Robinsons Shave Two Grams off a Bottle

Leading soft drinks company Britvic today announced it is reducing the amount of packaging in the UK’s favourite squash brand, Robinsons, with the introduction of a new lighter bottle. The new 1 litre bottle is 2 grams lighter which will save an estimated 330 tonnes of plastic a year, equivalent to over 9 million empty bottles, and reduce the energy needed to make the bottles at the Robinsons factory in Norwich by 5%.

Over the past two years Britvic has invested more than £5 million in making changes to its Robinsons brand to reduce the weight of packaging used, saving 1600 tonnes of plastic overall.

The new 1 litre plastic bottle, made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is another step towards Britvic’s target to remove a total of 5,000 tonnes of packaging by December 2010 as part of the government-backed Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Britvic was the first soft drinks company to sign up to WRAP which aims to design out packaging waste growth and deliver absolute reductions in packaging waste across the industry.

“Robinsons has come a long way in reducing its impact on the environment in the last two years but as always we are focused on further packaging reductions as well as energy and water usage reductions across all Britvic brands and at all our manufacturing sites. With Robinsons representing a quintessential family brand that sells over 200 million bottles a year, we are committed to playing our part in ensuring a sustainable future for further generations of families.”
Paul Moody, Chief Executive, Britvic

"Cool UN" Initative Starts

Under the new initative the UN's New York headquarters will get hotter in an attempt to make the world cooler. For all of August the UN building's thermostats will rise from their usual chilly 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Centigrade) up to 77 degrees (25 degrees Centigrade).

The main UN premises in Bangkok, which houses over a dozen of the Organization's entities, joined the Secretariat today in rolling out the “Cool UN” scheme.

“Cool UN” is just one of several schemes United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is involved in to slash energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2002, it has cut back electricity consumption by 16 per cent yearly by replacing old and inefficient appliances such as power transformers, elevators, air conditioners, lights and pumps.

ESCAP's service also has pilot solar panels and wind turbines, and water usage has been reduced by 30 per cent every year through new higher-efficiency water closets and using recycled water for the main gardens.

It is expected the programme will reduce CO2 emissions by 300 tonnes and $100,000 this month, with annual savings of 3000 tonnes and $1m, the initative will be implemented all year round.

Wavegen Making Waves in Renewable Energy

View a Video of the 100kW turbine

Jim Mather, MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism today officially started the new Wavegen 100kW turbine which will be deployed in future wave energy projects worldwide. The 100kW turbine was developed with support from the Scottish Government’s WATES (Wave and Tidal Energy Support) scheme.

Mr Mather was visiting Wavegen’s LIMPET facility, where the 100kW turbine is installed, near Portnahaven on the island of Islay in his Argyll and Bute constituency. LIMPET is the world’s first commercial-scale, grid-connected wave energy plant, and has been in operation since 2000. Mr Mather was joined by senior executives from RWE Innogy and Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation (Wavegen’s parent company).

The startup of the 100kW turbine is a major step forward for the Siadar Wave Energy Project (SWEP), under development by npower renewables (RWE Innogy’s UK operating company) on the isle of Lewis. npower renewables submitted planning applications for the SWEP in April 2008. The SWEP would harness power from the Atlantic waves in Siadar Bay to generate up to 4 megawatts of electricity, using forty Wavegen 100kW turbines. The energy produced each year could supply the average annual electricity needs of around 1500 homes on Lewis and Harris. If plans are given the go ahead by the Scottish Government, building work could start as early as 2009. The project could generate up to 50 construction jobs for local people and would take 18 months to complete.

“The Scottish Government is determined to help make Scotland a world leader in the development and deployment of wave and tidal technologies. I am delighted to be in Islay today to see the investment from WATES come to fruition for myself, and this advanced renewables project is more evidence that wave energy will bring real results and benefits for businesses in Scotland as we move towards cleaner energy sources.”
Jim Mather, Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism

“With this new turbine Wavegen has extended the range of application for wave energy plants to include more energetic and hence more economically attractive environments.
I am confident the reliability demonstrated in other proven turbines will be continued in this 100kW turbine, and I look forward to seeing turbines deployed in Siadar and many other projects. Voith Siemens Hydro sees ocean energy as a growth sector, and this is reinforced by worldwide interest in our products.”
Dr Roland Muench, CEO of Voith Siemens Hydro

The Great Global Warming Swindle To Be Debated

Channel 4 will debate the airing and subsequent ruling by Ofcom of the Great Global Warming Swindle on The TV Show at 4:10pm on Saturday 2nd August 2008. For more information on the show and how to interact, visit their microsite on Channel 4.