Environment East

Fuel for the future gets EEDA backing

Gareth Jones — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:05:34 +0000

Woodlands in the East of England are set to provide fuel for the future after a new project received one of the largest funding awards of its kind in England.

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has awarded £4.3 million to increase the use of wood-based energy production.

The £10.7 million Woodfuel East project will help cut carbon emissions by providing locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel. It will also help create jobs and businesses in the rural economy and improve biodiversity.

The award has come from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), which is a combination of European funding and money from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered regionally by EEDA.

Woodfuel East initiative is a partnership governed by representatives of 25 organisations from across the region, co-ordinated by the Forestry Commission.

Landowners will be encouraged to manage neglected woodlands, which has the added benefit of creating new habitats for wildlife. There are about 140,000 hectares of woodland in the East of England, around seven per cent of the total land area, but 50,000 ha are undermanaged or not managed at all.

Felled trees and cut branches, which might otherwise go to waste, can be chipped for use in specialised boilers. These can provide heat and hot water for medium-sized buildings such as schools, village halls and offices, particularly in rural areas with no gas supply.

David Sillett, EEDA Rural development manager said:

“Woodfuel East, which covers Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, will encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from land owners through to the marketplace for wood chips.

“With new markets, come new opportunities which will be of particular benefit to the rural economy.”

Mr Sillett added:

“By 2013, we could be saving at least 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year and supplying the equivalent of 12,500 homes with energy.”

Edwin Van Ek, of WoodFuel East, said:

“This is a real kick-start to the wood fuel industry in the East of England. Woodfuel East can provide advice and investment support to the supply chain.

“It is also good news for biodiversity, as woodland management such as coppicing, where trees are cut back and allowed to regrow, creates new and varied wildlife habitats.”

“Land owners can also benefit by installing modern, efficient wood fuel boilers to produce heat and hot water for their buildings, using wood produced from their own woodlands,” he said.

“The latest wood fuel boilers are easy to operate and very efficient, producing very small amounts of smoke and little ash. With recent increases in fuel prices, switching to wood fuel also makes financial sense.”

Agency tries to ease recycling ‘crisis’

John Pickstone — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:13:53 +0000

Waste companies will be able to store recyclables without having to apply for a variation to their permit, the Environment Agency announced on Tuesday.
The Agency made the announcement in response to the “unprecedented… downturn in demand and price for some recyclable material” caused by the gathering recession. Chinese demand for recyclables has dropped dramatically and it is only accepting high quality materials.
Since mid-October, prices for most recyclables have plummeted. Mixed paper is trading for around £1 per tonne, down from £50 in the summer. Steel manufacturer Corus is paying nothing for cans, down from £235 per tonne in July. The company recently announced a 30% cut in production across Europe.
The drop in prices has led councils and the waste industry to call for a relaxation of rules around the storage of recyclable materials.
The Environment Department (DEFRA) held meetings with the Agency, the government’s Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Local Government Association on Monday and Tuesday. Waste industry trade body the Environmental Services Association was also present.
On Tuesday, DEFRA, the Agency and WRAP issued a joint statement stressing the need to “maintain public confidence that recycling is worthwhile” and “to ensure continuity of collection systems for recyclables”. “We expect that there may be increased storage of some materials,” it added.
Following this statement, the Agency issued a regulatory position statement easing the rules on storage of materials.
Operators who hold a permit and expect to need additional storage for up to six months “should approach their local… area officer to discuss a temporary increase in storage,” it says. If they expect the need to be longer than six months, they should apply for a permit variation.
The position statement also points out that operators may be able to take advantage of exemptions under the environmental permitting regulations. These allow the secure storage of paper, cans, plastic and other materials for up to 12 months as long as it will be sent for recovery.

Photo courtesy of freefoto.com

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

John Pickstone — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:08:11 +0000

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

Free* Carbon footprint training for businesses

John Pickstone — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:11:24 +0000

By the year 2050, the government has promised to cut UK emissions by 60%. As part of this, a variety of carbon-related legislation is being introduced. This includes the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which comes into effect in April 2009 affecting a variety of companies such as supermarkets, banks, hospitals, local authorities and offices.

Calculating your carbon footprint will help you comply with this upcoming legislation and reducing your footprint will help save money. To assist with this, Business Envestors, part of Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT), is running a free half-day workshop on the 18^th of November. This will cover the principles and drivers behind carbon footprinting, methods used for calculating carbon footprints, suggestions on how to reduce your carbon emissions and comply with legislation.

Clare Watters, Environmental Consultant for Business Envestors explains that, ‘There is a great deal of confusion surrounding carbon footprinting at the moment. It is an excellent method for identifying key “carbon culprits”, but if businesses don’t understand how to carry the calculation out, they can waste their valuable time trying to work out where to start. At Business Envestors we aim to remove the confusion, so businesses can focus on managing their key impacts and saving money, which is particularly important in today’s economic climate.” According to the Carbon Trust poor energy efficiency costs business an estimated £2bn annually.

*To check whether your business is eligible for this free seminar and to book your place, contact Kalai Mahalingam on 01733 569830, or for more information visit www.businessenvestors.co.uk

British Sugar - first sugar manufacturer to certify carbon footprint using new PAS 2050 method

Gareth Jones — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:46:49 +0000

UK manufacturer underlines its ongoing commitment to reducing emissions British Sugar, with its sister company Silver Spoon, today became the first sugar business to certify the carbon footprint of its granulated sugar using the new PAS 2050 method. In February 2008, British Sugar was confirmed as a pilot partner to support the development of PAS 2050, the world’s first method for assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of goods and services, developed by BSI British Standards and sponsored by the Carbon Trust and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Using the new method, British Sugar’s homegrown granulated white sugar was assessed to produce 0.6 grams of CO2 equivalent per gram of product. The detailed supply chain GHG assessment has taken British Sugar and Silver Spoon over 6 months to complete, and underlines an ongoing commitment by both companies to carbon reduction. To drive greater awareness of the new standard, British Sugar and Silver Spoon will launch new areas of their websites for consumers and customers, explaining the carbon footprinting method, alongside details of their carbon-saving initiatives. Gino De Jaegher, Managing Director of British Sugar UK, commented: “We believe these results place us firmly among the best performing European sugar manufacturers and are testament to the fact that since 2006, British Sugar has reduced the energy required per tonne of sugar by 19% in the UK. The support we received from the other pilot partners was integral to us achieving this standard – a world first for sugar! We are proud of our pioneering work in the development of PAS 2050, and we will continue to seek further reductions in our carbon impact and play a leading role in the creation of an efficient and sustainable sugar industry.” Sarah Arrowsmith, Managing Director of Silver Spoon added: “We are proud to be the first retail sugar brand to have certified its carbon footprint to an international standard. As a responsible supplier, we remain committed to reducing our carbon emissions and we are now looking to assess the PAS 2050 footprint of our cane sugar.” Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, commented: “If we are to meet an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050 innovative businesses have a key role to play. The work that British Sugar has done to pilot the PAS 2050 standard has been invaluable in helping to deliver a UK standard for the measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions from goods and services. We hope this work will enable businesses around the world to look beyond their direct operational emissions and make their supply chains more carbon and cost efficient“

UK Aims To Support Small Renewable Power From 2010

Gareth Jones — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:58:57 +0000

Britain says it wants to guarantee a price premium for small producers of renewable power, for example from the wind and sun, from 2010.

The government included the proposals in amendments tabled on Wednesday to an energy bill being debated and due to pass into law by December this year.

The plan would support households and communities which install solar panels or small wind turbines on their property.

They would earn a feed-in tariff, which guarantees a price premium for supplying electricity from renewable sources into the national grid.

“We hope to have it available by 2010,” said a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change on Thursday.

Britain’s present price support, or renewables obligation (RO), is considered complicated and bureaucratic for small producers, and will be replaced by a feed-in tariff for microgeneration of renewable electricity up to 3 megawatts (MW) — enough to power about 1,500 homes.

The 3 MW cut-off would make feed-in tariffs available for schools, hospitals and communities as well as households.

“We don’t want to tinker with the RO,” the spokeswoman added. Some 95 percent of RO claimants now were above the 3 MW threshold.

The RO forces utilities to get a certain portion of their electricity from renewable sources or else pay a penalty, money which is then used to pay renewable power producers.

Feed-in tariffs have been very effective in boosting the adoption of solar power by households, farmers and communities in Germany. Such tariffs, also very popular in Spain, guarantee a certain power price premium typically for 20-25 years.

The government had not yet decided on the value or duration of a British tariff, the spokeswoman added.

Under EU targets Britain will have to get 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 compared to just 1.3 percent in 2005.

Wednesday’s amendments also included provisions to support the production of renewable heat, for example from wood or methane from waste dumps.

Reporting by Gerard Wynn; editing by James Jukwey, Reuters.

What’s the carbon footprint of your product?

Gareth Jones — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:53:29 +0000

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

Gareth Jones — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:29:39 +0000

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.

Economic and environment benefits to be gained from adopting bioprocesses and biofeedstocks

John Pickstone — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:31:12 +0000

Biotechnologies can provide sustainable feedstocks for energy and low carbon materials, and energy efficient and low waste processes. Peterborough-based sustainable technologies company, the Centre for Sustainable Engineering (CSEng), has packaged its biology-based expertise to advise industry on how to deploy biotechnologies to reduce energy consumption, minimise waste and improve carbon performance.

Bioprocesses and biofeedstocks and can provide economic benefits for industry. “What we aim to do now is expand the market penetration of biotechnologies in the UK to realise bigger benefits”, says Bianca Forte, Senior Bioscientist at CSEng. “In many industries economic gains can be realised and environmental damage can be prevented by replacing chemical and physical processes with biological alternatives. However these biological applications can be specific so it is important that potential end users communicate with biotech companies to allow the development of new products. We are here to bridge this gap”.

Bio-processes have lowered requirements for energy and chemicals and reduced secondary waste production in a number of industrial sectors. In textile production, enzymes have superseded chemicals for bleaching of jeans. Chlorine consumption by the pulp and paper industry has been reduced by the use of enzymes. In leather processing, enzymes have been introduced to replace harsh chemicals traditionally used for cleaning the hide. In resource management, anaerobic microorganisms degrade the organic fraction of waste whilst producing biogas - an increasingly valuable fuel - as well as other outputs of value.

“There is also plenty of scope for product development using biofeedstocks. The first wave of this has been successful, with most car manufacturers now using crop fibres such as hemp and flax in body panels, but the next wave will involve greater sophistication. CSEng is already working with companies developing advanced high performance composites which incorporate natural fibres and resins, and we are keen to expand their application to many consumer and industrial products” said Bianca.

A third area of ‘bio-cleantech’ is adapting the successful engineering found in nature, which usually does things without a lot of energy input and no waste or toxins (”Biomimetics”). “Did you know that the geometry of whale fins can provide streamlining benefits if applied to objects moving through a fluid or help reduce the huge amount of pumping energy used in the water industry? Or that spider silk is 7 times stronger than steel, and that it is now being mimicked?”, says Bianca.

Biotechnologies also provide opportunities for product innovation which benefit the consumer. For instance, the grease and protein digesting enzymes in washing powders significantly reduce the quantity of detergents needed for a given washing and also reduce the washing temperature. Not only this improves the environmental performance of that product, but the costs savings for the consumer are considerable.

The Centre for Sustainable Engineering offers its expertise in bioprocesses, biofeedstocks, and biomimetics to companies interested in developing or adopting more sustainable products and processes. The Centre also manages technology development projects, implements technologies in joint ventures and leverages finance for technology developers.

Brown To Make Green Jobs A Reality

John Pickstone — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:03:33 +0000

Thousands of loft insulators and draft-proofers are to be trained by the Government to help ease fuel poverty.

Speaking at an EU summit in Brussels in the wale of the highest UK unemployment figures since 1999 being announced, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said offering retraining programmes would be a key factor in helping people to find work.

Mr Brown revealed that helping people to become loft insulators would be one of the Government’s main training programmes, a move which is designed to support his recent commitment to ensure every home in the UK is fully insulated by 2020.

In September, it was announced that almost £1 billion was to be pumped into helping alleviate fuel poverty, much of which will be funded by levies paid by major energy companies, such as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target.

Mr Brown said:

“We are expanding in a very radical way our insulation and draft-proofing central-heating provision for the elderly and other people in our country. We are training large numbers of additional people to do that work in insulation.

“That will be one of the employment programmes that will grow.”

According to statistics from the National Insulation Association, nine million homes in the UK have unfilled cavity walls and 15 million need more loft insulation.

The Prime Minister’s plans to get more people qualified to work in the insulation industry have been given a warm welcome by fuel poverty charity National Energy Action.

Their director of business development, Joanne Carr, said:

“Any action to support skills development and employment opportunities within the energy efficiency industry is extremely welcome and we look forward to receiving further details of the Prime Minister’s proposals.”

However, Chris Grayling, shadow work and pensions secretary for the Tories, ridiculed the plans.

Mr Grayling said:

“He (Mr Brown) has nothing substantial to offer. If training people to lag roofs is the best suggestion he can make, then it doesn’t say much for the challenges we face as a nation.”

(Image courtesy of www.freefoto.com)

Environment East

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