Picture: The Snow

Severe snow storms, the worst for 18 years, across the UK this week have caused travel chaos.

Picture: Polar Bears on the Thames

A sculpture of polar bears floats down the Thames, past the Houses of Parliament, in London, as part of a promotion for natural history TV channel Eden and to remind MPs of global warming.

Picture: Protests at Power Cuts

Nepalese workers protest against power cuts in Kathmandu - where the government-owned Nepal Electricity Authority blames low water levels at hydroelectric dams.

Picture: Bikes on an SUV

My friend has been out in California taking pictures, and so I thought I would show a few of the environmental looking ones here over the next few days. First up some bikes on an SUV.

Carrying items like bikes (roof racks, roof boxes) on your vehicle, decreases your aerodynamics, increases drag, and increases your fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions. Only carry them when absolutely necessary.

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.

Related Articles
Food Waste Scheme Hailed Success
Moving Forward From Zero Growth
Robinsons Shave Two Grams off a Bottle
Delivered Milk is Cleaner, Greener and Easier to Swallow
H2O ... Tap into it

Lifestyle Green at Castle Espie

I seem to have taken not many pictures of the show and more of the park, but that's typically me. I shall update you with a full rundown of events of this years jam packed (with visitors, stalls and talks) show.

Picture: Random Hong Kong Energy Pics

Some random Hong Kong energy related pics, enjoy steal or do what you like with them. I forgot to take pictures of No Straw Day!

Picture: Hurricane Gustav Strikes US

Hurricane Gustav has struck after an estimated two million people fled inland from the Louisiana coast. Hurricane Gustav is quickly losing strength after making landfall in Louisiana, and has been downgraded to a Category One storm, with winds of 90mph (145km/h). Advancing inland, bringing with it torrential rain and severe winds.

Picture: Kilbraur Wind Farm

Photos By Ray Cranfield and Ronnie Mackay (More Pics Available Here)Kilbraur wind farm of 19 turbines, with maximum output of 47.5MW. Kilbraur Wind Energy Co-operative, have just released shares up to the value of £1.8 million for purchase to locals in the largest wind farm co-op in the United Kingdom. I'm tempted to buy a few shares, more on how to invest in wind power?

Related Articles
World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
Hospital Wind Turbine Turns Profit
World' Largest Wind Turbine

Picture: Shut Down Kingsnorth

Protesters at the Climate Camp in Kingsnorth, Kent may have began leaving. About 1,500 people were stationed at the site, which is about two miles from the power plant on the Hoo peninsula, for the last week. 50 Activists were arrested on Saturday by police as they tried to breach the complex. The police operation on the site for one week is believed to have exceeded several million pounds.

The current Kingsnorth power station is due to close in 2015 and E.On wants to replace it with two new coal units, which it claims will be 20% cleaner, but still 80% dirty. Its proposals, which would see the first new coal-fired power plant being built in the UK for 24 years, have already been approved by Medway Council but the government will make the final decision about the project.

Activists have vowed to return to the power plant if the decision is approved.

Related Articles
Picture: In the Climate Camp
Coal Power Plant Decision Deferred
Gordon Brown Outlines Climate Plan

Picture: Real Pedal Power

This picture has left me speechless, how can we make the UK like this? An almost empty car park and a full bicycle park on a park and ride scheme in China. Beautiful.

Related Articles
Lisburn Bus Station
Train vs Car ... Lisburn to Belfast
Borrow a Bike Because its Fast

Picture: Nicole Cooke Winning Gold in Road Race

British cycling has now seen two medals, one gold for Nicole Cooke in the women's road race, two days ago and this morning Britain's second silver of the games by Emma Pooley in the women's time trials. An excellent performance by both. Will this collosal achievement captivate people in the UK to get on their bikes and ride, if not for a Gold medal in 2012, but to get to work, any promotion for cycling is a positive step, and surely this must be the gold medal for Cycle England.

Picture: Wind Power at Olympic Sailing Venue

Some elements of sustainability have been seen on show at the olympics already at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Venue, with 168 wind turbines lining the marina to the media centre, which is cooled and heated by sea water. The city has also seen tree planting covering 37,000 hectares since 2008, in the run up to the games.

Picture: In the Climate Camp

A young protester in Kingsnorth, Kent looks on as people prevent police from entering a camp set up as part of a climate change demonstration against a new coal-fired power plant.

Related Articles
Coal Power Plant Decision Deferred
Gordon Brown Outlines Climate Plans
33GW by 2020

Picture: Bikes in LA

Lisburn Bus Station

Lisburn City officially opened their new world class £2.5m bus station on the corner of Hillsborough Road and Smithfield Street, adjacent to the Lisburn Square on 30 June. Whilst I have procrastinated in visiting, I did today and took a few snaps of the building which will serve 71 000 people who live in the city centre, and the countless visitors that will travel in from surrounding towns to visit.

The building provides excellent facilities, with full disabled access across the building, a huge improvement to the bus shelters available across the street before the building opened.

The building includes some sustainable building processes including solar skylights, which create a light and spacious feel throughout the building. A solar thermal heating system which provides hot water all year round for heating the building and also the toilet facilities. There is also a covered bike shelter for cyclists to park and ride, covered by CCTV.

Hopefully the facility will encourage more people to make use of buses to commute and for leisure purposes, the centre also provides information, and for a first time bus user the information screens detailing the destination of each bus and where it will be located (ie stand number) and its current status (ie on time). I was quite shocked on my first visit to see a steady stream of human traffic using the new centre, a very positive first look!

Eco Design in Victoria Square

On a recent trip to the almost new Victoria Square shopping complex in Belfast, some rather interesting, but basic environmentally friendly features have been included into the core concepts of the complex. With an open ended mall there is no need to heat or cool the air inside, the glass ceiling providing sufficient light to illuminate the main walkways, where concrete ceilings exist large solar tubes funnel light to those areas minimising the need for extra lighting.

In the toilets, each cubicle has light sensors, illuminating each only when a person enters. The toilets also have dual flush functions to save water. The basin also benefit from sensors to reduce water use.