Mandatory household recycling targets present a serious challenge to Local Authorities within the UK (Perrin and Barton,2001). The Directive 2008/98/EC on waste has highlighted by 2020 50% of waste from households either needs to be recycled or reused. Each year … Continue reading
Author Archives: Laura McGoohan
Carbon sequestration: A way to reduce carbon emissions
The problem A rise of more than 0.7 °C in the average surface temperature has been seen in the past 100 years and there is increasing evidence that the earth’s climate is rapidly changing in response to increased inputs of … Continue reading
Reducing your carbon footprint in the workplace
Environmental ministers want a reduction in European climate change gases by 60-80% from 1990 levels by 2050 (Counsell and Allwood,2007).This target can be reached by changing behaviours within the workplace by reducing our consumption of natural sources, reusing and recycling. … Continue reading
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS)
What are SUDS? The issue of sustainable development is high on the global agenda and SUDS can help towards this movement (Butler and Parkinson, 1997). SUDS, or Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems are a sequence of water management practices and facilities … Continue reading
Eco-cities: The way forward to a sustainable future?
What is an eco-city? The term ‘eco-city’ is a relatively new idea however its concept has existed for a very long time (Roseland, 1997). In 1987 the Brundtland commission defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without … Continue reading
Geothermal energy
Background Geothermal energy for electricity generation has been commercially produced since 1913(Fridlefsson,2001) It was 1904 In Larderello, Italy that Prince P.G. conti set up the first device to produce electricity from a geothermal steam well. By 1913 at the … Continue reading
The cost of electric cars
To many people’s astonishment the electric car was first produced in the UK in 1884 by a Victorian inventor called Thomas Parker and is no mere modern development (Telegraph, 2009). The growth of the electric car has become increasingly popular … Continue reading
Biofuels- the fuel of the future?
Biofuels are energy sources made from living things, or the waste that living things produce ( Cornell University,n.d). The most common worldwide biofuel is ethanol, produced from fermenting sugars such as wheat and corn (Cornell University n.d). Biofuels themselves can … Continue reading
Hydropower: Switzerland’s renewable energy
Hydropower creates electricity generated using the energy of moving water, rain or melted snow water, usually originating from snow or hill stations. A hydroplant is a system made up of 3 parts; electric plant where the electricity is produced; a … Continue reading
Can your roof really save you money?
Energy efficiency can be defined as ‘using less energy to produce the same amount of services or useful output’ (Patterson,1996).Concerns over energy efficiency has meant the government has a mission to seize the energy efficiency opportunity . This will be … Continue reading
