House Pass Economic Package

Following hot-on-the-heels of comments from Barack Obama that the US needed to become energy independent the US House has passed the proposed $819 billion economic package 244 votes to 188.

The bill would cut taxes for people and businesses by $275bn, while pumping more than $540bn into a range of initiatives including road and bridge repair, increased unemployment benefits, investment in new technology and renovations to 10,000 schools. But there is also an investment into some carbon reduction measures, including an $11bn cash injection to the creation of a Green Electricity Grid for the US to ensure that the promised doubling of renewable energy over the next three years, with the additional benefit of 460 000 jobs being created.

Measures in the bill to reduce foreign oil dependence include;

• Reverse US dependence on foreign energy
• Review of decision to block states from setting own emission targets
• Orders the transportation department to come up with new short-term rules on how carmakers can improve fuel efficiency
• Federal buildings to become more efficient
• Double 'green' energy from wind, sun and biofuels over next three years

President Obama also ordered the transportation department to come up with new short-term rules on how carmakers can improve fuel efficiency. A 2007 law required that new cars and trucks produced by 2020 obtain 35 miles per gallon of fuel. However, then-President George W Bush did not put in place the regulations to enable the law to be carried out. The new rules Mr Obama wants to put in place would mean the new standard is reached by 2011. This introduction of a 40% improvement in energy efficiency would see a reduction in oil use of 2m barrels a day, almost equivalent to imports from the persian gulf.

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Energy Efficiency Key in Tate Modern Extension

In just eight years Tate Modern has changed London and revitalised the South Bank of the Thames.

Tate Modern has transformed a previously underdeveloped area of London and has helped give the city a new image as a leading centre of contemporary culture. It has become a key landmark for London, while its programme and architecture have won international acclaim.

Since 2000, more than 30 million people have visited Tate Modern – it was designed for 1.8 million visitors annually, but has reached an average of 4.6 million visitors over recent years. Understandably, there is huge pressure on public facilities; and more space is needed.

As well as displaying works of modern art, a proposed extension to the Tate Modern will also be a testament to energy saving design.

Plans for the new extension, which will resemble a brick pyramid and will be taller than the existing tower on the power station, will see it emit 44 per cent less carbon dioxide than is required by building regulations.

Due for completion by 2012, the £215 million building will use 54 per cent less energy than regulations require, despite glowing at night.

Architects Herzog and de Meuron have included passive design principles and the building will use heat from nearby electricity transformers.

Earlier this month London mayor Boris Johnson announced plans to retrain unemployed people as energy efficiency advisors to help retrofit buildings.

Retrofitting refers to the practice of making an existing building more energy efficient through measures such as installing insulation, double glazing or better boilers.

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Shipping Plastic Bottles to China Produces Less CO2 than Sending Them to UK Landfill

A WRAP study has found that selling the UK’s used plastic bottles and paper for recycling in China actually saves carbon emissions. Shipping these materials more than 10,000 miles produces less CO2 than sending them to landfill at home and using brand new materials.

The transport issue is just one factor in assessing the environmental impact of exporting materials for recycling. However, it has become increasingly important to understand, as over the last ten years exports of used paper have risen from 470,000 tonnes to 4.7 million tonnes. Exports of used plastic bottles have gone from less than 40,000 tonnes to half a million tonnes over the same period.

This increase reflects the huge rise in household recycling in the UK from 7% to over 30% during that time.

We collect more paper than we can recycle, but there is strong demand for it from growing economies, such as China, where there are not enough trees to make paper.

Plastic bottles are also much in demand from China’s manufacturing industry and there is currently insufficient capacity in the UK to reprocess them here. This study shows it is environmentally less harmful to send that material to China for reprocessing than sending it to landfill in the UK.

This study sought to answer the specific question of whether the CO2 emissions from the transport outweighed the benefits of the recycling. It quantifies the CO2 emissions from transporting one tonne of recovered mixed paper or recovered plastic (PET/HDPE) bottles to China. It assumes that the carbon savings of recycling in China are similar to those identified in other countries, including the UK.

The study showed that the emissions caused by transporting the material to China account for only a small amount - on average less than a third – of the CO2 saved by recycling. However, due to the imbalance of trade between China and the UK, the majority of container ships head back to China empty and they are producing CO2 emissions whether or not they are carrying cargo. If you take this into account, the transport emissions are even smaller - less than one-tenth of the overall amount of CO2 saved by recycling.

This study is not a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), although it forms a necessary part of the evidence base to demonstrate that exporting the material to China is environmentally sustainable. To answer this question in full, further work on the relative environmental impacts of recycling processes in China and the UK would be required.

“It may seem strange that transporting our unwanted paper and plastic bottles such a distance would actually be better for the environment but that is what the evidence from this study shows. As more and more of this material is being sold to China we wanted to know the impact that was having on the environment, and specifically whether the CO2 emissions from the transport outweighed the benefits of the recycling. Although this study is only part of the environmental impact story, it is clear that there are significant CO2 savings that can be made by shipping our unwanted paper and plastic to China. In some cases, we just aren’t able to reprocess everything we collect or there isn’t enough of it to do so. In these cases, shipping it to China, which has a high demand and need for material, makes sense in CO2 terms. WRAP will continue to build both the environmental and economic case for domestic recycling.”
Liz Goodwin, CEO, WRAP

The study was carried out by Oakdene Hollins and critically reviewed by ERM.

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Delivered Milk is Cleaner, Greener and Easier to Swallow

Since the early 90's, milkmen have struggled to remain competitive in the market against the convenience of 24/7 supermarkets with loss leading pricing tactics. This has inevitably saw a decline in the number of milkmen in the UK by over 10 000 in the last ten years, as more people turn to the supermarkets and existing clients (as they were often elderly) pass away. It's a tough life for milkmen rising as early as 2am, to go to the dairy to load their floats with the milk for the day. A job they love, but under the pressure from the supermarkets, one which pays a standard wage. Self-employed, to make a living they need to sell at least 500 gallons a week, they have little time off, even during bereavement and illness.

But as people try to green their lives some are turning back to the milkman as a way of receiving their milk fresh and green daily (or we hope).

The latest figures from WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, suggest that the UK milk industry is responsible for 130,000 tonnes of plastic waste, every year. To put that into perspective this is the more than the amount of plastic that is required for the total annual use of plastic bags in the UK.

Or ... 19 066 667 600 bags ... to be precise is the milk industry equivalent.

Plastic is a funny substance and can't really be recycled more than once, so there are limitations as to the amount of times it can be reused, and even more limitations on the types of products that they can replace, not to mention the way in which the plastic is collected, sorted and recycled. It takes 1.75 kilograms of petroleum (in terms of energy and raw materials) to make one kilogram of HDPE.

Or ... 228 229 285 litres of petroleum ... enough to power a Peugeot 107 for 3.08 billion miles.

Milkmen use cute clinky glass bottles (not all, best to ask first, avoid shock later), these can be reused twenty times before they need to be recycled. They also are virtually infinitely recyclable, although quality tends to degrade after the seventh time. The added advantage is the milkman collects the empty bottles on his next delivery, this allows the bottles to be effectively removed from all waste streams.

Most milkmen in the UK travel on clean green electric milk floats which emit no CO2 emissions other than those from electricity generation, and the milk floats are exceptionally efficient in terms of energy used, compared to petrol or diesel vehicles. One manufacture of these vehicles is Smith, who have diversified into other electric powered commercial vehicles.

We know know the packaging is greener and the distribution, but what about production, either way it is the same, but should we be consuming diary products at all? They are after-all renowned for the carbon intensive farming. The carbon footprint of 1 pint of milk is 596g of CO2.

1.05g of CO2 / 1ml of Milk

Now comes the real choice in what you consume and how it can affect your carbon footprint, organic milk uses three times less energy to produce because it doesn't require energy-intensive fertiliser. This should in effect reduce CO2 emissions by 55%, assuming 83% of CO2 is from production.

0.47g of CO2 / 1ml of Organic Milk (estimated)

So if you don't have a milkman already, it might be an idea to find one, I went in search, if you live in Northern Ireland, you can contact your local dairy, or visit Dale Farm. For the rest of the UK, you can try Find Me a Milkman or Deliver Milk.

Whilst delivered milk is slightly more expensive, this added cost also means you will likely never run out of milk, it's fresh, it's delivered and when saying I'm just going to the supermarket for milk, you categorically spend twenty times that of what you intended to buy in the first place, half an hour in the store and another 15 minutes driving there and parking in the packed out supermarket, and it doesn't come in a cute clinky glass bottle.

If you have a milkman I'd love to hear your comments and the price you pay for a pint of milk to debunk the ideas that milkmen charge exorbitant prices! I have faith.


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Public Inquiry for Rose Energy Incinerator

Lisburn City Council have called on the Environment Minister to hold a public inquiry into the construction of the proposed agricultural biomass incinerator by Rose Energy, in Glenavy.

Representives from Rose Energy and Communities Against Lough Neagh Incinerator were at at the Lisburn City Council Planning Commitee meeting on Wednesday evening, held at the council offices headquarters at Lagan Valley Island.

The decision has now been deferred to the Department of the Environment, who should ensure the proposal is rigorously assessed.

Northern Ireland often exports its chicken litter to mainland Britain as a way to efficiently reduce waste and reuse the energy stored in the bedding as no facility exisits in the country. The 1.8m chickens produced each week, create 250 000t of chicken litter annually. Hence the decision by major chicken producers O'Kane Poultry, Glenfarm Holdings and Moy Park, who have been supplying poultry bedding for use as a biofuel to power stations in England and Scotland for a number of years, to join together as a consortium, known as Rose Energy, to propose the first energy plant which will convert agricultural biomass into electricity in Northern Ireland.

The proposed site in Glenavy, near Lisburn, is in an ideal location between the two major poultry processing areas in NI. It is also located next to Ulster Farm By-Products, which will be a major supplier to the plant of one of the fuel sources – meat and bone meal. Furthermore, the plant will serve to reinforce the electricity infrastructure in an area which is currently deficient.

The £100m power plant will have a capacity of 30MW, and could effectively power 25 000 homes, assisting up to a third of the Northern Ireland obligation to source 6.3% of its energy from renewable sources by 2012. The government intends to exceed this figure and achieve 12% and is providing a funding package for suitable green energy initiatives to help develop viable projects.

This development is a viable solution to address the disposal of agricultural biomass, which is now included under an EU directive, whilst also providing an additional source of renewable energy. It will also assist in reducing emissions produced from exporting chicken litter, via road and sea,to mainland Britain.

Northern Ireland Assembly Debate on Issue - 3rd June 2008
Options For Chicken Waste


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Milk Sludge Fertilising Willow

Dale Farm’s environmentally aware staff have come up with a novel solution for reducing the company’s carbon footprint – using sludge from the waste water treatment plant at Dunman to grow willows.

Traditionally the sludge, which is a normal by-product of dairy processing, has been spread on farmland – where it acts as a valuable fertiliser. However, the Nitrates Directive has effectively reduced the amount of land that can be treated this way and other outlets had to be examined. After reviewing a range of possible options, it was decided that applying the sludge to Short Rotation Coppice Willow for producing renewable energy biomass, was an environmentally friendly solution that was also cost effective.

The scheme, which is operated in partnership with Rural Generation Ltd, began on a trial basis in June. It uses bespoke machinery that injects the sludge below the surface of the ground in a willow plantation in the Cookstown area, relatively close to the Dunman factory.

A permit had to be attained from the Environment and Heritage Service to allow the sludge to be used this way. The effluent has to be treated using a belt press, which increases the solid content to approximately 12% – which results in fewer transport movements and thus reduces the fuel and labour required.

Willow production is a renewable and sustainable energy crop that is harvested and used to produce either heat or electricity. Harvesting is usually on a two yearly rotation when the willow is cut and chipped, and some local Councils are currently using willow as an alternative energy source for heating e.g. swimming pools.

Willow production does not contribute to global warming – the only carbon dioxide released upon burning is that which was fixed from the air whilst the willow was growing, making it “carbon neutral” unlike other fuels such as coal and oil.

The use of sludge as a soil conditioner and source of nitrogen on willow plantations is a good example of an environmentally sustainable, low carbon route for recycling an organic waste stream. It is well established in Europe and N America, but is still relatively new in N Ireland and Dale Farm is the first local company to investigate this opportunity.

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Lifestyle Green 2008 - This Weekend 13th & 14th September

Just a reminder to those that already know, and those that don't that this weekend will see the second annual LifestyleGreen Show. It will be taking place at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust centre, Castle Espie, on the shores of Strandford Lough, near Comber.

The event will showcase all aspects of a greener lifestyle with everything from solar power to organic food, fashion to recycling and health to education, as well as live music, stilt walkers, clowns, craft-making, all at the home of Ireland's largest collection of geese and ducks.

On site car parking is £3, however, free parking and bus transfer is available from Comber Square to Castle Espie, provided by Translink. Those travelling by bike to the event can also avail of a reduced entrance fee. Adult tickets are priced at £5.95, Concessions £4.50, and children £2.95.

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Kangaroo Meat Hunt

After our article on Kangaroo meat the other Saturday, I thought I would go hunt for some, not literally, as the only place I know kangaroos live is in Belfast Zoo. The obvious choice was to begin my search on the Internet, there I found some online stores that stock and supply Kangaroo meat in various forms, however these have to be delivered by courier, and living in Northern Ireland, there is additional premiums as the meat is packaged with ice packs to ensure it is delivered fresh the next day. Whilst I had found some, it wasn't the simplest option, so I felt I needed to find a local deli or company to purchase the meat from, because you wouldn't want a warm roo burger would you.

On my continued search I found a site dedicated to saving the kangaroo from extinction through its alledged brutal slaughter. It made me think back to Belfast zoo (I was there to observe, not to kill) when I recall on the information board the declining numbers of red kangaroos. Could I eat a kangaroo, in full knowledge that it could be sourced from such conditions? Even Wolverhampton Council enacted a council wide ban. I'm sure no matter what meat I eat, it has got to be killed, I would prefer if it was done humanely. The licensed Kangaroo harvesters have to undergo rigorous assessment and accreditation by two government departments and a report by the RSPCA into the harvesting of the Kangaroo stated that 96% of the kills were humane and instant.

Most of the main supermarkets several years ago did stock roo burgers and the like until organisations like Viva and Save the Kangaroo got involved and protested in every way possible to get them removed, and I doubt the number in sales warranted the extra efforts involved for supermarkets in having demonstrations decrying the product. Whilst I'm now weary in where my roo is from, how it was "farmed" and killed, it won't stop me in my search for some kangaroo meat, I'm a man on a mission, after all, look at how many people still buy intensive farmed chickens (not that is right, at least the kangaroos aren't all housed in a shed with feed to fatten them in six weeks).

Kangaroo meat is low fat (under 2%), most of which is polyunsaturated and only has 98 calories per 100 gram serving. Kangaroo meat is also free from chemicals, hormones and pesticides. So healthy as well as green.

My Internet searches had proved fruitless in the search for roo, but I knew I could find some, so I went onto the street in search of the illustrious meat.

A small coffee shop near my home once had roo on the menu, but they roomoved it (did you like that), clearly it wasn't as popular as they had hoped.

How about a friendly local butchers? The only local surviving one, that I am aware of ... no kangaroo available.

I had given up hope at this stage as well, if you can't find it on Google, with keywords like ""kangaroo meat" Belfast", what hope was there for me of finding anywhere. Until I came across a website for a family run delicatessen and a member of the Guild of Fine Food Retailers stocking 1000's of different products from around the world. Surely they would have roo meat?

After searching through their list of pretty appetising products from Caviar to Kosher, I was feeling a little disappointed, until I clicked on "rare foods" .... and low and behold ... some roo and croc. I decided to give them a call, and to my surprise they have kangaroo meat in stock all year around.

I decided on Monday to pop down to the deli called Sawers, which is in Fountain Street in Belfast, they sell kangaroo medallions from frozen. The shop is an eclectic mix of fresh and quality produce from all around the world. It's the kind of shop that is floor to ceiling of products you just want to try, they have a fresh fish counter with an amazing array of produce. And several chill counters displaying sliced meats, sun dried tomatoes and olives.

Now well, buying kangaroo meat, you think would have been the difficult part, however that's where your wrong. How the hell am I meant to cook kangaroo meat, I find it difficult enough to cook pasta let alone a meat which I have never had the opportunity to even taste before, that's where I enlisted the advice of Benjamin Christie (yeah I'd never heard of him either, but he is big in Australia);

One of the most popular Australian ingredients I am asked to include in cooking demonstrations or receive email requests on cooking kangaroo meat. I think the reasons for this are twofold; there is an increasing popularity in this healthy game meat as well as a growing appreciation of the environmental benefits of managing the animal over beef and sheep; and people are now trying to understand how to cook kangaroo meat to perfection. I have demonstrated how to cook kangaroo in over 12 countries including Russia, Germany, Japan and the USA, all of which are the leading importers of kangaroo. There are persistent rumours that kangaroo is being farmed in Germany but since the animals tend to die of fright if herded, this is probably no more than wishful thinking.

The kangaroo meat available commercially differs from the East Coast States to the West. NSW and Southern Queensland hunters harvest eastern grey kangaroos which are smaller and are generally regarded as inferior in meat quality to the Western Red which has been the mainstay of the South Australian industry for over 35 years. A new comer to the scene has been the Tasmanian harvest of wallabies for their meat and a new cut, wallaby shanks, can give their equivalent from sheep a run for the money in flavor and texture. From here on, I’ll group all three macropods (the kangaroo genus) to discuss the cooking, as it is the same for all of them.

The primary kangaroo cuts include strip loin, (long) fillet and rump which are all ideally suited to pan frying, barbecuing and stir frying and are suggested to be served medium rare. Secondary cuts are generally sold as diced meat or mince and these are best used as processing meats in sausages and preserved products or prepared using slow cooking techniques such as braising or slow roasting for pies or casseroles. One point worth noting is that roo mince is best salted with soy sauce rather than inorganic salt as soy helps retain more moisture in the mince.

Cook any game meat, including kangaroo from rare to medium rare, no more.
Kangaroo is a very lean meat easily trimmed to be less than 2% fat. This basically means that if it’s overcooked, not rested or improperly carved, the meat is more likely to be dry and tough. I always recommend medium rare as the preferred doneness so if you like your meat well done, I’d suggest you avoid kangaroo and stick to high fat meats.

In case your thinking ... wow .... that looks pretty amazing, these are pictures from Benjamin Christie's website, my attempts were not worthy of an apperance on here.

After procrastinating a little as whether I could stomach the roo, I decided I have to try. Well the first thing I noticed was that defrosting kangaroo, there seemed to be so much juices and blood. Placing them into a pan at medium temperature with some olive oil, they quickly gave off kangaroo meat aroma, the blood and juices were clearly present (I don't often cook red meat). With this I was a little squeamish, and did what the professionals said not to do an overcooked the meat. After asking my sister and mother would they like to taste some they seemed to reluctantly decline (more so from the fact it was kangaroo, than it being well done). After toying with the meat for a little while and cutting it I was almost feeling guilty about eating kangaroo. I eventually took a small piece, it tasted very similar to beef, a little of a matured flavour, it was nice, but tough from my over cooking. Would I cook it again, most likely not, maybe as roo burgers, as I clearly am incapable of cooking it to perfection in any other form, but I would order it at a restaurant, where it can be cooked professionally, and in a dish suited to its game flavour. If your thinking you might like kangaroo, try it you might like it.



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Support the Woodland Trust with the Swipe of a Card

Everyone's favourite furniture retailer IKEA has teamed up with the Woodland Trust with the ultimate aim of creating 181 hectares of new woodland in the UK, the equivalent of 362 football pitches of trees. IKEAs offering would increase the Woodland Trusts land ownership by 0.9%.

Each time someone uses their IKEA Family loyalty card instore, they will donate a square foot of forest. The IKEA Family card is a reward and loyalty scheme that's completely free. As a member, you'll get exclusive offers, inspirational ideas and even a free cuppa.

The UK needs more trees – lots more! The UK is the least wooded country in Europe. Only 12% is covered by woodland, compared to a European average of 44%. The Woodland Trust is a UK charity established in 1972 dedicated to the protection and creation of woodland. It owns more than 1,000 woods throughout the UK which are open to the public, every day the area of woods and forests increases, and last month we heard of their efforts to grow the largest continuous native forest in England, after purchasing 850 acres of land.

Trees generate oxygen, store carbon, stabilise the soil, are home to wildlife and form a stunning part of our landscape. Woods, specifically our ancient woodland, are our richest wildlife habitat.

Since 1950, 98% of wildflower meadows and 190,000km of hedgerows have been destroyed. What's more, global deforestation accounts for 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions. It's a serious issue.

New woodland can help wildlife adapt to climate change. It can help in flood prevention, improving water quality, urban regeneration and enhancing landscapes.

You may consider that it would be an odd partnership for one of the World's largest furniture retailers, using copious amounts of wood, to support efforts of the Woodland Trust. However, both support the use of wood sourced from sustainable forests. Sustainable forests are managed to benefit the local economy, community and wildlife, where at least one tree is replanted for every one that's extracted.

IKEA, doesn't accept timber from intact natural forests or forests with a high conservation value. Their aim is to source all our wood from well-managed forests verified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

So next time your at IKEA make sure you swipe your card, and you will help ensure that the UK has woods and forests for future generations.


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Open University Offer Environmental Studies Diploma & Degrees

The Open University offers a range of qualification including Diplomas and Degrees in Environmental Studies. The OU is the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning and has around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. 10,000 of which have disabilities.

Nearly all students are studying part-time. About 70 per cent of undergraduate students are in full-time employment. More than 50,000 students are sponsored by their employers for their studies. Most OU courses are available throughout Europe. Some of them are available in many other parts of the world. More than 25,000 OU students live outside the UK.

I was pretty intrigued by the Open University for quite some time, as I have the urge to complete some kind of higher education course in environmental studies, however as I drifted from studies in the early days, I'm not sure if I will be as committed as I would like. The positive thing about the Open University is you can choose which courses you want to complete and can enroll, courses often start four times a year and you can complete the courses at your own pace (within the set time limit), no need to pay hefty tuition fees for a year then drop out later, plus you can get a taster for distance learning with their introduction courses which are reasonably priced at £110, and offer 10 points of credit towards a final qualification. Enrollment for November 2008, ends at the start of October. I better make my mind up soon.

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Tesco Launch New Recycled Plastic Bag

Tesco have launched their new Cath Kidston 'stripe' bag, you can get it in store from Monday 18th August. This new addition follows hot on the heels of the first two bags, 'multi floral' and 'blue spot', which launched in early July. Cath Kidston’s stunning bag designs for Tesco are great to look at as well as eco friendly, and they will donate 50p to Marie Curie Cancer Care for each one sold!

Just because you want to be green doesn’t mean you can’t be fun and stylish, the stunning range of re-usable bags created for Tesco by leading designer Cath Kidston are perfect for all your shopping and an alternative to plastic carrier bags. The bags are available in all Tesco Superstores and Extras. Three further vintage prints will be available later in the year. They’re just £3.50 each, but stocks are limited.

What’s more, for each bag sold, Tesco will give 50p to charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care. There will be no profit going to Tesco or Cath Kidston Ltd and we are guaranteeing that a minimum of £250,000 will be raised for this superb charitable cause.

Each bag is made out of nine recycled 500ml plastic bottles. Just like the school clothes we mentioned in today's earlier post, we are giving tesco far too much space. And, of course, every time you re-use these (or any other) bags at Tesco we’ll give you Green Clubcard Points to say thank you.

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Tesco Save 72m Bags in Northern Ireland

Tesco customers in Northern Ireland have saved 72m plastic carrier bags in the last two years since implementing "Green Clubcard" points scheme in July 2006.

The scheme allows you to reuse your old plastic bags from any retailer, a bag for life, or any other receptical to carry your goods away, in exchange for avoiding the use of a single use bag you can collect recieve a clubcard point. Often at the discretion of the customer service staff.

This figure would represent a saving of 491 tonnes of bags, across the two years of the scheme, or 20 bags per person per year, approximately a 12% reduction in the annual bags used in Northern Ireland, and from just one retailer. Nationwide, the campaign has lead to a reduction of approximately 1.5 billion bags since inception.

11th Hour on C4

A film which looks at some of the most important environmental issues facing our planet is being shown on Channel 4 on Sunday 25 May, at 7:25pm.

Produced and presented by Leonardo DiCaprio, The 11th Hour explores how we live, how we affect the earth's ecosystems, and what we can do to change the impact we have on our planet. Experts from all over the world - including UK scientist, Stephen Hawking, and US sustainable design expert, William McDonough - present the facts and discuss the most important issues that face our planet. The film will be available on DVD from 2nd June.

Britain's Top 50 Eco-Friendly Companies

The Sunday Times today will publish their first annual "Green List", showcasing Britain's best eco-friendly companies. The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards is a project designed to encourage, acknowledge and publicise businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance. The 50 companies listed in the report are all pioneers - enterprising, enlightened and fizzling with new ideas.

Richard Caseby, Managing Editor, The Sunday Times introduces the new annual feature;

We launched this venture to reflect the changing mood in the business world. Today it is not enough simply to make a profit for shareholders. Companies have a wider responsibility to ensure that they minimise the environmental impact of what they do. Consumers, clients and peers expect it.

They vary from Greencare H2O, a business employing just 50 people distributing watercoolers, to the banking giant HBOS, which has a staff of 74,000. All have a common sense of purpose about their corporate social responsibility.

Our Best Green Companies venture is unique. There may be plenty of environmental awards but this is the first that has both a robust methodology to measure environmental performance and a survey of each company’s staff to find out whether the green sheen is more than skin-deep.

Although 88 organisations registered for the competition, a number fell by the wayside. So be it. When we launched Best Companies to Work For eight years ago there was similar hesitation at the idea of asking staff what they thought of management and then publishing the results in a newspaper. It is Britain’s biggest national survey of employee satisfaction today.

I have no doubt that hundreds of firms will read our first report and will be clamouring for a place on our Green List 2009.

I am grateful to our research partners Bureau Veritas and Munro Global for their hard work in co-producing our survey, and I thank our sponsors Eon and Bank of Scotland Corporate for recognising the value of this venture.

You can catch the full list in today's edition of the Sunday Times, or online at the Times Online Environment Section.

Rapid Transport Network for Belfast City

Department for Regional Development, announced yesterday a high class bus-based network could cut commuting times while costing significantly less than that of a light rail system similar to that of the Luas in Dublin. Since the Luas was launched in June 2004 some 100 million journeys have been made with 80,000 people travelling on it every day.

Three pilot routes have been considered in the studies: one running from Dundonald in the East to the city centre; one serving the development in Titanic Quarter and onwards to Queen’s University and the City Hospital; and one into the West from the city centre to the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) and beyond into West Belfast.

The report by Atkins & KPMG noted instead of the £590m needed to establish a light rail network, the consultants say a high quality bus-based system with vehicles carrying 120 passengers, could be built for close to a quarter of the cost at £147m, however there should be the option of migrating to light rail in the future should the demand.

Conor Murphy, Regional Development Minister's Statement

"Transportation experts have concluded that the most appropriate system for the city is a modern and high class bus based system. Rapid transit is an exciting prospect for Belfast and I have recently visited the Netherlands and have seen examples of what could be possible here.

It is however, important to share the findings and recommendations of the studies with those who can assist me in reaching a final decision on what is the best system for Belfast. I therefore want to hear the views from a range of key interests taking into account all the facts of the studies, including the likely number of passengers and costs and therefore intend to engage with members of the Regional Development Committee and subsequently with other parties whose contribution will be important and vital.

Many people may not know precisely what is meant by rapid transit but it is something new that we have never had before in terms of public transport. I envisage it as a service offering improved speed, reliability, comfort and access features over conventional public transport. It is a service that should be segregated from other traffic as much as possible with new vehicle designs that enhance the journey and reflect Belfast as a 21st century city.

This is our opportunity to create a new dynamic transportation system for the city, one that helps link people to jobs, hospitals, schools and colleges. One that links communities to the city centre and the emerging opportunities in Titanic Quarter. A system that can be expanded to other parts of the city in due course, a system that attracts drivers out of their cars as they see the advantages of rapid transit.

The Programme for Government highlights rapid transit as a key priority with a commitment to start work on the first scheme by 2011. I have secured £111million for rapid transit and continue to explore opportunities to draw in additional private sector finance."

This development is a new provision for public transportation in Belfast, and from media reports the service is likely to be extremely affordable, as a way of keeping demand for the service and enticing car users on to public transport. Should the scheme be implemented in such a way to achieve its aims it will reduce traffic congestion, journey times and CO2 emissions, providing benefit to the city and the environment.

E-day: Worthwhile or Waste of Energy?

Matt Prescott the mind behind the event recently wrote his comments for the BBC in their ViewPoint section;

E-Day was designed to raise awareness that saving energy offers a quick, simple way of tackling the massive and urgent threat posed by climate change, and makes sense as a way of saving money and improving peoples' comfort in summer and winter.

I hoped to focus attention on how almost everyone can painlessly take greater personal responsibility for reducing their own demand for energy, and so cutting carbon emissions.

I had calculated that if every one of the 22 million households in the UK turned off just one 100 watt light bulb, on the same day, four 500 megawatt coal-fired power stations could be turned off.

I therefore wanted to see whether this information could be brought to life in a way that involved and interested everyone, and whether asking everyone to switch off at least one electrical item for a day could produce a noticeable impact on the country's energy use and carbon emissions.

No-one likes being repeatedly beaten over the head with messages asking them to "make sacrifices for the planet".

So I decided E-Day should be fun - and was able to set it up initially as a comedy-led BBC television programme likely to feature the talents of people like Graham Norton.

After 18 months of work, BBC TV cancelled Planet Relief just as we were getting ready to go into production.

This was apparently because a couple of other environmental projects had delivered poor ratings and there had been a public debate about whether it was the BBC's job to "save the planet".

The cancellation had immediate implications for E-Day - the first being that it was likely to slide into oblivion - but also raised wider questions about the public's appetite for the climate issue.

Opinion polls show widespread concern about climate change, and a significant majority in favour of taking action - so why weren't people watching? Or were broadcasters being too timid?

Anyway - I decided to see whether I could make E-Day work as an independent venture. The environment charities, religious groups, energy companies and scientists I had been working with decided to remain involved, and the National Grid agreed it would still monitor national electricity use - so it seemed viable.

However, I had very little money to make things happen. A couple of charities came through with no strings attached funding, and the damage to my bank account - while still the equivalent of a deposit on a house - looked manageable.

Come the big day, thanks largely to some fantastically talented people giving their time for free, we had a superb website, a fresh and fun launch event at St Paul's Cathedral featuring the premiere of a bicycle-powered cinema, some lovely short films on YouTube and the agreement of some of the large energy companies to use E-Day to promote home insulation.

But the big disadvantage of working outside one of the big media or campaign groups is that you are dependent on others for publicity.

Without publicity, no-one would know that E-Day was happening, and so almost by definition it was bound to fail on both objectives - lowering energy use and spreading awareness.

In the end, this proved the project's Achilles heel.

The Sun covered our "Bjorn The Bear" video, the BBC News website carried a live data feed of electricity use, BBC News 24 filmed the launch, and 15 local radio stations interviewed me.

A Russian TV news channel, with an audience of 100 million, decided that E-Day was important enough to merit 10 minutes of prime time coverage, even during the Russian elections.

MTV phoned up and asked if they could be part of E-Day in the last few hours!

But it was not enough. As Kevin Costner might have said in Field of Dreams: "We built it; but they did not come".

I was deluged with emails saying, in a nutshell: "Great idea - wish I'd known about it".

It didn't help that the National Grid's prediction for "business as usual" electricity demand immediately ran into trouble.

The day was colder than expected, and this meant that more heating and lighting were being used than the Grid's experts had predicted; for a while, the graphs allowed you to conclude that E-Day had raised energy use - and maybe this dissuaded people from taking part.

Towards the end of E-Day, the Grid used actual weather data to update its predictions, and its final figures revealed that electricity use over the 24 hours of E-Day was 0.1% higher than would have been expected.

At first, I was hugely disappointed by this result.

But as the next morning dawned, and hundreds of encouraging emails started to pour in from children, businesses, councils and people overseas, I started to realise just how much had been achieved.

Now, a month or so on, I am able to step back a bit and ask: was it worth it?

First, the positives. Many energy companies, charities, academics and retailers set aside their day-to-day differences and found common cause; that has to bode well for the future.

Through E-Day, five major energy companies simplified the hoops that people have to jump through when they apply for help with home insulation; perhaps this is a model they can take forward now.

They are required to offer these services by law, so they might as well make it as easy as possible.

The together.com coalition of big companies pledged to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of their customers by 1 million tonnes in time for the next E-Day.

Will there be another E-Day, though?

Right now, I don't know. If there is, I hope that the next one will be bigger and better, and able to build on the ideas, lessons, support and interest generated this time around.

The novelty and ambition of E-Day appeared to create a rare set of conditions under which competitors felt they were missing out if they refused to join efforts to save energy and to come up with solutions to climate change.

However, the fact that E-Day couldn't guarantee high-profile coverage meant that many big and wealthy organisations decided they could say "yes" to contributing a low-cost idea and their logo, but "no" to spending any money on publicity.

There are of course other initiatives with similar aims, such as the recent Earth Hour.

All of them are worthwhile; what we must not do in the environmental community is create any sense of competition between them.

If different groups concentrate on promoting just their "own" ventures, none will achieve what they want. We must keep our common goal of reducing carbon emissions in mind.

Hopefully, next time around it will be possible for all the E-Day partners to promote it more whole-heartedly so that all of their customers and members know exactly when it is, what they are being asked to do and what solutions are on offer.

I also hope that a major media organisation or two will turn out to have a serious enough interest in saving energy that we can do something exciting and unique together in time for the next E-Day.

The Daily Mail's campaign to banish plastic bags appears to have borne fruit; the recent Budget gives supermarkets a year to put their houses in order, otherwise legislation will force them to.

To me, this shows that simple, focused campaigns with significant media coverage, designed to help the environment, can be effective and popular.

Comic Relief and Children in Need successfully campaign against poverty and child abuse; so I hope that backing sensible measures to save energy and urgently tackle climate change, to the level the science indicates to be necessary, will not frighten anyone in the British media for much longer.

Meanwhile, our leaders need to lead and our governments to govern, while customers and voters need to demand and support efforts to save energy and tackle climate change without delay.

In the end, bringing carbon emissions down as far as we need to will require not an E-Day but an E-lifetime; and we should grasp every chance we have to spread the word and start on the small steps that will make the big challenges we all face less daunting.

Cookstown Heating their Swimming Pool with Willow

As energy prices continue to rise, the dilemma facing Cookstown Council to keep it's leisure services in full has been greatly affected. Costs for heating their pools at the local leisure centre notched up a fuel bill in excess of £100 000, until they teamed up with five local farmers in a bid not only to keep a vital community facility but also to reduce their CO2 emissions (after ranking 429 out of 434 council areas for CO2 emissions in the Green Barometer III report from the Energy Saving Trust) and of course, energy costs.

The unlikely partnership has seen the five local farmers growing willow, a long grass, which has become known as an energy crop, for its fast growth and reasonably high carbon sequestration rate. Grown locally the crop is then transported to the leisure centre and with the use of a wood-chip burner, used to help heat the swimming pools. The partnership has seen the energy bill at the facility fall by £1 100 per week. Reducing the burden on the Council and those of the 12 000 households in the council area.

The Woman Who Stops Traffic

With road transport being a major contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with approximately 91m tonnes emitted annually, and up 1.3% on 2006. Channel Four last night screened the Woman Who Stops Traffic, one woman named Kris, with her aim of reducing gridlock in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, which has one of the highest car ownership rates in the country, through a no car day.

Focusing her efforts on three different local traffic hot spots, the eight local schools, high street and the industrial estate which employs 8000 residents. After a harsh initial response from community leaders and the community itself, a four week campaign to promote the car free day on 01 February, Kris and her supports eagerly watched on to see if the fruits of their labour, council money and the future of Marlow. A shaky start saw large numbers of vehicles at day break, but by morning, the areas around the traffic hot spots were literally no car zones. Reducing traffic by up to 40%, and reducing those pupils that travel to school by car to only 10%.

If you missed the first episode in this new series, why not log on to 4oD, to stream or download the latest channel four television shows. Is this the model for the rest of the country?

The show follows on from Transport for London's latest increase in the congestion charge for cars which exceed emissions of 225g/km (or for cars manufactured before March 2001, an engine size over 3.0 litres). Cars that do not meet the new threshold will be forced to pay a congestion charge of £25. But the types of car that fall into this category include some family favourites, with some larger vehicles such as the Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2, BMW X5 3.0d and Porsche Boxster 2.7 falling into the lower price category.

To find out if your car is over or under check out the government website, VCA Car Fuel Data.

"Some really surprising cars will be caught by the £25 charge. A 2.0-litre petrol Vauxhall Zafira - a family MPV - emits 228g/km of CO2 and will have to pay. And there are plenty of 4x4s and sports cars that will pay the minimum charge of £8."
Dan Stevens, News Editor, Autocar

An alternative to the car is train travel is often seen as a relatively clean way to travel, and rightly so. The carbon emissions produced by train travel are between two to three times less than by road. Currently, rail travel accounts for about 7% of traffic but emits only about 0.2% of the carbon monoxide, 2% of nitrous oxides and 1% of volatile organic compounds produced by the transportation sector. The best electric trains produce less than a third of carbon than diesel trains, and with the efficiency of electricity production improving this too will get better. The trouble is, only 40% of trains in the UK are electric, the lowest proportion in Europe.

I will be reviewing the new more efficient, carbon friendly and shorter Eurostar service to Paris, in May, as I take a short trip to London and Paris (if Eurostar would like to send me free tickets just let me know). For more information on train travel, the Man in Seat Sixty-One can help.

Whilst on the topic of trains, and in more general terms Stagecoach, the firm that operates bus services across the UK, holding a 16% market share, and controls 25% of the rail market, including South West Trains, East Midlands Trains, and a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, the operator of the West Coast Main Line. This week announced "encouraging" like-for-like revenue growth was 14% on train services and up 7% on bus services compared with the same period (fours months from Oct 31).

Sorry for the late updates as I have been very busy at work and ill lately. In positive terms it has made me think about greening my work more as a solution to future unresolved problems. The news over transport emissions in recent weeks has shown that we need to tackle what is a growing dependence on cars, with the main method by local and national government of getting those out of their cars via green taxes, but are these effective methods?.

With ever increasing fuel costs, added tax is certainly pricing lowest income families out of the market, the new £25 congestion charge and higher road taxes will focus on high CO2 emitting vehicles, the majority of which are the highest priced and aimed at the luxury market. The hefty increase will certainly serve as deterant to high emitting cars in London, and should make people think twice about what they buy, as in future the bar will be lowered to include more cars.

I do not live in London, but since Tuesday night I have been transfixed about buying a new bike, as a method of travelling to and from work and general exercise, maybe even for my late night lurks to Tesco. But in a funny way I find myself asking the same questions as aired in the Woman Who Stops Traffic. Where will I lock it up? Will it be safe? Will I be safe? ... I shall update you on my outcome next week when I will confirm my final decisions. Which I hope will be a resounding "get on yer bike". As I am a bike newbie any advice would be welcome, hence I might ask some blogger out there in the field to write an article.

Effects of Climate Change on a Local Level

Photography: Peter Sandeman of 3SixtyCreative

A major report published today by the National Trust, "Shifting Shores: Living with a Changing Coastline" (PDF) describes how three of its iconic coastal properties in Northern Ireland are at risk from coastal erosion and flooding over the coming century.

The research was commissioned by the Trust and undertaken by leading coastal experts from Queen’s University and the University of Ulster. Their research focused on the Giant’s Causeway, north-east Strangford Lough and Murlough National Nature Reserve.

Key findings include:

• The Giant’s Causeway (an UNESCO World Heritage Site) is likely to experience increased storminess, with a greater area of the Causeway 40,000 interlocking basalt columns washed by waves by 2050, while by 2100 access to parts of the Causeway could be more difficult, particularly in winter.
  
  
• At north-east Strangford Lough, sea level rise of up to 25cm is predicted by 2050, and possibly by up to 1 metre by 2100. This would result in significant loss of feeding and nesting grounds for the Lough’s birdlife, such as Brent geese who migrate annual and graze on the eel grass. Increased winter storms would result in sea walls being overtopped more often and undefended areas of coast experiencing greater erosion.
  
  
• At Murlough National Nature Reserve it is possible that between 50 and 400 metres of dunes could be eroded away, while tidal and storm flooding could reach one metre higher than present day extremes.
  
  

"Northern Ireland’s coastline will be a changing, and indeed challenging, environment in the 21st century. The National Trust, and many other bodies, must prepare now to meet the uncertain challenges ahead."
Professor Julian Orford, Queen’s University, Belfast

"Because the National Trust cares for so many very special places, it is essential that we invest in this kind of research, to help us to understand how climate change may affect our properties in the future. Significantly, this report also highlights the challenges which will be important for all of us – government, landowners, coastal communities – to begin to consider now and to plan for in the future. Shifting Shores is a major contribution by the National Trust to the growing debate about climate change. In particular it provides key information about how climate change may affect us here in Northern Ireland. The key challenges which we in the Trust believe it is essential to address now include the need for more detailed coastal data and mapping of the whole Northern Ireland coastline. This is needed urgently, and government must make this a priority. Our planning system, and in particular development plans and planning policy statements must take predicted coastal change into account, to ensure coastal landscapes are adequately protected in the future"

Hilary McGrady, Director for Northern Ireland, National Trust

The report outlines key climate chane impacts on the Giant's Causeway as;

• The Giant's Causeway World Heritage Site is likely to experience increased winter wetness; drier summers; more frequent and longer-lasting storms with associated storm surges; and as part of the rising sea-level, higher-reaching extreme flood levels.
  
  
• These conditions will increase erosion and have an impact on the habitats on the site, such as coastal saltmarsh and coastal vegetated shingle which are of European significance. Particular plants at risk would include oysterplant and Scot's Lovage while of the invertebrates likely to be affected the most notable is the tiny narrow mouthed whorl snail, which is found in Northern Ireland only at the Giant's Causeway.
  
  
• In the short-term (2020s) there will be an increasing threat of storms and adverse weather conditions. This will require ever more rigorous hazard management, especially in relation to access to the cliff top.
  
  
• In the medium to longer term (2050s - 2080s), slope instability and cliff retreat may be likely. Realignment of the cliff top path may have to be considered.
  
  
• Wetter winters and greater frequency and intensity of rainfall would result in increasing risks of slope instability or failure. Past major slips may be reactivated. In this scenario, the long term viability of the existing road to the Causeway Stones would need to be reviewed.
  
  
• In the medium-term rising sea level and greater peak surges are likely to significantly increase the area of Causeway stones washed by waves.
  
  
• In the longer term (2080s to 2100) this would continue to increase, with the possible result that there may be periods when access to the stones would be considerably more difficult. The Grand Causeway could experience considerable erosion, while parts of the Middle and Little Causeways could be under water for periods of the winter.
  

In Northern Ireland no-one lives more than 35 miles from the coast, and with the Giants' Causeway defined as one of only three heritage sites in the British Isles it is seen by many as a national treasure. The latest report from three highly respected institutions will allow individuals on a local level to quantify the impacts climate change could have, and the implications this could have on the environment, society and economy. The report also hints on potential solutions that could help to stave off the inevitable.