Low-carbon: making it a high priority for East of England businesses

A programme from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) will help businesses across the region to make bottom line savings by introducing ‘quick wins’ such as the re-use of materials and checking water leaks.

A £2.1 million business support scheme, Resource Efficiency East (REE), will provide small and medium-sized businesses with free advice on making financial savings through more efficient management of water, energy and materials.

The agency has granted £1.5 million to REE, with £600,000 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which is managed in the region by EEDA.

Kate Haigh, Senior Executive on Sustainable Development at EEDA said:

“A typical business can save £1,000 a year for every employee by introducing ‘quick wins’ such as the re-use of waste materials and regular checking for water leaks.

“Not only does resource efficiency make excellent financial sense, but it also has knock-on environmental benefits, reducing the use of our natural resources and carbon emissions.

“It is also good for business as customers are placing a greater emphasis on suppliers to reduce their environmental impact and prove their green credentials, as well as offering value for money.” 

Specialist advisors from the REE team will work with businesses to offer commercially-orientated advice on how to implement appropriate changes.  An on-site review can identify areas for resource savings by systematically examining the use of energy, water and materials. This will identify opportunities to reduce their use in key areas such as electricity consumption, power usage, heating and cooling, waste reduction and water conservation. Importantly, REE will also offer support on implementing the measures that can save businesses money.

Simon Chiva, of REE, said that businesses accounted for 18% of the region’s CO2 emissions: “The Resource Efficiency East project can help businesses use resources more effectively and efficiently, driving down costs and improving profitability. By encouraging businesses to reduce resource use and save money, we can also have a positive impact on reducing the region’s carbon emissions.”

For more information visit www.resourceefficiencyeast.org.uk

Other information about improving and growing your business through resource efficiency can be found on the environment line of EEDA’s Business Map - www.bizmapeast.co.uk.

Taken from: http://www.eeda.org.uk/4202.asp

Climate Change, Sustainable Development and the New Economy

Green Light Trust has arranged a very special event bringing together thought leaders in this important field, with guest speakers including Dr Alan Knight, OBE, Single Planet Living.

Dr Alan Knight, OBE, will talk about the strategically implications of climate change and other sustainable development challenges; shaping the opportunities that arise from embracing these issues into the core of the business.

He will be joined by an esteemed panel consisting of:

Simon Fineman, chief executive, Timbmet
Dr Michael Gells, managing director, Xanfeon
Dr David Hall, chief executive, Quotient Bioresearch
Steve Love, head of culture, Virgin Money
All are active participants of the new economy agenda and great supporters of Green Light Trust.

You will go away with:

• wider knowledge and understanding of the situation and how it affects you and your business
• skills, knowledge and the ability to make a significant difference
• better prepared to reach your C02 reduction commitments
• pledges on your engagement in transforming your businesses and support in fulfilling them.

Date and time

3.00pm, 13 July 2009

Location

Green Light Trust
The Foundry
Lawshall
IP29 4PJ

Register now

To register please contact Nigel Hughes, chief executive, Green Light Trust on 01284 830829 or at the following address:

Green Light Trust
The Foundry
Bury Road
Lawshall
Suffolk
IP29 4PJ

Fax: 01284 830845

Please note there are only 25 spaces available at £45 per person so you are recommended you book your place now.

New British standard for assesing the life cycle of greenhouse gas emmisions of goods and services

Businesses can assess the carbon footprint of their goods and services and play a greater part in fighting climate change with BSI publicly available specification (PAS) 2050:2008 - Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services, a new standard launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and Defra.

The standard offers a way of counting the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in goods and services throughout their entire lifecycle - from sourcing raw materials, through to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.

According to BSI, the new standard seeks to help businesses move beyond managing the emissions their own processes create and to look at the opportunities for reducing emissions in the design, making and supplying of products.

This, BSI said, should lead businesses to make goods or services that are less carbon intensive and develop new products with lower carbon footprints.

“For the first time, businesses have a robust, consistent standard for measuring the carbon footprint of their goods and services,” said Tom Delay, Carbon Trust chief executive.

“This exciting development will help businesses to really understand the carbon impact of their products and to follow this up with tangible ways to cut carbon emissions across the supply chain,” he said.

“[BSI] PAS 2050 has been developed using BSI’s rigorous consultation process, involving almost a thousand industry experts from within the U.K. and internationally,” said Mike Low, director of BSI British Standards.

“The result is a robust framework within which businesses and public sector bodies will be able to assess the greenhouse gas emissions of their goods and services in a consistent manner. Our hope is that it will be used widely by organizations of all sizes and sectors,” Low said.

Download your free copy of PAS 2050:2008 - Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services.

Photo courtesy of www.freefoto.com

What’s the carbon footprint of your product?

Businesses can from today assess the carbon footprint of their goods and services and play a greater part in fighting climate change, thanks to a new standard launched by BSI British Standards, the Carbon Trust and Defra.

The standard - called PAS 2050 - is a consistent way of counting the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in goods and services throughout their entire life cycle - from sourcing raw materials, through to manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.

The aim of the new standard is to help businesses move beyond managing the emissions their own processes create and to look at the opportunities for reducing emissions in the design, making and supplying of products.  This will then help businesses make goods or services which are less carbon intensive and ultimately develop new products with lower carbon footprints.

Brown Says Downturn Won’t Hit Green Plans

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday the global economic downturn would not affect a government drive to reduce the country’s carbon emissions. However, an industry executive cast doubt on the ability of the UK’s existing power transmission network to cope with planned increases in wind power output. Brown told a wind energy conference in London ministers were committed to meeting a target to produce 15 percent of the UK’s energy supply from renewable sources, such as wind and wave power, by 2020. “You may have heard some people say that these difficult economic times should or will reduce the government’s commitment to building a low carbon economy. They should not and will not,” Brown said in a recorded statement shown by video to delegates at the British Wind Energy Association’s (BWEA) conference. Doubts have been expressed about the UK’s ability to meet its renewable energy targets, with investors warning that companies need more financial incentives to develop wind farms. A report in Britain’s Observer newspaper at the weekend said delays in gaining planning approval for farms, long delivery times, escalating costs, and technical problems were all threatening to derail government plans. But BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery said in a news conference on Tuesday the industry was confident it would be able to meet the targets. “It’s an area where there is tremendous positivism and confidence,” she said. However, the UK’s power transmission grid system is not capable of dealing with the output from planned new wind farms, said Keith Anderson, director of the renewables division of Scottish Power, part of Iberdrola SA. The grid is between 30 to 40 years old and needs immediate modernisation and investment, Anderson said at the news conference. A proposed upgrade of the main Beauly-Denny transmission line in Scotland, which would allow a significant increase in renewable energy capacity in the far north of the United Kingdom if it gets the go-ahead, was likely to take 10 to 12 years to carry out, he added. “We need more upgrades of that size and scale,” he said. “We cannot afford for that process to keep taking 12 years. If you start the process now for the offshore and marine sector, you’ll already be in 2020. It needs to happen now. “Scotland contributes a huge proportion of the onshore target to the overall target and if you don’t start building the transmission lines, you block some of that development and reduce its potential.” BRITAIN OVERTAKES DENMARK The United Kingdom would achieve three gigawatts of installed wind energy production capacity this week, up from one gigawatt in 2005, with the completed construction of Centrica Plc’s Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms near Skegness in eastern England, the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change said in a statement. Earlier Tuesday, Centrica said it had gained approval for another 250 megawatt project off the Lincolnshire coast and was exploring the possibility of constructing two further wind farms totalling 1,000 MW. Britain had now overtaken Denmark as the world’s largest producer of energy from offshore wind, with 597 megawatts of capacity fully built, the government said. Offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom now have the potential to power the equivalent of about 300,000 UK homes, it said. “What this means is the creation of an unprecedented 100-billion-pounds market for renewable energy sources in just over a decade,” Brown told the conference. “That will create huge new business opportunities - and around 160,000 jobs.” Reporting by Phil Waller; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien, David Cowell and Simon Jessop, Reuters.

Controversial environment official moves jobs

An official who cut the Environment Agency’s plan to build flood defences in Suffolk has moved to a new job.

Dr Charles Beardall is now to become the regional flood and coastal risk manager for the east of England having been moved from his job as the Environment Agency’s area manager for Suffolk Norfolk and Essex.

The plans for a defence along the Blyth Estuary were said to be not economically or environmentally viable by Dr Beardall.

He blamed sea level rises due to climate change and increasing tidal surges as the reason behind his controversial decision, EADT.co.uk said.

Dr Beardall will now be responsible for co-ordinating inland and coastal flood management systems on an initial assignment of 12 months.

The agency has recently seen a widening of its responsibilities from just cliff fringed areas of the coast and low-lying stretches to the entire coastal strategy.

Lowestoft and Yarmouth have both seen significant floods in past years, as have other areas in Suffolk.

Norfolk subsea firm expanding in US

A Norfolk firm that provides subsea equipment for environmental monitoring and offshore construction has expanded its services in the US market.

Great Yarmouth-based Seatronics has invested $2 million (£1.11 million) in new rental items and equipment.

Among the new devices it will make available to its US clients are magnetonometers, subottom profilers and hydro-acoustic positioning systems.

The firm also recently invested $200,000 on a calibration laboratory and $50,000 on cable moulding facilities.

The calibration lab set up in Houston is the largest in the US and will allow firms to have equipment calibrated locally, saving the airfreight costs.

"We’re committed to our work in the US and this new equipment shows that we are investing there," Erik McGuire, vice president of Seatronics, said.

"The calibration lab and moulding facilities have already led to the creation of three jobs, with more on the way if business increases as predicted."

Seatronic also has bases in Aberdeen, Abu Dhabi, New Iberia and Singapore.

East Herts has biggest carbon footprint

East Hertfordshire residents have topped a list of carbon emitters.

A study carried out by York University’s Centre for Sustainability Accounting (CeNSA) discovered that residents of East Hertfordshire have the highest carbon footprint in the country.

According to the study, East Hertfodshire residents produce 14.68 tonnes of CO2.

St Albans came second in the rankings, notes the St Albans Observer.

As well as pointing the finger at people who contributed heavily to carbon emissions, the study also made various suggestions about changes that could cut personal carbon emissions.

"The UK is responsible for one billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year and of this, households are accountable for 75 per cent," said John Barrett, researcher at CenSA.

"By making small changes to their consumption patterns, households can make a big difference to the environment and also save money."

In a bid to match residents of Gloucester, which were found to have the smallest carbon footprint, the researchers suggests turning the heating down one degree to save £4,533 and stop 75,110 kilograms of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.