Environment Industry Magazine - Issue 34 by Environment Industry Magazine

Issue 34

ISSN 2043-0140

Brick

The

Industry

& THE BRICK AWARDS 2014 Su p re m e Wi nne r

page 120

THERMOGRAPHY C A R B O N C A P T U R E A N D S TO R A G E AMBER RUDD MP – DOMESTIC RHI END-OF-LIFE VEHICLES DIRECTIVE C O R L A M E R S , M AY O R O F S C H I E D A M I N

CONTENTS

News & Comment 8 News 22 The Watercooler 24 Jason Drew 26 Steve Grant 172 Environmental Prosecutions 174 Case Studies

Air Quality 28 Accredited Emissions Monitoring

-- Jon Murthy, U Marketing Manager, UKAS

36 Clean Air for Europe

-- Cor Lamers, Mayor of Schiedamin The Netherlands and member of the EU's Committee of the Regions

42 Analyzing waste gases during simulated Mars mission -- David Meller for Gasmet

Carbon 50 Carbon Capture and Storage

-- Andrew Green, CCS Programme Manager,The Energy Technologies Institute

Climate Change 56 So is there a consensus? -- Steve Grant

Conservation 60 Cities and the greenspace challenge

-- John Box, President of the Chartered Institute of

Ecology and Environmental Management and Director of Ecology at Atkins

64 Climate change adaptation in the natural environment

-- Dr. Mike Morecroft, Principal Specialist, Climate Change, Natural England

Energy 70 Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive

-- Amber Rudd MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change

74 Meeting our Energy Targets with Dynamic Demand

-- Constance Agyeman, Programme Manager, Nesta

78 The cat and mouse game of meter tampering

-- Dr. Gerhard EisenbeiĂ&#x; Product Manager, Electricity Business Unit, Elster GmbH

82 Energy Efficiency in Heritage Buildings

-- Phil Marris, Managing Director of Jaga Heating Products

Food & Packaging 88 Natural-nitrogen Fixation in Ethical Food Production -- Peter Blezard, CEO, Azotic Technologies

94 Oxo-biodegradability

-- Michael Stephens, Technical Director, Symphony Environmental

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www.environmentmagazine.co.uk

Land Management 98 What Lies Hidden Beneath?

-- Mark Burnard, Senior Product Manager, Landmark Information Group

Legal 102 Hiring and firing the apprentice

-- Abisola Latunji, SGH Martineau LLP

106 Environment, Business and Law

-- Aziz Rahman, founder of Rahman Ravelli Solicitors

Lighting 110 The responsible approach to lighting people and places

102

-- Martyn Wherry, Regional Director, Luxonic

Sustainable Build & Civil Engineering 114 Cavity wall insulation guarantees from CIGA

-- Gerry Miller, Chief Executive,Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency

116 Thermography for energy efficiency

-- Colin Pearson, Head of Building Performance, BSRIA

120 The Brick Industry

-- Simon Hay, Chief Executive Officer, Brick Development

110

116

120

126

Association

Technology 126 Collaboration towards an open, sustainable future

-- Kieron Kirkland, Development Research Manager, Nominet Trust

Timber 130 Seeing the wood for the trees: EUTR 18 months on -- James Bell, Environmental Consultant, FIRA International

136 Build with Carbon: Don't emit it

-- Dave Hopkins, Executive Director, Wood for Good

140 Mind the Gap

-- Andrew Carpenter, Chief Executive, Structural Timber Association

Transport 146 Deploying electric vehicles in fleets -- Robert Evans, CEO, Cenex

Waste & Recycling 152 Converting the recycling sceptics

136

146

156

166

-- Mark Hall, Director, BusinessWaste.co.uk

156 The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive

-- Artemis Hatzi-Hull, Waste Management Policy

in Directorate for Environment in the European Commission

Water 162 Natural Primary Treatment System - a UK first -- Tori Sellers, a Director, ARM

166 Living with Water

-- Ben Bolgar: Senior Director, Princeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation for Building Community

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 5 |

EnvIndMagazine

from the

Editor As 2014 draws to a close, it’s my great pleasure to bring you the final issue of Environment Industry Magazine this year. We have had an exciting twelve months. We launched our new website which has received a fantastic response from our visitors; we enhanced and developed our Facebook and Twitter channels, which extends the broadcast coverage of our editorial content across social media. We also decided to reduce the size of the magazine from A4 to B5, to make the magazine less cumbersome and more attractive to pick up at events. These changes have been met with a very positive response, which we welcome. Please do keep informing us of your thoughts as we progress and evolve. Of course, all of these changes have been complemented by some of the best editorial content of any comparative publication; from the leading lights in government, private sector, NGO’s and academia, making Environment Industry Magazine not only a significant voice in the industry but also an important mechanism for communicating what is actually happening in the environmental industries. Now 2015 is upon us and we head into an election year with distinct possibility that we will lose the incumbent “Greenest Government Ever”. It is clear that the environment is not seen as a big vote winner; even the Green Party understands that you cannot win ministerial seats on a single policy, and as such, environmental policy is taking a back seat to economics and immigration. What is worse, there is a considerable threat of environmental regulation being watered down or even withdrawn at a European level in order to boost the economy. What is not being considered is that for all its flaws, environmental legislation not only protects our environment; our living standards and our health, it also levels the playing field for businesses, giving them equal opportunity and liability across the marketplace. This means that if someone cuts costs by not adhering to the rules, they are penalised. Where there is no uniformity and no regulation, the consumer is put at risk. Most reputable organisations demand a level of standardisation as it helps eliminate illegal and unsafe competition in the market place. The best way of supporting the environment is to encourage people to make money out of protecting and improving it. We have allowed the environment to become dependent on Charities and Not for Profit organisations. The environment has been hijacked

Contact:

Vivek Pandey (Head of Publications) Tel: 0161 341 0156 Email: vivek@environmentmagazine.co.uk

by activism and nimbyism. Protecting the environment is seen as an unwelcome demand on people’s lives and an unnecessary cost to business. The next government and the European Commission should drive legislation to change this perception. Increasingly environmental considerations are merging with economic efficiency and competitiveness. Brands are also very aware of sustainability issues and their corporate responsibilities. Legislation should thus ensure that ethical and environmental considerations are at the heart of every business endeavour and where it is not possible to protect the environment; every effort should be met to mitigate and clean up any adverse effects. When a company chooses to capitalise on weak international environmental and human rights legislation, they should be required to announce it on their product packaging. They should also be obliged to invest in the communities they are exploiting to improve living and working conditions plus education of their employees and local people with a percentage of their profits. Environment Industry Magazine strives to be at the centre of innovation, technology and the business of protecting and improving the environment. It has done so for 6 years now. 2015 could be one of the most testing years for the environmental industries and there is a bigger need than ever for credible sources of information and news coming out of the sector. The lagging economy has seen a number of other environmental publishers change tack or drop out of the market completely. We are determined to continue to be the voice of the industry and to support and promote the environment. We would like to thank everyone for supporting us so far and look forward to working with you all in 2015…. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from all at Environment Industry Magazine

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

Alex Stacey Editor

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

Every effort is made to verify all information published, but Environment Industry Magazine cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions or for any losses that may arise as a result. Opinions expressed in articles do not necessarily reflect those of BlooGlobe Limited. Environment Industry Magazine welcomes contributions for publication. Submissions are accepted on the basis of full assignment of copyright to BlooGlobe Limited unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing. We reserve the right to edit items for reasons of space, clarity or legality.

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NEWS

Welsh pipes play role in African rhino rescue project South Wales based manufacturer, Asset International Ltd, has supplied a number of its large diameter plastic pipes to a South African wildlife agency in order to build a raft for transporting stranded rhinos across water. Asset International’s Weholite pipes are more commonly used in the water management sector, largely for flood alleviation purposes; however, since the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency got in touch with its unique proposition earlier this year, the company’s pipes are now being used for a very different purpose indeed. The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency in South Africa is a governmental organisation responsible for preserving nature reserves within the Mpumalanga region. They have used the company’s Weholite pipes to create a raft, which will be used to transport stranded and starving rhinos across a large dam to safety. The current rhino population on the southern side of Loskop Dam Nature Reserve is stranded due to a dam wall that was raised many years ago. As a result of years of grazing and the limited management of animal numbers, the southern side has become over grazed, thereby putting pressure on the grazers that cannot swim across river to find better grazing. Speaking about the new raft, Gait-Jan Sterk from Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, said: “In the dry season the Mpumalanga rhinos on the southern side of the dam compete for limited grazing with other bulk grazers such as buffalo and zebra. However unlike the other grazing animals the rhinos are unable to cross the river because of the inability to swim. The aim is to relocate a number of the rhinos from the southern side of the Loskop to the northern side, and then move a large number of the other bulk grazers off the southern side, thereby allowing the area rest | 8 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

so that the vegetation can recover. Our new raft makes the transportation process so much safer and faster and will be invaluable in our conservation of these beautiful endangered species.” The South African Marine Safety Association approved the creation of a raft for a 16 ton transport capacity, using 4 x 12m long Weholite pontoons. The raft has been successfully tested holding a 10 ton truck and two giant water tanks, making the total load 16 tons. In addition, 38 animals, including zebras and wildebeests, were carried successfully on the raft on its maiden voyage. Managing Director of Asset International, Simon Thomas, said: “When we were approached by the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency to supply our pipes for the raft project we were only too happy to be involved in this exciting ecological scheme. Our environmental credentials as a company have always been of the upmost importance to us, and so to see our products being used in this way, and hear the stories of the ongoing conservation successes at Mpumalanga, is extremely gratifying.”

For more information about Weholite call Asset International Ltd 01633 273081 or visit www.weholite.co.uk For more information about Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency visit www.mtpa.co.za

“

REACH isn’t applicable to us, we don’t supply chemicals

”

WRONG! This is a very common misconception that organisations have of the REACH Regulations, probably the most complex environmental regulation there has ever been. If you manufacture, import or use any kind of product within the EU, then there is at least one element of REACH which is applicable. For example, the products you make now may be illegal from next year onwards. Products you rely on may no longer be available from next year onwards. Customers in the EU now have the right to request details of the chemicals contained within a product. Let SGC help you through the maze of REACH compliance and other product compliance issues such as CE Marking. +44 (0)1484 681 796 ted.rosser@sustainablegrowth.co.uk

sustainablegrowth.co.uk

NEWS

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

Agalychnis Callidryas By Daniel Callaghan

A colourful red-eyed tree frog, Agalychnis Callidryas, is the winning image of the inaugural Nancy Rothwell specimen drawing competition, Daniel Callaghan (16) of St Leonards Catholic School in Durham, won in the highest category (age 15-18) with his stunning drawing of a staring frog, along with three intricately labelled diagrams of the animal’s skeleton, organ and muscular systems. The Society of Biology launched the Nancy Rothwell Award this year to celebrate specimen drawing in schools and highlight the benefits of links between art and science. The winning artists will each receive drawing equipment, an experience day at RVC, £25 for themselves and £250 for their school. This competition was organised as part of Draw and Develop, a joint initiative administered by the Society of Biology and the Royal Veterinary College.

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 11 |

NEWS

The Minus7 hybrid energy harvesting system, that provides hot water and heating for homes, has received recognition by winning the prestigious award for Energy Efficient Product of the Year in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC+R) category at the 2014 Energy Awards. The awards ceremony was held at the London Hilton on Park Lane on December 2nd and was hosted by comedian Alun Cochrane. The company was delighted to be shortlisted, in a heavily subscribed category, alongside other finalists Airdale International Air Conditioning, Vickers Energy Group, Daikin, Baxi and 2012 winners Vent Axia.

“We have great respect for all of the other finalists and their products, but I think it’s fair to say that we were very pleased to have beaten much bigger companies. To put our name next to these long-standing, successful companies is what we are aiming to do in order to secure a leading spot for our system in the marketplace”, says Mark Wozencroft, Managing Director, of Minus7. “We’re seeing increased interest in our product and this award will only help more people find out what the product is about - that it not only looks fantastic, but more importantly it’s an efficient and effective renewable energy system.”

New Zealand Defence Force doubles number of tiger VOC detectors used during field inspection & overseas deployment The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has doubled the number of Ion Science handheld Tiger volatile organic compound (VOC) detectors it uses to monitor hazardous gas concentrations during domestic field inspections and overseas deployment. NZDF Equipment Manager, Bryan Geurts comments: “The Health &Safety of military personnel in the field is of paramount importance and last year NZDF started looking for new VOC detectors to replace its obsolete photoionisation (PID) instruments. Both Ion Science and the Tiger model were recommended to us and the device’s compact and robust design was a key point in its favour, since its ruggedness allowed it to be taken into difficult environments where it could be carried around easily by an individual.” NZDF downloads data from the Tigers onto laptops where

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it is collated with other measurement information covering weather, heat, humidity and dust. A robust handheld VOC detector, Tiger provides a dynamic detection range of 1 parts per billion (ppb) to 20,000 parts per million (ppm), offering the widest measurement range of any other VOC instrument on the market. Ready to use, straight out of the box, the Tiger requires no complex set up procedures via a PC to perform basic functions and provides the best available VOC detection and software features available.

INVASIVE SPECIES ARE SERIOUS IN THEIR PURSUIT OF DOMINATION.

ARE YOU SERIOUS IN YOUR PURSUIT OF ERADICATION? We are. The Invasive Non-Native Specialists Association (INNSA) is the industry body for companies involved in controlling and eradicating invasive non-native species. Membership of INNSA demonstrates professional knowledge and understanding of invasive species and the best methods for eradicating them. Registration provides members with a recognised accreditation backed up by a comprehensive insurance scheme.

INNSA aims to:

• Encourage the highest standards within the industry

• Represent members’ and sectors’ interests at all levels of the legislative and regulatory process by providing interfaces between the industry and the government, other industry and non-industry organisations.

• Improve the business climate in which the industry operates • Promote and protect the interests of our members • Provide members’ customers and clients with peace of mind and quality standards assurance

SERIOUS? THEN CONTACT US. Registration demonstrates commitment, expertise and professionalism in your field.

www.innsa.org info@innsa.org alternatively call us on 0161 723 6457

NEWS

Taxi firm saves more than £70,000 per year with LPG

Alexander Hurst, owner and managing director of Phoenix Taxis, estimates that running the cars on LPG saves his drivers nearly £1,000 each per year in their fuel bills, a combined total of more than £76,000 across the business each year. The LPG cars have proved so popular with our drivers that many of them have even converted their own personal or other family cars onto LPG. Switching to LPG has proved very economically viable for Alexander. On average it has taken just 6 months to pay off the cost of the simple conversion which typically costs around £1,500 for an average four-cylinder engine car. It’s not just the cost savings that are important, LPG is far cleaner and greener. In recent years air pollution has become an issue in many of Britain’s major cities. Aside from producing less CO2 Colour20 Variations than petrol and diesel, LPG produces times less oxides of

nitrogen than diesel, helping to reduce the problem of air pollution in cities up and down the country. Alexander said: “One of the added benefits of LPG is that it is so unremarkable! Both drivers and customers alike can’t notice any difference in the performance against a petrol or diesel model. And they are also probably unaware that by using our taxis they’re doing their bit to help the environment.” Phoenix Taxis has even had its own refuelling facilities installed, but for other autogas LPG users there is an established and extensive refuelling network across the UK, currently standing at about 1,400 outlets.

Master-brand Logo

Three colour master-brand logo

BMA announces new logo and visual brand identity The BMA is thrilled to reveal its new logo and launch of new visual branding which together with the recently launched new website highlights the strategic focus to set new standards as a leading light in the bathroom industry. “The release of the new logo and visual brand is a significant milestone and marks the start of a new era for the BMA”, said Yvonne Orgill, Chief Executive, “as it demonstrates our vision and ambition for the future. Together with our new website and the introduction of our in-house marketing team we are excited and committed to establishing our new brand and reinforcing our position within the bathroom industry.” The new logo, which has received fantastic feedback from the Trade Bodies Members and its General Council at the recent Bathroom and Kitchen Business Conference, uses a contemporary and simple typography which, together with a fresh colour pallet, supports the company’s clear and concise style

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NEWS

Call for entries for 5th UK Energy Innovation Awards Innovators from across the energy industry and SME community are being invited to enter the UK’s leading energy innovation awards which showcase and celebrate outstanding projects, technologies and talent, making a real impact in the energy sector. Now in its 5th year, the UK Energy Innovation Awards 2015, will unite figureheads of the energy industry and the innovation community in a high profile event to celebrate the best innovations across the electricity and gas networks including the renewables sector. Following an unprecedented number of high calibre entries last year, the awards, organised by the Energy Innovation Centre and supported by leaders from the major energy companies, has been refreshed and extended to include new categories which reflect the diversity of entries in previous years.

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These updated categories include:

• Best Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation sponsored by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult • Best Electricity Network Improvement • Best Gas Network Improvement • Best Innovation Contributing to Quality and Reliability of Electricity Supply • Best Innovation Contributing to Quality and Reliability of Gas Supply

Altogether there will be 14 categories with the closing date for entries on Friday, December 12th. A black tie awards ceremony will be held in Manchester on April 30th featuring leaders from across the energy networks. Entries can be made online by visiting: www.energyinnovationcentre.com

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

First Mondeo hybrid electric vehicle The all-new Mondeo Hybrid is the first hybrid electric vehicle ever manufactured by Ford in Europe. Available as a 4-door, The Mondeo Hybrid adds a further dimension to the Mondeo portfolio for customers in Europe, following the success in the U.S. of its sister vehicle, the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Ford is now the second largest producer of hybrid vehicles in the U.S. Like the Fusion Hybrid, Mondeo Hybrid uses the third-generation Ford petrol-electric hybrid system that delivers the efficiency and refinement benefits of an electric powertrain in many driving scenarios while maintaining the driving range and freedom offered by a traditional combustion engine. Two electric motors are used in the hybrid system – one to support the petrol engine in driving the wheels and another to enable regenerative charging to the 1.4kWh lithium-ion battery, located behind the rear seats. The Mondeo Hybrid’s high voltage electric system is designed to life standards similar to Ford’s traditional combustion engines and transmissions. The Mondeo Hybrid is capable of speeds up to 85mph in electric mode, and the combination of a specially-developed 2.0-litre Atkinson-cycle petrol engine and electric drivetrain delivers 187PS with 67.3mpg and 99g/km CO2. Drivers also can use Ford’s Smartgauge interface to help monitor, manage and reduce fuel and energy consumption, with features including “Brake Coach” that encourages gradual braking to help return more energy to the battery. Efficiency is further optimised by Electric Power Assisted

Steering, and Ford-developed continuously variable transmission and control software. The Mondeo Hybrid operates without engine accessory drives for significantly reduced drag on the engine. Air-conditioning is powered electrically, as are the powertrain cooling and vacuum systems. A new exhaust gas heat recovery system enables faster cabin warming. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 17 |

NEWS

Consumers paying more but using less energy New Which? research for our Fair Energy Prices campaign has revealed we are paying, on average, £410 per year extra on our energy bills after inflation compared to a decade ago, despite using less energy. Seven in ten (72%) people are worried about energy prices, and our consumer tracker consistently sees it rank as one of the biggest financial concerns. Our analysis shows yearly spend on energy has rocketed by 52%, over and above inflation, from £790 in 2003/04 (adjusted for 2012 prices) to £1,200 in 2012 while the energy we use has dropped by 17%. This means households are shelling out, on average, an extra £410 per year on their energy bills, nearly double the rise we've seen in housing costs over the same time period (from £6,380 to £6,590, an increase of £210 per year). The price of gas and electricity has outstripped inflation since 2003/04, with an average increase of 137% compared

to 27%. Over the same time-frame water costs have gone up by 62% and food by 42%. With such a massive rise in energy bills over the past decade, big reforms are needed to restore confidence in the energy industry and guarantee fair prices. As part of our Fair Energy Prices campaign, we are calling for: • The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as part of its current investigation into the energy market, to investigate the best way for the regulator to establish a 'price to beat', so that consumers can trust that the price they pay is fair. • Require energy suppliers to use simple, directly comparable pricing, similar to petrol pump displays, so people can more easily compare prices and make the best choice if they switch.

Sovereign Wealth Fund For Shale Production To Be Established The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund with future revenues from the extraction of shale gas. The fund, which will be put in place when commercial production begins, will ensure profits from national gas last for generations and benefit the whole country. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “The sovereign wealth fund is a great opportunity for the whole of the UK – everyone will reap benefits from it and I’m pleased to announce | 18 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

my Department will be establishing it when commercial production begins. It’s about storing the financial benefits of shale production and putting it towards a low-carbon energy future. It’s part of this Government’s broader strategy to strengthen our security of supply in a cost-effective way for future generations.” This announcement is supported by Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT). Further details about the fund will be available in due course.

NEWS

Historic engine supply deal announced as milestone marked JCB has won one of the biggest engine supply deals in its history after securing an annual contract worth around £4.5m. The milestone agreement will see the company supply Terex GB Ltd with engines to power site dumpers made at the firm’s Coventry plant – just as JCB celebrates a landmark 10 years of engine manufacturing. The engines - made by JCB Power Systems in Derbyshire - will be the latest fuel efficient Ecomax 55kW/74HP stage3B/ Tier 4 Final models. Initially they will power 2 Terex site dumpers in its range, the TA6 and the TA6S. JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald said: “The engine supply contract is a major milestone for the JCB Power Systems business. It is one of the biggest engine supply deals in the company’s history and is testament to reliability and efficiency advantages that the JCB Ecomax engine offers customers.” JCB began producing engines at its plant in Foston, Derbyshire at the end of 2004 and engine production was extended to India in 2011. To date JCB has produced 350,000 engines globally. JCB engines now power more than 7% of JCB’s products. JCB Power Systems is also enjoying growing success in selling engines to other industries worldwide.

Lend Lease appoints Reconomy to achieve ambitious waste targets Reconomy, the UK’s leading provider of outsourced waste management and recycling services, has been appointed by leading global construction firm Lend Lease for the supply of containerised waste services across all of its operating divisions in the UK. The 3-year sole preferred supplier agreement sets ambitious waste targets of achieving a 98% landfill diversion rate across the group. As the leading outsourced waste management and recycling company in the UK, Reconomy’s core business philosophy is based on the segregation of waste streams to optimise landfill diversion and provide financial management and reduction techniques that bring down the overall cost of waste for the customer. As part of the supply agreement, Reconomy will provide detailed waste reporting across the group through its industry leading waste reporting platform that will benchmark both regional and site-level performance, provide a uniformed approach to Site Waste Management Planning and provide site-level waste optimisations designed to reduce costs and maximise reuse and landfill diversion For more information on Reconomy and its services visit www.reconomy.com | 20 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

WATERCOOLER

TheWatercooler

Promotions Appointments Awards Resignations Achievements

Fugro Names Chair In Geotechnics At UWA

Air quality specialist Gary Wilson has joined environmental firm SLR Consulting as an Associate in its Shrewsbury Office. Gary has over 8 years’ experience carrying out air quality, dust and odour assessments, including undertaking dispersion modelling for transport, industrial, mining and construction clients.

National Award Win For Moray Environmental Education Charity

Jennie Martin, founder and executive director of North East charity ‘Wild things!’ has been presented with the winning title in the environmental category of The Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards 2014. To recognise and reward the contributions of extraordinary people in Scotland, the winners of this unique scheme are determined by public votes. ‘Wild things!’ is a Scottish Environmental Education Charity based on the Moray Firth. The charity offers a variety of inspiring wilderness and nature experiences for all ages and abilities regardless of learning challenges or physical and financial difficulties.

Mott MacDonald appoints Ian Allison as head of climate resilience

Mott MacDonald has appointed Ian Allison as its global head of climate resilience services. Ian will be responsible for developing the consultancy’s advisory and policy services to help clients adapt and mitigate the impact of climate change. Ian is a civil and water engineer with technical expertise in infrastructure planning, investment and financing strategies and project delivery. He has been involved in numerous private finance and public private partnership schemes, providing advisory services during all stages of a project’s lifecycle. Most recently, Ian was director of Mott MacDonald’s environmental consultancy, where he led a 220-strong team supporting the development of major infrastructure projects. He was also responsible for the company’s environment and climate change adaptation businesses.

Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) Appoints New Technical and Education Manager

Bryan Clark completed his plumbing apprenticeship at the Army Apprentice College, Chepstow. During his 16-year service he was involved in building military camps and hospitals. In 2008 Bryan left the British Army and began his teaching career. His first teaching role was in the College of North East London, which later became the College of Haringey Enfield and North East London. Bryan became a freelance teacher at private training centres, before taking up a post at Prospects College in Basildon, Essex. Whilst at Prospects he was promoted to Section Head and was involved in the college becoming a CIPHE Approved Training Centre.

Stuart Lawrie appointed as CEO as renewable energy provider GI Energy moves to new headquarters

Expanding renewable energy solutions provider GI Energy is moving into a new era with a new headquarters, new CEO and a growing order book which displays the strength and breadth of its approach. Mr. Lawrie has extensive experience of growing and developing companies in the services and energy management sector, having held senior positions at Four Season Group, Lorne Stewart PLC and Carlisle Facilities Services. He takes the reins of the company following a move to its new headquarters at Westwood Business Park in Coventry, having outgrown the premises near Coventry city centre from which it had been operating since 2000.

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

Maurice Tulloch appointed as new Chair of ClimateWise

Maurice Tulloch, Chairman, Aviva Global General Insurance and Chief Executive Officer, Aviva UK & Ireland General Insurance has become the new Chair of ClimateWise, the global insurance industry’s leadership group to reduce the risks of climate change. He succeeds John Coomber who was Group CEO of Swiss Re from 2003 to 2005 and a member of the Group’s Board of Directors from 2006 to 2014. Maurice takes on the role of Chair at a time when impending international policy decisions could have an impact on future insurance operations, from both a risk management and an investment perspective. Climate change has potentially huge implications for the insurance industry.

FDF Bids Farewell to Long-Serving Director General

FDF has announced that its Director General, Melanie Leech, will be leaving in the New Year after more than nine years to head up the British Property Federation. Melanie, who has held the post of Director General since August 2005, said: ‘I have been privileged to lead FDF for the last nine years and am incredibly proud of what we have achieved in that time. With the support of five great Presidents and many individuals from member companies, plus a dedicated, expert and hard-working executive team we have made a real difference for food and drink manufacturing. The time is now right for me to move on to a new challenge and I am excited about the opportunity to represent another major economic powerhouse sector for the UK economy.’

Key Appointments Further Strengthen Viridor Board

Viridor is pleased to confirm the appointment of two new executive directors. Paul Ringham joins Viridor as Commercial Director and Phillip Piddington joins as Chief Operating Officer – Energy. Both are new positions reflecting Viridor’s ambitious growth strategy and its current £1.5bn investment programme in recycling and energy recovery infrastructure to serve local authority and business customers across the UK. Paul Ringham joins Viridor from BT where he was most recently Vice President for Local and Devolved Government within BT’s Global Services. Phillip Piddington will join Viridor from RWE where he is Director of Biomass RWE Innogy and MD of RWE Innogy Cogen and is responsible for the international biomass business of RWE. Phillip is also the current Chairman of Cogen Europe.

BMT WBM Wins Four at PIA Queensland’s 2014 Planning Excellence Awards

BMT WBM a subsidiary of BMT Group, the leading international maritime design, environmental and engineering consultancy, has been recognised with four awards for planning excellence at PIA Queensland’s 2014 Planning Excellence Awards, including being named as the overall winner. The Choiseul Bay Township climate change adaptation plan won the awards for Best Planning Ideas (small or local project), Public Engagement and Community planning and the Overall Winner’s Award. The Balonne Shire Flood Mitigation and Risk Management Project secured the Hard Won Victory Award.

Lord Oxburgh KBE HonFEI receives Melchett Award

The Energy Institute (EI) has presented one of its most prestigious prizes, the Melchett Award, to Lord Ronald Oxburgh of Liverpool KBE HonFEI. In response, Lord Oxburgh delivered the Melchett Lecture to EI members and guests, covering the topic of 'The energy dilemma - politics and stark choice’. Louise Kingham OBE FEI, Chief Executive, Energy Institute, adds, ‘Ron has made a significant contribution to the energy sector and as a scientist, academic, leader in business and advocate of sound science in the House of Lords. The energy community regards him rightly with the greatest respect which is why it gives the EI’s Council such pleasure in recognising his achievements with the presentation of this award.’

Ambassador Stith Joins One Planet Africa’s board of directors

Renewable energy project developer One Planet Africa has announced today the appointment of Ambassador Charles R. Stith to the company’s board. Ambassador Stith, who is considered to be one of America’s leading experts on development issues in Sub-Saharan Africa, will bring to One Planet Africa decades of experience and relationships in the region. Stith served as the United States Ambassador to Tanzania during the Clinton Administration. He is widely known for guiding the embassy during the tumultuous period which followed its bombing in 1998. Stith is currently Chairman of The Pula Group, a holding company dealing in real-estate and mining in Africa. He is also a member of the Africa advisory group to the U.S. Trade Representative.

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JA S O N D R E W

Taking the P*ss Capitalists taking the p*ss and making money, what’s new you may well ask? Well everything actually. It may just be what the environment and the slum dwelling poor need most. Let me explain. Sanitation globally is a major problem, particularly in the developing world. One third of the planet – over 2 billion people- live in the slums of our cities. In Nairobi 75% of the population lives on 5% of the landmass in its main slums. Mukuru and Kibera, along with Kenya’s other slums are home to over 8 million people. One company is profitably addressing the issue of sanitation in the slums. It is a superb example of closing loops in the agricultural ecosystem and creating a brilliant, inclusive and sustainable business. I have recently invested in Sanergy (http://saner.gy), now one of my favourite companies. Sanergy builds and sells ‘Freshlife’ branded toilets to predominantly female entrepreneurs in the slums of Nairobi for $500. The toilet service has been defined from the ‘bottomup’ as an aspirational user experience. When slum dwellers are thirsty, advertisers would like them to think ‘Coca-Cola’. When they want to use a toilet facility, theSanergy team wants them to think ‘Freshlife’. The toilets have a concrete base and sides with a fibreglass separator toilet inside and a plastic sheeting roof. All animals pee forwards and poo backwards, including humans. This enables the toilets to separate the wee and the poo. These are collected in two separate containers like milk churns – under the toilet’s concrete base. These are collected, sealed and replaced by Freshlife operators for $100 a year as part of the franchise agreement. The toilet entrepreneurs then charge local residents – again mostly women – 5 Kenyan shillings or 3 US cents to use them. Whilst this represents one and a half per cent of their daily income of $2, it is a manageable expense to access something we take for granted. The alternative is the flying toilet – a plastic bag filled and thrown over your roof onto a neighbours shack. The toilet entrepreneurs earn up to $8 a day whilst proudly providing a sanitation service to their customers. At four times the slum average income they are toilet capitalists.

The waste is then removed to a central handling facility. The poo is composted, tested by third-party labs and sold as a healthy rich organic fertiliser that is high in both hydrocarbons and minerals. I have touched, felt, and handled the all-natural ‘MANure’ that comes out of the Sanergy process after just a few months. It is odourless, and feels and looks like really good compost – well that is what it is! So why am I excited by the business? Well here comes the clever bit. The urine collected is put into standard 1500 litre agricultural water tanks and allowed to settle. Urine is naturally up to 15% nitrogen by volume. The volatiles, alcohol etc., evaporate and any organic material is broken down by the nitrogen. The wee is then balanced up with additional phosphates and potassium – the end product is a liquid NPK 3:2:1 fertiliser. This is sold to farmers using drip irrigation systems who plug it into their watering systems delivering the fertiliser directly to the plants. Sanergy compete directly with imported granulated fertiliser. Last month they sold 100,000 litres at $2.64 a litre. By 2017 revenues will be over $10m with profit over $3m. It is a business making a fortune taking the piss out of the slums. The business goes further in that it is creating entrepreneurs, alleviating poverty, helping the environment and making agriculture more sustainable. There is no such thing as waste – just stuff in the wrong place. Sanergy, like AgriProtein (see my last article), is one of the new integrator businesses, working across waste streams, and aggregating those waste streams into valuable and sustainable agricultural products ■

Photo Credit: Stefan Magdalinski | 24 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

COLUMN

STEVE GRANT

Steve Grant Fury, Bandwagons and Alarmism Following the unequivocal nature of the series of statements from various scientific bodies regarding climate change over the last year or so – stating that AGW has now crossed the threshold from highly likely to certainty – it has been interesting to see how much of the media have reported it. One would be freely forgiven for thinking that the science was still uncertain, that scientists are still arguing about it and that the jury is still very much ensconced in the jury room. A case in point is the good 'ol Daily Mail. In early October, the British Medical Journal devoted 11 pages to climate change, focusing on the effects on public health and what the medical profession might be dealing with in the not-too-distant future. It also urged doctors to advise patients to walk more and to eat less red meat, both activities having both clear health benefits and a less negative effect on the environment. All as one might reasonably expect from the BMJ, you might think. But no. The Mail's headline was 'Fury as top medical journal joins the green bandwagon: Think tank slams BMJ's alarmist global warming claims'. There was no fury involved, and whilst the article stated that 'Critics described the article as alarmist and desperate', only one critic was named and quoted. This was Dr Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Forum. This so-called 'think tank' founded by Lord Nigel Lawson, is a 'charitable' body which refuses to reveal its sources of funding. In 2012, the Guardian uncovered Lawson's links to no less than the Belchatow coal-fired power station in Poland, Europe's largest single source of GHG's. He's the company's chairman. Rather disingenuously, when challenged earlier on Channel 4, he strenuously denied having 'any links to any oil companies of any kind'. Coal wasn't mentioned. (EIM passim) The Charity Commission had become somewhat dismayed by the activities of the GWPF, which is now setting up a separate lobbying arm to get round the conflict of its charitable status and its political campaigning which was somewhat removed from its original and laudibly stated aims and objectives. The quoted Dr Peiser is qualified in Sports Science and lists his main interest as social anthropology and sports sociology. He has published a total of three peer-reviewed papers, none of which are related in any way to AGW or any related disciplines. The US Heartland Institute – very much the American equivalent of the GWPF, nevertheless describes him as a climate change 'expert'. | 26 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

So on the one hand, we have the British Medical Journal publishing a full feature based on peer-reviewed science, on the expressed consensus of 97% of scientists in climate-related disciplines and on a body of published papers and conclusions that can safely be described as overwhelming. On the other, the opinion of a sports scientist / social anthropologist who works for a lobbying organisation whose founder is the chairman of a coal company and two of whose main contributors, Neil Record and Nigel Vinson, have been revealed as being linked with the Institute of Economic Affairs – a 'think tank' which is known to be funded by fossil fuel companies. As they say in the movies – follow the money. But you can't blame the poor 'ol Mail for finding it difficult to get a quote from a more credible source. The fact is that the pool of accredited scientists from climate-related disciplines who challenge the consensus has just about dried up altogether, as far as I can ascertain. A team from the Institute of Physics examined the abstracts of no less than 11,944 peer-reviewed climate papers published between 1991 and 2011 which agree, and concluded by stating “Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research”. So there was no 'Fury', as the Daily Mail described, and there were no 'critics' – at least none worth naming it seems, other than Dr Peiser. He really was the best they could do. But that's not all, folks. The mighty Smithsonian Institute – the world's largest scientific complex – has published its first statement on the causes and impact of climate change. With special emphasis on the Smithsonian’s 160-year history and tradition of collection, research and global monitoring, the statement delivers a bold assessment: "Scientific evidence has demonstrated that the global climate is warming as a result of increasing levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases generated by human activities." Whilst scientists and researchers working with or in association with the Smithsonian have made statements both individually and via their academic bodies, the Smithsonian itself had not yet made an official announcement and joined the world's other leading bodies (including the Royal Society) in stating an 'official position'. To do so is a very important thing for such a body; a defining step. It is the last of the world's major scientific institutions to do so, taking the consensus among them to 100%. For some reason, the Daily Mail chose not to report it ■ Photo Credit: Darren Sweeney

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Accredited Emissions Monitoring: That MCERTain feeling

Throughout the recent economic difficulties, environmental management has remained a priority for the vast majority of organisations. In addition to the growth in the number of environmental schemes available, the already established schemes have expanded to cover a wider remit. UKAS accreditation is performing a vital role in the provision of these important services. â&#x2013;ş

By Jon Murthy

Marketing Manager, UKAS

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www.mcerts.net

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www.mcerts.net

The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted the need for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be 40-70% lower by 2050 than they were in 2010. It is predicted that failure to reach that target will see average temperatures increase by over 2 degrees, leading to heavy rains, storms, landslides, rising sea levels, drought and erosion of sea shores. Much work on reducing GHG emissions needs to be done to avoid those consequences of climate change. Forming the cornerstone of the European Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts to reduce man-made GHG emissions in 31 countries, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has entered its final phase of implementation. Aimed squarely at heavy energy using installations in the power generation and manufacturing sectors, the EU ETS scheme covers nearly half of all EU emissions. Under the scheme, businesses must monitor and report their EU ETS emissions each year. These reports must be checked by a verifier who is accredited by the relevant member stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Accreditation Body (NAB), which for the UK is the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). The

NABâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role is to check that organisations providing conformity assessment services such as certification, testing, inspection and calibration services, are meeting a required standard of performance. The assessment criteria used by UKAS are internationally recognised as being the best indicators of accurate, impartial and consistent performance. In January 2013, UKAS began assessments of emissions verification bodies to ISO 14065 for Phase III of the programme. To date, 13 organisations have been accredited by UKAS under this programme, which will be in force until 2020. Achieving UKAS-accredited status is no mean feat. The organisation applying will undergo a 4 year assessment cycle, consisting of 2 thorough assessment visits and 2 further surveillance visits. During each of the visits the organisation will have to demonstrate that it is technically competent, that its staff is suitably qualified, its working practices are fit for purpose, and the appropriate equipment is being used. Internationally recognised standards are employed, meaning that once achieved, accredited status can be utilised in 135 economies across the world. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 31 |

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MCERTS Accreditation

The monitoring of emissions is one environmental area that is under constant scrutiny. A key condition of holding a permit from the Environment Agency (EA) is that companies must continually monitor process emissions to check that they stay within the legally permitted limits. Many organisations choose to use the services of a third party organisation to carry out this monitoring. However, they may not be aware that it is mandatory to use an organisation with the relevant accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 for the Monitoring Certification Scheme (MCERTS) in certain circumstances. MCERTS is used to approve instruments, people and laboratories, based on the relevant CEN, ISO and national standards. Acting as the framework for businesses to meet the EAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality requirements, complying with MCERTS demonstrates an organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competence and reliability in this area. Being assessed against rigorous international standards gives EA and industry alike, the confidence that emissions are being monitored effectively. Stack emissions monitoring was the first area to be accredited under the MCERTS performance standard. Over the years the MCERTS scheme has steadily expanded to cover a greater number of areas, making MCERTS a more comprehensive and robust way of assessing environmental emissions. Initially water and soil were added to the list of areas that can be accredited. Following 2 years of work between EA, UKAS and its customers, the MCERTS framework was expanded to include the radioanalytical testing of environmental and waste waters, with the first accreditation being granted to LGC Limited earlier this year. The accreditation of MCERTS activity falls into two disciplines: sampling and analysis. Both the sampling and analysis of water can be accredited under MCERTS. However, as the scheme currently stands, it is only the sampling of stack emissions and the analysis of soil that fall under MCERTS accreditation. Efforts to address this potential shortfall are well underway. In relation to the collection of soil samples, the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists also encourages its members to provide high quality, appropriate, reliable and independent testing services by supporting external accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025. Similarly, the BS 10175 code of practice relating to the investigation of contaminated land and soil sampling contains several references to MCERTS and UKAS. There is also support from the Environmental Industry Commission and the Society of Chemical Industry for soil sampling to be covered by accreditation. In addition, the Source Testing Association is working in conjunction with the Environment Agency, UKAS and representatives of accredited testing laboratories to ensure that greater emphasis is placed on the quality | 32 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.mcerts.net

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of the analysis samples taken during stack monitoring campaigns.

Beyond MCERTS

In addition to MCERTS, there are several other areas of environmental monitoring that can be accredited. Perhaps the most well known is ISO 14001, which gives companies the opportunity to gain accredited certification for adopting the best environmental management system practices. Based on the same continual improvement model, the relatively new ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems supports the efficient use of energy, thereby conserving resources, saving money and cutting emissions. Earlier this year UKAS completed its pilot assessment programme for ISO 50001 certification, and to date 8 organisations have been accredited to certify against this standard. The need for consistency in the assessment of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services resulted in the development of Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050. Although verification bodies have been doing a very good job of assessing greenhouse gas emissions, there was historically no consistent standard by which they could be measured. This meant that those procuring emissions monitoring services could not easily determine which organisations are competent. Through the development of the scheme, which is sponsored by The Carbon Trust and Defra, these guarantees now exist, meaning that end-users can have confidence in the services they procure.

Summary

The growth of accreditation-based schemes has reached the point where accreditation is fast becoming the de facto standard for quality assurance in environmental management. Reliability is a key driver in any monitoring, measurement and analysis activity. Whether sourced from inside or outside the organisation, the users of such services need to know that the data they receive is reliable and accurate. Engaging the services of an organisation that is UKAS accredited ensures that the service received is technically competent, fit for purpose and operating in line with best practice. For more information on UKAS or accreditation, visit www.ukas.com. Full details of the MCERTS schemes can be found at www.mcerts.net

+ More Information www.ukas.com www.mcerts.net

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Clean Air for Europe In December 2013 the European Commission (EC) published the Clean Air for Europe package setting out new measures to further reduce air pollution in Europe. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) – the EU's assembly of local and regional authorities – broadly welcomed the proposals as an important step forward. However, the new Commission intends to withdraw the proposal for stricter national emission reduction commitments. This has increased the already great concern that the EU emissions policy remains insufﬁciently aligned with the timelines and ambitions of the EU's 2008 Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD).

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cor.europa.eu

By Cor Lamers (EEP)

Mayor of Schiedam, The Netherlands Member of the EU's Committee of the Regions

High ambitions for tackling Europe's air pollution but is it enough?

Over the past few years European air policy has without a doubt contributed to improved air quality in the EU Member States, but improvements have come slowly. Currently air pollution is the number one environmental cause of premature death in the EU: it is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, strokes and cancer, and responsible for ten times the toll of road traffic accidents. Given the urgency of the situation, the European Commission has expressed concerns about the speed in which we - in Europe - are managing to cut air pollution. The former European Commission seemed to have set high ambitions for the future. In its most recently unveiled proposals it even refers to the progress made towards meeting World Health Organisation guidelines. Also according to the 7th Environmental Action Programme – a framework that supports the delivery of EU environmental legislation – the European Union aims to achieve levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on, nor have a risk to, human health and the environment. With the withdrawal of the proposal for stricter national emission reduction commitments, as pointed out in the Commission’s Work Programme for 2015, there is no reason to expect rapid improvements which leads to the question: what do we need to ensure a serious break through?

17 member states failing to meet EU standards

Cornerstones of the current EU policy are the National Emission Ceilings for polluting substances (NEC directive), air quality standards for exposure to polluting substances (AAQD) and European source measures such as the Euro standards for vehicles. At this moment in time however, many Member States are failing to comply with the legislation with no less than 17 facing infringement procedures for non-compliance with the AAQD. The CoR feels that responsibilities for the implementation of the AAQD should be shared and considers this to be a very worrying situation that calls for a far more effective approach. ►

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Better alignment of emissions and emmissions policy

Apart from the discussion on the level of ambition and economical and technical feasibility, the CoR in principle fully supported stricter national emission reduction commitments and the new proposal for emission limit values for medium combustion plants. Together with current and new source policies, this should eventually lead to a reduction of the concentration of polluting substances at the local and regional level and thus a healthier living environment for EU citizens. It addresses those sources that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, or only to a very limited extent, be addressed through local or regional measures. The main concern, however, was that the actual effects of the of the Clean Air Policy Package could only roughly be expected between the years 2020-2030, which suggests that the Commission's ambitious targets (cf. the above mentioned guidelines of the WHO) would not be reached until 2030-2050 at the earliest. Now, with the withdrawal of the revised NEC-directive there will no extra support for the Member States and the local and regional authorities to timely comply with the AAQD. Again, the timelines of the AAQD do not take enough account of how long it takes before source-based policies realise their effects.

Carmen EisbĂ¤r

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This seems to be a recurring problem and therefore the CoR calls for better alignment of the emissions and immissions policy.

Close interdependence

Over the past few years the actions to reduce pollution at source have not been as ambitious as the air quality standards of the AAQD. This has caused serious compliance issues for local and regional authorities as well as for the Member States themselves. An interesting example are the Euro6 standards for passenger cars and light duty diesel vehicles. It turns out that in practice these vehicles emit higher levels of nitrogen oxides than had been expected, based on the test cycles. The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for example conducted a study on the exceedances of the limit value for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in The Netherlands that shows that if the actual exhaust emissions frompassenger cars and trucks had decreased as was expected based on the Euro standards, there would be virtually no exceedances anymore in 2015. This is a clear example of the interdependence between local and European measures and the need for a more integral approach.

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Lars Plougmann

Action plans based on realistic timescales

Given this situation the CoR doubts whether in all cases it is reasonable to launch infringement procedures for noncompliance with the AAQD. It calls on the Commission to be wary of launching such legal proceedings and instead prefers a more constructive approach based on setting Member States realistic timescales. Instead, the approach should focus on improving the situation, for example by stimulating member states to set up a strict and concrete national plan. These plans may, for example, involve a Member State adjusting its national tax system to promote cleaner transport and discourage polluting transport. Sub-national authorities could then respond to this by introducing environmental zoning. The limited effects and ambitions regarding the emissions policy are especially concerning since there seems to be a tendency within the national systems to pass on fines from the European level to the local and regional level. In England and the Netherlands, such systems are already in place. Since air pollution is a crossborder phenomenon it requires a multi-level government approach â&#x20AC;&#x201C; involving all levels of government â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and thus improving the air quality should be seen as a shared responsibility.

Binding interim EU targets should be set for 2025

To stimulate action the CoR called for strict national emission reduction commitments and urges Member States to at least hold on to the proposed level of ambition. If technically and economically feasible, more ambitious commitments should be considered. In order to stimulate Member States to take action in a timely manner, binding interim targets for 2025 should be set. In that respect the CoR also broadly supported the former European Commission's proposals with | 40 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

regards to source-based policy, such as the improved implementation of the test cycle for Euro 6 passenger vehicles. In addition heavy-duty vehicles should be type tested by being operated in real traffic with emissions measured on-board, with upper limits that should not be exceeded under any circumstances. Also the proposals for regulating emissions from medium combustion plants can be regarded as a positive step ahead.

Time for action at all levels of government?

What about the role of local and regional authorities themselves? Should local authorities do more to ensure a healthy living environment for their inhabitants? Part of the answer is yes. Local authorities have an important role to play since improved air quality in our cities requires local measures such as emission zones, or stimulating less polluting ways of transport (e.g. electric vehicles or hydrogen vehicles). However, their tools, means and policy freedom are often too limited to address severe situations alone, such as certain hotspots in urban areas or areas with certain geographical conditions, where complex combinations of background concentrations and local emissions require action at all levels of government. The CoR therefore urges the European institutions and Member States to stay committed to the Clean Air Policy Package and its legislative proposals and to work with local and regional authorities towards an ambitious and more effective programme tackling air pollution â&#x2013;

+ More Information http://cor.europa.eu

Title Photo: Mariusz Kluzniak

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There's no place like home Analyzing waste gases during a simulated Mars mission By Graham Meller,

For Gasmet Technologies As part of a project to measure the effects of long-term isolation on astronauts, small groups of individuals have been selected to live in a tiny ‘Habitat’ perched on the upper slope of a volcano in Hawaii. In doing so, the project team has contributed to the understanding of issues that would confront a manned mission to Mars. ►

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Chemical Engineer, Annie Caraccio with the Gasmet FTIR. | 44 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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David P. Fulmer

As part of the project’s research, NASA’s Anne Caraccio studied off-gases from the crew’s trash with a portable Gasmet FTIR gas analyzer. “Waste from the crew’s everyday activities are routinely sorted and stored, but we need to know the composition of the off-gases from these materials for health and safety reasons, and also to determine whether these gases could be utilized beneficially”, Anne reports. The work was undertaken during the second of four HI-SEAS (Hawaiʻi Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) missions which involved living with 5 other crew members for a period of 120 days in a 2-story solar powered dome just 11 metres in diameter with a small attached workshop the size of a shipping container. In addition to the completion of a range of tasks that were set by the project, each crew member conducted their own research, which in Anne’s case was known as ‘Trash to Gas’, a programme working on the development of a reactor to convert waste from long-duration missions into useful commodities such as water, life-support oxygen and rocket propellant.

The main objective of the second HI-SEAS mission was to evaluate the performance and the social and psychological status of the crew members whilst they lived in cramped isolated conditions in a lava rock environment that resembled Mars. Crew members were allowed outside of the Habitat, but in order to do so

The technology to travel to Mars has not yet been fully developed, but it is anticipated that a human mission could be possible in the future. they had to wear simulated spacesuits and undergo a 5 minute mock compression/decompression. Since the FTIR gas analyzer is portable (14Kg), Anne was able to conduct additional monitoring both inside and outside the Habitat in order to compare data with the waste off-gas measurements. “Size, weight and portability are obviously of major importance on a project such as this, ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 45 |

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Ross Lockwood

Annie Caraccio sampling with the FTIR.

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but the main advantage of this technology was its ability to measure a large number of compounds simultaneously; I measured 24 VOCs such as acetaldehyde, methane and ethylene, but the instrument also stores spectra for the measurements so it is possible to retrospectively analyze data if it becomes necessary to look for a particular compoundat a later stage.” Anne’s monitoring provided a clear view of the most important gases within the Habitat. For example, stored waste had the highest relative levels of ethanol (due to crew members’ hygiene wipes and cleaning products) and water vapor (due to residual water from food and plant waste). The laboratory where plants were growing had the lowest relative level of methane. The waste bins had higher relative levels of nitrous oxide and pentane, and the bathroom had the highest levels of acetaldehyde. The FTIR gas analyzer, a DX4040, was supplied by the company Gasmet Technologies. “We were very pleased to be able to help with this project”, says Gasmet’s Jim Cornish. “The simultaneous monitoring of multiple compounds is a common application for our FTIR analyzers. However, they are usually employed measuring gases in stack emissions, industrial processes, greenhouse gas research and in hazmat scenarios. We usually tell prospective customers that advanced FTIR

www.gasmet.com

'Martian' and United States Air Force Reserve ofﬁcer, Casey Stedman collecting samples.

technology is simple to use; ‘it’s not rocket science’ we tell them, so I guess we will have to rephrase that now.” The waste produced during the HI-SEAS mission was measured during the entire mission, although this was for a shorter period than would be expected of an actual long duration mission. The Trash-to-Gas reactor processed HI-SEAS waste simulant at the Kennedy Space Center with results demonstrating that a future reactor would be most efficient with specific material processing cycles to maximize the desired output. Automation will also be needed in the future Trash-to-Gas reactor because the current technology would require too much of a crew member’s logistical time. The Trash-to-Gas reactor first converts waste into carbon dioxide, which is then mixed with hydrogen in a Sabatier reaction to produce methane and water. The Kennedy Space Center Trash-to-Gas reactor processed three waste types and produced 9% of the power that would have been needed during the HI-SEAS mission. As part of the psychological assessment, each member of the crew completed regular surveys and kept diaries. They also wore ‘sociometric’ badges that recorded conversation patterns and voice tone. Commenting on the psychological results of the project, Anne says: “The crew were essentially strangers when they entered the ►

We usually tell prospective customers that advanced FTIR technology is simple to use; ‘it’s not rocket science’ we tell them, so I guess we will have to rephrase that now.”

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Dr Ron William and Tiffany Swarmer in front of the Habitat.

Habitat, which is unlike a typical space mission in which the crew would have worked and trained together for a number of months or even years. Nevertheless, the crew coped extremely well with living and working in such close proximity, and there were no significant periods of stress in my opinion.” The third Hi-SEAS mission began on October 15, 2014. Again, a 6 member crew will conduct a similar mission, with the exception that it will last for 8 months. Anne says: “Participation in these missions requires a real passion for science, technology and space travel. The application process includes a class 2 flight medical, a personal research project proposal, essays, interviews and educational requirements, all of which is similar to the NASA astronaut application procedure.” Looking forward, Anne says: “The technology to travel to Mars has not yet been fully developed, but it is | 48 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Annie Caraccio

anticipated that a human mission could be possible in the future. The journey to Mars would take around one year, so I hope that our Trash-to-Gas research will contribute to the science that could make such a mission possible.” ■

Title photograph: Craighton Miller

+ More Information www.gasmet.com http://hi-seas.org

CARBON

CAPTURE | ANDREW GREEN

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www.eti.co.uk

Carbon Capture and Storage By Andrew Green

CCS Programme Manager, The Energy Technologies Institute Ask most people how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and they will probably talk about renewables, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, biomass and nuclear. But how do the collected technologies which make up Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) fit into the mix? Is CCS just an ‘unproven technology’ which provides a sticking plaster to keep on burning fossil fuel, or could it be the key to the UK (and the wider world) achieving its CO2 reduction targets in the most cost effective way whilst ensuring energy security? Capturing and sealing away carbon dioxide released from electricity generation and industrial processes is acknowledged internationally to be potentially a winning intervention in the battle against climate change. CCS could remove more than 90% of the carbon emissions from fossil-fuelled electricity production. CCS not only provides low-carbon output but it also preserves capacity in fossil fuel-fired power plant to respond to shifts in demand. Our role at the ETI is to accelerate the development and exploitation of technologies which can help the UK meet its CO2 reduction targets by 2050. We are guided in this mission by our whole-system modelling activity – known as the Energy System Modelling Environment (ESME). This seeks to identify the most cost effective way of achieving our target in 2050 (i.e. 80% CO2 reduction

over 1990 levels), then working backwards to find out what we need to do to get there. With CCS in play a low-carbon future with secure energy supplies becomes much more affordable: without CCS the costs of meeting the UK’s low-carbon targets could double to £60bn a year by 2050 at today’s prices. Looking at this another way, a recent report by the Trades Union Congress and the CCS Association using our numbers showed that deployment of CCS in power generation could save each UK household £82 on its 2030 energy bill compared to other low-carbon scenarios.

What’s behind these numbers?

So why are these apparent benefits so large? The key to the ESME approach is that it looks at the impact of technologies across the whole energy system, i.e. not just electricity generation but at energy use (including heat) across domestic, industrial and transport users. CCS is more than just a potentially cost-effective low-carbon electricity generation technology. It is the only technology that can fully address large-scale industrial emissions. It supports the most cost-effective way of enabling low carbon energy vectors such as hydrogen and synthetic natural gas (SNG). And critically it can be combined with biomass firing for power generation which can result in producing negative net emissions. This creates options ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 51 |

CARBON

CAPTURE | ANDREW GREEN

Two full-chain CCS projects are going live in North America later this year- helped by the fact that there is a market for CO2 in the USA – for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). for a future energy system which would be lost without CCS. It means that other activities, which would be very expensive to abate, for example some continued use of fossil fuel in transport or gas to heat our homes. Looking at this another way, the whole energy system with and without CCS looks very different, particularly the infrastructure. But more of that later.

What do we need to do to make CCS a reality?

Our ESME modelling confirms the economic prize for CCS and gives a flavour of the reasons behind it. But the challenges in rolling out CCS are equally large, and there has been a series of false dawns over the last 10 years. First of all it needs to be demonstrated at scale to prove it works – not just technically, but commercially. The good news is that two full-chain CCS projects are going live in North America later this year (at Boundary Dam in Canada and Kemper County in Missouri). These are helped by the fact that there is a market for CO2 in the USA – for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In the UK, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is committed to the design of two projects – at Drax (the White Rose Project) and Peterhead, with a £1bn pot to support the capital costs of one or both of these. White Rose has also secured an additional €300m of EU funding. DECC has also agreed in principle that CCS projects can benefit | 52 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

from guaranteed electricity prices through Contracts for Difference (CfD)/ Feed in Tariffs (FiT) as part of the multi£billion Levy Control Framework. DECC has a vision that, once mature, CCS will take its place in the market as a competitive low carbon technology. We share this vision, but any comparison with other technologies must take into account the value CCS has in the energy system for providing secure, flexible on-demand electricity to counterbalance base-load nuclear and intermittent renewables. However, the more immediate challenge is how to move from where we are now (i.e. two isolated CCS projects) to a full CCS system.

The cost of CCS

Building a ‘first of a kind’ is inevitably costly. Last year’s CCS Cost Reduction Task Force estimated electricity costs of around £161/MWh for such projects. However these costs tumble to £114/MWh for projects taking a final investment decision in 2020, and could realistically reduce to below £100/MWh as the technology matures and improves. Looking behind the numbers, the biggest reductions in the initial fall are not from technology improvements, but from the development of a low cost, integrated transport and storage infrastructure, and the ability to access low-cost finance for projects. Getting down below £100/MWh, though, requires a concerted

www.eti.co.uk

effort to drive out costs throughout the CCS chain, particularly capture which represents the majority of CCS costs.

What comes next?

To realise the benefits, it is critical that the next phase of projects come forward in parallel with the first two demonstration projects. To achieve economies of scale, there is general agreement that these should ‘piggy back’ these projects. Both have the potential to act as transport and storage ‘hubs’. There are a number of potential projects around, but mostly these have their roots in earlier competitions, so may not be optimal in terms of longer term CCS development. There is fierce debate in the CCS community about whether EOR will help lead the way for CCS. The arguments for EOR appear compelling: CO2 can be seen as a valuable resource to extract more oil from the North Sea (which is what the Wood Review is saying the UK should do), rather than a costly waste product. Against this it introduces commercial complexities, and may put the future of CCS at the whim of oil prices. The reality may be somewhere between the two extremes: EOR becomes viable once initial storage infrastructure is in place and there is a reliable supply of CO2 into the North Sea.

The importance of policy

What is self-evident is that CCS will not happen without government policy intervention, and development of the most practical and cost-effective CCS system will require careful design of that policy. Some of the basics are in place with the current capital support for the early projects and CfD/FiT intentions. But more is needed. This is recognised by DECC. Its recent CCS Policy Scoping Document included a call for evidence on what is required. There are several areas which need further thought, such as the detailed design of CCS CfDs, how to incentivise industrial CCS without driving UK business offshore and how to ‘reward’ negative emissions for biomass with CCS. However, probably the biggest challenge is designing policy which will encourage the development of transport and (particularly) storage infrastructure. Appraisal of new storage capacity is a long process – any power project taking an investment decision will need certainty on storage. If we take it as read that Government will not take on this role itself, how do we incentivise industry to get into the market early and make up-front investment in storage appraisal? There are no easy answers: government and industry need to work together on this. ►

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CARBON

CAPTURE | ANDREW GREEN

What are we doing at the ETI?

We have delivered significant CCS advances and have important developments in the pipeline. Our CCS investments in completed and ongoing projects currently total more than £55m. These include

- The next generation

We have committed more than £20m in a project to demonstrate advanced CCS for gas-fired power plant. Early-phase work is near completion and we held a competitive tender last year to ensure the best technologies go into this three-year project to design, build and test the demonstrator plant. An ETI study completed last year identified the potential for the use of hydrogen in flexible power production. The project investigated the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels (with CCS) and the intermediate storage of hydrogen in salt caverns for subsequent use in generation.

- Mine of information

Research by the ETI has produced the world’s first CO2 storage site database – CO2 Stored. This online database holds geological data, storage estimates, risk assessments and economic appraisals of some 600 potential storage sites around the UK including depleted oil and gas reservoirs and saline aquifers.

Access to the database is available through The Crown Estate and the British Geological Survey.

- In depth

We helped National Grid to identify the site and fund its now completed project to complete a drilling appraisal of a saline aquifer CO2 storage site 70km off the Yorkshire coast. The store has been earmarked for use by the White Rose Project. With an estimated capacity of at least 200 million tonnes, it is a potential hub for future CCS projects.

- Model example

Modelling software that simulates the operation of every stage of CCS has been developed with our support to streamline the design of CCS projects as well as their operation and eventual roll-out. This was officially launched as a commercial product (gCCS) in July and is available through PSE, a leading supplier of Advanced Process Modelling software.

- Informing the debate

We have developed and released a number of insights reports. Working with the Ecofin Research Foundation we have explored the challenges that both the public and private sector needs to overcome to help build CCS into a viable low carbon industry that is

gCSS is a commercial modelling software that simulates the operation of every stage of CCS. | 54 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.eti.co.uk

Jamie Potter

economically competitive. There are also reports on optimising the location of CCS in the UK and a what a practical transport and storage infrastructure might look like.

Taking a lead, maintaining the momentum

When the CCS Policy Scoping Document was released in August, there was some frustration from within the industry that it was yet another consultation document rather than a clear framework to encourage and gain investment in the next phase of CCS projects. However, I believe we need to recognise the reality of political cycles and work with DECC to provide evidence to support the development of comprehensive, all-encompassing policy options and work up potential new projects that can be taken forward. We are in a position that all major political parties recognise the potential importance of CCS. Informed evidence can help make implementation a reality. From our side, we are in the process of launching two significant new initiatives. In the first we are working with other stakeholders in the industry to create some clear visions of how CCS might look in 2030 – and what it would take to get there. In the other we are looking to identify what an ‘ideal’ low risk, investable CCS

power station project might be like, and how we might encourage its initiation. Probably the biggest risk is losing the momentum that was created with the start of the DECC commercialisation competition. 2050 (or even 2030) seems a long way away and it’s easy to kick the can down the road. However, ESME confirms that delays cost money – an additional £800m in the cost of the transition to 2050 for every year’s delay in bringing CCS into full commercial operation. There is a further, bigger risk. At the moment there is a wide range of potential scenarios for the 2050 energy system. At the moment we do not have to pick winners. We have around 10 years to research, try out and prove the various options. The big decisions need to be made around 2025 on the major UK infrastructure required to meet emissions reductions targets. As I mentioned above, the infrastructure with and without CCS looks very different. So if CCS is to be an option in that major decision, it has to be proven – not just technically but commercially ■

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Title Photo: Z Peckler

www.eti.co.uk environmentmagazine.co.uk | 55 |

CLIMATE CHANGE

STEVE GRANT

So is there a consensus? By Steve Grant Time and time again, one listens to or reads commentary by journalists, pundits and spokesmen stating that scientists do not agree on the causes of the changing climate. It's a statement that has gained near-universal currency. I read recently that a science text book for 6 grade Texan students has been re-written to include the sentences: Scientists agree that the climate is changing. They do not agree on what is causing the change. It's a tried and trusted technique – simply state often enough that there is no agreement on whatever subject you like, and it will stick. It was used against the medical consensus on smoking and managed to delay action for decades. It is also used by creationists who misuse the word 'theory' in evolutionary theory, who continue to state that there is no scientific consensus and that a great many scientists do not accept evolution. They do so with complete confidence, as though it's a universally accepted given. I must declare right up front that I fully accept the scientific consensus and have no doubt that our activities are warming the planet. However my mission was to take one step back from my own conclusions and do my best to establish whether or not there really IS a scientific consensus, and if so, how weak or strong that consensus | 56 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

might be. In order to provide the best overview possible given the constraints of publication, I would pay particular effort and attention to any accredited scientific/academic organisation that challenges anthropogenic global warming (AGW). After all, whilst convinced by the existing research and evidence, if somebody is able to factually demonstrate another or additional cause, or that it is not caused by our activities, or indeed that there might be an area of investigation so far overlooked, then so be it. Indeed, given the current state of affairs, one would hope for it.

An academic consensus?

The world's 'top ten' academic institutions are unequivocal, although until very recently it was nine of the ten, with the largest of them all – the Smithsonian – having made no official statement. The Royal Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the US National Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Science, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities have all stated that AGW is beyond doubt.

They are joined by a further 188 organisations which include the National Academy of Pakistan, Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, despite conflicting messages from the Imams. Also included in this list is the World Meteorological Organisation, which itself represents 191 member states. No scientific body of national or international standing maintains a formal opinion dissenting from the consensus on AGW. The last national or international scientific body to drop dissent was the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The full list can be seen on the next page. But what of scientists themselves? Two claims are made. President Obama recently referred to a consensus of 97% of scientists, but those who deny climate change say no such consensus exists.

A consensus among scientists?

So what really is the extent of the consensus amongst scientists? A team from The Institute of Physics, founded in London in 1874 and now representing over 50,000 physicists worldwide, analysed the evolution of the scientific consensus on AGW by compiling the abstracts

of 11,944 climate papers published between 1991 and 2011. 66.4% of these papers were not relevant to the study in that they expressed no position on AGW or climate change, most dealing with other aspects of climate study. 32.6% endorsed the consensus, 0.3% were uncertain and 0.7% rejected it. Among those abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus. The second phase was to invite the authors to rate their own papers overall. The consensus was 97.2%. This was the most recent analysis, but it is remarkably consistent with that carried out by William Anderegg et al in 2010 'Expert credibility in Climate Change' which surveyed the work of 1,372 climate researchers and found a consensus of 97.5%. A study conducted in 2009 by Doran and Zimmerman from the University of Illinois arrived at a figure of 97%. They summarised by stating: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It seems that the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes.â&#x20AC;? James L Powell, of the US National Science Board (25 members appointed by the President) and executive director of the National Physical Science Consortium â&#x2013;ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 57 |

CLIMATE CHANGE

STEVE GRANT

The scientific bodies of national or international standing that maintain a formal opinion not dissenting from the consensus on AGW: • Academia Chilena de Ciencias, Chile • Academia das Ciencias de Lisboa, Portugal • Academia de Ciencias de la República Dominicana • Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales de Venezuela • Academia de Ciencias Medicas, Fisicas y Naturales de Guatemala • Academia Mexicana de Ciencias,Mexico • Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Bolivia • Academia Nacional de Ciencias del Peru • Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal • Académie des Sciences, France • Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada • Academy of Athens • Academy of Science of Mozambique • Academy of Science of South Africa • Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) • Academy of Sciences Malaysia • Academy of Sciences of Moldova • Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic • Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran • Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt • Academy of the Royal Society of New Zealand • Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy • Africa Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science • African Academy of Sciences • Albanian Academy of Sciences • Amazon Environmental Research Institute • American Academy of Pediatrics • American Anthropological Association • American Association for the Advancement of Science • American Association of State Climatologists (AASC) • American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians • American Astronomical Society • American Chemical Society • American College of Preventive Medicine • American Fisheries Society • American Geophysical Union • American Institute of Biological Sciences • American Institute of Physics • American Meteorological Society • American Physical Society • American Public Health Association • American Quaternary Association • American Society for Microbiology • American Society of Agronomy • American Society of Civil Engineers • American Society of Plant Biologists • American Statistical Association • Association of Ecosystem Research Centers • Australian Academy of Science • Australian Bureau of Meteorology • Australian Coral Reef Society • Australian Institute of Marine Science • Australian Institute of Physics • Australian Marine Sciences Association • Australian Medical Association • Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society • Bangladesh Academy of Sciences • Botanical Society of America • Brazilian Academy of Sciences • British Antarctic Survey • Bulgarian Academy of Sciences • California Academy of Sciences • Cameroon Academy of Sciences • Canadian Association of Physicists • Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences • Canadian Geophysical Union • Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society • Canadian Society of Soil Science • Canadian Society of Zoologists | 58 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

• Caribbean Academy of Sciences views • Center for International Forestry Research • Chinese Academy of Sciences • Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) (Australia) • Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research • Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences • Crop Science Society of America • Cuban Academy of Sciences • Delegation of the Finnish Academies of Science and Letters • Ecological Society of America • Ecological Society of Australia • Environmental Protection Agency • European Academy of Sciences and Arts • European Federation of Geologists • European Geosciences Union • European Physical Society • European Science Foundation • Federation of American Scientists • French Academy of Sciences • Geological Society of America • Geological Society of Australia • Geological Society of London • Georgian Academy of Sciences • German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina • Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences • Indian National Science Academy • Indonesian Academy of Sciences • Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management • Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology • Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand • Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK • InterAcademy Council • International Alliance of Research Universities • International Arctic Science Committee • International Association for Great Lakes Research • International Council for Science • International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences • International Research Institute for Climate and Society • International Union for Quaternary Research • International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics • International Union of Pure and Applied Physics • Islamic World Academy of Sciences • Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities • Kenya National Academy of Sciences • Korean Academy of Science and Technology • Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts • l'Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal • Latin American Academy of Sciences • Latvian Academy of Sciences • Lithuanian Academy of Sciences • Madagascar National Academy of Arts, Letters, and Sciences • Mauritius Academy of Science and Technology • Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts • National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, Argentina • National Academy of Sciences of Armenia • National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic • National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka • National Academy of Sciences, United States of America • National Aeronautics and Space Administration • National Association of Geoscience Teachers

• National Association of State Foresters • National Center for Atmospheric Research • National Council of Engineers Australia • National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, New Zealand • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Research Council • National Science Foundation • Natural England • Natural Environment Research Council, UK • Natural Science Collections Alliance • Network of African Science Academies • New York Academy of Sciences • Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences • Nigerian Academy of Sciences • Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters • Oklahoma Climatological Survey • Organization of Biological Field Stations • Pakistan Academy of Sciences • Palestine Academy for Science and Technology • Pew Center on Global Climate Change • Polish Academy of Sciences • Romanian Academy • Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium • Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain • Royal Astronomical Society, UK • Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters • Royal Irish Academy • Royal Meteorological Society (UK) • Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences • Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research • Royal Scientific Society of Jordan • Royal Society of Canada • Royal Society of Chemistry, UK • Royal Society of the United Kingdom • Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences • Russian Academy of Sciences • Science and Technology, Australia • Science Council of Japan • Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research • Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics • Scripps Institution of Oceanography • Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts • Slovak Academy of Sciences • Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts • Smithsonian Institute • Society for Ecological Restoration International • Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics • Society of American Foresters • Society of Biology (UK) • Society of Systematic Biologists • Soil Science Society of America • Sudan Academy of Sciences • Sudanese National Academy of Science • Tanzania Academy of Sciences • The Wildlife Society (international) • Turkish Academy of Sciences • Uganda National Academy of Sciences • Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities • United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change • University Corporation for Atmospheric Research • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution • World Association of Zoos and Aquariums • World Federation of Public Health Associations • World Forestry Congress • World Health Organization • World Meteorological Organization • Zambia Academy of Sciences • Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences

Tom Lowenthal

analysed some 13,950 articles in peer-reviewed journals specifically on climate change and global warming published between 1991 and 2012. Of these, 24 rejected AGW. This was a more extensive follow-up to an analysis of 2,258 peer-reviewed articles published between November 2012 and December 2013 which showed that of the 9,136 authors involved, only one rejected AGW. I could find no similar survey which had opposing results. Nor, it seems, can those who deny climate change. The world's most vociferous denial organisation is the Heartland Institute, a 'think tank' funded by oil tycoons the Koch brothers. One of its activities is a monthly newsletter sent to all US national and state officials, and thousands more civic and business leaders. The institute frequently denies any consensus, and cites the Oregon Petition (aka the Petition Project) which says that over 31,000 US scientists have similarly denied the climate change consensus. Indeed, an article by Joseph Blast (President and CEO) recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal, and concluded with the line: “There is no basis for the claim that 97% of scientists believe that manmade climate change is a dangerous problem.” Note the words used, because he is absolutely correct. No such consensus exists, because scientists had not been asked whether it is a 'dangerous problem'. The petition cited bears no scrutiny, and has been widely and thoroughly discredited. It is constructed very much along the lines of how a publisher might claim a circulation of 50,000 simply because he has acquired

a database with 50,000 names on it. The petition has from time to time featured names such as Geri Halliwell, Charles Darwin and various characters from Star Wars and M.A.S.H. It is published by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine – a perfectly respectable-sounding organisation until one discovers it's actually three people operating from a barn in Oregon. (Please visit oism.org to see for yourself.) However, the point is that when the man on the omnibus reads the headline and sees a byline from the President of an Institute, the misinformation task is all but done.

Conclusion

I have been unable to find a single credible source which challenges, much less disproves, the statement that some 97% of the scientific community accept the AGW hypothesis. This is something I seem to have in common with the planet's leading denial organisation. Moreover, there is no scientific body of national or international standing which dissents from the consensus – including the American Society of Petroleum Geologists. I find the institutional consensus is 100%, and that of individual scientists at >97% ■

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Title Photo: Christine Zenino

The Smithsonian's first official statement about the causes and impacts of climate change: http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/ smithsonian-statement-climate-change environmentmagazine.co.uk | 59 |

CONSERVATION

G R E E N S PAC E | J O H N B OX & C L A I R E WA N S B U RY

Cities and the

greenspace

challenge By John Box

President, Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and Director of Ecology, Atkins

Claire Wansbury

Associate Director of Ecology, Atkins The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, released a consultation document on the London Infrastructure Plan to 2050 in late July. This document has one feature that signals a quiet revolution in policy thinking. Green infrastructure was given the same prominence as other key infrastructure, for example transport, water and digital connectivity. John Box, President of the Chartered Institute of Ecology

| 60 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

and Environmental Management and Director of Ecology at Atkins, responded to this by issuing a challenge to work to ensure that every person living and working in London has access to green infrastructure within 5 minutes or 300 metres of their home and workplace. In this article, John Box and his colleague Claire Wansbury expand on this challenge and also answer the question: What is green infrastructure?

www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB

Cams Campbell

We are used to thinking of infrastructure as road, rail, utilities and the like, all vital areas for investment and ones in which Atkins has plenty of experience. Green infrastructure is the network of high quality green and blue spaces and other environmental features that is present in all urban areas. Green infrastructure includes parks, open spaces, playing fields, woodlands, wetlands, grasslands, river and canal corridors, allotments and private gardens. It is also referred to as ‘green and blue infrastructure’ in which of all the urban watercourses, lakes and ponds also provide places for people and wildlife. Green infrastructure is increasingly being included in plans and policies at all spatial scales from national to neighbourhood levels. For example, the All London Green Grid is a policy framework to promote the design and delivery of green infrastructure across London. Green infrastructure includes nature reserves containing notable and beautiful habitats and species. It also includes the general green spaces that provide everyone with the daily dose of nature that contributes to our physical and mental health and well-being. We are all familiar with the green islands provided by parks and formal landscaped areas. We need to ensure that more of these are created in redevelopment schemes and that the existing ones are loved by all who use them and looked after by the local councils and others who own them. We all enjoy the trees and shrubs and greenery that we see every day when we go to work. These linear corridors show how green infrastructure works with the

existing road and rail infrastructure. Could even more be provided when roads and railway lines are upgraded and renewed? This wide range of benefits, sometimes termed ecosystem services, is not properly understood and accounted for in decisions affecting changes in land use and development and redevelopment projects. The ecosystem services provided by the natural capital of biodiversity and properly functioning ecosystems contribute to our well-being through the generation of wealth in the broadest sense. Despite this, ecosystems continue to be degraded. A new approach is required to help us recognise their role and the role of green infrastructure. The prominence given to green infrastructure in the consultation document for the London Infrastructure Plan reflects growing recognition that such areas are more than just nice to have for the people who visit them and for the wildlife they support. They also have direct benefits to the economy of London and all urban areas. Examples are improving public health through cleaner air quality and reducing risks to lives from flooding and heat waves, both of which can be exacerbated by increased urbanisation. A pricing study conducted for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment found that on average, a 1% increase in the amount of greenspace in a ward was responsible for £2,020 (approximately 1%) of the value of a house in England. In August, the BBC programme Horizon – Allergies: Modern Life and Me followed two allergic families to ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 61 |

CONSERVATION

G R E E N S PAC E | J O H N B OX & C L A I R E WA N S B U RY

Steve Keiretsu

investigate claims that the modern western lifestyle is responsible for the allergy epidemic. Immunologist Professor Graham Rook from UCL believed that reconnecting with a wide variety of bacteria in the natural world is good for our health. He said that spending time in green space, no matter how small, can go some way to retraining children’s immune systems to not overreact to natural and beneficial microorganisms present in the environment. The consultation document on the London Infrastructure Plan sets out challenges to the way existing green spaces are managed and new ones are created. The document recognises that there are issues in funding and managing existing parks and green spaces, and there is a commitment to creating a Green Infrastructure Task Force this autumn, due to report by the end of 2015. By recognising that green infrastructure is a critical part of London’s wider infrastructure, the Mayor of London shows design engineers that green spaces | 62 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

must be a vital factor in their thinking. This echoes a sentiment that was highlighted in the recent report from Atkins called Future Proofing London in which there is a far-sighted statement that “There is a quieter side to engineering, in which cunning and ingenuity is put at the service of nature. In the 21st century engineering inhabits new roles in preserving, restoring, and even creating natural environments. Sometimes it is a matter of protecting a delicate eco-system, sometimes converting a decayed heavy industrial site into space that enhances wellbeing and social cohesion.” The consultation document also states that "we will need to create the equivalent of an extra 9,000 ha of accessible green space". There are particularly exciting commitments to development projects led by the Greater London Authority and Transport for London, which will embed the concept of green infrastructure at project inception. New standards will also be developed to ensure that in those parts of London city that are subject to increased

www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB

Simon Greig

densification, there will be a minimum 10% increase in the amount of green cover. This has been welcomed by many, although the London Wildlife Trust have cautioned that protection for existing greenspace is also required. However, peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s access to greenspace is not just based on the total amount of greenspace, but its distribution across any urban area. There are 19,500 bus stops in London, and 90% of Londoners live within 400 metres of one, so why not set a similar goal for access to greenspace? Our challenge to the GLA, and the UK government at a wider level, is that every project contributes to the goal of ensuring that every person living and working in any urban area has access to green infrastructure, ideally including a range of natural greenspace, within 5 minutes or 300 metres of their home and workplace. This challenge is based on guidance from Natural England published in 2010 on the environmental, economic and social benefits of increased availability of accessible natural greenspace. The heart of sustainability is leaving an inheritance for

the next generation that is as rich as our own inheritance. The three-legged stool is often used as the model for sustainability: financial capital, social capital and natural capital. Take one leg away and the stool falls over and the project is not sustainable. Natural capital includes green and blue infrastructure and the challenge is to create more and to look after what we already have. There would be costs to this approach, but the benefits to everyone living and working in our towns and cities would be beyond price â&#x2013;

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Title Photo: Berit Watkin

www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB environmentmagazine.co.uk | 63 |

CONSERVATION

N AT U R A L E N G L A N D | D R M I K E M O R E C R O F T

Climate Change Adaptation in the Natural Environment By Dr. Mike Morecroft

Principal Specialist, Climate Change, Natural England Climate change is here and now. The world has warmed by nearly 1Â°C in the last century according the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Here in the UK the evidence is starting to build, not only of warming, but changes in rainfall patterns, particularly more heavy rain events. As the last winter showed, we ignore the impact of these changes at our peril. â&#x2013;ş

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www.naturalengland.org.uk

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 65 |

CONSERVATION

N AT U R A L E N G L A N D | D R M I K E M O R E C R O F T

A Dartford warbler.

Ben Hall

Adapting to climate change is essential for individuals and society, to minimise the risks and to take advantage of what opportunities there might be. In June this year, nature conservation took a step forward in adaptation in England, with the publication of a climate change adaptation ‘manual’ geared to the needs of people working in the field. We’ll come back to that but first it’s worth reflecting on how responses to climate change have developed since the late 1980s. In the early days of public concern about climate change it was common to find adaptation downplayed compared to the mitigation of climate change – reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing the cause of the problem rather than the consequences was the priority and it is easy to see the sense in that. The need to tackle emissions is greater than ever now, as greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise and the future risks escalate. But regardless of how successful mitigation measures are, we are locked into several decades, at least, of anthropogenic climate change and we cannot afford to ignore the need for adaptation. In the UK, the Climate Change Act gives a

framework for both mitigation and adaptation. Last year the government published a National Adaptation Programme for climate change which identified a series of high level actions that were needed across a wide range of sectors. So far, so good, but good intentions and policy commitments are only the beginning of a solution: how do you make adaptation actually happen on the ground? That’s the challenge I spend a good deal of my working life addressing. I work for the government conservation agency for England, Natural England. I’m a scientist, I’ve got a PhD in ecology and over 20 years research experience of working on climate change and its effects on the natural environment, but how do we actually do adaptation? That’s a challenge that needs to draw on scientists, but depends on engaging the skill and knowledge of a wide range of different people. The conservation world has been aware of the impacts of climate change on our fauna and flora for a long time now. A significant body of science was already building up in the 1990s and we can now see quite clear indications of the sensitivity of ecosystems to climate. For example many species are now being found at higher

The Dartford warbler has greatly expanded its range in the UK, thanks warmer conditions caused by climate change.

| 66 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.naturalengland.org.uk

latitudes and altitudes than in the past, as warming temperatures allow them to colonise new areas that were formerly too cold. We have also seen many seasonal events such as flowering, leafing and egg laying, tending to happen earlier in the spring over recent decades, reflecting a correlation with warmer temperatures (on average). Some of these trends are not particularly worrying and some are positive for nature conservation: a number of rare species such as the Dartford warbler have greatly expanded their range in the UK, helped by warmer conditions. But there are more negative effects too. Species adapted to cold places, such as the mountain ringlet butterfly are beginning to lose ground and retract to the coldest parts of their range. Climate change projections suggest that the UK, particularly in the South, is likely to experience not only warmer, but also drier summers in future. Droughts can cause major changes to habitats, causing wetlands to dry out and sensitive tree species to die, with implications that may last for many years into the future. As awareness of impacts was growing, there was increasing interest in how conservation could adapt to climate change. Since about 2000, there has been a proliferation of papers and reports proposing general principles for climate change adaptation, both in the UK and internationally. These vary, but among the advocated approaches there is often an emphasis on reducing the fragmentation of semi-natural habitats that we see in countries like the UK. This has a number of angles.

A mountain ringlet butterďŹ&#x201A;y.

Bearing in mind that speciesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; areas of climate suitability are shifting northwards, joining up patches of habitat increases the chances of species being able to disperse across the landscape. Another aspect of reducing fragmentation is to increase the size of patches of habitat, which allows larger populations of animals and plants to be maintained in those patches. These larger populations are more robust to the effects of an extreme event, such as a drought, and with more numbers the chances that an individual may find its way to a new patch, and colonise it, increase. Other adaptation principles include protecting relatively cold areas and the environmental heterogeneity that supports a range of microclimates, and reducing other pressures on the environment that can exacerbate the impacts of climate change. These principles established the direction of climate change adaptation for nature conservation. However, to date, action on the ground to implement adaptation has been patchy. One of the problems is that the issues are different in different habitats and different places. Conservation is carried out in particular places, be they nature reserves, farms or wider localities; those making management decisions need information that is accessible and relevant to their situation. So for example, in coastal habitats, rising sea level and storm surges increase rates of erosion. This is not necessarily a problem if natural processes are allowed to take their course and new habitats are created. The adaptation challenge here is how to balance that need against the

Richard Revels environmentmagazine.co.uk | 67 |

CONSERVATION

N AT U R A L E N G L A N D | D R M I K E M O R E C R O F T

Aerial shot of the RSPB reserve at Titchwell. threat to farmland, buildings or infrastructure that coastal erosion brings. In contrast, in a beech woodland the sensitivity of the beech trees to drought may be the main concern, and the gradual introduction of a variety of other species into the wood may be beneficial. In many wetland sites, the priority is to maintain water levels, which may require blocking of drainage channels or introducing more control of hydrology. The list goes on! The climate change adaptation manual which we have produced in partnership with the RSPB, Environment Agency and Forestry Commission, not only presents general principles, it also provides a detailed series of habitat specific sections. We often think that making information more accessible means making it shorter and more concise. Concise is good, but not if it is at the expense of providing the specificity and detail that people need. The adaptation manual is designed to dip in and out of, in the way that you might use a car maintenance manual. It is not there to read from cover to cover. The adaptation manual also sign posts other sources of information and tools. The manual is one element in our approach to climate change adaptation. The human dimension is also critical. Training is one element of this. Another is about

Mike Page

developing good systems and ways of working in which climate change adaptation is thoroughly integrated with ways of working. So, for example, when our National Nature Reserve managers come to review their management plans on a five yearly basis, they will be prompted to consider how they need to take into account a changing climate. Adaptation needs to be place specific. The scientist and national experts can help, but decisions need to be taken by those who know their area and have the local knowledge â&#x2013;

Whilst there is evidence that species distributions have changed, most species have not kept pace with the shift in climatic conditions.

| 68 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

+ More Information

Title Photo: Edwin Anderton

www.naturalengland.org.uk Bibliography 1

Natural England and the RSPB (2014) Climate Change Adaptation Manual - Evidence to support nature conservation in a changing climate.

http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/ publication/5629923804839936 2

Morecroft, M. and Speakman, L (eds.) (2013). Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Impacts Summary Report. Living With Environmental Change.

http://www.lwec.org.uk/resources/report-cards/ biodiversity

ENERGY

D E CC | A M B E R R U D D M P

Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive By Amber Rudd

MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change 10,000 homes are already taking advantage of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first long-term financial support programme for renewable heat. It pays participants of the scheme that generate and use renewable energy to heat their buildings. This winter, I want to make sure that people right across the country know about how they can take control of their fuel bills, to save energy and save money. Following the launch of the domestic RHI this spring, people have a choice about how they stay warm. We have a commitment to increase renewable | 70 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

energy use to 15% by 2020, and we need to urgently increase the share of heat being delivered from renewables from its current level. This was why the RHI was introduced, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s far more to it than a headline statistic.

About the RHI

By increasing the generation of heat from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels, the RHI helps the UK reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet targets for reducing the effects of climate change.

www.decc.gov.uk/rhi

Since launching in 2011, the RHI has generated enough renewable heat to heat the equivalent of around 100,000 UK homes for a year.

system in their building. Already, since launching in 2011, enough renewable heat has been generated to heat the equivalent of around 100,000 UK homes for a year. The RHI isn’t just a short term solution. By incentivising people to install these heating systems now, we’re helping to build and sustain the supply-chains needed to deliver our aspirations for renewable heat in 2020 and beyond.

Domestic RHI Scheme details

The RHI scheme supports people and businesses who want to install technologies such as: • Air to water heat pumps • Biomass only boilers and biomass pellet stoves with back boilers • Ground and water source heat pumps • Solar water heating for domestic hot water using evacuated tube and ﬂat plate solar thermal panels

There are two parts to the RHI:

• Non-domestic RHI – launched in November 2011 and is open to industry, businesses, public sector organisations and district heating schemes • Domestic RHI – launched in April 2014 and is open to homeowners, private landlords, social landlords and self-builders

So now every home, school, hospital, business and factory in Great Britain can apply to the RHI, and get help to move away from fossil fuels and install a renewable heating

The domestic RHI is targeted at, but not limited to, homes off the gas grid. Those without mains gas have the most potential to save on fuel bills and decrease carbon emissions, but we’ve also seen lots of people switching from gas to renewables through the scheme. The scheme covers single domestic dwellings and is open to owner-occupiers, private landlords, social landlords and self-builders in England, Scotland and Wales. The Energy Saving Trust has some helpful information on its website (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/ Generating-energy/Choosing-a-renewable-technology) on these technologies and their suitability. All systems and installers must be certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) – or an equivalent certification scheme to qualify for the RHI. Except for self-builders, all applicants must have a Green Deal Assessment done on their property before applying, and meet any applicable minimum energy efficiency requirements of loft and cavity insulation. The property your renewable heating system is in must have a domestic Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). An EPC gives information about a property’s energy use, plus recommendations on how to reduce energy and save money. Anyone who has installed a renewable heat technology since 15 July 2009 and meets the scheme eligibility criteria will be able to join the scheme. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 71 |

ENERGY

D E CC | A M B E R R U D D M P

4 bed detached house, heat demand of 17,000kWh AHSP Biomass GSHP Solar Thermal

£5,460 (£780 pa) £14,490 (£2,070 pa) £15,750 (£2,250 pa) £1,330 (£190 pa)

3 bed detached 3 bed semi-detached bungalow, heat demand house, heat demand of of 13,500kWh 10,500kWh £4,410 (£630 pa) £11,900 (£1,700 pa) £12,600 (£1,800 pa) £1,330 (£190 pa)

£3,360 (£480 pa) £8,890 (£1,270 pa) £9,660 (£1,380 pa) £1,330 (£190 pa)

Figure 1: Estimates of savings in certain situations over the course of a seven-year payback period.

How much could I get?

The RHI payments are based on an average household – but I think we all know that people live in different kinds of homes and have a varying need for heat and hot water. For example, a big house with kids hopping in and out of the bath all the time is going to have a higher heat demand than a cosy flat with a couple of people living in it. You can get an estimate, using the Domestic RHI Payment Calculator – a great online tool which we launched this summer: www.gov.uk/renewable-heat-incentive-calculator By tapping a few simple details about your property into the calculator, it will provide an estimate of the payments you could receive for each of the different technologies covered through the RHI scheme. RHI support will be paid quarterly over 7 years on each kWh of renewable heat your installation generates. The tariffs have been set at a level that reflect the expected cost of renewable heat generation over 20 years. The tariff levels are: • • • •

7.3p/kWh for air source heat pumps 12.2p/kWh for biomass boilers 18.8p/kWh for ground source heat pumps 19.2 p/kWh for solar thermal

If deployment of a particular technology is high, there is a chance that the tariff rate might be gradually reduced over time. We publish monthly budget management statements to make sure this is set out as clearly as possible. | 72 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Example income and possible bill savings through the domestic RHI

Using figures from our online calculator, figure 1 gives an estimate of how much you could get in certain situations over the course of the seven-year payback period. These estimates assume a well-insulated home. This is just the RHI payments though – households can also save on fuel bills with renewable heating. Those without mains gas have the most potential to save on fuel bills and decrease carbon emissions. Estimated savings in the first year compared to the cost of running a new oil boiler, if installed and operated correctly are as follows: • A household installing an ASHP could save between 10 and 35% • A household installing a GSHP could save between 25 and 40% • A householder installing a biomass boiler could save between 15 and 40%, but this is also very dependent on the price of wood fuel used • Solar Thermal systems can save between £60-£130 depending on the amount of hot water used by the household

Staying Sustainable

For the RHI to deliver the full range of potential benefits, it is essential that the biomass we incentivise is sustainable in terms of greenhouse gas savings and broader land-use impacts. We’ve always intended to introduce appropriate sustainability criteria into the RHI, and we expect these will come into force in spring 2015.

www.decc.gov.uk/rhi

What next?

It was great to reach 10,000 accreditations onto the scheme already, with a good spread across all the technologies. But there is more to be done. Members of the RHI team are going to be out and about on a regular basis over the coming months, at consumer shows, industry events and regional road shows. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll being getting the message out that renewable heat can be the smart way to take control of your energy bills and have a warm home this winter.

A Choice for Consumers

The RHI is just one of several DECC policies, including Green Deal, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and the Warm Home Discount scheme, that are empowering people to save energy, reduce their bills, and keep warmer in winter. For example, ECO places legal obligations on the larger energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency measures to domestic premises. It operates alongside

the Green Deal which is designed to help people make energy efficiency improvements to buildings by allowing them to pay the costs through their energy bills rather than upfront. By the end of July 2014, close to 800,000 homes had installed at least one measure through ECO, Cashback or Green Deal, and there are around 2,500 organisations signed up to carry out installations under Green Deal. At the end of January this year around 320,000 low income and vulnerable households had already been helped through ECO â&#x2013;

+ More Information www.decc.gov.uk/rhi If you need help, you can also call the Energy Saving Advice Service on: 0300 123 1234 environmentmagazine.co.uk | 73 |

ENERGY

D Y N A M I C D E M A N D | CO N S TA N C E AG Y E M A N

Meeting our Energy Targets with Dynamic Demand By Constance Agyeman

Programme Manager, Nesta Renewable power sources are playing an ever more important role in the UK’s energy portfolio. On Sunday 17th August Britain's fleet of onshore and offshore wind turbines met a record 22% of electricity demand, easily outperforming coal and claiming their highest-ever share of the market. Our solar capacity has now also exceeded 5 gigawatts (GW) for the first time, making us only the sixth country to reach that milestone. This diversification is to be welcomed, helping ensure the long-term stability of our power supply while leading to a substantial reduction in overall carbon emissions. No matter where our energy comes from, however, true progress cannot be made until we have developed techniques to store and distribute it effectively. This remains a substantial challenge to the UK’s energy security, with national demand for energy dangerously close to catching up on supply. | 74 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

According to Ofgem’s latest Electricity Capacity Assessment Report, the country’s capacity margin is expected to drop to just over 2% by the winter of 201516, compared with 14% two years ago. This will be the lowest figure for a generation, dramatically increasing the risk of blackouts and leaving energy suppliers poorly equipped to handle sudden spikes in demand. In order to avert the risk of an emergency, National Grid has announced that their ‘last resort’ measures will be on standby throughout this period. These challenges are unlikely to resolve themselves any time soon. One-fifth of UK power stations are due to close by 2020, further reducing the available supply the ever-expanding population can call on. Speaking to The Sunday Times earlier this year, London mayor Boris Johnson warned that the city’s power stations were already working at full capacity,

www.nesta.org.uk

The Hestia Smart Controller works by modulating electricity demand according to the needs of electricity suppliers and National Grid, while prioritising the comfort of the consumer. It has the potential to provide a peak demand-shifting capacity of 1.7GW.

and would struggle to cope with the projected rise in population. Part of the problem is the tremendously variable nature of energy consumption. In a small country like the UK demand undergoes periodic cycles that span across days, weeks and even seasons, with the potential for sudden dramatic spikes. England’s group stage match against Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup, for instance, had a half-time surge predicted to be in excess of 1.3GW. That is the equivalent of half a million kettles being turned on at the same time, and would have easily outstripped a national capacity margin of 2%.

Dynamic Demand

Further investment in alternative energy sources can only ever be part of the solution. A significant problem with renewables is that the energy generated may not be continuously available at peak usage times. The unpredictable nature of the weather, for example, means that our wind and solar energy supply is heavily dependent on factors beyond our control. It is therefore crucially important that we develop techniques shifting energy usage away from peak times and lessening the strain on the grid, a process known as Dynamic Demand. In order to encourage innovation in this field, Nesta's Centre for Challenge Prizes ran the Dynamic Demand Challenge, a competition worth £50,000 to support and fund new technologies that address this

problem. The challenge was run in partnership with the National Physical Laboratory’s (NPL’s) Centre for Carbon Measurement, National Grid, Climate-KIC and Imperial College London. 75 teams from across Europe participated in the competition, all of whom were invited to a 36-hour Hackathon at Imperial College London to further develop their innovations. Five finalists were then chosen to receive funding and expert guidance from the NPL, the UK’s National Measurement Institute, to model the potential of their devices to reduce emissions and shift demand. After careful deliberation, the £50,000 prize was awarded to the Hestia smart controller presented by a team from Exergy Devices. Capable of a potential annual carbon reduction of up to 3.8 tonnes of CO2 per installation, it could result in a financial saving of £200 per annum. The device works by modulating electricity demand according to the needs of electricity suppliers and National Grid, all the while prioritising the comfort of the consumer. Assuming a 60% penetration into electrically heated homes by 2020, the technology could provide a peak demand-shifting capacity of 1.7GW – a level with real national impact. Runners-up UPSide, by contrast, proposed a cloudbased service which could merge the energy needs of multiple devices into a ‘virtual energy store’, making it ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 75 |

ENERGY

D Y N A M I C D E M A N D | CO N S TA N C E AG Y E M A N

thEnergy combined domestic heat pumps with Thermal Accumulators such that each household could be decoupled from the grid when no further electricity was called for. The entry would improve the grid’s ability to integrate renewable while leading to substantial savings in infrastructure investment.

easier for the grid to balance supply and demand. With widespread uptake on a national level this store could reach a capacity of 290MWh by 2025, predominantly benefiting SMEs and domestic consumers. Operation on this scale would also lead to an elimination of 7,100 tonnes of greenhouse gases from the UK’s output every year. Since taking second place at our Dynamic Demand Challenge they have been awarded a place on the prestigious Climate-KIC accelerator, which gives companies the opportunities and practical tools to transform their ideas into commercial successes, with a prize of €25,000 and continued business mentoring. Rival team thEnergy made use of a similar principle in combining domestic heat pumps with Thermal Accumulators such that each household could be decoupled from the grid when no further electricity was called for. By enabling seamless and instantaneous shifting of MWhs of electricity, the entry would improve the grid’s ability to integrate renewable while leading to substantial savings in infrastructure investment. A separate technological innovation was proposed by Powervault, who designed an integrated battery and control system that changes the shape of householder demand profiles, reducing peak grid electricity demand by prioritising consumption at preferable times of day. The system has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions as well as lower users' electricity bills by 10-15%. An especially creative solution to the problem of Dynamic Demand was proposed by fellow finalists Kudos | 76 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Energy, who tapped into the competitive side of human nature by offering households around each substation the chance to earn rewards for their local community by manually shifting their own energy demand.

What next?

Challenges on the scale of Dynamic Demand can only be overcome if those with the requisite technical expertise are encouraged to offer creative solutions. The 75 entries we received last year showed us the variety of original ideas out there that are just waiting to be developed. Encouraging such creative engineering products will be key if we are to increase our consumption of renewable resources while maintaining our energy capacity margin at a safe level. Much more will therefore need to be done to clearly communicate the scale of the problems to the public at large. Governments need to be encouraged to provide incentives, energy companies must be urged to do more to encourage customers to shift demand, and most importantly of all consumers need to understand the key role they have to play in the process. It is only by acting together that our renewable energy targets can be met without jeopardising the stability of our supply ■

+ More Information www.nesta.org.uk

Title Photo: Lars Plougmann

ENERGY

M E T E R TA M P E R I N G | D R G E R H A R D E I S E N B E I S S

The cat and mouse game of

Meter Tampering By Dr. Gerhard Eisenbeiß Product Manager, Electricity Business Unit, Elster GmbH

Meter tampering has been a problem for as long as metering has been a solution. The day after the utilities installed the first meters, the first unscrupulous customers almost certainly started looking for ways to trick them to reduce their bills. Utilities and meter manufacturers have responded to each new challenge with innovative new meter design, culminating in today’s smart meters. However, each innovation is met with a scurry to circumvent it from the tamperers. It’s a cat and mouse game, but the industry holds the advantage, and is working to keep its lead.

The scale of the problem

Figures for the global extent of meter tampering are elusive. By its very nature, it’s difficult to gauge how common the practise is because, if successful, no one knows the theft has taken place. Prevalence does vary wildly by region though, and a reasonable assumption might be that in poorer populations, desperation drives | 78 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

more people to energy theft. For example, in India, there are those who earn their living solely by making and selling ice. Their only two requirements are water (often free), and the power to cool it. As such, there are areas where, if the business doesn't steal its energy, it becomes uncompetitive. That is not to say that the problem is confined to far away lands though. Rising energy prices have been making headlines in Western Europe for a long time now, and meter tampering is on the rise in Europe too. In the UK alone British Gas estimates that this type of theft costs the industry £500m per year. In fact, an investigation into a 2014 Sheffield house fire inadvertently discovered five instances of gas theft and two of electricity theft on just one street. Anecdotal evidence is not enough to paint an accurate picture of the extent and scale of the problem, but it’s clear that meter tampering is common enough to represent a real issue for utilities. Of course, sympathy for

www.fse.org.za

energy companies is often in short supply ‒ the same high bills that inspire some to steal energy are likely to earn a certain degree of enmity in the rest of the population. The fact of the matter is that the extra costs incurred and revenue lost are unlikely to remain the utilities’ problem. They will inevitably recoup their losses by raising prices for customers and placing more rigorous standards on the meter manufacturers. This in turn results in higher meter prices, which are again reflected in consumers’ final bills. It’s a vicious circle that affects everyone.

Old meters, old methods

Traditional analogue meters have spawned a wide variety of traditional analogue tampering methods. These range from the use of magnets, to interfering with the wiring, to even using electroshock devices. The most common approach though, has been to use magnets. By attaching a high-powered magnet to the exterior of a meter, the drag can hinder or stop the ability to measure the flow of energy. This can also have a similar effect on electronic meters by overloading current and power-supply transformers.

It is possible to stop the meter measuring energy completely using magnets. But that's not the smartest move. Cannier thieves will just slow the measurement instead. After all, where a meter registers zero it's easy for a utility to spot suspicious activity. A more subtle reduction of 20% still saves a fortune, but is trickier to detect. Magnetic tampering is an old trick but far from an old story. In certain regions, such as Poland and Turkey, it's still a major issue for utilities. The rise of e-commerce has meant that the powerful magnets required once rare ‒ are now easy to source online. Ironically, the technological advancement made over the last ten years has enabled this low-tech approach. In other regions, similar drivers have put electroshock devices in the hands of meter tamperers. By delivering an electrostatic shock to the meter, thieves can damage the electronics and achieve the same effect as with magnets. This is a worrying trend ‒ not least for the obvious safety issues ‒ and is proving costly to utilities in certain Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria and Macedonia. ►

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M E T E R TA M P E R I N G | D R G E R H A R D E I S E N B E I S S

A smart solution

Meter manufacturers have responded with the development of newer, smarter meters and driven significant improvements. Physically, meter design has advanced to give more robust meters that are difficult to break into and interfere with. The old adage has it that 'prevention is better than cure', and in this respect smart meters confirm it. Yet smart meters' greatest contribution to combating tampering is not prevention, but detection. Old-style meters are rarely checked by an engineer unless there is a reason to investigate, and tampered meters can remain undetected for a long time. Smart meters by contrast, feed back a constant stream of information to the utility. Not only does this allow them to quickly detect and investigate any anomalous usage patterns, it also presents other advantages. Constant two-way communication means meters can send back more than usage data. Some of the most effective anti-tampering measures are sensors placed within the meter. These can detect, among other things, strong magnetic fields, abnormal electrical charges, the removal of the meter cover, and tilt (which often signifies tampering attempts). If these instant notifications don't tally with an engineer's visit, then the meter operator knows to be suspicious. It's for reasons such as these that, when Italy began its smart meter rollout in 2000, antitampering was a major part of the business case. These

measures can't actively guard against meter tampering, but they do greatly increase the speed and likelihood thieves will be caught. When word gets out, smart meters can then act as a deterrent to would-be tamperers.

Smarter meters to prevent smarter tampering

Though still prevalent, physical meter tampering is sure to reduce in time as the global smart meter rollout gathers pace. Even if rising energy prices drive more people to try their hand at tampering and partially offset the trend, smart metering is an effective response to the crime. However, the very aspect of smart metering that allows utilities to close the door on meter tamperers in one respect, potentially opens another door elsewhere. Meter communication security has rightly been a hot topic in recent years. If someone gains the ability to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; smart meters, then there is the possibility that they can manipulate the data and reduce the bill. More worrying though, is that disconnect functions mean that it is theoretically possible to remotely disconnect a house, a block or an entire city from the grid. For example, when Spain first rolled-out remote meter reading, they were woefully under protected against security threats. They've since rectified the flaws, but were fortunate not to experience an attack. Utilities and smart meter manufacturers both have a responsibility to guard against this sort of interference.

By introducing two-way constant communication to metering, utilities must be careful not to enable another way to tamper: remote electronic manipulation.

| 80 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.fse.org.za

Arguably, attacks such as these stray beyond meter tampering into something much darker than a hardpressed customer trying to reduce an energy bill, and perhaps it's not proper to discuss them in the same context. However, it’s important to realise that while smart meters have undeniably helped reduce tampering in some respects, they have thrown up fresh challenges in others. The overall effect is positive, but it’s up to the industry to ensure that smarter meters does not mean smarter tampering.

An ever-evolving solution

The pessimist might argue there is no definitive solution then, but they’d be wrong. To be sure, as long as there is economic incentive to do so, you can bet that someone, somewhere will attempt to tamper with their meter, but utilities and meter manufacturers have been extremely innovative in their attempts to prevent it. This in turn spurs innovation on the part of the tamperers ‒ it’s a cat and mouse game ‒ but the industry is one step ahead. A cause for optimism is the hugely proactive efforts to guard against tampering and interference. Various governments have worked to define stringent security

standards for smart meters, such as Germany's recent BSI specifications. Moreover, even without legislation, the overwhelming economic incentive is for manufacturers to guard against tampering and protect end customers. These factors mean that the industry is well prepared and extremely motivated to address new meter tampering threats as they arise. Meter tampering is still a major problem as things stand ‒ even in Europe. The smart meter roll-out will surely make a life much more difficult for those that would interfere with meters. However, it’s vital that utilities and manufacturers keep up the efforts to make ever smarter, ever safer meters as tamperers react and new threats arise. By doing so, they can ensure their customers are safer and their bills will be fairer, more accurate and less costly ■

+ More Information www.elster.com/en environmentmagazine.co.uk | 81 |

ENERGY

H E R I TAG E B U I L D I N G S | P H I L M A R R I S

Energy EďŹ&#x192;ciency

Heritage Buildings

| 82 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.jaga.co.uk

By Phil Marris

Managing Director, Jaga Heating Products As regulatory demands relating to energy efficiency accelerate, considerations of how we heat and ventilate buildings become more prominent. However, the implementation of ‘greener’ HVAC technologies should not just be a consideration when planning new constructions. England alone has approximately 375,000 listed buildings, which collectively contribute to a huge sapping of natural resources and an unnecessary waste of property owners’ money. While these more historic buildings present unique challenges to circumvent, when achieved, the benefits of HVAC refurbishment to both the environment and the bill payer are substantial. The most immediate concern for building decision makers tends to be the potential to irreversibly damage these prestigious landmarks through a poorly thought out strategy and inadequate implementation. Some of our oldest examples of Britain’s architectural heritage have been in place for 1000 years, so while the environmental incentive is of course an essential initiative to pursue, disrupting these buildings’ legacy would be an unnecessary disservice to future generations. That is why it is crucial for historical building owners to seek a truly collaborative relationship with an experienced HVAC partner – one well versed in recommending and implementing energy-efficient upgrades without damaging the historic structure or depreciating its aesthetics.

Unique Considerations

Churches and cathedrals are a prime example and account for a large percentage of our listed buildings. Obviously, unlike with new constructions, their design specifications were often formulated hundreds of years ago. Purely on the basis of providing energy-efficient heating, these buildings often present unique challenges to overcome. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 83 |

ENERGY

H E R I TAG E B U I L D I N G S | P H I L M A R R I S

Although older churches’ characteristic stone walls feature a high thermal mass to ensure they remain cool in the hot summer weather, the same effect in winter causes the often large, open space inside to become uncomfortably cold. The sun’s heat can take all day to penetrate the thick stones and heat the interior; in winter, the temperature rarely soars high enough for the walls to radiate any heat at all. While modern churches are often designed to double as community centres and are used regularly throughout the week, the older, more historic churches are generally not in daily use and need to warm up quickly in time for

a service. Switching on a conventional central heating system hours before every service is hardly ideal, particularly given the impact it has on a parish’s – and the planet’s for that matter – valuable resources. Museums and galleries would be another example. The sheer size of the exhibition space in some of our grandest historical museums places a substantial demand on energy consumption. Not only is there a high square-footage, the rooms are often expansive, and the requirement to provide a comfortable temperature in which visitors peruse the artefacts and exhibitions makes it environmentally

Roger Blackwell | 84 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.jaga.co.uk

A built in DBE unit on top of a heat exchanger.

damaging to continue using out-dated, energy-guzzling heating measures. The fact that these buildings are often occupied on a daily basis throughout the year only goes to exacerbate the situation. Highly responsive heating, coupled with a renewable energy source is the desirable solution – not only reducing the building’s carbon footprint, but the energy costs as well. Low-mass, low water content radiators are key to achieving this. Because they take such little time to heat up, they immediately and effectively get to work in the most challenging interior circumstances.

Preserving Character

A further consideration when designing for heritage buildings is the aesthetics of the radiator. This is important to ensure the building’s character remains intact, but contemporary technologies mean that sacrificing valuable heat output need not be necessary when finding an aesthetically accommodating yet powerful heating solution. In museums, detracting from the visual satisfaction the items on display provide, as well as the architectural features for that matter, means that the heating system should be as good as anonymous to

visitors. Likewise with churches, where the retention of architectural features in place for significant periods of time can be challenging to work around when considering a replacement heating system. While traditional wall-mounted radiators may still be the most appropriate choice, alternative choices with varying benefits have become increasingly accessible and realistic to incorporate into the circumstances. For example, trench and perimeter heating options are subtly hidden away to maximise available floor-space, and are ideal for countering draughts from full height glazing often found in churches. Whatever the building characteristics are and however little space there is to install the radiators, the options available are now versatile enough that there should always be a happy medium to satisfy all parties, as well as the demands of reducing a heritage building’s carbon footprint. Reversing the impact our traditionally energy-thirsty heating habits have had on the environment is an important supplement to overall efficiency. To do so in historic buildings, utilising expertise from HVAC partners in-the-know is crucial to sustaining Britain’s cultural heritage for years to come. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 85 |

ENERGY

H E R I TAG E B U I L D I N G S | P H I L M A R R I S

Grand gothic cathedral upgrades to modern heating solution

St John’s Cathedral, located in the heart of Norwich, is England’s second largest catholic cathedral and has recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. Moving with the times, the grade I listed building, which was built by the 15th Duke of Norfolk Henry Fitzalan-Howard, is the first cathedral to step into the 21st century with the installation of a customized new heating system. Jaga’s Built-in Dynamic Boost Effect (DBE) technology was installed to replace the dated and costly part-electric, part-gas heating providing low-level warmth throughout. Churches face an ongoing difficulty with heating systems, as any heat provided rises to the top of the high vaulted ceiling, leaving a lower temperature below. Reverend Deacon Pat Limacher, from St John’s Cathedral, required a heating system which could maintain a comfortable temperature for parishioners and church visitors. Jaga worked with engineering specialists, E-Tech, to create an effective solution which involved fitting the system into the raised pew areas and diverting the heat to produce a warm air from the side of the platforms. With more than 30 of the 2.4-metre Built-in DBE units installed throughout the cathedral, the new heating system is able to run efficiently without causing any disruption during church services. The control system monitors the fans which will turn on once there is a requirement for heating. Reverend Deacon Pat Limacher said: “I am extremely pleased with the new system. We can now run the heating | 86 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

seven days a week rather than just two days a week all for the same cost. I initially planned to turn the system on two hours before services began and switch them off when people started to arrive. However, the output is so high on the boost setting that they only need to go on a few minutes before the congregation arrives and as the fans are so quiet I’m able to keep them running at comfort level throughout services.” ■

+ More Information www.jaga.co.uk

FOOD & PACKAGING

N AT U R A L N I T R O G E N | P E T E R B L E Z A R D

Natural-Nitrogen Fixation in Ethical Food Production | 88 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.azotictechnologies.com

By Peter Blezard

CEO, Azotic Technologies All plants need nitrogen in order to grow. Nitrogen is an element that is necessary for forming proteins and enzymes, and it is involved in all metabolic processes and the transfer of energy. Without nitrogen, therefore, a plant will be unable to grow and develop. The element nitrogen is therefore known as a “limiting factor” in the growth of a plant, determining the size, shape, yield and vigour of the plant. Although 78% of the air that humans breathe is made up of nitrogen, it is not in a form that most plants can use. This therefore means that most plants are dependent on taking what available nitrogen there is from the soil through their roots. There are a small number of crops, known as legumes, that can absorb or “fix” nitrogen from the air in the soil through an association with bacteria called rhizobia that live in small nodules in the roots. This ability is, however, limited to peas and beans rather than the main crops, such as cereals, which are required by mankind as major sources of food. As such, farmers of the 21st century now spray their fields with copious amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizer, a solution which contains the nitrogen element in a form that the crops can use, and so can boost the amount and quality of crops produced. Nitrogenbased fertiliser was first developed in 1913 with the dawn of the Haber-Bosch process. This process was one of the biggest industrial discoveries of the 20th century as it completely revolutionised the global food production industry. Considering that the world’s population has increased by approximately 448%1 since 1913, this technological discovery was very necessary to ensure food security for the world’s growing population. According to the International Fertilizer Industry Association2, in 2012 / 2013 the global fertiliser industry was estimated to be the size of 176.3 million tonnes, a figure that is predicted to rise to 194.9 million tonnes by 2017 / 2018. According to market intelligence consultant Ceresana3, the value of the global fertiliser industry is expected to rise to US $185bn by 2019.

Challenge

Whilst the production of synthetic nitrogen-based fertiliser has been key to the world’s development, and necessary for increasing crop production for the globe’s enlarged population, there are a number of negative environmental and human impacts that result from the overuse of fertiliser. Considering that the world’s population is only expected to increase going forward, we foresee that the world’s dependence on fertiliser for increased crop production will also increase, resulting in an increased negative footprint. Therefore, a natural nitrogen alternative is required, if not to completely replace the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers, then at least to supplement and reduce it. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 89 |

FOOD & PACKAGING

N AT U R A L N I T R O G E N | P E T E R B L E Z A R D

An excess of nitrogen in soil can cause acidification, inhibiting its ability to host and nurture healthy crops. Nitrogen fertiliser in the soil can also be drained away and deposited in lakes and rivers causing “algal blooms”, which deplete the water of necessary oxygen. One of the problems of the dependence on fertiliser is that the production process is costly and so therefore the product is expensive for farmers. High costs are not ideal for any industry, but in an industry such as farming, where profit margins can vary hugely year on year due to weather and climate trends, it can make the difference between a farmer making a profit or cutting a loss. The production process and usage of fertiliser is also highly pollutive and carbon intensive. Not only does the production process emit CO2, a green-house gas that only worsens the situation of climate change and global warming, but the excess nitrogen left in the soil postapplication is also a major pollutant. Excess nitrogen fertiliser causes a problem known as eutrophication, where nitrogen in the soil is drained away by water flows and deposited in lakes and rivers. Once in the lakes and rivers, it causes the aquatic plant-life to grow uncontrollably in what are known as “algal blooms”. Due to the fact that plant life requires oxygen in order to grow, the rivers and lakes in question become oxygen depleted and so can cause any other aquatic life, such as fish, to die. In addition to this, an excess of nitrogen in soil can cause “acidification”, whereby the soil becomes overloaded with hydrogen cations and its ability to host and nurture healthy crops is inhibited. Increased nitrogen levels in water-ways can cause problems for humans as well, with levels above 10mg/ litre being known to cause “blue baby” syndrome in infants, whereby the blood’s ability to carry oxygen is reduced due to the presence of nitrogen in the baby’s drinking water. In terms of the social implications that can be brought about by the over-use of nitrogen-based fertilisers, global inequality is one of them. Due to obvious reasons, farmers in less economically developed countries are not able to afford the premium prices for nitrogen-based fertilisers, and so are at a disadvantage to their more economically developed counterparts who can afford fertilisers, and can therefore vastly outperform them in terms of crop yield and performance. Whilst this issue of “can and can’t have” exists, the inequality gap between 1st and 3rd world countries will only increase. | 90 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Solution

As with the development of the Haber-Bosch process, the solution to this challenge can be found in science. A new technology has been developed by Professor Edward Cocking, a world-renowned scientist in the field of nitrogen-fixation in plants. This technology, N-Fix®, is now being commercialised for global agricultural use by the company Azotic Technologies. Essentially, N-Fix is the world’s natural answer to the issue of nitrogen fixation. It enables the plant to fix up to 50% of its nitrogen requirement from the atmosphere as opposed to depending on harmful nitrogen-based fertilisers in the soil. The technology does this through the bacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus (“Gd”), which can be inoculated into plant seeds through a coating application using liquid spray, and which can enable the plant to convert nitrous-oxide from the atmosphere into a form of nitrogen that the plant can actually use. Indeed, the bacterium works in a similar way to the bacteria that live in the nodules of legumes, which can already fix their own nitrogen from the atmosphere. Once inoculated, the bacterium spreads systemically throughout the plant, and has the potential to colonise every plant cell. Whilst most nitrogen based fertilisers require multiple rounds of application to be effective, N-Fix needs only to be applied at the seed coating stage. Through the field trials conducted by Azotic Technologies’ team of world-class scientists on grass, oil-seed rape and wheat, Azotic has shown that the application of N-Fix to seeds can produce the same or greater amount of chlorophyll in leaves and crop biomass in plants that have only been given three quarters of the normal dosage of nitrogen-fertiliser when compared with those crops that have been given the full amount of nitrogen fertiliser. These results suggest that not only could N-Fix enable farmers to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertiliser used by at least 25% without sacrificing the performance of their crops, but they also indicate that the combination of a lower amount of fertiliser with the N-Fix technology could actually increase crop performance. ►

www.azotictechnologies.com

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FOOD & PACKAGING

N AT U R A L N I T R O G E N | P E T E R B L E Z A R D

relatively low-carbon emitting, which differs greatly to the carbon emitting fertiliser industry. Not only would this be Professor Edward Cocking's N-Fix is a natural solution to the positive from an environmental angle, but issue of nitrogen ďŹ xation. It enables the plant to ďŹ x up to 50% there is also a commercial opportunity for largeof its nitrogen requirement from the atmosphere as opposed scale food producers to adopt N-Fix, and earn to depending on harmful nitrogen-based fertilisers in the soil. money from the carbon credits awarded to them by the government for reducing their carbon There are a number of other benefits that a natural emissions. The Azotic Technologies research team is now alternative such as N-Fix can provide to farmers and trialling the technology on a number of different crops food producers. Firstly, the production process is very so as to assess its universal applicability. The trials of the simple and inexpensive, especially when compared to product on crops such as wheat, oilseed rape and rice will the production process for nitrogen fertiliser which produce new opportunities for its distribution in requires significant capital investment. overseas and less economically developed markets, and Whilst N-Fix would not yet seek to replace the use therefore the potential for the global farming industry of fertiliser entirely, simply by reducing the amount of to become more sustainable. Azotic Technologies also fertiliser needed to grow crops to industry standards plans to sell N-Fix into developing markets at a reduced would therefore significantly reduce the associated rate so as to also to make global farming more equitable costs. This simple and inexpensive process is also and ethical. | 92 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.azotictechnologies.com

Conclusion:

One of the most famous debates around the future of the world’s population was that of Thomas Malthus and Esther Boserup. Whilst Malthus took the view that the world’s population would grow exponentially to the point where it could not sustain itself, Boserup held a more positive view that the rate of technological advancement would keep up with the rate of population growth, and that the world would therefore be able to increase crop production so as to satisfy the population’s growing needs. One such ground breaking technology was the development of the Haber-Bosch process in 1913, a development that vastly increased the world’s agricultural potential. Now over a century on, we believe that it is the development of technologies such as N-Fix that will not only enable the world to continue producing more and more food to support its growing population, but will also help the world to reduce its environmental impact ■

+ More Information www.azotictechnologies.com

References: United States Census Bureau (2014) Historical Estimates of World’s Population: www.census.gov/population/international/data/worldpop/ table_history.php 2 International Fertilizer Industry Association (2013) 81st IFA Annual Conference Chicago (USA), 20-22 May 2013: www.fertilizer.org/imis20/images/Library_Downloads/2013_ chicago_ifa_summary.pdf?WebsiteKey=411e9724-4bda-422fabfc-8152ed74f306&=404%3bhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.fertilizer. org%3a80%2fen%2fimages%2fLibrary_Downloads%2f2013_ chicago_ifa_summary.pdf 3 Ceresana (2013) Market Study: Fertilizers World (UC-3905): www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/agriculture/fertilizersworld 1

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P L A S T I C PAC K AG I N G L I T T E R | M I C H A E L S T E P H E N S

OXO-BIODEGRADABILITY: a rational and natural solution to plastic packaging litter

| 94 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.symphonyenvironmental.com

By Michael Stephens

Technical Director, Symphony Environmental There is no denying that plastic packaging is a major contributor to litter throughout the world. Although not a major element in weight and volume, the durable and colourful nature of plastic packaging causes it to be highly visible and therefore a target for emotionally exaggerated reactions. For example, there is widespread legislation to ban or restrict the use of short service life shopper bags. This humble item utilises a fraction of the plastic usage globally and has a minute impact on the volume of plastic litter. But – as a well recognised item and easily targeted – it has been the victim of campaigns by newspapers and environmental NGO’s everywhere. This has resulted in image-aware governments creating anti-shopper-bag legislation. Using simple oxo-biodegradable technology can easily reduce the problem of plastic litter in the countryside and in the marine environment. The benefits of plastic derived from oil is proven by a number of LCA studies , and rendering that material biodegradable is simply achieved by adding a 1% additive to conventional polymers. Thus the impact on processing parameters and finished material properties is negligible. The additive typically consists of a transition metal salt and stabilisers, which are NOT heavy metals. The salt has a catalytic action that causes a free radical reaction causing chain-cleavage, in turn leading to the creation of hydroperoxides which are precursors to complete bio assimilation – these include esters, alcohols, aldehydes and carboxylic acids. The stabilisers retard this action under the elevated temperatures of processing and in the environment, so as to provide the required useful life of the finished packaging item. There are independent tests that confirm degradation continuing in marine and fresh water environments, and scientific papers published over four decades confirm the efficacy of this technology. There are a number of National Standards (ASTM-USA, BSi-UK, AFNOR-France) that are designed to measure the extent and confirm the biodegradation of the oxo-biodegradable material, which

they would not do if the material simply fragmented into pieces of plastic. A number of countries and regions have legislated to recognise, and in some cases to mandate, oxobiodegradation as a method to reduce the environmental impact of litter caused by short service-life plastic materials. These include: Pakistan, Morocco, Singapore, Mauritania, DR Congo, Mali, Togo, Cameroon, Iran, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Ecuador, UAE, Brazil (Regional), and Argentina (Regional). An LCA by Intertek, published by the UK Government in 2011, and a further LCA by Intertek in 2012 found that ordinary plastic and oxo-bio plastic has a better LCA than compostable plastic or paper bags used for shopping. The conclusions were as follows: • The oxo-bio bag performed 75% better than the conventional bag in the litter category. • The bio-based bag had the worst performance in 10 of the 11 environmental-impact categories. • The impact of oxo-bio plastics in landfill is the same as conventional plastics, with no anaerobic degradation and no generation of methane. The report further confirmed that bio-based bags do emit methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) in landfill. • Bio-based plastic cannot be recycled with conventional plastic as part of a mixed, post-consumer waste stream without compromising the recycling process. • The inclusion of 50% recycled content reduced the global warming impact of the conventional bags by 19%. However, the recycled content had a negative effect on 7 of the environmental-impact categories, due to extra transportation and the need to make them thicker for the same strength. • The best way to reduce the impact of plastic carrier bags is to re-use them more often, minimize the transportation needed for recycling, and make them oxo-biodegradable.

Confirmation of the benign biodegradation of oxobiodegradable materials can be found in the latest test methodology being introduced into National Standards. Currently ASTM, BSi and the UAE Standard are considering the ADP/ATP methodology introduced by the French standards authority in ACT51-808. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 95 |

FOOD & PACKAGING

P L A S T I C PAC K AG I N G L I T T E R | M I C H A E L S T E P H E N S

Adenosine diphosphate, abbreviated ADP, is an important organic compound in metabolism and is essential to the flow of energy in living cells. ADPATP cycling supplies the energy needed to do work in a biological system, the thermodynamic process of transferring energy from one source to another. There are two types of energy: potential energy (stored) and kinetic energy (resulting from motion). The significance of ATP is its ability to store potential energy within the phosphate bonds. The energy stored between these bonds can then be transferred to do work. ADP can be converted, or powered back to ATP through the process of releasing the chemical energy available in food; in humans this is constantly performed via aerobic respiration in the mitochondria. Plants use photosynthetic pathways to convert and store energy from sunlight, also conversion of ADP to ATP. Animals use the energy released in the breakdown of glucose and other molecules to convert ADP to ATP, which can then be used to fuel necessary growth and cell maintenance. In the AFNOR test method living organisms feed exclusively on degraded plastic. As it is the only carbon source the uptake of the carbon from the degraded | 96 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

plastic and the resultant growth in the colony of organisms can be measured. This is done by chemiluminescence. Thus the degraded material - which cannot be described as a plastic any longer - is consumed by the living organisms confirming biodegradation and excluding ecotoxicity. The onset of the degradation process is controlled, and a period of guaranteed functionality is “programmed” into the plastic by means of sacrificial stabilisers. So, for example, a carrier bag may have functionality for 18 months – to allow for storage, distribution, re-use etc. Once disposed of in the outdoor environment the temperatures, stresses, and UV exposure will eliminate the stabilisers and permit rapid oxidation. The use of oxo-biodegradable materials, with their controlled degradation properties, is an economical, safe and effective way to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste ■

+ More Information www.symphonyenvironmental.com

LAND MANAGEMENT

| 98 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

SITE ASSESSMENT | MARK BURNARD

www.landmark.co.uk

What Lies Hidden

Beneath?

By Mark Burnard

Senior Product Manager, Landmark Information Group At the start of any new land development project, there are a wide range of due-diligence checks required to understand not only the suitability of the site in question, but to understand the historic use of the land, whether there is any potential land contamination, land use constraints, underground utilities or any environmental risks – such as flood or subsidence – that need to be factored in before any plans are submitted and any development begins. What lies beneath a plot of land may certainly not be obvious to the naked eye. Observant walkers can easily pick out sites of historical significance in the UK by looking out for the distinct blue plaques. By doing so, the previously hidden history of the location quickly comes to life. Determining the extent of the UK’s industrial legacy or risks related to environmental factors may not be so apparent. You only need to look through recent news articles to find real-life examples of this very point. One that springs to mind is the £12m development that is taking place in Portsmouth of the new Ben Ainslie sailing headquarters for the America's Cup team. Less than one month into

the ground works at the dockyard site, an unexploded World War II bomb was identified, halting all works until the Royal Navy bomb squad could safely remove the shell from the land. A separate report focused on a primary school in Totnes that is undergoing some building works. During the project, it was discovered that the school was built on a former gas works and, as such, contaminated land was identified and had to be removed for testing, causing alarm to the pupil’s parents. What is clear is that it pays dividends to undertake thorough research at the outset of any land development project, in order to ensure you know exactly what you are dealing with. In today’s digital world, property, land and environmental professionals can obtain access to a wealth of electronic data for use in feasibility studies, environmental impact reports or the wider planning duediligence process. Everything from historical maps, environmental intelligence and geological data through to historic planning reports can be quickly sourced and analysed to reveal past land use, land stability or potential ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 99 |

LAND MANAGEMENT

SITE ASSESSMENT | MARK BURNARD

environmental risks. This ultimately reduces the potential for uncovering any nasty surprises later in a project’s lifecycle. Here we provide a snapshot to just some of the digital resources that can today provide an insight into the true ‘lie of the land’: 1.

ever more prevalent (plus the Environment Agency data illustrating that overall ﬂood risk has increased over the last decade), the ability to accurately determine associated risk is increasingly important. Specialist ﬂood data is available from a range of expert sources to clarify what level of risk is posed to a particular area of land. The data is exhaustive and by analysing risk rather than susceptibility, reports can provide accurate due diligence, so preventative measures or an appropriate action plan can be put in place, as needed.

Land Contamination

Historical mapping is one way of deducing what past activities may have taken place on the land in question. By having access to historical maps, you can quickly identify places of worship, former industrial buildings, military activities, quarries or similar. A wide range of OS maps, Goad maps, aerial photography and old military maps can look back through almost two centuries to identify past features. Local authorities and commercial providers also hold a wide range of environmental data, including potential sources of contamination, with local authorities maintaining a register to illustrate if legal action has been taken on contaminated land (or for those sites where contamination may be present). In addition to this, both local authorities and commercial entities hold electronic data regarding historic land use: planning history; pollution incidents; details of closed landﬁll sites; site-speciﬁc reports outlining investigations and remedial actions, and other related matters, providing a clear picture concerning any potential risks that may have been (or may still be) present.

Groundwater Vulnerability and Flooding

According to the Environment Agency, more than ﬁve million properties in England and Wales are at risk of ﬂooding from river, sea, surface and ground water. With extreme weather conditions threatening to become

| 100 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Unexploded Ordnance

Even though World War II started over 75 years ago, the risk from Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) continues to pose a potential risk in the UK. It is estimated that 10% of bombs dropped on London alone did not detonate. In addition, areas of land have also been used for military training over the years and again, unearthed ordnance could be discovered as a result. Desk-based reports are today available that help identify potential risk posed by UXO. The first is a ‘Preliminary UXO Risk Assessment’, which is an initial screening report that includes a ‘probability assessment’ of risk. This breaks down a list of potential UXO threats: recommendations based on the probability of the identified threat; a map displaying the probability of the UXO encounter; and another map that displays World War II high explosive bomb density in relation to your site. A second digital assessment – a ‘Detailed UXO Risk Assessment’ – then provides more quantifiable risk assessment by taking into account both the probability of the UXO threat in addition to the potential consequences. The extent of the data offered in the

www.landmark.co.uk

Broken spun iron gas pipes.

James Cridland

As such, digital coal mining searches are available from the Coal Authority directly or through commercial providers, which are of considerable use to anyone planning a development or project on any land where you may suspect mining activities have taken place in the past.

assessment reports provides a solid basis on which to form an approach and to commence any action, as necessary. 4.

Ground Instability and Sinkholes

With extreme weather conditions becoming a more frequent occurrence – with peaks and troughs seen with dry conditions followed by contrasting excessive rainfall – there has been an increase in subsidence incidents across the UK. The change in weather condition has inﬂuenced ground instability resulting not only in landslips or movement, but also in a spate of ‘sinkholes’. Fortunately in the UK, ground collapse is rare, but even so the sinkholes can be reasonably large and present a clear risk. For example, a collapse over old mine workings in Derbyshire in late 2013 produced a hole about 50m across and 40m deep. They typically occur when the under surface ground has dissolved away, which is typically the case when the land is founded on chalk, limestone, gypsum and salt, or as a result of man-made ground voids, such as mine operations. Electronic reports are however available from sources such as Envirocheck that provide a useful insight into potential risks related to ground stability, screening for both manmade causes as well as underlying ground conditions that could all have an impact.

Underground Utilities

Understanding the features that lie below the surface is crucial before any excavations commence, and as well as natural features, it is important to also consider whether any utility services may be present. This could include anything from gas and oil pipelines, electricity cables, telecommunication wires, mains water supplies, sewers or ﬁbre-optic cables.

Detailed Utilities Reports are available that collate all utility information into a single source, providing a clear outline of utilities below the surface. This provides valuable information that will help reduce the risks of potential litigation if damage is caused, delayed project design, increased foundation costs or added danger for any workforce involved ■

Coal Mines

Past coal mining activities may not be visible on the surface of the land but if in place may present a potential risk to the area in general. The Coal Authority is responsible for dealing with public safety related to any potential damage that may occur as a result.

+ More Information

Title Photo: Beverley Goodwin

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LEGAL

E M P LOY M E N T L AW | A B I S O L A L AT U N J I

Hiring and firing

the apprentice By Abisola Latunji

Employment Solicitor, SGH Martineau LLP

With TV show ‘The Apprentice’ back on our screens and again dividing the nation as to the merits of each of the candidates, it will no doubt spark debate about the benefits of utilising apprentices to help grow businesses. When used correctly, apprenticeships can be rewarding for both the business and the apprentice, but solicitor Abisola Latunji, a member of the employment team at leading UK law firm SGH Martineau warns against the Lord Sugar approach: “Despite the light-hearted style adopted in the programme to hiring and firing, the law governing apprenticeships can be complex. “Depending on the type of contract used, there are serious considerations for a business from an employment law perspective. An apprenticeship, unlike some other | 102 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

fixed-term contracts, can mean a business is investing in a long-term relationship which it cannot easily terminate – certainly not by leaning across the table and yelling “you’re fired”. “Of course, in reality, an employer would potentially face serious consequences for dismissing any member of staff in this way. Provided the employee has the required amount of service, an employer needs to have a fair reason for dismissal and to have followed a fair process. “With the right approach, apprentices can prove a great asset for businesses. Apprenticeships typically last between one and four years and a business may need to invest a significant amount of time and resources in managing apprentices. However, it offers businesses

www.sghmartineau.com

the opportunity to mould young talent into the ideal employee with the necessary skills required for the business to grow. “Establishing such a positive relationship between the business and the apprentice also helps develop a real sense of loyalty, which often leads to long and fruitful careers – apprenticeships should be viewed as investing in potential future managers of the business. “A complex set of rules govern the employment of apprentices, but it is important to draw a distinction between ‘contracts of apprenticeship’ and ‘apprenticeship agreements’ before employers can assess how they must apply them. Whilst they sound similar, due to the different approach to the way training is delivered, the employment law implications differ significantly. “The term ‘contract of apprenticeship’ covers the traditional apprenticeship arrangements, where the primary objective is for the individual to be trained, rather than perform work for the employer. “In contrast, ‘apprenticeship agreements’ are entered into and governed by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and are more like standard employment contracts. This agreement is usually between the employer, the apprentice and the training provider, and the arrangement must fulfil certain criteria. This includes the basics, such as the apprentice undertaking to work for the employer and a statement of terms, but also a statement that the agreement is entered into in connection with a qualifying apprenticeship framework and a statement of the skill, trade or occupation for which the apprentice is being trained.

“In order to satisfy the requirements, the apprenticeship will usually involve both knowledge and competency elements, supplemented by both on and off the job training, with training provided by a training provider, rather than the employer. At the end of the agreement, the apprentice will receive a recognised qualification. “Terminating apprenticeship contracts is less straightforward than terminating the contracts of other workers and employees. Whilst most employers are familiar with the rules governing dismissal of employees, many employers are unaware that an apprenticeship cannot necessarily be terminated in the same way as other fixed term contracts. “As the primary focus of a contract of apprenticeship is to provide training, an employer can only terminate the contract in limited circumstances, such as severe misconduct or closure of the business. If the employer terminates in other circumstances, it can be liable for loss of earnings and training for the remainder of the apprenticeship, which might be a substantial amount. “This is important and businesses must realise that, if the performance of an apprentice is not quite up to standard, or their behaviour is less than would be accepted from other members of staff, the business cannot just sack the individual before the apprenticeship ends. Doing so might expose the business to substantial liability and highlights the need for recruitment processes even more thorough than for other members of staff, particularly given that a probationary period cannot necessarily be utilised in the same way. ►

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LEGAL

E M P LOY M E N T L AW | A B I S O L A L AT U N J I

“Apprenticeship agreements however, can be terminated lawfully provided that the dismissal is fair and in accordance with the contract itself. Importantly though, if the apprenticeship is for a fixed term (for example, two years), unless the contract provides a right of early termination, an employer may be liable for the salary for the full term, if it chooses to terminate early. It is therefore essential that the contract covers off all potential eventualities. “Clearly, for most employers, an apprenticeship agreement (as opposed to a contract of apprenticeship) will be the preferred option, giving the option to terminate early if things are not working out. There is a risk that, where the contract does not comply with the prescribed conditions for an apprenticeship agreement (or, more worryingly, where there is not a written contract at all), it may be deemed to fall into the category of a ‘contract of apprenticeship’, and attract the additional associated obligations. This will not necessarily be the case, but it is always advisable to get the contract drafting right from the outset to help avoid any future issues. “The normal employment rights that apply to other employees apply equally to apprentices, although the National Minimum Wage is lower for apprentices under the age of 19 (or those aged 19 and over but in the first year of their apprenticeship). Additionally, it is perhaps more difficult for an apprentice to establish their dismissal is for reason of redundancy, and apprentices do not qualify for the right of employees on fixed term contracts not to be treated less favourably than comparable permanent employees. | 104 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

“Employers must also consider the potential financial consequences of apprentices. Funding differs depending on the age of the apprentice and is usually paid directly to the training provider. In fact, employers are often required to contribute to training costs, which can be substantial – this is in addition to the wages and other costs associated with training a person on the job. “If a business has no more than 1,000 employees, has not taken on an apprentice in the past 12 months and wants to take on apprentices between 16 and 24 years of age, it might get a grant of £1,500 per apprentice, up to £15,000 in total. “However, this support is in place only until 31 December 2014, so employers will need to act quickly if they want to take advantage. With both the Labour and Conservative parties stating their intention to create more apprenticeships after the general election, if either party wins there may be more opportunities for employer-funding in the future. “So, whilst we enjoy the trials and tribulations of Lord Sugar choosing his next apprentice, it is well worth employers giving full consideration to the advantages and disadvantages of hiring apprentices and the benefits they might offer businesses of all sizes.” ■

Photographs: The National Apprenticeship Service

+ More Information www.apprenticeships.org.uk www.sghmartineau.com

LEGAL

B U S I N E S S A N D L AW | A Z I Z R A H M A N

Environment, Business and Law By Aziz Rahman

Founder, Rahman Ravelli Solicitors

We live in an era where, for arguably the first time, the law is being used to protect the environment and ensure that industry makes its contribution to such protection. But while legislation has to be seen as a sign of progress, it can be viewed as something of a minefield for the uninitiated. This may sound harsh but it is true. Let’s take as an example carbon credits. A laudable attempt to make nations – and, by implication, their industries – meet agreed greenhouse gas obligations. They have certainly highlighted the need to restrict the output of such gases and acted as some form of collective conscience for industry. | 106 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Yet by 2009, the UK government was taking action to make such carbon emission trading “zero rated’’ for VAT. This was not the action of a government keen to promote carbon credits’ role in creating a greener environment: it was an attempt to stop savvy offenders using carbon credits to carry out VAT frauds involving tens of millions of pounds. It also came to light that carbon credits were being used as a weapon of choice by many of those running “boiler room’’ operations. Boiler room operations involve teams of people cold calling members of the public to convince them to invest in something that is effectively worthless. Carbon credits, it seems, have

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become one of those commodities that offenders believe they can name drop to con innocent people out of their money. The ways such schemes operate may vary. Some may not actually have any genuine carbon credits to sell. Others may have obtained them through bribery and corruption. And without wanting to alarm anyone who is acting with the best interests of the environment at heart, it is such corruption that many in industry have to be aware of. The environment – and industry’s responsibility to it – is a relatively new concept. But, like all issues, it has become a magnet for those looking to make illegal

gains. And this places clear obligations on companies who want to remain both environmentally responsible and legally safe. Such obligations can be explicit, as in the case of carbon credits. But often the law, environment and industry can be intertwined in a way that can be confusing for the most well-intentioned business. We have represented individuals and companies who have fallen foul of legislation either through naivety or over-zealousness. And while some have fallen foul of the law, others have suffered at the hands of the offenders who have preyed on such innocence and over enthusiasm. Anyone looking to take steps to be environmentally responsible has to be aware that there are legal pitfalls. For that reason, it pays to know a little about the law in order to avoid either being prosecuted or defrauded. For example, the issue of doing trade abroad can be fraught with difficulties. Obtaining permits, securing contracts and, for environmentally conscious businesses, complying with emissions regulations are often activities that can become vulnerable to bribery and corruption. In years gone by, having local or national government officials grant permission for a business to function could either be straightforward and above board or a complicated procedure where there was an expectation of illicit payment. Much would depend on the country. Without wanting to point the finger, I think it is fair to say that many of the most universally recognised and respected companies may well have had to make such payments as a means to an end over the years. It may have well been done with the most noble of ideas; using the approach that “the end justifies the means’’. But no one should even consider such practices in this day and age. Since 2011, the UK’s Bribery Act has made it an offence for a company’s staff, agents or other representatives to pay or offer a bribe anywhere in the world. Any company, individual or organisation with a connection to the UK can be prosecuted for such activity. Such prosecutions can be brought regardless of where the bribery was alleged to have happened – and however noble the long-term intentions were of those paying or offering the bribe. With this in mind, it would be easy for ethical companies to turn around and say that it does not affect them because, they would argue, they would never indulge in such underhand activities. But how can they be sure? If a company wants to be 100% certain that they are complying with national or international environmental standards, what should they do when faced with an official in a foreign state who is demanding a bribe to make sure everything runs smoothly? Anyone reading this would, quite rightly, say that the company should ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 107 |

LEGAL

B U S I N E S S A N D L AW | A Z I Z R A H M A N

| 108 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.rahmanravelli.co.uk

stick to its principles and tell the official that no bribes are to be paid. But what if this official has the power to hold up a huge contract by refusing to sign off on the company’s environmental plan? Or will not officially confirm emissions readings or issue the relevant permit? In such circumstances, a company needs more than a highly-principled, environmentally-friendly backbone. It has to be able to access the right legal expertise: expertise that can draw on an international network of colleagues in order to clarify and resolve the issue. It may sound like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut but this nut could land you in court on bribery charges if it isn’t handled appropriately. The circumstances and potential for bribery will vary hugely from country to country – Transparency International has compiled huge amounts of data on this – and certain sectors are more vulnerable to it than others. But caution is needed everywhere. According to Transparency International’s bribery index, published four years ago, officials in the category “Registry and Permit Services’’ were second only to police when it came to corruption around the globe; with the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa among the worst areas, followed by the former Soviet states. Such a category is clearly a fairly large, catch-all grouping of a wide variety of officials. But when it comes to environment-related issues and industry, these are the officials that could hold sway over the success or otherwise of a venture. In the past, while it could not be condoned, corruption could certainly help oil the wheels when it came to projects being allowed to proceed. That is a risk that can no longer be taken. Many reading this will obviously know that the environment is an increasingly important factor in the development of industry both here and around the world. Unfortunately, it is quite likely that many of those officials we have just described will also be aware of this: it is possible their local or national governments have implemented their own system of environmentally-based permits for industry, which may well be vulnerable to corruption. That can often place a company in an awkward situation. On the one hand it wants to expand and develop in a new country and work to high environmental principles. But on the other it is faced with officialdom looking for bribes. Ideally, seeking expert legal advice

on how to proceed - and information about the scale of corruption - in a location should be done before making any firm commitments. But if, as if often the case, the issue of corruption only rears its head when a company is either functioning in a location or about to begin work there, legal advice has to be taken immediately. It sounds pessimistic but caution needs to be exercised in what can seem the most innocuous circumstances. In much the same way that carbon credits have been used as a vehicle for criminal activity, charities have become increasingly attracted to those looking for illegal gain. Charities are exempt from tax on many of their sources of income, their tax affairs are not made available to the public and cash “donations’’ can be made without any banking record being available. All these factors make them useful to anyone looking to avoid paying tax or hide the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains via money laundering. We are certainly not saying that charities should be avoided by companies looking to function in an environmentally-friendly manner, either in the UK or abroad. But there have been instances of charities being used or set up to aid offenders. So some basic background checks would be a worthwhile way of making sure any environmental organisation you are dealing with is completely legal. This article has talked about potential legal risks posed by such worthy concepts as carbon credits and charities while highlighting the dangers of corruption when attempting to do business in ways that respect the environment. The intention has not been to deter anyone from doing business in a way that respects the environment. Far from it. We just want people to know the potential pitfalls and that there is legal expertise out there to help you navigate them ■

+ More Information www.rahmanravelli.co.uk

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 109 |

LIGHTING

S U S TA I N A B L E L I G H T I N G | LU XO N I C

One Angel Square alight with latest technologies - a Luxonic case study

At One Angel Square, Manchester, stands the landmark building that houses the Co-operative Group’s new headquarters. Striking in its architecture, it is an expression of the Co-op’s values and commitment to the environment: it is a statement for sustainability. The Co-op’s leadership in green architecture is supported by Luxonic Lighting, a leader in quality LED and interior lighting solutions across the architectural and commercial markets. The UK manufacturer has provided over 11,000 luminaires throughout the office and communal areas in the headquarters. One Angel Square is the UK’s first outstanding BREEAMrated building, designed to halve the current energy usage of the Co-op headquarters. The use of pioneering sustainable technology in the new building reduces carbon consumption by around 80% and significantly reduces energy costs for the company. Luxonic, through its own commitment to the environment in the design and manufacture of its luminaires, contributes to the energy efficiency of the Manchester building whilst providing a solution that integrates effortlessly with its architectural character. Approximately 8,000 of Luxonic’s luminaires used throughout the headquarters are bespoke, designed

| 110 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.luxonic.co.uk

specifically for One Angel Square to integrate with the chilled beam system in both the office and meeting spaces. The unobtrusive nature of the linear luminaires gives these working spaces a contemporary and stylish feel, in keeping with the Co-op’s status as a forwardthinking company. The Luxonic Flat-Lens FPO luminaires use a micro-prismatic lens to control light in the offices whilst maintaining high levels of efficiency. The slim beams include a directional uplight component that emphasises the clean lines of the coffered ceiling and also reduces the amount of light spill behind the chilled beam. Luxonic LED downlighters are mounted within bespoke rafts throughout the reception area and the café. With an expected life-span of 50,000 hours the Luxonic V-LED® 100 are powerful fixed recessed luminaires supplied with DALI dimmable control gear. This enables the lighting to be controlled according to daylight and occupancy levels, furthering its energy efficiency. V-LED® 200s light the ancillary areas at One Angel Square. These have been designed with the visual aesthetic of the luminaire in mind, as well as glare control and the shape of the intensity distribution. A specialist light engine from Luxonic manages the brightness of the LED while a satin diamond faceted reflector is an option to further control the luminaire luminance. This

management of luminance quality results in a more visually comfortable environment for the users of the headquarters. Invited to work on the project by Rotary North West and BAM construction due to previous success on high-end projects, Luxonic worked closely with designers Burro Happold and architect 3D Reid throughout the detailed design stage and continued to project completion. The Luxonic luminaires offered the highest levels of efficiency on the market, and confirmed the company’s specification for the provision of the lighting. Luxonic Lighting pioneers technologies in interior lighting design whilst considering the life-cycle of a product from its concept through to its end-of-life. Luxonic’s sustainable approach ‘Eco-Design’ is an effective environmental management system that maintains performance and productivity whilst ensuring orientation and safety for the user. It allows customers and companies to purchase and use Luxonic products in an equally sustainable way. At One Angel Square this commitment to the environment contributes to the project’s overall goal of sustainability, and helps to enhance the Co-op’s green credentials through the high efficiency of every fitting ■ environmentmagazine.co.uk | 111 |

LIGHTING

S U S TA I N A B L E L I G H T I N G | LU XO N I C

The responsible approach to lighting people and places

By Martyn Wherry

Regional Director, Luxonic

The word sustainability is a much used word in our dictionary today and it is certainly true that organisations will not survive unless they are committed to sustainable issues. So what is sustainability when it comes to lighting design? The key to this lies in product design, efficient operation and planned recycling at the end of product life. It’s a holistic approach involving a complete re-think of all the processes involved in designing and developing luminaires, how they are manufactured, how they are fitted into the fabric of a building and how they are controlled for maximum efficiency. So it is not simply about achieving energy savings, reducing CO2 emissions and increasing product life, it should also be about design, the manufacturing process, production and distribution of the product to site for installation. All of these things have a big impact on the environment and a responsible business attitude will lead to significant benefits.

process helps reduce carbon and water footprints, and minimises waste going to landfill. When it comes to despatch of the product, recycled packaging materials in conjunction with keen packaging design and control of packaging disposal takes on its own responsibility in the distribution chain which itself should use nodal linked-in transportation hubs. There are of course many standards set for the industry. Like a few other lighting manufacturers, Luxonic is committed to exceeding industry standards, designing its lighting products and schemes to surpass the latest Part L regulations, helping to achieve BREEAM ‘excellent’ or even ‘outstanding’ ratings for buildings. As well as ISO 14001 certification and carbon trust accreditation there is a need to comply with the WEEE directive for recycling of materials and components.

Manufacturing and standards

With the advent of powerful LEDs now providing high levels of useful light, this itself has brought about massive change to the approach to luminaire design so as to achieve the long lamp life of 50,000 hours as well as reaping the huge energy savings of between 40% and 85% compared with other light sources. LEDs have allowed luminaires to become shallower and therefore smaller; have called for different designs of reflectors and diffusers with much attention to thermal engineering so as to extract heat quickly from the LEDs and so optimize their life. The performance of this new breed of LED luminaire is further enhanced with the integration of high efficiency control gear.

Like many manufacturers now, Luxonic fully engages with this process and thinking. Luminaires are not only designed using less materials but with attention to effectively sourcing these materials and making sure they are both recyclable and where possible from already recycled material. Another consideration is the inter-changeability of some components for improved efficiencies. In manufacturing and production, new state-of-theart machinery with laser cutting equipment and recycling paint plants mean that less material is wasted and more recycled. Continually improving the manufacturing | 112 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

LEDs light the way ahead

www.luxonic.co.uk

Automated state-of-the-art machinery and recycling paint plant are contributors to sustainability in production.

Advanced lighting controls bring even more beneďŹ ts

One area often overlooked is that of lighting control, which is able to make an enormous contribution to energy saving in lighting schemes. The BRE Digest 498 gives guidance on selecting lighting controls. These can give significant energy savings up to 30% to 40% or more in some types of buildings. Many different types of lighting control are now available to building managers, including: occupancy sensing, valuable for infrequently used spaces; photoelectric control, for switching or dimming lamps in response to daylight; time switching, for switching off the main lighting outside hours; and sophisticated lighting energy management systems where the building manager can control the forms of lighting operation throughout a building, identifying faults and monitoring usage. Here DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) is an open standard communications protocol allowing huge control of individual lights, groups and networks. All of these aspects add up to achieving sustainability in lighting for the benefit of the customer - the end user of the building often via a specifier. The sustainable goal combines all of these approaches to minimise energy consumption both in manufacturing and distribution and in use of the luminaires, and in so doing embraces a social responsibility in improving quality of life by efficiently lighting people and places â&#x2013;

+ More Information www.luxonic.co.uk environmentmagazine.co.uk | 113 |

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

C W I S C | G E R RY M I L L E R

Cavity Wall Insulation Guarantees from CIGA By Gerry Miller

Chief Executive, Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency is an independent body that provides 25 year guarantees for Cavity Wall Insulation fitted by registered installers in the UK and Channel islands. The standard Guarantee covers traditionally constructed residential property, although a CIGA Commercial Guarantee is also available to owners of qualifying non-residential property. The Government regards Cavity Wall Insulation as the most effective energy saving measure that most people can carry out on their homes and a major contributor to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. The Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency was established in 1995 after consultation with the Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Energy, Environment and Waste Directorate (a division of Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, DETR) to provide householders with an independent, uniform and dependable guarantee covering defects in materials and workmanship. | 114 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Independent research carried out for DETR confirmed that Cavity Wall Insulation is a very reliable process. Problems are therefore extremely rare, but if they do occur, CIGA has the expertise to ensure that they are swiftly rectified. CIGA also operates and administers the Cavity Wall Insulation Self Certification scheme (CWISC) in association with the British Board of AgrĂŠment. The scheme provides homeowners with the comfort of knowing that work by registered contractors complies with the requirements of the Building regulations. In the last 18 months CIGA established a new 25 year guarantee scheme for CWI that met all the required criteria as set out by Ofgem for the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) including assessment of the robust Quality Assurance framework that underpins the scheme. The guarantee gives Green Deal Providers, local authorities, energy suppliers and private landlords

www.ciga.co.uk

complete confidence that work will be completed according to the highest standards as set out by CIGA and also gives consumers peace of mind with the security of the guarantee. It also worked very closely with the British Board of Agrément and Manufacturers/ System Designers to develop Cavity Wall Insulation (CWI) procedures to assess, fill and issue guarantees for high rise properties. Earlier this year CIGA launched a new informative website at www.ciga.co.uk. The CIGA website, which regularly receives 10,000 unique visitors per month, is designed to provide information and advice covering Cavity Wall Insulation (CWI) to householders, specifiers and insulation companies, to explain the benefits of the independent CIGA 25 year Guarantee and allow users to locate a local installer. The new website includes various features explaining what the guarantee offers and the different types of CWI available, plus a very handy “Find an installer” page with a full list of all the registered Installers and a System Designer (manufacturers) page. It also incorporates a useful in-depth Green Deal and

Energy Company Obligation (ECO) section explaining the current schemes under which CWI is promoted. Gerry Miller, Chief Executive of CIGA commented: “We believe that the new website retains the useful information contained in the earlier version but hope that consumers and industry experts will find it much easier to use. The site also includes latest industry news, a secure member’s area and live Twitter feed and is reactive, allowing for browsing on a range of tablets and smart phones as well as traditional computers. “Alongside the new CIGA website we have also updated the Cavity Wall Insulation Self Certification Scheme (CWISC) website, which follows a similar format” ■

Title Photo: Knauf Insulation

+ More Information

www.ciga.co.uk CIGA also operates and administers the Cavity Wall Insulation Self Certification scheme (CWISC). Further details are available at www.cwisc.org

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 115 |

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

T H E R M O G R A P H Y | CO L I N P E A R S O N

Thermography

for Energy Eﬃciency

By Colin Pearson CEng, BSc (Hons), FInstNDT, MCIBSE, Head of Building Performance, Sustainable Construction Group, BSRIA and Chairman of UK Thermography Association

Thermography is now widespread in many industries, infrared cameras are accessible to almost anyone, there’s even a true thermal infrared adaptor for smartphones. But getting the best out of thermography is another story. Thermography easily shows differences in apparent surface temperature of buildings, plant and equipment, giving a quick and easy indication of possible faults. Entry level infrared cameras can now be purchased for under £800 in the UK and when the smartphone adaptor launches in the UK it is likely to be half that price. Infrared cameras are easy to use and the images can be easily incorporated in reports and presentations to make a convincing case for improvement, repair or replacement. But there is a lot more to thermal imaging than an impressive picture. If you delve more deeply into the information that the camera gives you it is possible to estimate heat loss, calculate areas of defects, diagnose the type of defect or predict time to failure. This is where the expertise of a professional thermographer, such as those at BSRIA, shows benefits. Professional thermographers have training and experience that leads to certification at levels one, two or three. A Certified Level 1 thermographer has at least 40 hours training and 400 hours or 6 months experience, a Level 2 at least 1200 hours or 12 months as required by ISO 18436:7. If you are looking for a professional thermographer check | 116 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

their certification level; some employers specify Level 2 for all thermography work. Level 3 thermographers are usually employed for training, development of inspection and maintenance plans and managing thermography teams. The UK certification scheme for thermographers is administered by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing and you can check a thermographer’s certification on their website www.bindt.org. Levels of certification are called ‘Categories’ in the standard certification system so a Category II Building Thermographer is equivalent to a Level 2 Building Thermographer. You can also find a thermographer on the BINDT Special Interest Group website www.ukta.org.

Buildings

One of the areas for the greatest potential energy savings in most buildings is the building fabric itself. If a thermographic survey is carried out in accordance with ISO 6781, which ensures there is adequate temperature difference, low wind speed and no precipitation, the results can be interpreted to show different types of defect. Even new buildings can have a range of thermal defects, including air leakage, missing insulation and thermal bridging. These could all be designed out, but they are often found in newly completed buildings where workmanship wasn’t up to the required standard.

www.ukta.org

Missing thermal insulation in this rooﬁng section is visible as the dark area, indicating heat leaking from the building. Professional building thermographers can do calculations that lead to good estimates of the heat loss and therefore the annual cost of building defects. Here are some examples from recent surveys of what can be done with thermal images together with some background information about the building.

Missing insulation analysis

When looking at a thermal image of an inside surface in a building it can be useful to assess the effectiveness of insulation by using the Thermal Index, TI. This like the surface temperature factor used in BRE Information Paper IP1/06, which says it should be greater than 0.5 in offices and shops or 0.75 in dwellings to avoid condensation. In this thermal image above, of the underside of an insulated metal roof, a large dark area can be seen. Looking at the temperature scale the thermographer saw that this is mostly between 15°C and 16°C. They had set the ‘reflected apparent temperature’ (the average apparent temperature of all surrounding objects facing the subject area) and emissivity correctly so the temperatures are as accurate as possible. The spot temperature labelled SP01 in the image shows 22°C, and this is representative of the air temperature near the roof level. Temperature differences can be measured to within 0.1°C by a good infrared camera. Knowing the properties of the camera

lens and the distance from the surface they worked out from the image that there is 0.93m² below 16°C. Since the thermographer knew that the external temperature at the time of the survey was 4°C and this is a lightweight structure with little thermal storage, they calculated that the Thermal Index of this area is less than 0.67. It has the same Thermal Index as a structure with a U value of 2.57W/m²K. This also allowed them to calculate that there is a heat loss of 43 Watts from this area at the time of the survey and probably at least 140kWh every year. So the cost of leaving the defect could be compared with the cost of stripping part of the cladding and inserting the missing insulation. Of course it would have been much more cost effective to get it right first time. Including thermographic inspections of all new buildings would help to avoid this problem.

Thermal Bridging Thermal bridging is the term used to describe areas of structure that conduct more heat than the surrounding well insulated areas. Typically this happens at junctions between walls, roofs and floors, but also where fixings penetrate the insulation or the structural frame bridges across the insulation layer. One example of this is steel columns in lightweight block walls such as that shown above. The dark patches in the thermal image are about ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 117 |

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

T H E R M O G R A P H Y | CO L I N P E A R S O N

4 degrees colder than the rest of the wall so over time they could lead to condensation and mould growth that could cause unsightly discolouration of the wall. Thermal bridging also happens at window and door frames, either as a result of manufacturing or installation faults. In this thermal image the bottom rail of the window frame had a minimum temperature of 15.3°C in a room with an air temperature of 24°C while the outside air was 7°C. The window frame temperature was below the dewpoint of the air at 24°C 58% relative humidity so condensation would appear on the frame surface. It was evident during the survey that condensation was frequently a problem because the carpet was damp with mould growing on it.

Air leakage Excessive air leakage can lead to a substantial heat demand. In a 10,000 cubic metre building each air change per hour requires over 68kW of heating at a 20 degree differential. Thermal imaging together with air pressurisation helps with the location of leaks in the building fabric. The image on the previous page shows warm air leaking from gaps in the cladding above the ground floor windows and rising as plumes up the façade of an office building.

Air movement in the structure In other cases the effect of cold air leaking into a building structure can be seen from the inside like the image above. In this case the air wasn’t leaking into the building, but | 118 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

into the structure of the wall and bypassing the insulation. This type of problem cannot be detected by conventional airtightness testing. Depending on the type of structure there should be a breather membrane or, as in this case, a filler at the bottom of the cladding to stop outside air getting behind the insulation layer.

Other applications Thermal imaging is also useful for finding energy wastage in insulation of pipes, ducts, tanks and mechanical plant as well as for detecting faults in mechanical and electrical installations. These will be the subject of articles in future issues of ‘Environment Industry’. A one-off thermographic inspection can be used to find areas of wasted energy and detect faults in buildings, mechanical and electrical equipment. Regular thermography can be

used for detecting problems before they become failures and finding opportunities for continual improvement of energy efficiency ■

+ More Information UK Thermography Association: www.ukta.org

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

T H E B R I C K AWA R D S | S I M O N H AY

| 120 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.brick.org.uk

Brick

The

Industry By Simon Hay,

Chief Executive Officer, Brick Development Association

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 121 |

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

T H E B R I C K AWA R D S | S I M O N H AY

| 122 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.brick.org.uk

This year has seen a continuing increase in the ambition and creativity of designers using brick. Architects have realised that not only is brick among the most durable and economical of materials in the hands of talented designers, it also offers unlimited possibilities. The advantage of brick is that it is completely within the designers control and most concepts can be realised with a network of manufacturers who are committed to taking brick forward and challenging preconceptions. It is particularly interesting to look at this year’s entries from around the world and realise that brick and its structural possibilities and design parameters are being revisited from Iran to Mexico. At a more emotional level, brick is the preferred choice for house holders and planning authorities with the long history of brick in fascinating structures from Roman Britain to today’s projects are recognised as delivering low maintenance durable structures which are consequently sustainable. The recent increase in housing which starts from an admittedly low level has given our members a welcome boost. We believe the increase is both likely to continue and is sustainable and the manufactures have responded positively with increased production with very large investment in building new production lines reopening mothballed factories and taking on extra shifts. Production has also been increased by reducing shutdown periods and running continuously where possible. The industry welcomes future increases in demand and is able to supply the required number of bricks.

Bricks are popular, offering designers unlimited possibilities and are able to be adopted by widely differing design philosophies. The industry is very conscious of its obligations to be sustainable. Within the last year the Resource Efficiency Action Plan (REAP) for the industry has been published and is being acted on. The partnership of the Brick, Block, Concrete industries in producing our REAPs together shows true cross-industry partnering. The plan is about improving the industries efficiency, sustainability and profitability. The industry is also in the forefront of BIM development and the family of brick types is well advanced with many members. We are also proud to have the first Industry EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) registered in the UK conforming to 15804 which is the European Standard for the EPD. The circular plan for sustainability will continue to be the driver as we look forward. We are grateful for the continued support of the industry house builder’s contractors and the public perception of our product. This year we have embarked with the support of CITB with a regional educational tour of the brick laying colleges with expert attendance from the members of the Association of Brickwork Contractors. This shows the commitment of the industry to the next generation, vital for our future.

Supreme Award winner comments (LSE):

Not one, not two but three awards were presented to the London School of Economics at this year’s annual Brick Awards. The Awards were held at the Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel in London on 12th November 2014. As well as winning the Best Education Category and then going on to win the Supreme Winner, the project considered to be the best overall, the LSE also won the ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 123 |

SUSTAINABLE BUILD

T H E B R I C K AWA R D S | S I M O N H AY

award for Innovative Use of Brick and Clay Products. Designed by O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects and built by Brickwork Contractor Swift Brickwork, the exterior walls are clad with Coleford Brick and Tile’s Saxon and Wessex Bespoke bricks used in a new way, with each brick offset from the next in an open work pattern, wrapping the walls in a permeable blanket that creates dappled daylight in particular spaces and, at night, when all the lights are on inside, the building is seen from the streets like a glowing lattice lantern. The use of exposed soffits and shallow floor plates allows for an almost completely natural ventilated building, and its raked facades, acute angles and warped skins add to its uniquely ambitious and unrelenting inventiveness. The internal organisation unravels around a generous central staircase which has also been seriously thought about. The judges called this project a real “Tour de Force and exactly what brick should be”! Its innovation and outstanding quality is seen extensively throughout. This project is brave, ambitious and bleeds forward thinking, for brick and for architecture.

The LSE was the clear Supreme winner for the judges. They were blown away by its dynamic character and the standards this building now sets for the future of brick. The architects, O’Donnelll + Tuomey, have created a masterpiece of a building which creates a whole new language for brickwork which architecture has never seen before. The building, which is located in London’s “city of bricks”, uses the complex space to its advantage by creating a light, spacious and delightful environment for the hum of student life to occur. The exterior uses a staggering 175,000 handmade bricks to create both solid and perforated areas, with the latter allowing light to both infiltrate and, at night, filtrate to create a beautiful pattern effect. The judges would like to congratulate the entire team that worked on this building as it is a fine example of what brick can be ■

+ More Information www.brick.org.uk

| 124 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

This

says

the f uture

Ask for SFI

you c are

about of our forest s.

Wood from responsibly managed forests is an excellent choice for any new construction or renovation. Builders and architects are turning to products certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative速 (SFI速) Standard, endorsed by PEFC, to meet green building requirements. By asking for SFI, you are promoting sustainable forestry, helping to improve forestry practices and encouraging responsible purchasing of forest products. Look and ask for wood certified to the SFI Standard for all your projects. Visit sfidatabase.org for a list of SFI and PEFC products. Learn more at sfiprogram.org/green-building. Internationally endorsed by

PEFC/29-1-1

TECHNOLOGY

CO L L A B O R AT I O N | K I E R O N K I R K L A N D

Collaboration towards an open,

Sustainable Future

By Kieron Kirkland

Development Research Manager, Nominet Trust Since Nominet Trust began compiling its inaugural NT100 list of inspiring social tech projects in 2013, we have seen repeated proof that digital technology can be the catalyst for remarkable social and environmental innovations. Technologyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power to streamline processes and cut waste means that when used sensitively, it has the potential to make an enormously positive impact on sustainability schemes around the world. This is in part thanks to the radical new philosophies that govern digital technology, many of which encourage sharing and collaboration, and in turn, more sustainable ways of thinking. One such example is the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;openâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; movement. Just as open source software has fundamentally transformed business through collaborative online code repositories like Github, so open hardware will revolutionise the way we solve social and environmental problems forever. One highly ambitious example of this is the Global Village Construction Set initiative, which is developing the 50 different open source industrial machines required to build a small, sustainable civilisation with modern comforts. Their DIY machines range from 3D scanners to well-drilling rigs and induction furnaces, all of which can | 126 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

be made at a fraction of commercial costs. Their closedloop manufacturing processes and off-grid energy generation processes are driven by the goal of lifetime design in a truly sustainable community, and best of all they are sharing their blueprints online for free. There are other world-changing open technologies that are less specific in their aims but even wider in their likely impact. Arduino is an open source electronics prototyping platform that brings hardware creation to the masses, meaning millions of new devices can be created to tackle environmental problems. From DIY wind turbines to energy monitors that tweet out their readings, Arduino is widening the field of participation for creative sustainability solutions. Raspberry Pi is exciting for much the same reasons. A credit card-sized lowpower computer that can be made and distributed very cheaply, it allows innovators the world over to build new inventions that can benefit both their local communities and wider society. Since its launch in 2012, more than 1.2 million Raspberry Pis have been sold to schools, students and hobbyists. This form of collaboration is also representative of a growing trend in digital making, allowing people to

www.socialtech.org.uk

Since its launch in 2012, more than 1.2 million Raspberry Pis have been sold to schools, students and hobbyists, allowing innovators the world over to build new inventions that can beneﬁt both their local communities and wider society.

create rather than just consume technologies. In a sense, Arduino and Raspberry Pi each present many innovations in one, as they open up the opportunity to address environmental and sustainability issues. Another domino-effect innovation is Graphene Batteries, a UCLA project that has developed cheap, nontoxic and energy-efficient batteries by using the exciting new super-material graphene – a single layer of carbon one atom thick which is as strong and flexible as it is conductive. The Graphene Battery has the potential to usher in a wave of technical innovations, from five-second phone chargers and wearable tech to commercially competitive electric cars. The invention is a win-win from an environmental perspective as it leaves almost no ecological footprint: the batteries are biodegradable and even compostable. If we are to take full advantage of these open technologies available, however, we also need open, accessible skills training. Luckily innovators in digital education have stepped up to provide just that. As the World Wide Web celebrates its 25th year, there has been a good deal of reflection on its powerful impact in democratising information – never have so

Matt Wareham

many people had access to knowledge and the tools of creation. But it is the fact that, on the web, people are willing to freely share their knowledge and sometimes even trade secrets for the wider benefit, that makes it such a powerful enabler. Open learning platforms like Coursera and the lesser-known Khan Academy help individuals and communities learn the skills they need to build a more sustainable environment, be it agricultural management or a crash course in renewable energy. They point to a possible future in which learning is shared, low cost and accessible. Digital Green, a project from rural India, offers an alternative method for practical, vocational learning, ‘in the field’. By videoing the top-producing farmers in a particular area at work, teams of locally trained staff then use a battery-operated projector to show the videos to the wider farming community, helping them learn the best techniques from each other by technologicallyaided example. Ranging from simple videos to their highly sophisticated collaborative online database system, Digital Green uses technology brilliantly to maximise the value of India’s rural farmers, decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture in the process. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 127 |

TECHNOLOGY

CO L L A B O R AT I O N | K I E R O N K I R K L A N D

Fairphone's aim to produce the ‘world’s ﬁrst Fairtrade mobile phone’, challenges consumers of the existing environmentally detrimental industry to support a better way to make, use and dispose of their phones.

While digital technology can certainly be used as a force for good, over-use of old industrial technologies is largely responsible for some of the most serious environmental concerns we face today. In China, for instance, rapid urbanisation and economic growth has famously overwhelmed many environmental considerations, to the extent that digital social entrepreneurs there have developed an app called Chinese Survival Handbook for the benefit of their fellow citizens. The app delivers important crowd-sourced safety updates on food scandals, warnings and notices direct to each user, encouraging them to trust the knowledge of the crowd while confidence in the government is shaky. Closer to home, the example of Anglo-Dutch venture Fairphone demonstrates the potential sustainability gains when we re-think our harmful production systems. In producing the ‘world’s first Fairtrade mobile phone’, the company is disrupting the environmentally detrimental mobile phone industry, and challenging its consumers to support a better way to make, use and dispose of their phones. The project aims to create lasting change across five core action areas of Mining, Design, Lifecycle and Social Entrepreneurship. Given that the EU generates 10 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste each year, this sort of project is a timely reminder that we must take communal responsibility for our digital habits and reform some of our current attitudes. | 128 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

I would say this sense of communal responsibility and power is, however, one of the most inspiring principles of the digital revolution, and it is largely driven by the proliferation of open technologies. Whether it’s connecting people together to pool their resources by a web-based system of borrowing like Streetbank, or eroding archaic barriers of copyright, evidenced by online sharing-focused cultures like Creative Commons, open collaboration is the key to our sustainable digital future. It hardly needs saying that by putting the worlds’ heads together to solve environmental issues we are more likely to make clear and meaningful progress. Meanwhile, collaborative consumption means we don’t even need to buy half the tools, burn half the resources or exploit so much of our already fragile ecosystem. Through a combination of each of these collaborative philosophies – one of which maximises the potential for humanity’s collective good while the other minimises the potential for our collective damage – we can create better communities and a better, more sustainable world ■

+ More Information www.socialtech.org.uk

Title Photo: Grant Hutchinson

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E U T R | JA M E S B E L L

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www.fira.co.uk

Seeing the wood for the trees: EUTR 18 months on By James Bell

Environmental Consultant, FIRA International March 2013 saw the introduction of unprecedented regulations governing the sale and supply of illegal timber and timber products across the European Union. In recent years studies have exposed that an estimated 10-30% of the global timber trade is illegal, equating to around $15bn annually. This also directly contributes to a myriad of economic, social and environmental issues including the ﬁnancing of

armed conﬂicts, corruption, fraudulent practices, environmental damage and loss of revenue for legal business. There’s no doubting the noble objectives of the European Timber Regulation (EUTR) but how has its implementation aﬀected companies across the furniture industry supply chain? James Bell, Environmental Consultant with FIRA International, talks us through his experiences over the past 18 months. ►

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E U T R | JA M E S B E L L

EUTR created a legal obligation for the first time for businesses across Europe involved in the purchase and sale of timber to ensure that their products are legally sourced. The ramifications of this have been profound; the scope of the Regulation covers an array of products from raw timber supplies and composite boards such as MDF and plywood through to domestic furniture and manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers have all been affected in some way as a result. Significantly, the Regulation requires companies ‘first placing’ timber and timber products onto the European market, referred to in the EUTR lexicon as ‘Operators’, to exercise due diligence in order to verify legality. Due diligence is a framework of robust measures and procedures to enable an organisation to identify, manage and mitigate the risk of sourcing illegal timber. Subsequently, companies must adopt appropriate risk assessment and management procedures to underpin their due diligence efforts. Undoubtedly, this is an extensive exercise requiring organisations to rigorously assess their supply chains and gather information on the nature and source of their products. Moreover, risk assessment requires Operators to scrutinise this information. Given the complexity of many furniture products, often comprising several timbers as well as board materials and veneers, coupled with the convoluted and dynamic nature of today’s globalised | 132 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

supply chains, this has presented a significant challenge for businesses, particularly smaller organisations. Higher risk regions of the world, generally considered to be Russia, China and the Far East, Africa and Latin America, together with sensitive timber species also require more stringent purchasing controls. The mechanics of the due diligence system, and corresponding risk mitigation procedures, are not prescriptive, which has proved contentious. Some feel that this flexibility has enabled businesses to adopt a proactive approach and tailor due diligence to meet their requirements, thereby avoiding imposing undue extra work and cost. However, others believe that such fundamental changes to the rules governing timber sourcing should have been accompanied by appropriate guidance and support for business. In order to facilitate compliance businesses are increasingly seeking 3rd party certification to internationally recognised best practice schemes such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). These certification programmes provide an independently verified ‘chain of custody’ through each stage of the supply chain from forest to consumer. Whilst such schemes are considered relatively low risk, certification holders are not absolved from the requirements of the EUTR and must still provide assurances of product legality.

www.fira.co.uk

John McConnico/European Environment Agency

Companies purchasing timber on the European market are classified as ‘Traders’. Whilst the Regulation does not require Traders to conduct due diligence and risk assessment, they must instead maintain sufficient records to enable supply chain traceability. Significantly, under certain circumstances an organisation may be classified as both an Operator and a Trader, dependent on the source of their timber products. Again, the complex nature of the furniture supply chain has prompted complications in classifying a company’s role in the EUTR. Typically, such determinations are likely to be based on the legal ownership of the product in question, although many larger organisations, notably retailers, have opted to conduct full due diligence irrespective of their position in the supply chain. This responsible and proactive measure is to be applauded as many larger companies have

Earlier this year, a British Furniture Confederation delegation to the European Commission in Brussels received welcome assurances that the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulations, including product scope, is due to be assessed in early 2015 worked with and supported their supply base towards achieving compliance. Another cause of contention has been the scope of products covered by the Regulation. Although a variety of timber and timber products are covered, several notable exemptions, specifically seating and upholstered furniture, have proved controversial. For example a customer could purchase a dining table and set of chairs, all manufactured from the same timber, but only the ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 133 |

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Michael Storer

table would come under the scope of the Regulation. The determination of products in the scope of the EUTR is assessed using tariff (CN) codes; however, given the ambiguity around the product scope it is highly advisable for companies to regularly review their trading documentation ahead of sale. Furthermore, in many cases, shipping agents allocate tariff codes on behalf of their customers, thereby putting products in scope that are otherwise exempt. The British Furniture Confederation (BFC) has been vocal in their lobbying efforts to widen the scope of the Regulation to address these exclusions. Earlier this year, a British Furniture Confederation delegation to the European Commission in Brussels received welcome assurances that the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulations, including product scope, is due to be assessed in early 2015. Thankfully, the UK regulator, the National Measurement Office (NMO), have been very positive in their enforcement remit to date and receptive to industry concerns. The NMO are clearly committed to supporting UK businesses in understanding and meeting their EUTR obligations and, accordingly, have been an active and welcome presence at industry shows and events. This has done much to assuage early concerns. The outcome | 134 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

of any prosecutions, which it should be stressed are a last resort for blatant cases of non-compliance, are expected to coincide with the review of the Regulation next year. It is important to note that in my experience to date working with companies, big and small alike, from across the industry I have witnessed firsthand a recurrent proactive and diligent approach toward compliance with the EUTR. Many companies have empathised with the objectives of the Regulation and, correspondingly, have adopted responsible timber purchasing strategies as an inextricable aspect of sound procurement and supply chain management. I also believe that the Regulation is gradually effecting positive change as companies seek suppliers who are willing and able to provide good quality products and support due diligence efforts â&#x2013;

+ More Information www.fira.co.uk

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W O O D F O R G O O D | DAV E H O P K I N S

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www.woodforgood.com

Build with Carbon. Don't emit it.

Dave Hopkins, executive director at Wood for Good – the timber industry's sustainability campaign, explains how increasing the use of timber in construction could be an effective way of reducing CO2 emissions while delivering much needed social housing stock. The Government has started to mobilise investment from a £1bn pot set aside to fund Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects. While the development of this green technology is a step in the right direction for the UK in reducing the level of CO2 emitted every year, we would argue that the policy makers are overlooking the organic, natural carbon capture capabilities of wood. In fact I would argue that we should ring-fence part of the fund to the promotion of sustainable forestry so that unproven and expensive technology risks are balanced with proven, affordable and low-risk options. Sustainable forestry practices harvest trees at the peak of their growth after about 40 years. During this time, a process of “thinning” removes a portion of trees from the ground after 20 and 30 years, allowing the remaining trees to continue to grow and providing timber to be used as chipboard. Trees are at their optimum rate of carbon sequestration during this youthful, growing period. After harvesting, the carbon dioxide absorbed by the tree is stored by the end building material product – timber. In a sustainably managed forest, roughly five trees are planted for every two removed, meaning the renewable cycle of carbon capture and re-planting can go on indefinitely and provide a steady stream of materials.

Wood as a carbon storage mechanism

This natural carbon storage ability is one argument for an increased use of timber in construction. By using wood products in long-life applications, such as our built environment, more trees will be planted, grown and harvested before the timber product reaches the end of its life. In effect this provides for an emissions reduction and storage mechanism – with more carbon emissions being added to the store with each harvest and in each new building. In fact, building with timber is the safest and cheapest form of carbon capture and storage available. We estimate that it costs roughly £25-30 per tonne of CO2 captured and stored using mixed woodland forestry. However, unlike other finance models, this is not ‘in addition’ to the process, it is already paid for as an inherent aspect of the timber. In addition, by storing emissions in buildings we can turn a polluting liability into an appreciating asset – as emissions could be effectively accounted for in property and on a balance sheet. Given that a standard commercial sitka spruce tree over the course of 40 years will capture 742 kg of CO2, a hectare of forest will absorb 483 tonnes. Similarly one 3-bedroom timber frame home would then effectively see 19 tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestered in the timber materials used in its construction – an estimate based on research conducted using Wood for Good's Lifecycle Database. For one typical estate in the UK of 84 houses, 1,602 tonnes of the greenhouse gas would be absorbed from the atmosphere and safely banked for the full life of the timber products. ►

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W O O D F O R G O O D | DAV E H O P K I N S

Using housing as a conduit for storing carbon

When you apply wood's natural ability as a carbon store to the UK's stock of housing, the argument gets stronger. The Labour party has pledged to build 200,000 new homes every year if it gets into power in 2015. If these homes were delivered using timber-framed construction, we estimate that an additional 4 million tonnes of CO2 could be captured annually. While not all housing needs will be met by building 3-bed semi-detached homes, this certainly gives an idea of what could be achieved by a simple increase in the industry's use of wood.

Timber’s environmental performance as a building material

The built environment is the UK’s single biggest carbon emitter – accounting for 47% of emissions according to government research. Even during the harvesting, processing and manufacturing of timber, minimal energy inputs are needed for the finished product, resulting in low carbon emissions in its production. In addition, the resulting products are very lightweight, with whole buildings fitting on to one lorry in some cases. Nearly every timber product assessed on our Lifecycle Database was deemed to have a negative carbon rating on a cradle-to-site basis. This means the amount of carbon absorbed and stored in the timber is greater than that emitted during harvesting, processing and transportation, and can be used to significantly reduce the carbon footprint on an individual building level. The operational performance of a property will also be a consideration in the effort to create more sustainable buildings. Once again, timber scores well in this area. Its natural thermal properties make it an excellent insulator – five times better than concrete, 10 times better than brick and 350 times better than steel – while the precision which can be attained through prefabrication means a tight building envelope can be achieved.

Using timber to deliver construction projects more quickly

Using timber may not only be the solution to reducing the CO2 emission levels in the construction of homes, it | 138 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Steve Cadman

could also provide a quicker route to delivering these homes through off-site construction. When timber-framed construction methods are used, homes can be partially built off-site and the shell can effectively be constructed on-site. This can dramatically reduce building times, in some cases by up to 14 weeks. This rapid construction could then be a solution to the UK's immediate need for more housing stock – another challenge facing the UK with delivery of new homes set to be high on the agenda for whichever party is elected next year.

Our campaign

Since wood can provide the solution to speed and environmental issues, we’ve embarked on a new campaign to get the UK to build with Carbon. Working with data visualisation specialists Carbon Visuals, we've produced a series of animations which show the carbon stored by

www.woodforgood.com

For one typical estate in the UK of 84 houses, 1,602 tonnes of the greenhouse gas would be absorbed from the atmosphere and safely banked for the full life of the timber products

a tree, a hectare of forest, a house and a typical housing estate. The videos visualise what one tonne of CO2 would look like at normal atmospheric pressure – a sphere 33 feet in diameter. Hitting Labour's annual target would see a pile of CO2 spheres far taller than the buildings of Canary Wharf stored in wood in houses. These videos aim to neatly summarise and explain some of the findings on the benefits of wood in construction. When we launched our lifecycle assessment database we believed that it would be crucial to overcoming one challenge facing the timber industry – a lack of compelling evidence on timber’s environmental qualities. Many have been convinced of the various benefits of timber. However a lack of lifecycle assessment (LCA) information on timber products meant they didn’t have the empirical evidence they needed to specify its use. We’ve assessed the whole-life performance on all major

wood products commonly used in the UK, including different varieties of softwood and hardwood, plywood, trussed rafters, and closed and open-panel timber frame. We’re aiming to demonstrate the key findings from our lifecycle assessment database in the videos to educate policy makers, the industry and the general public on the use of wood in construction. If we were to suppose that the UK’s £1bn CCS budget was spent entirely on commercial forestry, this would allow for the planting of approximately 1.1 billion trees, covering 500,000 hectares and capturing 37.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year ■

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PERFORMANCE GAP | ANDREW CARPENTER

Mind the Gap By Andrew Carpenter Chief Executive, STA

Andrew Carpenter, chief executive of the Structural Timber Association, looks at the performance gap and how the timber industry is leading the way in closing it.

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www.structuraltimber.co.uk

Following an 18-month study, our colleagues at the Zero Carbon Hub launched their End of Term Performance Gap Report during the summer, which aims to address the performance gap – the difference between how a building’s thermal input is designed to be, versus how it actually works after completion. Undoubtedly, low carbon and low energy solutions are integral to the future of sustainable housebuilding. However, there has been growing concern across the industry about why the energy performance of new homes isn’t living up to expectations – which ultimately stands in the way of meeting the Government target for new housing to generate no net carbon emissions by 2016.

To understand where the problems lie, the Zero Carbon Hub set up a number of industry expert working groups, with the results showing that the construction industry is failing in a number of areas. These include: inadequate testing and assessment techniques; poor education; limited understanding of energy performance; and fragmented communication between the different parts of the supply chain. Specific problem areas were also highlighted, such as poorly fitted insulation, incorrectly installed windows and even extremely basic problems, such as the fabric not being put together properly. Our industry has a long way to go before it can achieve the Zero Carbon Hub’s target that at least 90% of all new

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The Furness Academy exterior.

Hilden Grange stairs.

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Ben Clarkson

www.structuraltimber.co.uk

First rented passive house.

homes should meet or perform better than their desired energy performance by 2020. However, the structural timber sector is already addressing many of the concerns outlined in the report, with our approach playing a very strong part in minimising the gap.

Structural Timber and the Performance Gap

Building in timber already delivers sustainable and energy efficient solutions, However, evidence also suggests that is it easier to manage performance when building in structural timber, thanks to the higher levels of offsite prefabrication inherent in the build method. This is particularly the case for junction performance, where the work done in the factory allows for greater control of the elements before they reach the site. The all-critical insulation is also positioned in such a way that it is able to work more effectively – thereby reducing the risk of environmental conditions, or work from another trade, negatively impacting on it. Off-site construction also allows for quality to be monitored at every stage, unlike other methodswhich are reliant on a multitude of trades with no interest in the next phase of the build programme. Factory-based activities allow for better and safer working conditions, while also protecting the workers from the changeable British climate, which is likely to lead to better quality work.

Joined up supply chain

As well as strong material and manufacturing attributes, the culture of the timber industry is already in a good position. The problem with the supply chain throughout the construction sector - as demonstrated in the Hub’s report - is that the build process can easily be

deconstructed and fragmented in order to save costs, which means that the responsibility at each stage is passed on to a different person or trade without the correct knowledge of the material. Fundamentally, this problem comes down to a breakdown in communication. A significant USP for structural timber is the fact that our industry already has a joined up supply chain. It is possible for the clients’ design team and the timber system supplier to work together and have a totally integrated design, manufacture and erector supply chain, providing customers with speed, efficiency and quality, every time. This culture also links with the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The report includes a recommendation for BIM to be used to help achieve design continuity by monitoring and controlling changes during the construction process through to handover. The limitation here is that BIM requires someone to coordinate and process it - which for house building may not yet be a practical solution. In its current form, the timber supply chain can work without BIM, although we are ready to embrace the system in the near to immediate future. In the meantime, if the timber manufacturer is engaged at the right time and as part of the project team, joined up solutions are achieved through communication and taking responsibility for the envelope.

Education and skills

The overall message of the report suggests that a change in culture is required, and core to this is an overhaul of training and qualifications – something that the STA fully supports. We work with members to provide CITBbacked toolbox talks and training for assembly teams, as well as workshops on best practice, factory tours to environmentmagazine.co.uk | 143 |

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educate the entire supply chain, and advice notes and documents on design, technical and quality assurance. In 2013, the STA recognised the need to both upskill and train more timber frame erectors, so created a mentoring and training programme to improve the skills of its erector member companies. The Association rightly identified that its erector members required a significant amount of up-skilling to take advantage of the upturn in the market as well as the increasing popularity of timber as a construction material. This programme of training proved extremely successful, with the STA rolling it out further in 2014.

Cultural Selling and Buying Revolution

While structural timber is certainly heading in the right direction to meet the Zero Carbon Hubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s targets, the challenge which faces the industry as a whole is getting this message across to the end-users. It is only when consumers understand the benefits of low energy homes that structural timber will really come into its own. Consumers need to understand that, although the initial outlay may be higher, a low energy home is guaranteed to give long term value through reduced lifetime operating costs. At the moment though, energy efficiency plays little or no part in home-buying decisions, which is reflected in how housebuilders market new homes to consumers. With the price of energy continuing to rise, a buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operational performance will inevitably become something that consumers will focus on more in the coming years. When people understand the value of a truly efficient home, they will appreciate that they are getting a better product, which they will be prepared to pay for. When that time comes, this is something we must all be prepared for. The culture change needs to happen throughout the whole of the supply chain, and right through to the homebuyer before we can undergo this revolution. Joined up thinking and education are the key points to take from the report, and this new approach must extend from design to deeds â&#x2013;

+ More Information www.structuraltimber.co.uk

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Photograph (right): Kae Arnold

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E L E C T R I C V E H I C L E F L E E T S | R O B E RT E VA N S

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www.cenex.co.uk

Deploying Electric Vehicles in Fleets By Robert Evans CEO, Cenex Chair of UK EVSE

Although by no means suited to all fleet applications, electric vehicles (EVs) are nonetheless becoming a more viable, practical and financially attractive option for fleets, according to Robert Evans, CEO of Cenex and current Chair of the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Association (UK EVSE). â&#x2013;ş

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In his role as CEO of Cenex, Robert is overseeing a team providing independent assessment of the full range of ultra low carbon vehicles, from EVs through to gas vehicles and more exotic hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In his role as Chair of the UK EVSE, Robert is working with the charge point providers and e-mobility scheme operators as they invest to support the rollout of infrastructure to support EV uptake and e-mobility market development. In this article Robert Evans provides a view for fleet managers as to the factors both driving and inhibiting EV uptake among transport engineers.

Uptake slow – not unsurprisingly

When Electric Vehicles (EV) entered the UK market, there was both interest and enthusiasm for the new technology and a perceived willingness from private motorists and fleet operators to give these unconventional vehicles a try. In reality the rate of early uptake has been slow todate. Not unsurprisingly, buying a vehicle represents a far greater commitment than offering positive comment after a test drive. Fleet decision makers have been particularly conservative about deploying EVs, based on the many real and perceived barriers including high capital cost and range anxiety. Nevertheless, Government and industry players are committed to sustained effort to support the gradual uptake of plug-in vehicles in the market, resulting in an increased choice, awareness and growing uptake.

Cost – no longer a barrier

Last month the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) confirmed £200m has been set aside to subsidise the plug-in car grant, with additional funding available for vans. Although there had been fears that the Government would scrap incentives, the continuation of the car grant at £5,000 per car until 2017, represents a sustained commitment on the part of the Government to continue to make EVs financially attractive during the early period of market uptake. Three key reasons stand out as drivers for fleets to adopt electric vehicles. These include the greater variety (pure battery electric, plug-in hybrid and range extenders) and choice of vehicles now available from the main manufacturers, the fuel cost savings associated with substituting diesel with electricity and the continued presence of Government support via grants and fiscal incentives. | 148 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Increased choice is driving competition between manufacturers and competition is helping drive down the purchase price of EVs ahead of further reductions expected as large-scale investments in batteries and other EV components ensure production costs fall. Increased choice is also driving the financial services sector to offer more flexible leasing services. Learning from vehicles in operation is now finding its way into Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models, with the leasing companies reporting EVs as being increasingly competitive with their diesel equivalents. The market situation for environmentally friendly vehicles is also more encouraging in that businesses and local authorities previously subject to financial constraints are now investing in vehicles and services and are reprioritising environmental initiatives that had taken a backseat during the recession, with its various dips and double dips. In London, electric vans and private hire taxis are becoming more commonplace, reflecting green procurement initiatives taking effect.

Infrastructure – no longer a barrier

One of the main original barriers to EV uptake, charging infrastructure, remains a ‘perceived’ barrier today with both private motorists and fleet operators concerned over range anxiety and limited public charging infrastructure. Infrastructure availability is however an area where great strides have been made. Commencing in 2011, regional projects were established, called Plugged-in Places. The 8 original Plugged-in Places built momentum for charge point rollout across London, the North East, the Midlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the East of England, as well as Manchester and Milton Keynes. Applying the lessons learnt from the Plugged-in Places, from 2013, the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles created a national scheme that has helped add charge points

www.cenex.co.uk

The main barriers of vehicle choice, cost and infrastructure availability are being gradually but effectively overcome.

in the South East, South West and Yorkshire. Much of this infrastructure has gone into publicly accessible cark parks in town and city centre car parks, railway stations and on major motorway routes. Private businesses have also benefited with examples including hotels and leisure facilities, car dealerships and businesses installing charge points at workplace car parks. The emergence of rapid chargers offers flexibility in terms of the rate of charging. Although expensive to install, rapid chargers allow for either 80% charging in 30 minutes or effective topping up for partly charged vehicles in 10 to 15 minutes. Ultimately this means that a vehicle can be topped up whilst the driver takes a short break. Currently there are three standards for rapid chargers:

â&#x20AC;˘ ChAdeMO: a dedicated DC rapid charger protocol from Japan â&#x20AC;˘ Combi or CCS System: a European standard which combines both fast AC and rapid DC charging in the same vehicle socket arrangement â&#x20AC;˘ EN62196-2 Type 2 tethered plug: AC power at 43kW

Many of the rapid charge points currently being installed across the UK have both ChAdeMO and Type 2 plug socket arrangements to cater for both Japanese and European models. CCS-enabled equipment is also currently being rolled out. Many Fleets operate with drivers who park at their own home. The current Government domestic scheme allows for the home owner/tenant to apply for a domestic charger which is either heavily discounted (75% grant funding) or can even be free-of-charge. Although this removes the home charging barrier, the cost of electricity and who pays can still be a concern. Smart metering of the charging point is available by either a separate communications-enabled smart meter, or as a meter within a communications-enabled charging point, which will generate the energy usage data required. The vehicle user can then login to the meter or charge point back office portal to gather the energy data to present to their employer to claim for electricity consumed. For fleet operators with EVs on the go, public infrastructure can be accessed by membership schemes environmentmagazine.co.uk | 149 |

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Many of the rapid charge points currently being installed across the UK have both ChAdeMO and Type 2 plug socket arrangements to cater for both Japanese and European models.

or by Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG). Membership scheme RFID cards can be managed in the same way as a fuel card, whereas the PAYG option can be offered by an RFID card or by using a smartphone application. Alternatively, some infrastructure operators offer a pay-by-phone option. The complexities associated with the first introduction of charge points, including different standards and learning curves for electrical contractors, are now resolved. The UK has one of the largest and best developed charge point markets in Europe and charge point providers certainly have the products and services that the fleet manager requires.

Planning tools – availability increasing

Although the UK is certainly well equipped to handle EVs, EVs are not necessarily right for every Fleet. Before considering EV deployment fleet managers need to research and plan for deployment. Financial information | 150 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

on the impact of fiscal incentives is now readily available from both the dealers and the main leasing companies. As noted above, the latter now have a better view on the key metric of Total Cost of Ownership, informed both by headline cost information and drawing on learning on costs from the EVs now operating with leasing company financial services. There are also a growing number of companies, Cenex included, who are offering a range of planning tools to aid fleets in assessing where to deploy EVs. Route scheduling tools are one example currently being used to help fleets plan for EV use in ‘return-to-base’ and ‘park at the driver’s home’ operations. These route scheduling tools have been commonplace among the large fleets for some time, delivering impressive financial savings through operational optimisation for delivery time and fuel cost savings. For EVs, the algorithms that drive the analysis are adapted to take into account EV range and recharging opportunities.

www.cenex.co.uk

more around diesel substitution with electricity and how this can be maximised. Certainly, the continued evolution of low carbon technologies will require fleet decision makers to opt for tools and for service providers who can help them assess their operational and economic suitability to ascertain which options are worth adopting.

Training for EV use

Many fleet engineers will have trained before EVs were introduced and some may have spent their careers todate in diesel-only fleets or otherwise experiencing only LPG as an alternative. Certainly training has been a barrier but courses are now available that offer both classroom and practical hands-on training for EV service and maintenance. Driver training is also now well advanced for EVs, including training using vehicle simulators that can help a driver to learn to drive for range and thereby overcome range anxiety.

Getting behind the Wheel

Many of the rapid charge points currently being installed across the UK have both ChAdeMO and Type 2 plug socket arrangements to cater for both Japanese and European models.

Learning from field trials is also being leveraged to inform modelling and simulation of fleet operations using EVs. Although the analysis can be complex, the output for fleets can be tailored to be readily accessible, as in the case of ‘traffic light’ reviews, which give a RedAmber-Green assessment on EV applicability to a given application. This approach utilises inputs from a fleet’s current operations, looking at fuel consumption and operating patterns, with the aim of rating alternative fuels and technologies (e.g. gas, hybrid, electric, etc) in terms of carbon emissions, air quality emissions, noise, reliability, economics, availability and practicability when compared with the standard diesel option. In this way 'Green' would be assessed as better than diesel, 'Amber' as equivalent to diesel, and 'Red' as worse than diesel. The tendency has been to consider these approaches in terms of battery EV versus diesel equivalent but the emergence of plug-in hybrids is making the assessment

The motor industry will always argue that the driving experience for an EV represents one of the key selling points. Getting behind the wheel of an EV has never been easier for fleet managers, whether via demonstrators delivered from the local dealer, or thorough test drives at industry events like Company Car in Action and LCV2014. Events like LCV2014 (www.cenex-lcv.co.uk) can be particularly useful for a fleet manager as they provide an overview on new technology developments, as well as having the main manufacturers and the charge point providers all at the same venue.

Final Thoughts

The trend for vehicles to offer Plug-in capability is now well established and EVs are becoming a viable alternative to diesels for a range of fleet applications. The main barriers of vehicle choice, cost and infrastructure availability are being gradually but effectively overcome. We are now seeing the emergence of a thriving e-mobility services sector, working closely with the vehicle manufacturers to meet the needs of early adopter fleet managers. These services include infrastructure supply, analysis services to aid planning scenarios and business case assessment, as well as training for staff from engineers through to drivers. The success of this service sector will pave the way for similar services developing to supply gas and hydrogen vehicles over the next few years. Right now however, the momentum is with EVs and electricity as the main alternative to diesel ■

+ More Information www.cenex.co.uk www.ukevse.org.uk environmentmagazine.co.uk | 151 |

WASTE

R E C YC L I N G S C E P T I C S | M A R K H A L L

Converting the Recycling Sceptics RECENTLY, YORKSHIRE-BASED COMPANY BusinessWaste.co.uk published a press release saying that growing numbers of people think recycling and – by extension – global warming is a scam. BusinessWaste.co.uk's Mark Hall explores the phenomenon of recycling sceptics, and asks what more can be done to win them over. It's an opinion we hear on virtually a daily basis at BusinessWaste.co.uk from both existing and potential clients: "I'm sorry, I don't go in for recycling. It's a scam." These are people who run companies in the UK who believe that there is no worth – financial or otherwise – in recycling their waste. In fact it's not just captains of industry or managers in charge of waste policy that believe this. There is a growing body of opinion right across the British public that believes green policies exist for no other reason than to raise taxes, or to distract people from other issues. Are these people out there? They most certainly are, and they'll be an important pawn in next year's general election as parties vie for their votes by being as anti-green as possible. As readers of an important environmental industry publication, we may already be preaching to the converted, so we'll make the dangerous assumption that you already understand the benefits of recycling waste, while discouraging landfill and other undesirable end solutions. However, we've got to delve into the realms of social science to see how public perception | 152 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

of the environment and climate change is still seemingly up for debate.

Scientiﬁc consensus rejected

A recent study of peer-reviewed papers surrounding climate change found hundreds published in recent years that concluded that it was real and at least partially the result of human agency. Exactly one paper came to the opposite conclusion, the study's authors said. We can safely assume, then, that scientific consensus is that humanity should be making efforts to reverse this process. Changing our approach to industry and resources is a major part of a "cure" for the planet, and how we deal with our waste is a large part of this. Despite the overwhelming evidence, why do so many people reject the opinion of acknowledged experts? The fact is that expertise has been challenged right across society in developed nations. It manifests itself in many ways, from a lack of respect for police, law, politicians and the judiciary, to rejecting medicine and science. According to media analyst Alistair Coleman,

www.businesswaste.co.uk

It's easy not to involve an organisation in recycling, due to a firm belief that any effort made is wasted, no matter how poorly backed-up with genuine evidence the argument may be. portrayal in the press has a lot to do with growing scepticism around many issues. "Take waste and recycling, for instance. Who would you trust more? A council directive backed by experts asking you to recycle your waste into two, three or more bins; or your morning paper written by a jobbing journalist telling you that you're wasting your time?" "The newspaper that you've invested your loyalty into wins every time, and that's how expertise is sidelined by popular opinion." A prime example of this is the now thoroughly discredited claim that the MMR injection causes autism in children. Despite the mountain of medical evidence to the contrary, people preferred to believe shrill newspaper headlines and the opinions of celebrities. As a result, herd immunity failed, and children fell victim to otherwise preventable illnesses. The same can be said for issues surrounding the environment. As long as sufficiently powerful people

have access to control of the discourse, it's often enough to sway the minds of those who believe their opinions are equally â&#x20AC;&#x201C; if not more â&#x20AC;&#x201C; valid than those of the scientific community. With the power of social media, uncompromising views appear to be just as valid as those backed up by evidence, and often the source doesn't seem to matter. With popularism always being as a vote-winner, it's hardly surprising that protest parties such as UKIP are firmly in the environmentally sceptic camp. And that's a view that draws mainstream parties toward scepticism when it comes to winning back disaffected voters. Green policy could become a serious battleground in next year's general election.

Scepticism and recycling

As the scientifically clear-cut conclusions remain up for argument, scepticism is bound to appear among members of the public. In terms of the waste management and recycling industry, this manifests itself in a refusal to take part in recycling, or a grudging acceptance when compelled to by regulation. It's a view shared both by householders when it comes to dealing with their household waste, as well as company directors and managers at a surprisingly large number of British businesses. â&#x2013;ş environmentmagazine.co.uk | 153 |

WASTE

R E C YC L I N G S C E P T I C S | M A R K H A L L

Once again, it's media portrayal that spurs people into the belief that recycling is "fake". Press images of bales of recycled paper or plastics seemingly doing nothing at vast depots are usually all the ammo some need to conclude that any effort expended on their part is merely adding to this mountain. Accompanying articles that appear to back up their conclusions serves only to reinforce their opinion. "False balance is also a huge problem here", says Coleman. "Editors believe that any voice encouraging recycling must be balanced by one from the opposition camp. Even though expert consensus is 99% in favour of recycling, the 1% find themselves with equal air time. That makes valid views so much easier to dismiss." Away from traditional media, another aspect that drives scepticism is hearsay. "Friend of a friend" stories have tremendous power, especially when used to confirm something that the recipient believes to be true. For example: The opinion that "It's not worth recycling metal and plastics because it all ends up going to China" is a powerful one. While it's true that China is a major customer for reclaimed materials, it doesn't follow that recycling is "fake" or a "scam". While some of these concerns might be genuine – China has a record of burning waste materials as a power source with scant regard to environmental protection – the truth is that we have set ourselves up as part of a global market in waste, and we shouldn't be surprised that nations with a greater need for raw materials are prepared to pay more for our refuse. Once a story like this enters mainstream discourse, it's often difficult to dislodge, even with convincing arguments of your own.

Countering the arguments

It's easy, then, for a company director not to involve his or her organisation in recycling, because they have a firm | 154 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

belief that any effort they make is wasted, no matter how poorly backed-up with genuine evidence their argument may be. For business owners concerned only with the profitability of their organisation, the decision is purely financial – why waste staff time (and money) on waste management when you can throw everything into a single bin? It's a difficult balancing act to approach, especially when views are deeply entrenched. They might already have calculated that any savings they make on separating waste and decreasing landfill tax bills are entirely eaten up by extra staff and facilities costs relating to an environmental and recycling policy. Financial biases and "Why should I?" are difficult things to dislodge. In these cases, it's hard to convince them of the bigger picture that recycled waste saves the British economy money in the long term by saving on raw materials. Unfortunately, with short-termism dominant in board rooms – especially in difficult trading conditions – it's not an easy mission to convince business owners that their actions will have benefit months, years down the line. We can't deny that it is a battle convincing managers that they are not contributing to some sort of scam solely devised as a means of increasing taxes and "extorting" fines out of non-compliant organisations. As long as there's a disconnect between personal agency that is putting rubbish in a recycling bin and the global picture of less landfill and increased re-use of resources, it'll be one we face for a long time to come ■

+ More Information www.businesswaste.co.uk

Some see waste. We see a way to generate energy.

Our award winning recycling and waste management facilities help our customers recycle as much as possible and put their waste into action. For a free waste review and to find out more call 0161 872 0976. www.viridor.co.uk

WASTE

E LV | A RT E M I S H AT Z I-H U L L

The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive: Past, Present, and Future within the Circular Economy Package

By Artemis Hatzi-Hull

Waste Management Policy in Directorate for Environment in the European Commission

On 2 July 2014, the European Commission presented a package of measures that should help turn Europe into a circular economy. The objectives of a circular economy are connected to those of a green economy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the idea is to maximise the sustainable use and value of resources, boost recycling and eliminate waste, benefiting both the economy and the environment. The underlying aim is to get away from the often predominant current approach where resources are used for one purpose and then discarded, securing access to raw materials that are increasingly rare and expensive. â&#x2013;ş

| 156 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

Do You

Recognize

This Logo?

For over 70 years, the Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) has provided information, education, legislative and regulatory advocacy, and more to facilitate the continued growth and evolution of the professional automotive recycling industry. Today, ARA represents thousands of professional automotive recyclers and is the only recognized international trade association serving the industry in 15 countries worldwide. As the largest professional automotive recycling organization in the world, ARA is governed by professionals working continuously for the advancement of the automotive recycling industry.

Benefits of AR A Membership: Bi-Monthly Subscription to Automotive Recycling Magazine Subscription to Automotive Recycling Weekly Newsletter Global Legislative and Regulatory Monitoring on Key Industry Issues Certiﬁed Automotive Recycler (CAR) Environmental Stewardship Program Gold Seal Quality Product Assurance Program Current members include international companies such as Hollander, a Solera Company; Duesmann & Hensel Recycling; eBay; and LKQ Corporation

S ave t he Da te A R A’ s 72 n d A f o r nnual Conve ntion a nd Expos ition Ch arlot te , N O c t o b e o r t h C a r o li n a r 7 -1 0 , , 2 015 . ww

w.a r a e x

p o .o r g /

2 01 5

To learn more about the Association and how your business can benefit from ARA membership, visit ARA’s Home Page at www.a-r-a.org or e-mail Director of Member Services, Kelly Badillo, kelly@a-r-a.org

WASTE

E LV | A RT E M I S H AT Z I-H U L L

Edward Blake

This circular economy package includes legislative proposals to review recycling and other waste-related targets in the EU Waste Framework Directive, the Landfill Directive and the Packaging Directive as well as an ex-post evaluation of the Five Waste Streams Directives, including the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive (the ELV Directive). When the ELV Directive was adopted in 2000, there were 8 to 9 million vehicles at the end of their useful lives that required sound environmental treatment. The disposal of cars was a major source of hazardous waste and toxic emissions. The Directive aimed to reduce hazardous substances from cars and consequently hazardous waste, setting the targets to encourage reuse, recycling and recovery. The Directive also introduced producers' responsibility in order to improve the environmental performance of all economic operators involved in the life-cycle of vehicles, in particular manufacturers and recyclers. The implementation of the ELV Directive initially required significant efforts from car manufacturers, who were required to produce new vehicles in line with the Directive and establish the appropriate take-back | 158 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

In 2011 it was estimated that around 4.1 million ELVs were 'missing', which meant that they were either being illegally exported as secondhand vehicles, illegally disposed of, or long-term garaged. systems, and from national governments, who were tasked with establishing deregistration systems and ensuring sufficient Authorized Treatment Facilities for ELVs. The initial high costs have now been offset through the recycling of high value materials, and all EU Member States now have deregistration systems, well established practices, and environmentally sound treatment facilities for recycling end-of-life vehicles. Today, the ELV Directive is seen as an efficient piece of EU legislation that has brought many benefits, both to the economy and the environment. On the environmental side, it set standards for depollution, dismantling and treatment of ELVs and has contributed

WASTE

E LV | A RT E M I S H AT Z I-H U L L

Jack Kelly

to an impressive reduction of hazardous substances used in vehicles. Economic benefits result from incentives for innovation in vehicle design and ELV treatment, standardized rules for ELV treatment on the EU market, reduction of waste disposal costs, as well as a drastic reduction of abandoned ELVs and their cost for the public sector. Last but not least, ELVs are an important source of valuable waste, and are expected to play an ever greater role in the circular economy as their number continues to rise. Car manufacturers welcomed this legislation as it helped make the industry more efficient, innovative and sustainable. The benefits are even being felt beyond the EU, as the Directive continues to spur innovation in the production of new vehicles, avoiding the use of hazardous substances and obliging global producers to comply with European standards for dismantability, recoverability and recyclability of vehicles. The need to meet the high re-use, recovery and recycling targets set in the ELV Directive has stimulated investment in post-shredding technology, reducing the amount of waste being funneled into landfills, while increasing cost efficiency of the industry. This has also created opportunities for investment into environmental technologies, fueling employment and economic growth. Despite the good performance of the Directive, some challenges do remain. In 2011 it was estimated that around 4.1 million ELVs were 'missing', which meant that they were either being illegally exported as second-hand

| 160 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

vehicles, illegally disposed of, or long-term garaged. The treatment of ELVs in non-legal or unauthorized treatment facilities in the EU is another problem. Not only is this illegal practice damaging for the environment â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with treatment facilities not complying with the environmental standards â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it also harms the economy, as resources which are not properly treated to be reused are virtually lost. This in turn creates considerable economic losses for the national governments. The EU Correspondent's Guidelines No 9 on shipment of waste vehicles can contribute to a better control of illegal exports of ELVs by clarifying the distinction between waste vehicles and used vehicles. Further cooperation among EU Member States is also needed to ensure the follow-up of ELVs in Europe. On a national level, controls, audits and other enforcement measures taken by national authorities have shown progress in closing down illegal operators and ensuring appropriate treatment of ELVs. Building on all the improvements, innovations and progress brought by the ELV Directive, the Commission will continue to work towards a better implementation of this legislation to maximise its contribution to green growth and the circular economy â&#x2013;

+ More Information

Title Photo: Tom Woodward

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste

Supplying resources by recycling scrap metal. We are a crucial link in a circular, resource-efficient economy

As world leading metal recyclers, we transform waste metals into valuable raw materials. Our scale, processing strengths and logistical capabilities enable us to deliver efficient use of resources on a global scale.

Vision and innovation in End of Life Vehicle recycling

Ten years ago we started a major project to achieve the ELV Directive’s tough recycling and recovery targets. The result is a recycling led solution that maximises value and pushes the boundaries of achievable recycling and recovery rates to 99%, as part of a large scale system capable of diverting 500,000 tonnes a year from landfill. We’ve always recycled the metals, but now we’ve also worked hard with leading technical innovators to achieve high quality plastic recycling and advanced gasification recovering energy from the remaining unrecyclable waste.

Metal recycling makes sense

Not only are the environmental benefits of metal recycling unquestionable, but it delivers real bottom line results too – something which our customers have benefited from for many years.

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European Metal Recycling Ltd, Sirius House, Delta Crescent, Warrington, WA5 7NS

WATER

R E E D B E D T E C H N O LO G I E S | TO R I S E L L E R S

Natural Primary Treatment System-

a UK First By Tori Sellers Director, ARM

For the first time in the UK a leading water company has commissioned the installation of a constructed wetland as a full primary treatment system at a sewage works. This signifies a major change in thinking towards a natural and sustainable alternative for sewage treatment in the UK. In the past constructed wetlands have generally been used as a tertiary treatment to polish eﬄuent prior to discharge. In this article Tori Sellers, a director at reed bed specialist’s ARM [Group/Limited], discusses how revolutionary reed bed technology - Phragmifiltre® -is not only providing water companies with a cost-effective and sustainable solution but is also helping meet stringent discharge consents and creating natural habitats.

Phragmiﬁltre® - how it works

The Phragmifiltre® system is a vertical flow constructed wetland (reed bed) designed in France during the 1990’s

| 162 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

by specialists in the treatment of domestic wastewater – Epur Nature. To date there are over 800 Phragmifiltre® systems treating raw sewage from 20 to 5,000 PE (Population Equivalents) throughout Europe. The system is typically designed to have two stages. The first stage filters and dewaters the solids from the raw wastewater on the surface of the bed. The filtrate passes down through the reed bed which acts as a typical vertical flow reed bed reducing BOD primarily but also undertaking nitrification of ammonia. The second stage of vertical flow reed beds provides additional BOD reduction and completes the nitrification of ammonia prior to discharge. Wastewater is fed to each bed in rotation thereby allowing all the beds to have a rest period. The use, where possible, of siphon technology for dosing at both stages minimises power requirements.

Why use Phragmiﬁltre® as a primary treatment?

Phragmifiltre® exemplifies the rapid evolution of reed

www.armreedbeds.co.uk

The Phragmifiltre® system is designed to have two stages. The first stage filters and dewaters the solids from the raw wastewater on the surface of the bed. The second stage of reed beds provides additional BOD reduction and completes the nitrification of ammonia prior to discharge. bed technology over the past 20 years, from the initial tertiary treatment application to the full treatment of raw sewage. In the past the UK sewage treatment industry tended to use reed beds at the back end of the sewage works. The recent adoption of Phragmifiltre® by a leading UK water company signifies a major step change in thinking and indicates recognition of the TOTEX benefits. Conventional sewage treatment works (STWs) generate sludges which have to be taken from small rural works for treatment. Phragmifiltre® stores and composts sludge on-site, therefore no tanker costs and no roadways are required which minimises OPEX and CAPEX costs. Existing conventional STW’s are hazardous areas and can be vulnerable to vandalism and require additional security fencing around the whole site which

increases expenditure costs. Phragmifiltre® only requires security fencing around a few chambers for safety. The majority of STWs also require weekly operator visits, compared to Phragmifiltre® which require monthly visits making reed beds the ideal replacement for aging STWs and an environmentally attractive, low TOTEX option for new developments. There is potential for this technology to be aligned with other intensive reed bed treatment technologies such as Forced Bed AerationTM which can enhance treatment capabilities further if required. Brought to the UK by reed bed specialists ARM through its official French partner Epur Nature, the revolutionary Phragmifiltre® system is currently being built under partnership with MWH at Severn Trent’s Hulland Ward Sewage Treatment Works (STWs) in Derbyshire. ► environmentmagazine.co.uk | 163 |

WATER

R E E D B E D T E C H N O LO G I E S | TO R I S E L L E R S

Replacing a 50 year old conventional, biological filter work system - Phragmifiltre® will treat the wastewaters from a population of just under 900. The new Phragmifiltre® system will meet the growing need to comply with stringent discharge consents set by the Environment Agency. As the new system will not generate sludges which will need to be regularly taken off site there will be no tankering costs or a need for extensive, tanker compliant internal roadways from Hulland Ward, which will reduce CAPEX costs. The system at Hulland Ward will consist of five reed beds; three utilised at stage one which will be fed alternatively and treat organic matter and suspended solids. The residual water will then be fed into two reed beds at stage two of the process, where polishing and additional nitrification will take place before being discharged. Once complete, Severn Trent will be the UK’s first water company to use wetland technology as a full primary treatment system at a sewage works. Work started on the site in July 2014 and is expected to complete by March 2015.

Phragmifiltre® system as Dan Cunliffe, a programme manager at Severn Trent, explains: “We have been planning the improvements at Hulland Ward for some time as it is part of our plans to improve land and water environments in the Ecclesbourne Valley. “Following extensive research we went to France to see the Phragmilfiltre® full treatment system in action and we were impressed with its results. “Not only does it provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution, the creation of a natural habitat was favoured by the local community. “Using constructed wetlands as a primary treatment resource is a first in the UK but it is proven technology. Once it is fully established we will also be able to demolish part of the old sewage works making for a more attractive landscape,” added Dan ■

Why Phragmiﬁltre®?

www.armreedbeds.co.uk

The growing need to meet stringent discharge consents was just one of the reasons Severn Trent chose the | 164 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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WATER

S U D S | B E N B O LG A R

| 166 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

www.princes-foundation.org

Living with Water

Character and Community at Upton Meadows

By Ben Bolgar

Senior Director, Princeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation for Building Community

Every year the UK faces substantial challenges in dealing with water management. With flooding, surface water and pollution issues overwhelming certain communities and increasing pressure on our villages, towns and cities to become resilient against the impacts of climate change. it has become crucial that we design and promote better water management solutions that can be easily adopted, and managed for communities around the country. With three billion people due to move into towns and cities by 2050, how we tackle the integration of water into our built environment is fast becoming one of the most pressing challenges for communities, especially when in so many cases the default planning mode is a reactive form of emergency planning or retrofitting as a result of the pace and scale of urban population increases. The Princeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation for Building Community has always adopted a holistic approach to water management and has long been involved in the promotion of community engagement around this subject. In particular, we have worked to champion use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) in our projects around the world. We have incorporated SuDS in a number of our urban extension projects both locally and internationally. SuDS have proven a pragmatic, effective and flexible water management system, although a careful consultation and design process is needed to ensure that the system is successfully integrated into developments. â&#x2013;ş

environmentmagazine.co.uk | 167 |

WATER

S U D S | B E N B O LG A R

As government’s ongoing consultation on sustainable urban drainage considers how to best integrate SuDS implementation and management into our existing planning system, we need to consider how to best equip practitioners and the planning system to produce water management systems that contribute to the quality of places, and ultimately to the quality of life of the residents in the area. Through our work, masterplanning and designing new towns and cities, we have confirmed that the character and community elements of water management systems are crucial in order to create systems that communities can value and sustain. The character is determined by the way water management systems are designed and contribute to the placemaking elements of a development, while community is determined by the consultation and public engagement process supporting a water management system. Both of these elements are often given little attention in the design and implementation process. We need to highlight the value of the ‘softer side’ of systems like SuDS in order to overcome barriers of uptake and upkeep that often undermine the success of water management schemes.

Engaging Communities

If integrated properly, water has the potential to contribute meaningfully to the biodiversity and irrigation needs of a | 168 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

community, as well as to provide a beautiful environment. Currently, communities are disconnected from their water use. Excess and runoff water is seen as a problem or threat - immediately sent underground or piped away. Individual households and wider communities are often unaware of the issues surrounding water and misconceptions of its effects are often widespread. In order to deliver truly sustainable and enduring water management systems, we need to adopt a more holistic approach and champion the potential benefits of living with water in our urban environments, beyond simply expecting it to come out of the tap and disappear. We are at the risk of over-engineering the way in which we deal with our regular interaction with excess water. The work of The Prince’s Foundation on holistic water management systems has looked to find a middle road between natural water management processes and hard engineering. By studying how our natural environment interacts with water, we stand a better chance of dealing with the issue of excess water in our villages, towns and cities. The Prince’s Foundation initially became involved in the masterplanning of Upton, Northampton in 1999 following a series of consultation workshops initiated by English Partnerships. As Northampton was generally prone to flooding, water was on everybody’s mind and many residents were concerned about flooding in the new development. Sustainable urban drainage was an

www.princes-foundation.org

aspiration – a system that would not only deal with the quantity of water running through the site, but also the quality of the runoff water itself. Community engagement played a crucial role in addressing these fears and aspirations. Through numerous public engagement activities, we were able to champion water as an amenity, both for people and for wildlife, rather than a threat. Subsequent research conducted at Upton Meadows has illustrated the value of community engagement when it comes to issues surrounding excess water. The use of public events, information boards and a SuDS Fair targeted at younger residents and families all served to educate the community about the systems and succeeded in communicating the potential benefits, including increased biodiversity in the area and a decreased flood risk. Our engagement included a questionnaire to assess residents’ reaction to the SuDS, which revealed an overriding positive attitude towards the system, despite some initial scepticism and insecurity. Although both safety and aesthetic concerns related to the landscaping maintenance were key points raised, our engagement process revealed that many people recognised the benefits of the systems, commenting on the green space, biodiversity and amenity value. The landscaping concerns raised point to a wider issue of adoption and maintenance which need to be agreed on as early on into the delivery process as possible.

Building Places

How water management systems are designed and integrated is crucial for how systems contribute to the wider built environment. Established village ponds, canals, streams and lakes are all highly valued in communities – we need to be conscious of this and consider how we

The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community has amassed an extensive amount of experience in the field of Community Consultation. Its Enquiry by Design (EbD) process is a highly structured way of engaging people at different times to make sure everybody is inputting into the design process. Successfully planning, designing and building new places is complex and as such we believe you cannot produce such a place through a linear system – residents and stakeholders need to be consulted from the start in order to ultimately create a successful and thriving community. The planning system often operates in a sequentially reactive way, working its way through various disciplines with inputs happening sequentially. The Prince’s Foundation advocates for a simultaneously proactive process in which we work together with regulators, experts and stakeholders in a complex and organic way to devise the best solution. This implies achieving the best balance between elements without one single aspect dominating a development. Practitioners and community leaders need to champion water as a vital community resource, which can contribute to a more harmonious built and natural environment and enhance people’s quality of life. Effective community education and engagement can also encourage residents to voluntarily take up small-scale measures like water harvesting or rain gardens in order to contribute to sustainable water management within their community. environmentmagazine.co.uk | 169 |

WATER

S U D S | B E N B O LG A R

incorporate water when designing a new community or place. If integrated properly, water has the potential to contribute meaningfully to enhanced biodiversity and irrigation needs of a community, as well as to provide a beautiful environment. We hope to champion water as a vital community resource, which can contribute to a more harmonious built and natural environment and enhance peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality of life. Key to this campaign is the promotion of sustainable drainage as a water management solution and the communication of its benefits to communities around the UK. When designing water systems, we need to consider water as a central component of a place, rather than implementing a one-size-fits-all model which ignores the context and character of an area. If we champion water as a valuable asset, we can begin to have meaningful conversations with communities about how they live with water and how their management systems can be designed to contribute positively to their area. At Upton Meadows, some of the biggest debates we experienced in relation to the character of our SuDS systems was how to best integrate the systems into the different development phases. At the time of our work, the size of the swales was generally fixed, so the architects and designers working on the scheme decided to customise the character of the different sets of swales in response to their setting. The swales along the main spine road, the more urban context, were designed with formal

| 170 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

planting and supported a more formal architectural style. Those swales which sat along the more rural edges of the development were coupled with arts and crafts style housing and less formal planting. These specifications illustrate a key message: a need to focus on the legibility and character of our water management systems and recognise that different models are appropriate at different stages along the rural-urban spectrum. Our planning work at Upton Meadows also included writing a design code to inform the various development parcels, each around 200 units, which made up the wider site. Given that a number of different developers were delivering the various parcels, the SuDS infrastructure itself needed to be coded in order to ensure that all the parts of the system fitted together and supported a legible and coherent site.

Conclusion

Building on what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve learnt over two decades of planning sustainable, enduring communities, our future challenges include finding solutions around how we might adapt, manage and live in urban landscapes sustainably and how can we build communities that are resilient to future climate change. There is still much to be done in establishing and developing the future roles of planning professionals, officers in local authorities and residents in shaping urban landscapes. There is an urgent need to couple a hard engineering expertise and best practice with more qualitative concerns of community

www.princes-foundation.org

and character if we are to create truly sustainable water management systems. The two elements are also mutually reinforcing: meaningfully involving the community in the design and adoption of water management systems should result in systems that are appropriate to the local scale and context, and similarly, an explicit focus on the character of water maintenance systems should involve a consideration of local precedent and community preferences. Although conceived in 2001, the urban design and the inclusion of SuDS at Upton Meadows has played a part in stimulating the process of change in approaches to managing surface water drainage in the UK and beyond. We urgently want to inspire planners of future developments and to help communities champion for higher quality green spaces in our towns and cities. Water has a great potential to contribute to the beauty of our built environments and to positively impact on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quality of life, and this contribution should be better acknowledged and championed around the UK. As we prepare to face a sustained period of rapid urbanisation around the world, coupled with the potentially destructive effects of climate change, how can we as practitioners and communities design, adopt and maintain systems which treat water responsibly as an asset rather than a threat? How can we ensure that we manage water in a way that contributes positively to the quality of our places as well as the quality of life of our communities? How can we be better at living with water? We believe that effective, meaningful community consultation and the thoughtful integration of water management systems into the built environment both play a key role in forming a part of that solution â&#x2013;

+ More Information www.princes-foundation.org

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PROSECUTIONS

Health & Safety Norfolk company ﬁned almost £1 per tone of illegal waste

Contaminated waste was taken illegally to a farm for spreading on the land and the supplier, Glazewing Ltd, was fined £3,600. Norwich Crown Court also ordered the company to pay full Environment Agency costs of £4,718.

Suspended sentence for unregistered plumber who failed to spot boiler faults

Environmental Prosecutions

A Derbyshire plumber has appeared in court for carrying out gas work without being registered and for failing to notice faults on an unsafe boiler. Christopher Buck of Mansfield Road, Hillstown, Bolsover, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 3(3) and 26(9) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison, suspended for 12 months, for both breaches, to run concurrently. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid community work and to pay costs of £748.

Derbyshire employer prosecuted after worker severs thumb

The owner of a firm that specialises in refurbishing precision machining tools has been fined for safety breaches after a worker severed a thumb while lifting a heavy component. 45-year-old Mark Evans, was rebuilding a rotary table device at CNC Rotary in Staveley when the incident happened in June 2013. David Helley of Markham Road, Tuxford, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,514 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Four prosecuted after roof fall death

A developer, scaffolding company, its director and a roofer have been sentenced after a worker fell around seven metres to his death in Staffordshire. E2 Developments Ltd, of Hopley Road, Anslow, Burton-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 14(1), 14(2) and 22 of the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2007 and was fined a total of £66,000 with costs of £13,200. Peter Allum, 41, of Beamhill Road, Burton-on-Trent, admitted breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £1,500 with £1,500 costs. Lee Cotterill, 53, of Marple Drive, Aston-on-Trent, Derby, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay costs of £4,000. Albion Tower and Scaffold (East Midlands) Ltd, of Common Lane, Watnall, Nottinghamshire, was fined £53,000 and ordered to pay £15,500 in costs after pleading guilty to the same offence. | 172 | environmentmagazine.co.uk

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Health & Safety

Waste Disposal

Companies prosecuted for safety failings after worker crushed

Suspended prison sentence for March skip man and £47,000 to pay

Two Derbyshire companies have been fined for safety failings after a worker was crushed whilst dismantling steelwork. MMD Mining Machinery Developments Ltd was fined £ 26,666 and ordered to pay £8,013 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching regulations 21, 29(1) and 29(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Instant Installations Ltd, of Station Lane, New Whittington, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,013 after admitting breaching regulation 4(3) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and regulations 29(1) and 29(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Israr Ahmed, aged 29, who pleaded guilty to running an illegal waste site and failing to produce waste transfer notes, was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months for running the site. He was also ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work in the community. A £30,000 confiscation order was made against him with a 9 month prison sentence in default and he was ordered to pay £17,000 full costs and £100 victim surcharge.

Lincoln waste company director sentenced to prison

Pollution

The company’s director, Shaun Nigel Dixon, aged 47, of SOS Skip Hire and Haulage, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for 2 years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work. He was also disqualified from being a company director for 5 years, ordered to produce a plan to clear the site and ordered to pay £16,094 costs. Thousands of tonnes of waste were deposited at a Lincoln site in breach of an environmental permit and planning conditions, allowing nearly 20,000 tonnes of waste to be brought to the site when the limit was only 1,100 tonnes – the waste was 7 to 8 metres high in places, breaching planning conditions.

Staﬀordshire company ordered to pay £33,621 for polluting local brook

Illegal Manchester waste site owner sentenced

Southern Water ﬁned for polluting the sea and a Kent watercourse

Middlesbrough recycling ﬁrm ﬁned £14,400

Loughborough ﬁrm prosecuted after machine crushes worker’s ankle

Advance Display Ltd of Falcon Business Park, Meadow Lane, Loughborough, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,677 after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

On Wednesday 5 November, Ibstock Bricks (1996) Limited pleaded guilty to the charge of breaching an environmental discharge consent. The company, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire was fined £27,000, ordered to pay £6,501.25 in costs, along with a £120 victim surcharge.

Southern Water were today fined £500,000 and agreed to pay costs of £19,224 at Canterbury Crown Court after an Environment Agency investigation found that untreated sewage was discharged into the Swalecliffe Brook, polluting a 1.2 kilometre stretch of the watercourse and killing local wildlife.

Thames Water ﬁned £250,000 for polluting Newbury’s Chase Brook

The case was brought by the Environment Agency after it was discovered that Thames Water had allowed untreated sewage to enter the Chase Brook, a 143 acre nature reserve owned by the National Trust. Thames Water has been fined £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,887.

The Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted a man for operating a large scale illegal landfill site in central Manchester. Princeston Valentino Green, 51, of Castle Road, Kidderminster was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also fined £3000, ordered to undertake 200 hours community work and required to pay a £15 victim surcharge.

S B Recycling Ltd, based in Normanby Road, has been fined £14,400 for operating a waste facility without an environmental permit. As well as the fine, the company was ordered to pay costs of £2,008.35 and a victim surcharge of £120. The court also made a wasted costs order of £300 against the firm’s defence solicitor, David Scourfield of David Scourfield Solicitors, Middlesbrough. This was made following three ineffective hearings, earlier in the proceedings, that the court agreed had been the solicitor’s fault.

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Case study Renewable heating now installed for special Edinburgh swimming pool Two young males in Scotland are now enjoying renewable heating for their swimming pool with the installation of 4 Ecodan air-source heat pumps to heat their indoor pool.

These are males with a difference though, as Samir and Bertus are onehorned Indian rhinos at Edinburgh Zoo, which has been examining ways of keeping its animals comfortable whilst reducing both fuel bills and overall carbon emissions. In the case of the rhino pool, the Zoo previously had inplace an older, less-ef�icient gas boiler that was coming to the end of its life.

Working with heat pump manufacturer, Mitsubishi Electric, Edinburgh Zoo, and the rhinos, are now the proud owners of an Ecodan renewable air-source heat pump system, which will help reduce both running costs and emissions by around 30%. The Ecodan cascade system will also qualify for the non-domestic RHI which could see Edinburgh Zoo receiving around £4,000 per year for the next 20 years. Four 8.5kW Ecodan heat pumps now provide renewable heating to the indoor rhino pool, with the units working in a cascade system to offer reliable heating all year round, regardless of the outdoor temperature. The Ecodan units work with a ‘tube and tube’ heat exchanger specially designed to work with and maintain the lower temperatures that enable the heat pumps to be so ef�icient. The pool is approximately 4m x 4m, and around 0.5m deep and the complete system was installed by Lothian Gas. Lothian Gas is Edinburgh's leading Gas, Heating and Maintenance Engineers and the company calculated the heat load for the pool at 30kW so has installed a 40kW capacity system. The company has also installed a Grundfos pump between the Ecodan and the tube-in-tube system to circulate water around the network and ensure that the heat exchanger doesn’t diminish the response time of the heat pump system. The Ecodan units work in tandem and offer full robust backup and rotate to maximise ef�iciency.

Mitsubishi Electric has worked closely with both Lothian Gas and Edinburgh Zoo on the installation, and the factory is also helping Lothian gas with on-going training. Mitsubishi Electric is also assisting on the inclusion of SD card monitoring which will allow full energy monitoring on-site to help qualify for RHI. The units were commissioned at the beginning of November and have already met with the seal of approval from Samir and Bertus, who continue to readily swim and wade in the warm water. The two rhinos are �irm friends even though male rhinos are usually solitary. They can often be spotted playing with various forms of rhino enrichment, including large balls, tractor tyres and logs. Both one-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) were born in 2008, with Samir arriving from Stuttgart Zoo in Germany in May 2010 and Bertus coming to

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Picture courtesy of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

Case study (cont) Renewable heating now installed for special Edinburgh swimming pool Edinburgh Zoo in June 2010 from Rotterdam Zoo. The Greater one-horned Rhinoceros has an IUCN Red List status of Vulnerable (for more information on classi�ications visit www.iucnredlist.org).

When fully mature at around 6/7 years old, it is likely that they will be paired with potential mates at other homes in Europe as part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). In the wild, greater one-horned rhinos can be found in Assam, India and over the border into Nepal. They inhabit tall grass forests, but increasingly they have to use more cultivated land as man has encroached on their habitat. Their population has been decimated through poaching with only pockets of them remaining in the wild in India and Nepal. The species was on the brink of extinction during the early 1900s, with only approximately 200 individuals remaining. Through conservation efforts the population has since risen to approximately 2,575, which is still dangerously low. Habitat destruction, sport hunting and poaching have been the three biggest causes for their dwindling population, with rhino horns continuing to fetch an expensive price through the black market.

Picture courtesy of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland

The rhino enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo is near Penguins Rock and the Discovery and Learning Centre and has both indoor and outdoor viewing areas. The current enclosure was renovated from a giraffe enclosure in 2006 and has been specially adapted to cater for the rhino’s needs – there are mud walls and soft bark on the ground as the rhinos walk on soft surfaces. It features 2 pools, an outdoor one and the heated indoor one which is kept at a temperature between 28 and 30°C. Both rhinos love bathing in water, especially as this species is more aquatic than others and readily swim and wade. The entire project is part of Edinburgh Zoo’s renewable and carbon reduction strategy, with the results being monitored to help the organisation decide on the best way to use renewable heating across the complex.

Contact For more information: www.edinburghzoo.org.uk

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Case study Scottish Water Invests In Aerated Wetland At Cowdenbeath Scottish Water’s commitment to deliver a cleaner and fresher environment, and improve the local watercourses across Cowdenbeath has taken one step further following its investment in a treatment wetland to improve its combined sewer network. The water company has been working with reed bed specialists ARM Limited and Barhale Construction since September 2013 to design and construct a wetland scheme which will treat the spill �lows from two Combined Sewer Over�lows (CSOs) for attenuation and treatment before being discharged into the Lochgelly Burn.

Located to the south of Cowdenbeath Golf Course, the £8.7m project involved the construction of two units – the �irst a �low balancing shaft settlement system for sedimentation of solids and the second a 4,000m2 x 2m-deep saturated vertical �low aerated wetland �itted with Forced Bed AerationTM (FBATM).

The new 2-unit system has a 20,000m3 storage unit downstream with a controlled, pumped in�low rate to the wetland of 46l/second. The system will provide suf�icient treatment to allow storm waters to �low back into the watercourses without compromising water quality. Although the wetland is �itted with FBATM technology, it only needs to be switched-on during storm events when the �low increases therefore optimising energy usage.

“Scottish Water is committed to investing in its combined sewer over�lows so it can continue to meet stringent discharge consents”, says Tori Sellers, director of ARM. “The ef�luent quality from storm water is variable but all of it needs to be treated before re-entering the watercourse. A wetland system �itted with FBATM is ideal and is fast becoming a more popular alternative method of water treatment due to its low footprint requirement, sustainability, habitat creation and versatility. By investing in a 2-unit system, Scottish Water can reduce energy further by only using the FBATM element during storm events. Now complete, it can treat approximately 230,000m3 of water per annum which means it has one of the largest treatment capacities in the UK.” Scottish Water treats the wastewater from around 11,000 customers in Cowdenbeath. In 2011 the water company completed the �irst phase of its plans to improve the quality of water it provides across the region. With an increasing need to meet consents of 9.0 mg/l BOD limit and an ammonia-nitrogen limit of 1.5 mg/l an aerated system which increased oxygen availability was the right choice.

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Case study (cont) Scottish Water Invests In Aerated Wetland At Cowdenbeath “The CSOs around Cowdenbeath needed to be upgraded and as we are committed to the local environment, a natural wastewater treatment system provided the best solution”, says Eddie Burns, project manager at Scottish Water. “The new system will provide suf�icient treatment to reach a standard where it meets SEPA requirements for us to pass the �lows into the Lochgelly Burn. Another upside is that it creates a wildlife habitat for birds as well as insects, newts and other amphibious organisms.

“The wetland ARM as designed is both cost-effective and in-line with how we want to treat wastewater in the future. It requires little maintenance, saving costs year-on-year which will bene�it everyone.” Work at Cowdenbeath’s Waste Water Treatment Works took approximately 15 weeks to complete. Scottish Water worked closely with ARM’s consultant Patrick Hawes and project manager David Bailey.

Contact For more information: Vicci Mace/Nicola Pledger, Kinetic: 0121 212 6250 / 07760 888 114 Vicci.mace@kineticpr.co.uk

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Case study Paddington Unveils Rain Garden and Green Wall to Mitigate Flood Risks Paddington is showcasing a new 70m2 green wall and sunken rain garden designed to reduce urban �looding in the key tourist area, as part of London’s ‘green revolution’.

The development comes at a time when Paddington expects to see an increase of 15% more visitors thanks to the launch of the Paddington Trail coinciding with the new �ilm. Just around the corner from Paddington Station, London’s historic gateway which sees 61million passengers pass through it each year, the environmental installation will look over bustling Praed Street from the side of historic St Mary’s Hospital, a prominent site in the community, which has seen the discovery of penicillin and pioneered the use of robotic surgery.

Plants will climb the walls of the hospital’s Winston Churchill building with the sunken rain garden alongside. Standing 12m tall, the wall will be packed with 6 different seasonal plant species from blooming Geranium Rozanne and climbing jasmine to natural ivy. The plants have been specially chosen to ensure the wall is in bloom all year round and act as a welcoming home for the birds, butter�lies and bees, to create a permanent vibrant focal point for the local area. Around the corner, the 24m2 sunken rain garden will gather water which over time will grow more greenery to form a striking feature for passersby. The transformative project came to light following completion of a Green Infrastructure Audit by PaddingtonNow, the Business Improvement District which represents over 350 businesses in the area to the East, South and West of Paddington Station. The audit identi�ied key locations that could be sites for various greening initiatives and PaddingtonNow commissioned the installation as a preventative measure and in recognition of the environmental bene�its it will have to the area as a whole. The wall’s unique design enables it to capture rainwater in dedicated storage tanks. Water collected by the tanks is channelled slowly through the wall, nourishing plant life and helping to reduce the risk of surface water �looding in the area by storing over 120 gallons of water at any time.

According to the Environment Agency 1 in 4 properties in London are at risk of �looding, and �lood risk is high in Paddington during periods of heavy rain due to the concentration of buildings and low absorbency of urban surfaces. The project has received a £9,000 grant from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, through his Drain London programme, co-ordinated by the regeneration agency Cross River Partnership. Cllr Heather Acton, Westminster City Council cabinet member for sustainability, says: “Great strides have been made in recent years to make Paddington a greener place, and this new green wall is a spectacular

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Case study (cont) Paddington Unveils Rain Garden and Green Wall to Mitigate Flood Risks addition to the local area. Westminster City Council has worked closely with PaddingtonNow to achieve public realm improvements and green infrastructure projects that not only make Paddington a more pleasant place to live, work and visit, but also a healthier one – promoting sustainability, increasing biodiversity and improving air quality. We look forward to continuing this important work together.” Mark Roth, Chairman of PaddingtonNow and General Manager at Hilton London Paddington, says: “Green infrastructure transforms the aesthetics of an area and we feel this is key to improving the Paddington welcome. We are committed to improving Paddington for visitors and have already made great headway with the restoration of Sussex Gardens and decorative greenery across the district. The new installation will be a stunning feature with the added bene�it of long-term environmental sustainability for the area.” Susannah Wilks, Director of Cross River Partnership, says: “The Mayor of London’s Greening the BIDs project provides catalytic funding to the business community to install urban greening projects that bring environmental, social and economic bene�its. Cross River Partnership administers these projects on behalf of the GLA. We congratulate PaddingtonNow on delivering the rain garden at St Mary’s, which demonstrates how business working with its members, the GLA and others, can make a meaningful contribution to addressing surface water management issues, whilst enhancing the sustainability and attractiveness of the urban realm.”

In addition, the wall will improve the air quality in the area as the vegetation can trap microscopic pollutants, high levels of which have been shown to cause respiratory illnesses.

Contact For more information: www.london.gov.uk/priorities/environment/ looking-after-londons-water/drain-london

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Case study Europe’s Largest Battery Storage Project Becomes Operational in the UK S&C Electric, Samsung SDI, UK Power Networks and Younicos collaborate to launch the Smarter Network Storage project. Europe’s largest battery storage project has been of�icially opened by Amber Rudd, Minister at Department for Energy and Climate Change at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. S&C Electric Europe, Samsung SDI and Younicos collaborated to deploy the technology onto a UK Power Networks substation. The fully automated 6MW/10MWh Smarter Network Storage (SNS) project will assess the role of energy storage in cost effectively delivering the UK’s Carbon Plan, and save over £6m on traditional network reinforcement methods. S&C Electric Europe is the lead supplier to the £18.7m project, drawing on its extensive experience of deploying energy storage projects in the UK and around the world. Berlin-based Younicos contributed custom-built intelligent software architecture and components. By providing frequency regulation as well as load shifting, the project will stabilise the grid more effectively than traditional thermal generators, providing more space on the grid for clean, but intermittent renewable energies. Andrew Jones, Managing Director, S&C Electric Europe, said: "Energy storage can play a major role in balancing the grid as it solves the problem of renewable intermittency by absorbing surplus power and releasing it when needed. This function simultaneously helps to securely balance capacity and supply and protects the grid from Stress Events (e.g. power outages) on the grid. The introduction of energy storage in substations like the one at Leighton Buzzard can decrease the need and cost of traditional reinforcement, such as transformers and cabling.”

Ben Wilson, UK Power Networks’ Director of Strategy and Regulation and Chief Financial Of�icer, said: “It’s exciting to be now starting the 2-year trial and we will be testing a wide range of different services that storage can deliver to the network, and the wider electricity system. The project will allow us to explore and improve the economics of electrical energy storage, and assess the potential bene�its to the electricity system in a number of sustainable and �lexible ways. We have also been developing a �irst-of-a-kind platform to help us optimise and manage a wide range of different services that the storage can provide. This project will have an impact not only for the local area but also nationally and internationally. What we learn here from this exciting and important development will be vital for future similar schemes.” Clemens Triebel, co-founder and Chief Technical Of�icer, at Younicos said: “This ground-breaking project forcefully demonstrates the many revenue streams and savings that energy storage can enable today. We are particularly proud to have contributed our intelligent control software and experience in frequency regulation and battery management, which

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Case study (cont) Europe’s Largest Battery Storage Project Becomes Operational in the UK ensures that the battery system automatically reacts to price and other signals. Together with UKPN, S&C, and other partners, we are showing grid operators, utilities and other stakeholders both in the UK and around the world an effective way to cost-ef�iciently reinforce and improve grid infrastructure, while facilitating increased deployment of clean energy from wind and solar."

The technology can provide a range of bene�its to the wider electricity system, including absorbing energy, then releasing it to meet demand, to help support capacity constraints and to balance the in�lux of intermittent and in�lexible low carbon technologies onto the grid. The project will explore the capabilities and value in alternative revenue streams for storage, whilst also deferring expensive conventional reinforcement measures, such as transformers, cable and overhead lines. The project was awarded funding of £13.2m by Ofgem in December 2012, under The Low Carbon Networks (LCN) Fund scheme and will last 4 years, from January 2013 to December 2016.

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Case study Balfour Beatty Delivers Substation to Serve the World’s Largest Wind Turbines Balfour Beatty has completed an £8.75m project for Westermost Rough Limited (part of Denmark-based DONG Energy), to transform power from the world’s largest wind turbines for use by National Grid.

The company has installed an on-shore substation servicing Westermost Rough wind farm, off the coast of East Yorkshire, which is the �irst in the world designed to process the output of Siemens’ powerful 75m bladed 6MW turbines. The project included the installation of a Gas Insulated Switchgear building housing supervisory control and data acquisition panels, batteries, low voltage panels and controls, transformers, switchgear, high voltage cabling, drainage, roads, fencing and protective blast walls. As part of its drive to contribute to local economies where it operates, Balfour Beatty employed local supply chain partners such as Humberside Aggregates and KE Lunness Aggregates, who were also able to reduce carbon emissions and transport costs on the project.

With up to 950 people working on the site from 28 nationalities, the communication of safety information was given high priority and the project was accident-free for its lifetime of 589 days. Eddie Tribe, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for the North East, said: “This scheme’s successful implementation has been testament to the combination of our technical excellence and collaborative working with Westermost Rough Limited. Balfour Beatty has once again shown its ability to work sustainably supporting local businesses and to deliver a project to the highest safety standards.” Balfour Beatty is now carrying out remaining works on-site including the provision of access roads, drainage and external works to the perimeter of the substation. Balfour Beatty Engineering Services provided mechanical and electrical infrastructure for the wind farm, including internal and external power, controls, pumps and ancillary systems. The overall scheme will be complete in 2015.

Contact For more information: www.balfourbeatty.com

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