Posts Tagged ‘consumption’
Wangaratta High School: Applied ESD
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on March 10th, 2010
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
From the Green Building Council Australia Fact Sheet
Wangaratta High School in north-eastern Victoria was awarded a 4 Star Green Star – Education PILOT rating in August 2009 for Stage One in its three part redevelopment plan, becoming the first Green Star certified school in Australia. Utilising environmentally sustainable design (ESD) principles, the Taylor Oppenheim/Meinhardt Group project team aimed to reduce the new senior school’s negative impact on the environment, while at the same time, providing students and teachers with a healthier, more productive space. With US studies revealing green schools foster higher reading retention, better test scores and greater staff retention, it is easy to see why educational facilities around Australia are considering greener alternatives.
Ground heat exchange system
During project consultations, Wangaratta High School and the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development outlined their vision for the new school to be as energy efficient as possible, reducing the electrical power demand on-site as well as the recurrent energy costs accrued by the school. This brief was realised through the implementation of a ground heat exchange (GHE) system which would service the majority of the facility’s heating and cooling needs. This geothermal technology uses the earth as both a heat source and a heat sink, circulating water in a series of grid loops under the earth’s surface to cool or warm the building above. The system circulates water through a grid of 42 loops extending 100m below, using heat pumps to push the water through hydronic pipes in the building’s floor slab. Because heat energy naturally flows from areas of higher temperature to those of lower temperature, the GHE heating and cooling system is a highly efficient, renewable energy source that maintains a pleasant temperature range of 20-26°C throughout the year, with little need for supplementary heating or cooling.
Associate for the Building Science & technology Group at Meinhardt, Dr Mirek Piechowski says: “By tapping into the renewable energy stored in the ground, the GeoExchange technology offers the most energy efficient heat transfer mechanism for climate control system. The other significant feature of the GeoExchange technology is the fact that in the heating mode only up to 25 per cent of the heating energy is derived from fossil fuels, i.e. electricity, while the remaining 75 per cent is renewable energy. In contrast, in traditional gas heating systems 100 per cent of heat is derived from burning gas,” he explains.
A feasibility study conducted by the Meinhardt Group predicted the GHE system would save the school around $35,000 in energy bills, as well as a reduce CO2 emissions by 253 tonnes annually. Combined with other energy efficient measures, this system achieves energy savings of up to 75 per cent, compared to conventional buildings of the same size.
Tags: consumption, energy, innovation, Urban Design and Built Form
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Slowing Down for Better Business: Maersk
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on March 1st, 2010
Source: Treehugger
From Danish Cargo Ship Fleet Cuts Fuel Use 30% By Going Half Speed, by Brian Merchant
Until two years ago, the Danish shipping conglomerate Maersk had been sending its cargo ships across the seas at full throttle, vying to get supplies to their destination as fast as possible–and every other shipping company was doing the same. It seemed at the time the most efficient way of doing business. But in order to do so, the company was running its ships at far beyond the maximum fuel efficiency levels. So, two years ago, Maersk decided to slow things down. Now, a trip that used to take 3 weeks instead takes a month. But they’re reaping huge savings in fuel use, costs and greenhouse gas reductions–by as much as 30%.
The New York Times reports:
In a global culture dominated by speed … the company has seized on a sales pitch that may startle some hard-driving corporate customers: Slow is better. By halving its top cruising speed over the last two years, Maersk cut fuel consumption on major routes by as much as 30 percent, greatly reducing costs. But the company also achieved an equal cut in the ships’ emissions of greenhouse gases.
Which is pretty phenomenal when you think about it–in the midst of a complex global recession and fast-rising oil prices, a solution as simple as easing up on the accelerator was able to help the company drastically cut costs and stay competitive. According to the Times, Soren Stig Nielsen, Maersk’s director of environmental sustainability, says that slowing down is “a great opportunity to lower emissions ‘without a quantum leap in innovation’,” and he notes in presentations to clients that “Going at full throttle is economically and ecologically questionable.” And he’s right.
Just by slowing down, Maersk is able to lower the prices they charge in the face of rising oil prices – something full speed competitors simply cannot do. And the reduced greenhouse gas emissions make this one of the simplest ways for companies to green their supply chains and lower their overall carbon footprint. In other words, if a company is willing to wait an extra couple days for raw materials or goods, it can both save money and tout a commitment to the environment. Just by waiting.
Read the full article by Brian Merchant on Treehugger
Tags: behaviour change, business, consumption
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Don’t Forget The Green Bag: Rewards-Tagged Eco-Bags
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 24th, 2010
Source: Japan for Sustainability
Image: Toppan Printing Co.
An experimental project to develop and research a system to revitalize shopping districts through the use of eco-bags with Integrated Circuit (IC) tags was carried out in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward in December 2009. 30 stores in the Kami-ita Minami-Guchi Ginza Shopping District took part. The purpose of this experiment included reducing the use of plastic shopping bags by distributing eco-bags to local shoppers, promoting visits to shopping districts, and testing the development and operation method of a distribution system that circulates points accumulated on the IC tag in the community as a form of local currency.
Toppan Printing Co. distributed free eco-bags with IC tags to 300 shoppers. Those who brought the eco-bag to the participating stores between December 7 and 23 received points by holding the bag out to the IC tag reader/writer which is connected to a PC. Accumulated points were saved on the IC tag, while the PC recorded the ID of the IC tag as well as the date and time of the store visit.
After December 23, a gift card draw based on the total points accumulated on the IC tag took place.
Read the full article.
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, enabling technologies
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Last Minute Market – A 360° Action Against Waste
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 17th, 2010
Source: Food Climate Research Network
From the Current Interview on the Food Climate Research Network:
Last Minute Market (LMM) is a project where shops and producers who have unsold food which would otherwise be discarded are linked with people and charities who need food. Originating in Bologna, it is active in more than 40 Italian towns, with 2 new projects under development in Argentina and Brazil. LMM offers services to enterprises and institutions in order to prevent and reduce waste production at its origin. It also develops innovative services for the recovery and reuse of unsold goods. Since the introduction of the Italian anti–waste law in 2008, non-food items can also be recovered.
LMM has 6 different and interrelated areas of activities:
* Food- unsold food which is still edible
* Harvest- vegetables not harvested which would be rejected by retailers due to cosmetic reasons or weather damage
* Seeds- seeds that do not conform with market standards
* Catering- products not served by public and private catering
* Books- unsold books that would otherwise be destroyed
* Pharmacy- unsold pharmaceuticals which can be used to meet the health needs of socially disadvantaged people
LMM helps:
* companies to manage surpluses in innovative ways, which can reduce waste disposal costs and improve the company’s links with the local community
* public institutions and the community benefit from the reduction in the flow of waste to landfill and improve food availability for the sectors of society that need it
* the third sector reduce operating costs and release resources for other projects
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, waste
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How low can we go? Greenhouse Gas Reduction in the UK Food System
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 12th, 2010
Source: Food Climate Research Network
…the important point is that we are highly likely to need both technological and behavioural change to achieve reductions of this magnitude – and help avoid dangerous climate change.
From the report: How low can we go? An assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from the UK food system and the scope for reduction by 2050.
When it comes to environmental impacts, the usual suspects have been mobility (the way we get around) and energy (the way we heat and light our buildings). However, there’s an equally significant actor in the creation of greenhouse gases: food. Some 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to what we put on our plates.
The UK has its own legally-binding targets to reduce production emissions by 80% by 2050 under the Climate Change Act. In order to make a proportional contribution to these reductions, and taking into account the fact that we need to continue to eat, WWF-UK and the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) suggest food-related emissions need to be cut by 70% by 2050. Achieving this is highly likely to require significant changes throughout the UK food system – from production and processing to cooking, the kinds of food we eat and what and how much we throw away.
The aim of this study was thus to determine the feasibility of a 70% cut, where in the food chain cuts could be made, and by how much. In addition, the work estimated the emissions arising from direct and indirect land use change attributable to UK food consumption. This was done by calculating how much land, including forest, is converted annually to agriculture and the CO2 emissions that arise from this process, and attributing an appropriate amount of these emissions to UK food consumption.
As such, this study provides the most accurate inventory of greenhouse gases attributable to UK food consumption to date: the results were striking – and disturbing. As stated above, direct emissions from the UK food chain are estimated to be about 20% of the UK’s total consumption emissions. However, according the method and assumptions used in the study, including the emissions attributable to direct and indirect land use change lifts the proportion of UK consumption emissions attributable to food from 20% to 30% of all UK emissions – or from 152MtCO2 to 253MtCO2. Reducing emissions from food will thus be key to tackling climate change.
This study investigated a range of approaches to making the cuts, constructing three broad thematic scenarios:
The first was an energy-based scenario in which the focus was on (a) the decarbonisation of non-mobile processes, such as food processing, cooking and refrigeration and (b) the decarbonisation of energy used in transport. The result? Cuts of some 57% by 2050. Not enough.
The second was an emissions-led scenario which centred on (a) reductions in direct GHG emissions, such as methane from cows and sheep and nitrous oxide from fertilisers and (b) improved production efficiency, including increased crop yields and improved livestock genetics. The result? Cuts of some 55% by 2050. Again: not enough.
The final scenario considered (a) conservation, through waste avoidance and using wasted food to generate energy and (b) changes to consumption patterns in the UK. The result? Cuts of some 60%. Getting there, but still not enough.
Visit the website for the abstract or full report.
Tags: consumption, Food, greenhouse gases, report, waste
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Feeding the 5000: On the Day
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on February 5th, 2010
In the days and weeks before 16th December Feeding the 5000 received tonnes of generously donated fresh produce from farms, packers and markets – from the tonnes of produce that are ‘outgraded’ for being cosmetically imperfect and which would have been wasted though they are still good to eat.
From the original press release:
The produce will be delivered to the food depot of our main partner, FareShare. From there it will be taken to the commercial kitchens which have been kindly given over to us for the event. Here it will be prepared into soup and other food for the day by an army of volunteers trained in food handling and preparation. The food will be delivered by FareShare to Trafalgar Square on the 16th December and prepared in time for the free lunch, starting at 12 noon. Meanwhile, smoothies from fresh surplus fruit will be made by a team of bicycle-powered smoothie makers and handed out to passers-by.
For an insight into how the event turned out on the day, watch the Guardian.UK’s video of the event.
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, Food, waste
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Apple-filled Subway: Making a point
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on January 20th, 2010
Source: Treehugger
From “New York Subway Train Filled With Apples Is Emptied Onto Platform, Illustrates Food Waste (Video)” by Jaymi Heimbuch.
Every day, New York City residents waste 270,000 pounds of food. Want to know what that looks like? Here’s an unforgettable way to imagine it – fill up a subway train with the equivalent amount of apples, and release it onto the people waiting on the platform. New York’s City Harvest food bank created this commercial to illustrate the point that as thousands of pounds of food is wasted daily, thousands of residents don’t have enough to eat. City Harvest works to change that on a local level.
This year alone, the group will “rescue” and deliver more than 25 million pounds of quality food that would otherwise go to waste. The group collects food from the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms, and delivers it for free to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot.
And no, 270,000 pounds of apples weren’t used to make the point. Here’s a video on how they created the video.
Read the full article by Jaymi Heimbuch.
[See the 
website for a Melbourne example of food-rescue ]
Tags: communication, consumption, Food, local action, new systems/services
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Transforming Cultures: State Of The World Report 2010
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on January 14th, 2010
Source: Eanth-L, e-list for the field of ecological/environmental anthropology.
Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. This cultural system encourages people to define their happiness and success through how much they consume. But on a finite planet, this system is maladaptive and threatens to cause significant disruptions to Earth’s climate and ecosystems, and subsequently to human civilization. If, on the other hand, we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability—one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth.
Worldwatch Institute’s Transforming Cultures project turns a critical eye to how we can shift today’s consumer cultures into cultures of sustainability. The key to this transformation will lie in harnessing institutions that play a central role in shaping society–such as the media, educational services, business, governments, traditions, and social movements–to instill this new cultural orientation.
In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world’s leading institutions—education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements—to reorient cultures toward sustainability.
The report, scheduled for release in January 2010, will include articles from 60 eminent researchers and experts on consumerism, sustainability, and cultural change. It will provide information on how we can make the needed shift to a culture of sustainability and illustrate how people around the world are already taking important steps.
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, new systems/services
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Motivating sustainable energy consumption in the home: Research Paper
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on January 11th, 2010
Source: Experientia, from “Design for Sustainable Behaviour (part 2)”
Image: gilgongo vial flickr CC
Abstract: Technologies are just now being developed that encourage sustainable energy usage in the home. One approach is to give home residents feedback of their energy consumption, typically presented using a computer visualization. The expectation is that this feedback will motivate home residents to change their energy behaviors in positive ways. Yet little attention has been paid to what exactly motivates such behavioral change. This paper provides a brief overview of theories in psychology and social psychology on what does, and does not motivate sustainable energy action in the home.
“Motivating sustainable energy consumption in the home”, Helen Ai He and Saul Greenberg, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Calgary
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, enabling technologies, energy
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What is Green? Retail Icon System
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on November 23rd, 2009
Source: O2: network for sustainable design
Image: Green Depot
Green Depot is a US supplier of environmentally friendly and sustainable building products, services and home solutions. Its stated goal is to establish sustainable building as cost competitive, and to provide products of the highest quality that are certified green. All of the products Green Depot sells must pass through its proprietary green “filter,” a strict quality and values criteria focusing on health, durability, performance, life cycle, natural resource conservation and energy conservation. This filter is designed to address the issues of greenwashing that serve to confuse and mislead consumers, and ensure an accurate evaluation of each product carried.
In 2008, Green Depot evolved its goal of demystifying green for consumers by developing a system of icons to break down green into five simple categories: air quality, local, social responsibility, energy & conservation. These icons allow customers to choose products that address the aspects of green living that are most important to themselves, their budgets and their families, identifying every product that meets one of the filter criteria. They are displayed as a half-tone if a product performs better than most conventional products but has room for improvement, and full-tone if it truly meets or exceeds standards.
Tags: consumption, education, new systems/services
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