MRFs, waste to energy and compost operations.

CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY MSc GRADUATE’S GOT THE E-FACTOR CAT graduate Owen Morgan was celebrating recently as he took first prize for the University of East London’s (UEL) flagship enterprise competition, E-Factor, along with his emerging company Cambridge Solar.

SURFER’S NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR ETHICAL ENTERPRISE An eco fashion brand set up with just £200 by two surfing brothers has gained national recognition this week by reaching the finals of the national ‘Enterprising Young Brits’ competition, run by Enterprise UK, a Government organisation promoting entrepreneurship in young people.

Rapanui, founded by Rob and Martin Drake-Knight (25) and (23), combined their degrees in business and renewable energy to create a sustainable clothing brand; making clothes out of organic natural fabrics in a Fair-wear Foundation certified wind powered factory, which are then sold through their online store.

The brand has also made custom eco clothing for Ben and Jerry’s and The Marine Conservation Society.

The Enterprising Young Brits

competition is run by Enterprise UK in partnership with the Daily Mail and was held at the prestigious Institute of Directors in Pall Mall and presented by Lord Mandelson, a long way from the beaches of the Isle of Wight.

As the youngest company in their category, the brothers are optimistic about their runners-up position.

The business has just recruited 2 more staff which takes their total to 8 full time staff, 7 of which are 18 to 25.

Martin said, “We started our company with £200 and we hope that winning this award gives other young people the assurance that anyone can succeed as an entrepreneur, whether you wear flip flops or a suit.”

CROWNE PLAZA COPENHAGEN TOWERS CREATES THE WORLD’S FIRST GUEST-POWERED ELECTRICITY

Studying the MSc in Architecture: Advanced Environmental & Energy Studies at CAT provided Owen with the “academic integrity, research skills and confidence in public speaking” that secured his emerging microgeneration renewable energy company, Cambridge Solar, the £10,000 first prize.

UEL’s enterprise development and support service set up the competition, E Factor, to offer business-minded students the opportunity to start up their own company.

The winning entrant will receive the grant to help transform their entrepreneurial idea into a fully functional business. Following an initial one minute pitch, a round of presentations and a final tough “grilling” from the judges, the competitors were whittled down from the first round of 200 to 35 and then to the final top 5. The top 5 were then selected to present at an evening grand final where an audience of local business people and university dignitaries voted for their favourite project with that extra E-Factor.

the world’s greenest hotels, is taking efficient energy production one step further by installing electricity producing bicycles in its gym for guests to use. Anyone producing 10 watt hours of electricity or more for the hotel will be given a locally produced complimentary meal, encouraging guests to not only get fit but also reduce their carbon footprint and save electricity and money.

Guests using the new electric bicycles will be able to monitor how much electricity they’re producing via iPhones mounted on the handle bars. Avid fitness fans can also, from June, race against the hotel’s solar panel system in a bid to produce the most electricity.

Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is a member of the UN Global Compact. It has EU Green Building and Green Key certification and is on a journey to becoming carbon neutral.

Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers is creating a world first by giving guests the chance to help power the hotel whilst getting fit at the same time.

The 366-room Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, one of ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Allan Agerholm, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers commented: “The electric bikes offer our guests the chance to get fit and help power the hotel at the same time using environmentally responsible technology. It will be interesting to see how many guests take part and how much electricity we generate.”

LIEBHERR WINS BAUMA INNOVATION AWARDS IN THE “DESIGN” AND “COMPONENTS” CATEGORIES The leading trade associations within the German Construction Industry have awarded the 2010 Bauma Innovation Prize in two of the total of five categories to new developments from Liebherr. In the “Design” category the winner was the Liebherr LH 120 C material handler.

The first prize in the “Components” category went to the new Liebherr energy storage cylinder. At the prizegiving ceremony held in Munich on April 18th, Werner Seifried, General Manager of Liebherr-Hydraulikbagger GmbH (Kirchdorf an der Iller, Germany), received the awards.

More than 200 submissions for the 2010 Bauma Innovation ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Prize were received from manufacturers all over the world.

WINNER IN THE “DESIGN” CATEGORY: THE LH 120 C MATERIAL HANDLER Specially designed for bulk material movement, the LH 120 C is the first purpose-designed material handler to be added to Liebherr’s extensive range. Based on an innovative concept and weighing approximately 135 metric tons, the new machine is the result of a development process that takes practical material handling requirements into account.

Special attention has been devoted to the machine’s design in order to optimise its functions while retaining welldefined, brand-specific styling features. The LH 120 C

RFU PLANS TO REDUCE ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT Leading energy and climate change consultancy AEA has won a contract from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to support its preparation for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), which started in April.

AEA is working with the RFU management team to prepare a CRC strategy and collect all the necessary data required for registration under the scheme, and will be working over the next year to prepare a complete CRC footprint report and evidence pack.

The RFU’s environmental policy aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its business activity and Twickenham Stadium, which has been the home of England Rugby for the past one hundred years. This goal is embedded in the RFU’s eight year strategic plan and, as such, is a fundamental element of its business operations. Registration of the RFU’s CRC underpins its environmental strategy and vision.

This announcement follows initial work in 2009, where AEA worked with the RFU to develop a carbon policy and reduction strategy and an Environmental Management System (EMS) to support RFU’s membership of the Mayor of London’s Green 500 scheme. The scheme engages with top organisations in London to baseline their carbon footprint and create a Carbon Reduction Action Plan.

The work delivered by AEA will ensure that the RFU can focus on implementing energy saving measures and draws on AEA’s experience in CRC reporting, to ensure the RFU achieves the best possible outcome from its involvement in the scheme. represents a new standard in the user-oriented design of large machines and, with its strong brand attributes, sets itself apart effectively from competitors.

LIEBHERR ENERGY STORAGE CYLINDER WINS INNOVATION AWARD IN THE “COMPONENTS” CATEGORY The new development of an energy storage cylinder, designed specifically for Liebherr material handlers, was mainly focused on overall efficiency of the hydraulic system and the machine’s operating economy. Each time a load is lifted and moved, energy has to be exerted by the hydraulic rams. Some of this energy can be stored in a separate gas cylinder when the power hydraulic equipment is lowered.

Together with the load lifting rams, this forms an energy regenerating system that significantly increases the machine’s efficiency. The principle is straightforward: lowering the power hydraulic equipment compresses the gas in the storage cylinder. When the equipment is lifted again, this stored energy assists the action of the two lifting rams, so that less force has to be exerted. This in turn enables smaller diesel engines and hydraulic rams to be specified, with a corresponding reduction in fuel consumption and therefore in pollutant and noise emissions.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Fairtrade Foundation awarded the Queen’s Award

Case Provides A Show-Stopping Performance

The Fairtrade Foundation is delighted to be awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category. The award is a tribute to the hard work and entrepreneurialism of tens of thousands of producers in developing countries and the UK public who see Fairtrade goods as a fantastic way of addressing global trade injustice and poverty. Increasingly companies and retailers agree and are giving shoppers what they want in greater numbers.The Fairtrade Foundation was cited in the Queen’s Award notification as, ‘making a tangible difference to the livelihood and quality of life of local communities within some of the world’s poorest regions, and is an outstanding demonstration of the benefit which sustainable consumerism has on communities across the globe’.

The Case stand is always the first point of call for visitors to construction equipment fairs around the world, and Bauma 2010 was no different. With a show-stopping motorcycle trials display to draw the crowds, a host of new and improved machinery and the chance to win a trip to test drive the new Case dozers at the Case Customer Centre Paris, the Case experience at Bauma was second to none. Once again the Case motorcycle trials team put on regular displays of agility and skill that will left visitors wide-eyed with amazement. Hopping, bouncing and jumping their bikes from machine to machine, the riders moved up from the CX22B mini excavator, the 445CT compact tracked loader and the 121E wheeled loader, to the stars of the materials handling business, the TX170 telehandler and the new CX210B MH SL Scrap Loading and CX240B MH materials handling machines.

ADAS wins sustainability communications award Environmental consultancy firm ADAS won the ‘Best Sustainability Communications Campaign’ award at the glittering ceremony in Birmingham alongside the Sustainabilitylive! event at the NEC. The award was the final presentation of the evening and in announcing the winner, the judges commented that they were particularly impressed with the ADAS communication tools, all of which were based on the theme: ‘One Plant Borrowed from Future Generations’, which, they felt, summarised sustainability extremely well.

Collecting the award on behalf of ADAS, Richard Laverick, Director of Corporate Responsibility, said, “It is vitally important that sustainability messages enthuse and engage staff, so whilst all stakeholders were targeted by the | 10 | ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

communications plan, the staff were given the highest priority – without them the plan could not hope to succeed!

“This has been a team effort and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many staff at ADAS that have contributed to the success of our Corporate Responsibility Plan. Communication has been a key factor in our success and I would like to also thank Buttonwood Marketing for their assistance in this regard.”

As an environmental consultancy, Richard says:”Everything we do is about making the future a better place, so it is logical for us to take a lead on sustainability. However, the achievement of this award is the not the final step on our sustainability journey – it is just the beginning!”

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Dr Athole Marshall, head of the Oat Breeding Programme at IBERS

IBERS SCIENTISTS LEAD MAJOR NEW £4.9M OATS STUDY The Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University is leading a major new study to develop improved varieties of oats that will provide significant economic and environmental benefits for growers, millers, and the dairy, beef and poultry industries.

Quality Oats (QUOATS), a £4.9m five year project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Defra, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Government, is also expected to enhance health benefits as more and more people turn to oats as part of a healthier diet.

Increased demand for safe, healthy and nutritious food or feedstuff, together with increased agricultural energy and fertiliser costs and the need to farm in a more sustainable manner are among the drivers behind the study according to Dr Athole Marshall, head of the Oat Breeding Programme at IBERS. | 12 | ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

“Oats are a valuable break crop in cereal rotations reducing disease and weed problems, require less fertiliser than wheat, perform well in marginal areas and are a high value animal feed which can be grown and fed on-farm.”

“At IBERS, we are successfully combining fundamental research on plant genetics with plant breeding techniques to develop commercially viable plant varieties that help meet the challenges of food, water and energy security, and environmental sustainability”, he added.

Oat varieties developed at IBERS currently account for more than 60% of the UK oat seed market, with a farm gate value of £80m. One variety, Gerald, developed by the Institute is the most-widely grown winter oat with 45% of the market, while an Institute dwarf naked oat variety accounts for about 5% of the total winter oat crop.

Despite the advantages that oats already offer, Dr Marshall believes there is a need to develop new varieties that will respond well to environmental and climate change, use less fertiliser, be more productive and more attractive to manufacturers and consumers.

Political parties need to go beyond low carbon to create a successful green economy

Whichever party wins the General Election, it is vital that the next Government plays an active role in embedding low carbon, sustainability and resource efficiency into the very fabric of the UK economy. This will not only safeguard the future of our fragile planet but also establish an international leadership role for the UK in the global green economy of the future. Green jobs creation must be at the heart of the next Government’s plans for economic growth.

The Environmental Industries Commission (EIC), the leading trade association for the environmental technologies and services sector, recently published its “Green Jobs Recovery Strategy: An Environmental Industry General Election Manifesto”, which sets out a series of recommendations for how the next Government can establish a world-leading environmental industry in the UK – with thousands of new businesses, hundreds of thousands of new jobs and huge export potential. At the heart of this is the call for an Environmental Industry Strategy, setting out how the Government will tackle the range of environmental challenges we face, using UK business, skills and manufacturing.

The UK’s environmental industry is currently valued at £112 billion and employs just fewer than one million people.

EIC’s Green Jobs Recovery Strategy sets out a clear policy framework that would place the UK at the forefront of the global transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, helping UK business secure an increasing share of the £3.2 trillion global environmental marketplace. | 14 |ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

If the next Government fails to put in place this policy framework, it risks squandering huge new environmental and sustainability investment opportunities for British business, making it increasingly likely that we will have to make the transition to a sustainable economy with technologies supplied from countries such as Germany, the USA and Japan, which are continuing to put in place ambitious support measures for their environmental industries. This would be disastrous for our international competitiveness.

EIC has long argued that if the UK is to lead the global environmental market, we must urgently address the basic fact that pollution is a colossal market failure because the cost of pollution is borne by the British public, not the polluter. Whoever wins the election must come into Government with a coherent strategy for actively intervening in the economy to ensure that environmental damage is translated into immediate price signals. Putting a fair and predictable price on environmental damage means developing market mechanisms that price in the true environmental costs of doing business.

By providing an active industrial policy framework that creates new markets for green technologies and supports UK business to exploit these markets, the next Government can harness the power of markets to find effective, efficient and equitable responses to the environmental challenges we face, and create thousands of new businesses and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. One of the backbones

Labour and the Conservatives also committed to reform the water industry. EIC has consistently argued that the current regulatory regime for the Periodic Review creates a ‘boom and bust’ financial climate for the supply chain serving the water sector in the UK, as capital expenditure tends to be concentrated towards the end of the five-year period. This situation leads to financial and managerial inefficiencies and instabilities in the supply chain, and ultimately to higher costs for consumers. A review to address these issues is long overdue.

There was welcome cross-party consensus in the manifestos on the need to make urgent improvements to energy efficiency in buildings; the Liberal Democrats made an additional commitment to strengthening the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC).

EIC’s members have campaigned for many years for a more ambitious CRC. But it is disappointing that Labour and the Conservatives have failed to make similar commitments.

of this framework must be a strong and stable green policy.

It is this policy that will be the engine of growth on which the future of our economy depends.

Key to the next Government’s success will be its ability to mobilise private sector investment. In its March 2010 Budget, the Government announced a Green Investment Bank (GIB). While this was a welcome step forward, the Budget merely described an intention to consult later in the year on establishing the bank. This was a tentative step forward at a time when huge strides are needed. By now the UK should be well advanced in making the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy.

We should be leading the world in attracting investment in high growth environmental industries, not simply consulting on it.

When the three major parties published their manifestos in the second week of the General Election campaign, the Conservatives joined Labour in promising to establish a GIB. But the manifestos envisaged a remit for the bank to invest primarily in the low carbon sector. What we need is a funding institution to finance investment across the entire environmental industry. Whichever party forms the next Government, if they decide to limit the bank’s mandate to the low carbon sector, they will risk forfeiting the huge investment opportunities that exist across the whole of the environmental sector. The bank risks thereby institutionalising the narrow understanding of the economic opportunities of “green investment”.

The Liberal Democrats also scored well with their aim to meet European air quality targets by 2012. Poor air quality reduces life expectancy, impacting particularly on children, the elderly and those in poor health. According to recent estimates, it can result in up to 50,000 premature deaths each year in the UK alone. But, very disappointingly, Labour and the Conservatives failed to make similar commitments. One of the most effective ways to improve air quality is through targeted programmes focused on cleaning up the most polluting vehicles and the introduction of a National Framework for Low Emission Zones in the UK. These zones would introduce minimum emission standards for on-and-off road vehicles and support local authorities in taking action to tackle poor air quality in hotspot problem areas.

While there are some welcome steps forward in all three of the main parties’ General Election manifestos, based on these alone, whichever party forms the next Government, we will still be a long way from the environmental policy framework we need to make the UK a global leader in the supply of environmental technologies and services.

Future economic growth is dependent on building a diverse economy. The foundation is active Government intervention. An industrial strategy that drives investment into the high-tech manufacturing and cutting-edge service industries of the future will be vital for creating wealth and new jobs. In particular, green job creation must be at the heart of the next Government’s plans for economic growth. We urgently need a regulatory, policy and fiscal framework that supports the development of a worldleading environmental industry.

By Tristan Stubbs, Public Affairs Manager & Danny Stevens, Policy Director, Environmental Industries Commission

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE | 15 |

BEAR GRYLLS’ FUTURE FUELS TEAM LAUNCHES NORTHWEST PASSAGE EXPEDITION AT RNLI The crew christened their custom made Zodiac RIB boat ‘Arctic Wolf’. Their new vessel will take them on their journey through the passage between the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In clear water, the Zodiac can reach speeds of up to 40 knots, but the team expect to travel at between speeds of 18 – 38 knots, as they try to avoid the ice strewn across the Northwest Passage. From the start of the expedition to the finish, the team will cover 5,700 nautical miles.

Bear Grylls and his team of adventurers launched their new expedition, which will raise awareness for climate change, after completing a sea survival course with RNLI experts in Poole.

The Future Fuels Team will be departing in August, on a 14 day trip through the formerly frozen Northwest Passage, to raise awareness of the effects of Global Warming and to raise money for UK charity Global Angels.

Crew member and founder and CEO of Future Capital Partners, Tim Levy says: “Businesses can and should do more to look at slowing down the effects of global warming, which is why we are backing this trip and Global Angels.”

Future Capital Partners is currently building a commercial scale bio-ethanol plant in Grimsby to help lower the carbon footprint of British motorists.

The crew completed their sea survival training at the RNLI’s headquarters in Poole. Their training was similar to that given to the charity’s volunteer crew members who risk their lives to save others at sea.

To donate to Global Angels or follow the expedition team, visit www.fcpnorthwestpassage.com.

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| 16 | ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

FIRST LAND REGISTRY DOCUMENT ONLINE MAP SEARCH The site then displays Land Registry Title Registers and Title Plans, which can be ordered individually or in bulk, saving both valuable research time and the need to submit multiple document requests for the same area. This application is particularly useful for sites that cover large areas and have multiple occupancy or unclear owner identification. FIND users can also opt to order multiple documents at the same time.

For properties with no postal address or unknown ownership, FIND has also pared down the order process for search of the index map requests (SIM). In one go you can define a search area directly on an Ordnance Survey map and instantly send it to Land Registry.

FIND utilised Land Registry data to develop this service, which provides a streamlined alternative to the timeconsuming task of investigating land ownership.

FIND, the UK's most advanced online mapping website, has launched a unique service, which enables users to order Land Registry documents via a map interface. This exclusive facility, designed for commercial organisations offers significant time and cost savings for property, environmental and conveyancing professionals. The system works by using maps instead of exact addresses to determine land ownership. FIND allows users to select a map location, zoom into the area of interest - without an exact address – and then highlight a specific area to search.

Mariam Crichton, FIND 's Development Director, said: “Our aim was to simplify the ordering process and create a tool to help property professionals access Land Registry documents, using an intuitive interface that they would find easy to use. Further enhancements include simplified pricing with a flat fee for title documents, meaning no hidden charges for posted documents. And of course our customers are assured that the information is based on Land Registry data, the largest transactional database of its kind.”

COOL PLANET TECHNOLOGIES LTD WINS AT INET AWARDS Cool Planet Technologies Ltd won “Best Innovation Product/ Process” at the iNet East Midlands Innovation Awards for Sustainable Construction on 19th April 2010.

The award is for the work funded by iNet to model the outputs from the integrated geothermal semi-permeable paving solution patented by Hanson Formpave installed at the Code 4 Hanson house at BRE Watford. Cool Planet is the exclusive UK design and installation partner for Hanson Formpave for the UK. Cool Planet are now undertaking design works to develop integrated geothermal/solar thermal solutions for clients with solar thermal partners Velux.

Cool Planet have installed numerous high profile schemes including Asda’s flagship ‘Green’ store in Bootle and a 1.5Mw open loop scheme for a 6th form college

in Luton. Both are open loop schemes delivering very significant yields from a single pair of bores to offer highly cost effective solutions with a minimum of land required. They have also installed a heating and comfort cooling solution into Volker Fitzpatrick’s award winning corporate headquarters delivering 100% of the heating and cooling demand for the building.

Professional design and installation coupled with a close working relationship with the client allowed them to deliver a highly efficient system within a tight site in central London.

Cool Planet continues to grow and deliver innovative solutions for customers across the UK. If you would like more information visit their website at www.cool-planet.co.uk.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE | 17 |

The South Downs – England’s Newest National Park

Atkins Sign Big Engineering Contract

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn signed the confirmation orders in November 2009 at Ditchling Tea Rooms, surrounded by elated members of local communities within the park boundary. The confirmation orders came into being at the beginning of April with the South Downs National Park Authority becoming the legal body responsible for running the National Park. The 632 square mile protected area, home to an estimated 108,000 people, will stretch from Beachy Head in East Sussex to the edge of Winchester in Hampshire. The National Park Authority, which will be fully operational in 2011, will now pick up the role of co-ordinating work on conservation and recreation in the Park’s boundary.

Atkins, as part of the Engage consortium, has signed one of the biggest engineering contracts in Europe with Fusion for Energy (F4E). The consortium has been awarded the architect engineer contract for the building and civil infrastructures for ITER, the world’s latest experimental nuclear fusion reactor in southern France. The Engage contract is valued at approximately 150 million Euros. The Engage consortium is made up of Atkins, Assystem (France), Iosis (France) and Empresarios Agrupados (Spain). As architect engineer, the consortium will assist F4E during the entire construction process, from detailed design to works completion for the ITER buildings as well as the site infrastructures and the distribution of the power supplies.

London Underground achieves Carbon Trust Standard London Underground (LU) has become one of the first public transport operators to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard, in recognition of its work and results and ongoing commitment to improve its carbon efficiency. The Standard has been awarded to LU based on actions and achievements over the last three years (from 2006 to 2009) as well LU’s plans to reduce carbon emissions in the future.

Energy Saving Trust enlists Gemini Data Loggers on Energy Efficiency Quest The Energy Saving Trust is the latest organisation to enlist Gemini Data Loggers UK. The two companies are working together on a research project designed to maximise energy efficiency within housing schemes. The Energy Saving Trust is currently undertaking field trials of advanced heating controls in a sample of 570 residential homes using Tinytag temperature data loggers.

The overall objective of the advanced controls field trials will be to establish the level of energy savings generated by the new

| 18 |ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

controls, with in-situ measurements being undertaken over an 18 month period. The loggers were posted to the households for selfinstallation; four non intrusive data loggers being placed in each house, three inside and one outdoor. Later on, the loggers were retrieved for data download, again by post; the lightweight, small dimensions and robustness of the logger proving advantageous in this respect. Before and after monitoring results will be compared using Tinytag Explorer software and it is anticipated that a 10% saving can be made on household energy bills. www.tinytag.info

Great strides have already been made.

LU’s Energy Station Challenge, a staff led scheme, came in for particular praise. It is estimated that this initiative will have reduced CO2 emissions by 5,500 tonnes in the last three years, saving approximately £700,000. The use of regenerative braking on the new trains on the Victoria and Sub Surface lines (Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) will save an estimated 17,000 tonnes of CO2 every year with a financial saving of approximately £2 million.

Additionally energy efficient lighting, including Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology, has been installed at several stations across the Underground network and the new Northern Line service control centre boasts London’s largest single membrane green roof, the first on a railway building.

JCB TAKES COURT ACTION TO STOP PRODUCT COPYING & PATENT BREACHES JCB this week took tough action against three Far Eastern manufacturers for product copying and patent infringements.

The company successfully applied for court orders in Germany, resulting in preliminary injunctions being served against manufacturers who were exhibiting the infringing machines at the BAUMA International Construction Equipment show in Munich.

As a result of the tough action, the machines had to be either removed from the show and impounded or concealed from view.

Tim Burnhope, JCB's Group Managing Director of Product Development and Commercial Operations, said: “JCB will

not tolerate blatant copying of its machines or infringement of internationally-recognised patents and in every instance will act quickly and decisively to stamp out such unfair practices.

“JCB invests many years and many millions of pounds developing and innovating new products and it's clearly unfair for any manufacturer to then simply free-ride on the results of that investment and research. As an industry we all have to unite to prevent such unlawful practices.”

The action in Germany concerned infringement of JCB’s intellectual property rights on its world-leading backhoe loader and Loadall machines by three separate Far Eastern manufacturers.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE | 19 |

The British Renewable Energy Awards, hosted by the Renewable Energy Association, were inaugurated in 2006 to honour achievements in the British Renewable energy sector.

The REA received close to a hundred nominations across nine categories for this year’s awards and 59 entrants have made the shortlist. Please see attached for the British Renewable Energy Awards 2010 shortlist or go to the REA website: www.r-e-a.net.

British Renewable Energy Awards 2010 Shortlisted nominees

Shortlisted nominees have now been invited to submit a fuller entry. The winners and runners-up will be chosen by a distinguished panel of judges and the awards will be presented at the Awards gala dinner on 10th June 2010 at the Jumeirah Carlton Towers in London.

Advocate award

Econic Ltd

Econic Ltd

The NGO, campaign, publication or association that has done most to enhance awareness of renewables in the public and/or key opinion formers.

Isoenergy

Ensus Biofuels

Shueco UK Ltd

Eon Sustainable Energy

Subocean Group

Hallidays Developments

Sundog Energy Ltd

Natural Power (Wales)

Developer award

Settle Hydro Ltd

Innovative development plans for a new renewable energy project, process or plant which is well advanced through the design and consenting process, but not yet in operation.

Pioneer award

Bio Driven

Marks and Spencer plc

Centre for Alternative Technology Cumbria Action for Sustainability National Grid Onsite Renewable Ltd Recharge Yorkshire and Humber Microgeneration Partnership Champion award

Bio Energy Investments Ltd

An executive, academic, minister, civil servant, consultant or other individual, who deserves recognition in the sector.

Byworth Boilers

Chris Miles – Econergy Ltd

National Grid/United Utilities

Janine Freeman – National Grid

Severn Trent Water

John Sinclair – Subocean Group

Sundog Energy Ltd

Mervyn Bowden – Marks & Spencer Neil Farrington – Community Energy Plus Patrick Lewis – Welsh Assembly Government

Enviroparks Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive

Innovator award Any innovative new renewable energy device, invention or application.

Aquafuel Research Ltd

Terry Skee – Cleaner Air Solutions UK Limited

Centre for Alternative Technology

Company award

Ipsol Energy Limited

The industry participant, which has done most during the year to advance UK renewables.

Subocean Group

Hydro Group Senergy Econnect

An organisation outside the sustainable energy industry, pioneering the use of renewable fuels, heat or power.

Harrogate Borough Council Severn Trent Water The National Trust Product award For any innovative new renewable energy product, introduced onto the market since the start of 2009.

Aquamarine Power Ensus Monier Ltd Senergy Econnect Solar Free Power Region award Initiative or policy by local authorities or regional agencies to encourage the take-up of renewable energy in a specific region of the UK.

Installer award

Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG)

Centrica

A completed renewable energy project, process or plant which is has entered into operation.

Community Renewable Energy (CoRE)

Cleaner Air Solutions UK Limited

BiogenGreenfinch

Econergy Limited

Cotswolds Energy Efficiency Centre

Aquamarine Power BiogenGreenfinch

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Community Energy Solutions

Welsh Assembly Government Yorkshire and Humber Microgeneration Partnership

Soothing your green conscience.

Inflaming your driving passions!

Contact: Telephone: 0044 01704220961 Mobile: 0044 07876693767

UK OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY REACHES 1GW LANDMARK Main parties hail achievement The landmark first gigawatt (GW) of installed offshore UK wind energy capacity has been reached this week as two wind farms off the coast of Britain began generating electricity: Robin Rigg operated by EON and Gunfleet Sands operated by DONG Energy. One GW, now comprising of 11 wind farms, or 336 installed wind turbines, cements UK’s world-wide lead in the sector.

Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK Chief Executive said: “The UK offshore wind industry has come of age. In the last ten years we have built a brand new world-leading industry sector that will create long-term value for this country. In the first quarter of this year alone half a billion pounds of private investment has been invested directly into offshore wind in the UK. The opportunity now for this country is to build on this position of global leadership, to develop the industrial and service supply chain, to provide the equipment and skills that will embed Britain’s competitive advantage in marine renewables. To have deployed 1,000MW of offshore wind plant in ten years, and with pioneering technology, is a tremendous step forward.”

Currently, there are over 40GW of offshore wind farms at various stages of development, with over 4GW in construction or with planning consent. The sector is set to provide 150+ TWh of carbon free electricity a year, compared to the UK’s total electricity consumption in 2009 of 374 TWh, creating up to 70,000 ‘green collar’ jobs and attracting billions of pounds in investment. As the Digest of United Kingdom of Energy Statistics for 2009, released last month, has noted, load factors for offshore wind are now on par with UK hydro at 35% and only 5% less than average load factors for conventional thermal generation.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State at the Department of Energy Climate Change, said: “It is great news that we've reached the 1GW landmark. The UK is now the world leader in offshore wind energy generation. We are also set to be a centre of manufacturing for offshore wind.

We're creating the right conditions and incentives to maximise the potential of our wind resource so we can create thousands of new jobs and generate our own home-grown, clean, secure energy. Labour is committed to maintaining the renewables obligation and reforming the planning system to build on this progress. We will ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

also create the Green Investment Bank and maintain the Annual Investment Allowance to support our renewables industry.”

Greg Clark, Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “Britain’s offshore wind resources have world-beating potential and can provide us with secure and sustainable energy. I congratulate the offshore wind industry on reaching the 1GW landmark, but we have potential to go much further.

Offshore wind needs the right infrastructure, like the offshore electricity grid Conservatives have proposed, if it is to deliver on its potential at the lowest cost.”

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We are delighted to see the first gigawatt of installed wind energy capacity. It is an important milestone but we need to do much more if we are to cut carbon emissions and our reliance on fuel imported from abroad.

Investing in infrastructure for a new green economy not only helps create jobs now but will allow Britain to take its place at the cutting edge of this growing industrial sector for the future. That’s why the Liberal Democrats have ambitious plans to invest £400m in our wind turbine manufacturing capacity. Britain clearly has the manufacturing and engineering expertise to lead the world in offshore wind, but the government has an important role in supporting this.”

Speaking on behalf of DONG Energy Anders Eldrup, CEO, said: “This is a very important day for both the UK and DONG Energy in the ambitious work of putting more wind power into the energy system. And along with partners we already have the next three wind farms under construction with a total capacity of another 1 GW.” Speaking on behalf of EON UK Michael Lewis, European Renewables Managing Director, said: “Meeting the 1GW offshore wind milestone is testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire industry. Offshore wind is a challenging environment in which to work, but the potential benefits it brings through the generation of clean renewable energy can be clearly seen.

“We’re incredibly proud that our own site, Robin Rigg, has helped the UK to meet this high point and are looking forward to building even bigger schemes like the London Array in the coming years.”

Air to water heat pump

Renewable energy

Grants available

The future of central heating today!

Idea in Transit - liftshare This issue’s featured ‘Idea in Transit’ is the site liftshare, an online service that facilitates journey sharing between individual users, as well as providing separate services for businesses, organisations and events.

It allows users to search for and post details of journeys - by car, bike, taxi or walking - for which they wish to find someone else to share (the journey) with. Liftshare also provides private, branded car-share schemes for businesses, councils, hospitals and universities.

The site was founded in 1998 by Ali Clabburn, when he was still at university, after experiencing expensive public transport when travelling between university and his parent’s home. During his gap year he had seen car-share offices in German train stations and, on his return, realised there was nothing similar in the UK. Early development of the service was characterised by favours from friends and minimal or no financial outlay. Development was achieved through volunteer work and as part of university projects. In its earliest stages liftshare struggled to find a working business model. However, a significant stage of the development was when liftshare was approached by the Glastonbury Festival organisers to develop a branded site to solve congestion and local resident protests.

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Clabburn states: “It was a huge success and has saved an estimated 10,000 car journeys to the festival each year. It was also a breakthrough for liftshare.” Although it didn't charge Glastonbury for the scheme, it showed how it could make money and highlighted the importance of finding people with a common link.

This has served as the basis of liftshare's business model: allowing the public to sign up free to the national car-sharing system, while earning revenue from clients, who pay a one-off sum plus a regular licence fee for setting up a system for their employees or customers.

Since then, liftshare has continued to grow and currently has over 1,000 clients, consisting of local authorities, universities, schools, communities and hospitals, and has won several awards.

For more information visit www.liftshare.com/uk and to find about more about using innovation in transport go to www.ideasintransit.org ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Greenbuild Expo 2010 is a two-day exhibition and conference taking place on 26th and 27th May and is completely free to attend. It features 100 seminars covering all aspects of sustainable construction and refurbishment. The event is supported by the UK Green Building Council, Construction Products Association, CIBSE and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. Register now at www.greenbuildexpo.co.uk.

Workshops The incredibly popular workshops are set to return, with hands-on sessions demonstrating sustainable technologies.

This year we have LoopMaster on ground source heat pumps, Asgard on biomass, Calorex on air source heat pumps, Vado on greywater recycling, IntelliHeat on smart metering, WPL on rainwater harvesting, solar PV with Cleaner Air Solutions and green roofing with Cityroofs.

Building Greener Schools Building Greener Schools is a new feature for 2010 and has its own dedicated seminar programme, with speakers including Balfour Beatty on what makes a school sustainable and Pick Everard on sustainable school design. The Green Roof Organisation will look at incorporating green roofing into education buildings and BRE Global will explain the workings of BREEAM Education.

Innovation Showcase

with the aim of giving small and medium construction firms in the North West the knowledge to better manage their carbon and waste impacts and provide support and guidance for construction businesses in the region, to help them to become more productive, cost effective and efficient.

Tony Baldwinson, project manager of NWCKH commented: “The Knowledge Hub is an innovative project that draws on a number of regional strengths – construction, sustainable production and partnership working. The vision to not only reduce CO2 emissions and create 300 jobs, but to also safeguard a further 300 employment roles. The Greenbuild Expo is a platform on which we can raise awareness of the Hub to a greater target audience and help support SMEs as the industry becomes increasingly challenged to meet sustainability targets.”

The project is funded by the EU (European Regional Development Fund) and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), and it is led by the Centre for Construction Innovation within the University of Salford’s School of the Built Environment (SoBE). The four partner organisations are the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Liverpool, Urban Vision Ltd and the national Building Research Establishment.

Conference schedule With around 100 free seminar sessions on offer, there really is something for everyone at Greenbuild Expo 2010.

Another new addition for 2010 is the Innovation Showcase.

This area will give visitors the chance to see the latest products and ideas in sustainable construction, including fuel cell technology and infrared heating. The seminar schedule includes an innovation masterclass from the MBE KTN and a session on a local authority that is using cigarette ends to produce insulation.

Highlights include:

The NW Construction Knowledge Hub

 Sustainable interior design

During the two-day exhibition and conference of sustainable building, the North West Construction Knowledge Hub NWCKH will be on hand to offer advice and guidance to visitors on how to become more profitable while embracing the sustainability agenda.

 Sustainability and the historic environment

Launched last year, the NWCKH is a three-year project

 Incorporating recycled products into construction

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

 Making the most of microgeneration  The CRC explained  The benefits of micro-CHP  Overcoming conflicts within the Code  Eco retrofit: how to get started

 Energy saving for commercial buildings  A healthcare refurbishment case study  Introducing the green roofing Code of Practice Images thanks to Stonehouse Photographic

 The benefits of retrofit  The key principles of Passivhaus design  Renewable energy training  The Feed-in Tariff  CHP case study: Aberdeen Council  Energy procurement  High levels of the Code at low costs

Worcester Bosch, NICEIC, British Gas and the UK Green Building Council.

Sponsors Greenbuild Expo 2010 is sponsored by Envirolink Northwest, Worcester Bosch, Buderus, Stroma, Manchester City Council, Vaillant, SIG and EcoSkies.

 Sustainable communities: eco towns

Exhibitors

 Infrared heating

Greenbuild Expo 2010 is double the size of the debut event last year. Our exhibitors will be showcasing a range of sustainable construction solutions, with highlights including:

 Energy efficiency for social landlords Our expert speakers include the Carbon Trust, CLG, BRE, SummitSkills, Bioregional, CCINW,

Wave Homes (stand C20/C29)

MET-UK (stand E21)

Wave provides a range of off-site manufactured timber frame construction solutions to suit any project specification and budget, which can also assist you in achieving the Code for Sustainable Homes levels 3 to 6 and zero carbon challenges.

Wave specialises in timber frame MMC solutions for the social, private and commercial market sectors and provides the design, supply and erect on a nationwide basis for the housing, flats, key-worker, student, retirement, extra care, education and hotel market sectors.

With the implementation of the Governments’ Warm Homes, Greener Homes Strategy and up to 65,000 jobs being created in the green homes industry, there’s never been a better time to train into renewable energy and sustainability.

MET-UK is one of the UK’s leading construction skills training providers specialising in renewable energy installation, sustainability solutions and domestic energy assessor courses. www.met-uk.com

www.wavehomes.com WPL (stand E31) Klober (stand B2) Greenbuild Expo first-timer Klober will be focussing its attention on the issue of airtightness of roofs in relation to the Code for Sustainable Homes. The company is the first to publish literature examining the principles of building fabric air permeability and how best to achieve an effective airtightness strategy. www.klober.co.uk

WPL Limited will be bringing full size, cut-away tanks to Greenbuild Expo in May, showing how simple its wastewater treatment and rainwater harvesting solutions really are. Its range includes RainRetain for domestic properties, RainSustain for commercial buildings and RainBrain for schools. These systems are simple, and reduce mains water use in the home for toilet flushing, laundry, cleaning and garden watering, and also reduce surface water run-off from new developments. www.wpl.co.uk

Aereco (stand E17) At a time when successfully and safely ventilating today’s airtight houses is at the top of the agenda for housebuilders in both the pubic and private sectors, Aereco engineering and design successfully solves the problems. Installers and end users can rest assured that all the company’s products meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes simply, energy efficiently – at a low cost and in a sustainable manner. www.aereco.co.uk

Worcester, Bosch Group (stand C16) Worcester will be exhibiting its extensive range of renewable heating technologies, including Greenskies solar water heating system. Also on show will be the Greenstore ground source heat pumps, which now include an 11kW system heat pump together with four combination ground source heat pumps and two Greenstore twin-coil cylinders. www.worcester-bosch.co.uk ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

UK-SDA

Rainwater Harvesting Comes of Age in the UK …

Water supplies under stress …

Nearly a decade after becoming a new fledgling industry in the UK, rainwater harvesting (RWH) has finally come of age with the recent publication of changes to Building Regulations. These came into effect on 6th April 2010, highlighting the rising importance of water supplies on the political agenda, together with the role that rainwater harvesting can play in helping to mitigate shortages.

Surprisingly, the average rainfall per head of population in the south-east of the UK is less than in most countries surrounding the Mediterranean, resulting in mains water supplies throughout much of England south of the Humber already being under serious stress. With the population set to grow by as many as 20-million over the next 40 years, and climate change forecast to reduce useful rainfall, the issues of water supplies becomes every bit as pressing as carbon footprint for future sustainability.

Government’s response to diminishing water supplies has been to encourage consumption economies through the use of low/dual-flush toilets, aerated taps and shower heads, and water efficient washing machines and dishwashers. This approach has the advantage that it applies to the existing housing stock, where it could be expected to reduce mains water consumption per capita by around 20%, ie down to around 125 litres per person per day, compared to the current national average of 150 litres.

For all new dwellings this level of water saving becomes mandatory through the updated Building Regulations.

These require that mains water consumption, as demonstrated using an associated consumption calculator, does not exceed 125 ltrs per person per day.

Alongside this requirement, the concept of “wholesome” (ie mains water) and “non-wholesome” water is also introduced, with rainwater harvesting being the simplest and most cost-effective source of the latter. Any nonwholesome water used to displace what would otherwise be provided by mains water, for applications such

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Steff Wright is Chairman of the Gusto Group and its subsidiary Freerain Ltd, and has also been Chairman of Lincoln City Football Club for the last 5 years; an award-winning developer of sustainable homes, he is a founder member of the UK Rainwater Harvesting Association and of the UK Sustainable Development Association.

as toilet-flushing, clothes washing and the outside tap for example, can be deducted from overall water usage to help meet these new requirements.

Patterns of water usage …

Very broadly, the split of water usage in domestic dwellings between wholesome and non-wholesome water is approximately 50/50, and totals around 150 litres per person per day. Under normal circumstances, this means that domestic RWH systems would not normally be designed to provide more than 75 litres per person per day, as the remainder of the water being used needs to be wholesome.

The equation for commercial systems is quite different, however, with, in many cases, the balance of usage swinging to more than 80% non-wholesome; this means that commercial buildings able to harvest the required amount of water can reduce mains water consumption by a far greater amount.

As a rule of thumb, in a low rainfall (say, 600 mm per year) area such as the south-east of England, it requires around 50m2 of conventional roofing to yield sufficient water to meet all the non-wholesome requirements of one person; relationships for other parameters (larger roof, more occupants, higher rainfall etc) are thereafter broadly linear.

The industry does not normally recommend combining RWH with “unconventional” collection surfaces such as green or sedum roofs, for loss of yield and water quality reasons. Nor would it normally advocate installations where the ratio of collection area to the number of occupants (say 25m2 per person) means that the system will not be cost-effective. Under these circumstances, communal systems are to be preferred.

Some of these parameters change markedly in the case of commercial projects, where a principal driver is often to attenuate roof and other surface water for SUDS purposes; this brings in much larger storage tanks and associated hydrocarbon filters, making the

Typical commercial installation - picture courtesy of Freerain Ltd

incremental addition of pumps and a management system a highly cost-effective response to BREEAM requirements.

The RWH industry also advocates that a fully integrated approach should be taken on commercial projects, resulting in a system that meets the non-wholesome water requirements of the building, provides a guaranteed reserve of high pressure water for fire-fighting purposes, and sufficient attenuation volume to meet site SUDS requirements.

Alignment with the Code for Sustainable Homes …

In new dwellings being built to meet the requirements of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), Levels 1 & 2 specify that water consumption lines up with the new building regulations as outlined above. At Levels 3 & 4, however, daily consumption needs to be reduced to 105 litres per day, a level that realistically can only be reached by installing much smaller baths – or no bath at all, or by substituting non-wholesome water for mains water.

For this reason, Environment Agency studies are currently underway aimed at quantifying the carbon impact of harvested rainwater compared to mains water, with provisional results tentatively indicating a “carbon penalty” for a typical household system being equivalent to running a 60 watt bulb for one hour a day.

The consumers perspective …

From the consumers perspective, operating services such as toilets and washing machines using harvested rainwater is indistinguishable from using mains water; all operations, including making provisions for long dry spells, are fully automatic and instantaneous with the water provided being aesthetically pleasing.

Applied consistently to all new dwellings and commercial premises over the coming years will therefore help to head-off the gathering crises in the supply of that most essential of commodities – good, clean drinking water for all.

For further information see www.ukrha.org

Similarly, Levels 5 & 6 of the Code, which it is proposed becomes the mandatory standard for new-build homes from 2016 onwards, requires that consumption be reduced still further to 80 litres. Again, realistically, this can only be achieved by using a water substitution technology such as rainwater harvesting. In a three person dwelling in a typical family home in the southeast of England, for example, a properly sized RWH system should bring mains water consumption down to around 75 litres per person per day when used in association with the water-economising features identified above.

Alongside these water consumption related criteria, the CSH also aims to reduce the carbon footprint of the homes of the future. This means that the impact of all the technologies being used in the new buildings of the future also needs to be taken fully into account – even those such as RWH systems which are needed to relieve water stress.

Image courtesy of Kingspan Water

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

International Law and Transboundary Freshwaters Symposium and Workshop 2010

Symposium details This unique event offers delegates with four days of intensive, varied and informative sessions led by internationally-renowned speakers, each focusing on their own specific area of expertise and experience. Case studies, such as the Nile and the Aral Sea, will be complemented by practical group exercises exploring the legal, political, institutional and diplomatic factors that influence the development of IWL and to address global water issues.

Location: University of Dundee

Who should attend The symposium will benefit anyone concerned with the world’s international watercourses, especially water resources experts, students, lawyers, scientists, engineers, civil servants, policy makers, regulators and water suppliers.

Special discounts available for students, not-for-profit organisations!

21–24 Ju 2 June une 2010

Global, national and regional strategies for promoting security and sustainability within a rapidly changing world – Water for All

Selected speakers

To join the symposium Please visit www.dundee.ac.uk/water

Further information, please contact symposium course leader Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke • Dundee UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science • College of Arts & Social Sciences • University of Dundee • Dundee DD1 4HN Tel +44 (0) 1382 386471 • Fax +44 (0) 1382 388671 • a.rieuclarke@dundee.ac.uk

www.dundee.ac.uk/lifesciences/

www.dundee.ac.uk/water www .dun ndee.ac.uk//water

• Professor Patricia Wouters, Director, Dundee Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science • Professor Dan Tarlock of Chicago-Kent College of Law • Dr Sergei Vinogradov, Centre for Energy, Petroleum & Mineral Law & Policy, University of Dundee

It’s not natural for slate to be this environmentally friendly.

Onwards Upwards Forwards

Only Marley Eternit’s fibre cement slate can achieve an A+ rating for the lowest environmental impact in the Green Guide to Specification. As the only UK manufacturer, this gives us a clear carbon footprint advantage over all imported slate.

Extracting natural slate is also highly energy intensive and damaging to the landscape – more than 90% is never used.

It turns out our fibre cement slate is kinder to nature than nature’s own. To find out more about the many advantages of our fibre cement slates, for technical advice or to request samples, visit www.marleyeternit.co.uk/slates call 01283 722588 or email roofinginfo@marleyeternit.co.uk

Making Homes Greener

By Simon Guy, BRE With buildings known to contribute to almost half of the UK’s carbon emissions, the long term goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. With the need for more housing supply to meet the increase in demand, it has become essential that this demand is met with minimum environmental impact.

One way to achieve this is through designing and constructing more sustainable housing.

The Code for Sustainable Homes is the Government’s national standard for new housing. It became operational in England in April 2007 and a Code rating for new build homes became mandatory from 1st May 2008. All housing funded by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in England is required to meet a minimum of Code Level 3. Also as of 1st May 2008, a minimum of Code Level 3 was required for all new housing promoted or supported by the Welsh Assembly Government or their sponsored bodies and from 2nd June 2008, Code Level

3 was required for all new self-contained social housing in Northern Ireland. The Code does not apply in Scotland.

The Code was originally based on BRE Global’s EcoHomes standard, within BRE Global’s BREEAM family of environmental standards for buildings. BRE Global continues to provide technical support as well as train and licence Code assessors (for details of this training go to www.breeam.org/training).

The Code was developed as a national standard to encourage continuous sustainability improvement of new homes and to support Government targets. It incorporates all key Government sustainability targets into one standard, measuring sustainability against categories such as energy and CO2 emissions, water, materials, surface water run-off, waste, pollution, health and wellbeing, management, as well as ecology. This makes up of sustainable design and rating ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Images featured are demonstration homes on the BRE Innovation Park

the "whole home" as a complete package with the sustainability ratings ranges from one to six stars rating, where Level 1 is a modest improvement on minimum regulatory standards and Level 6 is a zero carbon home with an exemplary level of sustainability performance.

Assessments are carried out in two phases : • an initial assessment and interim certification is carried out at the design stage. This is based on design drawings, specifications and commitments which results in interim certificate of compliance.

• A final assessment and certification is carried out after construction. Based on the design stage review, this includes a confirmation of compliance including site records and visual inspection.

Building To The Code – Lessons Learnt Shortly after the introduction of the Code in 2007, developers of demonstration homes on the BRE Innovation Park were amongst the first to try to build to its higher levels and a four-part Information Paper produced by BRE explains the lessons learnt.

The experience gained from the Innovation Park provided valuable lessons in terms of building fabric, energy and ventilation, water economy and materials. For example, the Information Papers describe how – • simple house designs are easier to make airtight, as are large panel construction systems with few joints • windows and doors must be specified and installed for airtightness, daylighting and solar gain as well as thermal performance and sustainability • achieving Levels 5 and 6 requires the use of ‘renewable’ energy, either generated communally, or through micro-generation at each house. A range of energy technologies were installed on houses at the Park • appropriate shading, thermal mass and ventilation can minimise overheating • water use can be reduced whilst minimising  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

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the effect on the end user by using aerated showers and taps to increase perceived flow rate without increasing water use, • careful specification of white goods can save water and earn credits under the Code • water butts that collect water from the roof are an effective way of obtaining credits under the Code but must be fitted with functioning overflows The Code is not just about reducing carbon emissions and conserving water and there are credits in areas such as ecology, which includes build density, and health, including daylighting. The Code encourages efficient use of the building footprint, and housing that is multi-storey will usually be well placed to obtain credits for this.

Full details of these and many other issues are given in the BRE Trust sponsored Information Paper, Applying the Code for Sustainable Homes on the BRE Innovation Park, Parts 1-4, which is available from www.brebookshop.com A Mandatory Code The announcement that stated that Code will be mandatory for all new homes from 1st May 2008 created a few misconceptions.

It is not compulsory for every new home to be built to the Code. However, from 1st May 2008 it became compulsory for every new home in England to have a rating against the Code with information on this rating provided in the HIP. To facilitate this, from 1st May 2008, the HIP was required to contain; • a certificate (or interim certificate) showing the rating that the home has received in respect of the Code or • a nil-rated certificate showing that the home has only been designed to meet current Building Regulations.

Where a home has been built to the Code, a Code certificate showing the star rating will be available from the licensed Code assessor who carried out the assessment. If the home is still being marketed once construction is complete then the design stage certificate will have to be replaced with the final certificate. This often makes up part of the planning application and many local planning authorities require code and BREEAM ratings in their planning policies.

BRE is currently providing more guidance to local authorities to help them implement the Code and BREEAM into planning policies. This is guidance is available at www.breeam.org/planning.

Future Development A consultation on the Code was launched by Communities and Local Government in December 2009 to seek views on changes to the Code in order to align it with changes to Part L of the Building Regulations. It also seeks consultation on the proposed approach to adopting the 2016 definition of zero carbon and whether this should be ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

introduced into Building Regulations at an intermediate level from 2013.

It has been reported in the Sustainable New Homes – The road to Zero Carbon publication that, since 2007, there have been a number of changes to regulations and statutory guidance linked to the Code. With just over 10,000 Code certificates issued at both design and post-construction stage (with the majority of these in the last 12 months) a lot has been learnt on how to build sustainable homes.

The consultation exercise was also carried out to streamline and update the standards and processes, from these lessons learnt. Some of the proposed changes are to issues such as Lifetime Homes, home security, surface water run-off and waste, with the most significant proposed changes within the energy section of the Code. The responses to the consultation exercise are now being evaluated.

A new standard for housing refurbishment The development of the Code was originally based on BRE’s EcoHomes standard, which sits within the BREEAM family of environmental assessment schemes, which covers all building types. BRE Global is now developing a new standard to enable the sustainable refurbishment of existing housing titled BREEAM Domestic Refurbishment.

The standard aims to provide a single standard in order to assess the environmental performance of housing refurbishment works. The standard will: • Provide a rating for refurbishment projects to demonstrate the environmental credentials of refurbishment work itself with a rating of Pass to Outstanding; • Set targets for existing homes and refurbishment works that promote a move towards achieving key environmental policy objectives; • Be based on EcoHomes, building upon and complementing the Code for Sustainable Homes • Be developed with input from industry stakeholders and experts being both inclusive and transparent A number of pilot projects are underway which are applying a draft version of the standard. This will then be refined based on the experience of these pilots and launched later in 2010. More information from www.breeam.org/domrefurb More Information BRE Global’s CSH web pages : www.breeam.org/code Communities and Local Government’s CSH web pages : www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/codesustainable1 For further information on the demonstration homes on the BRE Innovation Park go to : www.bre.co.uk/innovationpark 

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Do-It-Yourself Renewables

Leonie Greene & Jemma Robinson Renewable Energy Association As we descend into the political boxing ring that precedes a general election and political debates rage around the merits of do-it-yourself services, there is at least one area of DIY policy on which all parties now appear to agree - energy.

schools, hospitals - and others you care to name, are all entitled to be paid for each unit of renewable electricity they produce. It also means social enterprises and social housing providers can directly use renewables to protect vulnerable homes from ever-increasing energy price rises.

At the time of writing, energy and climate change have, thus far, eluded the election agenda. Not surprisingly, politicians are in no haste to cast the spotlight on the UK’s huge looming energy bill. Infrastructure UK estimate that the UK needs to spend around £110 billion up to 2010 on replacing and upgrading great swathes of our outdated and almost obsolete energy infrastructure. And don’t blame renewables.

The benefits are three-fold. Firstly, you get a payment for the generation of any renewable electricity you generate.

Secondly, you get a bonus payment for any surplus power you export back to the grid, encouraging greater energy efficiency. Finally, you can enjoy your avoided electricity costs, which are becoming increasingly uncertain – and painful.

Renewables are fundamentally different technologies – and disruptive. Inherently decentralised by nature, politicians do deserve credit for realising that new technologies demand a different kind of infrastructure to our outdated ‘coal-by-wire’ system. Efficient at the small scale, largely benign and available pretty much everywhere, renewables mean not just new technology but new patterns of ownership.

Appreciating the future benefit of opening energy to millions of new potential investors, all parties now have strong proposals to bring grid systems into the 21st Century, incorporating IT, real-time information and increasingly sophisticated balancing technologies.

For the renewables industry FITs mean a stable long-term investment framework and a welcome move away from stop-start grant schemes. While centralised generation can deliver economies of scale, local generators can deliver economies of mass production. Quite simply, the more kit that is manufactured, the cheaper each unit becomes. In this regard FITs have been demonstrably successful.

Solar PV, for example, has had its price slashed in half since FITs began in Germany, just a decade ago. Every doubling of solar PV capacity has led to a reduction in unit costs of 20%. If support continues, PV should be no more expensive than standard electricity by around 2020. The cost to the consumer is more than worthwhile – certainly in Germany, where the PV sector paid more in tax revenue than it took in subsidy while creating hundreds of thousands of good quality jobs.

This also explains the strong cross-party support for Feed-In Tariffs. Launched on 1st April, FITs mean that the everyday energy consumer, like businesses, farmers,

Next year FIT technologies will be joined by a wide choice of heating technologies that will be eligible to receive tariffs under the forthcoming Renewable Heat Incentive 

Recent studies, including a major European study by McKinsey, show a high renewable energy pathway is no more expensive than a low renewables pathway.

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(RHI). While the UK has followed over 40 countries in introducing FITs, the RHI makes the UK a world leader.

Effectively the stable long-term framework for FITs, and the simple payment for each unit of energy generated, has been applied to renewable heat for the first time.

Heat has to be generated locally. The RHI will support a switch away from gas boilers or oil tanks to heat pumps, solar thermal and biomass heating. Taken together, and on current plans, the FITs and RHI will result in around 3 million local renewables installations by 2020. The 2 million homes off the gas grid in particular stand to benefit from a far wider choice of heating options.

FITs will drive innovation, not just in technology, but in manufacturing processes, in supply chains and installation practices. They lower the barrier to entry to the consolidated energy sector and they make innovation more affordable.

If successful they should result in a virtuous circle of greater and great innovation, competition and consumer choice. And ultimately they will help reduce renewable technology costs to a point where renewables can thrive without subsidy. The more ambitious the scheme the faster this happens. And in time societies can again look forward to affordable and abundant energy.

But this positive long-term vision already has some glitches. Apart from the generally modest ambition for the UK scheme, difficulties remain for specific technologies.

The tariff levels proposed for on-farm AD are simply too low to make AD viable for the small to medium-scale.

Biomass was mysterious dropped from FITs altogether.

Tariffs for hydro have been banded in such a way that we risk seeing the installation of sub-optimal schemes in any given river. It also excludes refurbished hydro schemes and punishes the pioneers of renewable energy by excluding people who had the tenacity to invest in renewable technologies long before it was easy. All these issues need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Internationally the buy-in from the public to renewables through FITs has been huge, suggesting a tremendous appetite to drive the environmental and technological transformation politicians used to tell us was so essential - before the credit crunch. So politicians are on strong ground and they should be confident about championing this most essential of DIY revolutions. Not least as FITs and RHI alone mean vast numbers of good quality jobs.

Most importantly, Renewable Energy Tariffs mean that everyone can invest in renewable energy, putting people in charge of their own energy – power to the people – lasting long past the general election.  The REA is rolling out business to business seminars across the UK on the Feed-in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive. For more information email esimon@r-e-a.net.

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Planning for energy –

Opportunity or Obligation?

Peter Smith, Membership Manager, CHPA The ability and willingness of all local authorities to perform this function is something that elsewhere in Europe is now second nature. In Denmark for instance they rely on the local authority for strategic energy planning. The Danish Heat Law obliges municipalities to draw up local heat strategies that identify the most appropriate heat technology for a given area. 30 years on, this has led to an integrated localised framework which is managing to adjust to the energy challenge of the 21st Century – affordability, security of supply and climate challenge mitigation targets – in contrast - the UK Government are only really starting the process of establishing this framework.

A good place to start would be for local authorities to investigate their own building stock. Since much of the Government estate will have a continuing and predictable long-term demand for heating and cooling services, it would be reasonable to require these buildings to enter into long-term contracts for supply from district heating networks. These “anchor loads” can provide the basis for more expansive networks which could connect and supply heat or cooling to other existing or new buildings.

Powerful new planning guidance and a strong Government push for low-carbon development is starting to drive fundamental changes in the built environment but are we asking too much from our local authorities if we expect them to facilitate its development?

On 9 March, the Department for Communities and Local Government issued a National Planning Policy Statement, “Planning for a Low Carbon Future in a Changing Climate”.

Overall, it argues the rationale for the planning system to contribute to combating climate change by shaping communities in a way that enables them to take advantage of the most appropriate decentralised low and zero carbon technologies. Some local authorities will clearly welcome the move and simply reinforce their direction of travel, others may feel nervous about a top down document that stretches their resources and skill base in a pursuit which is completely foreign.

Many of the UK's cities who are arguably better resourced may well agree with the former. Virtually every major city in the UK is already mapping heat demand in their area and investigating the extension of viable district heating networks but the new PPS means that the smaller cities and towns should now be investigating decentralised energy to meet the needs of new development; focusing on greater integration of waste management with decentralised energy and co-location of potential heat suppliers and users.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

For this reason much of the international experience of development of district heating networks has been through some form of public ownership model, albeit with substantial injections of private capital. Once established, however, these networks provide the prospect of long-term reliable and predictable revenue streams which can be reinvested in the scheme or the asset can be sold at profit to a private investor.

There is therefore an opportunity for local authorities to capitalise and take a central role but we will have to wait, for the reaction is on the ground. The local authority has to realise the extent of their ability and seek experienced due dilegence and advice if needed. National Government must also recognise that this requires new skills, training, and conducive incentive and regulatory frameworks.

With our members, the Combined Heat and Power Association (CHPA) work towards these goals and act as the focus for the combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating industry in the UK. The CHPA has over 100 members and our broad membership comprises of CHP developers (micro, small, community scale, and large-scale industrial and utility companies), consultants, manufacturers, end users, suppliers, professional services providers and public sector bodies such as local authorities.

For further information: Combined Heat & Power Association, Grosvenor Gardens House, 35-37 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0BS Web: www.chpa.co.uk T: 020 7828 4077 F: 020 7828 0310

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HEAT PUMPS CONTRIBUTING TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Terry Seward, Commercial Manager FETA Heat pumps are typically used for commercial space heating, process heating and domestic heating and provide effective heating solutions for all types of building applications such as dwellings, commercial and retail premises, including hotels and residential complexes.

Heat pumps supply more energy than they consume by extracting heat from their surroundings; consequently, they now form an essential part of the solution for reducing energy consumption and reducing carbon emissions. They also provide their heat from renewable sources such as the ground and solar heated ambient air. A heat pump is an efficient and space saving means of heating a wide range of premises.

Reserves of conventional fossil fuels are finite and emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases add increasingly to the effects of climate change. As a recognised low carbon technology and also recognised as a renewable heat technology, heat pumps can significantly reduce the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions and assist in a sustainable future.

Where heat pumps are used for heating, they are capable of highly cost-efficient energy applications because they tap into a limitless supply of ‘free’ heat – either the surrounding air or heat captured in the ground or water (such as a lake).

The vast majority of heat pumps work on the same principle as the domestic refrigerator, utilising a vapour compression cycle, but for heating purposes the heat pump utilises the ‘hot end’ of the process. The vapour compression process utilises low grade heat that is normally too cool for human or process requirements and lifts the same quantity of energy to a higher temperature that is then suitable for human comfort.

This process is remarkable because the thermodynamic cycle occurs at constant energy content throughout, even though the temperature has been lifted from, say, 5ºC to say 35ºC. A refrigerant acts as the transfer medium and the only prime energy required is the energy to circulate the refrigerant.

Depending on the application and type of heat pump, efficiencies of 300% to 500% are normal. When dealing with heat pumps, and because efficiency cannot be defined as being above 100%, the term used is Coefficient of ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Performance (COP), so the COPs for the above example would be 3:1 and 5:1 where 3 or 5 units of energy in the form of heat are produced for one unit of energy utilised to drive the process.

Due to the dynamic nature of heat pumps, their capital cost tends to be higher than conventional heating systems, however, the savings delivered in energy efficiency allow for very low operating costs. When utilised in commercial buildings, that may also require cooling, additional cost benefits occur as there is no need to expend further capital on a second system for such cooling.

Heat pumps are normally classified by their heat source and means of delivery, for example, Air to Air means air is used as the low grade heat source and air is also how the heat is delivered to the space. The main types of heat pumps available are thus: Air to Air: Extensively used in commercial buildings as reverse cycle heat pumps, where they can provide both heating and cooling. Air delivery systems are widely used for space heating in commercial and industrial applications.

Air to Water: Used in a wide range of applications such as, in conjunction with fan coil units in commercial buildings, for heating swimming pools, for providing domestic hot water and, for both space heating and hot water in dwellings where water based delivery systems are used in conjunction with underfloor heating or radiators.

Exhaust air heat pumps can also be used, which utilise the exhausted (or wasted) heat from a dwelling to re-heat the space or hot water.

Water to Air: Can use wells or boreholes but can also be configured as a system of many units connected together on a common closed water loop, to enable energy transfer from hot to cold points in a building.

Ground to Air: Using the stable ground temperature to provide the heat source with warm air being delivered to the space.

Ground to Water: As above but utilised with underfloor heating systems, medium temperature radiators or fan coil units. The lower heated temperature requirements of underfloor heating systems make heat pumps particularly efficient in this combination.

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ducted, rooftop, part of a central system, zonal system, or a stand alone product.

Although there are many generic types of heat pumps as illustrated by the six categories above, all heat pumps operate on the same fundamental principle regarding their component parts. They all have: • A prime moving device to circulate the refrigerant – a compressor • A heat exchanger to extract heat from a low grade heat source – be it air, water or the ground or other.

• A heat exchanger to exchange its heat to the medium to be heated – be it air or water or other.

• An expansion device within the refrigeration circuit to change its state from a liquid to a vapour.

Commercial Applications Air to Air and Air to Water heat pumps are frequently used in office and retail spaces, often installed in ceiling voids or alcoves, and offer substantially favourable cost comparisons against conventional boiler systems when measured against installation and running costs.

Heat pumps are used in many industries to recover heat, or as an integral part of the particular industrial process they are applied to. Swimming pools can use heat pumps as the primary source of heat for the water in the pool, for showers or to augment an existing fossil fuel system.

The commercial market for heat pumps in the UK has been well established for more than two decades, with a value in 2009 of more than £300,000,000, and it is estimated that over two million systems are currently operating in the UK based upon a conservative business investment lifetime of 15 years.

Domestic Applications Many homes can now benefit from a variety of heat pump installations, including ground source, water source and air source, generally providing warm water to underfloor heating matrices or upgraded radiator systems. The majority of these heat pumps will also be able to provide domestic hot water at temperatures up to 55ºC with some heat pumps able to provide 60ºC.

The domestic market in the UK, unlike in other parts of Europe, is still in its infancy. However, initiatives such as the Low Carbon Building Programme and associated Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) have acted as a catalyst for growth in recent years and the market is growing very quickly. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will come into force in 2011 and will have a major impact on the growth of the heat pump market and in particular the domestic sector, where we may well see one million heat pumps installed in dwellings by 2020.

Over the last few years in particular, HPA members have made a major contribution to the creation of a framework for the introduction of heat pumps to a wider domestic market through the MCS. This framework covers the technical efficiency of heat pump products and the technical competence of those planning to install them. The scheme also applies to other microgeneration technologies such as wind, solar thermal, and biomass.

With the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) committed to heat pumps as part of the mix to meet renewable obligations and to reduce CO2, the future is looking extremely good for the technology.

Footnote about the HPA The Heat Pump Association (HPA) is the UK's leading authority on the use and benefits of heat pump technology and includes in its membership the majority of the country's leading manufacturers of heat pumps, components and associated equipment.

The Association was formed in January 1995 to promote the use of heat pumps through education, public relations and representation, and to increase awareness of the technology through liaison with other relevant bodies and to promote the benefits and proper use of heat pumps and heat pumping technology.

The HPA does this by increasing the awareness of the correct application of heat pumps and by advising on how to use the inherent energy efficiency to best effect, with the minimum impact on the environment. The HPA influences legislation and advises Government on appropriate incorporation of heat pumps into energy policy. 

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ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Why insulation is key to the UKÊs carbon emissions target Neil Marshall, Chief Executive of National Insulation Association

With homes producing over a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions, the onus on reducing their carbon footprint has never been greater for householders and a priority Government issue too.

The way a building is constructed, insulated, ventilated and the type of fuel used, all contribute to its carbon emissions and a worrying fact is that, for over half of all homes in the UK, a significant proportion of the money spent on energy is literally being thrown out of the window as a result of inadequate levels of insulation, with around 50% of the heat being lost through the roof and walls.

The National Insulation Association (NIA) is a not-for-profit organisation representing over 90% of the home insulation ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

industry in the UK. As a membership organisation, it actively supports the Government’s accelerated programme for insulation and its intention to raise awareness not only of the amount of CO2 lost through inadequate insulation, but also the amount of money that householders can save by having their homes properly insulated.

Solid Wall Insulation The UK’s housing stock is estimated at approximately 24.5 million dwellings and 36% are made up of non-cavity wall construction – solid brick, solid stone, pre-1944 timber frame and non-traditional, i.e. concrete construction.

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any other type of construction – a worrying fact when it is estimated that around seven million properties with solid walls have little or no insulation. While many local authorities, housing associations, private landlords and home owners have been concentrating on filling cavities to achieve their carbon savings, improving the thermal efficiency of solid-wall properties has largely been ignored.

This is primarily because the solutions are deemed to be more expensive and cause greater disruption, hence the reason that these types of dwellings are referred to as “Hard to treat Homes”. This is not actually correct; they are not hard to treat, just more expensive to insulate compared to cavity wall insulation and loft insulation. However the subsequent energy savings are significantly higher.

The Solutions

Improving the thermal efficiency of solid wall properties is therefore an area which has massive potential for the future; particularly as little work has been carried out to date. Around 25,000 properties a year currently receive solid wall insulation (SWI) and the Government’s new ‘Warm homes, Greener homes scheme’ announced in March will focus on whole house eco-makeovers. However, SWI will have to increase dramatically if the Government is to hit its target of a 29% reduction of CO2 by 2020. In fact, at a recent seminar held by the NIA, an industry expert stated that: “A figure of 200,000 properties per year would have to be completed if the Government is to hit its target by 2020.” More and more individuals are now starting to recognise the advantages of SWI and there are many cost-effective solutions available.

These products can be applied to ceilings as well as walls and provide a solution for properties without a loft space as well as those with solid walls. It can also be applied to the underside of floorboards in a cellar/basement. It is applied using a special adhesive using a roller or a brush and can be easily cut to size using wallpaper shears or scissors. Once the product has been applied it can be painted, papered or even tiled. These products are only applied to the exterior facing interior walls of the property.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Solid walls can be insulated with either External Wall Insulation (EWI) or Internal Wall Insulation (IWI) and either option will greatly increase comfort, while also reducing energy bills and the associated environmental impact.

IWI typically consists of either dry lining in the form of flexible thermal linings (commonly known as thermal wallpaper), laminated insulating plasterboard (known as thermal board) or a built-up system using fibrous insulation such as mineral wool held in place using a studwork frame.

Flexible thermal linings come on a roll and are applied like wallpaper and, with some at only 10mm thick, will not cause significant disruption during installation.

Another solution is laminated insulated plasterboard, which normally replaces existing lath and plaster and is fixed directly to the existing brick. Depending on the system, thermal boards can either be screwed or glued using a dry wall adhesive directly onto the brick work just like standard plaster board. It has the advantage that it can be installed room by room with the tenants in situ. It increases internal surface temperature within a room and also

improves response to heating input when heated intermittently. It has the lowest thermal conductivity available and allows installation on damp surfaces without drying periods because it’s hydrophobic.

Peace of Mind

EWI comprises of an insulation layer fixed to the existing wall, with a protective render or decorative finish. Dry cladding offers a wide range of finishes such as timber panels, stone or clay tiles, brick slips (brick effect finish) or aluminium panels. EWI increases the thermal quality of the building – particularly relevant when refurbishing non-traditional housing. It also overcomes moisture and condensation issues, protects the existing building envelope and can reduce heating bills by up to 25% as well as greatly improve the appearance of the building.

All members of the NIA abide by a strict Code of Professional Practice, meaning they will work using the best possible customer care and to the best possible technical and professional standards.

EWI is a tried and tested method of upgrading the thermal performance and external appearance of existing properties, which are literally transformed into warm, energy efficient and attractive homes and buildings. Improving appearance is of particular significance to many local authorities targeting housing projects in poorer areas. Adding EWI on a whole street basis will raise residents’ morale and give a sense of pride in their community.

There are many benefits of EWI including the fact that no living space is lost. There is minimum disruption for the residents as the work can be carried out while they are in their homes and there is no risk of condensation within the property as it is moved to the outside of the system that is being put in place. Also there is minimal maintenance once installed.

As with all types of insulation, the NIA cannot stress enough the importance of using a reputable and suitably qualified installer.

The Code regulates a company’s marketing approach and the contract between the customer and the installer. It also oversees how the company trains its staff, relevant Health and Safety procedures, customer care, pertinent guarantees and what happens should things go wrong.

Using an NIA member provides peace of mind and the assurance that work will be carried out to a specified standard. Also, with many Local Authorities and Housing Associations embarking on major refurbishment projects in line with Government targets, SWI will no doubt be high on the list of priorities in many areas of the UK. The NIA is able to offer support to such organisations by contacting its members on their behalf requesting expressions of interest to tender for work. This not only removes the footwork out of finding a suitable installer but also provides the reassurance that all work carried out will be second to none. 

After EnviroBrick

Before EnviroBrick

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Window Energy Ratings – the simple method for registering your windows.

Giles Willson, Director for British Fenestration Rating Council (BFRC), is pleased to provide the step by step guide to energy rated windows and how this can be used in practice to ensure the most energy efficient product is installed.

What is the Window Energy Rating scheme?

BFRC Ltd is the UK’s national system for rating the energy efficiency of windows and is recognised within the Building Regulations as a method to show compliance for your replacement windows installed. WERs use a consumerfriendly traffic-light style ‘A-G’ ratings guide similar to that used on white goods (such as fridges, freezers, washing machines etc). This ratings label can be used by consumers to make more informed choices about the energy efficiency of the windows they are looking to purchase.

Already consumers use the A-G ratings system to select white goods - it is an easy to understand and highly recognisable label. As this label begins to appear on more and more window products it will become the touchstone for consumers looking to make energy efficient choices. Those products displaying a label will have a definite advantage over those who are not part of the scheme.

The window energy rating is for the complete window, not just the frame or the Insulating Glass Unit. You cannot make claims that you have an A rated frame or an A rated unit, only complete windows registered with BFRC can fully claim to have an A-G window energy rating.  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

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Window energy ratings measure the energy performance of a window and take into account the thermal performance for retaining the heat in the building, the solar heat gain and the air leakage loss through the window.

The scheme uses a standard window size 1.48m X 1.23m, with a central mullion, one opening and one fixed light.

This is used to enable different products to be compared with each other, if different sizes were used we would achieve a different energy performance based on the size of the window rather than the components.

The thermal performance value is measured in kWh/m²/year, this shows the heat loss per metre of glazing over a year, as well as the solar gain from the sun through the glass. It also enables the Glass and Glazing Federations energy calculator to work out the financial, CO2 and carbon savings for a specific house, using actual window size and fuel used to heat the property.

The Energy Saving Trust have accepted the results of the GGF Calculator which can be found at the GGF web site www.ggf.org.uk So how much can a home save if the windows are replaced?

A house with 26m² of glazing (a 3 bed roomed semi-detached property), which is heated by gas fired central heating, currently has single glazed timber windows, replaced with A rated products (regardless of the frame material) will save the following:

If a manufacturer decides to go for a hot box test, this requires the physical product to be tested, this produces the rating value. Once a hot box test is determined an independent agency would need to be used to make a site visit and then registration with BFRC. The cost for this route compared with using a registered simulator is approximately the same, but the main difference is, you send a product for test and that is the only result achievable; no minor modifications or component substitutions can be made, instead a complete retest is required.

If a manufacturer wishes to change a component from the originally registered window, they will need to go back to their simulator to check on the effect this will have on the energy performance of the window. The advantage of the simulation route is, component changes can be undertaken, often without having to calculate a completely new simulation (depending on the changes being made). The independent Agency would have to check that the changes are implemented; this could be by a paperwork trail depending on the changes. Finally BFRC need to be updated, they can then produce a replacement Licence and update the BFRC web site.

This process means a more accurate result is determined for the whole window and not just the unit, therefore we are making major advances with improving the thermal performance of replacement windows being fitted, with minimal additional costs.

£241 in fuel bills / annum 1.24 Tonnes CO2 / annum 0.34 Tonnes carbon / annum

Where do I find the register of BFRC energy rated windows?

Over a ten year pay back period; the savings based on 3% inflation will save over £3,000, 12.4 Tonnes CO2 and 3.38 Tonnes carbon.

The details of all the BFRC registered energy efficient windows can be found on the BFRC web site www.bfrc.org. The search facilities allow you to find rated product sorted by:

How are Window Energy Ratings (WER) determined?

Energy Ratings

The window manufacturer needs to have either a simulation undertaken or hot box testing. If the simulation route is chosen, the manufacturer should contact one of the 50 registered BFRC Simulators (details available on the BFRC web site www.bfrc.org). The simulator will need to have a copy of the drawings for your window, along with a list of the components used. A simulation is undertaken, then the results can be discussed along with a discussion on how a window performance can be improved - this can range from a complete re-design to minor modifications, which are easily re-worked into the calculation to provide an amended WER. Once a manufacturer is happy with their product a BFRC Independent Agency will need to access the company to ensure they have the ability to manufacture the window. Depending on the success of this visit, the window can then be registered with BFRC, who provide the label and register this on their web site.

Framing material

In summary the process is: window simulation, the site assessment and the formal registration with BFRC to gain your unique licence and registration on the BFRC web site.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Window design County Town or nearest suppliers to your postcode The web site provides details of the registered window company for the consumer to make contact, in addition to a copy of the specific energy rating label, (this shows the A to E rating as well as the actual thermal performance figure) with the window U value, solar gain and air leakage rate for the window.  Further details: If you require additional information on the BFRC window energy rating scheme, please look at the web site www.bfrc.org or telephone: 020 740 39200

The EPC-Exposed Paul M Walker Dip DEA

One of the purposes of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is to give potential home buyers information about a house’s energy performance and its fuel costs. Home buyers can then use this information within their decision making process.

The Labour Government’s decision to increase the “life” of an EPC from one year to three years was greeted with dismay by the industry.

Currently, an EPC must not be more than three years old to be included within a Home Information Pack (HIP).

Should the Conservative Party gain power, they would allow an EPC to be valid for ten years for a house sale.

But can you rely on the information in the EPC if it is more than a year old?

No, you cannot.

Why is an EPC more than a year old not representative?

The Government approved software, in 2007, had many inbuilt default “U” values and assumptions on insulation.

A later update, September 2008, to the software changed some defaults and allowed Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA’s) to input what was actually there and so reduced software assumptions and making the EPC more accurate.

different “Current Performance” comment on the EPC for heating controls.

EPC. Pre October 2009. Programmer, TRVs and Room Thermostat. AVERAGE. EPC. Post October 2009. Programmer, TRVs and Room Thermostat. GOOD. But of equal importance, the EPC has a table showing the costs of heating and lighting and what savings could be made by carrying out improvements. The fuel prices are inbuilt into the software and are updated every six months. Again an EPC that is more than a year old, will not provide accurate information.

The EPC software, so far, has been updated every year since its inception, to make it more accurate. The next update is thought to be in October 2010.

Even this month RdSAP conventions have been updated to bring all Accreditation Bodies in to line. The most notable being the measurement and software entry of the “newer types” of loft insulation.

The EPC will evolve and will become more accurate and allow entry of newer types of energy saving products and building methods.

But an EPC carried out on the same property, after September 2008, gave a far better rating.

An EPC is the best way to inform the public on how to help reduce CO2 and their fuel costs. But, at this moment, an EPC that is over a year old cannot be relied upon to give a true “picture” of that property against a property with a “newer” EPC. Thus a home buyer has inaccurate information on which to base their decision.

RdSAP Rating 75 and in Band “C”

Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors. www.whatstheidea.net

A further software update, October 2009, would show a

paul@whatstheidea.net

For example; An EPC carried out on a property in 2007 produced this result; RdSAP Rating 65 and in Band “D”

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Taking control of air leakage Graham Copson, Technical Manager, Klober According to the Energy Saving Trust’s Chief Executive Philip Sellwood, almost a third of new homes are still failing to meet energy efficiency guidelines. He told the BBC, “… the Government’s ‘Code for Sustainable Homes’ is not being adequately enforced, giving cause for real concern.

Our building regulations in the UK are among the toughest in Europe, but they are extremely poorly enforced as far as energy efficiency goes”.

David Arendell, MD of roofing specialist Klober, feels the situation in respect of building airtightness gives grounds for even greater concern. He commented, “Despite the fact that the phrase ‘Build tight, ventilate right’ has become synonymous with the strategy to construct low energy buildings, awareness of how best to achieve airtight construction remains poor. Failing to achieve the right balance between airtightness and controlled ventilation increases the risk of condensation within the roof space. With every upgrade in insulation standards, the risk increases”.

Delays in consultation on Approved Documents L and G have prompted deferment in CSH 2010 until the end of the year. Some house builders have lobbied for a clearer definition of how ’zero carbon’ can be achieved, prompting establishment of the Zero Carbon Task Group. There is some evidence to support calls for redefinition as research carried out by the Richard Hodkinson Consultancy, for example, showed that ‘PassivHaus’ (the Europe-wide Standard with stringent airtightness requirements managed

by the BRE and the Energy Saving Trust) would not actually meet even CSH 3. CSH assessment uses the SAP test to calculate energy performance, and for some time the efficacy of the test, particularly in relation to more thermally efficient buildings, has been questioned.

The requirement already exists for new public sector housing to meet CSH 3 and the impetus towards ‘zero carbon’ will be given fresh impetus when the equivalent of CSH 3 is incorporated into Building Regulations for England and Wales (similar improvements are planned in Scotland).

Of the nine categories within the CSH method of assessment, ‘energy and CO2 emissions’ is by far the most significant. This is true in terms of allocation of credits, for which 29 are available, and the final points allocation, 36.4% of total available performance once weighting factors have been taken into account.

The right balance between airtightness and ventilation can be struck without significant addition to building costs. Material choice, however, can greatly influence long-term airtightness. Sheet membrane air barriers coupled with sealants, for example, are more effective than sealants alone, counteracting the effects of buildings (particularly timber frame) drying out. Accredited Construction Details (ACDs), Enhanced Construction details (ECDs) and, in Scotland, the Scottish Ecological Design Association Guide are now available for both warm and cold roof construction. Accredited detail Sheet MCI RE 02, for example, shows a warm roof detail at the eaves using Klober Permo forte vapour permeable underlay and either appropriate tapes or a pre-taped product.

Despite the absence of any CSH equivalent for nonresidential construction, airtightness can be important in relation to use of roofing materials such as zinc (if the metal’s underside is unventilated). Abergwynfi primary school near Neath was designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, with zinc used on a series of circular classroom roofs. Klober Wallint air barrier was installed with compatible sealing tape to meet the specified airtightness.

With current Building Regulation requirements stipulating airtightness of only 7m3/hr per m2 compared with CSH 3 at 3m3, techniques used to achieve it must undoubtedly change. ‘The Code for Sustainable Homes and airtightness in roofs’ CPD presentation from Klober examines how to ‘build tight and ventilate right’ within the realms of practical pitched roofing construction. It is a welcome source of information on a subject for which little is otherwise available. For more information go to www.klober.co.uk/airtightness. 

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

The New CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme: I don’t need to do anything right now do I? David McEwan, UK Director of IES Ltd. The new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme which began in earnest on the 1st April aims to achieve an annual energy reduction of 3.2m tonnes by 2020 and stimulate businesses to make their buildings more energy efficient. However, organisations are confused and unprepared for its implementation. It affects around 20,000 organisations – is yours one of them?

A recent survey1 by energy consultancy McKinnon and Clarke found that 54% of participants were uncertain whether they come under the scheme, which encompasses all bodies and businesses with half-hourly meters (HHMs) that consumed more than 6,000 MWh of electricity during 2008. This will mean around 5,000 of the UK’s heaviest energy users will need to participate fully, while another 15,000 odd organisations that consumed less will need to make an information disclosure.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

In addition, the survey also found that three in five companies had not factored in the financial implications of having to participate fully in the scheme. At the lowest qualifying level, a typical organisation will pay £45,000 a year to advance purchase allowances at a rate of £12 per tonne of carbon dioxide. In addition, they will be placed in a league table, showing their carbon emissions relative to their peers.

Companies at the bottom of the table will be penalised, with the money recycled into rewards for the most energy-efficient.

In another survey2 by the power supplier Npower, nearly half of companies surveyed said official advice about the new legislation had been “inadequate”. About 49% said they did not understand how to buy the necessary carbon allowances and 44% said they do not know how to forecast their carbon emissions.

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Useful Links Scheme Administrators: - England & Wales: Environment Agency www.environment-agency.gov.uk - Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) www.ni-environment.gov.uk - Scotland: Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) www.sepa.org.uk DECC CRC User Guide: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/crc/crc.aspx DECC CRC Timeline: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/crc/timeline/timeline.aspx

So why this confusion? The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010 came into force on 22nd March 2010 but the legislation is not new and has been in consultation since the beginning of 2009. However, as always, the legislation was altered multiple times and criticism, mostly based on hearsay, has clouded the waters.

Undoubtedly there has also been some ‘sticking my head in the sand’ mentality, and perhaps the greatest myth surrounding the CRC is that there is no need to act now.

This misconception is based upon the fact that the initial scheme year is the footprint year when you monitor and report on your ‘baseline’ energy use. The thinking is that by having a higher carbon footprint at the start of the scheme it will be easier to reduce emissions and move quickly to the top of the league table. However, there are two main reasons why acting now is the best course of action: 1) The design of the league table involves three metrics to determine an organisation’s position, not just their absolute carbon reductions. An Early Action metric takes into account energy saving measures put into place before the starts of the CRC, while a Growth Metric gives credit to organisations expanding in an energy efficient way. In fact the Early Action metric has a 100% weighting in the 1st year!

2) By acting now organisations can reduce energy usage and make savings on energy costs directly. These savings could even provide budget for the purchase of the initial carbon allowances in 2011 and go towards energy saving initiatives. Why wait to make reductions now and pay what will undoubtedly be a higher energy rate for more energy further down the line.

And that’s before you even look at the other benefits of performing well...

Analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers3 suggests that the worst performers could be adding nearly 20% to their annual energy costs by 2015, equating to an additional £500,000 on a businesses’ annual energy costs of £1m.

But companies who plan ahead and perform well could ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

turn an early loss into a gain, seeing their energy costs reduced by over 8% in 2015. For a company with a total energy bill of £1 million, this would be worth just over £85,000 in 2015 alone, or £150,000 over the course of the next five years.

Initially, the amounts at stake are relatively small. An organisation may spend 10% of its utility bill on allowances.

If ranked in the top half of the table, it stands to make a profit of up to 10% of that stake, and to forfeit an equivalent amount if not. But the CRC is staggered. In the second year, the bonus goes up to 20%, in the third to 30% and so on.

The clever bit is the combination of fiscal and reputational incentives. The effect of a low ranking on an organisation’s reputation is an even greater spur, especially for companies with green credentials to preserve.

A key tool for success within the scheme is to produce a good forecast and strategy, and for that you need good knowledge. Those with a planned year-on-year approach will perform the best – by starting to make carbon reductions from low-hanging fruit before progressing to more expensive options.

Businesses now have twelve months to devise and implement monitoring systems, working out what energy is being used and how many allowances they will need to buy, ahead of then paying the full amount for their estimated carbon emissions in April 2011. A good place to start, after you’ve defined a clear responsibility for CRC scheme management and data collection, is by fully understanding the performance of your building portfolio.

Our new Carbon Assessor (www.checkmycarbon.com) platform, developed in conjunction with Davis Langdon, is a low-cost do-it-yourself programme for assembling energy use data and gaining a high-level overview of comparative performance. This kind of comparative approach highlights areas of inefficient energy use and under-performing buildings which enables reduction activity to be targeted where it is most effective.

It allows you, for example, to understand how your electric resistance heated buildings perform against your gas heated ones and whether you have any new buildings that are not performing to the standard they should be. Or which of your old building stock are candidates for refurbishment, retrofitting or replacement.

CRC In Numbers 5,000 Organisations with energy bills of roughly £500,000 per annum (through half-hourly metering systems) which will be included in the scheme 15,000 organisations that will have to register and measure their carbon footprint but are unlikely to have to pay 6,000 Megawatt-hours (MWh) Maximum electricity consumption (through half-hourly metering systems) for organisations that wish to escape the scheme 10% Estimated cost of CO2 allowance, as a percentage of an organisation's utility bill £12 Initial price, per tonne of CO2, for allowances

Without this comparison and analysis, a lot of people might be misled into initially adopting renewables, when a first target should be dealing with the existing building fabric or simple operational issues. The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is one of the first pieces of legislation which will really push all aspects of building design, operation, and property management to come together to give organisations the right advice so the best decisions for cost-effective carbon reductions are made.

This is because those participating in the scheme will need to accurately cost various reduction strategy options, taking into account financial issues such as tax allowances, grants and capital costs, alongside energy cost savings, and CRC allowance and league table implications. When proposing investment for carbon reduction strategies, solid arguments and reasons need to be presented to their boards.

Encouragingly, when you actually explain the rules, intentions and requirements of the CRC scheme to clients, in both the public and private sectors, they are quick to see the potential value to their business. And when you look at industry comment on the subject a lot of energy professionals feel that the CRC will have a beneficial long-term effect and put a stop to the playing round the edges of energy management which has been going on for years.

Although awareness of the CRC is gradually growing, many companies and public sector organisations have not yet begun to make adequate preparations. Failure to prepare for this legislation is likely to harm a business both financially, through penalties for poor performance, and through reputation.

Any organisation with a half hourly settled electricity meter needs to do something. Those qualifying for the CRC will need to register while those under the threshold still need to make an information disclosure. Both actions must be done before 30th September 2010. However, as the process could take up to 4 weeks to complete, don't leave it until the 29th September!

In addition, the requirement for qualifying organisations to start monitoring energy usage from all qualifying sources started on 1st April 2010. And whilst it may be straightforward to gather retrospective data from half hourly sources, this may not always be the case for class 5-8 meters, for example, which are also considered as core sources under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme.

So you don’t need to do anything about the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme right now? Or do you? 

1

http://www.mckinnon-clarke.com/content-page.php?press-release=2422

2

http://www.npowermediacentre.com/Press-Releases/Businesses-criticisegovernment-for-inadequate-guidance-on-new-emissions-scheme-researchalso-finds-nearly-80-believe-UK-emission-targets-are-unrealistic-d43.aspx

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http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/News-Releases/CRC-Energy-Efficiency-Scheme-PwC-figures-reveal-an-environmental-profit-warning-forUK-business-e66.aspx ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

CRC A new carbon cutting Government incentive scheme was introduced on April 1 which will require large public and private sector organisations to improve their energy efficiency. Jean-Yves Cherruault, environmental accounting manager at carbon reduction company Sustain, looks at the implications of the new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) and offers some practical advice to those organisations that will need to act.

According to a global survey published in March 2010, environmental regulation can have a significant impact on companies’ sustainability activities. However, the same survey from management consultancy firm McKinsey indicates some worrying trends. Only around 30% of executives say their companies actively seek opportunities to invest in sustainability or embed it in their business practices and only 40% feel prepared to deal with regulation in the next three to five years.

and local authorities.

This seems to be a trend that is reflected in the UK. Anecdotal evidence shows that the majority of organisations preparing for the CRC scheme are at risk of significantly ‘misstating’ their carbon emissions.

During the initial phase of the CRC, the price of carbon allowances will be fixed at £12 per tonne CO2, with no cap on the amount of carbon allowances that can be purchased.

The second phase of the scheme, starting in 2013, will cap the number of allowances available and their price will be set by the market.

The CRC is an excellent opportunity to integrate a wider sustainability strategy, including proactive carbon management and governance, into their business. The rewards, such as reputational gains, reducing energy costs and gaining a competitive edge, are significant.

However CRC participants are yet to grasp fully the significance of the financial, reputational and administrative implications for their organisations. They need to act now to understand how they will be affected and ensure a strategy is in place to support and maximise compliance with the scheme.

CRC is essentially a mandatory emissions trading scheme that will affect around 5,000 organisations. Only those organisations that used at least 6,000 megawatt hours of electricity through their half hourly meters during 2008 will qualify. These include government departments, manufacturers, retailers, banks, supermarkets, banks ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Participants will be required to report annually their total energy related CO2 emissions. They will also need to purchase sufficient CO2 allowances in advance to cover each year’s qualifying emissions. Spend will be recycled back in October each year with a bonus or penalty based on the participant’s position within a publically available performance league table, which will be published for the first time in October 2011.

Businesses that perform well and reduce their emissions will be able to generate further income from selling any unused credits. However penalties will apply for those who have exceeded their allowance and not bought the shortfall.

For many organisations, CRC will completely change the way they think about carbon. In a consumer-facing environment, the reputation risks associated with the scheme are considerable. Organisations that have declared investments in carbon reduction and sustainability initiatives to gain competitive advantage over their peers will need to sustain their efforts or risk a poor position on the league table, which could damage their reputation. There are of course significant financial risks too in terms of penalties and losing out on reduced energy costs if 

Top 10 tips towards CRC excellence organisations do not embrace the scheme.

CRC is only at the start of its life and the rules are only going to get more stringent so it’s crucial that participants are organised right from the start. A proactive response will require a CRC-dedicated team to develop and coordinate internal management and new policies that will apply to all levels of the business.

1. Work out how your organisation is defined according to CRC rules.

2. Establish how energy and emissions data is collected and reported for each building or site owned or occupied by your company.

3. Set up a CRC team that it responsible for coordinating, communicating and managing the scheme internally. This should be a multifunctional team that includes people from across the organisation, including operations, finance, legal and communication.

The scheme presents specific challenges to certain sectors.

For example, one of the CRC rules requires organisations with more than one location to collate all emissions from each site and report to the scheme regulator under the parent company. This clearly presents challenges for large public sector organisations, such as the National Health Service and local authorities, that have numerous sites and operations. Participants must therefore establish a single decision-making point of contact who will report and trade on behalf of their entire organisation.

4. Establish verifiable energy and emissions data

Participants have until September 2010 to register for the CRC scheme. Those who get it right from the start are likely to benefit in the long term from significant reputational and financial gains as they position themselves as leaders in tackling climate change.

6. Ensure the finance team is fully engaged. They

streams, data management processes and responsibilities at the various sites.

5. Understand the financial implications and risks that are specific to your organisation. For example penalties for non-compliance can be up to five per cent of the turnover. will need to budget for purchasing allowances at the beginning of each CRC year, manage the organisation’s account on the CRC registry and consider various strategies to ensure energy saving measures provide a good return on investment.

7. Develop a system to forecast energy use and emissions that will be robust enough to inform the annual CRC carbon credits purchasing process.

8. Develop a model which calculates emissions saved from a range of different carbon reduction options. This would show how much CO2 each option would save per year and at what price per tonne of CO2 saved. This is called a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC).

9. Prepare and maintain the mandatory annual emissions report and evidence pack as part of the CRC annual reporting cycle.

10. Ensure processes and people are in place to manage and deliver the implementation of carbon saving measures and monitor their effectiveness.

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Fictitious case study of a CRC participant Food manufacturer, EatSource, found out in September 2009 that it was eligible under the new CRC scheme. Just like a large number of the other CRC participants, they had no previous experience of carbon compliance schemes such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

“When I heard our organisation must participate in the CRC, we quickly had to become experts in carbon management,” said Greg Smith, Corporate Communications Manager at EatSource.

In the past, EatSource had carried out an organisational carbon footprint exercise but this was more of an historical snapshot and the company had never taken it as far as they had originally intended.

The reputational risks were just as significant as the financial ones. EatSource had done a lot to publicise the work around its carbon footprint and had become known for its investments in carbon reduction.

“It was vital that we featured high on the league table,” continues Greg. “Not to do so would have damaged the image we had so carefully developed over previous years.

a forecast model that calculated energy and carbon emissions from every part of the organisation. This included items such as lighting and manufacturing processes to premises’ heating and cooling. This process informed the number of carbon credits that needed to be bought at the beginning of the CRC year.

“This process got us as far as compliance, but we wanted to excel in carbon reduction,” says Greg. “We wanted not only to be competent in reporting carbon but also come up with new measures that will reduce our carbon emissions for many years to come.”

To do this, the team worked with the specialist consultancy to come up with a Marginal Abatement Cost Curve. This is a computer model which analyses a range of different energy saving measures and shows how much CO2 each option would save per year and at what price per tonne of CO2.

“Once we had discussed the measures with the CEO and finance team, we produced a plan which assigned responsibilities and timescales to the implementation of each one,” says Greg.

“So from the outset, we had to make sure that we cultivated a mindset among staff which supported the idea that CRC is an opportunity, not an obligation. We wanted to position ourselves as not simply meeting our obligations, but exceeding them, and therefore becoming market leaders in carbon reduction.”

“This included low or no-cost measures, such as looking at ways of changing people’s behaviour, to installing wind turbines at each of our three manufacturing plants.”

EatSource has three manufacturing plants and five offices across the UK so it was essential that CRC was communicated internally and emissions from every site were calculated and reported. Emissions from each had to be accurately forecast at the beginning of each CRC year and the corresponding carbon credits then had to be purchased from Government.

The company’s CRC team is now responsible for keeping up to date with legislation changes, reporting to the Environment Agency, project managing the implementation of new measures as well as monitoring the effectiveness of those that have been installed.

This was a complicated task and the first step was to bring together lots of different departments, from finance to facilities, and form a team that had overall responsibility for responding to the scheme.

The team then appointed a specialist consultancy to build

EatSource has now completed around 60% of the proposed measures with the remaining ones due for completion by the end of next year.

Greg continues: “If you’re going to be serious about CRC, it has to be embedded in everything you do and getting staff buy-in is absolutely essential.

“Our dedicated CRC team has been instrumental in helping us achieve our goal and we are now in the top 300 in the overall league table and top 10 in food manufacturing.” 

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By Robert Beauregard, P. Eng., Ph.D., Dean Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics, Laval University

Build in Wood to fight Climate Change

Our understanding of the mechanisms causing climate change is such, that, today we can see the central role the world forests play in solving the issue. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nation committee charged with assessing the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, was saying : ÂŤ in the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit Âť 1.

Trees, forests and harvested wood products to fight climate change Photosynthesis is one of the prime mechanisms by which nature incorporates atmospheric carbon into the earth. Trees and the forests are among the chief carbon sinks on the planet. The fourth IPCC report acknowledges that one cannot consider the forest carbon equilibrium in isolation. We must understand the contribution from the forest to the broad earthly equilibrium, considering its contribution in goods and services to society. IPCC acknowledges the contribution of harvested wood products as a source of carbon neutral material to substitute steel and concrete in buildings as a valid contribution to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Wood Green Building According to IPCC, the building industry accounts for somewhere in the order of 40% of overall GHG emissions. Buildings therefore, in order to be considered green, must be evaluated on the basis of Life Cycle Analysis, from cradle to grave. The three energetic components of building LCA are: the intrinsic energy; the operating energy; and the energy required to dispose of the building at end of life.

The intrinsic energy required for building is the energy required to harvest, mine or recover ď ľ

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building materials, to manufacture them into a usable form and to put them into use at the time of construction.

For example, a beam designed to withstand a dead load of 75 kg/m and a live load of 300 kg/m, with a 7.5 m span, produces 101 kg of CO2 emissions when it is made of concrete, and 76 kg of CO2 when made of steel. The same beam when made of wood produces only 6 kg of CO2 emissions . Moreover this same beam locks up 101 kg of CO2 for the life of the building, wood being made of cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin carbon rich molecules.

The operating energy is usually the most important component of the building life cycle. It is normal to see heating and cooling represent more than 85% of the whole building energy requirement over its life span. This component is certainly the single most important component of the overall building energy footprint. It is fairly easily to reduce the operating energy requirement of buildings by 33% through using off-the-shelf solutions.

The Gene-H-Kruger building at Laval University, dating from 2005, is a good example of this. The ultimate goal would nevertheless be to implement the requirements of the passiv haus standard or ultra-low energy buildings, which consume less than 75% of the energy of conventional buildings or even the zero emission buildings (ZEB), which produce their own energy through on-site renewable energy production. To achieve these goals, wood is a helpful tool and its use is already prevalent in Germany, Austria and Sweden. The thermal conductivity of steel and concrete is 500 and 7 times that of softwood lumber respectively. The province of Vorarlberg, in Austria, is at the forefront of the passiv haus building movement.

Thousands of timber buildings can be found there utilising contemporary and traditional designs. The Limnologen Växjö 134 apartment building in Sweden is an eight-storey energy efficiency wood building. In London, the Timber Tower by Waugh Thistleton, completed in 2008, is a fine example of a medium rise energy efficient massive wood panel building. The passiv haus movement has tight links

with wood, through the development of technologies such as building systems made of cross laminated timber (CLT). CLT has the ability to simultaneously provide the structure as well as the envelope of the building.

At the end of the building life cycle, the ideal option is to give it a second life, either through reconfiguration or repurposing. The wood materials can also be reused, as is increasingly seen with wood structure, cladding or flooring recovery from old buildings. Recovered wood can also be pelletized and burned in wood waste furnaces.

This needs to be done in high-efficiency, low-emission stoves and boilers. As a substitute to fossil fuel, wood is considered by IPCC as a valid carbon-neutral source of energy. All these options are valid to dispose of wood wastage from building demolition. Land filling of wood wastes should be avoided at all costs. Organic matter in landfill will ultimately breakdown and emit methane, a GHG twenty times more harmful than carbon dioxide.

This holistic approach to understanding the relationship between trees, sustainable forest management and wood usage in buildings opens new perspectives for the roles of forestry and building industries in society. These can have a significant positive impact in addressing some of the most compelling challenges of the 21st Century. Countries such as Canada have a long and rich history of forest management. Innovation in green building systems made of wood are an opportunity for business development.

Such development requires industry partnership between the forest industry, the building industry and providers of wood building solutions. Innovative companies willing to develop and source comprehensive turnkey solutions for the whole building industry face a brilliant future, in the residential as well as in the non-residential building sectors. The development of ultra-low energy buildings in wood is a key to a successful industry as well as to a sustainable future. 

1 Metz B., O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave and L.A. Meyer (eds), 2007. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Chaper 9 : Forestry, p. 543 2 Triboulot P. 2005. Think Forest Use Wood : a path towards durability. ENSTIB, Epinal, France.

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Beautiful and Affordable Natural Homes without Green-wash!

We are definitely winning the argument! Anyone walking round EcoBuild this year might be forgiven for thinking that cement, foamed insulation products and plastic windows are all ‘eco-friendly’ judging by their publicity. But, those of us who have been working on green design and construction for many years have long understood the value of natural materials to truly sustainable building. At the centre of this endeavour is the importance of our natural world and our impact upon it. It’s a measure of how far we have managed to raise awareness that major construction materials manufacturers now feel the need to re-brand their own products as ‘green’.

There was a time, not very long ago, when all buildings were constructed of natural materials because no-one had yet invented unnatural ones. In the developing world, the majority of buildings still are, mostly clay, although western companies are corrupting these natural instincts in favour of business.

But, if we can imagine a world of beauty, built of natural materials, where people are happy and lead fulfilling lives, then it is possible to achieve it. This is a vision I have held for a long time and one that Amazonails strives to create through its designs, philosophy and process of education. We are recognised as leaders in design for strawbale buildings but we also focus on foundations, insulation and material use in other aspects of construction.

Our buildings are truly sustainable; we don’t compromise, and we continue to ask key questions even when told we can’t do that! My native common sense has informed much of what Amazonails has designed; in many ways we have not really invented anything new, we’ve just been inspired by nature and by experienced builders of the past, and thought of novel ways of using stuff we had anyway.

For instance, since the late 90’s Amazonails has been pioneering cement-free designs for foundations through the building regulations, battling against the peculiar idea that foundations can only be made from concrete. I must admit I’ve not found this hard, coming as I do from a Yorkshire countryside filled with reliable old stone houses built upon good bearing soil, big stones laid onto the natural foundation of

the earth, no deep trenches, no messing with what is perfectly sound all on its own.

Building design has to be simple and straightforward to be accessible. When we’re looking at new designs or materials we don’t just ask if it works but also is it necessary, does it harm the environment, is there a more simple way of doing the job, and will ordinary people understand why we’re doing it and be able to use it themselves?

Modern construction has become so alienated from the people who actually inhabit the buildings that this feeling of alienation permeates the fabric of our society and operates at all levels. Engineers graduate from university not knowing there are any alternatives to concrete steel and timber, architects are encouraged to be egotistical instead of practical, builders don’t learn how to achieve quality instead of quantity. First time buyers aren’t able to choose the house of their dreams.

There’s not much to be proud of. We all know there’s something not quite right going on but it’s hard to define what it is exactly.

Using natural materials feels very different.

Builders who have used sheepswool insulation never want to use rockwool again. Contractors feel positively excited after building their first house of straw. Engineers are amazed at how little material is needed to build car tyre foundations. And ordinary people are able to participate again in building their own houses.

We have designed and worked with local building contractors Taylor Pearson in Waddington to deliver the world’s first loadbearing straw semi-detached council houses for North Kesteven council. They recently held an open week for the public and had extremely positive feedback such as, “very impressed, could be the future”, “build more”, and, “cannot wait to move in, it’s perfect!” To look at them, with south facing balconies and a wood burning stove, you wouldn’t think they were council houses.

And that was what we wanted, to build beautiful houses that anyone would be proud to live in, that had very low running costs but were also built for an affordable price. Without the balconies and green roofed porch these houses  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

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cost £103,000 for a 3 bedroomed semi that exceeds Building for Life standards. These homes can easily reach Sustainability Code 5 and we’re not interested in achieving Code 6 because we don’t believe that is sustainable.

So, instead of adding on expensive pieces of kit to generate your own electricity (to meet the Code 6 standard), we prefer to use the Grid and buy Green energy.

Indeed, building with natural materials has become more mainstream – the Building Research Establishment has built a lime-hemp house, Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs has built his own office out of straw, new cob houses are being built again in Devon. As well, other more conventional materials are being pushed to green-up their credentials, though some of the hype is unfortunately pure green-wash. However, I do believe this means the message is actually getting across, and blowing air into concrete – for instance - does make it a greener product than it was before.

This assimilation of true green into the mainstream also has some puzzling consequences. We see from the Green Guide, for instance, that chemically produced insulation has a ‘greener’ rating than a bale of straw.

Reason says this cannot be true! But if you look into how a material gets a rating, it becomes clear that unless you can afford to test a material, it doesn’t fare well. Who makes the decisions about what ‘green’ means is crucial. Traditionally, the promoters of green materials are passionate but not particularly business minded.

That said, specialising in strawbale building, as we do, gives us the leeway to be very principled in a way that others may not feel they have the freedom to be. We are building houses that have a less than zero carbon footprint, that typically lock up more than 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide in every house for the lifetime of the building, that achieve U values of 0.11 W/m²K and were recently tested for air-tightness at 2.62 m³/m²/hr!! such good results that many people just cannot believe it. We have worked hard to design cement-free foundations for our houses that have a U value of 0.17W/m²K, and we use sheepswool and blown cellulose insulation for other parts of the building that are not insulated with straw, the walls are rendered with lime or clay and we use smartply instead of OSB for our floors.

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Also, indoor air quality is improved because materials are not releasing toxins, are breathable, and regulate humidity very well whilst preventing condensation.

We used to argue with our engineers a lot, till we found ones who we could talk to like ordinary people and who were able to hold interesting and productive discussions about design. We started designing more than just small buildings ourselves, as we realised we had really good ideas and could come up with solutions for pretty much every problem that arose with the new constructions, informed as we are from practice rather than academia.

This approach has born fruit, as we have recently won the tender to design the new Driffield Events Centre. At 1,400m² this will be even larger than the previous largest strawbale building we built for Sworders Ltd near Stansted. (This building recently won the East of England RICS award for Sustainability and a commendation in the International awards).

Another feature of using natural materials is that they are low in embodied energy. About 85% of a typical straw house is made from these materials – locally sourced straw, sheepswool, and coppiced hazel - compared with conventional houses that are the opposite, most of their materials being highly processed. Natural materials are healthy, easy and fun to work with, require less safety equipment and generally help people feel happier with their work and their building. It makes it more possible to involve ordinary people in the building process, and this has many positive effects on the quality of the work and satisfaction with the finished product.

Working with the Driffield Agricultural Society, we have used local and natural materials for the new centre’s design. It will be built on a rammed chalk plinth, with load bearing quad bales 700mm wide for the walls of the main hall, supporting a glulam truss green roof, insulated with bales of straw. Two wings will house meeting rooms, offices and a commercial kitchen with solar thermal and photovoltaic panels on the roof, using rainwater catchment to flush the toilets. Heating will be provided by solar panels, heat exchangers, and a biomass boiler, ensuring that different demands on the building can be accommodated. This new building will be a lasting tribute to the work of Yorkshire farmers, built with their natural materials, straw and sedum grown specially, and decorated with art work that reflects their traditions.

Amazonails is a not-for-profit social enterprise.

Our values are sustainability, empowerment, passion and fun, and our vision is to create an environment where the use of natural materials is accepted as commonplace in the construction industry, and where ordinary people have the opportunity to choose and participate in building affordable, beautiful, sustainable homes and buildings made from these materials. We are designers, consultants, builders and trainers.  www.amazonails.org.uk

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Unfired clay as a modern building material

By Katy Bryce and Adam Weismann, founders of Clayworks The art of building with clay began at the time when humankind first began building shelter. Clayey earth mixed with sand, stones, water and straw. Stomped with feet and then formed around sticks or piled onto a solid base to make a thick wall. Finer, sieved clays mixed with water and fine sands, to make a thick daub. Smeared onto clay walls with hands to create a protective plaster- a sacrificial element to protect the mud walls.

All cultures around the world have used clay at some point in their history to make buildings - formed into bricks and baked in the sun – adobe; squeezed around sticks - wattle and daub; piled onto a stone plinth and compressed in place to create thick walls - cob.

More often than not, clay has been used to make buildings by those connected to the land - agricultural folk utilising the materials that they found around them. The buildings of these communities have created our vernacular building heritage. But clay has also been used to create large, important buildings, churches and cathedrals, such as the Djenne Mosque in Mali, now a World Heritage Site.

These communities recognised the many benefits of building with clay. The material is taken from on site or locally, meaning there is little or no transport required and that the building is literally of its place, unique, personal and idiosyncratic. You can create any shapes that you want with clay - moulding and sculpting the material into organic forms. Even when in-situ in the wall, clay remains alive. It continues to dialogue with its environment.

It is hygroscopic - attracting excess moisture in the atmosphere into its molecular structure and then releasing it back. This balances internal relative humidity, making a comfortable living space. Thick clay walls provide excellent thermal mass - acting as a heat store. Clay materials are porous, meaning that the walls will literally breathe, acting as a third skin around its inhabitants.

Through our journey of building with cob for the last ten years, we have made it our aim to make the process more efficient. This has been fuelled by a desire to make building with cob accessible to a wider audience and to bring it beyond its current niche market. Although we have achieved this to some degree, we have been unable to overcome certain limitations to scaling up the process: 1. Limits on time In the commercial building world time is money. Cob takes time to dry between lifts (350mm layer of cob building in one session). Cob walls, once built, need time to dry and settle before roofs can be put on and the plastering/rendering work carried out. Cob building is a seasonal activity, possible only in the warmer months to allow for the walls to sufficiently dry.

2. Cob is more expensive than other construction methods Cob building is extremely labour intensive and in our economy labour is expensive. The extended building period requires a longer building contract, which can be more costly to the client.

3. Cob building is impossible to standardise Every clay sub-soil is unique to its location. This means that it is challenging to provide standard industry statistics, which is what the commercial building industry requires.

Solutions These limitations have provided us with the impetus to seek out solutions that capture the many benefits of building with clay, and find a way to convert these into a form that can be used by the mainstream building industry.

Our solution is to produce compressed clay bricks and clay plasters made using predominantly waste materials.

In this form, clay can speak a language that is easily translated into the conventional building skills pool (block laying and plastering). The standardised manufacturing process means that each batch of material can be tested and regulated, enabling building warranties and codes to be attained and met. In this form clay can continue to be a relevant solution to creating houses in the contemporary building landscape. By offering up earth in this form, we hope to bridge the gap between art and science, whilst hopefully retaining the alchemy - the magic that exists within and around buildings made out of mud.

Just as the cob buildings of the past tell us a story about the people who made them and lived in them, the ways that we are choosing to utilise and build with this material now can tell future generations about the story of our time - the genuine need to provide homes and buildings that are affordable, efficient to run, healthy to live in and gentle on the planet. ď Ž Katy Bryce and Adam Weismann, founders of Clayworks (formerly 'Cob in Cornwall', www.clay-works.com and authors of Using natural Finishes 'Lime and Clay based plasters, renders and paints', published by Green Books 2008, and 'Building with Cob: A step by step guide' published by Green Books 2006.

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GREEN ROOFS ensuring a quality industry

Image by Getty Images, and Arup on behalf of the London Sustainable Development Commission ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Dusty Gedge is Director of Livingroofs.org Ltd and is the current President of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations [EFB]

Over the last two years, Livingroofs.org has been one of the main movers in the establishment of a green roof technical committee to establish guidelines and a code of practice on the planning, installation and maintenance of green roofs in the UK. This committee, known as GRO [Green roof organisation], is a part of the livingroofs.org Ltd. Along the development of a code, the committee and its members have been working towards developing a series of training NVQs with various parties in the construction industry.

Although the current green roof industry follows the German FLL guidelines, there is a need to have a UK specific green roof code of practice. The German FLL is the de facto international code of practice. It is the baseline of the Swiss, Austrian, Dutch and Hungarian codes of practice. These are the only countries in Europe to have written and published specific national codes.

The FLL is also the basis of the several North American codes that have been developed over the last 5 years. The FLL is essentially a body that writes and develops landscapes standards and codes for the Federal Government in the German. The current FLL green roof guidelines were updated in 2008 and area available in English and German from their website at www.fll.de.

Livingroofs.org Ltd and the GRO committee is an open board that consists of both individuals from many of the leading green roof companies in the UK, the major roofing associations that are part of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors [NFRC] and several non-governmental bodies, including Livingroofs.org Ltd and the Green Roof Centre. The Green Roof Centre, in partnership with Groundwork Sheffield and Livingroofs.org Ltd, are an important element within the development of a UK code of practice. Funding for the development of a UK wide code has been obtained from EU Life project money. This has allowed the current overview of the guidelines that are available at www.livingroofs.org/green-roof-organisation.html to be ď ľ ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

some monies available in the short term to kick start this process. Policies have been or are being developed in other cities in the UK such as Manchester, Sheffield, Brighton and Hove. In Scotland the recently formed Scottish Green Roof Forum has brought together a range of industry, Governmental and non-governmental bodies to develop green roofs within Scotland.

The creation of a code of practice and distinct training will help provide confidence in green roofs as a proven technology. Quality and technical expertise, that the code and training will provide will ensure that the industry continues to thrive and that local authorities, regional bodies and other Government organisations can promote the use of green roofs with added confidence. expanded. Currently there is a document that is being produced for wider consultation to ensure that the adopted code has the widest support. However it must be noted that this is a code of practice and deals with the planning, implementation and maintenance of green roofs and is not a be all and end all of green roofs. Many questions and concerns that individuals and organisations may have about green roofs cannot be covered by a code of practice.

At the same time as the code is evolving, Livingroofs.org Ltd and the NFRC, on behalf of the GRO committee, have been developing a series of training models on green roofs.

NVQs are currently worked on to provide a mechanism within the construction industry to ensure that installers, and therefore customers, are working in compliance with the code and the basic standards needed for green roofs.

These modules will be based upon the code and will provide a means of certifying companies within the industry, whether they be roofing or landscaping contractors.

This will be a major step forward for the green roof industry.

We are fortunate in the UK that the current major green roof companies and their approved contractors follow the German guidelines. However, as the industry develops and grows, as it has done over the last ten years, more and more companies and contractors are entering the market.

The code and the training programmes will ensure that the quality of green roof planning and installation is maintained.

And the market is expanding even during the recession. In London, where many boroughs are actively promoting green roofs through the planning process, green roof installation has increased exponentially since 2004. This is only likely to increase with the adoption of the New London Plan policy 4a.11 living roofs and wall policy.

Although there are no figures yet to understand the impact of this policy, we do know that between 2004 and 2008 over 500,000m2 of green roofs were installed in the capital.

This is an area equivalent to twice the size of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens combined. The new policy should ensure that this huge increase in green roof installation continues. These installations will, in the main, be in new developments. However the Greater London Authority is also looking at a mechanism to increase the implementation of green roofs on existing buildings and Livingroofs.org understands that there is likely to be ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

The UK is probably the largest developing market for green roofs in Europe. Ten years ago the technology was relatively marginalized and only used sparingly in the built environment. It is now increasingly a mainstream technology. Although the code will not answer all the questions and concerns of various individuals and sectors within the built environment, it will be an important step forward. We would hope that the code and training programmes would be highlighted as part of the second London World Green Roof Congress in September. This congress will bring together invited international specialists and the latest research and development in green roofs.

Livingroofs.org Ltd is now over 7 years old. We started out as an independent advocacy organisation. It is hoped that over the coming months it will be transformed into the National Green Roof Association of the UK, and that it can play a major role in establishing green roofs as a default solution within the built environment. ď Ž www.livingroofs.org www.nfrc.co.uk www.efb-greenroof.eu www.thegreenroofcentre.co.uk

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Keith Marshall OBE, Chief Executive of SummitSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the Building Services Engineering (BSE) sector, outlines the training needs for the sector to meet the demands of the low carbon economy outlined in the Budget 2010.

SUSTAINABILITY KEY TO SECTOR’S TRAINING The announcement of the 2010 Budget report will have a major impact on the building services engineering sector, the technology we use and the skills required. The Budget had a clear focus on low carbon initiatives and included an announcement of a £2bn investment bank to back low carbon industries. It also highlighted the intention for the UK to become a world leader in low carbon industries supported by the announcement of new institutions and further public finance to support investment and jobs.

With the increasing investment in low carbon technologies, the need to ensure that current and future employees have the correct skills and training is vital. Meeting the requirements laid out by the Government will require the sector designing, installing and maintaining renewable and environmental technologies, and providing the best advice to customers.

The creation of the NSA for Environmental Technologies is a critical step forward for the BSE sector. It will play a key role in transforming the ability for businesses in the sector to access the training and skills they will need to meet future increased demand for the installation of renewable and environmental technologies in the UK. It will also ensure that this skills capability is developed and the sector can become more proactive in promoting the green agenda to consumers and acting as a trailblazer for green skills.

The NSA for Environmental Technologies will focus on the following areas of skills development for the sector:

DESIGN SKILLS:

For many, the financial impact of the recession has meant that the environmental agenda has been pushed to the bottom of the pile of priorities, but now is not the time to become complacent. The latest Budget only reinforces how seriously the Government is taking the issue of tackling climate change. On top of this, spiralling fuel costs and increasing awareness of the need to conserve energy will inevitably lead to a greater demand for renewable energy sources in both commercial and domestic environments.

training in the full planning and installation process for environmental technologies, from the correct design and sizing of the renewable installations, to the best positioning of the product, through to its connection to the existing power and water systems and ongoing control.

The National Strategic Skills Audit, commissioned by the by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, highlighted that future jobs and employment in the sector depend on the ability of businesses and employers to develop the skills to deal with the task of fitting environmental technologies, which will be commonplace as the UK meets its commitments to the low carbon agenda.

delivery of knowledge around specific products and technical issues for each technology.

SummitSkills has prioritised environmental technologies training in recognition of its future importance for the sector and we actively encourage employees and employers to ensure the right training is undertaken to keep up with the increasing demand. We have recently had approval for a bid to create a £3m National Skills Academy (NSA) for Environmental Technologies, which will go a long way to helping achieve the targets laid out in the Budget.

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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE:

INTENANCE:

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the skills for the commissioning, maintenance and service of these technologies postinstallation.

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developing the confidence of businesses to work with new technologies. 

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and vocational purposes

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Two major initiatives are likely to also present a huge need for skilled personnel and provide an even bigger opportunity for business profit. Feed-in tariffs, to be introduced this month, will see homeowners and other proprietors paid for small-scale low carbon electricity generation. Additionally, the Renewable Heat Incentive, due in Spring 2011, will provide financial assistance to generators of renewable heat.

These schemes, teamed with future changes to building regulations and the zero carbon targets for new homes, means that if your business wants to compete in this market it will need to prove it has the skilled team necessary for the job.

It is important to be aware of the immense potential commercial gains for those who are prepared to invest in low carbon skills. Even in the current economic climate, many businesses that have up-skilled their staff to work in environmental technologies have already seen considerable growth.

Training in environmental technologies should not be seen as exclusive, as it is in fact an extension of existing sector skill sets and job functions. Your current workforce, providing they have the right level of competence (such as NVQ or SVQ), will simply up-skill through add-on training to add environmental technologies to their existing remit.

If you consider the skills you have in your business, where you could evolve and take steps to get prepared, you could gain a significant advantage over your competitors as more and more projects specify the need for environmental technologies. In some areas of the UK there are already insufficient businesses to meet the demand for these types of projects and clients are looking elsewhere, including overseas, to companies who already have the skills in place.

At a domestic level, homeowners need to be made aware of how to make their home more efficient, not only by maximising their existing equipment but also by being aware of renewable energy technologies in particular and how they can play a role in meeting domestic energy demand. If your business has the skills and knowledge in this area, you can stay ahead of the game.

There’s never been a better time to move into this growing market, particularly now the Government is backing a low carbon initiative. With skilled staff in your business, you’ll already have the right skills in place to up-skill and make the move into environmental technologies.

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We recognise that employers are often faced with an array of choices when considering which courses to invest in for their workforce. Short environmental awareness courses can initially help you to get a grip on the important factors to consider, learn more about the new technologies and make the right business decisions.

Key factors to think about when considering which training is right for your workers includes what technologies are already being, or likely to be, specified in your region; and which members of your team are best equipped to up-skill in these areas.

It is part of SummitSkills’ role to ensure fit-for-purpose, accredited and appropriate training is developed. Specifically for environmental technologies, we have put a number of measures in place so that employers in the sector have clear guidelines on how staff should be skilled in this area:

: ONAL STANDARDS

TI NATIONAL OCCUPA

these are the building blocks of qualifications.

They determine the core competencies that individuals should have for each occupation.

SummitSkills has developed standards for environmental technologies upon which qualifications are now being based.

QUALIFICATION DEVELOPMENT: using the National Occupational Standards as a basis, we are now working with awarding bodies, certification bodies and training providers to develop qualifications that fit those standards, both for existing workers and apprentices.

TECHNOLOGIES ENVIRONMENTAL T COURSES: AWARENESS SHOR to enable employers to assess the potential for developing their business and identify employee training needs.

For more information on environmental technologies or qualifications in the sector, visit www.summitskills.org.uk 

The Gr The Graduate aduate SSchool chool of the En Environment vironment ((GSE) GSE) off offers fers e a rrange ange of inspirational inspir ational post-graduate post-graduate pr programmes. ogrammes. A unique e ccombination ombination proffe ession nals, academics and authors create crreate of leading professionals, inno vative solutions aatt EEurope’s urope’s leading en vironmental ccentre. entre. innovative environmental conjunction with the GSE offers offfers e four four o full post-graduate post-graduate pr programmes ogrammes in conjunction Univ ersity of East LLondon ondo on University MScc Architecture: Advanced Environmental Energy Studies MS Architecture: A dv vanced En vironmental and Ene ergy S tudies MS Architecture: A dv vanced En vironmental and Ene ergy S tudies b y MScc Architecture: Advanced Environmental Energy Studies by Distance D istance Learning Learning MScc Renewable Energy MS Renewable Ener g and the Built Environment gy Environment Professional Advanced Environmental P rofe essional Diploma Diploma a in Architecture: Architecture: A dvanced En v onmental and vir Energy Ener gy Studies Studies TThe h he follo wing pr rogr o ramm a me is run in ccollaboration ollaborration a with Univ vers e sitty of W a ales following programme University Wales Institut ar a difff.

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Giant Hogweed Maxime Jay, Managing Director of Musketeers Group Ltd

The impact of invasive alien plants has only been identified and recognised in the last 50 years. In 1992 at the Rio Summit, all signatories of the Biodiversity Convention formally recognised that the introduction of non-native species is a major threat to biodiversity (second to the loss of habitat).

A serious attitude problem and a statute to match!!

With the globalisation phenomenon and an increase in tourism, one could logically presume that alien species have been inadvertently introduced and have begun to settle into our native landscape although we have yet to feel their impact. Nevertheless, let us focus on one of the only two alien terrestrial plants in the UK which are currently subject to strict statutory requirements: The Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).

It is distinguished by dark reddish-purple to green stems which vary from 3-8 cm in diameter. The deeply incised leaves are dark green and can grow between 1-1.5m in width. Both the stem and the leaves are covered with prickly hairs.

Giant Hogweed was first introduced into the UK from its original habitat in the Caucasus region during the Victorian period as an ornamental plant. The first record of Giant Hogweed in the UK was at the Kew Botanic Gardens in 1817 and the first naturalised population of Giant Hogweed was identified in Cambridgeshire in 1828.

How to identify Giant Hogweed?

GIANT HOGWEED FEATURES

Giant Hogweed is a perennial plant and is probably one of the easiest plants to identify when mature. It resembles both the Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) and Garden Angelica (Angelica archangelica), only on a much bigger scale, i.e. it can grow up to 5m tall.

It flowers from late spring to autumn, with numerous white flower bouquets in the shape of an umbrella and produces tens of thousands of seeds that are flattened and oval in shape.

In late autumn/early winter the leaves turn brown, flowers die and the stems become brown and brittle.

It takes several years from germination to produce the first flowering stalk. It is believed to be monocarpic i.e. dying after first flowering and then setting seed. Abundant seed production, a persistent root stalk and vegetative reproduction from nodule buds are cited as reasons for its capability to colonize rapidly and expand populations.

It thrives particularly well along water courses but is known to prosper in more inland habitats. 

STEMS  Hollow and thick (3 to 8 cm in diameter)  Purplish-red pigmentation on stems  Bristle-like hairs

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WINTER  During the winter the plant dies back leaving behind large dry hollow stems that easily identify the Giant Hogweed contamination.

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Precautions if exposed to toxic sap:  Immediately wash the affected area of skin thoroughly with soap and water So what is the impact of Giant Hogweed?

Like Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japanica), its alien peer, Giant Hogweed shades out native plants creating a monoculture, consequently providing poor ecological conditions for wildlife and increased risk of riverbank erosion.

However, as opposed to Japanese Knotweed, Giant Hogweed is not only a threat to our natural environment but is also regarded as a major health hazard to humans. The stems, leaves and flowers produce a sap which contains furocoumarins and must be considered hazardous even when brown and brittle!! Further, un-shaded habitats with high soil nitrate levels tend to produce greater quantities of toxins in the plant.

The sap can cause phytophotodermatitis resulting in severe and painful blisters on the skin (or blindness if sap comes into contact with eyes) when exposed to sunlight or UV-rays. The effects may not become apparent for up to 48 hours after contact. These blisters can cause dark pigmentation &/or scarring that can be permanent or last for several years.

 Prevent the area from exposure to direct sunlight.  Seek medical advice immediately

Giant Hogweed and the Governmental interface: The legislation and the Budget As a direct consequence of the above, Giant Hogweed is subject to two main legislative acts. These are:  The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA) It is an offence to plant or otherwise cause the Giant Hogweed to grow in the wild. Breaching the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 could result in criminal prosecution.  The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) Giant Hogweed is classed as controlled waste and any material contaminated with Giant Hogweed must follow the ‘duty of care’ and be disposed of adequately. Breaching the Environmental Protection Act 1990 could lead to unlimited fines.

In other terms, WCA 1981 means that anyone that owns an area of land contaminated with Giant Hogweed must ensure that this contamination does not spread over to adjacent land.

FLOWERS  Large umbrella-like white flower heads on stems up to 5m high with a diameter of up to 40cm.  Appear late spring to mid summer  Each flower head can produce up to 50,000 seeds and can be viable for upto several years.

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LEAVES  Large with serrated edges  Dark green in colour  Can grow up to 1.5m in width  Underside of each leaf has small hairs or bristles (contain hazardous sap).

In a court scenario, it would be very difficult to enforce under the WCA 1981 as it would be challenging to ascertain or prove where the Giant Hogweed originated from (i.e. from which side of the boundary). The policy for large landowners regarding Giant Hogweed or other invasive weeds is to remain ‘as is’ except if a complaint is raised, as the cost of complete eradication would prove to be too prohibitive.

EPA 1990 implies that any substrata (i.e. soil) contaminated with Giant Hogweed (stem, leaves, roots but also seeds) is classified as controlled waste. If moved offsite, it must be disposed of adequately into a landfill site. EPA 1990 applies to any organisations or individuals and, consequently, even the innocent Sunday gardener could face large liabilities if he decides to cut down his Giant Hogweed infestation and dispose of it in his garden bin.

With regards to the construction industry, EPA 1990 can have a detrimental impact on the financial resource of a project. This has been further exacerbated with the abolition of the Landfill Tax Exemption in November 2008. The Landfill Tax Exemption provided some financial incentive to developers to dispose of their Giant Hogweed waste to landfill sites. Whilst a new financial incentive scheme, the Land Remediation Relief, is due to be put in place in April 2009 and promote in-situ remediation, it currently excludes the remediation of Giant Hogweed.

The Environment Industry Commission is currently lobbying the Government on changes to the Land Remediation relief, which Musketeers Group Ltd is contributing to.

Giant Hogweed and its remediation There are various ways of remediating Giant Hogweed and the method utilised really depends on whether a developer has any time constraints prior to undertaking any development within a contaminated area.

Any soft approaches (as opposed to undertaking some kind of excavation) would be suitable should there be time. However due to the dormant nature of the Giant Hogweed seeds, any soft approach would require a mid to long-term remediation strategy. Herbicide spraying, cutting, pulling and mowing could all be classified as soft approaches, although Musketeers Group Ltd would recommend implementing a spraying programme as it removes the risk of any contact with the plant.

Should the time frame be more restricted (as it generally is) then methods involving excavating the contaminated ground are required. The remediation of Giant Hogweed has been and is still occasionally associated with the original EA guidelines for the remediation of Japanese Knotweed. This involves digging up to 7m away from the visible contamination to a depth of 3m.

Should there be a need for all the arisings to be disposed of to landfill then the cost of remediating a contamination the size of a desk would amount to over £130,000. Such a recommendation would have the potential to jeopardise the feasibility of a project. Thankfully nowadays there are more flexible methods available that both meet the financial expectation of developers and reduce their liabilities.  The article was written by Maxime Jay Managing Director of Musketeers Group Ltd a specialist contractor dedicated to the remediation of invasive plants. For more information visit www.musketeers-group.com

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Ecological Mitigation Dr Andy Tasker, Development Director, Middlemarch Environmental Ltd So what is 'ecological mitigation' all about?

Essentially, it is about trying to put things right if a proposed development is likely to have an adverse impact on some aspect of the site's ecology.

The dictionary definitions of mitigation talk about, ‘to make less severe, intense, harsh, rigorous, or painful’, or, ‘to reduce the seriousness or severity’, but within an ecological context it has come to mean rather more than this, and it grades into compensation. So it's not just about making the impact less severe but it can also include carrying out positive actions to offset any damage.

It almost doesn't matter where you draw the line between mitigation and compensation, as the end result is to try to make a development have less impact on the natural environment. The mitigation part includes all the design and concept parts of a development, such as the precise

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locations of car parks or footprints of buildings, as with skilled advisors these can be changed or moved to minimise harm whilst keeping the desired final build requirements.

The compensation part comes in when all of the best ecological design still ends up with some kind of negative impact, which can be compensated for by carrying out some other activity. This could be on-site, or off-site in an adjacent or nearby area.

All of this can best be illustrated by a number of examples, where the various principles can be explored.

When Sainsbury’s wanted to build a new superstore on the edge of Rugby, way back in the early 1990s, the site that they chose had little ecological value – it was simply agricultural land. However there was concern that the development could lead to the urban expansion of Rugby right up to the nearby village of Dunchurch. A proposal 

One of the ponds at St Asaph Business Park

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creative ecological solutions At Middlemarch Environmental we aim to be the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading biodiversity consultancy, offering help and support whatever your ecological needs.

We can assist with everything from company strategy in the boardroom through to practical on-site habitat creation...

www.elm.uk.net mail@elm.uk.net Mobile: 07960 570777 Ecological Land Management Ltd are involved in the ongoing management of the St Asaph Business Park wildlife areas, as well as implementing mitigation schemes throughout the North West. We also have the skills and equipment to offer a variety of conservation and wildlife protection services. Please contact us to discuss any requirements you may have.

Biodiversity policy and support Survey and assessment Planning and design Implementation and management Site monitoring and ecological research

To find out more please visit our website or call our Managing Director Dr Phil Fermor on 01676 525880.

www.middlemarch-environmental.com Middlemarch Environmental Ltd, Triumph House, Birmingham Rd, Allesley, Coventry CV5 9AZ Telephone: 01676 525880 Fax: 01676 521400 Email: enquiries@middlemarch-environmental.com Supporting The Wildlife Trusts

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was therefore developed to stop this urban sprawl by requiring Sainsbury’s to buy another field, on the Dunchurch side, and construct a nature reserve on it. So it was not so much ecological mitigation but a broader mitigation of the effect of the new development – and a gain for nature conservation in an area with little natural habitat.

After some earth moving to create small hills and hollows, a major tree-planting initiative was carried out on the 4ha site, with a footpath, bench and signage to encourage positive use by the local community. The freehold of Cock Robin Wood – as the field / nature reserve was then named – was handed over to the Borough Council with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust signing a 99 year agreement to take forward the long-term management of the site.

In the one and a half decades since the initial handover, the Trust has invested significant staff time on engaging, training and supporting local volunteers, who now spend time 'keeping an eye' on the nature reserve, clearing paths and managing the vegetation, and monitoring the species growing and using the site.

There have been some problems, mainly related to an access gate and car park, which is now locked during the hours of darkness to discourage anti-social behaviour, but by and large the new woodland nature reserve has done exactly what it was intended to do by discouraging any further development in that part of Rugby, and at the same time providing a valuable and growing amenity for local people and local biodiversity.

The Ripon site will enhance wetlands

Pond No.

Peak Count of Great Crested Newt Numbers 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

P1

0

0

0

0

3

0

7

P2

7

33

2

13

10

19

3

P3

1

1

0

0

3

4

3

P4

11

9

3

24

36

32

18

P5

5

36

2

14

36

1

12

P6

8

2

0

15

8

12

8

P7

1

-

-

-

-

-

0

P8

0

-

-

-

-

-

-

P9

0

-

0

0

-

-

0

P10

0

0

0

0

0

2

12

P11

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

P12

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

P13

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

P14

-

-

-

0

-

-

-

P15

-

-

-

0

-

-

-

P20

-

-

-

-

-

-

13

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

A more recent example at the St Asaph Business Park in Denbighshire, North Wales, involved Middlemarch Environmental Ltd (Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's wholly owned subsidiary ecological consultancy) being called in to investigate an issue of Great Crested Newts (Triturus cristatus) in 2000. The first surveys showed that there was a significant population of newts on the site, and given the species' European protected status, clearly something had to be done before the development got the go-ahead.

In addition to a comprehensive survey of the site, Middlemarch's ecologists also surveyed the surrounding area in order to determine what the possibilities were for mitigation of any habitat loss on-site.

From the surveys, a mitigation plan was developed which included both on-site retention and enhancement of some water bodies, as well as extensive off-site habitat creation with a series of new ponds and surrounding areas of vegetation. The mitigation plan formed a key part of the development licence granted by the National Assembly for Wales, ensuring that mitigation works took place as the development programme proceeded. In addition to the practical habitat works included in the plan, a ten-year monitoring programme was agreed to ensure that the population of Great Crested Newts really were thriving in their new and modified habitats.

All survey works follow the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) Level III survey methodology (CCW, 2000), and for the 2008 season surveys included 7 ponds within St Asaph Business Park, 2 ponds within the periphery of the business park and a tenth pond just outside the park boundary.

The off-site habitat creation area, which includes 16 purpose-built ponds and associated terrestrial habitats, has now been designated as Glascoed Local Nature Reserve. Management and monitoring here is undertaken

by North East Wales Wildlife Group (formerly Deeside Urban Wildlife Group) with monitoring support from Middlemarch Environmental when there is not sufficient volunteer capacity to achieve this.

The net result of all this work is a growing body of knowledge about Great Crested Newt ecology, including the variability of populations over time (see Table 1) and the pond management techniques needed to maintain and enhance newt numbers.

As the development at the business park continues, so additional newt relocations will give rise to increasing numbers in some ponds and declines in others, but the overall network of ponds and terrestrial habitat should continue to support a viable long-term population of newts.

And the aims of mitigation at this site will have been met, as the business park continues to add jobs and economic benefits to the area, and the newts continue to thrive.

A third example illustrates how whole habitats can be created if appropriate long-term planning includes an ecological input at a very early stage. When mineral company Brown & Potter (part of the Aggregate Industries group) wanted to extract mineral from a site near Ripon, Yorkshire, they engaged Middlemarch Environmental Ltd

Exclusion fencing for Great Crested Newts

to advise them of their options and the potential end use of the land, which is currently mainly farmland near to the River Ure. Ecological surveys had showed that there was no particular wildlife interest in the area but the result of the quarrying operation will be a new wetland feature extending for some 20 hectares, and including Phragmites reedbed and other associated wetland habitats, from open water to wet woodland. The eco-hydrological restoration has been designed by Middlemarch's specialists and will give significant biodiversity gains during the seven years of gravel extraction, and beyond. Long-term, the site will be passed to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for management as a nature reserve, to be enjoyed by the people of Ripon. This example therefore includes elements of both mitigation and compensation, both in ecological terms and in community benefits.

Much of the future of ecological mitigation is now enshrined in legislation and Government planning policies, overseen by agencies including Natural England, the Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage and local authorities. The main legislation relating to nature conservation is the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which has been supplemented by the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000 in England and Wales, and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 north of the border. These acts also have additional regulations and amendments.

On the planning side, Planning Policy Statement 9 (PPS9) is the key Government policy to protect biodiversity and geological conservation. Amongst its key principles, aimed at ensuring the potential impacts of planning decisions on biodiversity are fully considered, is a requirement to ensure that “before planning permission is granted, adequate mitigation measures are put in place”. If sufficient mitigation is not possible, “appropriate compensation measures should be sought.”

The impact of these various controlling elements is to ensure that our ecological heritage is protected as built development occurs, so promoting truly sustainable development, and to use a Middlemarch catch-phrase, 'homes for more than just people'.

Reference: Planning Policy Statement 9: Biodiversity and Geological Conservation (2005) HMSO

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THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION UTILITY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A NEW MODEL FOR GROWTH

By Tom Vair, Executive Director and Mei Ling, Communications Manager, Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre THE SAULT STE. MARIE INNOVATION CENTRE When POD Generating Group set out to look for potential sites for a major solar farm facility, they turned to local agencies in each community of interest to help identify sites that matched their unique criteria. The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC), based out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, quickly impressed POD Generating Group by generating maps and information at a faster rate with more comprehensive information than any other organisation. Within hours, SSMIC accomplished what many larger communities were not able to do; they provided detailed maps that identified suitable locations complete with electrical grid information that enabled POD to move forward on their solar farm project.

How did a not-for-profit organisation in a city of 75,000 accomplish what many metropolitan communities could not?

THE SAULT STE. MARIE COMMUNITY INFORMATION UTILITY The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) is a nonprofit organisation with a mandate to grow the science and technology sectors in its region. It has received international recognition for creating an innovative model to leverage the benefits of shared information. In 2000, SSMIC undertook a project with the city of Sault Ste. Marie and Sault Ste. Marie Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to implement an Integrated Community Geomatics System (ICGS) platform. SSMIC hired local staff to form a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department and staff worked alongside external GIS consultants to implement the solution. In the process, they received training and expertise which enabled them to operate the GIS solution moving forward. Since then, the resulting GIS implementation has developed into one of the most comprehensive and complex community based municipal GIS systems, with over 60 community partners and hundreds of layers of data from a variety of sectors.

The core data platform for the municipal GIS solution includes models with detailed information including Administrative Limits; Buildings; Electricity Distribution; Landbase; Transportation; Water Distribution; and Waste ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Water Collection. These models are highly complex with thousands of rules and intelligence built into the system.

The electrical system is the most sophisticated and it enables users to conduct scenarios to determine addresses that will be affected if there is a damaged line or transformer. In addition, all the information related to the electrical grid, including equipment manuals, photographs of utility poles etc., is captured and maintained in the system.

This ICGS model provides tangible benefits for the city of Sault Ste. Marie and PUC by improving municipal operations, streamlining processes and maintaining up-to-date information repositories. The initial municipal system has won numerous awards and been featured in many international publications. Had the story stopped there the project would still be a success story and a model for municipal GIS implementations. What is most interesting and noteworthy, however, is what happened next.

The SSMIC GIS department used the powerful municipal GIS platform to engage other community and regional organisations. These organisations were able to better understand their data through the inherent benefits of GIS visualisation which has resulted in more targeted and efficient use of resources and improved service delivery.

Perhaps more importantly, the GIS platform enabled organisations that struggled to collaborate previously to share appropriate data to break down silos and improve service delivery and gain efficiencies at a system-wide level.

What began as a community-based municipal solution with two clients has evolved into a regional solution that is serving over sixty organisations located across Ontario.

The SSMIC GIS department has evolved to become the Community Geomatics Centre (CGC) and currently boasts a staff of twenty professionals. The CGC works to promote and establish the partnerships and technological means to efficiently share geospatial data, tools and knowledge amongst community organisations to create safer, healthier and more prosperous communities. Momentum continues to build and the solution has been recognised as a true community information utility (CIU) that serves partners in the health, social services, economic development, education and non-profit sectors among others.

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provides informatics services including data hosting and data analysis within a community.

This new model has resulted in the co-operative, efficient and cost-effective sharing of information amongst community organisations and partners. With the emergence of the Sault Ste. Marie CIU, the analysis of shared information has led to significant improvements in the overall health, public safety and operational efficiency of the community.

SSMIC provides services to all levels of Government within Canada, with a focus on municipalities, utilities, and healthcare providers.

The SSMIC model has won numerous awards and has been featured in many international publications: Awards • URISA 2009 Best Public Sector GIS in Ontario • 2008 International ESRI Health GIS Communication Award • ESRI 2007 Special Achievement in GIS Award (Health and Human Services) • ESRI Canada 2006 Award of Excellence • URISA 2006 Best Municipal GIS Award • URISA 2006 Leadership in the Field of GIS • URISA 2005 – Silver Award – GIS Leadership in Ontario • 2005 Award for Commitment to the Community – SSM Police • ESRI Canada 2002 Business Partner Award • URISA 2003 Best Municipal GIS Award CIU IN ACTION If, as the expression goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then a GIS map is worth a thousand pictures. Utilising GIS technology to capture and communicate complex amounts of data is a strength that SSMIC has developed.

There are hundreds of maps that could be shown to demonstrate the breadth and scope of how GIS technology and the community information utility model have benefited Sault Ste. Marie and the Algoma region.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY A powerful use of the GIS platform is identifying economic development opportunities and serving the information requirements of businesses looking to locate potential operations in a community. The level of detail provided through the CIU has enabled SSMIC and the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation staff to attract significant new business opportunities within the region. The key to this success has been faster  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Image: concert photography

Geographic information is the key to our environmental future Ordnance Survey is Great Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national mapping agency. It is our job to collect, maintain and distribute the most accurate and up-to-date geographic information of the whole country that government, business and individuals all rely upon.

Location data from Ordnance Survey supports key government bodies and vital public services involved in the protection of our natural environment.

Ordnance Survey data is used to help make better decisions, by providing the location context for: t 'MPPE SJTL NPEFMMJOH t 4VSGBDF XBUFS SVO PGG t 7FHFUBUJPO DPWFS t 3PPUT JO TFXFST t /PJTF QPMMVUJPO MFWFMT t 'BUT PJMT BOE HSFBTF JO TFXFST t )FBU MPTT GSPN CVJMEJOHT t $PBTUBM FSPTJPO t 1PMMVUJPO GPPUQSJOUT t 3FTFSWPJS NPEFMMJOH

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response times to proponent queries and an increased level of detail and accuracy in dealing with site selection specifications.

leaders and support groups. Certainly, the CGC has been an important component in helping move forward these developments which include:

The example cited earlier with POD Generating, Group helped to land a 20MW, $100M solar generating facility in the community. Utilising criteria supplied by POD Generating such as proximity to municipal grid infrastructure, specific types of electrical lines, proximity to sub-stations, slope of land, appropriate zoning, etc., SSMIC was able to quickly identify options for the company to assist in their decision making process. POD Generating now has approval to proceed with an additional 40MW of solar power in Sault Ste. Marie so the project is expected to grow to be over $400M.

• Elementa Group – a municipal solid waste to energy company

Following their success with POD, SSMIC continues to work with other alternative energy organisations interested in developing projects in Sault Ste. Marie.

SSMIC’s work with GIS has also expanded outside of the Algoma District and they have also consulted with other municipalities outside of Canada.

Sault Ste. Marie has become recognised as a leader in North America in alternative energy projects, and has been commended by alternative energy companies and investors for having positive support from community ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

• Ellsin Environmental Ltd. – a tire recovery pilot project with a patented system to break down scrap tires into carbon black, oil, gas and steel by-products • Brookfield Renewable Power – 189MW Prince Wind Farm, currently the third largest wind farm in Canada • Superior Energy Solutions – rooftop solar projects are being undertaken across the community Tremendous potential exists for other communities to utilise GIS solutions to aid in the effective capture, sharing and communication of data. The example of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre provides direct evidence of the advantages of such as system and its abilities to assist municipalities and private sector organisations. The direct application to alternative energy projects presents a unique opportunity to gather data in a way that will help companies and planners to identify and move forward new projects in a much more effective way. 

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Brian Graham is Director of Soil and Water Remediation Limited, a UK wide remediation contractor, and has more than 15 years experience in dealing with contaminated land and remediation.

Stakeholder Communications

Stakeholder communication is a real buzzword currently but stakeholder communication is often overlooked as a part of project management and planning on contaminated land remediation projects. This can be a mistake especially on projects where members of the public will be involved or will be in close proximity to the operations. When plant and specialist machinery appear on the site next door to your house early one morning, without warning, you can imagine the potential concerns that might be expressed.

However, this need not be the case with careful planning and good communication with interested parties including householders, the public, Local Authorities etc.

With careful planning and consideration of the technical issues of the project such as odours, noise, hours of operation, vehicle movements and the location of sensitive land uses (such as houses, schools, hospitals etc.) it is possible to carry out large projects with minimal impact on these groups. Soil and Water Remediation often find as part of the planning process it is useful to engage with these sensitive end users. These people are often referred to as ‘Stakeholders’. The objective of this engagement is to communicate with potential stakeholders. This communication must be both ways. Not only must you, as the practitioner, tell the stakeholder what is going to happen, when it is going to happen and how it might affect them, but you must also listen to the stakeholder’s concerns about what effects your operation might have on them.

Sometimes these concerns may be unfounded but they still need to be addressed. It would be best to choose a member of staff who has good technical knowledge of the process you are undertaking, as well as a good manner with people. However, these attributes may not be enough in themselves. One of the things that many scientists are guilty of is not speaking to people in a manner which they understand. How many meetings have you been to where people start using the three and four letter acronyms – you don’t have a clue what they are on about, and you are in the same profession as they are!! Make sure the person you send to carry out the communication exercise has all these skills. Not to do so is folly and may do more harm than good.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Addressing the stakeholder concerns before they even arise is also a good idea. For example, why not think about using dust monitoring, both long term and real-time to ensure you are not causing an issue if you are using a process that creates dust. This would be good practice on many sites and in many cases demand of an Environmental Permit. Likewise for noise. If you know a process is noisy, why not look at an alternative process or at least monitor the noise level at the most sensitive location to ensure compliance with the standards that have been set.

Soil and Water Remediation had a project where there was a need to dismantle and remove a large 200,000 litre above ground fuel storage tank. Here there was a need to carry out work in a sympathetic manner with regard to noise. The noise was an issue due to the close proximity of classrooms to the site. Exams were scheduled for the same time as the project. However, careful timing of noisy operations outwith the exam timings allowed the project to go ahead with minimal delay to the overall works programme and with minimal disturbance to the exams.

A typical project that Soil and Water Remediation have undertaken is the remediation of a former transport yard which was contaminated with hydrocarbons. The yard had been redundant for many years, so neighbouring residential properties were not accustomed to daily noise. However, during a complete site demolition, excavation and remediation, it is almost impossible to not cause any noise. Early engagement with the LA and residents meant that there were no significant complaints about the work despite the proximity of the houses to the work site, as can be seen in the attached photograph. The site information board displayed the site phone number so that any issues that did arise could be brought to our attention and dealt with quickly. In the end, the whole area has benefitted from a project which has removed old and dangerous buildings and cleaned up an area of contamination to allow future development to take place.

Overall, it can be seen that careful planning and engagement of all interested parties can make the project progress in a smooth manner and with a good outcome for all parties. 

CONTAMINATED LAND

By Hilary Allen, Associate, Land Development, Davis Langdon LLP and NewFields

It is not news to state that contamination can prevent previously-developed land from realising its full potential.

In particular, the cost of remediation can affect the viability of marginal sites that might otherwise be developed, most notably for housing. It is also not news that in the current market, local authorities have diminishing funds available to support regeneration, or their Part 2A responsibilities, and the sites themselves have declined in value. Developers also have limited cash and so are prevented from undertaking large-scale strategic projects.

As more straightforward sites are developed, remediation challenges will become more complex. The Home and Communities Agency’s (HCA) public land initiative is, for example, focused on land with low remediation risk, which will leave the more difficult sites to housebuilders who are outside the initiative. On the positive side, the techniques used to deal with contaminants are increasingly effective.

So whilst overall cost reduction remains a constant key driver, services which de-risk the ‘black art’ of remediation are in greater demand than ever before. In this article we consider the traditional approach to contaminated land, and discuss an alternative methodology that brings a contamination “owner” greater certainty and therefore confidence in returns from investment in contaminated land.

Scoping the Problem For clients developing on contaminated land, the starting point is almost always, “How big a problem is the contamination?”

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

This leads to more specific questions, which require a translation of technical measurement and theory into commercial implications expressed in cost and time.

Frequently asked questions usually include:  How much will remediation cost?  How long will it take?  When will we have regulatory approval to start on site? and most significantly  How certain are those estimates?

It is the last of those questions which is the most potentially damaging. Expressing confidence levels is difficult and invites “uber”-conservatism as clients demand to know their maximum exposure, and consultants strive to offer maximum reliability.

Yet, with all advice for contaminated land, there is the overriding caveat that it is as accurate as it can be based on the knowledge of the site conditions; the general premise being that “more site investigations and information will always improve that picture”. Hence a client retains a minimum level of uncertainty, and the promise of less risk with more investment. But when is enough, enough?

More investigation comes at a cost, which is often not insignificant, and hence clients want to know the value that further investment will bring to the project. This article argues that, as an industry, we can do better at measurably de-risking the remediation process, and facilitate better, more confident decision-making for where to spend the diminishing funds for development.

Figure 1: Traditional approach to de-risking contaminated land through progressive site characterisation and commercial assessment.

Traditional Approach to Remediation Risk Information, information, information: this is the main method of de-risking the process for clients in practice today. The more that is known about the scope and nature of the contamination, the more certainty there can be for all parties.

Environmental consultants are therefore naturally leant on heavily to provide definition to the remediation question. The results of their work allow refinements to the programme and budget, in an ongoing iterative process. Add into this picture also, the need to achieve regulator approval and it means that there can always be found a reason to justify more information.

More site data provided

As an industry, there has been remarkable Regulator review improvement in the quality of advice in terms of relevance, commerciality and More information appreciation of the project context within required which contamination issues sit. However, clients still feel frustrated and powerless when it comes to decision making in respect of contaminated land. When presented with the next set of proposals for further site investigations or on-site monitoring, how is a client to judge the merits or assess the value to be returned from more investment? Given the reactive basis of the approach to date, it is easy to understand why clients can feel uncertain and nervous about developing contaminated land. 

Environmental Consultant

Cost Consultant

Desk Study – identify potential risk

Initial cost plan

Phase 1 site investigations – better understanding of risk

Phase 2 site investigations – detailed understanding of risk

Revised cost plan

Further revisions to cost plans.

Options appraisal

Final cost plan Remediation Strategy

Procurement of remediation works

Mobilise

Start Remediation works

Contract administration

Validation

Agree final account

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Observations

- Difficult to assess the most efficient route upfront

Figure 1 is a crude simplification of the stages and activity that happen on a contaminated land development. As a process, there is a lot of activity to move a project forward and get the client through to a clean site. However, there is a tremendous amount of inherent uncertainty left unaddressed by the actions at each step. For example:

- Limited visibility of project progression

 Achieving regulator approval

In the worst case scenario, a development can be left both perceptually and practically on hold whilst the remediation question remains unanswered, and the consultancy bill escalates with no real knowledge of whether further investment will achieve the desired outcome. As such there is arguably demand for another approach to remediation, which hands back control to the client, enabling proactive management of remediation risk and facilitating commercial choices.

- How long will it take?

- How much will it cost?

- What level of clean-up is expected?

- Is there high background contamination affecting the site?  Procurement

- Invites multiple layers of conservatism - Reduced cohesion and co-ordination of separate disciplines - Project changes tend to be more disruptive and costly

- Who can perform the specialist remediation works?

- What does a good price look like?

An Alternative Approach

- What form of contract will protect my interests the most?

In order to de-risk the process in the client’s mind, any alternative approach must seek to address key project uncertainties, identify the most significant ones and provide a clear strategy for dealing with them, such that the chances of achieving the end objective are increased. The aim is to shift the emphasis to a strategy that plans activity focused on the end goal. It is not the case that the proposed or on-going activity is wrong but perhaps the focus is too narrow and not the most appropriate for the client and/ or stakeholders, which hinders quality decision making.

- Is everything included?

- How does the remediation interface with the main development works?  Cost advice - What level of certainty is there in the cost estimates?

- Is this option the best in terms of time and cost for the project?

- How much conservatism has been built in?

- What risk premium is included in a fixed price contract?  Programme - How soon can work begin on site?

- Can cost efficiencies be achieved through the programme scheduling?  Risk - What is the residual liability of the remediation options?

- Is insurance necessary or recommended?  Sustainability - Which is the most sustainable remediation option?

- What are the short term impacts of the remediation strategy?

The technical challenges and factors make it very difficult for the uninformed to understand the options and assess value in a consultant’s advice. Uncertainty exists for most, if not all of the stakeholders and it is not confined to defining the size of the contamination. Similarly, it follows that more site information will not necessarily answer all the questions for a client.

Other observations of this process include: - Limited ability to drive a project forward with full knowledge of risks ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Hence an ideal solution would draw together all factors and variables - whether environmental, commercial, technical, statutory, ecological, social, legal or any areas that have the potential to impact the route to delivery of remediated land – and express the potential outcomes in terms of time and money and the respective certainty of each. One method of achieving this goal is through probabilistic decision analysis applied to the environmental sector.

About Probabilistic Decision Analysis Probabilistic decision analysis (PDA) brings to the discipline of project management an ability to synthesise and coordinate multi-disciplinary considerations and expectations into a coherent strategy for the stated objective. It is a set of processes and analytical tools that have evolved out of systems research, game theory and research into cognitive processes, which have now developed into an alterative approach to contaminated land. The strength of PDA is based in its ability to capture both factual and subjective information. It brings to the forefront uncertainties inherent in the problem at hand and the opportunities for limiting their negative impact. In turn, this facilitates evaluation of the relative merits of alternative courses of action whilst offering unique insight into stakeholders’ judgements and beliefs. Further more, the approach is applicable for specific short term needs as well as mid and long term objectives. For example, a client’s short term goal could

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

be effective remediation phasing, while the long term view is concerned with timely completion and reduction of legacy liability.

However large or small, the theory and approach is the same. This is illustrated in Figure 2.

Communicating with all stakeholders to understand their specific drivers and concerns should always be the starting point. At the core of this stage is shared desire to reach understanding of specific drivers and concerns; it is essentially an alignment of goals. Notice how all disciplines are now pulling in the same direction, as compared to the Figure 1 scenario. Data management and understanding the environmental information is a vital part of the early stages but, unlike traditional approaches, PDA recognises that gaps in the information are only one part of the decision-making process for the client. These, and the other related uncertainties, are all captured and mapped in a decision tree that clearly lays out the options and routes to achieving the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objective. Each of the branches of the tree can be allocated a cost, time and likelihood of the result happening. Then, using predictive modelling programmes based on the decision tree inputs, thousands of theoretical trials can be carried out, measuring the likely outcomes and reporting on the inherent risk in the key metrics.

Typically these results are presented graphically, illustrating the level of certainty against cost in either time and/ or money.

See Figure 3 for a simplified example of the outputs. ď ľ

Figure 3: Example outputs from probabilistic decision analysis: a simplified decision tree and probability-cost curve

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Figure 2: Alternative approach to de-risking contaminated land using probabilistic decision analysis, which aligns multiple disciplines and considerations into a coherent strategy.

INPUT

PROCESS

OUTPUT

PROCESS

Environmental Data

Regulator requirements

Project constraints

Applied Decision Theory (Define problem and clarify objectives)

Probabilistic Decision Tree

Assessment of cost &/ or programme

INPUT

Allocate to decision tree

OUTPUT

Probabilistic Cost Curves

INFORM STRATEGY & PLAN OF ACTION

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ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Advantages over Traditional Approach

- Project is running faster overall.

The main advantage of probabilistic decision analysis is that the likely cost and/ or programme implications of various remediation options can be expressed with far greater certainty and transparency. In particular, a graphical representation of a range of costs provides more insight for a client because it has a physical shape. All can see if the estimate is closer to the lower or higher end of that range from the gradient of the curve.

- Potentially quicker, smoother liaison with regulatory bodies.

Furthermore, it establishes a platform for a strategy that will systematically target key uncertainties affecting the outcome. In turn, specific actions can be planned that will knowingly reduce project risk to an acceptable level for the client. With properly planned activity, a client should see their cost curve move left and become steeper (i.e. reduced cost and increased certainty in cost estimate).

Having carried out those actions, iterations of the original analysis can very quickly be updated and re-run showing measurable changes in the values and levels of certainty.

The decision process becomes â&#x20AC;&#x153;decide-learn-adjust-decideâ&#x20AC;?, supported by the logic captured in the decision tree.

Some of the other advantages of this more proactive, collaborative approach to decision making include: - Easier to decide between alternatives due to common basis of comparison.

- Greater flexibility to react and change direction onto an alternative path if the preferred route proves unviable..

- Reports can be produced faster and conclusions reached earlier.

- More value generated from every pound spent.

- Costs are reduced as efficiency of activities increases.

- Increased confidence in the recommendations bringing you closer to the end goal.

- Better understanding of what more investment will buy and the anticipated outcome.

- Fewer obstructive conflicts of opinion.

- Comfort for potential investors and other stakeholders.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

- Facilitates real time decision making allowing stakeholders to test different assumptions - Provides greater transparency of cost risk to potential funders Overall, the result is more confident clients and stakeholders, who are better prepared to make decisions and more attractive to funders for investment.

Summary In conclusion, to make development on contaminated land more attractive, a more sophisticated approach to de-risking remediation would certainly be desirable.

Incremental steps based on gradual increase in information leaves too much uncertainty on the table that can undermine the perception of progress. We need to step up a gear and recognise that the sources of uncertainty are more varied and complex than simply defining the nature and scope of contamination.

One method for dealing with environmental risk and arguably more important - the perception of risk, is the strategic management approach provided by probabilistic decision analysis. It is powerful tool because of its flexibility to consider as many variables as necessary, from all manner of sources be they technical, non-technical, financial, psychological, legal or anything else that is having an impact on the remediation strategy. Decision trees provide a structure for the decision-making process, with predictive modelling techniques making the commercial outcomes more foreseeable. Thus, when consultants are called upon for advice, it is more valued in return because of the underpinning strategy and measurability of progress. This has to be a positive move for everyone involved with remediation and hence probabilistic decision analysis could be the answer to the future for unlocking even the most difficult sites. ď Ž

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Armac Group Turn Key Package

The Armac Group provides every service required to transform a derelict site to a cleared, safe, clean site ready for development or re-use. We call it our ‘turn key package’.

By consulting us at the early stage for technical expertise, cost-effective, environmentally sensitive solutions to a project, clients are able to save time, effort and money.

Our turn key package broadly encompasses the following key stages:

• Asbestos Survey & Removal Beginning with the asbestos survey our surveyors will prepare an accurate Type 3 survey. Our in-house, licensed, asbestos operatives will then tackle the most difficult asbestos removal works.

We can de-risk this process for the client by providing a lump sum, all risk removal cost if we are working from our own survey. We also provide an easier interface with any demolition activities when working alongside our own demolition crews allowing for accelerated programme times.

• Demolition From the initial design of the demolition process with 2D & 3D Cad modeling, our highly trained staff and specialist fleet of state of the art demolition plant, allows us to quickly and safely clear any site. We will also deal with all other planning and design issues such as service disconnections, temporary works and statutory notifications. Our commitment to sustainability provides cost saving solutions and allows us to consistently seek new methods to usefully process and re-use demolition derived materials.

• Remediation Our in-house experts have a wealth of remediation experience and a track record of addressing the most technically demanding issues in a robust and cost effective manner. We can also intergrate any geotechnical requirements and related groundwork packages such as piling and earthworks. Our technical team will provide detailed completion reports for the regulators and collateral warranties for the site funders to demonstrate that the site has been remediated to the required standards.

Contaminated Land: Jack of all trades, master of one

Standfirst: It takes years of wide ranging education to build up expertise in land contamination assessment. We need to nurture this career from the very beginning, writes Natalyn Ala When people ask our land quality department how long a land contamination investigation, assessment and remediation will take and what is involved, they are often surprised by the response.

A client asks regarding a large brownfield regeneration site: “Can you get it done by the end of this week?” We answer: “It will take more like weeks or even months,” adding that we may be using a team of five or more environmental scientists and engineers.

This exchange is typically followed by more questions: “Surely you just grab a few soil samples, have it analysed that day, submit a report by the end of the week and start remediation the following week?”

While I may be exaggerating the above example, there is a common misconception that land contamination investigations and remediation works involve very little time, ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

staff or expertise. The reality is that carrying out land contamination assessment to ensure a robust, value engineered project and regulatory approvals, is much more complicated than it appears. You could call it a dark art but that would be misleading. It is not so much an art, but a delicate blend of suitable educational background, training and experience.

Land contamination teams operate across interdisciplinary environments. Each person in the team has a broad knowledge of many areas and must also know when to call in specific expertise.

Depending on the circumstances, contaminant hydrogeologists, human health risk assessors, geo-environmental engineers, geologists, remediation experts, statisticians, soil chemists and toxicologists could all be required to assess a brownfield site.

After collecting soil and water samples and undertaking gas monitoring, the data needs to be assessed, interpreted and reported over a number of weeks. Each stage is essential in understanding the complex nature of the ground, gases, vapours and water beneath a site and its potential contamination distribution. 

Clearing the path to successful land remediation

Struggling to efficiently manage the complex issues surrounding brownfield sites? Finding it difficult to decide on the best approach to remediating contaminated land? Our team of dedicated specialists understands the uncertainties driving commercial risk in your remediation projects. We can demystify the problem and give you greater confidence - even when working with previously developed land.

We can guide you towards the right strategy for maximising the returns on your investment in contaminated and derelict land. Our expert knowledge and experience covers all aspects of cost, project management and funding advice, tailoring a service that will clear the path to successful remediation for you.

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Of course this can be frustrating for project teams that are itching to start laying foundations but it will reap huge benefits over the long term. Just investing, for example, ÂŁ10,000 and required time in a land contamination assessment could save many hundreds of thousands of pounds over the course of the project. The key benefit offered by a multidisciplinary land contamination team is aligning this process with the development programme, minimising delays. A more thorough knowledge of what lies beneath can minimise client liabilities and safeguard project teams and future users of a site against potential environmental and health risks, which would otherwise have held up the schedule further down the line.

An advantage of using site specific risk assessments is that you can set site specific remediation targets and take a more flexible approach. Often this can be far more cost effective than remediating the entire site to a generic set of criteria and is also more likely to satisfy a regulator.

To give an example, Atkins is currently lead consultant on Coed Darcy, near Swansea. This is a trailblazing project being undertaken by St Modwen Developments Limited to transform a former oil refinery into a sustainable and ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

picturesque urban village. Coed Darcy is believed to be one of only a handful of such projects around the world.

The site contains a highly variable range of contaminants ranging from crude oil, oily sludges, and heavy metals to asbestos. Contaminated brownfield sites, especially of this scale, are usually only cleaned up for further industrial development.

Now that the site specific risk assessments have been completed, the project team is using a variety of bioremediation strategies tailored to the varying levels of contamination across the site and the required soil quality depending on proximity to receptors and risk assessment findings. It is probable that without taking this approach, cleaning up to a generic set of criteria would have been prohibitively expensive for the project to go ahead.

In the UK the demand for land contamination expertise has risen dramatically over the past decade to solve problems like those faced at Coed Darcy. This has also been driven by legislation: in particular, Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This has been a great influencer of more recent planning and environmental legislation, since it came into force in 2000. ď ľ

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Until recently, training and education had not kept pace with this growing demand. In fact, the number of courses on offer has actually fallen. When I started working in the UK twelve years ago, there were a number of Masters programmes specialising in land contamination, such as hydrogeology or environmental engineering. A few years on, a number of these departments have lost their funding and closed down. While there remain, of course, wellrecognised Masters environmental programmes, the supply of young people entering the industry with a suitable range of skills remains restricted. There is also a dire shortage of senior managers with relevant expertise, which may be linked to poor graduate employment prospects in the mid-1990s as the country recovered from the previous recession. This remains a worrying trend for the future.

At the moment the current recession is masking the problem. Prior to 2008, however, the squeeze on skills

course work. Land contamination experts need a broad range of knowledge and training: in chemistry, biology, geology, hydrogeology, toxicology, mathematics and engineering. Fostering close partnerships with universities and prospective employers in the industry is a very important step in developing our future experts.

A number of professional chartership bodies offer land contamination as a bolt-on option for young developing professionals, including The Geological Society, Royal Society of Chemists, Institution of Civil Engineers, Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

However, these organisations generally focus on the specific technical areas of the land contamination profession most relevant to their chartership. This, in some respects, tends to influence the young professional to concentrate in one specific technical area too soon in their career, rather than being guided towards gaining the broad experience required.

The Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC) chartership, which is sponsored and supported by a number of professional bodies including The Geological Society and the Royal ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

was painfully apparent. It was increasingly difficult to find qualified professionals with the relevant project, people management and communication skills, along with in-depth technical expertise in human health assessment, remediation or contaminant hydrogeology. This led to a scramble among consultants for quality talent and, predictably, to an upward pressure on salaries.

As we gradually emerge from one of the worst recessions in decades, the skills shortage looks likely to be more problematic than ever. At present it is difficult to gauge how this will affect the land contamination industry resource pool in the future, but it will almost certainly take years to regain the same level of knowledge and experience realised prior to the recession.

One way to future-proof the industry is to encourage individual charterships for land contamination expertise when young professionals are undertaking their university

Society of Chemists, focuses on the land contamination professional involved in brownfield regeneration. However, to qualify for the SiLC chartership application you have to aquire a chartership with another organisation and be at a senior level.

It would be beneficial to everyone if industry could establish a chartership that younger recruits could follow from the first day they start their career in land contamination.

This could be more relevant and targeted to their needs and it would help companies nurture their young talent more effectively.

Which organisation should develop and run this chartership is another question entirely. It would not be a particularly easy undertaking as so many disciplines are involved, but it would be a highly imaginative approach to addressing a skills problem that is likely to worsen in the medium term. ď Ž Natalyn Ala is a director at Atkins and Business Head of the Land Quality team, and has been working for Atkins for the past ten years. She has a Bachelors degree in Engineering Geology and a Masters in Hydrogeology from Texas A&M University. She began her career as a technical specialist in contaminant hydrogeology with expertise in fate and transport groundwater modelling.

Land Quality

Our experts in land quality can turn sites viewed as potential liabilities into commercial assets. We specialise in the design and management of affordable remediation solutions, usually undertaken as part of the regeneration of brownfield land.

We offer an extensive range of expertise in: ground investigation contaminated land assessment remediation delivery project management health & safety and environmental management part 2A assessments quantitative assessment of the risk to human health quantitative assessment of risk to rivers and groundwater SiLC qualified staff.

For more information about our services, please contact: John Crowther, SiLC Technical Director Ground Engineering E: john.crowther@mouchel.com M: 07778 676 487

Danny Stevens, Policy Director, EIC, suggests key manifesto changes to secure the green vote.....

In years to come we face a perfect storm of rapid population growth; energy, food, water and resource shortages; and catastrophic climate change. We need a fundamental shift to an economic model that puts sustainability at the heart of global growth, one that bases economic wellbeing and competitiveness on protecting the environment, not destroying it. This is not only the defining challenge of the coming decade, but the defining business opportunity.

considering that we are already a long way behind. The UK’s environmental industry currently has a turnover of £112 billion (2008/9), which is equivalent to only 3.5% of global market value. With the sector expected to grow by 45% over the next eight years, huge strides still have to be made before we are anywhere close to putting the UK at the forefront of a worldwide low carbon, resource efficient economy.

Those industries that develop the innovative green technologies that will guide the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy will soon be in a position to lead what is already a $3 trillion global environmental marketplace - and growing rapidly at over 5% a year. Yet only those countries whose governments act first to put in place a strong domestic framework to support green technologies will win first-mover advantage. Without political action, Britain will miss out and allow our international competitors to dominate the environmental market, putting our long-term competitiveness at risk.

It is becoming more and more likely that if the UK is to make the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, it will do so using technologies supplied from countries like Germany, the USA, Japan and Korea, that continue to put in place ambitious support measures for their environmental industries. This would be disastrous for our international competitiveness.

Over the last 15 years, the EIC has lobbied harder than any other organisation for the domestic policy framework that would secure this huge economic opportunity for the UK. Last year, we saw a raft of detailed policy proposals from countries such as the US, Germany, Japan and Korea, who have intervened in their economies through multi-billion dollar ‘green new deals’ that will help create thousands of jobs in their environmental industries. China is also emerging as a major competitor. Its economic stimulus plan included a massive $142 billion programme of environmental measures.

The global environmental marketplace is fiercely competitive. The Environmental Audit Committee recently published a report echoing EIC’s concerns that the Government is not doing enough to compete. This is particularly worrying ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

EIC recently carried out a survey of environmental businesses, which uncovered a unanimous lack of faith in the major political parties’ environmental policies. 50% of those surveyed said that no party was committed to doing enough to ensure industry growth. The urgent challenge for whoever forms the next Government will be to establish a world-leading environmental industry - with thousands of new businesses, hundreds of thousands of new jobs and huge export potential. To do this ahead of our international competitors requires an ambitious policy framework that embeds low carbon, sustainability and resource efficiency into the very fabric of the economy.

EIC has therefore set out key recommendations for the political parties in the run-up to the election. EIC’s Election Manifestos were prepared by leading business people and policy experts in the UK’s environmental industry. They set out a clear policy framework that would place the UK at the forefront of the global transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. 

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Key recommendations in the manifestos include:  The launch of an Environmental Industrial Strategy (that expands the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy to embrace wider environmental business opportunities)  Increasing the ambition of the Carbon Reduction Commitment  A strategic approach to sustainable building including: a target for 80% of all developments to be built on brownfield land, construction on brownfield land, a clear trajectory towards achieving ‘zero waste’ to landfill from construction projects by 2020, and ambitious targets for water efficiency in buildings  Urgently improving energy, resource and water efficiency in all SMEs through, among other ideas, an obligation on energy companies to invest in energy efficiency measures in SMEs  Driving vast improvements in energy efficiency in existing non-domestic buildings, including a Code for Sustainable Buildings to provide a minimum national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new buildings, and mandatory energy efficiency requirements that all non-domestic buildings over a certain size must meet when refurbished  A National Framework for Public Sector Brownfield Development with criteria that central and

local Government should apply when procuring development projects on brownfield land, covering: a) insurance, b) liability, c) testing of soils and waters and d) the competency of persons carrying out remediation  A National Framework of Low Emission Zones with minimum emission standards for on-andoff road vehicles  Driving commercial and industrial waste minimisation by introducing a mandatory requirement for companies to report and assure their environmental impacts, including waste minimisation and the efficient use of resources, with sectoral benchmarks for minimum standards that should be achieved  Immediately reversing funding cuts for programmes targeted at improving resource efficiency in business by recycling revenues from the landfill tax  Amending the regulatory role of Ofwat to prevent the “boom and bust” five-year funding cycle of water companies and ensure sustainability and employment in the supply chain  An LAPPC Pollution Inventory covering emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NOx & NO2) from all LAPPC regulated installations

For 15 years EIC has had a very powerful argument to take to Government - that environmental protection can yield significant business opportunities for the UK. We continue to work tirelessly to ensure that this message is heard in every Government Department.

2010 is a crucial moment. As the General Election draws near, it is vital that we continue to make the business case for the highest standards of environmental protection.

We know that the deregulatory lobby is investing significant resources into the scaling back of key environmental policies.

EIC, with its wide-ranging programme of high-level lobbying initiatives, continues to push for the protection and expansion of the policies that will drive the environmental industry's domestic and international market share into the next decade – and beyond.

While the political rhetoric of environmental policy and ‘green jobs’ remains positive, there is still an awful lot of work to do to ensure that rhetoric is translated into reality.

Whichever party is in power later this year, we need to ensure they take a progressive approach to environmental policy and the UK’s environmental industry.  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Environment Agency prosecutions CASE 1: Blackpool Pleasure Beach waste fine

CASE 4: Protected river put at risk

Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Holdings) Ltd has been fined £6,000 for a total of six offences of failing to recover and recycle packaging waste. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £2,631 and compensation of £9,130 for offences which were taken into consideration dating back to 1997.The company pleaded guilty to six charges brought against them by the Environment Agency at Blackpool Magistrates. They failed to register with the Environment Agency as a producer of packaging waste, and meet requirements to recover and recycle packaging waste with respect to each of the two years between 2006 and 2007.

A mile of watercourse was polluted by sewage effluent from Marsh Farm at Wrangle. Farming company Staples Brothers Ltd pleaded guilty to causing the pollution between June and August 2009 and was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,939.99 costs.Miss Claire Bentley told the court that a tributary of the Wrangle Drain had become polluted through two separate pipes discharging from the farm and there had been a severe impact on aquatic life.

CASE 2: Inky water led to prosecution A trail of blue-black liquid in Flowton Brook and Belstead Brook, Ipswich, led Environment Agency officers to an illegal waste site run by Paul Arthur Fenton, aged 45.

Ipswich Magistrates’ Court issued a community order requiring Fenton to undertake 240 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay £8,000 towards Environment Agency costs for breaches of the Water Resources Act, Environmental Permitting Regulations and Environmental Protection Act.

CASE 5: Forest fly-tipper punished A Scarborough builder who dumped waste in woodland near the town has been ordered to carry out 180 hours’ work for the benefit of the community. Graham Andrew Watling had denied fly-tipping but was found guilty of two offences at York Crown Court following a two-day trial in March. He was acquitted of two charges in relation to a third fly-tipping offence. In York Crown Court, Watling, 48, of Gildercliffe, Scarborough, was sentenced to a 180-hour community punishment order and was ordered to pay a £1,000 contribution towards prosecution costs.

CASE 6: Waste hoarder given suspended prison sentence

CASE 3: Allison Homes guilty of polluting a stream A sewage treatment works owned and operated by Allison Homes Eastern Limited was found to be the cause of pollution in a tributary of the Moulton River Drain in Holbeach, by Spalding Magistrates court. Allison Homes pleaded guilty to two separate offences, one from October 2008 were pollution was visible in the stream for 300 metres downstream of the sewage treatment works and one from January 2009 when the same stretch was again polluted.

They received a fine of £2,500 for the October offence and £3,500 for the January one. Full costs of £3,186 were ordered to be paid as well. Richard Williams, one of the Environment Agency officers who investigated the case, said: ‘This case shows that anyone operating a sewage treatment works must ensure that it operates correctly and any problems with it are quickly rectified. We are pleased that Allison Homes has now undertaken work to improve the operation of the treatment works.’

An Oxfordshire skip hire contractor who consistently flouted waste regulations has been given a suspended prison sentence after being found in contempt of court.

His actions spoiled an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Chiltern Hills and he was given the sentence after consistently ignoring court orders. On Friday, 12 March, Oxford County Court found Geoffrey David Parker, of Hundridge Farm, Ipsden Heath, Oxfordshire, in contempt of court for continuing to keep controlled waste on his farm and in nearby Cox’s Lane without an environmental permit. The court gave Mr Parker a 28-day suspended prison sentence and ordered him to pay the Environment Agency’s costs of £18,000. The warrant is suspended until 15th May 2010 and all the waste must be removed by that date. Mr Parker’s farm is located in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with waste visible at the entrance to the farm along a popular bridleway known as Cox’s Lane.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

[ Neurofunction: Curiosity ] ADAS delivers a unique set of practical solutions for businesses to improve resource efficiency and management of risk â&#x20AC;&#x201C; putting sustainability at the heart of everything we do.

Still curious? Find out how ADAS can increase your bottom-line through sustainability solutions.

Making the future a better place In order to evolve into a truly sustainable business, Richard Laverick, Director of Corporate Responsibility at environmental consultancy firm ADAS, says: “Sustainability has to be at the heart of a company, influencing every decision at every level and for that to be achieved there must be commitment from the top, coupled with the enthusiastic cooperation of staff.” In this article, Richard outlines the key steps that his company has taken on the road to sustainability.

Introduction

Commitment

Embedding Sustainability in every facet of an organisation is essential for the survival of all businesses. This is especially true for ADAS because every service that it provides is about making the future a better place. Under the theme, ‘One Planet Borrowed from Future Generations’, ADAS has built a sustainability programme that is leading the way, showing others how sustainability can create durability and derive real, measurable business benefits.

Enjoying high level commitment, the ADAS sustainability plan focuses on staff engagement, effective communications and the creation of working partnerships with clients and suppliers.

Sustainability initiatives can only hope to succeed with the full commitment of both senior management and all staff.

However, an organisation that works in isolation can only achieve so much; by working in partnership with suppliers and clients the overall impact and rate of progress can be much greater.

Summarising the ADAS commitment to sustainability, Group Managing Director Colin Speller says: “Our primary goal is to continue to develop the ADAS business so that it is more profitable and, thus, sustainable in an economic sense, but to do so in a way that places the principles of sustainability at the heart of what we do and how we do it.”

Easily Accessible Performance Data The old adage, ‘what gets measured, gets managed’, has never been more true when it comes to sustainability. So, the first, vitally important step, was to establish baseline performance, which meant the creation of new procedures to capture all of the company's significant data. The word 'significant' is important here – nothing will disillusion staff more than the pointless collection of useless data that has no real effect on the company's environmental performance.

Once key data collection systems have been established, it is vital that the results are transparent – hidden data breeds mistrust, so it is important to create a means by which all data is transparent and freely available to all stakeholders.

ADAS’ sustainability performance against targets is published in a number of ways, with an emphasis on live data online. 

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Communication materials focus on the urgent need for action

Waste Management Strategy A third party waste contractor recycles all dry recyclable waste (paper, card, plastic, glass, metal) to minimise waste to landfill and report, by site, the percentage of waste recycled.

All purchased paper is recycled and returned to the supplier in a closed-loop recycling system. All photocopier, printer cartridges and mobile telephones are recycled in support of Compton Hospice. All electrical items are disposed of in accordance with the WEE Directive and a ‘Ban the Bin’ scheme was introduced to all major office locations in 2009.

ADAS also attempts to source recycled products or products made from recyclable materials.

(Key data: Waste to landfill fell by 12% in 2009)

Travel A system, based on the company's Travel & Subsistence claims procedure, has been developed to capture and report actual data relating to all modes of business travel and report live information. As a result of this, each member of staff is aware of the total impact of their business travel in a tax year, e.g. the CR Director’s total impact was 4,001 kgs CO2e in 08-09 and 3651 kgs CO2e in 09-10. His average figure is 0.184 kgs/mile compared to a company average of 0.254 kgs/mile (target 0.200 kgs/mile).

Telephone conference calling increased from an average of 17,000 minutes per month to 23,300 minutes per month in 2009. 54% of staff are now home-based and a Cycle to Work scheme is in place.

(Key data: (1) The company annual mileage is 4 million miles (2) 34% reduction in emissions associated with air travel in 2009, saving 32 tonnes CO2e per year).

Energy Usage An energy efficiency campaign is being conducted at major sites to reduce usage and to support this, all office locations are metered, with smart meters now installed at main locations. Wherever possible, powered equipment is shared. For example, all printers are networked.

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Energy usage is reported live on the intranet site and Carbon Trust audits of key locations have been undertaken.

An energy management system compliant with BSEN 16001 is currently being implemented and all electricity procured by ADAS is certified ‘green'.

(Key data: Scope 1 fossil fuel usage on site reduced by 5% in 2009.)

Supply Chain Engagement It is absolutely vital to develop strong positive relationships with both suppliers and clients in order to be able to transform service delivery – organisations must work together to cascade sustainability throughout the supply chain and identify inefficiency or waste. To achieve this, the first step is to survey major suppliers to assess their approach to sustainability and awareness of environmental impact.

Joint themed workshops are held with clients and suppliers on subjects such as energy efficiency and waste minimisation to identify operational risk and climate impact hot-spots.

In order for supply chain sustainability initiatives to be effective, companies must be prepared to change suppliers when a more sustainable/ethical operation is identified – to demonstrate to all suppliers that their environmental policy has teeth. For example, ADAS recently moved all of its print requirements to one environmentally approved supplier and the ADAS workwear provider was changed to a company with strong ethical credentials.

Third-party recognition At ADAS, all reporting is to ISO14064 standards and the aim is to achieve certification during 2010. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of the company achieved ISO14001 certification during 2009.

Certification by a respected independent third party proves that data is reliable and avoids any potential accusation of ‘greenwash’ – the false appropriation of environmental merit.

Community Local suppliers and local, seasonal produce with a low carbon footprint are utilised whenever possible. Neighbours are consulted on new capital projects. Training opportunities/ work experience is provided for local school/university leavers and support is given to initiatives that bring together key industries to debate, influence and promote sustainability.

Matching funds are provided by the company for charitable activities by staff, for example in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Life Guards and Water Aid. ADAS has also established a 'Helping Hands Scheme' under which staff take paid absence from work to support community activities. Recent examples include countryside access projects, local food and drink festivals, school projects, scout camps, riding for the disabled, village carbon reduction work and the provision of experts for training events.

A professional sustainability communications firm, Buttonwood Marketing, has been contracted to raise the profile of the ADAS corporate responsibility activities – to add the ‘wow factor’. This has resulted in a stream of communication tools such as policy documents, web pages, posters, calendars, pocket cards, newsletters, staff guides, magazine articles, press releases etc.

The communication strategy is based on the ‘One Planet Borrowed from Future Generations’ theme and utilises images of children with faces combining a mixture of trust, hope, fear and optimism; one could say that ADAS has employed emotional blackmail to give the message impact!

In recognition of the success that ADAS has achieved, the company recently won ‘Best Sustainability Communications Campaign’ and was short-listed for Sustainable Business of the Year‘ at the Environment and Energy Awards 2010, which they won.

Sustainability Communications Modesty is not a good policy when it comes to sustainability.

Stakeholders need to know that an organisation is serious about fulfilling its obligations, so progress should be publicised widely and regularly.

Staff need to feel that their employer is acting responsibly – they will not be happy if they are recycling in their personal lives but not doing so at work! Sustainability, like charity, starts at home so it is not good enough to simply inform staff of their environmental responsibilities – they have to be provided with help and advice on how they can fulfil them.

Richard Laverick receives Best Sustainability Communications Campaign award

Looking forward Significant progress was achieved in 2009, however, our new targets include: • Reduce Scope 1 emissions by 10% by 2015 relative to 2008 • Reduce Scope 2 emissions by 10% by 2015 relative to 2008 • Reduce Scope 3 business travel emissions from 0.254 kgs CO2e/mile to 0.200 kgs/mile by 2015 • Reduce waste to landfill to zero by 2015

Summary

In recognition of the role that ADAS is playing in fulfilling its responsibilities to its staff, ADAS was the winner of the 'Best Consultancy to Work For' award for Environmental Excellence 2009 and internal feedback indicated that the company's sustainability performance is one of the factors that affects employee satisfaction. Naturally, employee satisfaction results in improved performance and reduced staff turnover and associated costs.

The ADAS targets are ambitious, clear and measurable.

However, this is only the beginning – sustainability is a continuous process and, as we achieve one set of targets, we will seek to improve efficiency further. Adapting to the impact of climate change is the biggest challenge any organisation will face and the key to success lies with staff it is their energy and initiative that will transform the way organisations operate. It is only by working together and in partnership with other stakeholders that organisations can cascade sustainability, reduce environmental impact and make the future a better place.  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

THE RENEWABLES SHOW IN THE ENERGY CITY

10th year

All-Energy 2010 – the UK’s largest renewable energy exhibition and conference – looks forward to welcoming you as an exhibitor or visitor. 5,500 people from 60 countries attended All-Energy ’09 with its 380+ exhibiting companies from 14 countries and more than 250 conference speakers.

The major exhibition features technology across the full range of renewable energy devices; and the free-to-attend conference looks at issues and challenges facing the industry and at renewable energy sources from multi-million pound offshore projects to microgeneration.

Networking opportunities abound.

Be there!

Regularly updated information on all aspects of the show at

www.all-energy.co.uk ABERDEEN 19/20 MAY 2010

What an historic start to 2010! Round 3 offshore wind bidders announced; licences granted for wave and tidal developments in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters; Feed-In Tariffs went live on 1st April; the Renewable Heat Incentive; new onshore windfarms and biomass plants; anaerobic digestion heading up the agenda; hydro in the spotlight; the green light given for the Beauly-Denny power upgrade; news of major UK investments made by major global players…the renewable energy good news goes on and on!

Who would have thought this ten shows ago, when fewer than 50 exhibiting companies - some with just a poster on a board - and 350 attendees gathered in Aberdeen on two snowy days in late February 2001 for the very first AllEnergy exhibition and conference. How times have changed and the renewable energy industry has grown.

And yes, the organisers of what has grown to be the UK’s largest renewable energy exhibition and conference wisely and quickly switched from February to May! “We look forward to welcoming you to All-Energy 2010 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre,“ says Event Director, Jamie Thompson. “Last year the show boasted total attendance by 5,500 from 60 countries; over 380 exhibiting companies from 14 countries; and 250+ speakers exploring all sources of renewable energy, and stimulating discussion. This year the exhibition is 25% larger than last year’s; registrations are flooding in from home and overseas and we are quietly confident of breaking last year’s record.”

All-Energy is free to attend for all with a business/ professional interest in renewable energy; and as well as  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

a major exhibition, it features a truly milestone conference with such luminaries as David MacKay FRS, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change; Georg Adamowitsch, European Co-ordinator facilitating ‘Connections to offshore wind power in Northern Europe’; Dr Eddie O’Connor, Founder and Chief Executive of Mainstream Renewable Power; and Matthew Simmons, Chairman Emeritus of investment bank Simmons and Company International all on the programme – plus a further 250+ speakers, all experts in their fields.

“No doubt too politicians from both Westminster and Holyrood will attend as usual,” says Project Director Judith Patten, who devises the conference programme.

“Our timing just a fortnight after the Westminster General Election naturally makes it difficult to predict just who will be with us, but it certainly provides an invaluable platform for them!

“There are two ‘constants’ between that very first All-Energy event and now: Matt Simmons - who will be addressing the All-Energy audience just as he did ten shows ago; and the optimism of our dynamic industry, which is ready to face challenges in plenty and grasp all the opportunities on offer,” she adds. “All-Energy 2010 will reflect that enthusiasm, those challenges, and highlight innovative solutions. We know you will find your time with us worthwhile and look forward to meeting you and receiving your feedback.”

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All-Energy is organised by Media Generation Events Ltd and QMDI. Vattenfall is the show’s principal sponsor and it is held in association with RenewableUK (formerly BWEA), Scottish Renewables, Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group, and UK Trade & Investment, with the Society of Underwater Technology as its Learned Society Patron.

The show is supported by over 30 key organisations including government departments, RDAs and trade associations involved with every aspect of renewables – a full list appears on the show’s expansive website, which also features daily newsfeeds and a jobs zone.

The website is also the source of information on what exhibitors are showing with an ever-enlarging preview appearing online with an A-Z of facts provided by exhibitors on newly launched products/services and details on what their focus of attention at the show will be and the business sector – or sectors - at which their exhibits are aimed.

LOOKING RIGHT ACROSS THE INDUSTRY Both the All-Energy exhibition and conference cover all sources of renewable energy – on- and offshore wind; wave and tidal; bioenergy; hydro; hydrogen and fuel cells; and carbon capture and storage, with the conference also looking at the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry.

There are also dedicated sessions on renewable energy for the farming community, on finance and funding (one

Cromarty Firth Port Authority panel/networking event and two traditional conference sessions – one looking at public funding organised by EPSRC, and the other at the funding of large projects), the grid (‘Connecting Europe’), microgeneration and onsite renewables, and on renewables for communities. Then too there are sessions focusing on renewable energy activity in Australia, Austria (particularly energy from waste), Canada and Italy; and on regional UK activity.

Needless to say, several conference sessions focus on the synergy between the offshore oil and gas industry and the offshore renewable energy industry.

This year’s conference has a greater number of “conferences within conference” than ever before, with many All-Energy supporting organisations holding special conference sessions or events. The POWER cluster (Pushing Offshore Wind Energy Regions) is holding its mid-term conference as an integral part of All-Energy along with a ‘Contact to Contracts’ session and a ‘Skills Arena’; an offshore wind Round 3 session organised by DECC; two Scottish Government workshops – one on offshore wind and the other on the Saltire Prize and how to enter; two hydropower sessions – one organised by the IET and the other by the British Hydropower Association; IPA’s session ‘Industrialising New Power Technologies’ is a baton passing exercise, taking findings from their own annual conference and moving them on; and IMarEST will stage a Marine Environmental Briefing session. 

Grontmij has helped E ON achieve significant savings on the Rødsand II offshore wind farm ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

“There’s one particularly exciting development this year,” says Judith Patten. “The Offshore Valuation Group will present findings of the first full economic valuation of Britain’s offshore renewable resource at 11.00 on opening morning (19th May). We are extremely proud that this launch is taking place at All-Energy” This new study explores scenarios to develop Britain’s offshore renewable resource to maturity. The central scenario is optimised for maximum long-term value to the UK from: electricity exports; technology exports; jobs; returns to UK investors; and avoided energy imports.

The 14 members of the Offshore Valuation Group are: DECC, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly Government, Crown Estate, Committee on Climate Change, SSE, E.ON, npower Renewables, Mainstream Renewable Power, RES, DONG Energy, Statoil, Vestas & PIRC. The analysis is being undertaken by Boston Consulting Group and co-ordinated by Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC).

Four decades of investment in extracting the hydrocarbon stock of North Sea oil and gas has paid strong financial dividends. While it is well known that Britain’s exposure to powerful Atlantic winds underpins the largest and most valuable marine energy resource in Europe, the value of this second offshore energy asset, has not been quantified.

Developing this Atlantic Asset to maturity is the subject of this study.

Early findings indicate the energy potential of the Atlantic Asset exceeds UK electricity demand and has value as an enduring export commodity to Europe.  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Green Cat Renewables Ltd.

AXYS Technologies, Inc.

NETWORKING AND NEW SHOW FEATURES Networking is important to the industry, and once again (19th May) there will the now-traditional Civic Reception, hosted by Aberdeen City Council, followed by the Giant Networking Evening, which enables all attending the event to continue their discussions late into the evening – like the exhibition and conference, this is free to attend and combines entertainment, food, a cash bar, and networking in plenty. Even before All-Energy opens, RenewableUK holds one of its traditional “Connect” networking receptions as well as a pre-event wave and tidal workshop; and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce host a Business Breakfast on opening morning.

Two new features take place on 20th May - a Jobs Fair, and ‘Education Day’ – the latter is an initiative by Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, the Energy Institute and the Society of Petroleum Engineers and will see teachers and career guidance specialists learning by means of special talks, round tables and visits to the exhibition about the prospects for their young students.

Full information on all elements of All-Energy – including associated events - and online registration are at www.all-energy.co.uk. You can also keep in touch via Twitter – All-Energy’s hashtag is #AE10. 

STRONG UKTI INVOLVEMENT “This year UKTI has exchanged their ‘official supporter’ participation for a more active role – a real feather in the show’s cap!” says Jamie Thompson. “They are sponsoring our Giant Networking Evening on 19th May; have a large presence on the showfloor; a conference session on ‘Subsea engineering applications in the renewable energy sector’; and also a lounge area dubbed the ‘UK Energy Excellence Centre’. This is where visitors and exhibitors can find out about developments in a range of exciting international markets – Market Briefing sessions will be held there - and introduce themselves to overseas decision makers attending All-Energy as guests of UKTI.

Oyster (from Aquamarine Power) in operation

“UKTI's global network has invited delegates from a wide range of markets - Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech, Egypt, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nordics, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Taiwan, UAE, Ukraine and the USA to attend All-Energy 2010. We would like to thank them most sincerely for their commitment to the show.”

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15-17 June 2010, ExCeL, London Solutions if you are involved in sustainability

Register by 11 June to WIN 2 tickets for British F1 Grand Prix (Tickets only) Please quote reference ENVIND

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Case Study 1

Geographic information (GI) puts England and Wales under the magnifying glass

From floods to fishing licences, pollution to planning, and waste to wildlife, the Environment Agency has a broad remit, but its primary aim is to protect and improve the environment in England and Wales. The breadth and complexity of the Environment Agency’s work is reflected in the fact that it has a £1-billion turnover each year and 12,000 employees working in 1 head office, 8 regional and 22 area offices.

Available through the Pan Government Agreement, which provides a portfolio of geographic information to public bodies, Ordnance Survey data is used across the Environment Agency’s operations to support its objectives. These include: • protecting and improving water, land and air; and • working with businesses and other organisations to use resources wisely. 

Images courtesy of the Environment Agency ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Increasing reliance on requests for information As a large organisation arranged into separate directorates, the Environment Agency faces several functional challenges: how to maximise the sharing of information internally; how to store and update huge quantities of data; and how to respond quickly and effectively to the public, who make 50,000 requests for information each year. Both staff and the public need access to accurate spatial data.

One of the Environment Agency’s key roles is flood-risk management. Interest in this has reached a peak since July 2007, when serious flooding occurred in many parts of the UK. The Pitt Review was subsequently carried out to identify the lessons that could be learned from the situation and made various recommendations about information storage and about the level of co-operation between various bodies.

In particular, it recommended that the Environment Agency take on a more strategic role with regard to flooding.

Previously, it had primarily taken responsibility for river flooding. Following the Pitt Review, the Government added strategic responsibility for surface water flooding too.

Access and accuracy for all The Environment Agency stores spatial information in a central data store (CDS) and runs a corporate map browser called Easimap to allow staff access to spatial datasets. “Because we are a large national organisation, the sheer volume of our data is a problem. We have terabytes (1,000 gigabytes) of it, gathered and stored by different directorates,” says Rob Jones, Environment Agency’s GIS Change Manager. ‘With the CDS we have one single view of data available to all 12,000 staff.

“Every day up to 2,500 staff across the organisation access information on environmental management, flood management, water quality and air quality. This is helping to break down internal barriers, join up the whole organisation and enable us to be more efficient.”

The Environment Agency needs to know precisely where the drainage centreline of each river is in order to predict where excess water would flow. As none of the datasets

on the market contained this specific information, the Environment Agency set out to create its own. The Detailed River Network (DRN), which was first rolled out in 2008, was captured primarily from the water features theme of the OS MasterMap Topography Layer, Ordnance Survey’s most detailed dataset. For the first time, it allowed staff across the Environment Agency to work to the same river lines, creating a consistent approach to flood prediction and management.

The Environment Agency’s Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) is a grid-based map of risk and probability, which highlights critical infrastructure within England and Wales. The map is divided into different zones according to the probability of flooding. Rob Jones describes its use: “We can easily identify a property type in OS MasterMap Address Layer 2, so we quickly see what type of properties are likely to be affected by a flood, for example, houses and hospitals.”

Each cell within the FRA has a probability and consequence tag, which helps the relevant authorities to make decisions about where to put defences and when to evacuate. This level of detail will make a huge difference for the incident control team in any future emergencies, enabling resources to be focused on the highest-risk areas. Because the Environment Agency is always consulted during the planning process, the FRA is also now used to advise on the location of new developments.

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people using the service at once. WIYBY meets a need for information and, because people can access the site themselves, it’s a more efficient and effective way for us to meet response targets; our call centres would be overwhelmed with such intense demand.”

Mapping the future

Giving the public the information they need The ‘What’s in Your Backyard’ (WIYBY) section of the Environment Agency’s website is a quick and effective way for the public to see how environmental issues affect their local area using mapping. People can see information on a range of topics, including: • Riv

ers

•

River basin management plans

•

Flood risk

•

Flood warnings

•

Drinking and bathing water quality

•W

aste

•

Industrial pollution

•

Air pollution

One particular objective is to raise awareness of flood risk and ensure that people sign up for flood warnings and prepare for flooding. Information Access Manager Chris Jarvis is responsible for monitoring requests for data.

“WIYBY is a very high volume service with a surge of interest at times of flooding and when the Environment Agency is in the news. During the July 2007 floods 234,000 unique users accessed the site over a three-day period. That doesn’t include users who looked several times over the three days. At one point there were 25,000

The Environment Agency is fulfilling a long-term plan to improve the way it uses geographic data. It is continually moving more spatial data into the CDS, extending the functionality of its applications and expanding WIYBY. The organisation plans to improve the way it issues permits to people and organisations who conduct environmental activities, for example, farms that extract water from rivers or spread waste on fields. Rob Jones explains: “At the moment people who apply for a permit enter a grid reference into a form. In the future they will be able to use OS MasterMap to accurately define the relevant location and associate each permit with a postcode. We are planning to use Topography Layer and Address Layer 2 to link every permit with the farm address, the address of the owner and the actual location of the permitted activity or site, for example, a pile of tyres or landfill zone. In the future we will be much more precise. We hope that once users have registered with us they can click on a map to show us an exact location, such as a point on a river or the extent of a field system.” Once this type of service is available its use can be extended, for example, by people who want to report fly-tipping.

“WIYBY has improved over the past 10 years because we are always adding to the website,” says Chris Jarvis. “At the moment the information is quite general and is presented in a standard way. We are looking at a more flexible and sophisticated approach. For example, we want to include live flood warnings and improve links so that users can click directly between the flood map, the flood warnings and the latest updates.

One of our key objectives is to inform and influence people with regard to the environment. Our use of Ordnance Survey mapping data through WIYBY is a public service. It gives people information about environmental issues so they can make their own decisions. Without the backdrop that Ordnance Survey data provides our information would not be so easy to understand.”  Ordnance Survey and OS MasterMap are registered trademarks of Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency of Great Britain.

Environment Agency is a registered trademark of The Environment Agency.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Soil Washing Races Ahead at Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village

One of the specialist contracting arms of Renew, VHE is among the UK’s leading experts in the treatment of contaminated land. With well over 500 projects completed across the UK to date , the company has extensive experience of dealing with most types of contaminant associated with our industrial past and are currently engaged on a £5.9m contract to remediate land for the construction of the Athletes’ Village for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

At the heart of one of Europe's largest regeneration areas, the Athletes’ Village will accommodate around 6,500 athletes and team officials. On completion of the Games, the Dalmarnock site will be further developed to become an attractive residential area comprising a total of 1,400 homes, 300 of which will be available for social rental, as well as a care home for 120 residents.

The 32ha, primarily brownfield, site has a varied industrial history. The site has been and is currently subject to both residential and industrial activities. Historic industries on the site have changed frequently and have included dye works, fuel filling stations, chemical works, water works with associated filter ponds (reservoir) and wire works.

The concrete, bricks and mortar that defined these major structures have long since disappeared, however signs of their presence remains in the ground. Additionally, the site is in an area which has been subject to underground coal mining and has also undergone topography changes by significant up filling of the existing land.

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Historically treatment could have involved excavating all of the impacted material and removing it to landfill. As well as being costly, this would generate significant numbers of lorry movements, to the detriment of the neighbouring communities. In keeping with the Games’ desire to be as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible, various options were under consideration for treating the material on site. Soil washing was selected as the most appropriate treatment across the majority of the site, with selected soils impacted by asbestos requiring off-site disposal.

Innovation is central to the company which has helped pioneer practical on site technical solutions, such as the use of soil washing, across the UK. Experience gained on similar projects, including treatment of 175,000 m³ of material at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and 35,000m³ at a former diesel depot adjacent to Bristol Temple Meads railway station, was invaluable in securing this contract.

The works are being undertaken under a SEPA authorized Mobile Plant License which also allows additional soil treatment options, including bio remediation and stabilisation.

Although the soils being excavated at Dalmarnock are predominantly heterogeneous made ground, material is being treated on site using a mobile soil washing plant.

This consists of a site-specific designed assemblage, comprising of screen, coarse materials washer, desanders and desilters, settlement tanks and centrifuges. The design and configuration of the wash plant is bespoke to the project based on the site specific conditions, contaminants of concern and client requirements. The equipment is hired through an experienced supply chain and at peak production the plant is capable of processing in excess of 80 m³ per hour to suit the supply of materials.

The process of soil washing operates by screening, sorting and cleaning soils, thereby removing organic and inorganic contamination. Typically, contaminants bond to cohesive substances such as clays or silts. Washing separates out any granular material and so removes the contaminated cohesive material. Initially, screening removes any oversize particles leaving the remnants to be washed vigorously.

Lightweight clinker, coal and soil organic materials float off the coarse materials washer, whilst the silts and clays bonded with the contamination coagulate, allowing the more granular sands to be separated and reused. Separated sands and gravels together with the crushed oversize recovered concrete and brick , once validated using off

site laboratory analysis ,are being placed as engineered fill within the development zones whilst the separated fines together with the organic materials and clinker will be removed to landfill.

Over the course of the remediation contract, around 100,000m³ of excavated soils are forecast to be excavated and washed; with over 75% of treated soils projected to be considered suitable for use and retained on-site. So far approximately 35,000m³ of material has been washed during the contract and treated soils that are suitable for use are currently stockpiled, ready for redistribution across the site. This is believed to be the largest soil washing contract currently in progress in Scotland.

The team approach to innovative and sustainable solutions will see thousands of tons of Japanese Knotweed infested material overlying hazardous soils, initially treated on site by specialist screening , and subsequently washed as part of a value engineering proposal considered by the team allowing greater re-use of soils on site .

The combination of hydrocarbon contamination with materials of a less granular nature and consequently less suitable for washing are pre-characterised on site and subject to treatment by ex-situ bioremediation.

Typically these are soils which have a silt and clay content in excess of 30% but without significant heavy metal contamination.

As part of the planning consent for the works, archaeological specialists have been engaged to inspect, identify and record any historical structures uncovered during the excavations. The approach adopted allows an experienced archaeologist to oversee all excavations in identified key areas of interest with additional teams of archaeological technicians on hand to fully excavate and record those features of significance.

Within the footprint of the proposed works are a number of historical features relating to the heritage of the former industrial processes undertaken within the east end of Glasgow.

To date excavations have uncovered and recorded details of the former boiler house, which powered the pump station together with the reservoir from which the water supply for this area was purified and stored, having been extracted from the river Clyde. Features of the former Victorian dye works have also been uncovered.

In addition to establishing environmentally-friendly credentials, the project is also the first to deliver on Glasgow City Council’s Community Benefits policy. The scheme has employed six trainees, including engineers, apprentices and operatives, to work on the Athletes’ Village remediation project. This accounts for approximately 25% of the workforce based on site, double the 10% policy aspiration.

Works are currently programmed to complete the remediation contract this year, to enable handover of the site to the development consortium to commence construction of the Athletes’ Village in October 2010. 

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Case Study 2

Site investigations by engineer Grontmij, for Glasgow City Council, revealed a host of contaminants of concern, as well as invasive species such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed, requiring consideration prior to development of the site. The key contaminants of concern comprise metals and hydrocarbons, including PAHs. Across the site approx 70 different hotspot zones of contamination have been identified at depths between 0.3m and 6.5m which are being dealt with by excavation and ex-situ remedial techniques, with appropriate chemical analyses of the underlying and surrounding strata to ensure validation prior to backfilling.

Case Study 3

THE GREEN LIGHT FOR PLANNING?

The benefits of green roofs for both the environment and building users are well documented and promoted. What is less widely known is the contribution they can and have made in obtaining successful planning outcomes.

The inclusion of a green roof at a new college at Durham University proved key to the architects winning a competition to design the scheme, and helped the building gain planning consent in the midst of a World Heritage site.

Josephine Butler College is a £35 million project from Laing O’Rourke, project managed by Lambert Property Solutions of Durham. It provides accommodation for 1,000 students and includes buildings for two other colleges.

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Opened in September 2006, both college and green roof are now well established and David Allsop, of architects Gotch, Saunders & Surridge (GSS), says he is ‘delighted’ with the result.

Bold and sensitive design GSS first submitted its design to the university estates department as part of a six-way competition back in 2004.

Planning consent was always going to be very difficult to obtain because some of the buildings can be seen from a vantage point at the top of Durham Cathedral which is at the heart of the World Heritage Site.

GSS produced a bold and sensitive design incorporating green roofs that enabled the social buildings to merge unobtrusively into the surrounding landscape. Market leader Alumasc was chosen to supply their ZinCo Green Roof system and the underlying Derbigum Waterproofing system. The roof planting includes a low growing carpet of wild flowers, sedums and grasses that requires minimal maintenance and virtually no irrigation.

This approach resulted in planning permission for the development being gained from the local authority within a matter of weeks.

Peter Robinson, Director of Estates at Durham University, explains: “Seven years ago, when proposals were being submitted for the new college, the concept of ‘sustainability’ was different to how we see it now.

At that point, the purpose of the green roof was primarily to obtain planning permission for the buildings.”

“The GSS design offered a very practical solution to a problem that maintained a green vista within the World Heritage Site.”

Builder’s rubble from a previous development was also placed in front of the site and landscaped, forming a green mound which helped to disguise the development even further when viewed from the cathedral.

Architect David Allsop led the design team at GSS. He points out that the benefits of the green roof go beyond contributing to favourable planning outcomes.

“At GSS we are committed to encouraging clients to make their projects as environmentally responsible as possible. This policy includes providing them with costed sustainable options to aid their decision making.

The inclusion of a green roof in the college design was considered a good approach for the social buildings. The planning department certainly liked the fact that the green roof was part of the view from the cathedral.

“However, the Derbigum Warm Roof system in conjunction with the green roof will also prevent noise escaping from the building. It will also provide the required insulation properties, keeping the building warm in winter and helping to prevent overheating in summer. A green roof such as this reinforces sustainability from both an educational and practical perspective. The students can now see and experience a different form of roof.

It is also biodiverse and slows the passage of rainwater into the sewer system helping

to prevent surges,” he adds.

Green roofs are available in many different configurations, from extensive systems offering ecological, low maintenance coverings capable of achieving a vast array of objectives, such as stormwater attenuation and biodiversity action-plan fulfillment, to semi-intensive planting and shrubbery or intensively landscaped roof gardens and park space for amenity benefits.

Alumasc’s ZinCo green roofs have been widely used throughout the UK and mainland Europe on leisure schemes, car parks, roof top gardens, retail schemes, urban housing and educational projects for over 40 years.

The largest green roof in the UK was supplied

by Alumasc to the Rolls Royce Factory in Goodwood in 2002, with a surface area of 40,000 m2.

Build-up is crucial The build-up of a green roof is crucial to meet each individual application’s requirements and getting the specification right is vital.

“A team from our practice visited Alumasc’s ZinCo technical centre in Stuttgart to learn more about green roof technology and ensure that the product provided to the university was no less than excellent. We are delighted with both the product and service,” says David Allsop.

Each element of a green roof build-up is designed to function naturally, replicating the ground soil environment. Every layer has a natural purpose, just like the soil.

The system needs to be lightweight to reduce the imposed load on the building and minimise construction costs. Irrigation arrangements have to ensure the optimum balance between water retention, aeration and water diffusion, whilst allowing adequate drainage even with dense root growth.

Robust waterproofing is a critical element of any green roof. The designers specified Alumasc’s Derbigum Rapido Warm Roof waterproofing under the college roof because the tough flexible composite sheet combines longevity with ease of application.

Green roofs directly improve quality of life for building users and indirectly in terms of the payback to the environment. The roof at Josephine Butler College is the perfect example of how a green roof can fully exploit spatial opportunity, maximizing visual benefit and offering the potential for planning gain. ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Case Study 4

Rhepanol - a natural choice for green roof of RIBA award winning Dartmoor idyll Green innovation was at the forefront of designs for a stunning, award-winning family home created at Manaton, in the heart of secluded Dartmoor.

Rhepanol hg was selected for the three distinctive green roofs that help to shape the character of the large, four bedroom Devon property, which incorporates a raft of measures to minimise its environmental impact.

Architect Peter Hall, of Van der Steen Hall in Chagford, was asked to create the house as a permanent home on the site of the owner’s well-used holiday bungalow.

Materials from the bungalow were recycled and used in the new house.

He said: “We chose Rhepanol membrane and accessories for the complex and varied profiles of the roof planes – very different from the large, predominantly flat areas of typical grass-roofed office blocks -because of the help and advice we received from the approved subcontractor and from the D&T representative.”

The roof, which covers a total of 250m2, was key to creating a home in harmony with its rural setting. It complements the unique ground-hugging lines of the house and outbuildings, which are set down into the sloping countryside, nestling in surrounding woods and ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

farmland to create a “magical” setting.

The roof make-up comprised natural, local meadow grass and site-excavated topsoil on cuspated drainage layer /root barrier on Rhepanol hg with stainless steel gravel stop profile- adhered to membrane at perimeter and at intervals up steep slopes. The Rhepanol hg membrane was laid over softwood boarded roof, dressed into softwood eaves gutters and onto top of the fascia. Rhepanol also forms fascia, cill and jambs of the window in the roof.

As the grass roofs, thick granite walls and oak joinery slowly weather, they will blend into the surrounding landscape. There are also plans, for the future, to provide heating and hot water by extracting heat from the surrounding ground.

Said Peter Hall: “The natural materials, high insulation levels, thermal inertia and ground-hugging profile all contribute toward a very low environmental impact.”

The Manaton house was awarded Devon’s 2008 RIBA Arnold Sayers Housing Design award.

Contact SIG Design & Technology on 01509 505714 or visit www.single-ply.co.uk 

Defra’s Lion House is the first office ever to achieve BREEAM Outstanding

This award recognises achievement in using BREEAM for the Government sector to go beyond the mandated targets (excellent for new build, very good for major refurbishments). A Government building is the first building in the UK to achieve final post-construction certification for the 'Outstanding' rating under BREEAM 2008. This is a major first and a unique achievement as well as a demonstration of Government leading by example. The award was presented by William Jordan, Chief Sustainability and Operations Officer, during the BREEAM Awards at Eco-build in March.

predicted to save an incredible 48, 000kg of CO2 every year.

Georgia Elliott-Smith, Director of Sustainability at Appleyards, comments: “Appleyards is proud to have led the team that delivered this exemplary example of a sustainable building and working environment, which has set a new benchmark for sustainable offices. It is an added bonus that the project has been so widely recognised and demonstrates what, with the right focus, can be achieved with minimum impact upon the environment.”

This project has also won the following awards:• Property Week - Sustainable Achievement of the Year 2008 • BREEAM Awards - Highest scoring BREEAM office 2006 assessment for Building Completed in 2008

Appleyards was the appointed Project Manager on the scheme, the team comprised:

• CIBSE low carbon Awards - New Build Project of the Year 2009

• Client: Defra

• Green Apple Award 2009

• Project Manager: Appleyards

• RICS North East Renaissance Award 2009 for Sustainability

• Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon • BREEAM Assessor: 3 Planets • D&B Contractor: Kier North East • Architect: Gibberd and Frank Shaw Associates • Building Services: Aecom and Haden Young • Structural & Civil Engineers: Aecom The constant focus on minimising damage to the environment throughout the project has produced 1800m2 of innovative, sustainable and flexible working space. During construction the contractor confirmed that 91.48% of waste from the project was recycled, and its three wind turbines, biomass boiler, solar collectors and PV panels are

• Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards 2009 – Sustainability Legacy • Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards 2009 – CIBSE Environmental Initiative of the Year • Building Services Awards 2009 – Project of the Year • Building Services Awards 2009 - Environmental Initiative of the Year • British Construction Industry Awards 2009 – Environmental Award • Shortlisted for The Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award and BCI Building Awards 2009. 

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Case Study 5

Appleyards is delighted to announce that Defra’s new building, Lion House in Alnwick is the first office ever to achieve BREEAM Outstanding at Post Construction Review under the BREEAM 2008 offices category.

Canadian Steelmaker Powered by Clean Energy The leadership team at Canadian steelmaker Essar Steel Algoma had a vision. They knew that one day they would find a way to consume all of their surplus by-product gas and put an end to the perpetual flares that lit the sky in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. That day finally came in the spring of 2009 when they commissioned a 70MW cogeneration facility, making them the first integrated steel manufacturer in Canada to construct a cogeneration facility fueled with by-product gas.

Steelmaking is an energy intensive process and despite significant gains in their energy intensity - 14% from 2000 to 2006, Essar Steel Algoma was aggressively pursuing alternatives for conservation and cost savings. The opportunity presented itself in the fall of 2006 when the Ontario Power Authority put out a request for quotation for combined heat and power projects. Essar responded and was successful in securing a twenty-year power purchase agreement with the province which made the $135 million CDN investment economically viable The facility would supply process steam to the steelworks via turbine extraction and it would satisfy, on average, 50% of Essar Steel Algomaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power requirements, freeing up the equivalent capacity on the provincial power grid.

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Case Study 6 The real gains came on the environmental side. Previously, by-product gas from Essar’s cokemaking and ironmaking operations had to be flared due to the operation’s limited ability to convert the waste gas to consumable fuel. Related emissions were a concern and one they were able to address by diverting the flared gas as the sole source of fuel for the cogeneration facility, and by employing low-NOx burner technology. The conversion of by-product fuel into steam and electricity resulted in a 15% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions (approximately 400 metric tonnes per year), not to mention the related gains at the provincial level. To generate the equivalent power from a coal fired plant would produce 500,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases per year.

Construction began on the facility in December 2006 and Essar Steel Algoma served as the general contractor. The operation features two 375,000 lb/hr boilers and a 105MW turbine combined with other related components, including a generator, a blast furnace gas holder, condensate and feed-water systems, a water treatment plant, a cooling tower, a transformer, and a distributed control system.

The project was truly international in nature with various

components sourced from across the globe. Mitsubishi Japan supplied the 105MW turbine, Brush of England delivered the generator, and the boilers were designed by Indeck of Erie, Pennsylvania, and fabricated in St. Catherines, Ontario. Other elements came from Mexico, Brazil, China, France, and of course, Canada.

On June 15th 2009, Essar Steel Algoma’s cogeneration facility officially joined the Province of Ontario’s power grid with a supply of 70MW of clean energy. The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario participated in the ceremonial flipping of the switch alongside Essar Steel Algoma Chief Executive Officer Armando Plastino.

Today, the facility is integrated with Essar’s steelworks and is operated by Essar utilities personnel. It is touted as one of the Province’s environmental success stories and a model solution in the nation’s ongoing search for sustainable, clean energy sources. 

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Case Study 7

Growing Up in the 21st Century

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

VertiCrop and Vertical Farming There is nothing new about the idea of Vertical Farming – it was around in 600 B.C when the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were created! But a Cornish company based in Launceston, Valcent Products (eu) Ltd, has developed a unique and groundbreaking design to bring vertical farming into the 21st century: the VertiCrop™ High Density Vertical Growing System.

The company was registered in the U.K in August 2006, and is a fully owned subsidiary of Valcent Products Inc, based in Vancouver, Canada (VCTZF:OTCBB). It is responsible for the worldwide distribution of VertiCrop™, and a new, smaller scale hydroponic growing system called AlphaCrop. After four years of research and development, design of the VertiCrop™ was completed during the first six months of 2009 and the first full scale working system was installed at Paignton Zoological and Environmental Park during June and July. VertiCrop™ was publicly launched there on 30 September 2009.

In a VertiCrop™, plants are grown in a vertical plane in specially designed trays suspended from an overhead track. This allows the trays to rotate on a closed loop conveyor, passing through a feeding station which provides water and nutrients. The movement permits an even airflow over the plants and evenly

distributed exposure to light. It also enables the water and nutrient run-off from the feeding station to be captured and recycled, reducing the water consumption to as little as 5% of that required for open field growing. It is an economically viable way to grow a variety of leaf crops, lettuces and herbs, as well as strawberries and other fruits. Crop cycles are shortened because growing conditions are optimised, and the quality is high - and, because vertical farming allows for food to be grown in cities, produce can be supplied direct to the consumer whilst it is still in peak condition, with maximum nutritional quality and taste.

The Paignton Zoo system, with a 100m2 system footprint in a 150m2 building, has been developed in conjunction with the zoo’s technical and horticultural teams, to grow fresh produce for the feeding of the animals. As Kevin Frediani, the curator of plants at the zoo, says: ‘We don’t use pesticides, there is no pollution, and we don’t have to worry about the weather… and on just 100 square metres, I can grow £100,000 of crops.’ This has led to cost savings and a greatly reduced carbon footprint for the zoo’s food supply. A wide variety of crops have been trialled at the zoo, yielding important data on crop yields, energy consumption and related issues. 

VertiCrop and Urban Farming With the world population expected to increase to 9.1 billion by 2050 and food production required to compete for land and water with an increasingly urban population, the critical urgency of a major technological push to improve crop yields, water and energy efficiency has seldom been higher. In addition agriculture will be under pressure to adapt and contribute to the mitigation of climate change and will increasingly be competing with land for biofuels and fibre production, as well as maintaining biodiversity, natural ecosystems and the important services these provide us with.

For these reasons, the ability to supply more food from less land, using less water is a critical requirement of the VertiCrop system, as is the lowest possible carbon output in the food production process. VertiCrop™ is designed to be fully modular, and also can be installed in different heights of buildings between 3 to 6 metres or more, so the system can be adapted to the physical restrictions of any proposed site in any urban location. The company strongly believes that global food security is achievable but that it cannot be achieved without radical changes to the way food is produced and new technologies to make this happen. Valcent accepts that whilst the system is not ideal for all crops and all locations, it has at least one part of the solution, and is keen to spread the word to the world at large. In the words of Bobby Kennedy Jr., a U.S Senator, ‘I can’t think of any technology that addresses more urgent issues than Valcent’s vertical farming system.’

Reduced GHG’s in food production In a 6m high VertiCrop™ you can grow the same number of plants as in a conventional glasshouse building eight times the size. Higher productivity yield per unit area enables less land to be used, fewer building materials and less energy for environmental controls such as heating and ventilation. And because you can grow food anywhere in the world, food miles can be greatly reduced, especially in markets which are far from the nearest existing source of fresh food supply for climatic or other reasons.

In addition the latest hydroponic growing technology uses a re-circulation of water and nutrient delivery system, making further savings on valuable resources and energy.

Situated in an urban environment, the VertiCrop™ can provide healthy food close to the marketplace reducing packaging and transportation costs, relieving the burden on infrastructure and saving energy. It also has the potential to be situated on land that may be unsuitable for other purposes.

But whilst VertiCrop is undeniably a large scale system for high volume commercial production, the same benefits apply on a smaller scale. For that reason the AlphaCrop has been developed, and launched at the end of March 2010: it is designed for the smaller scale producer or even the enthusiastic hobby gardener, and can be easily scaled from a small single unit to a larger system of up to four linked units. Full details are available on the company’s website www.valcent.eu. 

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

FAMOUS LAST WORDS Profile: Former top-40 hit rock star, Paul Aitken, is founder, CEO and Chairman of The Country Channel and The Country Channel Trust. He is passionate about reconnecting people with the environment.

We live in a time of transition. A world that is rapidly becoming a ‘global village’ at any cost and the cost is a massive one: our environment and our sanity. You only have to cast your eyes around most workplaces to see a totally artificial environment overrun by technology, from iphones and laptops to PCs and screens in every direction. We surround ourselves with bricks, roofs and central heating and forget the one thing that sustains us all - the countryside. I must add with haste that much of my life is spent reaping the benefits of new technology, but somewhere in the sand a line has to be drawn. I passionately believe that reconnecting and understanding our countryside, in all parts of the world, is the key to living in harmony with Earth.

The Earth may be resilient but there comes a point when you look at what is happening around the world today, with climate change and the rapidly dwindling natural resources, and you wonder where we are all heading? In the recent weeks an iceberg the size of Luxembourg broke free from Antarctica and is now expected to cause disruption to the ocean currents. The world’s leading scientists have robust and extensive data providing hard and fast evidence for human-induced rapid climate change. There is yet more evidence to show we are on the verge of triggering a repeat of the world’s last mass extinction event 55 million years ago. This is the liberation of frozen methane as a result of a small rise in global temperature, caused by carbon emissions melting ice and global warming.  ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

What are we doing to our world? The complex natural interactions of the elements are the lifeblood of the planet. Every second a football pitch of rainforest is destroyed and every minute millions of litres of oil are being pumped to the surface of our planet to be liberated into the atmosphere, reversing millions of years worth of Earth’s natural processes in a couple of decades. We have to change our ways and change fast and I believe that reconnecting with the land and sea holds the key for us all and the future of the world as we know it.

In our own way we can contribute to the health of our local environment. Recycling is a prime example of how we can ‘do our bit’. There is a stark difference between man’s needs to recycle things in the short term and the Earth’s recycling of rocks, trees and life over eons and yet the two are inextricably linked.

We are knocking the Earth out of kilter by our insatiable desire for the latest corporate nonsense.

In our infinite wisdom we demand everything now in pursuit of money and yet what we really need is the recycling of ideas to deliver real wisdom in order to protect the one thing that sustains us all - the natural environment.

Recycling and the conservation of energy are two key issues, but I think we need to approach recycling from a fresh angle that does not just rely on people feeling compelled to do the ‘right thing’. When I was a young boy we used to collect Corona bottles because for every bottle returned we were paid 1 penny (enough to buy a liquorice stick). Corona built into the cost of their product an incentive for it to be recycled. If only more companies took a similar approach in a bid to slow down our instant-gratification throw-away culture that is the norm. Our use of resources has to change and change fast, we cannot continue to emit huge amounts of carbon and fuel our consumer culture in the face of worsening climate change. It is simply unacceptable and we need to take responsibility at an individual level to reduce our consumption and make every effort to make manufacturers implement a system of value for recycling.

The overriding issue is one of scale, one of macro vs micro-economics. With commercialisation strengthening its grip, natural resources are being managed for maximum production and maximum profit. This may seem like good business practice, but it is corrosive to the quality of food, local produce and the land. Instead, the focus should be on local food production and micro-economics, which would improve the health of the local environment and local economies, improving the quality of life in general. It is, for example, not wise to undercut British livestock farmers by bringing mass produced lamb to the supermarket shelf from 140,000 miles away in New Zealand and beef from Argentina. This not only ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

erodes our own livestock industry but also wastes thousands of tonnes of fuel each year exacerbating climate change.

Ultimately we need solutions at a domestic level all over the world and self-empowerment of the individual. A shining example of the positive impact that consumer choice can have on the food chain is on the Island of Orkney where fisherman now only catch lobsters from what is considered to be a sustainable source. This is simply as a result of management answering the concerns of the consumer. Together we can effect change and influence policy in a positive manner.

So all this leads me to The Country Channel, which is now the heart and soul of my life. The Channel is simply here to examine how humankind interacts with the environment. Enjoyment of the countryside and environmental education are the core of what we do. I believe passionately that I want to give the countryside a voice. It has been fragmented and, at the Country Channel, we can look at all the issues holistically and give air time to the array of country matters.

The countryside is full of dichotomies, things are not black and white, and we want to take a proper look at the issues and air all the arguments while giving TV coverage to all the amazing things going on in the countryside. I feel that beautiful views, lovely sunsets and the countryside are things that people all over the world can share and appreciate. It is vital that we protect these things and endeavour to look after the planet for generations a thousand years from the present.

How to tune in to the Country Channel Country Channel TV streams scheduled programmes and video-on-demand over the internet 24/7 and is free to view at www.countrychannel.tv. Selected country channel programming is also broadcast during peak viewing times on Sky Channel 171 (My Channel) at the following times: Mon-Fri: 7-8am, 12-1pm and 6-8pm. Sat-Sun: 7-8am and 12-2pm. 

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