SustainabilityBlog.org

I have read a lot of news items in the past weeks that deal with the topic of renewable energy and the way companies are on the look out for the solution that suits them best.

Here are some related news links on this:

• Google pumps more than $10m into next-generation geothermal
• Merck is investing in solar power
  
• Google beams cash into solar power
• Giant Retailers Look to Sun for Energy Savings

So where are companies now?

The simple answer is. Nowhere. And that is a pity.

It seems to me that there is a lot of talk of being more sustainable when it comes to energy consumption within companies but real actions and success stories are hard to find.

Do you know of a company that has succeeded? Yes? Then let me know.

In any case, here are some resources where to start when converting or switching to a more renewable energy source as a business:

• Renewable Energy Technologies
• Wikipedia on Renewable Energy
• Science Online on Renewable Energy

Once you know what possibilities are out there then I would advice every organisation to do the following.
Take a look at your energy consumption as an organisation and relate them to your organisational constraints and see what renewable energy source possibilities they have. Sounds a little abstract but it makes sense. In this way you will be able to have an idea what is possible for your organisation. If you are situated close to the coast then why not focus on wind energy and if you are in a place where you have a lot of sunshine then you should consider solar power as a one of your priorities.

So before you start to do a random investment, think first and then act

One of the most interesting Climate Change viedoes I have seen on YouTube:

All the best,
Fabian

I just wanted to share an interesting news item I came across this week. The following is taken from the news story on Business Green this week. I have only taken out the bits that I thought where spin.
“BT unveiled a new economic model for measuring a firm’s “carbon intensity”, which the telecoms giant claims will make it easier for companies to set effective carbon reduction targets.
BT announced fresh plans to cut its own global carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2020, the new model aims to link a company’s carbon emissions with its financial performance, allowing executives to better account for the likely impact of corporate expansion on their carbon footprint.
The Climate Stabilisation Intensity (CSI) model links data on a firm’s carbon emissions and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation), to global emission reduction goals recommended by the UN, to work out an appropriate emission reduction target for the firm.
In the past, some companies have been criticised by environmentalists for adopting carbon intensity targets for reducing carbon emissions in relation to sales that would theoretically allow them to increase emissions as long as sales increased at a faster rate. However, a spokeswoman for BT said the aim of the new CSI model was to instead develop an understanding of a firm’s carbon intensity that would allow executives to set more appropriate absolute emission reduction targets.
“Currently, if you grow organically or acquire a new company it is very difficult to adjust your absolute emission reduction target,” she explained. ” This model allows you to work out what the new target should be and also allows you to compare different companies’ relative performance in cutting emissions, even when they are growing at different rates.”
She added that the model would allow an expanding company to work out how steep its emission reduction curve would need to be to hit an absolute goal.
BT said it would also use the model internally to draw up an international road map for curbing its own emissions by 80 per cent by 2020. The company – which claims to have already cut emissions by 60 per cent between 1996 and 2008 – said it intended to achieve the new target through a number of measures, including purchasing low-carbon electricity, investing in its own renewable energy capacity and embracing energy efficiency measures.”

I found this very interesting and I think this could catch on.

All the best,
Fabian

Welcome to our first blog post in 2008.
We would like to start this year with a question and your opinion.

What will change in the sustainability world in 2008 in your opinion?

Will companies act more responsibly? Will the US government finally accept that Climate Change is happening? Will the next US government be different when it comes to sustainability? What do we in Europe do to be more sustainable?

What do you think?

This is what I think.

1. Companies will feel an even stronger need to act more responsible when it comes to their actions and will see a stronger demand from their stakeholders to do more on all sustainability topics they are involved in.
2. The internet and all electronic communication channels will become even more important for companies as well as individuals to communicate sustainability topics and problems.
3. On the topic of climate change many countries around the world will begin to feel through an increasing frequency of natural disasters, etc that our world is really changing and there is only a very limited amount of time left before the “tipping point” is surpassed.
4. The concept of Sustainable Living will be even more popular then in 2007. Sustainable building, organic products, fairtrade products and all related products and services will continue to see an above average growth during 2008.
5. The whole topic of energy will be discussed very intensively during 2008. In the UK we will see the nuclear discussion taking off, in the US and worldwide petrol prices will continue to increase and plunge the world economy deeper into recession. At the same time the rich Middle Eastern countries will continue to heavily invest in renewable energy technology to increase their chances of survival after the era of cheap oil. But we in Europe and North America still do not act convincingly to change our looming future energy crisis.

These are just five points I see as important developments and changes during 2008.

But what do you think?

All the best,
Fabian

This is a blog post from isenhand, a member of the SustainabilityForum.com.

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Problems! Problems have two aspects to them. First, problems have a cause and second they have symptoms. Take for example the common cold. It has a cause. One of 2000 different viruses cause the common cold but it also has symptoms; runny nose, sore throat, headache etc.

In trying to solve a problem it’s often easer to tackle the symptoms than the cause. Its easer, for example, to treat the symptoms of a cold then to treat the virus. However, talking the cause of the problem would represent the best way to deal with a problem.

Let’s take another problem; global climate change or global warming. How do we tackle this problem? Many see the problem as too much CO2 in the atmospheres so many solutions centre around trying to reduce the amount of CO2. We have things like the Kyoto agreement and carbon trading all trying to reduce the amount of CO2 to reduce the effect that people have on the environment. But I wonder, are we actually tackling the problem or are we tackling the symptoms of the problem?

We live in a socioeconomic system that must grow but even worse than that, it must grow exponentially. I see this as the real cause of global warming. Not so much the CO2 but the reason we throw out so much CO2 in the first place. To see what I mean, let’s imagine that we reduce our CO2 emissions to an acceptable level, what ever that may be. But things wont stop there. Out economies will grow. We will produce move and more. We will consume more and more goods. Our CO2 will this start increasing. With an exotically growing economy, how long will it take before we wipe out all our reductions in CO2 emissions?

Without actually tackling the cause of the problem. Without actually tackling the problem of economic growth all our efforts look like they will only delay the effects of global warming and not actually solve the problem.

SO, if we really wish to tackle the problem of climate change we need to seriously look at our socioeconomic system and change that. One possibility would involve moving away from a money based system to a resource allocation system. A society that localises as much as possible and works from a network formed around sustainable communities.

Dr. Andrew Wallace PhD

About the author:

Dr. Wallace is the Director of the Network of European Technocrats, which is an organisation that promotes an alternative socioeconomic system for a sustainable world based on the application of science to society.

http://en.technocracynet.eu

http://www.technocracy.tk/

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Everyone is talking about Climate Change, recycling, Corporate Social Responsibility and so on. But sustainability as we have discussed in this blog before is the outcome if we master all these initiatives, concepts and ways of managing our organisations and society to create a sustained change in our world.

So if we would take a closer look at how our way towards a sustainable future is looking in 2007/08 what would we say? Positive, negative, confusing, disastrous or are we on the way towards sustainability in the 20th century? And how sustainable have we become over the last 10 years?

I have tried to come up with a top ten list where I think we have moved more towards and backwards on a more sustainable future in the last ten years. This top ten is not meant as ranking but solely as a listing of current hot topics.

Successes

1. Recycling in many countries is successful in that sense that recycling rates per person are constantly going up and the awareness is also growing
2. Renewable energy percentage is picking up constantly and governments encourage companies to do large future investments to make renewable energy much more efficient then the current technology
3. More and more international treaties on environmental protection have come into action to help protect our planet although much more is needed.
4. Increasing power of non governmental organisations (NGOs) has led to increased pressure on companies, governments and other interest groups to start to do the right thing in order to move closer to Sustainability
5. Water and sanitation has made huge progress to enable the majority of this world to have clean drinking water and sanitation possibilities.

But obviously have we made several steps backwards on some other topics.

Failures

1. Climate Change is getting worse and still not much progress on the Climate Change agenda has been made.
2. There are to many Climate Change sceptics in this world trying to convince everyone that Climate Change is not real and not the biggest threat for humanity
3. Due to the still increasing pollution across our globe the problem of Acid Rain has only worsened
4. The emergence of low-cost travelling via planes, cars and other modes of transport has only made our air pollution worse
5. Rain forest deforestation is still not slowing down and countries such as Brazil, etc still put company profit interests before environmental interests.

Every of these ten points is debateable of course but I think it useful to also show what successes we have had so far and not always what we are still not doing or not taking care of.

After all are we only humans and need to have some encouragement every now and then to take on the challenges life or fellow humans throw at us.

All the best,
Fabian

Council plans to regenerate the whole of the island and run it on low-carbon energy.
The Isle of Wight may become the world’s first “eco-island”, powered entirely by green energy, if plans being developed by the island’s council are implemented.
Under the proposals, the island would become self sufficient in low-carbon power, and could even become a net exporter of energy. Measures under consideration include tidal power and a combined heat and power plant that would run on “gasified” waste – the first in the UK.
Council leaders believe the proposals will regenerate the island and provide significant investment for infrastructure. The council is understood to be working with a firm of London architects and a leading research university to turn concepts into workable plans. It is believed that it is being advised by one of the academics who worked on Dongtan, the world’s first eco-city, in China.
Joe Duckworth, chief executive of the council, said the island was ideally placed to put the plans into effect. He said: “Politically there is huge support for this, and the private sector on the island is incredibly keen.”
Private sector companies based on the island include Vestas Blades, the largest wind turbine blade manufacturer in the UK.
Duckworth added that the island’s infrastructure was in need of investment, which meant it was an ideal opportunity to develop green solutions.
He added that the island had “a specific market tied to us so it’s a bit safer for our private sector colleagues”.
The council is already trying to improve infrastructure. It is bidding to take part in a £900m pathfinder PFI for transportation schemes. If successful, it could upgrade all the island’s roads and streets over the next 15 years.
Duckworth said new roads could be reduced to just one carriageway, with the other lane being reserved for cyclists and pedestrians.
The council is stipulating that developers bidding to regenerate a local housing scheme construct new homes to level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
It also has the funding to rebuild Cowes high school as a zero-carbon school.
Duckworth said the ideas would be worked up towards the end of this year and presented at a conference next March.

Source: Isle of Wight