Environment Industry Magazine Issue 22

OCT/NOV 2012

ISSN 2043-0140

INTRODUCTION

from the

EDITOR I have a feeling that I have slipped out of the normal time stream or maybe I slept through a couple of months this year, how can it possibly be November already? Last time I check the Olympics had just finished, then we had some more rain and now it’s November!

The problem is that so much is happening to take your attention, so many problems at the same time. Especially in the environmental arena, suddenly we have been hit with a catastrophic disease which is threatening our Ash tree population, a disease whose symptoms are similar to changes seen in trees in autumn making it harder to identify. We have some eighty million Ash trees in the UK, losing such a prolific species will have massive implications for many other species which rely on it for food and shelter. It is impossible to know how big the ecological impact of the disease will be, but we must be vigilant and try to stop it in its tracks. Equally concerning is the destruction of our bee populations, more over the lack of coverage given to the issue in the mainstream press. Recent research, published in Nature, has shown that exposure to certain pesticides causes increased mortality and decreased productivity in honey bee populations. The evidence was based on exposure to individual pesticides and not to the potential cocktail of poisons a bee may come in to contact with on a daily basis. Also it is only recently that studies into the effects of pesticides on other bee species have begun. Bumble bees for example live in smaller groups than honey bees and don’t have the colony numbers to sustain high mortality rates and therefore could be more vulnerable. The bumble bee is responsible for pollenating much of the food we eat. Despite a huge amount of evidence showing the impact of pesticides and herbicides on our bee populations the government has been painfully slow to act in fact positively static in dealing with the situation. This is the same government who have decided that is was quite satisfactory to cull massive numbers of badgers (a protected species) in the south west of England. Minister decided that in order to

prove we can kill badgers efficiently we should have a test cull of 70,000 badgers in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset. If it could be determined that the badgers could be killed humanely then they would approve a wholesale slaughter across the country. The reason given for destroying one of Britain’s most beautiful mammal species? It carries and more critically spreads Bovine tuberculosis a disease which can it be inoculated against, the first injectable badger vaccine, BadgerBCG, was licensed in March 2010 and yet ministers still preferred the option of culling the badgers. There is also a cattle vaccination however according to DEFRA “Vaccination of cattle against TB is currently prohibited by EU legislation, in place principally because BCG vaccination of cattle can interfere with the tuberculin skin test which is the recognised primary diagnostic test for TB in cattle. Vaccinating cattle in the UK against TB but without a Marketing Authorisation for the vaccine runs the risk that live cattle and cattle product exports could be banned by other countries. While the export market for live cattle is relatively small, the value of our meat and dairy exports is much greater. Our dairy exports alone grew by nearly 20% in 2011, to more than £1.1billion.” It’s nice to know that Badgers have a value as a species of obviously less that £1.1billion.

Another disgraceful environmental issue which needs to be highlighted is Donald Trump, not the man himself necessarily but his amazing golf courses in Aberdeenshire. It is a scandal that he has been given planning permission to build a 450 room hotel, 500 houses and 2 golf courses on a unique SSSi dune habitat in Scotland. Much of the pristine site has been bulldozed and most of the neighbours have been bullied by the billionaire to build a golf course – I urge everyone to watch “You’ve Been Trumped” and to get as incensed as I did, we need to make sure that such travesties are not allowed to happen so easily in the future.

Alex Stacey Managing Editor

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

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

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

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |3|

30 Conservation 31 - 35

Can Americans Afford Not to Make “Room for the Rivers”?

- Terri L Turner

6 News 6 - 25

News

26 - 27

Tales from the Watercooler

28

Jason Drew Column

29

Steve Grant Column

36 Energy

Contents

37 - 39

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Biomimetic Aircraft Snatch Power Aloft - Dr Peter Harrop

40 Flooding 41 - 42

Water in the Landscape - Sue Illman

43 - 45

The Future of Flooding, Flood Insurance and its Impact - David Mole

46 - 47

You, SuDS and the new law - Emma Skelley and Nicola Dibble

48 - 49

Sustainable Urban Drainage systems

50 Food, Agriculture & Packaging 51 - 52

RFID: The Technology Set to Revolutionise the Food and Drink Industry - Phil Bremner

53 Green Building 54 - 56

The importance of sustainability considerations in the housing industry - Paul Tanney

58 Labs & Testing 60 - 61

Tackling Air Quality: a targeted approach - Kathye Henderson

62 - 63

Mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in Directors’ Reports – will it make a difference? - Richard Tipper

64 - 69

WWEM 2012 to focus on the quality of monitoring

70 Land & Management 72 - 73

Hired metals analyser ensures remediation success

74 Timber 76 - 80 82 - 85

Carbon Storage Utilising Timber Products - P. Van Der Lugt New woodland – business-friendly ecosystems in a green economy? Dr Pat Snowdon

96 Water 98 - 100

Using UV Fluorescence technology to monitor for organic pollutants Jim Ward

101 - 102

Wastewater Reuse Using UV Disinfection

104 - 105

DWI Guidelines for UV Drinking Water Disinfection

106 - 107

THE WRONG TYPE OF DRAINAGE Ian Myers

108 Miscellany 109

Environmental Prosecutions

110 - 111

Product Guide

112 - 113

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION:BOX-TICKING OR BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT - Martin Hockaday

114 - 115

Corporates, communities and a compelling combination for change

116 - 118

POTENTIAL CONFUSION IN THE TRAINING SECTOR? Case Studies

119

SLR ARCHAEOLOGISTS INVESTIGATE NETWORK RAIL DEVELOPMENT SITE

120 - 121

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre

122

Sustainable Heating For Agricultural Specialists

123

VICTORIA LEISURE CENTRE SHOWCASES B & K STRUCTURES CAPABILITIES

124 - 125

The UK’s first solar powered major waste treatment plant

126 - 127

Work begins on England’s largest and greenest winery

92 Waste Management

128 - 129

King’s Cross switches on to solar!

130

RENEWABLE SOLUTION CUTTING CARBON AND GENERATING CASH

The Paper Chain - Pulp, Paper and Waste

131 - 132

Famous Last Words Simon King

86 Transport 88 - 90

94 - 95

Diesel - A versatile engine

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News Conservation

Energy

Flooding Food, Agriculture & Packaging

Green Building

Labs & Testing

Land Management

Timber

Transport

Waste Management

Water

Miscellany |6| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Bombardier Wins Service Contract for 32 Trams in Austria Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation has signed a service contract for 32 BOMBARDIER FLEXITY Outlook trams with the Austrian operator Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe & Stubaitalbahn GmbH. The order is valued at approximately 44 million euro ($57m US) and runs until the end of 2028.

Bombardier will perform the complete service management for the 32 FLEXITY Outlook trams on behalf of Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe & Stubaitalbahn GmbH, who will carry out the maintenance work themselves.

After Linz AG Linien, this is the second Austrian customer that has decided for the recently developed innovative service concept from Bombardier. This service concept provides a high level of vehicle availability and reliability, which in turn contributes to a high level of customer satisfaction.

Offshore Wind Farm Conference MPA the Concrete Centre is to host a major one-day conference and exhibition on offshore wind energy at the Church House Conference Centre, London, on 6 December 2012.

The conference will examine the potential contribution of offshore wind to a low carbon economy and will provide a progress report on Round 3 wind farm projects. In particular with deep water locations being increasingly proposed, the conference will investigate how concrete gravity foundations can provide a cost effective and environmentally responsible solution. The range of concrete gravity foundations will be examined with issues such as technological development, construction and installation efficiency and marine environmental impact being covered.

Aimed at energy companies, wind farm developers, engineers and material suppliers, the event will provide useful networking opportunities for all elements of the supply chain.

The delegate rate is ÂŁ135 plus VAT and the event is certified for 4 CPD points. For further information and registration visit: www.concretecentre.com/ events

i2O Water Named in the Global Cleantech 100 list of top private companies in clean technology i2O Water has announced that its cutting-edge work in Advanced Pressure Management has led to inclusion in the Global Cleantech 100 list. Companies on the list represent the most innovative and promising organisations actively tackling tomorrow’s clean technology challenges. The highly prestigious list is determined by combining research data from the Cleantech Group with over 6,000 nominations and specific input from an expert panel. i2O Water’s Advanced Pressure Management solution is unique in the market, with an architecture combining hardware and software enabling water companies to proactively and remotely manage their pressure across water distribution networks, reducing excessive pressure or increasing areas of insufficient pressure according to demand. This delivers six key areas of value for water companies: reduced leakage and burst frequency, lower energy consumption, reduced operational costs and extended asset life, all of which combine to provide positive impact on customer service.

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Apollo Energy Tech- Saving Your Business Money When Energy Prices Are Increasing With four energy companies announcing that they will be increasing their energy prices, Apollo Energy Tech have some simple solutions for businesses wanting to cut their energy costs.

From 17th November, British Gas will be increasing their energy costs by 6%, with Scottish Power increasing their prices by 7%, Npower 9% and Scottish Hydro 9%. They argue that the price of importing energy has meant price increases, hitting customers at the worst possible time.

Despite this, the UK’s energy use is increasing, so how can businesses ensure that they can cut their energy bills in a time when it’s tough enough to be a business?

‘There are many things businesses can do to cut their energy usage,’ states David Shaw, Director, Apollo Energy Tech ‘From immediate changes such as turning computers off at nights and weekends, to installing energy generating products.’

In fact, Apollo Energy Tech are offering businesses free Energy Assessments, where they come to the business and not only point out the immediate actions to reduce energy use, but also assess the business and business premises’ suitability for energy saving and generating products.

POWER STATION CONSENT TURNS WASTE TO ENERGY Consent has been given by the Government for the construction of a 60MW energy from waste generating station in Cheshire.

The proposed development at Lostock, Northwich, will generate enough power to supply 80,000 homes and create a total of 500 jobs during the construction period and a further 50 permanent operating posts.

A DECC spokesman said: “It is essential we have a balanced energy mix in the future to provide low cost, efficient energy to households and businesses.

“This plant takes waste and turns it into something of great value – enough power to supply 80,000 homes - and in addition creates jobs for the local community.”

A full and detailed public inquiry recommended that consent for the station be granted after hearing evidence about all aspects of the proposed development, including its potential health and visual impacts as well as the implications for traffic safety and the local environment.

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INDEPENDENT STANDARD KEY TO VALIDATING CLEAN TECHNOLOGY FUEL SAVINGS CLAIMS A standard independent methodology will curb growing scepticism and confusion surrounding the widely varying fuel savings claims from clean technology providers International Paint, part of AkzoNobel, the largest global paints and coatings company, alongside BMT ARGOSS, and NAPA, have called on the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to work with independent, vessel performance monitoring organisations to develop a standard methodology to determine the energy saving and eco-efficiency impact of clean technologies fitted to new and existing vessels.

The move comes amid contention from key industry figures questioning the measurement and validation of fuel saving and efficiency claims made by technology companies. As fuel prices remain high and likely to increase as new lower sulphur regulations are introduced, ship owners, operators and charterers want to more accurately know the methods they can employ to reduce fuel consumption, and associated costs and emissions.

Until a transparent, and critically – independent – standard methodology is agreed to determine the fuel savings claims of eco-efficient technologies and measures, ship owners, operators and charterers will continue to lack the confidence in the information they need to make significant investment decisions.

Image by kind permission of Ian Tindale fisheye panoramic of Street’s Goliath crane on Oxford Street in London, being used in the construction of the Crossrail project.

Crucial Roles for Overhead and Goliath Cranes from Street Crane on Crossrail Britain’s biggest industrial crane and hoist manufacturer, Street Crane Company, now has ten cranes installed supporting the Crossrail project. The latest, a 40 tonne double girder Goliath crane on Oxford Street, has now been in service for three months.

The crane will be lifting spoil skips and lowering tunnel segments and other pre-cast elements for the Crossrail tunnel and new Tottenham Court Road Western Ticket Hall.

The crane on Oxford Street is a double girder box beam design with twin custom built TVX hoists, each capable of lifting 20 tonnes. Twin hoists give maximum flexibility as they can be used singly or in tandem depending on the weight and geometry of the load to be moved. The crane has a total height of lift of 37 metres with a maximum normal speed of 15 metres per minute and a minimum 1.5 m/m. Hoist speed can be boosted to 23 m/m for light loads of 2 tonnes or less. A cab located on the crane bridge will give the driver clear visibility of the site. The developer, Crossrail Limited, is a subsidiary of Transport for London who sponsors the project jointly with the Department for Transport. Street Crane’s contract is with BFK, the main contractor for this western stage of tunnelling work from Royal Oak to Farringdon. BFK is a joint venture between BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman and Kier Construction. The complete line will run from Heathrow/Maidenhead in the west to Shenfield/Abbey Wood in the east and has a total length of 73 miles (118 Km) of which 13 miles (21Km) is in twin bore tunnels. There will be 37 stations along the line. Over 90% of the investment by Crossrail remains within the UK economy.

Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership Awards £1.5Million to New Bracknell Forest Council Infrastructure Initiative The Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (TVB LEP) is delighted to announce that it has allocated £1.5million of Growing Places Funds to Bracknell Forest Council for a new infrastructure regeneration initiative.

Some of the infrastructure money will be spent on a substantial upgrade of Bracknell Bus Station which forms part of the wider regeneration programme in Bracknell town centre.

Steve Lamb, Chair of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (TVB LEP) and senior director at Oracle comments: “We have already allocated funds to several projects and have some very exciting initiatives underway including this Bracknell infrastructure project. The injection of the Growing Places Fund will help the Thames Valley region to be more innovative, productive and attractive for business as we focus on building the infrastructure that will deliver economic prosperity in the area for the next 30 years.”

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G & P installs Europe’s first automated waste battery sorting system G & P Batteries, the UK’s leading waste battery collection and recycling company, has installed Europe’s first automated optical waste battery sorting system. The new equipment is capable of sorting at a rate of more than five batteries a second and has more than doubled G & P’s capacity to sort portable waste batteries at its site in Darlaston, West Midlands.

Developed by Swedish company, Optisort, the system is designed to recognise and separate the most common battery brands and chemistries and so speed up the sorting process.

This will enable G & P to handle with ease the uplift in volumes necessary for the UK to meet its battery recycling obligations under the UK and EU targets.

Nexeon Makes the 2012 Global Cleantech 100

“The vast majority of the volumes handled come from the most common brands and we’ve been searching for some time for the technology that can streamline the waste battery sorting process,” explained G & P’s Managing Director, Michael Green. “We were impressed by the speed and accuracy of the Optisort battery sorter, which enables us to maximise our sorting efficiencies whilst maintaining current staffing levels. We will always require the expertise of manual sorters, for larger batteries and packs, and for their experience in accurately identifying the lesser known battery brands and chemistries”

Nexeon, the leading developer of next generation lithium ion battery technology, has been named in the prestigious 2012 Global Cleantech 100, produced by Cleantech Group, a leading global research and advisory firm focused on innovation in energy and the environment. This is the second time Nexeon has been recognized in these prestigious awards which this year attracted over 8000 nominations from 85 countries.

The Global Cleantech 100 list is unique in the sector by highlighting the promise of private clean technology companies from all around the world, focusing on those companies which are likely to make the most significant market impact over the next 5-10 years.

2012 is a crucial year for the UK, which is tasked with meeting its first significant battery recycling target under the European Directive. By the end of the year, the country will need to have collected 25% of the volume of batteries placed on the market. Results issued by the Environment Agency so far show that it is likely this will be achieved.

The list is derived from Cleantech Group’s own data and research combined with the viewpoints of a global panel of 75 cleantech experts, representative of the global cleantech community.

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Funding green light for scheme to make young people more employable More employable young learners, whose talent and potential is helping employers to secure a more successful future for their business - these will be the end results of a SummitSkills project which has just secured funding from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ (UKCES).

SummitSkills is the sector skills council for building services engineering, covering the electrotechnical, heating and ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration, and plumbing industries.

The Test Drive Talent project will be a great opportunity for employers in the BSE sector who are not already taking on extra staff or apprentices.

Brokers will provide an introduction service to bring employers together with talented young people for short-term work experience placements, with much of the usual hassle of the process removed by that broker. The initiative will enable employers to ‘test drive’ the best young learners who have great potential but whose employability is limited due to studying on college-based courses which don’t offer the opportunity to gain work-based experience.

Keith Marshall OBE, chief executive of SummitSkills, said: “For employers, our project will highlight the benefits that motivated young people can bring to their business, whilst helping to overcome the hurdles that prevent employers offering work experience placement. This initiative will also give talented learners an opportunity that they wouldn’t otherwise have - to impress potential employers. Colleges will benefit too, as the project will identify new opportunities for their students. We hope it will unlock a whole new part of the building services engineering sector for apprentices.”

The project will run from October 2012 to March 2013 and SummitSkills will be looking to work with various colleges, training providers and employers across England to generate hundreds of new work experience opportunities.

Employers interested in getting involved by offering work experience places, supported by project brokers, should contact Neil Collishaw on 07834 868949 or email neil.collishaw@summitskills.org. uk

Monkbar Hotel Charges Ahead With Electric Car Plug-In Points York’s BEST WESTERN Monkbar Hotel is “charging” ahead with its bid to be the greenest venue in the city centre.

The award-winning establishment, which has been crowned with the Green Business Tourism Gold Award, has just had a number of charging points fitted to enable electric cars to “fill up”.

The hotel, which year on year is boosting its green credentials whilst reducing its carbon footprint, is one of a growing number of hotels in the Best Western Group to have facilities for electric vehicles.

For its latest environmentally-friendly initiative, the hotel has teamed with City of York Council’s Environmental Protection Unit, which is currently trialling electric cars for the authority’s own use.

Running costs of an electric car are roughly 2p per mile and they can travel up to 100 miles between charges.

BEST WESTERN Monkbar Hotel Manager Graham Usher said: “The electric car charging points are part of our continuing efforts to operate in a more environmentally-friendly way. City of York Council has been really helpful, and, thanks to them, we have now got two dedicated car charging bays.

“This is one extra ‘charge’ that I think all guests will welcome!”

Derek McCreadie, City of York Council’s Low Emission Officer said: “The Monkbar Hotel is pioneering the way for zero emission transport and tourism in York.

“Cleaner vehicles means better air quality and health for all in York.”

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A green technology that transforms tyres into raw material for the production of rubber and plastic arrives in Europe In a move that will accelerate the global adoption of sustainable materials across Europe, HERA Holding, a Spanish waste-to-resource company, and Lehigh Technologies Inc., a leading sustainable materials company, have introduced Micronized Rubber Powder (MRP) technology into Europe. MRP gives new ecological uses to end-of-life rubber products, for instance tyres.

This technology transforms waste rubber into an extremely high quality powder which the company is able to use to manufacture rubber products equivalent to the originals.

MRPs lower costs, increase the sustainability profile of end products and deliver performance without sacrificing the reliability and performance offered by traditional raw materials.

Siemens Metering, Communications and Services ranked as United Utilities’ number one supplier In a recent supplier assessment, United Utilities has ranked Siemens as its leading supplier. United Utilities sees its relationships with its key strategic suppliers as essential to support its objectives as one of the UK’s largest water companies, serving customers in the North West of England. All external suppliers, from construction partners and recruitment consultancy to meter reading services, are assessed against the following criteria: • • • • • • •

• •

•

•

On Time Delivery Risk Management Reporting Customer Satisfaction Completion of Actions Quality Collaboration and Flexibility Cost Management Commitment to Continuous Improvement H&S and People Development Commitment to Sustainability

Why is it more sustainable?

With this technology waste rubber can be recycled instead of consuming new rubber (be it synthetic or natural) to produce new materials.

This helps to reduce CO2 emissions. For instance, it generates 8% less CO2 for each tyre.

For the production of this MRP, HERA Holding and Lehigh Technologies Inc. have set up a partnership that will provide micronized rubber powder (MRP) for the tyre, consumer and industrial plastics and coatings industries in Europe.

At present, Lehigh’s customer base includes five of the top ten largest tyre companies in the world – over 140 million tyres have been manufactured using Lehigh’s MRP. This partnership will bring MRP to Europe with Hera Holding adapting its recycling plant in Navarra, Spain, to allow for the production of MRP. Lehigh and HERA will market the MRPs under the trade names MicroDyne™ and PolyDyne™.

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United Utilities Supply Chain & Commercial Category Manager Lorraine Morton said: “Siemens, as our metering service provider, is collaborating well with us to meet our company vision to be ‘A Leading North West Service Provider and The Best Water and Wastewater Company’. Our company values, of ‘Innovation, Integrity and Customer Focus’, are central to achieving that ambition – and apply equally to ourselves and our associates. Siemens has clearly endorsed these values in what it does for us and our customers. We are very pleased to recognise that achievement.”

TRAVIS PERKINS GROUP REACHES OUT TO HOUSING SECTOR AHEAD OF THE GREEN DEAL Sustainable Building Solutions (SBS), part of the Travis Perkins Group, has held a joint event with its Managed Services team in Northampton to communicate the support it can provide to customers in the public sector and social housing market following the introduction of the Green Deal. The seminar recognised that requirements in both new build and repair and maintenance markets are rapidly changing and merchants must support their customers if the Green Deal is to be a success. The Travis Perkins Group has access to a number of key house builders through its Managed Services team with a total housing stock of 80,000 represented on the day.

Eimear Montague, Sustainability Development Manager for SBS, added: “The Green Deal is a huge opportunity for social landlords, and it was great to be able to demonstrate all of the best-in-class specialist services and solutions we have in place to support our customers – in particular our unique Green Deal model through partnership with Toriga, our access to Eco Funding, and our retrofit standard construction drawings for External and Internal Wall Insulation that are independently proven to remove the risk of surface condensation.

“We also showcased our new build solutions, including our thermally-modelled standard construction drawings. These are helping our customers build more thermally-efficient homes, which pass the SAP process more easily, whilst also saving money on materials. We believe that this approach, backed by clear and open communication about what advice is available, is vital if energy efficiency measures are to be successfully implemented in UK housing.”

CIWEM appoints contractor for new ‘green-build’ Headquarters and members’ facilities The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) has signed a £2.94m contract with construction company 8build for the development of its new headquarters, members’ facilities and conference rooms at 106-109 Saffron Hill, Clerkenwell, London.

The redevelopment of an existing Victorian building has been designed to achieve the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard of environmental performance, and its residential component, which will part-finance the project, will meet the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. The work will commence in October and is programmed to be completed for handover on 2nd August 2013.

CIWEM’s green-build project will offer a modern and comfortable working environment for its staff, a welcoming lounge and informal meeting area for its members, and meeting rooms, conference and exhibition space to allow the Institution to provide higher standards of engagement with its stakeholders.

The facilities will also offer a high standard of accommodation for those who wish to rent meeting and business space in the desirable Farringdon area of central London. It will be conveniently located for underground, mainline and Crossrail once the Farringdon transport hub is fully developed.

The contractor, 8build, was chosen to undertake the work following an extensive market testing process. 8build have good experience of green-build projects and demonstrated a strong commitment to CIWEM’s vision for delivering a contemporary, multi-purpose and eco-efficient building.

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City extends ‘Green Challenge’ to UK Fashion industry 2013 ‘Green Gongs’ open for entries celebrating new Sustainable Fashion category With up to a third of the UK’s current growth due to green business*, sustainability is a hot topic in the City, and this years’ Sustainable City Awards promise to deliver some fascinating entries.

Returning for a 12th successful year and partnering for the first time with the British Fashion Council, the UK’s foremost green business awards scheme will recognise and celebrate green innovation across 12 areas – including a new Sustainable Fashion category.

The awards this year will be hosted in partnership with fashion icon Livia Firth and her Green Carpet Challenge.

Firth is encouraging business and community groups to show leadership in competing for one of the coveted City of London awards (www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/sca.) and will be presenting this year’s Sustainable City Awards at the Lord Mayor’s residence, Mansion House, on 19th March 2013.

The scope of the awards reflects the City of London Corporation’s interests - from financial markets to fishmarkets, and from parks to the arts, and is decidedly in keeping with the City’s aims to encourage jobs and growth. Since 2001, hundreds of organisations ranging from energy-efficient zoos to fish and chip shops, from supermarket chains to international banks have been recognised for their efforts to drive green growth.

To ensure the awards seek out the UK’s most inspiring sustainable fashion designers and retailers, organisers have enlisted the help of the British Fashion Council as their newest partner who will assist Firth in driving entries for the new category. Two Sustainable Fashion awards will be up for grabs - one for the best independent fashion designer and one for the equivalent for a leading high street retailer.

Simon Mills, Head of Sustainable Development at the City of London Corporation, says: “Fashion and sustainability are a good mix, as couture impacts on hearts and minds as well as the planet. We were in fact we were inspired to create this category by one of the entries to last years’ awards, the fabulous “Thrifty Couture” (http:// thriftycoutureblog.blogspot.co.uk/ ), who are a fantastic example of fashion driving local sustainable economic growth.”

Livia Firth, adds: “With the Green Carpet Challenge, we have taken huge steps towards combining style and ethics in fashion. I am very excited to be hosting this award ceremony which will bring more awareness to this cause and inspire responsibility amongst designers and retailers to adopt sustainable fashion.”

The Royal Society for the Arts-accredited Sustainable City Awards are one of only eleven UK feeder schemes for the European Business Awards for the Environment, giving all category winners the chance to gain international recognition for their environmental efforts.

Those interested in applying should refer to the website: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/sca

CRITICAL DATES Entries Close 1st December Judging- December/January Shortlist Announcement 20th January Awards Ceremony 19th March |16| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

SUSTAINABLE CITY AWARD CATEGORIES • Sustainable Fashion In association with the British Fashion Council and Livia Firth and her Green Carpet Challenge • Air Quality In association with The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and Kings College London (UK wide) • Sustainable Finance In association with UKSIF (UK wide) • The Farsight Award In association with Gresham College, USS and Z/Yen Group (International) • Tackling Climate Change In association with the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers and the Eco-Sequestration Trust (UK wide) • Sustainable Travel and Transport In association with Campaign for Better Transport (UK wide) • Resource Conservation In association with the Worshipful Company of Launderers and the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators (UK wide)

Landmark London conference to discuss ‘revolutionary’ air capture technology Air capture technology, which scrubs carbon dioxide out of the air, has the potential to become a ‘game-changer’ in the battle against climate change, and British engineers are at the forefront of making it a reality, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Development of the technology has accelerated over the past few years, and one small British firm has become the first company in the world to demonstrate CO2 air capture as a viable industrial prospect. Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS), based in Stockton-on-Tees, is using air capture to create synthetic petrol using only air and electricity.

AFS recently created its first litres of fuel at the company’s Stockton demonstrator plant. The process works as follows:

• Greening the Third Sector (Formerly Access to Goods and Services) In association with the City Bridge Trust and the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers (London wide)

• Air is blown into a tower containing a mist of sodium hydroxide which reacts with the carbon dioxide in the air, forming sodium carbonate. Electricity is then passed through the sodium carbonate to release the carbon dioxide, which is stored.

• Sustainable Buildings In association with the Chartered Institute of Building and the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors

• A dehumidifier in the tower condenses water from the air. The water is then split into hydrogen and oxygen using an electric current.

• Sustainable Procurement In association with LRS Consultancy (UK wide)

• The carbon dioxide and hydrogen are reacted together to create Syngas, which is then processed to form methanol.

• Environmental Management in SMEs In association with the London Sustainability Exchange and the Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners (UK wide)

• The methanol is passed through a gasoline fuel reactor, creating petrol.

• Sustainable Food In association with Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming; • Responsible Waste Management In association with the Clean City Awards Scheme (UK wide) • Leadership in Sustainability In association with the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UK wide) • Sustainable City Awards Overall Winner (UK wide)

The fuel produced can be used in any regular petrol tank and, if renewable energy is used to provide the electricity, the process and end product are completely carbon neutral.

This clean fuel is a direct drop-in replacement fuel for existing vehicles and infrastructure. It can also be used to store intermittent ‘wrongtime’ or stranded ‘wrong-place’ energy from renewable sources and has many advantages over biofuels when blended with conventional petrol – a feature that has already attracted the attention of the motorsport industry.

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2012’s weird weather turnaround a first for UK A year of record breaking highs and lows highlights the need to plan for extremes The driest spring for over a century gave way to the wettest April to June on record this year, in a dramatic drought turnaround that has never been seen before, the Environment Agency, Met Office and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology confirmed today.

After two dry winters - which saw 20million people issued with a hosepipe ban, 200 drought related environmental incidents and major roads cracking in the dry conditions the heavens opened, river levels tripled and reservoirs went from their lowest ever levels to full or exceptionally high. Flooding hit almost every region of England and Wales from May to July, with rivers such as the Devon Axe reaching their highest ever levels.

Speaking at a briefing in London today, Christine Tuckett of the Environment Agency said: “The weather extremes which we’ve seen this year – with widespread floods almost immediately following a long term drought - have brought the importance of resilience into sharp focus. Taking action today to prepare and adapt our homes, businesses, and infrastructure is vital.”

The Environment Agency is at the forefront of efforts to increase the country’s resilience to flooding and water scarcity, both now and for a future climate. During the drought the Environment Agency granted drought permits to five water companies to ensure that 16.5 million people continued to have water.

Since the start of May, flood defences have protected over 53,000 homes and businesses, in places like Carlisle, Appleby, Wigan and Worle. The Environment Agency sent over 100,000 warnings directly to households and businesses to allow them time to prepare and protect themselves from flooding.

Flood defences opened by the Environment Agency this year include Nottingham protecting 16,000 properties, Keswick protecting nearly 200 properties, Truro protecting over 200 properties and Banbury, protecting over 500 properties.

Paul Mustow, Head of Flood Incident Management at the Environment Agency said: “The Environment Agency and Met Office are constantly working to improve their flood forecasting and early warning systems and we are improving flood defences to protect communities.

However the most important step people can take in protecting themselves from the worst impacts of flooding is to find out if they are at risk, and sign up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warnings service.

“As winter approaches we’d encourage everyone to take this one step to help protect themselves from what is recognised as one of the country’s major natural hazards.”

Terry Marsh, from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said, “The late spring and summer of 2012 have witnessed an extraordinary transformation in the water resource outlook.

Dramatic post-drought recoveries have occurred before, most notably following the extreme drought of 1975/76, but sustained recoveries of this magnitude during the late spring and summer have not been seen before.”

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Two Liebherr LR 1750 crawler cranes prove their worth in complex tandem hoist At the ABC-Halbinsel offshore terminal in Bremerhaven, the jacket representing the underlying substation platform structure of the “Borkum West II” offshore windpark was fitted using two 750 tonne crawler cranes.

The challenge here was not simply to hoist the exceptionally heavy load in tandem. The key issue was to move both cranes while 70 m apart with this load on the hook.

The 600 tonne upper section of the jacket needed to be positioned on top of the 900 tonne lower section. Two Liebherr LR 1750 crawler cranes were used to achieve this, with the same configuration: 42 m main boom, 28 luffing jib and 31 m derrick boom with 260 tonnes of suspended ballast.

All engineering work as well as the delicate adjustment work and crane operations planning were undertaken by experts from crane and heavy load specialist Schmidbauer, a firm contracted by BLG. A highly detailed crane study simulated all phases of the hoisting process. Special attention was paid to the projecting edges as well as the ground pressure and the hook height.

Once the cranes had been moved into position on a special bed of sand with load distribution mats, the load was fastened with the help of two further auxiliary cranes. Four 400 tonne shackles needed to be installed in a confined space, with the shackle pin alone weighing 75 kg.

The upper jacket section was then welded free of its assembly platform and thanks to good weather conditions, it was possible to start the hoisting process immediately. The cranes needed to lift the jacket out of the support framework with absolute synchronicity. The actual moving process was then carried out, with two guides ensuring that the distance between the two crawler cranes remained the same at all times. The specified positions for setting down and welding on the upper section were successfully attained on the first attempt, and it was possible to start the process of connecting the upper and lower sections straight away. In the next stage, the load still needed to be held in place for two full days until the welding work was complete.

POWER STATION CONSENT TURNS WASTE TO ENERGY Consent has been given by the Government for the construction of a 60MW energy from waste generating station in Cheshire.

The proposed development at Lostock, Northwich, will generate enough power to supply 80,000 homes and create a total of 500 jobs during the construction period and a further 50 permanent operating posts.

A DECC spokesman said: “It is essential we have a balanced energy mix in the future to provide low cost, efficient energy to households and businesses. This plant takes waste and turns it into something of great value – enough power to supply 80,000 homes - and in addition creates jobs for the local community.”

A full and detailed public inquiry recommended that consent for the station be granted after hearing evidence about all aspects of the proposed development, including its potential health and visual impacts as well the implications for traffic safety and the local environment.

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Draft EU proposals would devastate UK biofuels industry Industry committed to technological progress, but REA warns speed and scale of proposals likely to destroy, not build on, sector innovations The UK biofuels industry stands to be devastated by draft proposals being developed by the European Commission.

If implemented, the proposals would shift the goalposts for the industry so dramatically that millions of pounds of investment could be wasted, including in the most advanced UK businesses.

All significant investment in the sector would likely cease and dependency on oil will increase. Nearly £1 billion has been invested in the UK in the production of sustainable biofuels, but our industry remains small by EU standards.

The biofuels sector is the only fuels sector where mandatory sustainability standards are legally enforceable.

Targets set under the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) have ensured that Government and industry can robustly differentiate between sustainable and unsustainable biofuels. The UK industry has been particularly innovative in meeting these requirements, achieving average greenhouse gas (GHG) savings from UK-produced biofuels of 69% while increasing co-production of animal feeds. The Government’s ‘Bioenergy Strategy’ recognises the role of biofuels in meeting carbon targets over the next 20 years.

Four elements of the EC proposals are highly problematic: • The proposal to limit crop biofuels to no more than half the 10% target for renewable transport with immediate effect. Cropbased biofuels are an essential start in developing the market for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Once that market is established then investment in the more complex and costly biofuels made from non-crop feedstocks will come on-stream. It is commercially illogical to expect investors to embrace the more expensive, technologically complex biofuels, and for consumers to pay for these, before a functioning non-fossil fuel liquid fuel market is established. This proposal will entirely derail a workable forward development trajectory for the UK industry.

• The removal of all subsidies for crop-based biofuels post-2020.

Plants have been constructed, or are under development, based on the expectation of a post-2020 framework, and there is a clear need for market transition to second generation biofuels which will be based on the existing the biorefineries infrastructure. The shifting of the goalposts will derail current and committed investment estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK alone and provide no longevity for future investments.

• The proposed retrospective introduction of a 60% GHG saving requirement for all new biofuels plant in operation after July 2012.

While the REA supports the increased GHG savings, its retrospective nature will shift the goalposts for plant under construction, potentially wasting major investments made so far.

• The proposed ILUC factors in the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD).

These will be particularly damaging to crop based biodiesel which is dominant in Europe, and risks undermining progress towards the 6% emissions savings target that the FQD requires EU fuel suppliers to achieve by 2020.

The REA believes that the proposals would damage the UK’s low carbon ambitions, leave the transport sector hooked on fossil fuels, and pull the rug from under our nascent sustainable biofuels industry. The framework for biofuels is highly complex, as are many of the issues around it, and the industry is frequently frustrated by gross over-simplifications in the biofuels debate.

Atmos Consulting shows the way to unlock the value held within bat survey data In April 2012 the Bat Conservation Trust good practice guidelines for surveying sites of proposed onshore wind farms were published with Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and Countryside Council for Wales all basing survey recommendations on the BCT guidance. Atmos Consulting has invested in advanced static detectors that can be left on site to gather larger volumes of data, which are then processed to provide meaningful and objective information.

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Landowners who have had properly conducted surveys undertaken will enjoy some comfort over the robustness of their findings. “Undertaking surveys to a high standard and meeting the relevant guidance ensures that developers are in the best position when undertaking Environmental Impact Assessments and dramatically reduces the potential for subsequent challenges, potentially saving money in the long term” said James Bunyan.

Advances in remote bat detection technology, as used

by Atmos Consulting, coupled with the growing need for comprehensive or long term studies is increasingly resulting in the need to deal with large bat call data sets.

Yet, although relatively extensive guidance is available on use of bat detectors and sonogram identification, very little advice or training is provided on how to manage these potentially large data sets in a reliable and effective manner. “Lots of data does not necessarily mean lots of useful information, unless you know how to manage it effectively,” says James.

Atmos Consulting shared details of the Geographic Information System (GIS) database system it has developed to manage the output from Analook, which is one of the sonogram identification software for automated ultrasonic bat detectors. The Atmos Consulting database also provides bespoke summary outputs of the results at the touch of a button.

“Increasingly, people are starting to realise that using just Excel or similar standard tools to handle all this data is getting cumbersome, especially where large windfarm and infrastucture projects are concerned. We are keen to start a debate about the opportunities and implications of increased data quantity,” said James Bunyan.

“Sharing the knowledge we have acquired so far seemed to be a good way of starting the discussion.”

Freight specialists FSEW join Tesco to help businesses reduce CO2 TESCO has launched an innovative new rail freight service in Wales in partnership with local businesses to cut its CO2 emissions.

The rail service is already being run six days a week by a partnership comprising of international freight forwarding specialists Freight Systems Express Wales (FSEW), Stobart Rail Freight, Bob Martin (UK) Ltd, Freightliner and Tesco.

The train itself is managed by Stobart Rail Freight and transports ‘swap-body’ containers which are delivered to the rail freight depots by lorry and simply lifted between lorry and train. The trains travel between Magor and Daventry, where Tesco has its main rail connected UK distribution centre.

Geoff Tomlinson, of FSEW, said: “Tesco is always keen to seize every opportunity to reduce its carbon footprint and we saw an opportunity to help them do so here.

“Each train journey takes 40 lorries off the road which reduces CO2 emissions as the rail service is much more fuel efficient. It also reduces traffic congestion and depending on the amount of freight transported, could save Tesco money too.

“The back-haul, with the train returning to the Midlands, then creates further opportunities for other businesses in South Wales to transport their own freight by rail at a reduced rate which gives them the chance to cut their own carbon emissions and costs and reduce congestion at the same time. |22| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

“Manufacturer of pet health and hygiene products, Bob Martin (UK) Ltd, has been an integral partner in this project and helped us pilot the back-haul scheme by sending its goods to Daventry and then on to another distribution centre near Glasgow. They have been using the service since June and are delighted with it. Now other businesses from all over South Wales are coming on board to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Steven Clarke, Primary Network Manager, Tesco said: “The development of the Tesco rail network plays an integral part in our environmental objective of reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by the end of 2012, and to be carbon neutral by 2030.

In order to quantify the environmental benefits of rail transport, industry analysts have estimated that HGVs typically produce 63g CO² for every tonne of freight transported every kilometre, in comparison with 26.4g CO² per tonne per kilometre for rail freight. This represents a reduction of nearly 60% in CO² emissions per train journey.

Some Like it Hot: Tropical Species ‘not as Vulnerable’ to Climate Change Extinction In the face of a changing climate many species must adapt or perish.

Ecologists studying evolutionary responses to climate change forecast that coldblooded tropical species are not as vulnerable to extinction as previously thought. The study, published in the British Ecological Society’s Functional Ecology, considers how fast species can evolve and adapt to compensate for a rise in temperature.

The research, carried out at the University of Zurich, was led by Dr Richard Walters, now at Reading University, alongside David Berger now at Uppsala University and Wolf Blanckenhorn, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at Zurich.

“Forecasting the fate of any species is difficult, but it is essential for conserving biodiversity and managing natural resources,” said lead author Dr Walters. “It is believed that climate change poses a greater risk to tropical coldblooded organisms (ectotherms), than temperate or polar species.

However, as potential adaptation to climate change has not been considered in previous extinction models we tested this theory with a model forecasting evolutionary responses.”

Ectotherms, such as lizards and insects, have evolved a specialist physiology to flourish in a stable tropical environment.

Unlike species which live in varied habitats tropical species operate within a narrow range of temperatures, leading to increased dangers if those temperatures change.

“When its environment changes an organism can respond by moving away, adapting its physiology over time or, over generations, evolving,” said Walters. “The first two responses are easy to identify, but a species’ ability to adapt quick enough to respond to climate change is an important and unresolved question for ecologists.”

The team explored the idea that there are also evolutionary advantages for species adapted to warmer environments. The ‘hotter is better’ theory suggests that species which live in high temperatures will have higher

fitness, resulting from a shorter generation time. This may allow them to evolve relatively quicker than species in temperate environments.

The team sought to directly compare the increased risk of extinction associated with lower genetic variance, owing to temperature specialisation, with the lowered risk of extinction associated with a shorter generation time.

“Our model shows that the evolutionary advantage of a shorter generation time should compensate species which are adapted to narrow temperature ranges,” said Walters. “We forecast that the relative risk of extinction is likely to be lower for tropical species than temperate ones.”

“The tropics are home to the greatest biodiversity on earth, so it imperative that the risk of extinction caused by climate change is understood,” concluded Walters. “While many questions remain, our theoretical predictions suggest tropical species may not be as vulnerable to climate warming as previously thought.”

Todmorden man’s solar switch to slash bills A Todmorden man is set to slash energy bills this winter after having solar panels installed on the roof of his home.

Ian Swain, from Woodhouse, had 16 solar panels fitted by Burnley company Solarlec to set him up for substantial savings over the cold months following announcements that energy companies will increase prices next month.

Mr Swain says his solar panel investment is his “retirement plan”.

He said: “I decided on solar panels after careful consideration of the financial benefits - I see them as my retirement plan as they’ll pay for themselves over time and the feed-in tariff payments will boost my pension.”

His panels were fitted within a day by a team of installers from the Lancashire company, which installs around 1,000 systems across the UK every month.

Ged Rowbottom, director at Solarlec said: “The cost of heating homes continues to rise and hit homeowners where it hurts. While many people will agonise over finding cheaper tariffs as the cold winter nights begin, smart homeowners like Mr Swain are seeing bills drop by up to 50% as well as receiving quarterly cash back payments from their energy suppliers for every unit of electricity their panels generate - whether they use them or not.” |24| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Bornean orangutan with 104 air gun pellet wounds recovering well from three-hour operation A wounded female orangutan, rescued from an oil plantation in the Indonesian part of Borneo where she had been roaming for over a month, has survived an operation to remove 32 of the total 104 air gun pellets in her body.

The orangutan, named Aan, was anesthetised and removed to safety by a rescue team from the Orangutan Foundation and the Indonesian Agency for Conservation of Natural Resources (BKSDA-Kalteng).

Aan was X-rayed to discover the extent of her wounds. The X-rays showed that 104 pellets were scattered all over her body, including vital organs, her eyes and ears.

Dr Zulfiqri, a veterinarian from the Orangutan Foundation, assisted by a specialist surgeon from the local Imanuddin Hospital, managed to remove 32 of the pellets lodged in her body and head during a threehour surgery at the BKSDA-Kalteng office in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan. Aan has survived the operation and is recuperating in the Orangutan Foundation Veterinary Facility where she is taking food and water, showing an incredible resilience against all she has undergone.

When she was rescued from the oil palm plantation, she had already lost the sight in her left eye and was losing the sight in her right eye day-by-day. The X-rays showed a dozen pellet shots lodged in and around her eyes. Now she has lost sight in both eyes completely, so food and water for her must first be touched or placed in her hands.

It is unlikely that Aan can be released back into the wild, but will remain at Camp Gemini, a release camp within the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve. Dr Zulfiqri said that: “If necessary, surgery to remove more pellets will continue to be done in stages.”

The Head of the local Conservation Agency based in Pangkalan Bun, Mr Hartono said: “I hope that Aan will now feel more comfortable being in the forest living in a large holding cage. We will work together with the Orangutan Foundation to find the best way so that Aan can continue to live.”

The Orangutan Foundation believe that Aan’s amazing survival story can help highlight the issues facing orangutans, especially the degradation and loss of their natural rainforest home.

Her story also shows that more education and awareness, local cooperation, capacity building of local skills and support

are needed to make a difference to the local communities’ understanding of the need to protect orangutans and how they can contribute to the recovery and successful translocation of orangutans to safer, protected areas.

Although protected by law, the endangered orangutans live in the ancient rainforest, much of which is now severely degraded through habitat destruction including logging and conversion to oil-palm plantations. Orangutans come into conflict with humans through encroachment on plantations and village crops and are often viewed as pests by local farmers.

Ashley Leiman OBE, Director of the Orangutan Foundation said: “We have worked in Borneo over 20 years and have never had to rescue three orangutans in four days. The reasons for the increase could be due to the rapid loss of orangutan habitat or it could be because more people are reporting orangutans to the wildlife department whereas before they would have killed them.”

In October, the Orangutan Foundation, in cooperation with the Indonesian Natural Resources Conservation Agency of Central Kalimantan, successfully translocated two orangutans into the protected wildlife reserve. The larger male Herlino was rescued from an oil-palm plantation whilst the four-year old female Joson had been kept for the last 4 months in a small cage in a village. Cooperation and collaboration between organisations and local communities is essential to the long-term survival of the orangutan, and a key element of the Orangutan Foundation’s ’20/20 Vision of a Future – for orangutans, forests and people’.

Ashley Leiman OBE, in speaking of this collaboration said: “I am very proud of the progress made so far, even though there is so much more to do: collaboration with oil-palm companies to translocate up to 30 orangutans trapped within plantations, securing funding from the US for the first year’s worth of activities to protect 6,000 orangutans living outside protected areas, providing livelihoods for local communities, and seeing a generation of Indonesian conservationists committed to a future for orangutans, forests and people.

Orangutan Awareness Week runs from Monday 12th November – Sunday 18th November. To support the work of the Orangutan Foundation please visit the website at www.orangutan.org.uk. Terry Pratchett, long-time supporter and Trustee of the Foundation, has recently returned from Borneo, where he has been making a film on orangutans, which will be shown in the New Year.

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Tales from the Watercooler

ECO ENVIRONMENTS NAMED NORTH WEST BUSINESS OF THE YEAR Braemar Shipping Services plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Martin Beer as Finance Director, James Kidwell, CEO, will hand over his responsibilities as Finance Director on that date. Martin, age 50, previously spent 21 years at Uniq Plc where he was Finance Director from 2002.

He qualified as an accountant while with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. James Kidwell, Braemar’s CEO says: “I am delighted that Martin has accepted this appointment and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”

Pete Robinson to head up AnescoMeter Anesco has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of Pete Robinson, who joins to head up the firm’s pioneering AnescoMeter service.

Reading-based Anesco works with local authorities, businesses and homeowners looking to reduce their carbon emissions.

The company provides organisations with a comprehensive energy service, from audits through to recommendations, installations and capital funding plans. The firm is on target to hit £100 million turnover in 2014, as demand for its services continue to rise.

The firm’s AnescoMeter service is an industry first, offering a bespoke microgeneration maintenance package for organisations and homeowners. The service provides remote, real time monitoring of the condition and output of green energy schemes.

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Judges praise diversification following Government tariff cuts One of the UK’s leading renewable energy companies has been named North West Business of the Year.

Eco Environments beat off competition from across the region to land the title in the British Chambers of Commerce Awards 2012. The company will find out in November if it has also won the National Business of the Year title.

It is the second honour in just a few days for the Liverpool-based firm, whose director Mark Buchanan received the Institute of Directors North West Director of the Year for Leadership in Corporate Responsibility.

The Chamber of Commerce judges were particularly impressed by Eco Environments’ diversification strategy which enabled it to increase turnover from £1.4m to £6.4m during the last financial year.

The Government’s decision to drastically cut the feed-in-tariff incentives available to homeowners interested in domestic solar PV installations meant the company had to refocus on winning larger renewable energy and energy efficiency commercial projects.

New Executive Chairman for URS’ London-headquartered international operations URS Corporation (URS), a leading global engineering, construction and technical services company, today announced the appointment of Tom Bishop as Executive Chairman of its international operations, which are headquartered in London. At the same time, John Horgan, a member of URS’ international operations board, has been promoted to Managing Director of the international business.

Jerome Munro-Lafon, Managing Director of the company’s UK and Ireland operations, will continue in his executive role, working closely with Tom and John to drive international growth in key markets. The appointments take effect immediately.

Acutest joins National Skills Academy

BRIGGS EQUIPMENT UK LTD ACQUIRES ASSETS AND FACILITIES OF BARLOWORLD HANDLING UK

Test equipment specialist Acutest has joined the National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies as its latest hub and platinum member.

Briggs Equipment UK Ltd, a leading materials handling specialist, has announced the acquisition of Barloworld Handling UK assets.

The partnership will see Acutest, through their training brand Severn College, delivering solar photovoltaic qualifications and test equipment training at its Staffordshire and Shropshire training centres.

Learn more about Acutest at www.acutest.net

Yorkshire and Humber Microgeneration Partnership CIC elects 9 Directors The Yorkshire and Humber Microgeneration Partnership welcomed a new era this month as nine Directors were elected with the combined aim of driving forward the regional renewable energy sector.

Representing over 50 regional companies involved in renewable energy employing a workforce of over five thousand; the Partnership includes installers, community groups, training providers and manufacturers. This move serves to strengthen their common objectives and presents a united force in the sector.

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Amanda Botterill - Chair person of YHMP

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Chris Cash - Eclipse Solar

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Mark Clayton - MAC Support Services Ltd

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Bill Edrich - Yorkshire Energy Services CIC

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Ann Harding - Settle Hydro

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Grant Henderson – Solarwall

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Rudie Humphrey - Strategic Energy

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Mark Rodda - Frank Haslam Milan (Keepmoat)

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Rob Samuelson - Energy Jump

Briggs is now the exclusive UK dealer for Hyster products and takes responsibility for sales and service of both the Hyster and Yale brand of lift trucks in the UK. Briggs Equipment UK Ltd, a Sammons Enterprises Inc. company, is a subsidiary of Briggs International. Briggs International has dealerships of Yale and Hyster products across the southern United States and in Mexico. Both Hyster Company and Yale Materials Handling Corporation are operating divisions of NACCO Materials Handling Group.

For more information on Briggs Equipment visit: www.briggsequipment.co.uk

One of The Northwest’s Fastest-Growing Businesses Makes Prestigious Appointment Inteb has appointed Frank Mills, one of the country’s most respected building services engineers, as its Senior Technical Consultant for Sustainability, Energy, Building Services and Fire Engineering, to drive its business forward and further enhance its local and national profile as the sustainability partner of choice. Frank Mills, known both nationally and internationally for his work with flagship developments such as Media City in Salford, Wirral Waters – the largest ever development planning application in the UK - and the Liverpool Waters dock redevelopment scheme, is now part of an Inteb team that has earned a reputation for innovation, expertise and informed consultancy.

PEFC Adds Willmott Dixon’s Steve Cook to UK Board Steve Cook, Principal Consultant for Willmott Dixon’s in-house sustainability consultancy ReThinking, has joined the PEFC UK Board and will play a vital role in helping PEFC UK in 2013 and beyond.

As part of Willmott Dixon Re-Thinking, Steve provides technical and practical support on materials, carbon, waste and sustainable procurement to all divisions within the Willmott Dixon Group and has recently been behind Willmott Dixon’s Group Sustainable Procurement Policy. Steve, who has 22 years’ experience in the construction industry, also chairs the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) Materials Task Group which, through engagement with the construction industry, is helping its members to develop organisational policy to improve the procurement of materials.

Steve is also a Scheme Council member of the Eco-Reinforcement, responsible sourcing scheme.

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JASON DREW COLUMN

Our current thinking is driven by an education system devised in the 17th century, systematised in the 19th century and rendered obsolete by the end of the industrial revolution. We are now in a race between understanding and disaster. Let me explain.

We are still teaching our children to think like products of the industrial revolution when that era of human development is over. Business schools still talk about win-win deals being the way forward when we all know that in almost every industrial revolution business deal there was a loser – the environment.

Life, we were taught, is about managing predictable patterns of change.

That may have been true in our past but not any longer. Seemingly unpredictable change will become ever more commonplace as our natural world is changed by humans at a remarkable pace. Wining through the sustainability revolution is all about understanding the connectivity between seemingly unrelated business and eco-systems.

This new thinking is what will determine the outcome of the revolution and indeed the 21st century for humankind.

We talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees. Never has a truer word been uttered about today’s relationship between humankind and our planet. A wonderful example of this is the story of how the wolf reforested Yellowstone National Park.

Hunters shot the last wolf in the park in the 1920s. The Aspen trees looked as beautiful as ever, but then in the 1980’s the woods started disappearing at an alarming rate. The wolf was then re-introduced to the Park from Canada and the trees came back.

The Aspen trees had matured and died as they do naturally– and whilst everyone could see the trees they did not look at the woods.

Once the last wolf had been shot the Elk moved from the plains to the woods and grazed on the young saplings – so no new trees were establishing themselves. |28| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Since the re-introduction of the wolf in 1995, the elk population has been reduced and their natural grazing habits have returned.

The Elk, frightened of the wolves, no longer graze at the river edges or in woods but on the open plains. Young sapling aspen trees now survive and as they mature the woodlands are naturally re-establishing themselves. That is how the wolf helped reforest Yellowstone National Park!

As businesses struggle to shift from the industrial revolution to the sustainability revolution new industries are emerging and old ones dying off. Companies like AgriProtein that recycle abattoir waste using fly larvae into sustainable feed for chicken and fish will devastate fishmeal producers and thereby help save our seas. Companies like Oxitec with their sterile insect programs will also, I hope, put traditional pesticide manufacturers out of business. These and many other sustainability revolution industries are blowing away industrial revolution businesses that have not adapted to the new world.

Businesses are desperate to attract talent that can think differently – and take away the ‘boxes’ that our educational system puts in our thinking. We need to get back closer to nature and understanding how we can define our future in terms of those ecosystems rather than trying to change ecosystems to fit our vision of the future.

We have to stop teaching and thinking linearly, like the machines that defined our experience of the Industrial revolution – and start thinking in systems and interconnectedness between business, human existence and nature. We need to teach our children and learn for ourselves 21st century values, and reset our goals and ambitions that were based on the unrealistic thinking of the past.

In any fight with nature mankind will loose – so we need to give up struggling and start understanding.

Lets get busy repairing the future.

Jason J Drew

This was compounded by the reasonable costs of time involved in the planning, preparation and attendance of this longstanding and culturally crucial event, and thence of course compensation for the monies unraised, and the planning, preparation and attendance in an alternative event to replace such funds.

STEVE GRANT COLUMN

SOMEONE HAS TO BE BLAMED! The ambulance-chasing lawyers at ‘Injury Claims for You’ and similarly named operations are in particularly good spirits these last few weeks. Not only can we in the West sue for every little injury (real or imagined) which can be argued as the fault of someone or something else, we’re now getting into real money-making territory.

Oh the joy! Mass claimants – entire villages and towns to represent in huge suits with enormous costs involved. They can be seen slavering and excited in the Pin & Condom, swaffing away their evening chardonnay and dreaming of that third house in Provence or perhaps that Aston Martin.

You see everything that happens is now somebody’s fault – except of course your own. The thought of taking responsibility for ones own actions or for taking your own measured view on things using the information available is fast becoming a thing of the past.

It struck me that we’re fast approaching a situation where the Met Office could be spending more on insurance premiums than on research, development and staff combined…

The good people of Comere Comewallop organised a fundraising event which was rained out, and such rain was not predicted by the bods at said Met Office, ( worse – fine weather was predicted) and the claim was drawn up.

Mssrs. Heep and Vholes LLP (whose television ads paint sombre pictures of people clutching a wadge of fifties in one hand and a tattered brolly in the other), detailed every minor discomfort, each sodden sock and most especially the cuts, bruises, bumped heads and fleeting moments in which dignity was lost by the poor and goodly souls as a result not of the rain – but of the Met Office’s lack of rigour, their cavalier attitude and derogation of responsibility and duty of care in assuring the good folk of Comewallop that it would be a fine day.

Some five hundred and thirty people were involved, and whilst the case was conducted en masse there would in fact be some thousands of itemised claims to consider. The costs, of course, would be substantial.

The Met Office mounted a robust defence, but to no avail.

The fact that they said that most of us could expect fine weather fell on stony ground. What does that mean? How on earth is anyone supposed to know if they are part of the most or the least? Similarly, the fact that they repeated that isolated thunderstorms, which may be quite heavy, can be expected at that time of the year cut no ice. Did they state that Comere Comewallop would be the recipients of said isolated storms? No they did not. The Met Office also observed that whilst there were 530 claims from Comewallop, the total population of that village was only 415. This was taken as an underhanded slight against the entire village and the wider communities, members of which gave freely of their time in supporting the event. The point was also made that the weather is a force of nature, and try as we might, we have not yet mastered the art or science of predicting the vagaries of Mother Nature with any certainty.

Such words were wasted…

Whilst my preceding fiction resonates with the ring of the ludicrous, it isn’t a patch on the lunacy of the reality. In one of the EC’s foremost nations and the very cradle of Roman law at that, six scientists have been sentenced to six years in prison for having failed to correctly predict an earthquake.

The quake killed 309 people and devastated the small medieval town of L’Aquila. DW, the respected German broadcaster, got right to the heart of the matter when they stated that ‘The eminent scientists and seismologists were put on trial in order to determine who was responsible for the deaths and destruction caused by the earthquake’.

Antonietta Centofani, the aunt of a victim, said that the victims had won the case with the help of “heavenly” intervention. “Between the objections and the sentence I went to the cemetery to see my nephew. I felt like saying that the accused had a large stable of lawyers but this time my ‘celestial lawyer’ has won.”

And there we have it. With the help of God, you can blame the results of an Act of God on the relevant scientists! It’s no longer just twisted ankles in supermarkets or on errant pacing slabs – we are now at the dawn of an age in which someone must be blamed for everything – a world where seismologists risk six years in jail and complete financial ruin for not being able to accurately predict an earthquake.

Dear ol’ Michael Fish must surely be glad he’s retired.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |29|

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Miscellany |30| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Another Year / Another Budget Crisis Once again this year, Congress proposes to slash funding targeted at restoring and protecting our Nation’s rivers. The FY’13 budget, if enacted as proposed, will leave the Community-based Restoration Program, charged with restoring rivers, removing unsafe dams or barriers, and opening up pathways and habitat for coastal, marine and migratory fish (especially threatened and endangered species), with less than half of its operating budget from last year. During its 11 plus years in existence, the American Rivers / NOAA project has provided, on average, 30 local jobs to communities for every $1m invested. So if you do the maths, the $4m invested to date has provided, on average, upwards of 120 jobs, to over 2,300 community-driven river restoration projects, in 26 states.

Can Americans Afford Not to Make “Room for the Rivers”?

(A floodplain manager’s analysis of the current state of the economy and the environment – in retrospect of World Environment Day – June 5, 2012 – This year’s theme: Green Economy: Does it Include You?)

Once completed, these projects “result in healthier habitats that strengthen and revitalize America’s communities by buffering against storms, preventing erosion, protecting vital infrastructure, eliminating public safety hazards, and providing new recreational opportunities” according to the American Rivers website. Only recently have the economists all over the globe begun to put a dollar figure on these outcomes. Using methods ranging from Benefit Cost to the more intricate “valuation of ecosystem services”, environmentalists, floodplain managers, river keepers and communities themselves are struggling to put a dollar value on elements of a healthy ecosystem such as pollution removal, groundwater recharge, flood control, and the more community-accepted recreational opportunities. Often increased property values near these natural areas play into the overall picture as well.

Terri L Turner, AICP, CFM

Beyond Ecosystem Valuation Still, a stronger economic indicator is immerging on the scene after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and the October 2011 floods that devastated Bangkok, Thailand and other northern reaches of that country – that of business interruption. Everything from cars to computer disks were affected as flood waters poured into major manufacturing hubs in and around Bangkok, closing factories and causing what some estimate to be over $40bn in damage in Bangkok alone. That doesn’t even take into account the 813 lives that were lost during that event. Japan’s tally for their earthquake and tsunami disaster earlier in the year was estimated to be in excess of $235bn (as calculated by the World Bank) with 15,840 lives lost, making it the costliest natural disaster in history to date.

Economic costs are rising at astronomical proportions according to Munich Re, a popular reinsurer, whose costs swelled to approximately $378bn last year, crushing even their worst year on record – 2005 – by a whopping $116bn ! ($145bn of those $378bn in losses were from Hurricane Katrina alone.) Contributing to that $378bn price tag was the $52bn associated with 99 Presidentially Declared Disasters and 29 Emergency Declarations in the US, covering the gamut of natural disasters from blizzards to brushfires with a few tornadoes and floods in between, for good measure. “In many ways, 2011 rewrote the record books,” said Chris Vaccaro, an NOAA spokesperson, in an e-mail to Mark Hensch of the Christian Post Reporter. “It’s taken a huge financial toll with high economic losses and a heavy loss of life with more than 1,000 weather-related fatalities and more than 8,000 people injured.” In 2011, “the US set a record with 12 billion-dollar weather disasters”, according to NOAA. “Sure, we’ve had years with extreme flooding, extreme hurricanes, extreme winter snowstorms, and even extreme tornado outbreaks,” said Jack Hayes, the director of NOAA’s National Weather Service in a video on the NOAA website. “But I can’t remember a year like this in which we experienced near-record breaking extremes of nearly every conceivable type of weather”, he said. Due to all of these weather-related “extremes”, Munich Re affirms that “weather-related disasters across the globe have more than tripled since 1980”, and Insurers, like Munich Re, all “worry that 2012 will top 2011 for record-setting weather disasters”, according to Reuters.

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While it may be too early to make predictions for 2012, already this year there have been another 12 Presidentially Declared Disasters in the US, confirming assertions from organizations like Reuters that “the world’s weather is becoming more extreme and more costly”.

Americans: (For the Most Part) Bad Stewards of our Environment It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the cause for the rising economic costs, as year after year Americans clamor to the coasts, make a bee-line to the rivers and their scenic vistas, and perch atop earthquake prone hilltops or near areas with a propensity for wildfire. With the people comes housing, with the housing comes places for them to work and shop, and with all of those new structures comes a likelihood for economic and personal disaster when perils such as floods, wildfires and earthquakes are right outside their front door sitting like a faithful bloodhound on their doorstep. We, as a populous, are not content to leave well enough alone either. We continually harm the natural environment and the natural ecosystems that surround our burgeoning population.

We continually harm the natural environment and the natural ecosystems that surround our burgeoning population.

We fill in sensitive floodplains and wetlands or build dykes and dams or sea walls and levees to make way for more development and industrialization. We regularly destroy natural barriers, sand dunes and mangrove swamps by allowing mad-men on front loaders to obliterate their very being. We carve out the side of mountains and hillsides and construct roads to take us from place to place. We build at the edge of forests and then don’t practice our best Smokey-the-Bear manners with outdoor burning and control of fuel sources in our own neighborhoods. We suck ground-water out of the earth’s crust at senseless proportions for residential, commercial and industrial use, causing subsidence and often causing ground to sink below sea-level, as in the case of New Orleans, and then throw out our stormwater like it is garbage instead of a precious resource.

The Mass Migration So there we are, flocking to the cities to seek the fertile ground (literally) of flourishing cities with their higher wages and better jobs, with their cultural and educational opportunities, and with their modern conveniences, not found elsewhere.

Further, many of those enormous populous centers are found along the coastlines of our great land, with nearly $10trillion of insured structures along the hurricane path that lies between Maine and Texas, including all points in between. Many of these disaster-prone communities value the tax base more than the low-probability, high-consequence event that “will happen to everybody else but them”. Even with “sea level rising 5 to 6 inches more than the global average along the MidAtlantic and Gulf Coasts because coastal lands are subsiding in these areas in the last century”, according to EPA, many coastal communities are seeing double digit percentage increases in their already escalating populations. These build-floodrebuild proponents rely on the insurance / flood insurance industry, the faith-based community, or the government itself, to bail out their waterlogged homes and businesses after a disaster strikes. And, you have to admit, they have a point. Our benevolent society has come to the rescue time and time again post disaster event. What makes anyone think that they won’t do it again?

EPA makes the Case for Climate Change According to EPA, average temperatures have risen across the lower 48 states since 1901, with an increased rate of warming over the past 30 years. Average global temperatures show a similar warming trend, and 2000 – 2009 was the warmest decade on record worldwide. Within the United States, parts of the North, the West, and Alaska have seen temperatures increase the most. Additionally, the frequency of heat waves in the United States decreased in the 1960s and 1970s, but has risen steadily since that time. The percentage of the United States experiencing heat waves has also increased. Over the period from 2001 through 2009, between 30 and 60 percent of the United States experienced drought conditions at any given time.

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However, the data for this indicator have not been collected for long enough to determine whether droughts are increasing or decreasing over time.

EPA records indicate that average precipitation has increased in the United States and worldwide. Since 1901, precipitation has increased at an average rate of more than 6% per century in the lower 48 states and nearly 2% per century worldwide. In recent years, a higher percentage of precipitation in the United States has come in the single day form of intense isolated events. Eight of the top 10 years for extreme one-day precipitation events have occurred since 1990. The occurrence of abnormally high annual precipitation totals has also increased nationwide.

EPA continues: The intensity of tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico did not exhibit a strong long-term trend for much of the 20th century, but has risen noticeably over the past 20 years. Six of the 10 most active hurricane seasons have occurred since the mid-1990s.

This increase is closely related to variations in sea surface temperature in the tropical Atlantic.

Several studies have shown that the amount of heat stored in the ocean has increased substantially since the 1950s. Ocean heat content not only determines sea surface temperature, but also affects sea level and currents. The surface temperature of the world’s oceans increased over the 20th century. Even with some year-to-year variation, the overall increase is statistically significant, and sea surface temperatures have been higher during the past three decades than at any other time since large-scale measurement began in the late 1800s.

Average sea level worldwide has increased at a rate of roughly six-tenths of an inch per decade since 1870.

The rate of increase has accelerated to more than an inch per decade in recent years. The ocean has become more acidic over the past 20 years as well, and studies suggest that the ocean is substantially more acidic now than it was a few centuries ago. Rising acidity is associated with increased levels of carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, and can affect sensitive organisms such as corals.

Glaciers in the United States and around the world have generally shrunk since the 1960s and the rate at which glaciers are melting appears to have accelerated over the last decade. Overall, glaciers worldwide have lost more than 2,000 cubic miles of water since 1960, which has contributed to the observed rise in sea level. Additionally, part of the Arctic Ocean stays frozen year-round. The area covered by ice is typically smallest in September, after the summer melting season.

September 2007 had the least ice of any year on record, followed by 2008 and 2009. The extent of Arctic sea ice in 2009 was 24% below the 1979 to 2000 historical average.

Lakes in the northern United States generally appear to be freezing later and thawing earlier than they did in the 1800s and early 1900s. Additionally, the length of time that lakes stay frozen has decreased at an average rate of one to two days per decade.

The portion of North America covered by snow has generally decreased since 1972, although there has been much year-to-year variability. Between 1950 and 2000, the depth of snow on the ground in early spring decreased at most measurement sites in the western United States and Canada. Spring snowpack declined by more than 75% in some areas, but increased in a few others.

The average length of the growing season in the lower 48 states has increased by about two weeks since the beginning of the 20th century. A particularly large and steady increase has occurred over the last 30 years. The observed changes reflect earlier spring warming as well as later arrival of fall frosts. Records show that plant hardiness zones are shifting noticeably northward as well. Additionally, long-term studies have found that bird species in North America have shifted their wintering grounds northward by an average of 35 miles since 1966, with a few species shifting by several hundred miles.

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So, whether or not you are ready to put down your strong philosophical beliefs that climate change is a vast left-wing conspiracy to take away your property rights and fund the current political agenda, as stated by this author and Edward A Thomas in an article we wrote for the American Bar on climate change adaptation last year, or whether you are merely content to do like the Beatles and “Let it Be”, the facts are staggering in support of the phenomenal “changes” occurring all over the planet and the multitude of billion dollar disasters related to those same “changes”.

Gilbert White, the Father of Modern Floodplain Management, said it best: “Floods are acts of nature, but flood losses are largely acts of man”. I am sure the same could be said for our propensity to expose ourselves to other natural disasters.

Rethinking What Didn’t Work in the Past Perhaps it is high time that we looked to others, who have stumbled down the same path we are laboriously walking on, to see if the answers lie in their past failures and/or current successes.

The Dutch, much like the Americans, have somewhat floundered at their attempts to control their mighty rivers, while continually inadvertently encouraging growth in areas that they were trying to protect from flooding. (We do this with flood insurance, naïve fools that we are!) However, they may finally be onto something with their “Room for Rivers” program, started in 2007. The $2.2bn project, which encompasses at completion some 40 projects, includes moving dykes landward (thereby increasing the width of the river’s floodplain), increasing the depth of flood channels (thereby increasing the river’s storage capacity), removing or lessening the height of groynes (thereby allowing for more drainage to occur within the rivers during increases in flood heights), and deliberately designing areas to flood – what they call a “Green River”, which serves as a flood bypass area during extreme flood events (thereby reducing the susceptibility for dykes to breach). They are taking their philosophy a step further – they are turning once fertile farmland back into floodplain, they are limiting future floodplain development, and they are developing unified water management plans. In one location, near Rotterdam, they are even constructing a 10,000m3 underground tank that will (hopefully) hold 25% of the flood waters generated by a 100-year event in that area. Public parks are being equipped with green infrastructure and they are exploring the use of floating buildings. Only time will tell if these new projects reap huge rewards, but so-far-so-good for the successes they have achieved to date.

Learning from the Dutch The US has the ability to explore these flood control measures and to do so much more. We can continue to create tough building codes (and then enforce them strictly!!). We can create or strengthen flood ordinances and other regulations that address all natural disasters. We can reform the National Flood Insurance Program and do away with its perverse incentives for building in the floodplain. We can efficiently allocate resources to undertake capital improvement projects to repair or replace undersized, underutilized, or failing infrastructure. We can focus the “whole community” on mitigation efforts to build resiliency and promote sustainability. We can grow our economies while still preserving our natural resources not only for the enjoyment of generations to come, but also for the long-term benefit of the heirs to our great land.

President Barack Obama urged us that “our long-term prosperity depends upon the faithful stewardship of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we sow”. If we harm our natural environment we ultimately harm the economic sustainability of our communities and threaten the people that live within them. However, strong ecosystems provide services of great value within our communities – things such as flood control, clean water, animal and aquatic habitat, and recreational opportunities that ultimately enhance the quality of life of the community’s residents.

Do We Need A Change of Philosophy?

The thought that economics and the environment cannot co-exist must be dispelled – you don’t have to choose between one option or the other option; these philosophies can actually complement one another. They are NOT contradictory values or viewpoints! For example, an environmentally sound project can actually be the most cost effective project, as well, especially “in the long run” – as the project’s success is measured over time. Additionally, the environmentally sound route might even be the most aesthetically pleasing. Conservation can live in the same hemisphere |34| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

with development. Take, for example, the Conservation Subdivision Regulations found in Augusta, GA. Basically, if you protect sensitive areas such as wetlands and floodplains, you get a density break on the remainder of the property. What’s not to love about this out-of-the-box thinking in terms of development?

Far too long, have we as a nation, misallocated our valuable natural resources for the sake of “building the future”, when in reality we are destroying our precious tomorrows. “The result has been economic growth at the expense of the environment.” Today is a new day, however, and we must work toward the “Green Economy” that the UN Environment Program defines as “one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”. “Renewable energy, green buildings, clean transport, water management, waste management and land management, each provide immense economic potential for investment in sustainable development.”

The wealth and power of humanity in the 21st century could be used to create a far better world

Senator John Heinz reminds us: “Real leadership, whether it is political, economic or moral, involves urging and enabling people to do something now that will bear fruit in the future.” As those words echo in your ears, it is important to note that if nothing else is taken from this literary diatribe, the American public must come to the realization that economics and the environment cannot be separated, or our communities will languish and sadly, ultimately, fail.

The wealth and power of humanity in the 21st century could be used to create a far better world (Economics for Equity & Environment - http://www.e3network. org/). Instead of being focused on obtaining the “optimal” (“I want it, I need it, I must have it”) that our populous has become so accustomed to receiving, we must change our focus to obtaining the best – the best outcome both from an economic viewpoint and from an environmental standpoint. Our struggling economies demand it and our communities and, ultimately, our entire way of life desperately depend on it.

Terri L Turner, AICP, CFM is the Development Administrator / Floodplain Manager / Hazard Mitigation Specialist for Augusta, Georgia. Terri serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) as their Region 4 Director and is also their No Adverse Impact (NAI) Committee CoChair. Terri is also the Deputy Executive Director for the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA). Terri spends countless hours writing for national publications and touring the United States speaking as a local government expert on community planning initiatives such as green infrastructure; sound floodplain management; the need for hazard mitigation; climate change adaptation; and promoting community sustainability and resiliency. For her efforts, Terri has received awards such as the ASFPM Larry R Johnson Local Floodplain Manager of the Year, the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship given by the Natural Hazards Center and was recently recognized by the White House as a “Champion of Change”.

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Biomimetic Aircraft Snatch Power Aloft

By Dr Peter Harrop, IDTechEx

Solar powered aircraft are old news.

From Solar Impulse supporting one person day and night with nothing but photovoltaics on the wings to the high altitude unmanned aircraft being developed by Boeing to stay aloft in the upper atmosphere for five years on nothing but sunshine, it is all very exciting. However, if we benchmark what is happening with other electric vehicles such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUV, then multiple energy harvesting should be the order of the day, even with aircraft. Indeed, some Electroflyer electric aircraft already work the motor backwards in thermals to charge the battery.

This idea should be developed further and combined with the familiar solar power to improve the continuity of energy supply and the amount, even exporting energy to earth. After all, humble electric buses are about to add regenerative shock absorbers to the regenerative braking and the occasional solar panel in their energy harvesting toolkit.

Enter IFO-Energy Unlimited in Hungary, creators of an untethered, autonomous flying wind power plant, who describe it as follows.

There are at least three well known problems of conventional wind energy production. Firstly there are fluctuations and the unsteady nature of surface winds, and these fluctuations in wind energy production put stress on the power system so capacity reserves (surplus power plants) are necessary to ensure system reliability.

The company points out that another problem of wind power plants is their low efficiency. A wind turbine will generate around 20-30% of its maximum rated capacity depending on the location of the plant, which means that if we want to utilize wind power in large volumes we have to build wind power plants as far as the eye can see.

The third common problem is that wind power suffers from a lack of energy density, that is, not only large

numbers of wind generators (and thus large land areas) are required to produce useful amounts of electricity but huge dimensions too.

Therefore, the idea of harnessing high altitude winds blowing at 10,000 meters altitude seems to be promising.

Copy the birds Wind towers or tethered floating devices are not the only way to harvest energy from the atmosphere. Untethered flying units are also capable of harvesting wind energy. In order to do away with tethering, the device would need to use the updrafts and ‘dynamic soaring’ using the energy in wind gradients commonly used by soaring birds.

The storage of energy would need to be considered, and according to one of the possibilities an air liquefaction machine is set in motion and the produced liquid air would be the energy storing ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |37|

medium. IFO-Energy believes that there is no need to forward the liquid air to the ground continuously, e.g. by means of a pipeline. It can be done in distinct doses, in so called “quanta”, by means of GPS-guided parafoils. Another way is applying molten salt energy storage systems, utilizing heat of fusion. Research is going on all over the world to find even larger heat effects for energy storing, e.g. heat of formation of chemical substances instead of heat of fusion. These investigations are very promising also for IFO’s project.

In the simplest case an untethered autonomous flying energyharvesting unit as well as a receiver ground-station are integral parts of the complete system. These two physically detached parts constitute a logistic unit, and their collaboration according to a fixed timetable ensures the realization of the invention. A ground-station could support several flying units.

The IFO-Energy Unlimited invention is based on several well-known technical solutions, but the result of their synthesis and unique application yield new routes, and so far unutilized possibilities, in wind energy production. Some of these benefits and possibilities include greater intensity with smaller equipment, and because the storing of energy as liquid air is the central idea of the invention there could always be great reserves of liquid air available at the ground-station. The “warm” heat sink of this thermal power plant is the ambient air, so it does not need a heat-up period prior to start. It is always ready to run and can function as a peak-load power plant.

By warming up the liquid air and expanding it we get work at the expense of ambient heat. When this work finally degrades into heat, the thermal balance of the local system is zero. The machines are running, but no waste heat is produced at the point where the energy is used. |38| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Research is going on all over the world to find even larger heat effects for energy storing, e.g. heat of formation of chemical substances instead of heat of fusion.

Onboard superconducting technology?

Superconductivity is a phenomenon characterized by the resistance of certain materials dropping to exactly zero, when cooled below a critical temperature. It was discovered that some materials have critical temperatures above 90 kelvins.

Since the boiling point of liquid air at ambient pressure is 79 kelvins, this means that many commercial applications are feasible using the liquid air produced in virtually boundless amounts by the flying wind power plant. These hightemperature superconductors make it possible to apply highperformance superconducting electric motors and generators, power storage devices, fault current limiters, as well as complex systems such as power stations based on this project.

As liquid air can be the fuel of a thermal power plant, so it can be used as a fuel in the propulsion of vehicles. The benefits can be used in a complex system, namely in urban traffic. In this case, the smaller energy content of the cryogenic fuel is not a serious problem.

Flywheels and EV technologies?

Applying a flywheel kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), the demand for external energy can be significantly lowered recovering the

energy of the frequent braking. As the high-temperature superconductor technology is already onboard, the possibility arises of benefiting from the advantages of high performance electric motors and power storage devices. Today, everything is ready for the utilization of this technology, only the large amount of cheap cryogenic fuel (liquid air rather than liquid nitrogen) is missing. Should this proposal be put into operation, the pollution due to the urban traffic could be eliminated at once.

Work needed The invention is based on wellknown technical solutions, but the result of their synthesis and unique application has yielded new routes and so far unutilized possibilities in wind energy production. The invention is feasible but the details need significant further R&D, as well as investment. Inevitably these visions have attracted suspicion that it is another perpetual motion fantasy, but IDTechEx analysts agree that it is not. Indeed, Dr. Gábor Dobos of IFO Energy responds, “I would like to answer your doubts as follows: The device can get to the working altitude by using up a part of the formerly harvested energy. The energy balance is positive, (see e.g.: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/ u2/a461327.pdf ) so the source of this energy is given.

What does it react against (Newton’s 2nd Law) in order to produce power?

“You probably mean that, if our Wind Power Plant (WPP) is an autonomous flying device, then what exerts the counter force against the wind, ensuring energy production by preventing the wind from sweeping away the device. It is right to ask this, indeed. But you probably have no doubts that the energy needed for other gliders to stay aloft comes from the surrounding air without any contact with the ground. If so, why do you have doubts regarding our gliders? We will do (almost) the same. There is no reason to worry about violating Newton’s 2nd Law.

How to maintain altitude?

“The keyword is Dynamic Soaring.

Type it in your browser! You will get about 4 million hits, answering all the problems. Please take a look at the small Interactive Real-time Simulation made by Barnes http:// www.howfliesthealbatross.com/ .

It demonstrates that soaring birds using wind gradients are able to fly under any wind conditions in any direction, whilst hardly moving their wings, utilizing mostly wind energy for their flight. This “invention” of the birds is what makes my invention work too.

Generation is easier than storage “Temporary energy storage on the plane is the most critical problem of the idea. The invention itself grants a great degree of freedom to the user in choosing the method of energy storage. Practically any kind of physical, chemical, electrical or other solution may be used as an

energy storage medium, among them liquid air or batteries too.

In the above paper the possible role of liquid air seems to be somewhat overexposed, but one cannot overexpose its potential benefits, in respect to the fact that a completely pollution free technology can be realized. For several years, intensive cryotechnical research has been done to develop light air liquefaction machines, specifically designed for aeronautical and space-applications. (see e.g.: Thomas L. Rreynolds, Thor I. Eklund and Gregory A. Haack: Onboard Inert Gas Generation System / Onboard Oxygen Generation System (OBIGGS / OBOGS) Study. Part II: Gas Separation Technology -State of the Art. NASA/CR-2001-210950 D950-10529-2, 42. p.)

“The state of the art in this field is no worse than that of the battery research on enhancing batteries’ gravimetric energy density. Of course, the implementation of the “IFO”- concept needs several years of development. But probably no more than the ongoing developments of batteries possessing as high a gravimetric energy density as 5 kWh/kg, needed by the electric cars and other EVs, among them electric aircraft. To tell the truth, it’s just the same whichever development wins.

Each of them can be applied by the IFO.”

The invention itself grants a great degree of freedom to the user in choosing the method of energy storage.

IDTechEx analysts IDTechEx analysts would go further.

It is possible that, long after we have killed the albatrosses through our own stupidity, our grandchildren will soar like albatrosses in truly green airliners.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |39|

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Water in the Landscape

by Sue Illman, President, Landscape Institute

‘Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink’.

Those in the landscape profession have always mediated the relationship between water and land, whether to protect and improve the quality of our watercourses or harness water’s ability to soothe and fascinate in designing for the built environment.

Water supply, water demand, water quality and water pollution, are all big issues that we can deal with in the work we do. More often than not, it isn’t about doing anything special, rather it’s about looking beyond the idea that a pipe is the best option for getting rid of rain water and thinking about how a site can conserve and recycle water differently.

‘Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink’. It might have originally summed up the plight of sailors marooned at sea, but this line from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner may one day come to haunt even those of us who live in towns and cities. As the Met Office declared this summer to be the wettest for a century, the headlines captured the prevailing mood of a public that were confused by how there could be flooding and a hosepipe ban at the same time. It was telling both of how little respect we seem to pay water and its journey from source to tap, and of how urgently we need to change the way we manage our water cycle if we are going to counter the effects of climate change and urbanisation.

As landscape architect Kim Wilkie writes in the August issue of Landscape, “water is where we feel climate chaos first”. Drought, flood, violent storms

and general unpredictability are already announcing the change, he says, yet there is plenty we can all do – even as individual households and communities – to use less, harvest more and find ways to encourage water back into the ground. There is also a growing appetite for change on a bigger scale. Perhaps nowhere is it clearer how water has been a catalyst for shaping a landscape than in the Netherlands. But even the Dutch, who have spent centuries keeping the water out, are now keen to work with the water, rather than against it.

A €2bn adaptive water management strategy called ‘Room for the River’ is, according to author Tracy Metz, “creating acceptance that there will be places that are sometimes dry and sometimes wet; that there will be places that have different functions depending on the season and the weather”.

The Floods and Water Management Act is a case in point. While full national standards aren’t expected until April 2013, the Act will make it obligatory for every planning application for development of more than one dwelling, to consider all sustainable options for managing water on site.

Landscape architects have the opportunity to offer developers a more interesting way of handling these site requirements.

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), which mimicks natural drainage by managing water closer to where it falls, is one such approach that is becoming increasingly appreciated for its ability to handle flood risk while improving water quality and biodiversity within an attractive environment. But it is only part of the picture. Our ultimate goal should be to see water management as central to all design.

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Designing with water Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), which has its roots in Australia, aims to marry urban design, spatial planning and the water cycle.

Where SuDS often work in isolation, with WSUD landscape architects can make water management a visible, tangible – even educational – aspect of what makes our urban environment great. It sounds simple, but delivering it successfully means challenging traditional ideas of how we handle surface and waste water, water supply and rainwater harvesting. For it to be a success, it can’t be tagged-on at the end, it has to be part of the planning process from the start.

The viability of WSUD in the UK is currently being explored as part of a scoping study run by the Construction Industry Research Information Association (CIRIA) and funded by, among others, Defra and the Environment Agency (Wales). Rather than attempt to replicate how WSUD is applied in Australia, the project’s aim is to establish a vision for how it can work in a UK context – and that requires a collaborative team from

landscape architects to engineers, architects, urban designers and planners. The findings of this study will be published early next year.

There are, however, already examples in the UK where a holistic approach to designing with water has been central to the project’s success. Take Melton Vale Post 16 Centre in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, designed

by David Singleton’s practice DSA Environment + Design with engineers ARUP and architects A+G. Here, everything about the school from its orientation and form, to the size and location of the car park, was planned and built with water in mind. The 3ha site surrounding it is defined by wetlands, grassland and woodlands, while ponds, reed beds and swales carry water from hard surfaces through wetlands to a main basin.

For Singleton, SuDS is not an isolated aspect of the landscape, but rather it is the landscape itself. It defines how the landscape is used and managed.

The bioswales are very shallow and have carefully graded sloping sides to enable mowing, while pond areas

brim with marginal plant species. Rain from roofs and the car park is used to flush toilets in the school and the greywater recyling levels are linked to the schools computer system to show how many litres have been saved.

But the secret of Singleton’s success is that the school has retained his team in order to educate the children about the landscape around them.

“Water management has to have a human angle,” he says. Part of our problem in identifying with how water is managed is that so much of it is piped and paved over. How many people, for example, have heard of London’s second river, The Walbrook?

Once a defining feature of Roman London, it still runs, out of sight, from Shoreditch through the Square Mile and under the Bank of England. But you would never know.

Fortunately, at Melton Vale, we are seeing what I believe will be achieved at many more sites to come: water being treated as it should be – as our most precious resource.

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www.landscapeinstitute.org |42| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

The Future of Flooding, Flood Insurance and its Impact

by David Mole, Director of Environmental Due Diligence, Landmark Information Group

The horrendous flooding which struck large parts of England and Wales earlier this year has once again ensured that flooding is back on the news agenda and in the public eye. These devastating floods, which occurred over a three week period, saw a man lose his life and cost an estimated £30-40million in insurance claims.

Flooding is becoming far more prevalent and the cost of rectifying damage to flooded homes and commercial buildings is ever-increasing. Government climate change advisors have warned that protecting against floods of the kind seen this summer across the UK will cost at least £860m by 2015 and could rise to as much as £12bn over the next 60-70 years.

These figures are extremely alarming; not least because, despite the average insurance claim for a flooded property being in the region of £30,000, many residential and commercial property owners are still unaware of their own risk and have no measures in place to protect against flooding.

As seen this summer, flooding can hit anywhere at any time. It is no longer confined to the winter months; people must remain alert and vigilant all year round.

As noted in the Pitt Review, climate change is producing more extreme weather patterns and more intense storm events. It is likely that more properties will be hit by surface water (flash) flooding over the next 25 years than by ‘traditional’ river flooding, and most of these will be affected for the first time. Not only can properties be severely damaged and take months or even years to repair, but possessions are also often destroyed, including precious items of sentimental value which can never be replaced.

In the residential sector, many flood victims are unable to move back into their homes for months or years; several residents in Hull who were flooded in 2007 had to live in caravans and temporary homes for more than three years before they were able to move back home. When one then considers that flood insurance becomes vastly more expensive or even impossible to obtain for a property that has been flooded, taking steps to mitigate the potential damage that can be done by flooding is absolutely crucial.

Common myths, such as “I don’t live near a river or the coast so I can’t be flooded” and “I live on a hill so it won’t happen to me”, need to be dispelled. The flooding which occurred in Wales during June took place in some areas that have not flooded in over

80 years. Flash flooding is the most frequent type of flooding in the UK and, as demonstrated by the rainfall this summer, homes do not need to be near a river or the coast to be affected; it can happen anywhere to anyone.

With approximately 185,000 commercial properties at risk across England and Wales, businesses also need to ensure not only that they are aware of their flood risk, but that they are prepared in the event of a flood.

The business losses from the summer 2007 floods, during which over 9,000 businesses were affected, averaged between £75,000 and £112,000 , whereas the average burglary loss is just over £1,000 . Whilst the vast majority of businesses are likely to be fitted with a burglar alarm, the same can’t be said for flood protection and prevention measures.

The business losses from the summer 2007 floods, during which over 9,000 businesses were affected, averaged between £75,000 and £112,000, whereas the average burglary loss is just over £1,000.

Likewise, the chance of a property being flooded is higher than being burnt down. The average cost of fire damage is £7,300, four times less than the average expense of flood damage and £3,000 more than the average cost of installing flood protection measures.

Despite this, chances are that far more smoke detectors are in place than flood mitigation measures in businesses across the country.

The value of implementing flood prevention measures is clear; most businesses can save up to 90% on the cost of lost stock and moveable equipment simply by taking action to prepare in advance for flooding.

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It’s not only property owners that are impacted by flooding however; we are all affected. As a result of the summer 2007 flooding for example, the cost of damage to infrastructure, such as water supplies and power networks, was calculated at £660m, whilst £230m worth of damage was caused to communications, transport and roads, with a further £140m cost to local councils.

With the ending of the Statement of Principles on 30th June 2013 and the future of flood insurance still to be determined, investigating a property’s flood risk and putting protective measures in place is more important than ever; from 1st July 2013 onwards, it may not be possible to obtain and, therefore, rely on flood insurance.

Investigating flood risk is more important than ever: ending of the Statement of Principles At present, insured property owners should receive an insurance pay-out in the event of flooding – but what will happen after the Statement of Principles comes to an end next June?

The Statement of Principles agreement between the insurance industry and the Government committed insurers to continue to provide flood insurance for most homes and small business premises, even in areas of significant flood risk. This agreement was on the provision that there were plans, within five years, to reduce the risk below ‘significant’, i.e. the Environment Agency’s benchmark for a level of flooding of 1 in 75 years.

The Government, however, reduced its expenditure on such flood reduction measures and, when the Statement was last extended in 2008, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) stated that it would not be renewed again when the current agreement expires at the end of June 2013.

The Statement of Principles only applied to existing insurance companies that supplied flood insurance; new insurers to the market were not bound by the agreement and could therefore elect to only offer flood insurance to properties outside a flood risk area.

By being less exposed, they could offer lower premiums and therefore win business at the expense of others.

As a result, the ABI declared they would return to ‘riskbased’ pricing following the end of the Statement of Principles next year unless they and the Government come up with an alternative.

The impact of this is that owners of properties with significant or high flood risk are likely to find that their premiums or excess increase or that certain conditions are imposed on cover. I know of several cases whereby |44| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

As a result of the summer 2007 flooding for example, the cost of damage to infrastructure, such as water supplies and power networks, was calculated at £660m, whilst £230m worth of damage was caused to communications, transport and roads, with a further £140m cost to local councils. insurance has increased by two-thirds and the excess amount has risen to as much as £15,000-£20,000 – and they are among the lucky ones. Once the Statement of Principles expires, those at greatest risk may not be able to obtain flood cover at any cost.

Added to this, where flood insurance is not available, the property owner may be in breach of their mortgage which generally requires insurance cover for all hazards.

So, what next?

As it stands at the moment, the future of flood insurance could go in one of two directions. One option is a ‘free market’, where policy holders would be charged according to the level of risk at which they are deemed to live, which could mean that the cost of flood insurance would rise substantially. Alternatively, and favoured by the ABI, the risk could be pooled (called ‘Flood Re’) by the insurance industry; should a large flood occur and the ‘pool’ wasn’t big enough to pay out, the Government would become the default insurer.

The future of flood insurance hangs by a very thin thread. Despite the Secretary of State for the Environment, Caroline Spelman, revealing earlier this year at the annual ABI property conference that intensive discussions between the Government and the ABI are taking place and that an announcement would be made in spring 2012, no announcement has been forthcoming and a solution is yet to be reached.

What can property owners do to protect against flood?

Whilst the future of flood insurance is unclear, there are many steps that property owners and potential property owners can take to ensure their homes and businesses are better protected against flooding and to minimise the level of damage done.

Whether residential or commercial, it is vital that property owners and potential buyers ascertain their risk. If they are purchasing or leasing a property, they cannot currently rely on their surveyor or solicitor to have obtained a flood risk assessment as these are not covered in the preliminary enquiries or standard searches.

Whilst flash flooding can occur at any time and in any location, some properties are more at risk than others; and not just those that are located near a river or the coast.

Residential and commercial flood reports are available from Landmark, both of which provide in-depth, property-specific information about their flood risk.

For commercial properties, the Envirocheck Flood Screening Report, www.envirocheck.co.uk, utilises the very latest and best information to accurately investigate the flood risk of a specific property. Environment Agency flood information alone is insufficient for a robust flood risk assessment. Envirocheck sources information from the British Geological Survey, the Environment Agency and several other providers of flood data, providing a comprehensive report which examines surface water flood risk and defended and undefended flood risk for the first time.

Furthermore, improved accuracy and robustness benefits are gained from the presence of the EA Detailed River Network data which includes extra information on rivers, drains and streams.

Environmental consultants with their own GIS and CAD systems may take advantage of the Envirocheck Export service, which allows digital flood data and mapping to be obtained for bespoke analysis.

For the residential sector, the Homecheck, Professional Flood Report, www.homecheckpro.co.uk, is a desktop, conveyancing-ready flood risk screening report designed to enable property professionals to assess the risk of flooding at residential sites. The report has recently been significantly enhanced to ensure the clearest risk analysis possible, and includes new data sets to provide a comprehensive assessment covering all types of flooding.

Backed by the assurance of an independent risk assessment from experienced consultants at Argyll Environmental, the report provides clear and concise information which tells homeowners exactly what they want to know up front, such as an invaluable Insurance Statement which details the likelihood of obtaining insurance.

In addition to providing details of the likelihood of flooding at a national scale based on assessments undertaken for 85 river catchments and coastal cells, the report identifies where groundwater flooding could potentially occur based on the underlying geological conditions.

Furthermore, as well as indicating the level of flood risk, Homecheck provides positive options to help homeowners mitigate and manage flood risk on a particular property. Property level protection measures, such as door guards and air-brick covers, benefit properties in locations of lower population density where flood defences may not be cost-effective.

With changes taking place in the insurance industry and no firm plan in place for post-June 2013, it is vital for property owners to investigate their flood risk, plan in advance and take the necessary steps to protect their property. With the Statement of Principles ending next year, it could make the difference between being able to find available and affordable insurance or not.

+ For More Information www.landmark.co.uk www.homecheckpro.co.uk

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |45|

You, SuDS and the new law How will the new flood and water management act affect you? Will the change in law, with new emphasis on sustainable drainage systems, help you secure faster approvals or just add to your costs? Emma Skelley and Nicola Dibble - flood risk specialists at Wardell Armstrong LLP give their expert opinion.

Few people would disagree that sustainability is a good thing. SuDS (or sustainable drainage systems) are therefore in many ways hard to argue against.

Critics might say that they mean extra cost, more red tape, unwanted complexity or all three. But in reality, sustainable drainage systems can take many different forms – a lot of which are neither excessively costly nor overly complicated.

People tend to associate SuDS with high land take solutions such as constructed wetlands, open ponds, reed beds and so on – and there’s no doubt that all of these can often play a useful role. But there are other options that mimic natural drainage in simpler ways, allowing surface water to soak into the ground or run to a water course without using traditional piped drainage systems. Some SuDS systems are barely noticeable, such as permeable block paving which can be designed to allow infiltration of surface water to the ground, or designed to attenuate surface water flows.

Similarly, gravel strips can act as filters along the edges of roads, offering water treatment as well as providing attenuation.

But while SuDS and drainage systems are almost as old as human habitation, legislation of course moves on. And there’s another big legal change on the way, with the Flood and Water Management Act which received royal assent in April 2010.

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aiming to reduce flood risk from surface water, improve water quality, improve the environment, and ensure that SuDS are robust, safe and affordable.

One of its key aims is to encourage the uptake of sustainable drainage systems by removing the automatic right to connect surface water drainage to public sewers following planning approval. It also provides for unitary authorities or county councils, who will become new SuDS Approving Bodies or SABs, to adopt and maintain SuDS for new developments and redevelopments – a major historical stumbling block which has hindered their use in the past.

However, the section of the act that relates specifically to SuDS is not yet fully enacted, in expectation of new national standards which will set out the requirement for their design, construction, operation and maintenance in England and Wales. The Government is currently working closely with the Environment Agency, local authorities and house builders to develop these standards – aiming to reduce flood risk from surface water, improve water quality, improve the environment, and ensure that SuDS are robust, safe and affordable.

SuDS on the other hand aim to reduce surface water discharges from the site, using cost-effective and natural systems with lower environmental impact. They allow surface water run-off to drain away in a natural manner and in some cases to be cleaned before being released back into its natural receptor. They’re typically easy to manage and consume little or no energy. Groundwater quality is enhanced, and there’s the additional advantage that they also often provide valuable habitats for wildlife and encourage biodiversity.

But what about developers? Do they have more to fear or more to gain from embracing the ideas behind SuDS?

More to gain than to fear Let’s start by looking at the positives – and there are many.

One big advantage is that the maintenance of drainage systems should suddenly become a whole lot easier. This is because once the flood and water management act is fully enacted, SuDS that have been approved by the SAB and built to the correct standards will be adopted by them.

Planning Policy Statement 25: Development and Flood Risk already requires developers to mimic natural or existing surface water run-off in terms of rate and volume and to provide betterment wherever possible. Under the new Flood and Water Management Act there will also be the requirement to submit drainage plans to the SuDS Approving Body (SAB) as part of the planning approval process. There will be new stringent criteria to be met – including the requirement to consider the use of SuDS before discharging surface water run-off to a public sewer.

SuDS by their nature are often easier to maintain than traditional, underground piped systems. Shears, a lawnmower and maybe some simple silt or rubbish removal are normally all that are required for many SuDS features.

There’s no need for specialist maintenance contractors to clean pipes, inlets and outlets as with other conventional drainage systems. But the good news is that this job goes away anyway, since it passes into the hands of the SAB – leaving developers free to concentrate on their next project.

So why are these legislative changes being introduced?

The main idea of course is to prevent flooding, pollution of the environment, contamination of groundwater sources and harm to wildlife. All of these can happen all too easily if surface water run-off isn’t effectively managed and controlled. Just one example is sewer flooding, which can result from increased flows from new developments entering a sewer, causing it to exceed its capacity and overflow. And with increasing areas of hard paving being used on greenfield sites, the volumes of surface water run-off that can lead to this kind of flooding often increase correspondingly if they’re not effectively managed.

A second key point is that embracing SuDS could well improve the chances of securing planning approval. It’s certainly in the interests of developers to include SuDS within the main planning application rather than separately and later as part of the discharge of conditions. To put it another way, not including SuDS in the masterplan will almost certainly cause an objection and lead to delays, with the need to make changes and reapply. Without clear and effective surface water management measures planning approval could at worst be refused, or at best be made conditional on changes to the master plan which could have knock-on effects to other parts of the application.

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Sustainable Urban Drainage systems

Sustainable Urban Drainage systems (SUDS), is a concept that has increased in relevance in recent years for planners, developers and legislators. Indeed, its development as a mainstream drainage solution has been advanced by the proposed introduction of SUDS legislation in England and Wales to standardise the future direction of drainage development and flood prevention in both countries.

Among the formative factors at play in the creation of this legislation are changing weather patterns, and accelerated urbanization with a corresponding loss of green, unpaved spaces. To the layperson, these might appear like unrelated issues; but in fact, the spread of urban conurbations with vast areas of impermeable surfacing, in an increasingly wet climate, amounts to an insidiously destructive combination.

In a natural environment, the risk of flooding and its worst effects are mitigated by attenuation of rainwater through the permeable earth. The key principle of SUDS is formulated around the replication of this process. Surface water is collected, cleaned, and stored, before being released back into the surrounding earth at a natural rate. The advantages of SUDS systems make them both sustainable and cost effective in the long-term, in terms of maintenance, and their capacity in allaying the worst effects of flooding in manmade environments.

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SUDS, as a concept, hasn’t just appeared out of the blue. In fact, it’s an approach to drainage that has been applied and adapted in various forms around the world. These include Australia’s Sensitive urban design (WSUD), and Best Management Practice (BMP) and Low Impact Development (LID) in the US. But in England and Wales, SUDS has been relatively slow in gaining public currency. However, in recent times, repeated experiences of sustained, heavy rainfall and flash flooding have served to make drainage a hot topic.

Consequently, SUDS as a future-facing solution in water management and flood damage prevention has come to the metaphorical surface.

Record rainfall levels, and numerous, repetitive incidences of flash flooding during the first half of 2012 are symptomatic of a meteorological cycle, to which the nation has been

subjected since the middle of the last decade. This ‘drought to flood’ weather cycle, consisting of sustained periods of below average rainfall followed by intense, flood-inducing rains, was seen at its worst during the summer of 2007.

That year’s highly destructive flash floods engendered the formulation of the previously mentioned legislation, including the Flood and Water Management Act of England and Wales (2010).

SUDS are viewed in many quarters as the best solution in terms of ensuring the viability of emerging water management legislation in practice.

Crucially, SUDS have the ability to match and fulfill legislative aims, and so truly revolutionise the way in which surface water is managed. SUDS systems conduct floodwaters quickly and efficiently, mitigating their worst effects, and reducing the environmental impact.

For instance, managing the flow rate and volume of surface water run-off eases pressure on sewage networks, improves water quality, and makes the natural features of SUDS more effective.

In short, the key aspect of SUDS is its ability to manage the flow rate and volume of surface water run-off; hence its capacity to reduce the risk of sustained flooding damage, and pollution. Managing stormwater from the moment it hits the ground until it reenters the natural water table serves to minimise environmental impact, maximise sustainability, and helps to encourage biodiversity in the areas where they are deployed.

SUDS might not, or should not, provide planners with a prescriptive solution; but rather, authentic SUDS products and systems should essentially be flexible, multi-functional, and therefore adaptable. Crucially, bespoke SUDS can be readily adapted and applied in areas where it will bring most benefit.

As was demonstrated once again by recent flash flooding, extreme weather can deliver a very negative impact in terms of the economy – at both local and national levels. SUDS innovators

are addressing the challenges poised by public infrastructures and amenities, in terms of future proofing them against the dangers of flooding.

A project that exemplifies the economic and environmental benefits of SUDS in practice is the refurbished Michaelwood Services on the M5 in Gloucestershire.

This facility offers the travelling public a wide range of amenities including petrol stations and shops, cafes, and a hotel, in addition to its upgraded and extended parking accommodation for cars, HGVs, caravans and coaches.

A facility on this scale amounts to an extensive acreage of paved surfacing, which in itself poses a flood risk. In the case of Michaelwood, an integrated SUDS system was considered the most appropriate solution. SUDS eliminates the danger of increased discharge to the existing stormwater sewer, hence protecting the surrounding environment’s ecological balance – particularly in an instance of flooding. This benefit is of particular relevance at Michaelwood, as the services are surrounded by dense, ancient woodland from which its name is derived.

The sustainable drainage scheme at Michaelwood was designed using products and systems created by ACO Water Management. The scheme facilitated the management of rainwater run-off generated on the impermeable surfaces of the site’s hard standing areas. The run-off is then discharged into a series of landscaped retention ponds, from which it is released over time – in a manner akin to the process of natural rainwater attenuation.

The economic and environmental benefits of integrated SUDS solutions are multifold; and more over, their capacity to align to new legislation and policy agendas means that they can deliver lasting, measurable benefits. The sustainable nature of SUDS means that not only does it achieve environmental excellence, but it also insures a sustained return on investment throughout a long and efficient operational life.

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Miscellany |50| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

RFID: The Technology Set to Revolutionise

the Food and Drink Industry

by Phil Bremner, Editor of ‘Wireless eNews’ a free monthly publication sponsored by the Low Power Radio Association

Whether we like it or not technology now monitors virtually everything we do; if you live in the UK at least 2 million CCTV cameras are keeping round-the-clock watch on us. Reward cards mean that supermarkets know what we buy and how often we buy it, and travel cards silently track our journeys. Increasingly, smartphone ‘Apps’ are utilising tracker technology to locate everything from the nearest coffee shop to anyone within dating distance that possesses a compatible star-sign. These are being veraciously embraced and downloaded so clearly the tracker genie is well and truly out of the bottle.

That would appear to leave us with two choices: strap-on a tinfoil hat and move to a remote Scottish Island, or find a way to make the technology work for us rather than against us.

One of the fastest growing markets is RFID, Radio-Frequency Identification, a non-contact wireless system that consists of a small chip and antenna that utilises radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tagged item to a scanner. RFID tagged items will work within a range of a few meters and therefore do not require the same proximity and line-of-sight precision as scanning a barcode, meaning that RFID tags can be embedded in the object that requires tracking. Most don’t require batteries as they utilise the antenna to generate energy when ‘woken-up’ by a scanner.

The technology has been available for over 50 years but it’s only relatively recently that technology has been able to produce tags which are cheap enough to be disposable, and the projected increase in their use is predicting that the cost of RFID tags will fall dramatically in the near future.

Printable tags, which create circuits by layering electronic ink are still at an experimental stage and therefore someway off being used commercially, however, projected costing puts them at around $0.01 each. Another interesting new development is the availability of solar powered tags, some of which even charge under moonlight, storing energy in an on-board capacitor.

A recent survey by CYBRA Corporation recorded that an astonishing “54% of organisations are using, piloting, or already in the process of implementing RFID technology”.

That’s a 157% increase on a similar study carried out just four years ago. The latest RFID market research from IDTechEx finds that in 2012 the value of the entire RFID market will be $7.46bn, up from $6.37bn in 2011. The overall market for printed electronics is predicted to rise to more than $50bn by 2019. The US retailer J.C. Penney which has 1,100 stores, has recently announced that it will be placing RFID tags on 100% of its merchandise this year.

New uses for RFID are being found everyday, from incorporating them in school uniforms to track pupil attendance to ‘Smart-mirrors’ in changing rooms that suggest clothing and accessories to compliment the ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |51|

garment you are trying on. But if there is one sector which was made for RFID it’s the food and drink industry. Tags can be loaded with large amounts of data at source, infinitely more than a barcode making it simple to track production information and transportation paths. The tag isn’t restricted to its origination data, it can collect, ‘learn’ and adjust the data as the product makes its journey from manufacturer to consumer’s home.

In September 2006 fresh spinach disappeared from supermarket shelves all over America after the Food and Drug Administration recalled all spinach after E.coli tainted leaves made hundreds of people ill. A growers’ association estimated that the recall cost the spinach industry around $74m. The full cost is impossible to calculate because the impact on consumer confidence in a product can last for years. If RFID tags had been used it would have been easy to identify the source of the contaminated produce and prevent the unnecessary destruction of tonnes of perfectly safe spinach.

Supply chain management, something which has always been one of the food industries biggest challenges can be controlled far more efficiently with the aide of RFID. The latest variants of RFID tags can combine tracking with the real-time measurement of temperatures during the transportation and storage of food. The constant monitoring of temperature critical products like meat, poultry, fish and seafood is revolutionising safety levels. The technology is also being applied to the wine, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Instead of setting a products ‘Best Before’ or ‘Use By’ dates at the time of packing, this on-the-fly integration of data can be incorporated into the products RFID tag to give a more precise calculation of safety information and consume-by dates.

your shopping list each time you placed an item in your supermarket’s ‘Smart-Trolly’.

There are already home fridges and freezers that collect and store data from the products as they are being loaded.

This data can be used to automatically monitor when you are running low on milk or suggest recipes based on the precise measurements of ingredients you have available.

The future of this technology would be for your fridge to learn from monitoring usage and wastage and be able to recommend shopping lists or place a weekly order direct with your local supermarket.

The tracking doesn’t end there. Collecting data on waste and recycling using the original manufacturers’ tag in conjunction with ‘smart-bins’ is already being trialled around the world. By monitoring the weight of waste as items are disposed of it will be possible for manufacturers to adjust portion sizes to match what the average household actually consumes.

Combine this with householders own ‘Smart Fridge’ data and the cumulative adjustments to packaging and buying habits could produce significant results.

Environmental awareness and basic economics has reduced food waste. However, the average UK family is still estimated to throw away £680 in goods which have exceeded their use-by date each year. Accumulative data suggests that 8.3million tonnes of food worth an estimated £12bn is wasted in the UK every year.

RFID is a technology which has infinite possibilities

This plethora of data is accessible to anyone with a compatible scanner. However, as the technology gains wider acceptance the ability to scan products will be something that is built into smartphones. The comprehensive storage of data on a product’s tag could warn consumers with food allergies or keep a running total of calories, salt or fat content for those on specific diets.

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RFID tags already exist that can withstand exposure to chemicals and function at temperatures from -50 to +250 degrees Fahrenheit. A recent study published by the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) found that RFID based equipment can be used safely in close proximity to biologics.

RFID is also being trialled by Michelin in conjunction with the London Bus Company to wirelessly monitor tyre pressure and tread depth so there is the potential to use the same technology to reduce fuel costs and improve vehicle safety.

RFID is a technology which has infinite possibilities. If adopted correctly and used intelligently it has the potential to transform the food and drink industry and banish problems of safety, logistics and waste to the recycling bin of history.

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Miscellany ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |53|

Paul Tanney, Chief Executive of Four Housing Group comments on the importance of sustainability

considerations in the housing industry and pushing the boundaries beyond carbon

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zero.

Four Housing Group recently unveiled the UK’s first carbon negative affordable housing scheme in South Tyneside.

The aspiration was to design and construct an exemplar, sustainable and affordable housing community that was ‘carbon negative’ in energy use. Through the use of innovative design principles and renewable energy technologies, the project aimed to reduce carbon emissions.

Carbon negativity is calculated using the government’s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) methodology and Sinclair Meadows was designed and constructed with this target in mind.

Within three years of being built, the development has the ability to remove its own carbon footprint created during construction.

The specification and construction methods will deliver a carbon negative scheme, which is currently 15% beyond zero carbon and exceeds Level 6 of the Code of Sustainable Homes. The 21 unit affordable housing development will also surpass the government’s 2013 definition of carbon zero by 60%.

Through the use of innovative design principles and renewable energy technologies, the project aimed to reduce carbon emissions.

Using Technology to Achieve Carbon Negativity The Sinclair Meadows development, which was created with support from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), South Tyneside Council and Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle, is home to one of the largest array of photovoltaic panels on domestic dwellings in the UK, which reduces demand on traditional energy resources and exports any excess energy back to the grid.

The project has focussed on the quality of the building fabric throughout, particularly in terms of air tightness and heat loss. Air tightness strategies and quality checks throughout construction ensured that the building had been sealed to prevent unwanted air movements, draughts and heat loss. The buildings have achieved an air-tightness level of 1.6m3/m2/hr@50pa compared to a standard Building Regulation requirement of 10m3/m2/hr@50pa.

The properties have been built using natural materials wherever possible, such as timber frames, hemp insulation and lime render. Throughout their growing cycle, these materials have absorbed massive amounts of CO2 which is then locked into the development for the life of the buildings.

Once the development has reached the end of its useful life, the majority of the materials will be reusable, recyclable and biodegradable.

Smarter Living A number of energy saving design initiatives have been incorporated including rainwater harvesting, which ensures rainwater from the roofs of the properties is stored in underground storage tanks - a combined system for the apartments and individual systems for the houses. This water is then used in the toilets, as well as for gardening at the properties to reduce the amount of mains water used by the residents through everyday activities.

One of the major design concepts was to orientate the buildings so that the main habitable rooms are south facing to maximise natural heat and reduce the development’s environmental impact. Houses were also huddled together to minimise exposure to the north facing elevations. The heating and hot water is provided by a communal biomass boiler which uses recycled timber fuel pellets. Composting facilities and large triple-glazed windows are also provided to increase insulation.

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Engaging Tenants to Achieve Sustainability A major objective for the project team was to create a truly sustainable community and, although the technology and design of the homes are cutting edge, the success of the scheme depends heavily on the commitment, lifestyle and training of those moving into the development.

Evidence shows that moving into low carbon housing can encourage people to adopt more environmentally responsible behaviour, even if they were not responsible for having this technology installed in the first place.* However, in addition to this, tenants will be supported both in the initial stages and on an on-going basis with the aim of changing tenant behaviour.

Tenants will undertake an extensive training programme prior to moving in and during the first 12 months of the tenancy where a Community Development Worker will provide technical support and encourage community ownership. Fostering a sense of community is key to the success of a project such as this, as the way in which tenants will be expected to live is unique in itself. Research shows that this can promote sustainable behaviour.** Tenants will be guided on the daily tasks associated with living a carbon negative lifestyle, such as ensuring the rainwater harvesting system is used to flush toilets and programming appliances to operate during the day, maximising on energy savings from the solar panels.

If the homes are lived in as they are designed to be, residents can benefit from significantly lower energy bills at a time of ever increasing fuel costs. The houses will also generate significant revenue returns under the government’s energy efficiency incentives, including the Feed in Tariff and the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive.

References *The Hub (2005) Seeing the light: the impact of microgeneration on the way we use energy.

Qualitative research findings. London: Sustainable Consumption Roundtable. **P. W. Schultz, J. M. Nolan, R. B. Cialdini, N. J. Goldstein, and V. Griskevicius. (2007) ‘The constructive, desctructive, and reconstructive power of social norms,’ Psychological Science, 18(5), pp. 429-434.

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The Future for Sustainable Housing There is a growing need to understand how micro-renewable technologies perform in the real world and the data monitoring Four Housing Group has commissioned will collect raw and accurate data to establish a performance

benchmark which will be comparable for others in the industry.

The buildings will also be remotely monitored to evaluate how residents are using the technologies and how improvements can be made.

At Four Housing Group we want to show how sustainability can be factored into affordable housing developments and anticipate that the key learnings from this project will provide an excellent opportunity to share knowledge with the UK network of housing, construction and academic sectors, as well as improve tenant engagement programmes throughout the UK.

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Why focus on diesel emissions?

Tackling Air Quality: a targeted approach Kathye Henderson

For many years a link between diesel emissions and cancer has been suspected. Now the World Health Organisation has officially classed diesel fumes as carcinogenic. Major components of diesel exhaust emissions such as Particulate Matter (PM) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) are subject to legally binding limits. However, the limits for NO2 are currently being breached in many towns and cities across the UK, leading to the prospect of heavy fines if the issue is not quickly addressed.

The EU has recently approved postponement plans for 9 zones while plans for a further 3 zones have been approved subject to amendment.

However, it has also objected to the postponement of a further 12 zones because the UK could not prove that compliance with the deadline would be met by 2015. For another 16 zones compliance is not predicted until after 2015 and no application has been made for a postponement. This means that of the total 43 air quality zones, 28 zones are currently in breach of EU law, and a further 12 must meet limits by the extended deadline.

By taking a hard-line stance the EU is sending out a clear message that it believes existing plans to tackle breaches of NO2 limits are simply not good enough. Having focussed the majority of efforts on monitoring air pollution and identifying its sources, there is now mounting pressure on local authorities to find practical solutions to tackle their local air quality problems.

As reported in the last issue, reducing air pollution in urban areas is imperative from an environmental, a financial and a public health standpoint. In fact, the Environmental Audit Commission estimates it annually costs the UK ÂŁ20bn and cuts life expectancy by years.

Transport has been identified as the most significant source of NO2 emissions, but vehicles such as buses are a vital part of our urban economic infrastructure. In this article Kathye Henderson, marketing manager at Eminox outlines why she believes retrofitting older diesel buses with emissions technology can play a major role. She also shares the results from a Transport for London (TfL) trial specifically focussed on cutting emissions from these vehicles. The results show existing fleets can be costeffectively upgraded to meet the latest stringent standards for emissions performance, even when operating in slow moving urban traffic. |60| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Traffic pollution has been identified as the most significant source of NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide).

Breaches and maps showing the areas with the highest NO2 pollution closely match that of the UK road network. Heavy duty diesel vehicles such as buses are essential for the efficient transportation of people and goods, yet their emissions can have major public health implications. We cannot manage without the diesel vehicle so we must do everything we can to mitigate its effect on our health.

While diesel buses represent a relatively small percentage of the vehicle population, many operate predominantly in urban areas, so often account for a much larger percentage of urban pollution. Great progress has been made in developing engine and exhaust after-treatment technology to ensure that new vehicles are significantly cleaner than their predecessors.

The greatest additional benefits are therefore realised by improving older, higher polluting buses to reduce pollution where population exposure is highest.

Practical steps Low Emission Zones, such as the one rolled out in London, have been identified as one possible solution to discouraging the most polluting vehicles from operating in populated areas. However, while London style LEZs may be needed for the most severely polluted areas, more targeted schemes are also being used in continental Europe.

For example, Transport Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), the major bus and metro provider to Barcelona and the surrounding areas, wanted to upgrade its existing Euro II and III vehicles to comply with the most advanced Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicle standard. By selecting our SCRT technology they were able to remove over 90% of particulate matter plus more than 70% of NOx (oxides of nitrogen) from over 360 buses. It has also proved a very economical solution, with TMB calculating it was possible to upgrade over 15 buses for the price of one new vehicle.

The same SCRT technology has also been used to upgrade buses to the latest Euro standards as part of bus improvement programmes in Belgium, Edinburgh and Oxford. It can upgrade buses as old as Euro II to meet emissions lower than today’s Euro V standard at a fraction of the cost of purchasing new vehicles.

Latest Developments – Results from the TfL Pilot Some concerns have been expressed that the NOx emissions from modern vehicles in urban environments have not been as good as expected. However, the results of a retrofit pilot project run by TfL have demonstrated reliable real world NOx reduction.

In fact the data from a Euro III bus retrofitted with Eminox SCRT© technology has demonstrated emissions reductions that not even today’s Euro V vehicles are expected to achieve.

The project has presented new challenges, with a need to specifically target NO2 emissions as well as maintaining other reductions. This has driven the development of a new generation of SCRT technology, requiring new catalyst formulations and extensive system calibration.

Independent tests were carried out on a test cycle which simulates London operating conditions. This showed reductions of 88% of NOx and 55% of NO2, demonstrating the SCRT© system has achieved better than Euro V emissions levels.

In addition to the test data, NOx reduction has also been monitored during normal operation. A London bus has been fitted with two NOx sensors measuring engine out and tailpipe NOx levels so that emissions before and after the SCRT system can be compared in real time. Average NOx reduction data taken over one month shows an 87% decrease, equivalent to an annual NOx reduction of more than 700kg per bus per year.

+ For More Information www.eminox.com

Older vehicles are a significant cause of public exposure to air pollution, yet it is unrealistic in the current financial climate to expect widespread vehicle replacement.

Efficient public transport is essential to our economy and retrofit technology that can cut emissions at a fraction of the cost of vehicle replacement could be an important tool in improving the air we breathe.

Kathye Henderson is marketing manager at Eminox, an emissions technology specialist that designs and manufactures solutions for heavy duty diesel vehicles.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |61|

Mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in Directors’ Reports – will it make a difference?

Richard Tipper, Chief Executive, Ecometrica

For a government accused of lacking environmental credentials the prospect of legislation on mandatory carbon reporting is a significant development. The proposed regulation, part of the Companies Act, will initially require some 1,100 quoted companies to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of their Directors’ Reports from April 2013. This will include information relating to premises, equipment and vehicles owned, operated or controlled by the company, as well as emissions from electricity, heating and cooling used in these facilities.

In marked contrast with previous reporting requirements, all Kyoto greenhouse gases from all countries and all sources of emissions must be covered. Under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, viewed by many as a redundant ‘car crash’ of a policy, reporting was restricted to a meaningless subset of CO2 emissions from certain types of buildings in the UK. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) appear to have recognised that greenhouse gas accounting practice is emerging as a rigorous discipline with the involvement of auditors and experts. Wisely, in my view, the proposed regulation does not specify the standards or protocols that should be used for reporting. As a result, reporting is likely to build on this existing body of expertise, in the same way that financial reporting has developed. |62| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Up to now GHG reporting has been a relatively informal process, providing information subject to relatively low levels of scrutiny in CSR reports. According to research by the Carbon Disclosure Project, some 57 per cent of FTSE 350 companies planned to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions in 2011. The rate of disclosure is lower in the main index.

Greenhouse gas accounting practice is emerging as a rigorous discipline with the involvement of auditors and experts.

Only a few companies have made serious efforts to produce good quality data and provide explanations of how these emissions arise, what they mean for the business and what is being done to manage them. In general the quality of reporting has been variable to low, with reports frequently missing certain greenhouse gases, lacking clarity on the scope of emissions included and providing little contextual information on the strategy in relation to climate change.

The appearance of GHG emissions data in the Directors’ Reports is a fundamental change. In the future, CFOs, CEOs and board members will be looking for assurance that the numbers are correct and also be in a position to provide a full picture of an organisation’s climate impact.

In providing assurance on the numbers, there is a long way to go in terms of subjecting the data and assumptions used to audit. Currently, only a small minority of firms audit their greenhouse gas reports. We expect this to rise rapidly.

To provide intelligent narrative, companies will need to get a better understanding of the background to these numbers, the areas of business that have the highest carbon intensity, the scope for reducing emissions, easy wins and those areas requiring investment.

Currently, only a small minority of firms audit their greenhouse gas reports. We expect this to rise rapidly.

With a wide range of collection points for such emissions data, spanning international operations, multiple departments, divisions and sites, businesses will be looking to integrate emissions reporting into existing management systems.

CFOs and their co-directors will want assurance that such numbers are correct and, as with financial information, that they fully understand how the numbers break down across the business, by type of greenhouse gas and geography.

Crucially, this will include the ability to contextualise the wider strategic significance and the likely future impact on the business.

A key challenge for corporates will be to create frameworks that offer a high level of integration with existing reporting systems.

With the UK government expected to extend coverage to a larger population of companies and other countries actively considering making similar steps, accountability for an organisation’s environmental impact is set to become part of good corporate governance.

The process of discovery and questioning is an important step forward. While initially some CFOs may view this as just one more burden on their resources, opportunities will arise from intelligent analysis.

This is good news for auditors and professionals who can provide the services needed to produce information to a financial reporting quality standard. In due course it should also be positive for companies providing technologies that can deliver efficiencies and lower carbon operations.

A key outcome of top-level carbon accounting is that it provides an overview across all technologies and processes used within a company. This means that it will no longer be possible for companies to gain credibility from isolated green initiatives, turning the focus on the overall picture of the company, such as the impact of an expansion into new markets, adoption of new processes and improvement of facilities. It should provide a wake-up call for those who believe that box-ticking, fuelled by some good news stories, is sufficient.

A key outcome of top-level carbon accounting is that it provides an overview across all technologies and processes used within a company.

Mandatory reporting is a positive step towards integrating carbon management as a part of a company’s strategy. In the run-up to April next year, a key challenge for corporates will be to create frameworks that offer a high level of integration with existing reporting systems, with the flexibility to accommodate future changes in standards and reporting.

Richard Tipper is chief executive of Ecometrica, a developer of accounting platforms for energy, travel, waste, water and carbon.

+ For More Information richard.tipper@ecometrica.com www.ecometrica.com

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |63|

WWEM 2012 to focus on the quality of monitoring

WWEM 2012, the 5th in a series of highly successful environmental monitoring events, will return to the Telford International Centre on 7th and 8th November 2012 to provide visitors with the latest information on regulations, standards, methods and technologies employed in laboratory, field and process monitoring applications.

Organised in conjunction with the Environment Agency and the Water Monitoring Association (WMA), WWEM 2012 is also supported by BMTA, British Water, ChromSoc, CIWEM, CoGDEM, Gambica, PROFIBUS, SIRA, SWIG, UKAS, and UKTI. In addition to two major Conferences, WWEM2012 will also provide over 70 Workshops and an Exhibition featuring 120 of the world’s leading organisations in environmental monitoring.

Both Conferences have received the approval of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and will contribute to delegates’ Continuing Professional Development (CPD). |64| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Process Conference (7th November) The first Conference, entitled ‘2012 Update on Regulation and Certification’, has been designed for any municipal or industrial organisation with a discharge consent, in addition to consultants, contractors, instrument manufacturers, regulators, academia and researchers.

The opening presentation will be given by John Tipping, Technical Manager: Operator Self-Monitoring, at the Environment Agency (EA) who will provide an update on the Industrial Emissions Directive and outline its regulatory effects through 2013.

Andrew Chappell, also from the EA, will continue the European theme by explaining the advantages of coordinating instrument certification procedures and test methods with other countries. He will also report on recent work to develop a CEN standard based on the current MCERTS procedures for the assessment of water instruments.

As MCERTS gains a greater hold in the water sector, Bob Cooper from SIRA will review MCERTS’ progress

and explain future developments.

He will also outline a number of case studies demonstrating international recognition of the scheme.

The potential impact of solar radiation on ultrasonic level sensors will be discussed by Andy Godley from Wrc, and the EA’s Rick Gould will deliver the final presentation, outlining the development of Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA).

Laboratory Conference (8th November) For the second time, the WWEM laboratory conference, which will take place on the second day of WWEM 2012, is being organised by the British Measurement and Testing Association (BMTA) which represents the interests of over 400 UKAS accredited laboratories. The Conference, entitled: ‘Advances in Measurements in Environmental Laboratories’, incorporates an impressive list of speakers from UKAS, FERA, water companies and commercial laboratories.

BMTA Director Peter Russell says: “The subject matter has been designed primarily for managers and senior staff in environmental laboratories, but the techniques and

quality procedures discussed will be of interest to staff in all types of laboratory. The presentations will deal with the methods of achieving quality and consistency in both sampling and measurement, and I hope that the 2012 event will be as popular as its predecessor.”

Accreditation by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the key to ensuring that consumers, suppliers, purchasers and specifiers can have confidence in the quality of the services that laboratories provide and Jon Murthy will provide an overview of UKAS accreditation, setting out its value to those with accreditation, to customers using accredited services and to the UK economy as a whole.

David Galsworthy from the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) will give a presentation on a new software application that provides laboratories with a statistical analysis of analytical quality control samples, leading to better monitoring of instrument and analytical performance, thereby improving the charting, reporting and auditing of AQC samples to meet DWI, UKAS and other regulatory requirements. Kim Holt and Phil Goddard have employed the software at South West Water and will explain how the key challenges have been overcome.

Topics will include lifecycle testing/ validation of software and validation of laboratories, test methods and laboratory software.

Mark Handcock, from Thames Water, will also address the issue of quality in the laboratory and Hazel Davidson will explain why an emphasis on laboratory analysis and quality control can be irrelevant if the sampling is not performed correctly.

Prof. Clive Thompson will discuss the various ISO and CEN cyanide methods and provide guidance on how to carry out ‘fit for purpose’ analysis of various forms of cyanide in environmental samples. |66| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Workshops Over 70 workshops will be available during the event and whilst visitors will not have to reserve places, they will have to plan their visit carefully in order to ensure that they attend the most relevant workshops and conference presentations, whilst also allocating time to visit the exhibition.

The workshops will cover a broad spectrum of environmental monitoring topics. For example, there will be presentations on the monitoring of groundwater and on high resolution multi-site monitoring of surface water to inform the development of legislation. Several workshops will examine wastewater sampling and monitoring, and others will look at ways to improve energy efficiency in wastewater treatment.

There will be presentations on laboratory automation and on liquid handling systems, as well as quality assurance in the laboratory, and several of the workshops will cover subjects such as calibration and the use of traceable reference standards. Almost all of the most common water quality parameters will be discussed with specific presentations on TOC, COD, pH, colour, DO, ammonia, toxicity, turbidity, odour, SVOCs and metals.

Water level and flow monitoring techniques will also be discussed in addition to telemetry and data transmission.

The Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring (CoGDEM) is helping to organise the gas detection zone, which will also run a programme of workshops covering the latest technologies, sampling, calibration, and the benefits to be gained from monitoring toxic, combustible or explosive gases.

Over 70 workshops will be available during the event...

The workshops will cover a broad spectrum of environmental monitoring topics.

“It’s like taking a laboratory into the field” Monitor Almost any Gas! The NEW Gasmet DX4040 portable FTIR multi-gas analyser provides live simultaneous measurements via the unit’s handheld PDA. The instrument’s Calcmet Pro software can identify unknown gases in complex mixtures with a 5000+ gas library.

Call Quantitech on: 01908 227722 or visit us: www.quantitech.co.uk

International Exhibition The 2012 exhibition will be even larger than its predecessors with around 120 organisations displaying the latest products and services for the environmental testing and monitoring market, including several that will have recently received MCERTS. The exhibitors in the gas detection zone will focus on new technology and products to detect hazards such as exposure to low oxygen levels in confined spaces and to toxic and flammable gases in the workplace.

New at WWEM 2012 This year’s event will see the launch of more new products than ever before, with many companies unveiling new monitoring technologies, and YSI Hydrodata will launch a new company: Xylem Analytics UK Ltd will combine the market leading technologies of YSI, SONTEK, AADI and WTW. Many of Xylem Anlaytics’ latest technologies will be on display including the new YSI EXO multiparameter sonde, the SonTek IQ shallow water flow meter and the WTW Varion with IQ for ammonium and nitrate measurements.

Envitech will launch a new ammonia monitor and controller and OTT Hydrometry will unveil a new groundwater monitor, a new portable flow meter and a new range of dataloggers.

Pollution & Process Monitoring Ltd will launch their latest Proam ammonia technology for reliable continuous wastewater analysis.

Isodaq Technology will demonstrate their new Tadpole GPRS logger for monitoring remote sites in harsh environments, and Intellitect Water will reveal the success that the company’s unique in-pipe monitoring technology has achieved in effluent ammonia monitoring. |68| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Around 120 organisations displaying the latest products and services for the environmental testing and monitoring market

ProMinent Fluid Controls (UK) Ltd, the chemical fluid handling specialist, will launch the new DulcoFlow flow meter and Nitto Kohki will present a full range of air, gas and liquid pumps including the unique ‘Bimor’ piezoelectric pump with no moving parts and the new DP0410 pump which offers up to 18 l/min air flow and 1.8bar pressure at 12vDC. HACH LANGE’s process monitoring booth will focus on the company’s most recent MCERTS awards in addition to the company’s real-time wastewater treatment optimisation solution (W.T.O.S.) which has been receiving rave reviews by companies

that have installed the system - 25% reduction in energy use has been commonplace.

STS Instruments Ltd will showcase their novel solution for the identification and quantification of organic pollution using the SMF4, a portable fluorimeter, and VEGA will exhibit their new non-contact microwave radar level transmitter.

New remote monitoring applications for WWEM 2012 will include the SeSys high resolution digital IP cameras which enable utility companies to protect assets and monitor processes, and examples

from Ashtead Technology’s fleet of rental infrared cameras will be demonstrated – typical applications include energy efficiency investigations, checking electrical equipment, predictive maintenance of mechanical equipment and remote measurement of level inside tanks.

In the gas zone, Gardner Denver Thomas will launch the next generation of miniature air sampling pumps including the 1010 reciprocating diaphragm pump, and Gas Measurement Instruments will show the new PS200, which they claim is the most flexible gas detector on the market.

Enviro Technology is showcasing ‘electronic nose’ technology for waste odour monitoring, and with over 65,000 gas monitors across thousands of customer sites currently operating on iNet® Industrial Scientific will demonstrate this web-based application for managing an organisation’s entire gas detector fleet.

Amongst the exhibitors in the laboratory sector, ESSLAB will launch the new MicroLab 600 liquid handling system for the preparation of samples and standards. HACH LANGE will unveil the new DR3900 spectrophotometer which offers extremely high levels of accuracy, reliability, traceability and quality assurance, and Palintest has promised to pack their stand with new innovations including a new range of electrochemical instruments and a new Compact Turbimeter.

Meet the Buyer Key individuals from Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Turkey have been invited to WWEM 2012 on 8th November by UKTI. These delegates will be in a position to make decisions about purchasing goods and services, and

These delegates will be in a position to make decisions about purchasing goods and services, and a registration website will enable UK company representatives to book meetings with them.

a registration website will enable UK company representatives to book meetings with them. Once the programme has been finalised, a link to the ‘Meet the Buyer’ registration will be posted on www.wwem. uk.com.

For visitors that pre-register at www. wwem.uk.com entry to the Exhibition and Workshops is free of charge, and also includes complimentary parking, food and refreshments.

Entrance to the WWEM 2012 (CPD) conferences will cost £55 per day or £100 for both days.

As preparations intensify for WWEM 2012, the organisers are urging visitors to register as soon as possible and to study the workshop and conference programme carefully, so that they can tailor their personal agenda to experience the topics of greatest interest, whilst allocating plenty of time to view the enormous quantity of new products that will be on show in the Exhibition.

+ For More Information www.mcerts.net ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |69|

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Miscellany |70| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Hired metals analyser ensures remediation success Cognition Land and Water Ltd, a UK based remediation specialist, has hired a portable XRF metals analyser to improve the speed of remediation work at a project in London’s Kentish Town. The project had a major impact on local residents so timescales were extremely tight but Cognition’s Charlie Jarvis said: “It would not have been possible to meet the deadline without the use of portable analysers because they enabled us to make decisions onsite without having to wait for the results of laboratory analysis.”

Background Cognition Land and Water is a specialist contractor for land remediation, brownfield reclamation and groundwater treatment projects. Operating throughout the UK, the company manages all aspects of remediation from initial feasibility studies through to final site hand-over, ensuring satisfaction for all stakeholders, including regulators, developers, local authorities, consultants and local communities. The company prides itself on developing innovative and often bespoke solutions to specific land and groundwater contamination issues.

Instrumentation specialist Ashtead Technology is the rental partner for the world’s top selling range of portable XRF analysers from Niton UK. XRF analysers provide fast, non-destructive, qualitative and quantitative assessment of metals and alloys in a variety of materials.

In addition to the onsite assessment of soil contamination, applications for XRF include quality control in manufacturing, metal evaluation in waste management, weld testing, electrical equipment testing under the RoHS and WEEE directives, the screening of consumer goods for contaminant materials such as lead in paint, toys, packaging etc. and the qualitative analysis of precious metals.

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In addition to their role in soil testing at brownfield sites, portable XRF analysers are employed in other environmental applications including elemental analysis of materials such as bulk powder, surface dust wipes, volume sampling air filters and individual operator respirator filters.

Portable XRF analysers are employed in remediation work to guide earthmoving equipment to soil contamination ‘hotspots’ which results in less soil removal and thereby lowers costs. These instruments can perform both in-situ (onsite) and ex-situ soil analysis (analysing prepared soil samples, via the prepared sample test-stand and soil sample preparation kit). This reduces the costs and time incurred by laboratory analysis.

Ashtead’s rental instruments employ the latest XRF technology to deliver high levels of accuracy and precision, and are able to measure most metals (includes all metals with a higher atomic weight than Aluminium).

Case Study - Kentish Town The gardens of 19 houses in Kentish Town have been found to be contaminated with metals such as lead, and Cognition Land and Water was employed by Camden Council to remove the polluted soil. The gardens all back onto the old Ascham Street works – a former industrial site that is reported, up until 1986, to have hosted nine different factories, including an electroplating works.

The remediation work necessitated disruption to the residents of the affected properties and also to those adjacent to the access which was created for the earth moving equipment. It was therefore necessary to be able to identify and remove the contaminated soil as quickly as possible and for this reason a portable XRF analyser was hired from Ashtead Technology.

With a standard analytical range of over 25 elements, the portable Niton XRF instrument provides instantaneous ‘point and shoot’ readings by simply holding the device directly over the soil. Results are displayed on a built-in screen and also stored internally for subsequent download via USB or Bluetooth communications.

Analytical results from an MCERTS approved UKAS certified laboratory are necessary for regulatory purposes, but the portable XRF instrument enables the rapid screening of multiple samples. Comparing the laboratory and portable XRF results, Charlie Jarvis said: “We were given a training course by Ashtead Technology prior to the use of the instrument, so we were ready to start using the device as soon as we arrived onsite. However, we first ‘calibrated’ the XRF results with laboratory analyses to reinforce our confidence in the field data from this site.

“The XRF analyser substantially increased the speed with which we were able to work and helped to ensure that only contaminated soil was removed. The success of this project is due in no small part to the contribution of this device and we therefore plan to use it again on future projects involving metals contamination.

Importantly, the ability to just rent the equipment when we need it saves what would be a considerable capital expense.”

+ For More Information www.ashtead-technology.com

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |73|

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Miscellany |74| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Introduction - Global warming

Carbon Storage Utilising Timber Products

by P. van der Lugt, MSc, PhD

Current consumption in human society shows a strong addiction to non renewable materials and fossil fuels while deforestation of tropical rainforests still continues at a high rate, which not only results in resource depletion but also means extra releases of greenhouse gases further enhancing the global warming problem. There are various strategies for climate change mitigation either by reducing their sources (e.g. higher energy efficiency, better insulation, using renewable energy, etc) or by increasing their sinks (carbon sequestration), in which forests and forest products play a major role. This essay deals with the role of forests and timber products as a carbon sink to mitigate climate change.

Carbon Sequestration at Global Level The effects of carbon sequestration can be understood when we look at a global system level.

On a global scale, CO2 is stored in forests (and other vegetation), in the ocean, and in products (buildings, furniture, etc). A good overview of the global carbon cycle and sequestration of carbon in forests is depicted in Fig. 1 (source NASA Earth Science Enterprise) revealing that the human role on CO2 emissions is three-fold: • 5.5 Gt carbon emissions per year caused by burning of fossil fuels

• 1.6 Gt carbon emissions per year caused by deforestation in tropical and sub-tropical areas • 0.5 Gt carbon sequestration per year by re-growth of forests on the Northern Hemisphere.

It can be concluded that the global carbon cycle can significantly be improved in the short term by i) less burning of fossil fuels, ii) stopping deforestation, iii) forest conservation by better management and wood production in plantations, iv) afforestation (planting of trees on soils that have not supported forests in the recent past) and v) increasing application of wood in durable (construction) products

Carbon Sequestration in Wood Besides forming a natural ecological habitat, forests are an important carbon sink by filtering CO2 out of the air and absorbing this in the biomass of the tree as biogenic carbon (see figure 2).

Figure 1: The global carbon cycle (source NASA) |76| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

The sustainable use of wood in durable products reduces the rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, thus acting as a brake on the greenhouse effect.

Figure 2: Explanation of the carbon sequestration process in wood

Although there are many misconceptions about this issue, for the sake of climate protection, actually the best thing to do is to preserve the forest through responsible management, while harvesting as much wood as sustainable from plantations in temperate and boreal climates for production of durable products such as furniture or construction products, which will act as additional carbon stores while providing the forest the opportunity to regenerate and produce new biomass (acting as additional carbon store).

Use of Wood - the Solution for Global Warming?

However, it is far too simple to claim that application of wood in design and construction will lead to carbon sequestration, and therefore it will counteract global warming. It depends on the type of wood and the way of sourcing. One should realise that, if there is no change in the area of forests and no change in the volume of wood in the built environment there is no change in sequestered carbon on a global level and hence no effect on carbon emissions. This means that only when the global area of forests is increasing, and when the total volume of wood in the built environment is increasing, there will be extra carbon sequestration.

Figure 3: Trends in carbon storage in forests from 1990 - 2010 (Source: FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010)

Carbon sequestration in forests While in the tropical regions deforestation is still continuing, in temperate regions such as in Europe and North America the net forest area, including the corresponding carbon stock, has been increasing steadily for several decades due to afforestation (see figure 3).

Although afforestation in temperate regions is a positive development, for the world as a whole, carbon stocks in forest biomass still decreased by an estimated 0.5 Gt due to deforestation in (sub)tropical regions worldwide between 2005 and 2010.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |77|

Demand of good quality certified (e.g. FSC, PEFC) tropical hardwoods suitable for outdoor use is higher than supply, resulting in illegal logging which, in turn, leads to the deforestation of tropical rainforests. Note that there are many other causes for deforestation besides illegal timber sourcing, such as the conversion of forest land to agriculture land, and forest fires.

Carbon sequestration in durable products The volume of wood in the built environment is slowly rising on a global scale (because of increasing population), which is positive in terms of extra carbon sequestration. Note that carbon sequestration is not increasing per house which is built, but per extra house that is built above the number of houses that are required to replace discarded, old, houses.

However, due to better performance, especially in outdoor use (durability, hardness, stability), tropical hardwood is often preferred over softwood from temperate regions, which as argued above, may lead to additional deforestation (and therefore carbon emissions) in tropical regions and thus may even have a negative impact on global warming.

Carbon Sequestration at Product Level Now that we understand the carbon cycle at the global level, including the role that wood can play in carbon sequestration, let’s focus at the product level on what the consequences are for carbon sequestration during production, consumption and disposal of wood products. Given the increasing attention worldwide with respect to global warming potential (GWP), the GWP of products is often assessed separately in a so-called ‘carbon footprint’. In such an assessment all the greenhouse gas emissions during the life cycle of a product are measured and expressed as kg CO2 equivalent (in short CO2e).

It is important to understand that there is currently no general consensus in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprint methodology (the most important ones being PAS 2050, ILCD and WRI/WBCSD GHG protocol) or how exactly to allocate credits for temporary storage of biogenic carbon (use phase) as well as fossil fuel substitution (end of life phase) in wood products. Most notably there is not a consensus about the time horizon to choose for such calculations. However, using common sense makes the issue of carbon sequestration over the life cycle (from growth and production, to use, to end of life of a timber product) comprehendible. See also figure 4.

Production phase If a tree from a well managed forest is harvested (thus replaced by a new tree), depending on the wood species (density) approximately 1 ton of CO2 is locked per m3 of timber product manufactured (wood species with a density of 550 kg/m3 |78| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Strategies for increasing carbon storage (for details see text below): 1. utilising wood species with higher annual yield 2. increasing durability of the wood product 3. recycling Figure 4: Avoided CO2 emissions in case of new sustainably managed plantations being established for manufacturing durable products (adapted after Technical University Munich, 2012)

absorb 1 ton of CO2, the higher the density the more CO2 is stored). Note that transport and manufacturing these timber products on the other hand yields new emissions, however these are usually many times lower than the CO2 absorbed during growth.

Use phase During its use in applications the CO2 is locked in the wood products for the life time of the product, acting as a temporary carbon sink until the wood breaks down into its original components, including CO2. Needless to say, the longer the wood remains in the application, the longer the CO2 is removed from the atmosphere, mitigating the global warming effect. An indirect CO2 saving effect of using wood is related to the good insulation properties wood has when used in the envelope of a building (e.g window frame, cladding, roof), providing energy saving benefits and consequently CO2 reductions.

End of Life phase When the wood product does reach the End of Life phase there are various scenarios possible. From an ecological and economic point of view if the quality of the discarded wood product permits (containing no toxic substances) , the best option is to recycle it to a secondary wood product such as MDF or particle board, thus further lengthening the carbon sink effect of the wood. Alternatively, the wood product can be burnt at end-of life in a biomass energy plant (preferred over a municipal waste incinerator due to the higher efficiency because of the focus on biomass), to generate green electricity, which can replace electricity from other sources,

including fossil fuels. As a result the use of fossil fuels and the emissions of fossil CO2 is consequently avoided, which results in a reduction of potential global warming effects and can therefore be regarded as a carbon credit (see figure 3). It should be noted that all too often wood is just being discarded in landfills, where during rot the same amount of CO2 is released in the atmosphere as was absorbed during growth. Additionally, there is the negative side-effect that upon dumping in landfills, other more harmful greenhouse gases may be released, most notably methane.

modification of fast growing sustainable species from certified sources. These kinds of wood technologies can compensate for the typical poor performance characteristics of most softwoods, especially in (outdoor) use, such as a

Strategies to increase the carbon storage effect in wood In each phase of the life cycle a strategy can be identified to further increase the carbon storage effect in wood products (see also figure 3).

First, during production there are large differences between wood species with respect to the amount of biomass which is accumulated in the trees during their growth in a certain period of time (rotation cycle), also known as the Mean Annual Increment (MAI). Even when compensating for density (usually slower growing species have larger density thus larger carbon storage per cubic meter of wood), there are large differences between wood species which makes it interesting to opt for faster growing wood species to increase the carbon sink effect that can be reached in the global durable products pool. Besides the increased carbon sink effect, from a materials depletion point of view (another global environmental problem), it is obviously better to look to wood species with a higher ability to regenerate (and to renewable materials in general as opposed to non renewable abiotic resources).

Figure 5: Cubic meters of wood produced per hectare per year (M3/ha/yr)

Second, in the use phase there are carbon storage advantages to be reached if the wood has a higher durability, thus lasts longer in the application. As argued above, tropical hardwood often has higher durability than many wood species from temperate regions, but is often not sourced responsibly, yielding extra CO2 emissions during production (deforestation).

Wood modification as a means of improving net carbon sink

Finally, during the End of Life phase wood products may be recycled into new wood products in which the carbon sink effect will be lengthened for the lifespan of the new application in which it is used (even when taking into account the CO2 emissions released during the recycling process).

Techniques of increasing wood life through the addition of toxic compounds can complicate or eliminate this potential.

Conclusion Looking at the potentialities and downsides of wood on both the product and global level, the big challenge for wood products to really make a global difference in carbon sequestration lies in enabling wood species from temperate regions (more stable forestry policies resulting in increasing afforestation & certified forest area) to substitute for popular but endangered tropical hardwoods.

A promising route enabling temperate wood species in high performance applications is large scale non toxic

low durability and dimensional stability. As such they adopt the carbon storage increase strategies as mentioned above and thus might provide the solution for a well performing, sustainable alternative to meet and even increase the market demand for high performance timber products, including their huge potential for carbon sequestration. Given these improved properties, modified wood may even be used in applications typically reserved for carbon intensive manmade materials such as plastics, metals and concrete. For more information about the potential of wood modification for carbon sequestration and saving see ‘Carbon Sequestration in Wood’.

Wood modification is a means of improving the performance of wood without the typical negative impacts of traditional preservation techniques based on impregnation with toxic preservatives such as CCA or ACQ. Wood modification works at a molecular level to change the structure of the wood itself and thus improve many of its performance characteristics, most importantly the durability and dimensional stability.

There are a variety of modification techniques being used in the market currently, of which acetylation is widely acknowledged as the method of achieving the greatest performance improvements.

Acetylation is the name of a chemical wood modification process which was already developed almost a century ago.

In this process, the free -OH (hydroxyl) groups within the cell wall are replaced by acetyl groups, a compound which occurs naturally in unmodified timber. These non-toxic acetyl groups are hydrophobic, and prevent water bonding onto the cell wall and so prevent the water causing swelling of the wood or providing a food source for the fungus and attacking insects that bring about decay, resulting in the highest durability class possible (class 1 in EN 350). The bi-product of this process is acetic acid, otherwise known as vinegar in its dilute form, which can be reused in a wide range of industries including the food industry.

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Figure 6: the chemical reaction occurring during acetylation

Acetylated wood has recently been developed to commercial scale under the brand names Accoya® (acetylated timber) and Tricoya (acetylated fibres for products such as MDF).

The features above make acetylated wood a very promising alternative for tropical hardwood in outdoor applications such as external joinery, decking and canal lining, but due to the good processability (machining, glueing) also for structural glulam applications such as bridges, normally preserved for traditional carbon intensive materials such as steel and concrete, as tropical hardwood is not suitable for glue lamination.

Figure 7: A large scale application of Accoya® wood – Sneek bridge, the Netherlands

Figure 7 shows one such structural application for Accoya® wood.

The traffic bridge in Sneek, the Netherlands, is the first ever heavy traffic road bridge constructed with a wooden bearing structure.

The following calculations are based on carbon footprint studies executed by Verco and reviewed LCA study of the Delft University of Technology, and use the PAS 2050 methodology for identifying the CO2 sequestered in acetylated wood during the expected life span (80 years) of this application, showing the huge carbon sink potential of this kind of wood modification technology.

Note that this calculation still excludes potential End of Life benefits (e.g. substitution of fossil fuels upon incineration) and the fact that the carbon footprint for Accoya will likely improve even more as more local wood species are introduced and factory efficiency increases.

CO2 sequestered in the Sneek bridge 1

Density of wood (kg/m3 based upon radiate pine at 12% moisture content)

450

2

Assumed carbon content of wood

50%

3

CO2 sequestered excluding PSA 2050 weighting (kgCO2/m3)

825

4

Expected lifespan of the bridge (years)

80

5

CO2 sequestered including PSA 2050 weighting (kgCO2/m3)

[3] x ( [4] / 100 )

660

6

CO2 emitted during production (Acetylated Radiata Pine)

-391

7

Total: CO2 sequestered during production and use (kgCO2/m3)

[5] - [6]

291

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[1] x [2] x 44 / 12

New woodland – business-friendly ecosystems in a green economy?

Trees are nature’s proven technology for removing carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas by volume, from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in wood. We face a huge task to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the coming years and decades. The scale of this challenge – an 80% reduction by 2050 under the Climate Change Act - points to the need to employ all the measures available to us, and to do so using the most cost-effective mix of options.

Woodlands in the UK currently remove about 10 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 per year (about 2% of the UK’s GHG emissions), and store about 550Mt CO2 equivalent in the biomass (mostly tree and plant material), as well as a large quantity in the soils. The authoritative “Read Report” on forests and climate change published in 2009 concluded that creating further woodlands in the UK can make a significant and cost-effective contribution to our efforts to achieve CO2 abatement.

Dr Pat Snowdon, head of Economics and Climate Change for the Forestry Commission, explains how investment in new woodland planting in the UK can be good for nature, good for people and good for business. |82| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

+ For More Information www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-7y4gn9

Increasing the carbon dioxide (CO2) abatement potential of UK woodlands will require significant levels of additional funding. Attracting private-sector funding will be particularly important, given current pressures on public finances. Even a small proportion of total privatesector investment in low-carbon and green technologies would have a substantial financial impact on the forestry sector.

A significant step towards drawing in business funding has been the development of the Woodland Carbon Code, a voluntary carbon standard launched by the Forestry Commission in 2011. The Code aims to bolster market confidence in the capacity of UK woodlands to secure abatement of CO2 emissions while delivering wider social and environmental benefits.

The standards in the Code include the measurement of CO2 uptake, sustainable forest management practices (as set out in the UK Forestry Standard), the management of risks (such as disease and windthrow), and a set of key criteria used by leading international standards in assessing the permanence and ‘additionality’ of the benefits delivered.

To conform to the Code, projects must be certified by an independent body accredited by the UK Accreditation Service.

Two certification companies are currently performing this role, validating projects which have registered under the Code, and subsequently verifying them at regular intervals. Certified projects can display the Woodland Carbon Code logo. The aim throughout is to ensure that the Code is robust, consistent and transparent, while ensuring that the bureaucratic aspects of conforming to it are kept to a minimum.

The Code has attracted significant interest from businesses and individuals seeking to reduce their carbon footprint while also delivering benefits for wildlife and local communities. To date, approximately 3000 hectares of new woodland have been registered under the Code across the UK, and these are predicted to sequester more than 1.3Mt of CO2 over the next 70-100 years. More than 70 projects have been registered, covering diverse types of woodlands. A scheme in Cumbria has used local volunteers to plant trees supplied by the Woodland Trust, with finance for carbon credits coming from major retailers and travel companies. Another in Monmouthshire is supported with funding from a major lighting company to deliver CO2 abatement, as well as providing improvements in water quality, habitat enhancement and areas of timber production

+ For More Information www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-863lbl

Land managers are also reassured by the Code. Buccleuch Estates Ltd has entered projects under the Code in England and Scotland. Jim Colchester, its forestry manager, said, “Having our tree-planting projects certified under the Code means we can be certain that the investment will create valuable new woodland habitats, provide a future source of timber, and deliver a lasting legacy that will benefit our climate for many years to come.”

The bigger picture The market for forest carbon in the UK is still in its infancy, and is voluntary, operating separately from the compliance markets set up to meet Kyoto Protocol targets. And it is developing against a background of uncertainty about the future of carbon markets globally, demonstrated by the difficulties faced in securing international agreement on the way forward.

However, its future potential will not be driven purely by the efforts of governments, but also by future corporate and consumer behaviour and whether market forces can be harnessed to tackle climate change and deliver a low-carbon and green economy. Awareness has been growing, in some cases spearheaded ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |83|

Its future potential will not be driven purely by the efforts of governments, but also by future corporate and consumer behaviour and whether market forces can be harnessed to tackle climate change and deliver a lowcarbon and green economy

by businesses, that the further incorporation of environmental and social objectives into market processes may offer major opportunities both to underpin the health of ecosystems and provide benefits that businesses and society need.

A series of high-profile reports in recent years - notably the 2006 Stern Report on the economics of climate change and the 2009 UN-led study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (www.teebweb.org) – have raised awareness of the interdependence between ecosystems and social and economic welfare. They draw attention to the huge potential costs to businesses and society if investment in ecosystems is not ramped up in future. In investment circles, the emergence of the green investment sector (including the issuance of green bonds and climate bonds) reflects a wider trend towards ‘impact’ investing, in which investors seek clear environmental and social benefits alongside financial returns. US investment bank JP Morgan estimates the potential opportunity for impact investing globally could exceed $400bn by 2020.

+ For More Information www.jpmorgan.com/pages/jpmorgan

Important initiatives have been taken forward in the UK. The UK Government has developed guidelines for companies to report their GHG emissions - including GHG removals through planting woodlands in the UK – and has recently announced mandatory reporting for “quoted companies”. In 2011, it published the landmark National Ecosystem Assessment, the first comprehensive analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and economic prosperity (uknea.unep-wcmc.org). The recent Natural Environment White Paper has led to the creation of a Natural Capital Committee, designed to improve understanding in government of the value of natural capital and how it can be enhanced. It also led to the establishment of the Ecosystem Markets Task Force, a business-led initiative to review the opportunities for businesses to develop green goods, services, investment vehicles and markets which value and protect the environment (www.defra.gov.uk/ environment/natural/whitepaper/). Meanwhile, cross-sectoral alliances such as the Aldersgate Group continue to press the case that economic and environmental objectives need to go hand in hand in forging a sustainable economy (www.aldersgategroup.org.uk).

Thus, the emergence of the Woodland Carbon Code can be seen as part of a much bigger movement to find ways of using market processes to underpin the provision of ecosystem services. The initiatives outlined above offer exciting opportunities for woodlands to help demonstrate how natural capital underpins sustainable economic activity, and for businesses to engage in finding solutions to ecosystem decline. The challenge has been articulated very well by the Aldersgate Group: “Instead of measuring the destruction of nature as an economic gain, we need to address its stewardship as an economic opportunity”.

+ For More Information www.aldersgategroup.org.uk/reports “Pricing the Priceless” p5 |84| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

The development of markets in carbon abatement and other ecosystem services is not a call for unfettered market processes. Economists such as Lord Stern have pointed out that market failures have been instrumental in bringing about much of the damage to our ecosystems. Rather, it aims to harness market forces where these can be for the greater good. The development of the Woodland Carbon Code demonstrates the importance of ensuring that markets conform to environmental standards.

+ For More Information www.forestry.gov.uk/carboncode www.forestry.gov.uk/climate pat.snowdon@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Standards are essential, both to avoid unintended consequences and to secure confidence among investors that their investments have integrity from a social and environmental perspective. And, of course, the bottom line will continue to be that environmental regulations and designations will protect the most precious parts of our natural capital.

So what next?

Building on the evidence in the Read Report, attention has turned to finding ways to stimulate investment in woodland creation and management. The Woodland Carbon Code will be developed further in the next year, including the launch of a ‘group scheme’ which enables smaller projects to collaborate to share monitoring and verification costs.

Carbon credits generated under the code will also be tracked on a formal carbon registry, enabling businesses to demonstrate greater transparency in their investments. The Forestry Commission, with partners in the private and voluntary sectors, is examining new financial and market mechanisms to encourage businesses and communities to invest in planting new woodlands, drawing where possible on wider work to develop the green investment market.

The publication in July this year of the report of the Independent Panel on Forestry in England has given further impetus to this work.

+ For More Information www.defra.gov.uk/forestrypanel

It is clear that a range of measures might be needed, providing the information, standards and incentives which can drive land manager and investor behaviour.

Woodlands have much to offer, whether it be the potential to soak up CO2 from the atmosphere, mitigate flooding, improve air and water quality, or enhance biodiversity. An integrated and mutually supportive approach with agriculture and other land uses will be essential. Research funded by the Forestry Commission and DEFRA is underway to examine the cost-effectiveness of woodlands in delivering CO2 emissions abatement and other ecosystem services. Such work will help to build the evidence base for policy-makers and the business community on where investment in ecosystems is a sound business decision.

Work is also under way to develop pilot projects to see where payments for ecosystem services - by businesses, public bodies or consumers - can be put into practice. All of these measures are needed to show how the sound management of our woodlands and wider ecosystems is in the common interest of businesses, local communities and the wider public.

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Diesel

a versatile engine From peanut oil to methane gas. The fuels powering the diesel engine have undergone considerable development during its 119 year long history. So much so that today, even the fuel we traditionally, if somewhat simplistically, refer to as ‘diesel’ is beginning to make way for alternatives with a smaller environmental footprint, such as biogas and DME. Time to examine what it is all about. |88| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

One might say that diesel is somewhat misunderstood and has received more than its fair share of criticism from an environmental perspective. Originally the term had nothing to do with any particular type of fuel but instead only described a particular type of engine. For instance, Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, ran his first engines on peanut oil. For many people, however, the word has become synonymous with fossil diesel oil, which is a rather narrow description since the diesel engine can be run on many different fuels, some of which are renewable.

The common factor is that they are ignited via compression instead of via the spark provided by a spark plug.

The reason why diesel oil has become synonymous with the diesel engine is that, over the years, that has been the most common fuel used in the diesel engine. However, as society’s demands increase and technology makes significant advances, so too are more and more alternative fuels being developed for use in the diesel engine.

“It’s important for us to work with a wide range of alternative fuels and to come up with solutions that reduce our impact on the climate. It is already possible to build efficient diesel engines that run on renewable fuels. This can be shown, not least, in our new Volvo FM MethaneDiesel and the bioDME-powered trucks on which we are now conducting field tests. This fuel has the potential for cutting CO2 emissions by 95%,” says Lars Mårtensson, Environmental Director at Volvo Trucks.

One engine – several fuels Anders Röj is a fuel expert at Volvo Technology. He explains that diesel fuel can actually be made from virtually any organic material just as long as it has flammable properties that make it suitable for the diesel process.

“However, some fuels require major or minor modifications of the engine and its peripheral equipment. And, unfortunately, the engine does not always function equally well on all fuels. For instance, biodiesel exhibits poorer stability and coldweather properties than hydrocarbon-based diesel fuels. When mixed in small quantities with diesel oil, however, biodiesel functions well if its quality is acceptable in other respects.

Since there is such a wide range of alternative fuels, it is a good idea to undertake a thorough review of just what is available. Here is therefore an examination of both existing and future fuels for the diesel engine.

Fossil diesel oil What we traditionally refer to as diesel oil is a petroleum product consisting of hydrocarbons. To produce diesel fuel, crude oil is first distilled and then refined. In this process the petroleum is filtered and purified to meet the legislative requirements and diesel standard of the particular country in which the fuel is to be sold.

The EU, for instance, has both a directive and a CEN standard* – an abbreviation that stands for European Committee for Standardization – to regulate quality requirements for diesel fuel. The USA on the other hand generally adopts the ASTM International standard. Furthermore, many countries also have their own national standards.

According to Anders Röj, fossil diesel fuel offers the best energy efficiency from initial oil extraction to combustion in the engine, known as the “well-to-wheel” perspective.

“Nature has done an excellent preliminary job with its crude oil deep down in the bowels of the earth over millions of years. And in the almost 100 years that oil refineries have been around, the technology has also undergone significant development,” he explains.

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Biodiesel

Methane gas

FAME, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters, is the collective name for what we refer to as biodiesel.

FAME can be produced from a number of different vegetable or animal oils, such as rapeseed oil (RME), soya oil (SME) and palm oil (PME). It is even possible to run a diesel engine on fuel obtained from used cooking oil or tallow, depending on where in the world the biodiesel is produced.

Natural gas or biogas can be used as vehicle fuel in both compressed and liquid form. It does not ignite like diesel fuel but if fossil or biodiesel is used to assist in the combustion process, it works well.

The advantage of FAME fuels is that they give 50-60% lower CO2 emissions from “well to wheel” compared with conventional diesel, and are free from sulphur and aromatics.

The fuels’ downsides are that they contribute to increased emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Within the EU, it is no longer permitted for diesel fuel to contain more than 7% FAME since, with a higher proportion, NOx emissions will be too high.

“Had FAME not been a bio-component we would probably be very negative to such fuels due to the NOx emissions and quality problems. Now, however, there is political pressure to use renewable fuels, and biodiesel is one of the few biofuels currently available on a commercial scale,” says Anders Röj.

Synthetic diesel Diesel oil can also be produced synthetically through gasification of fuels such as black coal and natural gas, creating a fuel that contains a smaller proportion of aromatic hydrocarbons. There is at present no significant production of synthetic diesel, however research is currently being conducted into energy-efficient gasification of biomass. If this project is successful synthetic diesel may become a particularly viable fuel in the future.

“Emissions of NOx and particulates from synthetic diesel are lower than from fossil diesel oil. However, the energy content per litre of fuel is somewhat lower,” Anders Röj goes on to say.

DME (Dimethyl ether) One of the synthetic diesel fuels being examined is an ether known as DME, a carbon/ hydrogen/oxygen molecular bond. At present DME is produced from natural gas, but Swedish company Chemrec is running a pilot plant for the production of BioDME in Piteå, where the raw material being used is black liquor, a high-energy by-product of paper pulp manufacture. It gives 95% lower CO2 emissions than diesel fuel and zero emissions of soot. BioDME can also be produced from other biomass sources.

“As a diesel fuel, BioDME gives the highest energy output per unit of raw material. It offers five times the driving range per unit of cultivated arable land than biodiesel, for instance,” reveals Anders Röj.

Consequently, BioDME is one of the fuels that Volvo Trucks is focusing on for the future.

The company is currently engaged in field tests in Sweden with trucks running on DME. |90| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

In May 2011 Volvo Trucks launched its new Volvo FM MethaneDiesel, a gas-powered truck designed for regional distribution. It is powered by up to 75% liquefied methane gas with the remainder consisting of diesel oil, with the diesel serving as the above-mentioned “spark plug”. With biogas in the fuel tank, CO2 emissions drop by up to 70% compared with a conventional diesel engine. With fossil-based gas, emissions are cut by 10%.

The advantages of renewable fuels for diesel engines: • Obtained from renewable energy sources (biomass).

• Cause lower (in some cases much lower) emissions of greenhouse gases compared with fossil diesel fuel.

• Usually produce lower particle emissions; some fuels burn with virtually no soot formation (e.g. DME).

• Other regulated emissions may also be lower than for fossil diesel fuel. *CEN standard EN 590

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The Paper Chain

P u l p , P a p e r a n d Wa s t e

Recycled paper has been available to the mass market for a number of years and the concept of recycling paper is more established than many other forms of recycling. Indeed most organisations and families would have been aware of paper recycling well before the popularity of weekly recycling bin collections. Now we are in a position, certainly in the UK, where most businesses and homes recycle without a second thought. To some extent this has come about because of recycled paper – one of the first mass market recycled materials.

Today, recycled papers come in many shapes, textures, colours and sizes. They are no longer the yellow, rough and poor quality papers that were so popular in the early 90s. A number of papers that are produced from post-consumer waste are now comparable to virgin-fibre papers in whiteness and brightness.

Technological advancements have enabled manufacturers to produce papers that are not only sustainable but also provide exceptional quality.

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Recycled paper can now match the high qualities desired by businesses, as innovative new mills can produce FSC® recycled certified pulp without compromising on quality or whiteness. For example, at Arjowiggins Graphic’s Greenfield pulp mill in Château-Thierry, France we employ a unique process to produce de-inked pulp (of which 15-25% of the waste paper is sourced from the UK thus reducing landfill), which results in industry leading levels of whiteness. This is used to manufacture quality, recycled grades with varying levels of de-inked pulp (15% - 100%) that are comparable to virgin papers.

This de-inking process has three separate cleaning loops designed to be extremely efficient at extracting ink, while remaining chlorine-free. There is also a strict quality control system in place to check the pulp for brightness, dirt and stickies (tacky substances contained in paper pulp). The process also follows strict guidelines on its environmental impact; it uses biodegradable cleaners and chlorine free bleaches and the entire process is structured to limit impact on the wider eco-system.

Once the pulp has been produced the next stage in the manufacturing process is the production of the paper. This stage should take place at ISO14001 certified mills to guarantee the highest environmental standards are being met.

Organisations need to review their supply chain from the cradle to the grave and even to resurrection in order to make sure that they are completely committed to reducing their environmental impact.

This means that they should be reviewing their suppliers to see how their actions impact on an organisations own environmental impact. For example, Arjowiggins Graphic is involved in a €60m project that will see the installation of a 60MW biomass cogeneration unit to use steam to provide power to one of its mills.

The project will also generate electricity for the national French electricity provider, EDF. Based at the Besse sur Braye paper mill site, France, the new power system has been under discussion for two years and was selected by the French government as part of the CRE4 program of the ministry of Environment in September 2011. It is currently ready to start its operational phase and is scheduled for completion during the second half of 2014.

At the other end of the supply chain, waste is an important area to address for most organisations. In recycled paper production it is vital to secure waste that is of the necessary standard. This is more often than not post consumer office waste. But to be truly sustainable, and act responsibly in the markets that multinational companies operate in, companies must commit to sourcing waste from various markets. For example, Arjowiggins Graphic has committed to sourcing 15-25% of its waste from the UK to match the production that is sold to that market – effectively cancelling out any waste from their own products in the UK. Closed loop recycling is a growing trend in paper sourcing, the idea being that waste paper is collected from businesses, recycled, then delivered back to the business as useable office paper. In a closed loop paper recycling scheme waste paper is collected, shredded if necessary, then bundled off to the supplier for de-inking and remanufacture. To complete the cycle, the scheme member companies can buy back the paper to reuse again.

Companies can usually sign up to these types of schemes for free, enhancing their environmental kudos.

In Europe in 2011, 81 million tonnes of paper and board was consumed of which 58 million tonnes of waste paper was recovered for recycling.

Whilst most waste graphic paper is recycled into Newsprint, case materials and tissue, just 1% was used to make graphic papers.

However with schemes such as The Full Cycle TM Paper Scheme launched recently in the UK by paper merchant Antalis McNaughton, waste graphic paper from the UK is recycled back to its original standard and returned to the local markets. The advantages don’t end with improved supply chain

security though. It also means that up to half a million tonnes of waste paper can be recycled up to 5 times by making high quality graphic paper instead of lower quality newsprint, cardboard and tissue.

The cycle also makes sense of transport arrangements. For instance delivery trucks that travel extensively across Europe should make sure that they carry a load of used paper on the return leg for recycling. This means they don’t run back empty to the mill each time - a big saving in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

Of course not all of these papers are produced using just recycled pulp. It is also necessary to secure Forestry Stewardship Council® certified virgin fibre for the percentage of virgin pulp that may need to be used.

There are many other certifications that consumers should also be aware of when making paper purchasing decisions. The Forestry Stewardship Council is a global, notfor-profit organisation dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide, and involvement with the organisation means that papers which carry the mark are not damaging the environment. It is the only standard that is recognised by the major NGOs including WWF and Greenpeace.

Other high-profile certifications include the European eco-label, Blue Angel and the NAPM Recycled label which are all well respected and should be a first port of call for anyone choosing a recycled paper.

The WWF also has a number of programmes that they have created to enable better environmental choices.

For instance, its Climate Savers Programme has been created in a

bid to enlighten customers about the excellent work that is being done by member companies. Created more than 10 years ago it mobilises leading multinational companies to cut their CO2 emissions to the maximum and lead on the issue of climate change.

They have demonstrated that it’s possible to reduce carbon footprint while growing the business and shareholder value.

Companies integrated in the Climate Savers Program agree to reduce their CO2 emissions in accordance with an individual reduction target defined by WWF, the company and independent technical experts. Members of the programme include Coca-Cola, Nike, HP, Sony and Arjowiggins Graphic.

Another WWF initiative, specifically for the paper industry, is the WWF Environmental Paper Company Index.

The index identifies a company’s impact on forest ecosystems from fibre sourcing, its emissions from manufacturing processes and corporate transparency. The index rated 10 global paper manufacturers on their ecological footprint, covering the fine paper, tissue and packaging sectors. The results offer independent analysis of the paper industry that can help businesses to make an informed purchasing decision.

Recycled paper manufacturers are still at the forefront of environmentally friendly companies. However, in an increasingly conscious world manufacturers should ensure they achieve and demonstrate all the potential savings across their supply chains to remain innovators in the industry. In particular, companies should look to source recycled paper from manufacturers that employ pioneering methods in their mills and offer waste solutions that are both pragmatic and sustainable.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |95|

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Energy

Flooding Food, Agriculture & Packaging

Green Building

Labs & Testing

Land Management

Timber

Transport

Waste Management

Water Miscellany |96| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Using

UV Fluorescence technology to monitor for

organic pollutants

By Jim Ward, Operations Manager, STS Instruments Ltd

For many years the water industry has relied on traditional sampling techniques to monitor water quality in a wide range of environments. Traditional tests such as BOD, PH, Dissolved Oxygen and Ammonia have formed the bedrock of monitoring parameters.

There are however other ways to establish water quality and UV fluorescence offers an up to date solution for the investigation of Organic pollutants.

UV Fluorescence works by using a light source to excite a water sample and cause certain compounds in the water to fluoresce. This fluorescence is then measured using a detector and filter which eliminates the excitation wavelength and passes the wavelength of the fluorescent material. The technique of course relies on the water sample having a fluorescent constituent and there are only a limited number of fluorescent compounds which are useful in determining water quality.

Until recently the biggest issue facing the use of this technology has been the size and cost of the available equipment. Usually such measurements are carried out on large bench top spectrometers costing in excess of ÂŁ25k and often weighing over 20kg. This alone is a significant barrier to the widespread use of fluorescence in routine |98| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

monitoring but coupled to this is the requirement for such bench top instruments to be operated by a skilled technician and of course their associated costs.

The advent of smaller but equally sensitive detectors and the ability to produce small but very powerful light sources utilising either LED or Xenon lamp technology has now brought a portable solution to this problem.

Currently operators have to make visits to a site in order to collect samples, log and send them in a prescribed format and under regulated conditions to the lab, wait for the samples to be processed and then collate the data generated into a usable format. The benefits to such a regime are that there is an on-going record and audit trail which can be used for evidence. However the overriding cost implication born by the water companies far outweighs

these simple markers. Man hours for the operator, vehicle costs, equipment costs, consumables, lab overheads, lab staff, data collection and analysis all contribute to the real cost of monitoring.

The advantage therefore of taking the measurement in the field, getting an instant answer and being able to act immediately on that evidence massively reduces the cost overheads associated with such sampling regimes.

UV fluorescence has been shown to be a particularly effective tool when looking for signs of organic pollution derived from human waste. It is an unfortunate fact that water courses, lakes and the seas are regularly polluted with human sewage and its associated impact on water quality. Concern over the quality of our bathing waters has been high on the agenda for the

Environment Agency – and therefore the water companies discharging to bathing waters - for many years.

Fluorescence monitoring therefore offers a viable cost effective solution to the monitoring of the many water courses discharging on to beaches. Unlike standard BOD tests a fluorescent detector can be left in situ to monitor a watercourse over a number of days or weeks and the data gathered will show a true representation of the water quality over time. It is impossible using a 5 day BOD to know that you are taking a representative sample of the normal state of a water body, and the potential to miss a pollution event is clear. Further a BOD sample taken which returns a high figure is merely an indication of a moment in time – returning to the site to carry out further sampling may reveal little as the event may have already passed or be cyclical and not discharging at the time of sampling.

Fluorescence gives the operator the ability to take instant readings, make a quick analysis of the results and determine if further investigation is required. Further it means the operator can immediately attempt to trace a polluting load back to its source, identify and document the likely outfall or connection and if required know where and when to take a sample for regulatory evidence. The difference is that the sample now has a history and a provenance which shows a much more significant picture than a single grab sample could ever do.

Fluorescence can also be of help where investigations into cross or mis-connections is required. Any built up urban area will have its particular issues but the certainty is that a percentage of all properties will have mis-connections between rain water run off to storm sewers and services destined for foul sewers. These mis-connections often occur where an extension or refurbishment has been completed and the services are mistakenly plumbed into the wrong sewers. Water companies and the Environment Agency are actively

Fluorescence gives the operator the ability to take instant readings, make a quick analysis of the results and determine if further investigation is required. targeting customers with information campaigns aimed at educating consumers as to the implications of such actions and how they can resolve existing problems. Until that happens there is a huge and ever growing scheme of investigations into sewer connections by teams of contractors paid by the water companies to identify and eliminate them. Providing these teams with the instruments with which to carry out these tasks has, in many cases, previously been limited to rudimentary caging and visual assessment with sampling only carried out at the outfall into a watercourse.

Enabling these teams to actually physically map out the pollution flowing through a network of rain water sewers will vastly improve the efficiency and rapid resolution of cross connections. Rapid on-site detection and quantification gives the operator an indication not only of the presence of pollution but also the severity of pollution leading to a more appropriate response in keeping with the situation at hand.

Critics will of course say that regulatory consents require the taking of samples and recording of evidence and that fluorescence cannot replace these demands, and you cannot argue against this.

The potential however to streamline processes, reduce costs and increase resolution rates must be seen hand in hand with the regulatory requirements.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |99|

Professional approach Is there a universal solution that will fit most SuDS requirements? The simple answer is no. A lot depends on the characteristics of the site - ground conditions in terms of soil and bedrock, ground water levels and vulnerability, whether it’s a greenfield or a brownfield site, and so on. The type of proposed development also makes a big difference.

The drainage requirements of a waste treatment plant, for example, will of course be entirely different from those of a housing development or a retail complex. It follows therefore that the choice and design of SuDS will need to be closely tailored to the individual development.

A third potential advantage is an increase in property value or attractiveness. A well landscaped open pond in a new housing development, for example, can serve not only as a SuDS facility but as a public amenity which families are likely to appreciate and value - even if a small amount of land has to be given up to provide the space for it. Another consideration is that discounts on surface water drainage charges may be available where there is no connection to the public sewer – a financial benefit that can help to attract buyers.

On the downside, the new Flood and Water Management Act (although not yet enacted) gives the SAB the opportunity to call for a retention bond which will be held until the SuDS are constructed to the required standard. If all goes well the bond is returned to the developer. If not, it’s used to bring the SuDS up to the standard required.

In addition, of course, there will be some costs associated with developing a surface water management plan, and then designing and constructing the sustainable driainage system itself.

So when it comes to embracing SuDS there are some clear potential business advantages – reduced maintenance costs and the potential for planning approval – with some consultation and construction costs and the risk of a retention bond. In comparing SuDS with traditional drainage, however, it’s generally the case anyway that SuDS can be more cost-effective than using a conventional piped drainage system – especially where sites drain easily to the ground.

Another general benefit of the Flood and Water Management Act in relation to SuDS is that it should make for a more consistent approach between local authorities and Environment Agency regional offices – given that interpretation of the current guidance and the experience of individual officers can, at the moment, vary quite widely.

In short, SuDS are moving from an option to a requirement but this is something to be embraced by developers, rather than being feared. |100| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Experience also shows that it pays to bring in the right specialist consultancy at a very early stage, even before the master planning begins. This allows the developer, architect and consultancy to look together at all the issues and constraints so that the masterplan can be developed to take sustainable drainage into account right from the start.

Since space is nearly always an issue, this approach can help to optimise the use of space by careful planning.

Early involvement can also help to avoid simple mistakes in masterplanning, such as locating green spaces at a high point where they can’t also be used for drainage purposes.

The right consultancy should also be able to bring together Flood Risk Assessments and SuDS design expertise with all the other environmental aspects that need to inform the masterplan – such as ground conditions, ecology, archaeology and so on. Thinking these through in parallel should help to avoid expensive changes later, and make for a professional approach from concept through to design and on into construction.

SuDS are moving from an option to a requirement but this is something to be embraced by developers, rather than being feared.

UV Disinfection Wastewater Reuse U s i n g UV Disinfection

Introduction The UV disinfection industry has experienced tremendous growth over the last 20 years. The development of new UV technologies over this period is a perfect example of an industry investing to meet market demand – in this case demand for an effective, low cost, and environmentally friendly way to disinfect wastewater for reuse.

The acceptance of UV disinfection at wastewater plants treating in excess of one billion gallons daily is proof that UV is no longer an ‘emerging’ technology, but rather an accepted technology to be used routinely by engineers to safeguard human health and alleviate environmental pressures.

Wastewater reuse has been practiced in various forms for decades, with the United States leading the way in reuse research. It is now a major issue in the US where large areas of the Western and Southern states experience chronic water shortages. The problem is becoming more acute with many of the most arid states, such as Nevada and Arizona, experiencing rapid increases in their urban populations since the 1990s. Large-scale reuse projects are now also being considered in other water-poor regions of the world such as Australia, southern Europe and China.

New Technology The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling has vastly improved UV equipment manufacturers’ ability to predict with confidence the level of treatment required for wastewater using their proprietary equipment. All manufacturers will soon use this tool to optimize the dose delivery of their reactors and minimize energy costs. Also, as manufacturers develop and improve optimized UV reactors, they will be able to validate the designs using USEPA, NWRI or European validation protocols.

Conventional UV lamp technology will also improve over the coming years, with medium pressure lamps continuing to see gains in energy efficiency, lamp life and power density, and Quartz coating techniques extending lamp life to well over 12,000 hours.

Concerns A major concern to the UV industry is the issue of microbial reactivation – the apparent ability of some microorganisms to repair the damage done to their DNA by UV, reactivating their ability to infect. DNA repair can occur in a closed (dark) system, but is more likely in open systems

under direct sunlight (photoreactivation). The dose level and lamp type seem to affect the degree of reactivation, with low pressure (single wavelength) UV lamps appearing to be more susceptible to photoreactivation than medium pressure (multi-wavelength) lamps (see reference 1). A much larger research effort into the area of photoreactivation is required and will most likely be forthcoming over the next five years.

A significant amount of research has also targeted the question of UV disinfection by-products (DBPs), specifically the most common water constituents such as chlorine, bromide, nitrate, ozone, natural organic matter and iron.

At normal UV disinfection doses no significant disinfection by-products have been shown to form.

Benefits of UV for the reuse market The most common method of wastewater disinfection for reuse has long been chlorination. Despite chlorine’s impressive track record, concerns regarding DBPs and, more recently, disinfection performance with respect to pathogen inactivation, are driving the conversion from chlorine disinfection to other disinfection methods such as UV, which does not produce any DBPs. ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |101|

Closed vessel UV systems are easy to install within existing pipework, so there is minimal disruption to plant operation. Day to day operation is simple and only minor maintenance is needed. The only regular requirement is changing the UV lamps and wiper rings once a year, a straightforward operation that can be carried out by onsite personnel.

UV systems for wastewater reuse are also validated to much higher doses than drinking water systems, according to protocols established by the National Water Research Institute (NWRI). Drinking water type product validation, with the accompanying rigor, will emerge as the dominant method of assessing suitability for these critical applications. The ability to prevent photo repair will also emerge as key.

Applications for wastewater reuse Potential applications for wastewater reuse are extremely wide-ranging and include any instance where water is needed for non-potable or indirect potable use.

The most popular and widespread use is for agricultural irrigation, with the USA leading the way, but with China and a number of Australian states also making significant progress. Other irrigation uses include landscape and recreational applications such as golf courses, parks, and lawns.

“The wastewater is treated by three Berson InLine systems handling a combined flow of three million gallons (over 11.3 million litres) per day,” explained Anthem’s wastewater Foreman Jeff Marlow.

“They work in conjunction with microfiltration and nitrification/ denitrification. We chose the Berson UV systems because they are optimised to meet the Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) Permit Program,” he added.

Conventional

UV technologies have been

field tested and now have considerable

The two local golf courses currently use a combination of UV treated wastewater and fresh river water for irrigation, but with increase in population, it is expected that the courses will soon be using wastewater exclusively.

Conclusion

The UV industry has matured considerably over the last decade and is now highly regulated and dominated by the world’s major water technology companies.

Conventional UV technologies have been field tested and now have considerable track records in a wide range of applications. Uncertainties surrounding regulations, royalties, technology and engineering have decreased and acceptance of UV is expected to grow rapidly over the next 20 years. Conventional UV designs have been greatly aided by CFD, which will be used as a routine sizing tool for future designs.

track records in a wide range of applications.

Reclaimed wastewater is also used for groundwater recharge applications such as aquifer storage and recovery or preventing saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers.

Other uses include toilet and urinal flushing, fire fighting, foundation stabilization in the construction industry and artificial snow generation. In all these applications, reuse wastewater relieves the burden on existing municipal potable supplies.

Case study – Arizona, USA Two golf courses in the town of Anthem in Arizona, USA are using UV-treated wastewater for irrigation. Founded just over 10 years ago Anthem, a town just north of Phoenix, now has a population of over 40,000. As part of its rapid expansion the town recently installed three closed chamber, medium pressure UV systems from Berson’s US |102| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

sister company Aquionics to disinfect its wastewater. This allows the town to not only meet increased demands in its water and wastewater treatment capacity, but also to exceed the output quality standards.

The stage is now set for dramatic growth in the wastewater reuse market, especially with increasing populations putting even more pressure on already overstretched water resources in many regions of the world. Tighter limitations on pollution discharge will also play an important role in the development of this technology.

References: 1. Hu J. Y., Chu, S. N., Quek, P. H., Feng, Y. Y., and Tan, X. L. (2005).

Repair and regrowth of Escherichia coli after low- and medium-pressure ultraviolet disinfection. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, Vol. 5, No. 5, 101-108.

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With three decades of experience in the Ultraviolet industry combined with constant product innovation and the development of award winning system designs, atg UV provide versatile and durable solutions for many applications in a variety of industry sectors and operating environments, with flows ranging from a few litres per hour to over 5,000m3/hr in a single compact unit .

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DWI Guidelines for UV Drinking Water Disinfection atg UV, has seen increasing interest in the application of UV systems for the treatment of drinking water applications since the UK Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) released their ‘Guidance on the use of Ultraviolet (UV) Irradiation for the Disinfection of Public Water Supplies’.

With systems treating in excess of 2000 m3/hr daily, Ultraviolet disinfection is no longer an ‘emerging’ technology.

A number of Water Treatment Works across the UK are now investing heavily in Ultraviolet technology, as the threat of chlorine resistant parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia continues to pose a serious risk to water companies and their customers. |104| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Cryptosporidium outbreaks are now becoming increasingly frequent in all areas of the water industry. However, due to recent successes with UV systems following a number of high profile outbreaks at drinking water sites worldwide, the ability to effectively protect against Cryptosporidium is now becoming a reality for water treatment engineers worldwide.

In the UK, this reality has become further endorsed by the DWI, who have issued their guidelines for UV operation and system selection to the UK water industry. A key feature of their guidance is UV system validation. Validation refers to a series of 3rd party testing to ensure the performance of an Ultraviolet system design under a range of operating environments.

The DWI guidance states:

“DWI recommends any water company considering the use of UV irradiation for the disinfection of public water supplies to consult the US EPA Ultraviolet Disinfection Guidance Manual (UVDGM)” As an industry leader with considerable experience in supplying US EPA Validated UV systems for Cryptosporidium protection, atg UV Technology are well placed to support and advise all drinking water companies on the application of the DWI guidelines including validation, log reduction, RED

Dose, installation into existing infrastructures, upgrades and retrofits, ongoing industry regulation and future product development. atg UV have designed and developed a large range of UV systems specifically for municipal drinking water and waste water applications that are fully compliant with the requirements of the DWI 2010 guidelines. atg UV’s product range offers fully validated and 3rd party tested US EPA UVDGM systems that deliver a 1 - 5 log reduction of Cryptosporidium for flows as small as 10 m3/hr to over 2000 M3/hr within a single high output, small footprint, medium or low pressure system. For larger flows, systems are offered as packages, utilising units placed in either series or parallel configurations. atg UV believe the industry leap forward to UV protection has been driven equally by both public demand for increased safety and risk management, and increased education and understanding by the water industry on the benefits of installing a UV system. Additionally, atg UV have been asked to present to a number of drinking water companies throughout the UK. This is a free service offered by atg UV and is open to any municipal water company or contractor interested in learning more about UV disinfection technology.

If you require any further information on UV disinfection, or wish to learn more about how to improve and upgrade your existing UV systems to meet the 2010 DWI guidelines, atg UV Technology will be holding a number of free mobile UV workshops for technical groups and engineering teams throughout the year. If you feel that this would be of benefit, please contact paul.hennessey@ atguv.com ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |105|

News

Conservation

Energy

Flooding Food, Agriculture & Packaging

Green Building

Labs & Testing

Land Management

Timber

Transport

Waste Management

Water

Miscellany |108| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Severn Trent Water fined over pollution to Elmbridge Brook On 4 October 2012, Severn Trent Water Ltd pleaded guilty at Redditch Magistrates’ Court to discharge of sewage into the Elmbridge Brook at Fairfield, near Bromsgrove, without an environmental permit.

The company was fined £25,000, and ordered to pay £5262.26 in costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge.

The charge was brought by the Environment Agency under Regulation 38(1)(a) and Regulation 12(1) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

Environmental Prosecutions

Environment Agency wages war on Hampshire poachers The Environment Agency has announced a major crackdown on poaching across all of Hampshire’s rivers, streams and estuaries following a recent increase in fish theft and illegal angling.

From today (Monday 1 October), specialist Environment Agency fisheries enforcement officers will be carrying out increased patrols and surveillance at known poaching hotspots to target individuals involved in illegal angling activities. Over the coming weeks specialist officers will also be stepping up their day and night patrols along the coast to clamp down on illegal fishing.

Leicestershire man pays for operating illegal business from home Yesterday, Leslie George Collins, of Rockland Rise, Whitwick, Leicestershire, pleaded guilty at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court to one charge of operating a waste facility without an environmental permit.

The 68-year-old was fined £750, ordered to pay £6000 in costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge. He was also ordered to pay £50 for a breach of conditional discharge.

The charge was brought by the Environment Agency under Regulation 12 (1) and 38 (1) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

One of UK’s largest egg producers fined 65,000 GBP Lincolnshire company L J Fairburn, one of the largest egg producers in the UK, has been fined a total 65,000 GBP for operating without the required environmental permits.

The company has also been ordered to pay full costs of £9,500.

Skegness Magistrates’ Court heard today (Wed) that Fairburn ran five sites across the county with more than 40,000 birds each over varying times between 1 February 2007 to 17 February 2012 without being authorised by an environmental permit

Waste company fined for burning Aerial photography recorded several fires at a Boston waste transfer station after the owner had been warned not to burn waste there.

On 21 September Ronnie Bennett and his company Forceshift (Contracting) Ltd were fined a total of £26,000 after pleading guilty to breaching a permit condition and failing to prevent others setting fire to waste that should have been disposed of properly.

The company has also been ordered to pay costs of £10,000 and Bennett was order to pay costs of £4,000.

Pair fined for running illegal waste oil operation at Brentford site Two men have today (Monday, 24 September) been ordered to pay more than £16,000 for running an illegal waste oil collection and storage operation at a site in Brentford, Middlesex.

Barry Wiltshire, 49, of Cherry Crescent, Brentford, and Kevin Muir, 50, of Carville Crescent, Brentford, pleaded guilty at Feltham Magistrates’ Court for storing waste engine, gear and lubricating oils at the Hogarth Tyres site, Lionel Road South, without an environmental permit. Mr Wiltshire and Mr Muir were operating as part of their oils collection and storage business, known as BKM Oils.

The pair were fined £9,000, ordered to pay costs of £7,266 as well as a £30 victim surcharge.

Fishery fined for keeping invasive species in angling lakes The owners of a Devon fishery have been ordered to pay nearly £35,000 in fines and costs for keeping two invasive species of fish in lakes near Holsworthy.

The case, taken by the Environment Agency, is the first of its kind in the region.

Non-native fish pose major risks to our native fish and other wildlife Illegal waste site costs Bromsgrove man nearly £24,000 On Tuesday 25 September 2012, a Bromsgrove man pleaded guilty at Redditch Magistrates’ Court to two charges of operating a regulated waste facility without an environmental permit.

In sentencing, the magistrates told Mr Roger Aylett of Causeway Meadow Farm, Stoke Works, Bromsgrove that these were serious offences. He was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,737.38.

Running an unregulated waste operation can lead to damage to the environment and can pose a risk to human health ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |109|

Product Guide Air Monitors lowers the cost of monitoring In response to public sector cutbacks, instrumentation company Air Monitors has announced that it will lower the cost of ambient air monitoring consumables until the end of 2012. Managing Director Jim Mills says “Our customers in the ambient monitoring market are going through a tough time, so we believe it is our responsibility to help them out; we already sell filters and other consumables at substantially lower prices than our competitors, but for the rest of this year we will make a further reduction of 10%.” In November last year Air Monitors issued a warning concerning the appearance of substandard filters on the market and Jim Mills suspects that these filters are still being offered in some places. He says “I hope that our low prices will ensure that customers are not tempted to try these poor quality imitations, because the use of genuine Thermo Scientific parts protects the quality and reliability of data from the UK’s TEOM and TEOM/ FDMS particulate monitoring systems.

“Sub-standard filters have resulted in poor monitoring performance that is characterised by noisy data, offsets and erroneous concentrations. Anybody with doubts about the quality of their filters or the prices being charged, should contact the Air Monitors helpline on 01684 857530 or email service@airmonitors.co.uk.”

Crowcon Showing its Latest Gas Detectors at WWEM 2012 Gas detection specialist Crowcon is showing its latest portable and fixed gas detectors at the WWEM Exhibition in Telford. Among the new products on show will be the Gas-Pro portable confined space entry gas detector. Specifically designed for confined space work in the utility industries, the Gas-Pro features a top-mount display, internal pump, detection of up to five gases simultaneously, and a tri-colour status indicator. Crowcon will also be showing a number of other new gas detection products, including the T3 Gas Tester, an un-powered gas test unit for the Tetra 3 portable gas detector which utilises the functionality of the Tetra 3 to carry out a simple and fast gas test in a matter of minutes. In addition, the IRmax infrared (IR) flammable gas detector will be on display. Unlike conventional IR gas detectors, IRmax does not use heaters to prevent condensation on windows and mirrors. Instead, its optical components are treated with a highly durable hydrophobic coating called STAY-CLIR that completely prevents signal faults due to condensation. The company will also be introducing its Crowcon Clip and Clip+ single gas monitors. Intended for use in hazardous areas, they offer reliable and durable fixed life monitoring in a compact, lightweight and maintenance-free package. All of these new products, as well as Crowcon’s existing range of state-of-the-art gas detection products, can be found at booths 118 and 119. Crowcon’s experts will also be on hand to answer any gas-safety related questions.

HACH LANGE awarded 200th MCERTS certificate Following a rigorous testing programme, HACH LANGE’s Biotector B7000 Online TOC Analyser has been awarded the 200th product conformity MCERTS certificate by SIRA, the body that manages the MCERTS scheme on behalf of the Environment Agency.

The Biotector B7000 is the latest HACH LANGE product to achieve MCERTS in a line that began with the company’s portable and online samplers, which were awarded a certificate at WWEM 2008. This latest certificate confirms that the B7000 complies with stringent MCERTS performance specifications for use on treated wastewater, untreated wastewater, surface water, estuarine and coastal water applications.

Presenting the certificate on behalf of the Environment Agency, Paul Wiggins said: “I congratulate HACH LANGE on the achievement of this milestone certificate and thank them for their continued commitment to MCERTS.” All of HACH LANGE’s MCERTS products will be on display at WWEM 2012 (stands 94, 95 & 96) along with W.T.O.S. - the highly successful wastewater treatment optimisation solution. |110| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

HWM Launches Next Generation Intelligent Ultrasonic Level & Flow Sensor HWM has launched the SonicSens 2 ultrasonic level and flow sensor, which builds on the success of its predecessor with enhanced functionality, ease of use and extended remote telemetry options. The versatile, battery-powered device is ideal for remotely monitoring open channels, combined sewer overflows, storage tank levels, storm drains and flood warning systems.

One major benefit of ultrasonic measurement is that it is non-contact: this means it is non-contaminating and requires little or no maintenance. This, combined with versatile telemetry options, robust construction and long battery life makes SonicSens 2 well suited to “fit and forget” operations in hard to access locations. Once installed, it will continue to function as programmed without the need for local access, maintenance or interaction.

The system is supplied with user-friendly PC-based software that significantly speeds and eases the installation and setup process. Integrated level to flow conversion software enables the operator to easily configure the device to measure flow rates by selecting from a preset list of channel types and simply entering the dimensions.

Website: www.hwm-water.com

New portable FTIR gas analyser available for hire The new Gasmet DX4040 portable FTIR multi-gas analyser is now available for hire from Quantitech Limited.

For each rental Quantitech’s Dr Hobson configures the instrument to meet the customer’s specific gas monitoring needs. He says: “The DX4040 has brought laboratory grade gas analysis into the field and the availability of a rental system means that even those with a limited budget or a short term requirement can have access to the best technology.”

The DX4040 is supplied with a PDA which enables the user to measure up to 25 (user defined) gases simultaneously. The FTIR sample spectrum is saved to the PDA with every measurement made; this allows post sampling analysis of additional compounds and identification of unknown gases.

Website: www.quantitech.co.uk

New lead-free 4OXeco LP oxygen sensor offers five-year life in flue gas analysers Developed to improve the accuracy, operational life and resistance to cross-contamination in flue gas analysers, the new 4OXeco LP sensor from City Technology uses the company’s well established lead-free toxic gas sensor technology to reduce response and recovery times and eliminate field failures. The 4OXeco LP low power version for use in portable equipment is produced in City’s industry-standard 4 Series form factor to ensure mechanical compatibility with existing instrument designs.

Portable and fixed flue gas analysers are widely used in power stations, industrial, commercial and residential buildings to measure the oxygen and carbon monoxide content of boiler flue gases, a key measure of efficiency and safety. The use of natural gas, LPG, light and heavy oils, biomass, wood pellets, coal, propane and butane in fixed boilers and power generation plants has increased the amount and types of contaminants likely to be present in flue gases, creating the potential for a higher incidence of false readings during measurements.

ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE |111|

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION: BOX-TICKING OR BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT

Martin Hockaday, Environmental Sector Manager at certification body NQA looks at the impact on businesses of the certification process

NQA has been conducting audits against ISO 14001 since its first publication in 1996, and we currently have over 2,500 certificates to the standard in issue in the UK alone.

With this breadth of experience, we have a pretty good idea of the impact that certification has on businesses, but this year we decided to carry out some research to test our theories.

The headline finding of the survey we conducted in July 2012 is the cost-effectiveness of certification: 80% of the companies surveyed listed cost saving as one of the key benefits of the process. Significantly, 88% of those organisations are confident that the improvements implemented will produce a net financial benefit, with the majority stating that the whole certification process will pay for itself in one year or less.

This is great news for those of us who passionately believe that independently assessed, internationally agreed environmental management standards are the best way to ensure that the environmental impact of business and industry is controlled.

Naturally not all businesses are enthusiastic about the idea of volunteering for more regulation, and the process involved in embedding a management standard can seem daunting, so any evidence that increases the strength of the business case has to be welcome. |112| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Another welcome finding from the research is that many of the changes that lead to significant cost savings are relatively easy to implement. Energy efficiency and waste minimisation practices are the most common strategies, and much of the saving can often be attributed to simple processes. The respondents to our survey cited activities such as: installing energy efficient lamps and lighting controls; introducing proper recycling policies; focusing on water consumption; moving from printed invoicing to e-mail delivery and from cheques to BACS payments.

The common factor in this type of activity is the involvement of the staff and one of the key benefits of the certification process is its ability to motivate and engage people across the workforce.

Management buy-in is an essential first step, but implementing systems that will lead to ongoing performance improvements is about embedding the objective into the daily working practices of everyone.

Nairn’s Oatcakes achieved certification to ISO 14001 in June 2011 and the first stage in the preparation process was to involve all the staff in the system design. The company is very clear about the importance of this engagement process and Russell Clink, Services Manager, was in charge of a specific project to reduce landfill: “You have to get the staff to buy into the process or it will fail.

For some of our team the main involvement they have with the process is to make sure that waste is put in the right coloured bin – but why would they bother unless they understand the objective?”

Stuart Jenkinson, Health, Safety and Environmental Manager at Edinburgh Zoo stresses: “It was vital to get all staff on board and, most importantly, to get to the point where the environmental objectives became absolutely embedded in people’s day to day job function.”

Ensuring that the benefits are not lost as initial enthusiasm dissipates is another benefit of the certification system.

Processes for continuing measurement and monitoring ensure that there is a framework in which changes can be made to bring about continual improvement. Bill Bolan, Lead Auditor at Nairn’s, was keen to point out this aspect: “The most important result of having the standard in place is that it means we can measure what we are doing so that we can work on ways to improve further. For example, we now take half hourly meter readings to map our energy consumption – understanding the peaks and troughs allows us to do more to control it.”

These may sound like minor changes and small-scale improvements, but the result of this collective effort can be significant. Both these organisations set targets at the start: Nairn’s set out to reduce energy consumption by 5% and reduce waste to landfill by 15%, and the 5% reduction in energy consumption achieved by Edinburgh Zoo represented a huge cost saving.

While cost-saving is usually a benefit, it is not always the initial motivation for companies to seek certification.

For many there is a reputational issue. Edinburgh Zoo is a good case in point. As one of Europe’s leading centres of conservation, education and research, the ISO 14001 certification is a very public endorsement of the organisation’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its operation.

The Zoo is not alone: 39% of the respondents to our survey cited improvement to brand image as the single most important outcome of certification.

Certification provides a demonstration of the company’s commitment to environmental issues. “Our consumers are becoming more educated in environmental issues and although our environmental performance may not be at the front of their mind when they buy a Glenmorangie product it is still an issue that we take very seriously.”

With significant cost savings and potentially critical reputational benefits the value of certification is clear. The question that we are frequently asked, however, is why any organisation needs a third party to evaluate its processes.

It seems to me that one of the most important reason is focus. It is one thing to initiate change on a wave of enthusiasm and novelty – it is quite another to maintain the day-to-day commitment that is required to deliver continual improvement.

In my view the discipline of annual compliance audits and regular re-certification is an essential part of the environmental management process. Without these it is easy to see how the focus can slip, particularly when organisations are faced with challenging economic conditions or other regulatory or commercial imperatives.

Brand image was an important issue for Scotch whisky producer Glenmorangie.

The company has a clear objective to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and looks to achieve performance beyond any legal requirements.

Having worked in the field of environmental certification for a number of years, my own observation would be that once an organisation has gone through the process of achieving certification, it quickly becomes a valued part of the operation and we very rarely see clients drop out - in fact, we have several clients who were originally certified to the first environmental management standards in the 1990s.

“We have always made sure we were fully compliant with all legislation”, says Compliance Manager John McMullen.

“This was about going further: meeting minimum legal standards is not enough – we want to make sure that we are continually looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact further.”

We are also seeing demand for certification increasing steadily. Some of this can be attributed to the increasing number of organisations asking their supply chain to demonstrate their credentials, but I also believe that a greater awareness of the solid business benefits of the certification process is driving the demand.

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Corporates, communities and a compelling combination for change Recent research carried out in the Netherlands by University College of London has demonstrated the power of the ‘social contract’ between citizens, business and government when it comes to implementing environmental action. Meanwhile, here in the UK, government inconsistency on environmental policy is making it increasingly difficult for businesses to commit to green investment. We seem to be increasingly in danger of underestimating the importance of this social contract in creating a more sustainable future.

On the Isle of Wight, we are pioneering a new socio-economic model that embraces social collaboration by uniting corporate and community interests. By putting the ‘social contract’ at the heart of the Ecoislands project we believe we will create a viable and replicable ‘GREENprint’ that will empower every community around the world to achieve the ambitious target of living within their means.

Ecoislands’ local, national and global partners are an integral part of this process. By combining resources and expertise they provide the impetus, knowledge, expertise, technology and funding that are fundamental to our plans to become renewable energy self sufficient by 2020 and sustainable by 2030. Despite this phenomenal support, corporate involvement in the Ecoislands project is sometimes met with suspicion and scepticism. Such responses are perhaps understandable but fail to recognise the instrumental role that businesses will, and must, play in driving the transition to a low-carbon future.

The Isle of Wight is home to more than 140,500 people and our geography means we’re particularly vulnerable in terms of energy, fuel, food, water and waste. Working with corporations to increase our energy security by implementing clean technologies means a win-win situation for both business and community.

Ecoislands corporate partners, including IBM, Toshiba, Cable&Wireless Worldwide, Sliver Spring Networks, Scottish and Southern Energy, Toyota, ITM Power and Southern |114| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Water, look to the Isle of Wight as a platform for the research and development of new technology. In fact, they have identified the collaborative approach that Ecoislands has adopted in getting so many corporations (and the local community) working together and sharing ideas as one of the main motivations for their involvement.

The Ecoislands project also provides a proof of concept for the integration of multiple technologies. For businesses, creating the smart grid and giving us energy independence will be a tremendous showcase for their goods and services around the world, in addition to engineering savings for both energy providers and the island’s energy users. Ecoislands aims for the Isle of Wight to become the UK’s first vertically integrated power plant and we couldn’t do this without the support, experience and cutting-edge technologies that our partnerships provide.

SSE recently launched a groundbreaking community energy scheme on the island. Designed to decarbonise our energy footprint, increase security, reduce bills for residents and fund a raft of community initiatives, SSE will donate £1 per account per month, which customers can choose to take as a reduction to their energy bill or donate to the Ecoislands project that will fund a raft of community initiatives. Working with, rather than against, corporations is mutually beneficial.

Implementing our future plans for the island that span transport, geothermal, tidal, commercial and domestic solar PV, wind, waste and water management, will require continued corporate involvement as our partnerships provide the funding and expertise that enable the island’s globally significant research and development projects to come to fruition.

Ultimately, making sustainability an established part of business and society means proving it’s economically viable. Working with corporates to fund, support and most importantly showcase environmentally and socially beneficial projects does just that. Ecoislands will offer a viable, alternative economic model based on renewable and sustainable resources, which benefits both corporations and community. The significant value in supporting and respecting the ‘social contract’ will enable communities to become 100% sustainable and secure a better future for generations to come.

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POTENTIAL CONFUSION IN THE TRAINING SECTOR? Over the past 20 years or so with the advent of ISO classifications and similar industry wide accreditations across the utility sector it is now expected that all operatives, whether they are employed by the utility company, or the contractors working for the utility company, must be fully trained, adequately equipped and competent for the works being undertaken, regardless of any financial climate that may be operating at any one time.

Perhaps because the UK is in a recession it is more business-critical that works are completed correctly first time. No-one can afford revisits to put work right. This is largely because in such a competitive market there is no slack in the pricing structure of contracts to allow for such things. It is, therefore, critical that operatives are directed, expected, and inspected to clearly |116| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

ensure compliance with national industry health and safety and workmanship standards, regardless of the particular sector. Trenchless working is no different.

CONFUSION IN NATIONAL STANDARDS? The evidence suggests that mandatory training is taking place as required. ‘Confined Spaces’ is a classic example. Operatives have to hold a certificate of competence to undertake this work or they are uninsured and operating illegally.

This situation, whilst to some a burden, is seen by most to be totally necessary to ensure the safety of the workforce and the public that may pass near to a work site.

Where this situation appears to change is in training for technology specific applications. One of the aims

and objectives of the UK Society for Trenchless Technology (UKSTT) is to promote the safe implementation of trenchless technologies across the utility sector. UKSTT has contracted with one of the UK’s leading training providers, Develop, to provide a jointly developed range of City & Guilds recognised and approved training courses across various aspects of the trenchless family of technologies. These courses have been written and developed by industry practitioners from the Society.

They not only cover the mandatory H&S requirements that operate in various sectors of the utilities and buried service sectors but also offer basic training in some specific technologies such as Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP) lining, Directional Drilling, Safe winching, pipe trailer handling, impact moling, and pipe bursting.

So, where does any confusion lie?

Well, the confusion may stem from moves that have been made recently in respect of changes within the industry with the transfer of Private Drainage and Sewers into the hands of the Water Companies across England and Wales.

In an effort to ensure continuation of work for many of the local private sewer contractors with this change in ownership, some new training courses and certifications have been established that aim to bring often very experienced but ‘unqualified’ operators into the fold of certificated operators. Perhaps the use of the term ‘unqualified’ should be explained. ‘Unqualified’ in this instance means that whilst the operators may have undertaken a particular manufacturers training for the equipment and products they use and apply, they have not gained a recognised national certificate for that particular technique. So operators may be very proficient in one particular product but not necessarily in the methodology and its application as a whole.

Whilst it has to be recognised that all training to make operators safe and effective in their work is welcome, without a consistent and recognised national standard being applied across the industry as a whole, no comparison of skill level or competence is possible. This is perhaps where the confusion in standards comes in.

With the private sewer transfer initiative approaching its first anniversary, organisations representing the ‘local’ contractor have spent time working with recognised certification organisations to develop training and certification programmes that would bring such contractors up to a ‘recognised national standard’.

Some of the courses now on offer are new to the industry and cover areas not previously noted as requiring certification provided manufacturer training had been completed.

However other courses on offer do

‘conflict’, for want of a better word, with existing industry-recognised courses.

Whilst the newer certificating body may have negotiated new ‘national standards’ with industry relating the courses and training and certification they now offer, they have not apparently included existing certification bodies in these negotiations. The question this raises is how do these ‘nationallyrecognised’ standards compare and therefore what level of competency do they indicate. At present this is, for many, unclear.

The situation could perhaps be compared to the driving licence where the provisional licence means a driver is working towards the national standard, the standard licence means the basic driving test has been passed but a driver with the advanced licence or an HGV has exceeded these basic minimums by some significant degree. The same could be said of the current levels of national recognition for work standards and competency in the drainage and other related industry sectors with the changes currently being made and new courses being offered.

Until Industry, Government, all the certification bodies and training organisations agree what the basic minimum standard is, and how different qualifications relate to each other in terms of recognised competency level, there is the danger that all certifications may be seen to mean the same thing when they do not. This of course, if it comes to its ultimate conclusion. could lead to an undesirable 2 tier qualification system.

On the other hand this could create a retrograde movement in the industry where some qualifications and certifications are recognised by some client companies and not by others. This would then take the industry back to the days of not too long past when contractors had to have operators trained a number of times on the same occupation or technology, simply to meet individual client requirements to have the ‘right’ card or piece of paper. In the past this has proven not just to be very inefficient but also very costly both to the contractors involved and ultimately to the client because, of course, the extra costs involved in multi-training for the same topic have to be vectored into any project’s final bill in one way or another.

Picture courtesy of the epros division of Trelleborg

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Pictures courtesy of Altair Inc

So, whilst mandatory certification is working well and to fully recognised national standards accepted by all client organisations, training organisations and certificating bodies, the question has to be asked - is the same true for training in working methods and applicationspecific/product-type/technologyspecific training? At the moment this is as yet unclear, which may mean that it is not a true reflection of the current situation and that there is or could be a confusion developing that has not yet been fully recognised within the industry.

Have we again reached a point in the current situation, or are we creating a situation, that means there is little or no consistent effective control, monitoring or post construction audit of individual technologies such as, for example, CIPP installation? Here little final testing is undertaken and at present methods of installation vary from contractor to contractor, with perhaps too much emphasis being placed on the supplier’s training by the client companies and word-of-mouth ‘reputation’ (where in future the ‘client’ companies may simply be the ultimate utility owner’s main contractor, which will ultimately carry the can for any shortfall in subcontractor performance).

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This must add weight to the argument that term contract specifications must include demands for all operatives to have national ‘independently’ accredited generic topic-specific training and certification that is in fact ‘nationally recognised’, not just recognised by certain parts of the industry but at all levels. It is for the client companies to insist on this as essential for tender/ contract compliance. It is only by having all parties coming together to make such an agreement that any confusion that is developing, or that may already exist, will be eliminated from the certification process.

As has often been held up in the past as an example of how this might work perhaps another look should be taken at how Germany operates.

The national DIBT scheme looks at not just final product quality but also the method and practices involved in the installation and the level of competency of individual operators.

If they can achieve this level of control why can’t we in the UK? We need to ensure that projects are not in future compromised by substandard workmanship and a lack of fully recognised minimum standards of training.

So, who should oversee, set and monitor such standards? The courses currently on offer through organisations such as UKSTT/ Develop have already gained City & Guilds approval and so make an excellent starting point for spreading this type of competency training and certification across the UK. The long established reputation of the City & Guilds qualification, not just in the UK but also internationally, should perhaps be viewed as the start point for the discussion on which qualifications match to those required.

Perhaps it is time for client/main contractor partnerships to think again about what will be needed to maintain high standards in the very near future, and to ensure that any new certification offerings fully meet the levels of skill and competency that have been created over many years by already world-renowned organisations.

+ For More Information

www.ukstt.org.uk

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SLR ARCHAEOLOGISTS INVESTIGATE NETWORK RAIL DEVELOPMENT SITE

Image courtesy of Manchester Evening News syndication team

Archaeologists from environmental firm SLR Consulting are hoping that local knowledge will assist their studies as part of the excavation of a Victorian carriage and iron works, buried deep underground at Gorton in Manchester.

The team, led by Associate Archaeologists Andy Towle and Laurence Hayes, are carrying out an investigation for Network Rail ahead of the construction of a new operating centre at the site, one of fourteen centres which form part of a national strategy to upgrade the existing signalling system.

The work has been a collaborative effort, and SLR Consulting have been assisted by members of the Manchester Region Industrial Archaeological Society.

“We know that the factory was part of Ashbury’s Carriage and Iron Company, which was famous for producing railway carriages, trams, wagons and bridges in the 19th century, some of which were exported as far afield as India,” said Laurence.

The work on site has exposed varying forms of iron and steel furnaces, and the flues, chimneys and machine beds which were associated with manufacture and working

of the iron products. The SLR Archaeologists have been impressed by the range, quantity and quality of the remains at the site.

“The carriage works closed in 1925 and the site was cleared to become a goods depot for the London North Eastern Railway, but unfortunately some contemporary information on the site has not been archived. Consequently, we are hoping to hear from anyone who may have a family association, anecdotes, documents or photographs relating to the works while it was still in operation.”

SLR has set up an email enquiries box for people to make contact and is hoping that the move will help to shed light on the evolution of the plant, its products and eventual closure.

Jo Kaye, Network Rail route managing director, added: “Over the next few months the site will be transformed into a hive of activity, showing the route’s commitment to the national operating strategy. It’s great that we can use this opportunity in the development process to ensure that we learn all we can about the site’s history ahead of the start of construction.”

“Over the next few months the site will be transformed into a hive of activity, showing the route’s commitment to the national operating strategy.” + For More Information

www.slrconsulting.com

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Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre

The Project: The Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Training Centre Architects: Cooper Cromar Electrical & Gas Engineers: Balfour Beatty Engineering Services The Heating Solution: Mini Dynamic Canal, Deco Panel Vertical The Detail: The Strathclyde Fire & Rescue (SFR) Training Centre is an educational facility spread across 30 acres in Clydesmill, Scotland. The project took over a year to complete, at a cost of £4.6m. The building is constructed over two floors, and consists of training zones, lecture halls, auditoriums and a state-of-the-art command training suite.

Designed with sustainability and low energy usage in mind, the SFR Training Centre incorporates a large number of eco-friendly features, including wind turbines, biomass boilers, a rainwater harvesting system, and |120| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Jaga heating products. As a result of these sustainability initiatives, the SFR Training Centre’s main academic building has been awarded a prestigious ‘Excellent’ rating by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).

Jaga provided 500 metres of Mini Dynamic Canal trench heating to run alongside the large glass panels fitted throughout the expansive reception and the teaching rooms. This perimeter heating system recirculates and heats the cool air next to the glass, creating a continual warm ‘barrier’, and ensuring a comfortable learning environment for all occupants, even in the cold Scottish winters.

The Mini Dynamic Canal uses Jaga’s LowH2O technology, and has also been fitted with Dynamic Boost Effect (DBE) technology.

The result of the combination of these two Jaga technologies is quick-response, efficient and powerful heating.

Deco Panel Vertical Jaga’s Deco Panel has a modern and minimalistic design - a stylish and unobtrusive radiator. The Deco is adaptable to fit and suit any room, coming in a range of sizes, mounting options and colours.

Features include: • A range of height options – from 100cm to 300cm.

Jaga’s Deco Panel Vertical radiators were also installed in the corridors of the SFR Training Centre. Narrow and unobtrusive, the Deco Panel Vertical takes up minimal space in the long corridors, while its sleek and elegant design is in keeping with the modern aesthetic of the rest of the building.

Darren Forbes, Project Engineer at Balfour Beatty, was keen to stress the benefits of using Jaga heating solutions on the project.

“Jaga was ideal for Strathclyde Fire & Rescue training centre,” he said. “Their products have a proven track-record as energy efficient and sustainable heat sources, as well as being understated and stylish, providing the perfect heating solution for this project.”

Technical Sheet: Mini Dynamic Canal Jaga’s Mini Canal features a discreet design, which is ideal for providing heat alongside glazed facades. The Mini Dynamic Canal uses Dynamic Boost Effect (DBE) and LowH2O technology, reducing energy usage whilst always remaining highly responsive to temperature changes.

Features include: • A range of grilles – in a variety of wood finishes to multiple stainless steel options including Oak, Beach, Merbau and Walnut.

• Available as horizontal or vertical, wall- mounted or freestanding.

• Available in a range of colours including grey, traffic white and up to 60 optional extras.

Case Studies: DEFA, Isle of Man Hale Apartments, Cheshire Peninsula Medical School, Plymouth

About Jaga Heating Products Founded in 1962, Jaga is an award-winning manufacturer of innovative, energysaving heating and ventilation products.

In the UK, Jaga’s range includes LST (low surface temperature) radiators, trench and perimeter heating and eye-catching designer radiators.

Based on the unique and patented Low-H2O heat exchangers, which carry an industryleading 30 year guarantee, Jaga radiators offer a proven energy saving of at least 10% compared to traditional steel panel radiators and are the environmentallyaware, preferred choice of many who value energy efficiency. Jaga heating solutions work well with low temperature heating systems, and the product range includes the only radiators designed specifically to work with heat pumps.

Jaga Heating Products UK Ltd, Orchard Business Park, Bromyard Road, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 1LG.

• Available in curved lengths to increase design options.

• DBE technology provides energy efficiency even at low flow temperatures

+ For More Information www.jaga.co.uk

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Sustainable Heating For Agricultural Specialists “Our other buildings use oil-fired heating, but we’re very aware that fossil fuel resources are finite and supplies are dwindling,” said James Tuckwell, Joint Managing Director of P. Tuckwell Ltd. “We looked briefly at the possibility of mains gas, but due to our location we would need to install a mains pipe which is rather costly.

“Following the installation of the Ecodans we have seen a definite reduction in our energy consumption and quarterly bills. The heat pumps have helped to reduce our carbon emissions too and introduced an element of future-proofing to the building.”

The system at Tuckwell is capable of delivering 86kW at -3°C, with minimal drop off down to -20°C including defrost. For every 1kW of electricity used to power an ASHP, up to 3.2kW’s of heat can be delivered to the building, 69% of which is renewable energy.

Agricultural machinery specialist P. Tuckwell Ltd, based in Essex, has fitted high efficiency, low carbon, air source heat pumps to its new showroom in Colchester. The new system offers the company maximum operating efficiency with minimal impact on the environment.

Consisting of two 43kW Ecodan®CAHV Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) from market leader, Mitsubishi Electric, the system provides a sustainable energy source for all the showroom’s heating and hot water requirements.

Installed by Midlands-based renewable energy specialists, Climate and Power Ltd, the heat pumps harvest renewable heat from the outside air, upgrades it to a useful temperature, then transfers it via a plate heat exchanger to heat the water to provide underfloor heating to the 700 sq. ft showroom. The system also supplies hot water for the radiators used to heat the offices. |122| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Ecodan CAHV heat pumps can operate as a single unit or as part of a multiple unit system. When installed in multiples the units can cascade on and off to optimise performance and deliver peak efficiency.

Mitsubishi Electric’s monobloc systems are designed to meet even the most dynamic load requirements allowing output capacity to increase in 0.5kW increments, from 18kW all the way up to 688kW. This produces a level of modulation that is unprecedented within the heating industry.

“The new system works really well for us, and provides a nice even temperature throughout the offices and showroom,” said Mr Tuckwell.

+ For More Information www.climateandpower.co.uk

“Following the installation of the Ecodans we have seen a definite reduction in our energy consumption and quarterly bills.”

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VICTORIA LEISURE CENTRE SHOWCASES B & K STRUCTURES CAPABILITIES The Victoria Leisure Centre, which opened its doors to the public in Nottingham during 2012, demonstrates both the design capabilities and the product portfolio offered

by B & K Structures, involved as a package contractor for Carillion Plc. Having provided a design, supply and install service for the project, B & K Structures has created a new 25m swimming pool, teaching pool, fun splash area, 70 station gym, multiactivity studio and sauna/steam rooms in the facility for Nottingham City Council, as part of a new public realm in the city centre.

As its design involvement progressed, B & K Structures worked closely with Levitate Architects and structural engineering consultancy, Furness Partnership.

In addition to 350m2 of its cross laminated (X-LAM) timber panels, B & K Structures also produced 50m3 of glulam beams and 130 tonnes of structural steelwork. The company further supplied large quantities of open mesh flooring and metal decking, together with reinforced concrete and steel staircase units, and cat ladders for maintenance access.

The Project Architect for Levitate, Mr Spencer Guy explained the criteria that led to his practice’s decision to incorporate crosslaminated timber into the design for the Victoria Leisure Centre. He said: “We were conscious that the pool hall should have a warmth to it, and because of the way that the ground levels worked, we wanted people in the external public space beyond the glazed elevation to be able to look up into the interior of the pool hall and see warm honey coloured timber on the roof soffit.

“We therefore started with the idea that we wanted the superstructure of the pool hall to be timber, and as a practice we prefer to have the fabric of the building in the material we are interested in using, rather than to say clad a steel structure in timber

on the underside. In fact we are familiar with X-LAM, having used it on many other projects, and then tried to design out as much steelwork as possible from the roof of the pool hall.

“The traditional local authority swimming pool has castellated steel beams with a crinkly tin deck over the top and a perforated ceiling lining. The internal surface often gets dusty and because it is inaccessible it appears dirty quite quickly.

We were therefore conscious of not wanting anything on the ceiling that required regular cleaning or maintenance, and the X-LAM ticked all of those boxes. At one point the cross laminated timber panels were to be linked by steelwork secondary beams, but with B & K Structures and the engineers, we managed to take those out and get to a grid of glulam beams supporting the X-LAM.”

The use of glulam and steel in a hybrid format realises both the aesthetic and commercial benefits to a structure giving the client what they want to see at an affordable price. + For More Information

www.bkstructures.co.uk

The use of glulam and steel in a hybrid format realises both the aesthetic and commercial benefits to a structure giving the client what they want to see at an affordable price. Linking this where appropriate with X-LAM for the floor or roof further enhances the structures speed of installation, whilst at the same time removing less sustainable systems and greatly reducing wet trades.

The make-up of solid woods can rarely be bettered, both through construction and in use, with its overall predictability as compared to the alternatives.

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The UK’s first solar powered major waste treatment plant Friday 14th September, 2012: Lightsource Renewable Energy Limited, the UK’s leading utility scale solar plant developer, owner and asset operator have, together with Solarcentury, the UK’s most experienced solar photovoltaic (PV) installer, completed a 5MW utility scale solar plant close to the village of Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire.

The solar plant will provide enough ‘green’ electricity during daylight hours to power over 70% of AmeyCespa’s Mechanical Biological Treatment plant in Waterbeach, providing a sustainable, local energy solution.

Located at the hamlet of Chittering, this 20,000 panel solar park is built in a discreet location and is not visible from the main road. The plant will generate up to 4,552MWh annually, an optimum level achieved with a significantly experienced engineering team and use of only the highest quality materials. This is sufficient energy to power the equivalent of over 1,200 homes continuously without any noise or pollution.

Frans van den Heuvel, CEO of Solarcentury said: “We are all incredibly excited about this project. Rather than the plant being connected to export into the grid, there has been significant engineering work to provide 3km of cabling from the plant running directly to local waste management company AmeyCespa.”

He added: “Unlike most utility scale ground mounted solar plants in the country, this solar plant prioritises the use of electricity

by AmeyCespa’s facilities first, with minimal excess energy being fed back into the national grid. We expect to see many more commercial projects of this nature in the future as organisations become increasingly aware of fixed, low cost solar power.”

Lightsource supplies this ‘green’ energy to the waste management company through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for |124| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

25 years*. This method of energy supply significantly benefits high electricity users like AmeyCespa, not only by cutting electricity costs, but also providing better control and predictability on budget forecasting.

Nick Boyle, CEO of Lightsource Renewable Energy said: “It goes without saying that energy prices are set to continue to rise in the coming years. According to current UK Power Index estimates from DECC, we are set to experience a 5-8% increase per annum from conventional suppliers. Aside from the expense, if you are in heavy industry or the public sector, the unpredictability of fossil fuel electricity costs can make budgeting and planning for the future virtually impossible. However, PPAs through Lightsource have now become a proven way to eliminate much of this uncertainty and cut energy costs.”

Nick Boyle continued: “Our PPAs are proving attractive because they provide much needed pricing certainty coupled with a

significant reduction in electricity bills. As we own our plants, we specify only premium equipment and maintain it to the highest possible standards. This ensures optimum output and supply to our clients. We create a high quality, appropriate and hassle free solar solution for any business or property owner. Our newly completed plant here at Chittering is a prime example of how Lightsource can develop solar solutions that work for the local community.”

Sarah Clover, Account Director for AmeyCespa East, said: “As a company which provides itself not only on innovation, but working closely with the communities in which we are based, AmeyCespa is delighted to be involved in this partnership to make use of a local source of renewable energy.

Minimising our impact on the environment is at the heart of everything we do, and using solar energy to power one of our key facilities demonstrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint.”

The solar plant will provide enough ‘green’ electricity during daylight hours to power over 70% of AmeyCespa’s Mechanical Biological Treatment plant in Waterbeach, providing a sustainable, local energy solution.

*linked to the Retail Price Index.

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Work begins on England’s largest and greenest winery

Construction has begun to create England’s largest and most environmentally friendly winery.

The winery, at the 600 acre Rathfinny Estate, will eventually produce about 1 million bottles of sparkling wine a year.

The multi-million pound winery features sustainable design techniques and the use of innovative low carbon technologies. It has been designed by award winning local architect Martin Swatton.

Mark Driver, the Founder of Rathfinny, said: “Every aspect of the construction of the winery has been designed to produce the highest quality sparkling wine. We have taken an uncompromising approach to ensure that it will be one of the most hightech and environmentally friendly wineries in the world.”

The design of the winery includes 50kW of photovoltaic generation capacity and incorporates a host of energy saving building techniques to enable carbon neutral production of high quality wines. The |126| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

investment in renewable electricity will save 16 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

The cladding of the building uses locally sourced English oak and uses finger joints to ensure there is minimal wastage from the cutting process. Locally grown, English sweet chestnut will be used for the decking.

Composite window frames (a mixture of aluminium and timber frames) are being used to minimise the use of metal in the building. The winery’s design allows for off-site pre-fabrication of elements of the building in order to reduce materials waste on site during construction.

Martin Swottan, said: “The winery will be built to demanding standards to ensure it complements the beauty of the South Downs National Park while at the same time allowing for the production of the finest quality wines.”

Rupert Seldon, Partner and project manager at Buro Four, said: “The Rathfinny Winery is a unique project and aims to set a new global standard for sustainable wine production.

The winery, at the 600 acre Rathfinny Estate, will eventually produce about 1 million bottles of sparkling wine a year.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play a part in creating such a landmark building.”

and collect juices from below – avoiding the need to use energy to pump juice into settling tanks.

Top soil excavated during the building process will be re-used while flint, harvested from the Estate’s fields, will also be used in the construction.

A waste-water treatment plant will further reduce the winery’s impact on the environment and the surrounding ecosystem. Ground water is being sourced from the Estate’s own bore hole, purified to remove calcium and microbes. The wastewater from the wine making process will be treated on site and released safely back into the land.

The extensive wildflower green roof will match the planting of the surrounding fields and helps the building blend into the national parkland setting as well as contributing to the thermal insulation of the building.

About Rathfinny The roof provides significant solar shading to the south and west facades, reducing excessive solar gain and avoiding the need to air condition spaces.

The building has been set into the existing landscape on two sides, reducing external wall area and the potential for direct heat loss through the external envelope. This also helps the winery blend into the landscape and match the roof heights of existing structures.

The building heights and floor levels have been designed around a ‘gravity’ grape pressing solution. This means that the winery will take advantage of the site’s natural slope to load grapes at a high level

Rathfinny is England’s newest and largest vineyard. The first 50 acres of vines were planted in April this year and the first wines will be available to purchase in early 2014. By 2020, Rathfinny will produce about 1 million bottles of high-quality, bottle fermented, sparkling wine a year. The terroir at Rathfinny is almost identical to that in the Champagne region and the climate is perfectly suited for producing high-quality sparkling wines.

Rathfinny aims to eventually sell up to 50% of its production to key overseas markets in Europe, Asia and North America.

+ For More Information andrew@thisismission.com

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King’s Cross switches on to solar!

One of the UK’s largest and most complex building-integrated solar PV systems goes live.

September 28, 2012 - The much publicised 240kWp solar glazing system at King’s Cross railway station was officially switched on.

The iconic £1.3m award-winning project is one of the UK’s largest and most complex building integrated solar PV systems to date and is part of Network Rail’s wideranging green building programme. Now live, the projected output of this groundbreaking system is expected to be around 175,000kWh of electricity each year, saving over 100 tonnes of C02 emissions per annum.

Solar PV cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity are integrated into 1,392 custom made glass laminate units that now form part of two massive new barrel vaulted glass roofing structures spanning the main platforms of the grade 1 listed building, covering more than 2,300m2.

The solar PV installation is part of the overall redevelopment programme for King’s Cross station. All the detailed design, specification and supply of key components for the PV system and the DC electrical installation |128| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

were undertaken by Sundog Energy, working to the main contractor Kier, in collaboration with Network Rail. The custom made glasslaminate solar PV units were manufactured by specialist PV manufacturer Romag in the North East of England. Installation of the solar PV glass laminates was undertaken by roof glazing specialist ESB Services Ltd, and AC electrical works were carried out by the rail division of NG Bailey, one of the UK’s independent engineering, IT and facilities services businesses.

According to Martin Cotterell, founder and technical director of Sundog Energy, “King’s Cross has been a fantastic project to work on – but also a labour of love. The sheer scale of the installation has presented many major technical and aesthetic design challenges from day one and there has been no margin for error as the work had to be undertaken whilst the station remained fully operational. We are very proud of our involvement as we believe the project combines the very best in modern design, technical excellence and sustainability with the grace of one of the UK’s most iconic grade 1 listed buildings.”

Simon Matthews, senior project manager for Kier Construction, stated: “The works have faced various challenges which have been dealt with in an open and collaborative manner to deliver this spectacular achievement, which combines the best of Victorian engineering with a modern sustainable solution. The switch-on of the PV system is the culmination of a massive effort by the project team, working with specialists in the renovation and refurbishment of the structure, using innovative methods which have allowed the works to be undertaken above the live station.”

Phil Murray, managing director of Romag, added: “King’s Cross is a fantastic example of how renewable technologies can be integrated into the fabric of a building and is testament to what can be achieved to reduce carbon emissions, particularly in a listed building in an urban area. As one of only a few companies equipped to manufacture this type of PV, Romag is proud to be associated with this flagship project and is even prouder to have manufactured the bespoke panels here in the UK.” Sundog Energy designs and installs solar PV systems for UK households as well as commercial and public sector bodies. Sundog Energy installs to the highest technical standards, as recognised in the company’s ground-breaking solar PV system installation on the glazed roof of King’s Cross Station. Sundog recently installed the PV systems on The Olympic Park and Bradford Cathedral, thought to be the world‘s first solar powered cathedral. Sundog is also one of the UK’s leading distributors, supplying high quality solar PV panels, inverters, components and installation kits to independent solar installers throughout the UK. Kier Group operates through three main divisions: Kier Construction comprises a UK-wide network of regional contracting business and major projects expertise in the UK and overseas. Kier Services provides a full life-cycle service for buildings in both public and private sectors including reactive and planned buildings maintenance, grounds maintenance and a host of other services. Kier Property is a highly successful private house builder and commercial property developer with an infrastructure investment arm specialising in the delivery of Private Finance Initiative projects.

Romag is a leading glass processor, based in County Durham in the North East of England since 1943. Specialising in solar PV, architectural, security and transport glass, Romag are experts in their industry and are trusted worldwide to provide high quality, UK manufactured products to meet the needs of their diverse customer base. Romag are now a subsidiary of the multi-million pound Gentoo Group. As such they are committed to their UK manufacturing base, the sustainability of their operations and supporting the local economy.

Fronius develops and manufactures high-performance inverters for grid-connected solar power systems of all sizes. Products and services such as the IG Plus series of inverters and the unique Fronius Service Partner programme, make Fronius Solar Electronics the quality leader in the global market.

N G Bailey is one of the UK’s leading independent engineering, IT and facilities services businesses with a deserved reputation for excellence. N G Bailey offers integration from the outset of a project, from planning and design through the supply chain, to off-site manufacture, installation and maintenance.

+ For More Information geoff.devlin@sundog-energy.co.uk

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RENEWABLE SOLUTION CUTTING CARBON AND GENERATING CASH Borough Councillor Louise Bloom (2nd Right) opens the new biomass boiler with from left to right Assistant Facilities Manager Arron Hedges, John Mitchell from contractors RJ Mitchell & Son, Visitor Services Manager Rachel O’Dell and Andrew Boroughs from Organic Energy.

“The council wanted a solution to heating the visitor centre which fitted with its ethos on sustainability, and we were delighted to be able to supply a larch-clad ÖkoFEN Energy Box with a 36 kW Pellematic wood pellet boiler to replace the previous oil burning system. We’re also helping the council meet its carbon reduction targets.”

Not only is the installation cutting fuel bills for the centre, with a direct fuel saving of £500 a year but it also attracts the Renewable Heat Incentive, generating income for the authority.

The council will receive around 8p per kWh for the energy used, which should provide an income of around £2,700 per year.

A visitor centre in a 440-acre country park is helping a local authority cut its carbon footprint while generating extra income, thanks to renewable heating specialist Organic Energy.

The company has completed a project to install a wood pellet boiler system at the Itchen Valley Country Park, in Hampshire, which is cutting fuel bills and attracting incentive payments.

Working with Eastleigh Borough Council and installer RJ Mitchell & Son, the project has seen an ÖkoFEN Energy Box erected at the park’s Wood Barn Visitor Centre, with a Pellematic wood pellet boiler providing heat and hot water to the complex.

Managing director of Organic Energy, Andy Boroughs, said: “Itchen Valley Country Park is in a beautiful area of Hampshire, with a number of walks and trails and has a Green Flag award, which already recongises its high environmental standards. |130| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

Cabinet Lead for Environment & Sustainability at Easteligh Borough Council, Councillor Louise Bloom, said: “This sustainable scheme not only saves carbon but it also generates income for the council, saves fuel and provides sustainable heating for the visitor centre.

“I hope other local organisations and businesses follow our lead and look at how they could benefit from a similar scheme.”

The ÖkoFEN Pellematic boiler system is remotely monitored and controlled online from Organic Energy’s Welshpool base. The Energy Box, which houses the boiler, is a pre-fabricated complete packaged plant room and fuel store made from sustainable timber, which is lowered onto a concrete base on site. The installation represents the very latest in cost-effective, renewable, sustainable heating technology, which is low in carbon dioxide emissions.

+ For More Information amy@beboldpr.com

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Simon King OBE, President of The Wildlife Trusts

Life in our seas is in desperate need of protection. Globally, the marine environment is in devastating decline and we are seeing the same story closer to home. Many of our marine habitats and creatures have been brought to the brink of extinction and species that used to be prolific, such as the common skate, are now critically endangered - because of us. The pressures and damage that we place our seas under are only likely to increase as we look to them to meet our constantly increasing demands for food and renewable energy.

If the life in the ocean that supports us is to survive, we need Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs. There is no doubt as to the efficacy of MPAs - there are working examples in other parts of the world. Shamefully, here in the UK, we have only a few tiny areas which are truly protected, making up less than 0.001% of our waters.

In order to see the true benefits of Marine Protected Areas, we need more than a few individual sites managed in isolation. We need an ecologically coherent network.

The Marine and Coastal Act (2009) placed a duty on the Government to create a new type of Marine Protected Area - Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ). These, along with existing sites will form the basis of our ecologically coherent network. Rather than being determined by topdown decision-making, the process deployed to establish which areas should be included tried to be as inclusive as possible, convening four stakeholder-led groups to determine where the MCZs should be. They delivered their recommendations of 127 sites to Government at the end of 2011.

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These sites, for the most part, are not about banning all commercial activity - far from it! Marine Conservation Zones should encourage the sustainable use of our marine environment, whilst banning the most destructive and damaging activities - in particular bottom-trawling and dredging.

Worryingly, despite initial support, the Government is now dragging its heels. There are signs that it is likely to vastly reduce the number of sites making up the MCZ network and is already behind in designation, which is unlikely now to occur until 2013, despite there being a clear 2012 deadline.

Ministers and officials claim there is a lack of evidence for the sites, making them reluctant to designate. The delay and, in particular, a reluctance to designate the whole recommended network of 127 sites, risks undermining two years of hard work by stakeholders and misses the fundamental purpose of the Marine and Coastal Access Act and the key role of Marine Conservation Zones.

The point is not to add a few more protected sites scattered randomly around our seas, nor is it simply to protect the rarest and most vulnerable of our species. The Marine Conservation Zone network represents a joined-up way of thinking - a way of balancing a natural credit account from which we have been drawing carelessly for decades and which now is in deep and dreadful debt.

By creating a stable, representative, well-connected series of sites that can allow our seas to recover and thrive we will allow them to continue to support the vast range of activities upon which we rely. The recommended network can provide this.

The independent Scientific Advisory Panel, which assessed the stakeholder proposals stated : ‘we are content that, if the recommended network of MCZs is implemented in full, ecological coherence can be achieved.’ Yes, we could have more evidence for a number of the sites, but we could continue to gather evidence forever. We have reached a crisis point for the health of our marine environment. We need to act now.

We can spend more time arguing, negotiating and bartering over how we should be protecting our marine environment how many conservation zones there should be, where they should be, how big they should be - and all the while watch life in our seas disappear. Or we grab the opportunity before us with both hands and provide our seas, and ourselves, with the comprehensive, joined-up, ecologically coherent network that we so desperately need and that the Marine and Coastal Access Act promised us. This is our chance to leave the natural balance sheet better off than the one we inherited.

Government must designate all 127 Marine Conservation Zones. Now. |132| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE