• Use both sides of the paper. Whenever possible use double sided photocopying – and make sure that all staff regularly using photocopiers know how to do this. Better still, set the photocopier to default to double sided printing!
• If your laser printer has a duplex option, use that for multiple page items.
• Make departments and sections responsible for their own photocopying budgets, so that they have an incentive to print double sided as well as being exhorted to do so
• Use paper printed one side only for notepads. A bulldog clip is useful for holding pieces together.
• Use scrap paper for notes to colleagues.
• Reuse envelopes for internal circulation or make sure they are recycled in the first place
• Make better use of notice boards rather circulating copies of all non-urgent memos and other circulars to all staff.
• Review the need for computer print-outs from time to time – it is all too easy to go on printing out a regular fifty page report for the same ten people who have received it for the last two years – do they all still want it, do any of them want it?
• With a networked computer system, consider using electronic mail for inter-office memos
• Keep a pile of good quality recycled A4 scrap paper next to the printer for rough or trial copies. Out of date headed paper is ideal for this purpose.
• Use the smallest piece of paper appropriate to the task. For example, photocopy A3 documents to A4 size, use A5 size cover sheets for faxes, or just send one A4 page if the message is short.
• Have a policy that photocopiers and printers always reset to single copy printing after someone has used them, and check anyway before using them.
• Reuse wallet folders, hanging file dividers and other storage items Review procedures that require regular circulation of forms and memos, and how many can be eliminated.
• Regularly check computerised mailing lists and remove duplicates and out of date addresses.

Following on from Gareth’s article “A Succinct Guide to Climate Change” [1], this article aims to outline a range of climate change impacts. For information on what climate change is, the causes of climate change, the uncertainty, and how we can stop it, please refer to Gareth’s article. However, if you are interested in the alarming impacts that climate change is having then please read on.

By now we are all aware of the impacts that climate change is having on our climate. Instead, this article will assess how climate change has an impact on: food security, water security, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and human security.

Food Security

Climate change has led to significant environmental degradation, including loss of biodiversity and land, and water degradation. Despite this, total global food production has continually grown since the 1960s because of agricultural adaptation. However, the benefits have been uneven and one billion people still go hungry. To make matters worse, food prices are now on the rise and are extremely volatile [2].

Food prices are on the rise because of the increased demand for food, while there is also an increase in poor harvests due to variable weather (due to climate change) and an increase in the use of biofuels, which are grown on valuable agricultural land.

The demand for food will double within the next 25-50 years, primarily in developing countries, and the type and nutritional quality of food in demand will change (increased meat demand). The challenge will be to sustain growth in the agricultural sector to feed the world, while biofuels take over agricultural land and climate change degrades what land is left [2].

To be able to produce enough food for the world, agriculture must continue to adapt by:

• Addressing water deficit problems e.g. through improved drought tolerant crops and irrigation technologies.
• Improving the temperature tolerance of crops.
• Combating new or emerging agricultural pests or diseases.
• Addressing soil fertility, salinisation of soils and improving nutrient cycling.
• Reducing energy-intensive inputs.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining productivity.
• Improving the nutritional quality of food.
• Reducing post-harvest losses.
• Improving food safety.

Water Security

Human-induced climate change is projected to decrease water quality and availability in many arid and semi-arid regions, and increase the threats posed by floods and droughts in most parts of the world [3].

A summary of the global water crisis:

• Water scarcity is growing – by 2025 more than half of the world’s population is projected to live under conditions of severe water stress.
• Water quality is declining in many parts of the world.
• Many of the major “food-bowls” of the world are projected to become significantly drier.
• 70% of all freshwater is used for irrigation and 15-35% of irrigation withdrawals exceed supply rates and are therefore unsustainable.
• 50-60% of wetlands have been lost globally.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Changes in climate have affected biodiversity already, and will continue to do so in the future.

Climate change will continue to have an impact on:

• The timing of reproduction or migration events.
• The length of the growing season.
• Species distributions and population sizes.
• The frequency of pest and disease outbreaks.
• The incidence of coral bleaching and mortality (through increasing water temperature, sea level and acidification).

The figure below shows that the main drivers of biodiversity loss are growing [4].

Climate change is projected to affect all aspects of biodiversity:

• Directly – through increases in temperature, changes in precipitation (and in the case of marine systems changes in sea level etc.)
• Indirectly – through climate changing the intensity and frequency of disturbances, such as wildfires.

The risk of extinction will increase for many species, especially those that are already at risk due to factors such as low population numbers, restricted or patchy habitats, and limited climatic ranges.

Ecosystems that may be most threatened by climate change include coral reefs, mangroves and other coastal wetlands, remnant ecosystems, ecosystems with restricted distribution, and high latitude/high altitude ecosystems.

Human Security

Climate change is also increasing the risk of conflict because of the following:

• Environmentally-induced migration: Tens of millions of people living in low lying deltaic areas or Small Island States will be displaced by increases in sea level and will be forced to migrate.
• Climate-induced decline in food production: Food shortages are likely to occur where there is already hunger and famine today.
• Climate-induced degradation of freshwater resources: Water shortages are likely to occur in areas where there are already water shortages.
• Climate-induced increase in storm and flood disasters: Increased incidence of severe weather events.
• In addition: Natural resources are being depleted with loss of ecological goods and services, and there is an increased incidence of disease.

The result: Climate change will cause an increased risk in local and regional conflict and migration, depending on the social, economic and political circumstances.

Security risks associated with climate change: the figure below highlights the regions which could develop into crisis hotspots [5].

Summary

The effects of climate change are having a severe impact on food security, water security, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and human security.

We must address climate change to prevent the following:

• Adverse impacts on food security: Decreased agricultural productivity and adverse impacts on fisheries.
• Adverse effects on water security: Decreased water availability and water quality, and increased risk of floods and droughts.
• Loss of key ecosystem services: Adverse effects on ecological systems and increased loss of biodiversity.
• Adverse effects on human health: Increased incidence of diseases and extreme weather events.
• Adverse effects on human settlements: Increased flooding, coastal erosion and sea level rise, and an increase in forced migration and risk of conflict.

It is imperative that the United Nations Climate Change Conference has a positive outcome in terms of a global agreement to cut carbon emissions, in order to try and reduce the impacts discussed in this report. On an individual level, there are actions you can take. Using our energy survey can help you discover your energy usage and consequently try and reduce it, or how about purchasing more sustainable products across a wide range of categories?

References

For more information on the United Nations Climate Change Conference, please refer to:

http://unfccc.int/meetings/durban_nov_2011/meeting/6245.php

[1] “A Succinct Guide to Climate Change” http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/news/54/20/A-Succinct-Guide-to-Climate-Change.html

[2] FAO: The state of food insecurity in the world 2011 http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/en/

[3] IPCC: Climate change and water http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/technical-papers/climate-change-water-en.pdf

[4] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Synthesis) http://www.maweb.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf

[5] German Advisory Council on Global Change: Climate change as a security risk http://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/templates/dateien/veroeffentlichungen/hauptgutachten/jg2007/wbgu_jg2007_kurz_engl.pdf

]]> http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/a-succinct-guide-to-climate-change-impacts/feed/ 0 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/since-records-began/ http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/since-records-began/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:42:01 +0000 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/?p=351 Continue reading →]]> The UK has just experienced the ‘hottest October since records began’ but who recorded the first weather event and when was the first weather forecast reported? And was this really the hottest ever?

The early Chinese, Persians and Egyptians already observed the weather and tried to draw conclusions, but of course professional weather records started much later.

In the US state leaders were amongst the first who were very interested in weather. Benjamin Franklin recorded the movement of a hurricane for the first time in 1743, while Thomas Jefferson even had a thermometer as well as a barometer and made regular observations between 1772 and 1778, [1] mainly about temperatures.

Although there were many tools available for such recordings the telegraph eventually helped in collecting data from vast distances. In 1849 the first observation network was set up between telegraph companies and by the end of that year about 150 volunteers reported the data. By 1860, 500 stations operated all across the country.

In the UK one of the most famous early meteorologists was Dr John Rutty who recorded weather data for forty years in Dublin, which he eventually published in his book in 1770. [2]

Also, from 1659 and 1766 various non-official records were kept, called the Central England Temperature and the England and Wales Precipitation series, respectively.

The Met Office

In the UK the Met Office was founded in 1854 as an experimental government department, with the objective to forecast weather, primarily for sailors. [3] Its leader was a naval captain, Robert FitzRoy, who developed the first storm warning service, and created the foundation of several forecasting methods, including charts.

In 1861 The Times published the first weather forecast in a few short sentences covering only the next two days, also written by Robert FitzRoy. [4]

US National Weather Service

The US National Weather Service was founded as the Weather Bureau in 1870, with the aim to provide meteorological observations at military stations, as well as to forecast storms. [5] In those days however the primary forecast assumption was that a weather pattern in one location will move on to the next [6], while by 1902 notes on weather expectations were already sent to ships at sea wirelessly. The first weekly forecasts were started in 1910.

Today

The UK Met Office today considers 1914 as the beginning of official records, as they say, because reliable methods were only available from this time on.

This however means that the hottest, the wettest or the driest days may not actually be those – as said – ‘since records began’.

If you would like to learn more about environmental issues then visit our learning portal for a great selection of articles.

[1] http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pa/history/timeline.php

[2] http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/History/article/when-did-weather-records-begin/

[3] http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/in-depth/overview

[4] http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2011/150-years

[5] http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pa/history/index.php

[6] http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pa/history/140anniversary.php

]]> http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/since-records-began/feed/ 0 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/the-beginners-guideto-the-beginners-guides/ http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/the-beginners-guideto-the-beginners-guides/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:21:19 +0000 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/?p=332 Continue reading →]]> OK, so you want to go green(er)? But where to start? Should you improve your know how on why we need to change – so as to justify to the neighbours why a goat is eating their bushes? Or…should you jump right in and start reducing your impact by, say, making the kids push the car rather than ride in it or by shredding the bills to insulate the walls?. It is tricky to know where to begin. So you google up a “beginners guide to going green” and get “about 2,240,000” results. Fantastic.

To ensure you are getting useful and reliable information from any source you use, here is a few quick pointers on what to look for in an online article or guide;

1. Is the source trustworthy:

Have a look at that site you are on. Is it a trustworthy or reliable source – for example is it a governmental or environmentally oriented source – like the energy saving trust? Or is it a blog? Whilst blogs can – and do – offer good advice, reliable and trustworthy sources offer concrete advice worth your confidence. Another indicator of website reliability are accreditation awards. Many sites are from companies who are accredited for their works and showing a recognised accolade for quality helps support the reliability of their advice.

2. Is information referenced or supported?

Claims and statements should be backed up by substantiated information. Information not supported by statistics or other sources could be exaggerated, misconstrued or completely false. Check for evidence of the statements or claims made before making a decision based upon the information from the site!

3. Is information consistent?

Check that advice and facts do not change or contradict each other throughout the article. This is a sure-fire way to spot incorrect or misinterpreted information on the part of the author and could save you making costly decisions on inaccurate information!

4. Is information up-to-date?

If you are looking for advice or support you need to know the information is up-to-date. The reference list is useful here. Check the references or the time periods that information is taken from to ensure you are not basing a decision on outdated information

5. Fact vs Assumption vs Opinion

It is easy to read something online, take it as granted and then act upon it. However many writers can diverge from providing a factual guide, onto offering an opinion or assumption or suggestions from their experiences. Whilst experience is a laudable source of valued advice, such information has value only in limited contexts; for example: product reviews.

Conclusion

These are just a few select assessments to make of any information upon an online source. If you are keen to alter your lifestyle, brush up on an issue or two, or you are simply curious about a particular issue, then it is important that information is suitable to your cause before you invest your time – and perhaps – your money.

1. Climate Change

It is acknowledged that the majority of activities associated with building and hosting the Olympic Games will incur a “carbon cost”, so practices need to be adapted to deliver a low carbon Games. Successes include:

• The new Velodrome in the Olympic Park has achieved a 31% reduction in carbon emissions over 2006 building regulations.
• The natural gas-fired Combined Cooling Heat and Power (CCHP) engine in the Energy Centre is predicted to reduce annual CO₂ emissions of the Olympic Park by 25%. The Energy Centre’s 3 MW biomass boiler is predicted to save 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ per annum.
• More than 90% of the cooling provided to the Olympic venues will be HFC-free.
• Over 85,000 tonnes of embodied carbon have been saved through the efficient building design.
• The ODA is on track to reduce potable water use by 57% by using water reduction measures and a new water recycling treatment centre

2. Waste

The ODA will use resource management, recycling, reuse and the design-out of waste to deliver a zero-waste Games. They hope that they will have the opportunity to promote long term behavioural change in waste management practices in the events and construction industries. Successes include:

• Around 98.5% of demolition waste has been recycled and reused – 8 buildings have been reused off-site.
• 80% of soil has been cleaned and reused on the Olympic Park.
• The concrete used in foundations has been made of more than 30% recycled materials.
• 20% of pre-cast concrete units for the Olympic Stadium have come from recycled aggregate.

3. Biodiversity

The ODA plans to create new urban green spaces that help to bring people closer to nature through sport and culture. There is a commitment to ensuring that the Games take a responsible attitude to the management of natural resources, through direct enhancements to the ecology of the Lower Lea Valley and by promoting the value of the natural environment and conservation.

• 675 bird and bat boxes have been built in the Olympic Park.
• The Athlete’s village, Eton Manor and Main Press Centre have a 15,000m² living roof.
• A local UK nursery will supply 60,000 plants and 60,000 bulbs for the Olympic Park gardens.
• 5km of the Olympic Park waterways have been improved through repairs to the river walls, removal of debris and dredging.
• A one acre habitat creation project has started.

4. Inclusion

The ODA wishes to host the most inclusive Olympic Games to date, by celebrating diversity through the physical, economic and social regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley and surrounding communities. The bid was founded on the celebration of the diversity of London’s and the UK’s population, and the ODA is dedicated to making sure that everyone can benefits from and participate in the Games and their legacy.

5. Healthy Living

The Games hopes to inspire people to take up sport and develop a more active, healthy and sustainable lifestyle. The One Planet 2012 idea aims to help people live healthy lifestyles, within the resources of the planet. London 2012 is committed to maximising the benefits to spectators, the workforce and the whole of the UK.

What is carbon?

Carbon is referring to the gas carbon dioxide, or CO₂. This is a gas that is everywhere on the planet; in the air, in our bodies, in our fizzy drinks and, most importantly in this case, in our atmosphere. The atmosphere is made up of a plethora of different gases including the famous ‘greenhouse gases’, which include, water vapour, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. These are the gases that are responsible for keeping the Earth warm and sustaining life. Without these gases, our planet’s average temperature would be about 33˚C cooler than it is now. CO₂ and the other greenhouse gases work by trapping heat from incoming solar radiation (sunlight) inside the atmosphere, while the rest is radiated back out into space. The Earth – over the last 4.5 billion years – has struck a very fine balance and combination of CO₂ along with the other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, absorbing and exhaling of just the right amounts of solar radiation to keep us, and every living thing on the planet alive. Humanity, however, is pumping more and more carbon into the air so that there is now too much.

Imagine, if you will, that CO₂ is a like a blanket surrounding the earth, much as a blanket covers you in bed. Constantly adding more covers onto this blanket will make you too hot, especially if you have no way of removing the extra covers. The result would be that you would get sweaty, irritable and wouldn’t sleep very well. Much the same thing is happening to the planet. As well as getting too hot, the earth is reacting to this increase in temperature by changing its climate, for instance producing more rainfall. This is what we call climate change. In years gone by the term more commonly used was ‘global warming’, but scientists have shied away from this phrase as it implies a simple rise in temperature. The truth is far more complicated.

The causes of climate change

So, we know that CO₂ contributes to climate change, but where does it come from? First of all, CO₂ is a naturally occurring gas that is essential to life on Earth, without it animals, plants and trees would not survive. The Carbon we’re concerned with is the man-made stuff, or ‘anthropogenic carbon emissions’. These come from a variety of sources, but the biggest offender is the burning of fossil fuels: natural gas, coal and oil. These fossil fuels come from organic matter that has decayed over millions of years and is now buried deep underground (dead dinosaurs and such like). When these fossil fuels are burned they release the carbon – among other things – that has been stored in them for millennia, straight into the atmosphere.

As humans in an industrial society, our biggest domestic emissions of carbon come from:

• Driving our cars: As the petrol is burned it releases CO₂ into the atmosphere via the exhaust pipe.
• Using electricity: TV’s, lights, computers, kettles, mobiles, laptops, games consoles, fridges, dishwashers, etc. Note: Now, I know what you may be thinking; “but these devises don’t emit carbon, how can they be responsible for climate change?” This is true they don’t emit CO₂. But, whenever you use electricity in your home, the power station that’s supplying the electricity has to burn fossil fuels – usually coal or gas – and this emits vast amounts of carbon, and other pollutants.
• Heating our homes and our water: The CO₂ here comes directly from the gas boiler.
• Cooking our food also burns gas and releases carbon.
• Many, many other activities that go on day to day as part of our society emit CO₂, but for now I’m concentrating solely on our domestic emissions.

The signs, and symptoms of climate change

Apart from the obvious changes in global temperatures, we could witness a dramatic increase in extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, heat waves and floods. The results of this maybe global shortages of food due to crop failures, mass migrations, our first major war over water rights and naturally, those infamous melting polar caps and rising sea levels. But then again, some people say nothing will happen and world will be fine. It’s up to you to look at the evidence, decide what you believe and act on it.

Is climate change really happening?

Yes.

Is climate change man-made?

Yes and no. The planet creates plenty of its own CO₂ and maybe the recorded increases in carbon levels are due solely to this – but most climate scientists don’t really believe that. There are many people who argue that, historically, the Earth has experienced many fluctuations in temperature and we are unnecessarily worried about it happening again. However, remember that these fluctuations were caused by the natural processes of the planet and happened so slowly that many species had time to adapt and evolve. What we are doing by increasing CO₂ levels is disrupting the planet’s natural ability to regulate its climate, and we are also doing it at such a rapid pace that most species, including us, may not be able to adapt in time.

To add to that, we are exacerbating the problem by cutting down vast areas of rain forest – the lungs of the world; polluting our oceans –the biggest absorber of CO; filling the ground with rubbish; and spilling oil and other toxins all over the place.

Why all the uncertainty?

Because the climate of the future is extremely hard to predict. An immense amount of different factors affect the planet’s climate system and they are forever in flux. Predicting exactly what’s going to happen is fraught with uncertainty, and is one reason that there are so many ‘global warming sceptics’ out there*. Put it this way, if the BBC weather says that it will be sunny tomorrow, you will probably believe them. If they say it will sunny in a week, you may be a bit more sceptical. What would you think if they said that on this day next year it will be partly cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, with a touch of rain for the evening? I know that I wouldn’t believe them. This is the same with climate change. In a hundred years from now we can’t really say with any certainty what’s going to happen, but we do know that too high a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will have an effect. We’re just not sure exactly what that may be. I’m all for erring on the side of caution.

*See also Andrew Brooks’ article, Climategate on the learning portal, for another, interesting look at climate change scepticism.

How do we stop it?

Good question. In essence (and to keep within the simplicity of this article), we have to curb our greenhouse gas emissions back to a level akin with King Arthur’s time. No, just joking. Obviously it’s not that drastic, but emissions do need to be reduced severely, and the longer we go on without mitigating it, the more painful and expensive it will be to adapt to it. Also remember that it takes over a hundred years for CO₂ to dissipate in the atmosphere, so whatever we do, we need to do it now.

So what can we all do?

Basically, save energy at work and home. Reduce your impact on Mother Earth. The options are far too many and varied to go into here, but to find out more, have a look at other articles on the Energy Saving Warehouse website and also elsewhere in the media.

I appreciate that the issue of climate change is a contentious one and jam-packed full of uncertainty, but there is a real and present danger that we are headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. If you have read this article and it has sparked a little interest on your part, then please look further into the issue, it is extremely wide-ranging and interesting.

In fact, all of life on Earth in it’s amazing complexity and diversity is possible due to the wonderful properties of this element. So if carbon is so great, why does it seem to be spending most of it’s time on the metamorphical elemental naughty step?

Simply put, there’s just a little bit too much in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is what we call a greenhouse gas. Thermal radiation (heat energy) from the Sun enters our atmosphere; a proportion of which gets absorbed by the Earth whilst some is reflected back into space. Greenhouse gases trap some of this heat energy that would otherwise simply leave the Earth, causing an increased global temperature. Think of it like a jumper, trapping the heat that comes from your body making you warmer, only on a planet-wide scale.

Now before you start shaking your fists skyward it should be noted that some greenhouse gases are really rather useful. According to NASA if there were no greenhouse gases the average temperature of this planet would be around 33 degrees Celsius lower than it is today. To put that into perspective the last ice age roughly 20’000 years ago which covered most of the UK under a sheet of ice saw an average global temperature around only five to ten degrees lower than present.

So carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring molecule, and has helped maintain a planet with a temperature warm enough to sustain life for the last four billion years. However since the industrial revolution the burning of fossil fuels by humans has increased the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere rather dramatically.

Fossil fuels are the decayed carbon rich remains of ancient living organisms. For millions of years fossil fuels were deposited in the form of coal, oil and gas into the Earth. Fossil fuels contain carbon rich compounds (that is carbon bonded to other elements, mainly in this case hydrogen) which can be burned to produce lots of useful energy but also releases carbon dioxide as an emission.

Of course fossil fuels are natural, but the rate that they are being burned is not. We have used up fossil fuels that were deposited over hundreds of millions of years in only a few generations. This has caused the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase, and is the primary cause of what is known as “global warming” the increase in Earth’s temperature due to man made emissions.

Most scientists agree that global warming is a real threat. Ice caps could melt, land could dry up, weather could get more unstable leading to increased flood and hurricane risk and entire ecosystems could be lost, unable to cope with rising temperatures.

To reduce the risk and effects of global warming scientists argue we must reduce our carbon emission. This means reducing energy consumption by recycling, being more efficient and changing our often wasteful lifestyle. We can also get clean energy from renewable resources that don’t burn fossil fuels and release carbon dioxide, such as solar energy, wind farms and tidal power.

What is a Watt, ‘W’?

‘A watt is a rate of energy that is transformed or converted.’ What you will find on many domestic appliances and particularly light bulbs are ratings of Wattage. For example, a 40W light bulb is converting electrical energy at a rate of 40 Joules (a measure of energy) per second.

What is a kWh?

In terms of small electricity generators such as wind turbines or photovoltaic panels, the terminology most often used in measuring output is ‘kWh’ or ‘MWh’. Generators produce many thousands of Watts an hour. The ‘k’ in ‘kWh’ denotes kilo which means 1,000 Watts. ‘M’ in ‘MWh’ denotes 1,000,000 Watts.

A kilowatt hour (kWh) is the amount of energy converted in one hour at a rate of one kilowatt (or 1000 Watts).

So, a watt is the rating on an appliance of how much energy it can convert. The kWh’s is a measurement of the amount of energy that has been converted and used in the appliance over the period of an hour.

For example;

If you have an appliance that is rated as 3kW, such as a tumble dryer, and you need to dry your clothes off for 20 minutes (one third of an hour), then the energy that it uses is equal to 1kWh. It’s this 1kWh that your energy supplier will charge you for.

What is Your Carbon Footprint?

A ‘Carbon Footprint’ is the total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, event, organisation or product. This is expressed as a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). A carbon footprint accounts for all six Kyoto GHG emissions’ [1]

If you have a product that contains any amount or number of these GHG emissions (such as CFC’s) then the equivalent impact of these can be translated in terms of carbon dioxide ‘equivalent’. This can then be added up to give you your ‘Carbon Footprint’.

You can calculate your carbon footprint by using an online automatic calculating tool, a carbon footprint related Consultancy Company, or even calculate it yourself!

You should start thinking now about your direct GHG emissions (such as driving a car, heating your house, and lighting). However indirect emissions are encompassed within food items from your weekly shop, the clothes that you buy and the paper you print on using your printer.

Why Should You Calculate Your Carbon Footprint?

Calculating your Carbon Footprint is a good starting point to highlight areas where there can be room for improvement with reducing your direct carbon emissions. By acting on this you can then indefinitely reduce your energy consumption, and save yourself money by making cost improvements to your dwelling. As these improvements are completed you will naturally move on to medium and higher cost improvements.

Feed-in-Tariff (FiT)

For those individuals who have been watching how Renewable Energy has been developed over the last few years, the new Feed-in-Tariff which was introduced in April 2010 has been an exciting new development.

(The Feed-in-Tariff is also known as ‘Clean Energy Cash Back’)

The government intends to have 2% of electricity generation coming from selected small-scale renewable energy technologies (RET’s). By introducing the FiT, RET’s should be much more attractive to householders and small businesses, and RET installers.

The FiT is subject to a lifespan of 20 years, with Photovoltaic’s as a special case, of 25 years and MicroCHP up to 10 years.

Two points to understand:

1. The tariff level will reduce every year by a certain amount of p/kWh, this is because it is expected that the cost of RET’s will be reduced as well.
2. Once a RET has been installed, the ‘generator’ (the ‘generator’ means the person who owns the RET and is selling the energy) will be assigned to that specific years tariff.

E.g. 4 kW Photovoltaic installation in 2010 = 41.3p/kWh for the entire 25 years.

Or 4 kW Photovoltaic installation in 2015 = 31.6p/kWh for the entire 20 years (remaining of lifespan).

Before 2010, you could access a grant of £2,500 under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) to put towards the installation. You would also be eligible for ROC’s (Renewable Energy Obligation Certificates), which per year would probably only accumulate to 2 ROC’s or £80 -£90 for a small installation.

The LCBP has now been disbanded for builds after April 2010. However, the FiT should earn a household a larger return (5% to 8+% of the original cost), but a more significant upfront capital will be required.

Due to this larger rate of return, the payback period is 10-14 years unlike the previous Low Carbon Buildings Programme, which could in some cases could exceed 20 years!

Two money saving and making points to understand;

1. Generators will receive a generation tariff per kWh generated. This depends on the RET installed. This tariff will be paid whether the electricity is used or not!
2. Generators will also receive an additional payment if they opt for the export tariff of 3p/kWh for every kWh exported to the grid, or they can opt to sell the electricity exported on the open market.

[1] http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/Publications/pages/publicationdetail.aspx?id=CTV043

• It is equal in quality to paper from virgin forest sources
• It is readily available
• It supports your CSR agenda, demonstrating your organisation is committed to sustainable procurement
• It diverts waste paper from landfill – recognised as one of the least desirable disposal options
• It need not cost more

There are lots of other office products that can be bought sustainably and with the environment in mind, have a look around our store for a range of products.

Resource efficiency will save you money and make your business more competitive, particularly with growing supply chain pressure to demonstrate reduced environmental impact.

Benefits of resource efficiency

1. Saves money – typically 1% of turnover (the true cost of waste is typically 4% of turnover)
2. Bottom line benefits – it’s easier to increase profitability by reducing costs than by increasing turnover
3. Short payback periods – many measures will deliver a benefit in a month or less, and continue to keep delivering month on month.
4. Typical savings are £1000/employee
5. Low cost/no cost measures yield big results
6. Business survival – the need to base your business on long-term sustainability

Energy Saving Warehouse can help you become more Resource Efficient and help you demonstrate to your customers and supply chain how you have done so. An easy way to do this is to purchase resource and energy efficient products from our store.

Please see our LeSTO™ Tool for