Construction began at the 165-turbine project, 89km off the coast of Yorkshire, in 2018. Ørsted announced on Wednesday (31 August) that it is now fully operational.
The Dutch business now has 13 fully operational offshore wind farms in the UK that it either fully or partly owned, with a combined capacity of 6.2GW. Its other British projects include Hornsea 1, Walney and the Walney Extension, and Burbo Bank and the Burbo Bank Extension.
“The UK is truly a world leader in offshore wind and the completion of Hornsea 2 is a tremendous milestone for the offshore wind industry, not just in the UK but globally,” said Ørsted,’s head of region for the UK Duncan Clark.
“Current global events highlight more than ever the importance of landmark renewable energy projects like Hornsea 2, helping the UK increase the security and resilience of its energy supply and drive down costs for consumers by reducing dependence on expensive fossil fuels.”
To Clark’s point on cost, the Government is currently consulting on what it describes as the broadest plans for electricity market reform in a generation. Among the measures proposed in the Review of Electricity Market Agreements (REMA) are interventions to de-couple global gas prices from electricity prices. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke out in favour of change at last month’s G7 Summit in Germany.
In the UK, wholesale electricity prices are informed by gas prices, partly due to the historic and present extent of gas-fired generation in the energy mix. It has been pointed out that this is not fair on domestic and business customers who purchase 100% renewable energy. Under the latest CfD round, offshore wind operators will sell power for as little as £37.35 per MWh.
Offshore wind expansion
The UK is aiming to host 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 in contribution to its ambitions on net-zero emissions and energy security. This target was announced in April’s Energy Security Strategy, increasing the previous 40GW target set by Johnson through the Ten-Point Plan. The Strategy envisions 95% of the UK’s electricity mix being low-carbon by 2030, rising to 100% by 2035.
A further extension in the Hornsea zone is set to help deliver on the 50MW by 2030 goal. Last year, Ørsted received allocation through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction scheme for Hornsea 3, after the project received consent for development in December 2020. Up to 231 turbines will be installed for Hornsea 3 and Ørsted expects to commission the project in 2027. In total, the three Hornsea projects will have a combined capacity exceeding 5GW.
In the UK government’s latest CfD auction round in July, 11GW of renewable energy was commissioned in total. The lion’s share, as usual, went to offshore wind developers.
Scientists want to use a chemical found in crab and lobster shells to make batteries more sustainable, according to research.
“We think both biodegradability of material, or environmental impact, and the performance of the batteries are important for a product, which has the potential to be commercialised,” said Liangbing Hu, the director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Materials Innovation and lead author of the paper, published in the journal Matter.
As the world transitions towards deploying green energy solutions and electric vehicles, the batteries being used for such technology also need to be eco-friendly.
But the chemicals used in conventional batteries such as lithium-ion can take hundreds or thousands of years to break down. These chemicals are also often corrosive and flammable. In some cases consumer-gadget batteries have caught fire on aircrafts, or caused fires in waste and recycling sites.
The researchers in Maryland have developed batteries that use a product derived from crustacean shells to store energy.
Crustaceans such as crabs, shrimps and lobsters have exoskeletons made of cells that contain chitin, a polysaccharide that makes their shells hard and resistant. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP
Crustaceans such as crabs, shrimps and lobsters have exoskeletons made of cells that contain chitin, a kind of polysaccharide that makes their shells hard and resistant. This valuable material is abundant in nature and can also be found in fungi and insects, but is usually thrown away as food waste from restaurants and a byproduct of the food industry. Scientists have long been researching its various applications – in biomedical engineering, for example, for wound dressing as well as anti-inflammatory treatments – and now, electrical engineering.
Through chemical processing and adding acetic acid aqueous solution, chitin can ultimately be synthesized into a firm gel membrane and used as an electrolyte for a battery. An electrolyte is the liquid, paste, or gel inside a battery that helps ions – charged molecules – travel between one end and the other of a battery, allowing it to store energy.
By combining this chitosan electrolyte with zinc, a naturally occurring metal increasingly used to make batteries that are cheap and safe, Hu’s team was able to create a renewable battery.
The battery is 99.7% energy efficient even after 1,000 battery cycles, which is about 400 hours. This means they can be quickly charged and discharged without significantly affecting their performance. “It is not an easy thing for batteries to operate at high current density. The displayed performance suggests the merit of chitosan-based material in this work,” said Hu.
The batteries are not flammable and the two-thirds of the battery made of chitosan can break down in soil thanks to microbial degradation in just five months, leaving behind recyclable zinc. Antonio J Fernández Romero, a professor of material sciences for energy production at the University of Cartagena in Spain, who was not involved in the study, said these were “outstanding properties”.
He said: “The design of new batteries that are respectful of the environment, cheap and producing high discharge capacity, is one of the more important items that must be developed in the coming years.” He added that biodegradability was key, and at this level the system seemed to work very well but it would have to be tested on a larger scale and under commercial use conditions.
The design may pave the way for developing high-performance and sustainable batteries for green energy storage, according to Hu and the study authors.
“When you develop new materials for battery technologies there tends to be a significant gap between promising lab results and a demonstrable and scalable technology,” said Graham Newton, a professor of materials chemistry at the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the study. He is an expert in sustainable batteries and researches how they can be improved.
So far, according to Newton, the chitosan-zinc battery results are promising. “There are some examples of batteries like this that have been commercialized and are being trialed as stationary energy storage systems,” said Newton. “There are still quite a few challenges to be met in the development of zinc ion batteries, but fundamental studies such as this are hugely important.”
A new study has put Auckland at the top of the world for the speed at which it’s going green.
The Bionic rankings look at 40 of the world’s most populated cities across the world, scoring them on 13 different metrics, such as pollution levels, electric vehicle uptake, annual plastic waste, renewable energy usage and meat consumption.
Tāmaki Makaurau scored 78.1 out of 100 in the index, ahead of Stockholm and Lyon in second and third place. Copenhagen and Dublin rounded out the top five.
But for a so-called green city, Auckland’s plastic waste was nearly through the roof at 177,314 tonnes per year, especially when compared to the Swedish capital’s waste of just 26,996 tonnes. Out of the top 10 cities, only Cologne and Dublin had more annual plastic waste than Auckland.
The study used data from OurWorldInData to look at the percentage of the cities that were covered in forest, how much that had changed since 1990 and the amount of the world’s mismanaged plastic waste each city is accountable for.
It also looked at job website Indeed, to find out which cities had the most sustainable jobs advertised – according to the study, Auckland had 21 jobs in the sustainability industry per 100 people.
LORNA THORNBER/STUFF
In the rankings, Auckland was revealed as having the lowest air pollution score of all the top 10 cities analysed, with an air quality score of just 9 (0-50 is considered good, 150+ not good), compared to second-placed Stockholm’s whopping 132. Lyon’s air quality level was rated at 43.
The study showed Auckland had lowered its carbon footprint to 5.9 metric tonnes, and had a 6% increase in forest-covered areas in the city since 1990.
Auckland’s average meat consumption was 34,435 tonnes, compared to around 40,000 tonnes for Stockholm and Lyon, but Auckland had higher poultry consumption. Average milk consumption was 226,784 tonnes, compared to Stockholm’s 572,942 tonnes.
The world city with the lowest air pollution was Sydney, with a level of 3, although the city ranked overall at 24, due to its low percentage of renewable energy, land covered by forest, and sustainable jobs advertised.
Of all the capital cities studied, Sao Paulo in Brazil came out top of the world for the highest percentage of renewable energy, with 45% coming from sustainable sources.
The city is still covered by 59% of forest, but due to climate change, that figure has been decreasing rapidly, with 16% of forest lost since 1990.
Auckland’s not the only New Zealand city to be noticed for going green. Lonely Planet named Wellington as one of the top eco-cities in the world in its new Sustainable Travel Handbook.
“With the lowest emissions per capita of any Australasian city, Wellington is at the forefront of the movement. Packed with world-class cultural institutions, eco-conscious cafes (many of which operate ‘mug libraries’), the compact capital is best explored on foot,” the writers said.
Lonely Planet also named Auckland the best city in the world to travel to in 2022, praising the city’s “considerable natural assets” – including its 53 volcanoes, more than 50 islands, three wine regions and numerous beaches – and “blossoming” cultural scene in the months before the Delta outbreak.
In a year beset with environmental and social problems made worse by a pandemic that refused to go away, scientists, engineers and other types of clever people found solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
From lab-grown furniture to net-zero alcohol, Eco-Business highlights the sustainability innovations that gave humanity a bit of hope in another troubling year.
Milk pants
Underwear made from waste milk doesn’t sound particularly hygienic. But United States-based sustainable fabric brand Inner Mettle claims to be able upcycle underwear from surplus milk. The underwear is natural, breathable and super-soft, according to the manufacturer, which also makes shoes from recycled lycra and vegan suede.
Inner Mettle’s milk pants, made from waste milk. Image: Inner Mettle
Lab-grown furniture
Loggers take note. Furniture could soon be produced in a laboratory. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) boffins say they can rear in a lab what would take decades to grow in nature. They could even engineer the wood tissue to grow into the specific shape of the chair or table. “Trees grow in tall cylindrical poles, and we rarely use tall cylindrical poles in industrial applications,” Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal scientist in MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, told Fast Company about his research paper, published in Journal for Cleaner Production. “So you end up shaving off a bunch of material that you spent 20 years growing and that ends up being a waste product.” Though the research is still in its infancy, MIT’s researcher say this could be the beginning of a new way of producing biomaterials that could also help to replace single-use plastics.
Net-zero booze
Producing a single bottle of vodka emits an average of 6 kilogrammes of carbon, according to New York-based carbon-neutral alcoholic spirits startup Air Company. The company produces carbon-negative vodka, making their alcohol from recaptured CO2 and takes an extra 45 grammes of carbon from the air in the process. Air Company’s carbon-neutral booze clinched a prize at Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards this year.
Surfing to save the ocean
A surfboard that measures water acidity, temperature and wave movements could be used to find out more about the declining health of the ocean. “The reason these parameters are important is because they’re changing directly as a result of climate change,” says Dr Andrew Stern, founder of Smartfin, in a video interview with Great Big Story. “We have detailed information about the deep ocean, but very limited accurate information about the near shore.” Data is collected from an implant in the surfboard’s fin and sent the user’s phone for analysis.
Tyler Cyronak, post-doctoral fellow at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Image: YouTube
Coffee capsules that die
The sort of invention that should have been invented ages ago and before disposable coffee capsules made from aluminium and plastic began lining landfills: coffee capsules that actually breakdown in the environment. The Nexe Pod, developed by plant-based materials design firm Nexe Innovations, is for people who want to drink half-decent coffee instantly, without worrying as much about the packaging footprint of such convenience (because they’re already worrying about the deforestation footprint of the coffee). Nexe Pods are plant-based, compostable in just over a month, non-toxic in soils and and can apparently fit more coffee than a standard single-serve Nespresso capsule. “We arechasing the compostability side of the market,” said Nexe Innovations president Ash Guglani in an interview with Proactive in May. “There’s a lot of recyclable alternatives out there. But recycling requires work. We’re bringing convenience back to single-serve.”
Skateboard wheels made of recycled chewing gum. Design students Hugo Maupetit and Vivian Fischer, from Nancy in France, found a way to collect discarded chewing gum, encouraging people to stick their used gum on a sign board rather than drop it on the floor. Once 10-30 used gums had been collected, they were melted down and moulded into wheels.
Early versions of chewing gum were made from tree sap, but most modern gum is made from the same stuff as car tyres, a synthetic rubber called polyisobutylene. Image: Dezeen
Batteries from trees
The material most often used for the anode in lithium-ion batteries is synthetic graphite, which is non-renewable. Finish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso says it can replace synthetic graphite with lignin, the sturdy stuff found in the cells and bark of trees, for use in the batteries found in electric vehicles, mobile phones and laptops.
Homes from shipping containers
There’s a growing surplus of shipping containers that have reached the end of their lives. German architects and developers the Schween family teamed up with real estate expert Sean Woolley tocreate aesthetically pleasing and affordable homes made from used containers in Marbella, Spain.
A home made from used shipping containers. Image: Sean Woolley
Eau d’Industrie
German chemicals giant BASF has found a way to create the fragrance found in perfume and the flavours found in food from industrial waste. Called n-octanol, the stuff, which is made from a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is sourced from steel industry waste. Using this technology, companies will be able to make any product containing n-octanol from municipal and industrial waste gases, replacing fossil fuels in the production process and also preventing them from getting into the atmosphere.
Waterless beauty
Freeze-drying used to be a popular technique for preserving food for astronauts. Now beauty brands such as Korean brand Saro de Rúe and Beijing-based biotech company Weibo Hi-Tech Cosmetics are using the method for skincare products. Freeze-drying helps the product last longer, as there is no water for bacteria to multiply on, so no need for preservatives, and the product’s ingredients can be transported in vacuum-sealed bags rather than liquid containers, saving on space. If there is a drawback, they still use plastic packaging.
The city of Barcelona is on a mission to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To help it do this, it has starting laying solar panels on pathways. The first installation is 50 square metres of photovoltaic panels in a park in the Glòries district. The path will generate 7,560 kWh a year, enough to supply three households. “We’ll have to assess the wear and tear because obviously it’s not the same as putting panels on a roof, although they are highly resistant,” Eloi Badia, who is responsible for climate emergency and ecological transition at Barcelona city council, told The Guardian newspaper.
PV pavement. Image: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona
Washing with waste
Personal care giant Unilever teamed up with biotech company LanzaTech and green chemical company India Glycols to manufacture laundry capsules made from recycled carbon emissions. Launched in China in April, the capsules are made from recaptured industrial emissions which are repurposed into surfactants, a product normally made using fossil fuels.
OMO capsules, made from industrial waste. Image: Unilever
Electric steps
Footsteps can be converted into enough electricity to power LED lightbulbs or other small appliances, by attaching an energy-harvesting device to wooden flooring. Called a nanogenerator, the device is based on sandwiching two pieces of wood between electrodes.
Vegan diamonds
Diamonds are typically dug up or produced in labs. Both methods are environmentally-intensive. US firm Aether claims to make the world’s first diamonds that “help reverse the historical damage done to ecosystems and the environment by the diamond industry.” The company’s atmospheric collectors suck carbon dioxide from the sky, pulling it into specialised filters. The CO2 is then synthesised into the right hydrocarbon for growing diamonds. The raw materials are placed into powerful reactors for the diamonds to be grown. The energy used comes from “renewable and low-emissions sources”, the company told Forbes. The product is now vegan certified.
As Singapore marks 50 years since its first Tree Planting Day, each and every Singaporean can do his or her part to keep the country green and sustainable, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Sunday (Nov 21).
“The saplings planted 50 years ago have grown into beautiful trees with broad canopies and deep roots,” he said.
“In the same way, the Clean and Green Movement can continue to broaden and deepen in the years ahead.”
In a pre-recorded message from Mount Faber where one of Singapore’s founding fathers, Dr Goh Keng Swee, planted a raintree at the first Tree Planting Day in 1971, DPM Heng said tree planting has become a cherished national tradition that has evolved and expanded into the Clean and Green Singapore movement which was launched on Sunday.
In his speech, he outlined how people can keep the country green, reduce waste and ensure the city remains clean.
He said Singaporeans could keep the country green by taking part in the One Million Trees movement which aims to plant more than a million trees here over the next decade.
They could also partake in the national gardening movement and the NPark’s Gardening with Edibles programme, which saw some 460,000 seed packets distributed last year.
To reduce waste, DPM Heng said Singaporeans should buy only what they need and bring their own reusable bags and containers, while recycling regularly and correctly by depositing different materials in the correct bins and ensuring these are free of food contamination.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (centre) with (from left) North West District Mayor Alex Yam, National Development Minister Desmond Lee, Senior Minister of State Amy Khor and Sembawang GRC MP Mariam Jafaar at the launch of Clean and Green Singapore in Kampung Admiralty on Nov 21, 2021. PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Businesses can also play their part, such as the 169 partners of the National Environment Agency’s Say Yes To Waste Less campaign.
Keeping the city clean is also important.
DPM Heng said the pandemic has taught us the importance of hygiene and cleanliness.
Initiatives to encourage this include the Clean Tables Campaign launched earlier this year to remind diners to return their trays after meals.
During the launch of Clean and Green Singapore 2021 at Kampung Admiralty, DPM Heng presented 16 national awards to grassroots organisations for their efforts in public hygiene, cleanliness, resource conservation and energy efficiency.
He also planted a critically endangered Knema curtisii tree with Mayor of North West District Alex Yam.
They were joined by Minister of National Development Desmond Lee and Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor, who planted a Horsfieldia polyspherula.
The trees are from the nutmeg family.
The event also saw the launch of CGS Experiences, an online series of webinars with a live host that will bring participants through a virtual tour of sites of significant environmental interest.
Twenty sessions are available for public booking till March 31 next year.
DPM Heng concluded his speech on Sunday with a Chinese saying that meant trees planted by former generations will provide shade for future generations.
“Much like how young saplings planted in 1971 have flourished into a tree planting movement, what we build today will have a lasting effect for our future generations,” said DPM Heng.
“Let us all play our part in building a cleaner and greener Singapore for tomorrow.”
Emission-free hydrogen could, one day, entirely replace fossil fuels – and a start up in Germany believes it has the key ingredient to make it accessible to all.
Born in a climate-change affected South Pacific Island, Vaitea Cowan believes deeply in green hydrogen technology. She co-founded Enapter more than three years ago.
“I wanted to replace all the diesel generators in New Caledonia and all the remote areas that didn’t need to rely on dirty diesel, ” she says.
“But then realising the potential for green hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, I wanted to be part of this change.”
Green solutions will only be adopted if they are the most economically attractive. And that’s our mission at an after to make green hydrogen cost-competitive with fossil fuels.
Vaitea Cowan, Co-founder, Enapter
With headquarters in Germany, the company has deployed its ion exchange membrane electrolysers in over 100 projects across 33 countries. The technology turns renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen gas.
Developed more quickly and cheaply than once thought possible, the AEM electrolyser already fuels cars and planes, powers industry and heats homes.
Enapter’s hydrogen generators have recently won Prince William’s Earthshot Prize in the ‘Fix Our Climate’ category.
What is green hydrogen?
Much of the planet’s hydrogen is locked up in water. So-called ‘green’ hydrogen is an emission-free way of extracting it. This extraction relies on renewable energy, which is used to power electrolysis. Electrolysis is the chemical process needed to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the water.
Extracting hydrogen this way has been facing criticism, because of its low efficiency and high cost. Enapter says, however, that their AEM Electrolyser solves these problems and provides a quick and easy way to produce green energy, even at home.
Half of the water used to flush a toilet can power a home for days
Enapter says its electrolyser uses about 2.4 litres of water to generate enough hydrogen for a couple’s home for several days.
However, the exact number of days depends on the power storage capacity. This amount of water is equal to half of the water used for flushing a toilet once (5 litres), and eight times less than the water consumption of a dishwasher (20 litres).
Guilty pleasures. When we hear these words, we imagine a reckless shopping spree at the local mall, staying in our pyjamas all day, or a non-meat-free McDonald’s breakfast. But you’d surely question your sanity when contemplating adding “going to a concert” to that list, wouldn’t you?
When we think of a concert, we think of artists, venues, and lots of fun, but seldom do we take its impact on other stakeholders into account. While technological progress has shifted much of the delivery of music from vinyl to the cloud, the concept of concerts has largely remained the same – including its environmental impact.
A Cambridge study revealed that a six-month tour of five musicians emits as much as 19 metric tonnes of CO2 (the same as driving an average passenger car for 80,000km), of which the majority can be traced to the running of the venue and the traveling of the band and audience. As artists find themselves in ever more conflicting situations – “performing art at the cost of the environment” – there is a need for solutions.
How is the industry reacting?
Are we to abandon the notion of concerts altogether? Luckily not. The industry’s creative streak has been passed onto innovative teams developing ideas on how to bring concerts and festivals into harmony with the planet. From kinetic dancefloors that satisfy an entire venue’s electricity needs to specialist logistics companies and carbon capture collaborations.
The music industry has done a lot to reduce the environmental costs of concerts, and Coldplay’s 2022 “Music of the Spheres” world tour acts as a prime example. After abandoning plans for a 2019 world tour due to its significant potential environmental impact, the Londoners consulted researchers and climate experts at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute of Climate Change and the Environment.
In doing so, they have managed to reduce the anticipated carbon footprint of their upcoming musical spectacle by as much as 50 per cent compared to previous tours by using a kinetic dancefloor at venues, utilising EVs for transport where possible, and by storing excess energy in recycled BMW i3 batteries (to name just a few).
What’s the message?
“We won’t get everything right, but we’re committed to doing everything we can and sharing what we learn”. Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin’s words could not be more fitting. Especially as the band experienced a backlash for flying on private jets. Concerts and the music industry as a whole won’t turn “net-zero” overnight, but the will for change and collaboration is evidently there.
Unlike with some industry groups, musicians are proactively approaching the issue themselves, well-aware of the environmental implications, and without the need for regulations. And while there are certainly ways that such movement can be supported from a portfolio perspective, we’d much rather for the time being attend a “conscious artist’s” concert – there are plenty (Maroon 5, Fleetwood Mac, Harry Styles and more)!
We want to make the right decisions when we shop, but with so many different options on offer, how are we supposed to work out which one is best for the planet?
Guardian Money asked four experts. They are: Tim Lang, emeritus professor of food policy at City University, London’s Centre for Food Policy; Clare Oxborrow, senior sustainability analyst at Friends of the Earth; Isabella Woodward, researcher at the ethical comparison website The Good Shopping Guide; and Caroline Drummond, chief executive of Leaf (Linking Environment And Farming.
Is it greener to drive to a supermarket or book a delivery?
Tim Lang It depends on how much you buy. Practically, it’s hard to know what that delivery van’s impact is. If you own your own van and fill it on one trip, the carbon expended becomes proportionately smaller per food item than if you drive to the shop and buy little. The best strategy is to walk or cycle: you are taking exercise, putting the embedded energy in the food you eat to good use, and not polluting with your car. Electric cars simply push the pollution elsewhere – to the generating source..
Friends of the Earth There are so many factors. For deliveries, there are several questions. First, where is the food coming from – is it a warehouse? A shop? And how far away? Do they use refrigerated vans which use a lot of energy? Many supermarkets are switching to electric vans, so it’s important to check what’s available locally. The fact remains that travelling to the supermarket by foot or bike is the best choice, or opting for public transport.
Leaf For a van to deliver to some remote places, it may not be greener, but that driver could be the only person an individual living in a remote area has seen for the whole week … It is really important to understand the balance and trade-offs between impact on the environment, alongside economic viability and social acceptability and, indeed, health.
Food deliveries have an impact on the environment – but some say there are economic or social benefits. Photograph: Kathy deWitt/Alamy Stock Photo
Is organic always better?
Tim Lang Not always. Organic has the huge advantage of not being associated with pesticide use. In July I saw at a UK supermarket organic spring onions grown in Mexico. That is ludicrous. In truth, consumers get next to no information on the multiple forms of impact our food has. That’s why I, and many people, call for a new “omni-label” system that provides the range of information: not just environmental but health, social and economic data. We don’t know, for example, how much of what we spend actually gets to the primary producer.
Friends of the Earth Organic is the gold standard … so if you can afford it, it’s a great option. When it comes to meat and dairy, it will almost always be the best environmental choice in a supermarket. It does cost a bit more, but buying less and swapping some meat in dishes with other protein-rich foods like lentils will make it go further.
The Good Shopping Guide Overall, organic crops are better for nature and the biosphere. Organic farming minimises the use of pesticides, which have a potentially adverse impact on wildlife and the soil. Additionally, pesticides can be harmful to agricultural workers. However, it is important to balance this against food miles. Organic products shipped from thousands of miles away may be more harmful to the environment. Therefore, we recommend buying locally grown organic ingredients wherever possible.
Switching away from single-use plastic can make a real difference. Photograph: David Forster/Alamy Stock Photo
Can packaging cut food waste?
Tim Lang Plastic wrapping is often good news for retailers as they know it slows down the rotting process, but it is terrible for consumers and the environment. I always say: good food goes bad.
Friends of the Earth Wrapping fruit and veg in plastic can mask the fact that it’s no longer fresh. And fruit and veg left in airless plastic packaging will often go mouldy quicker than loose items without the needless wrapping. Considering that packaging is responsible for 70% of our plastic waste, there’s a huge difference to be made. It’s always better to buy loose fruit and veg, making sure they’re as fresh as possible. Stored correctly, they can last longer, too.
Leaf Packaging has certainly created an opportunity to stretch our seasons and storage for fresh fruit and veg; however, fossil fuel-based plastics and single-use plastics that are non-recyclable need to be phased out. The more we can stretch the time that fruit and veg are tasty, nutritious and assured of their growing quality, the better. Canning, freezing, packaging, storage, use of LED lights and growing capability all provide that opportunity.
Morrisons offers sturdy paper bags at checkouts, as it looks to ditch all its plastic ‘bags for life’. Photograph: Morrisons/PA
Which bags should I use?
Tim Lang If you walk to the shops, invest in a good trolley. Trolleys are trendy. Plastic bags are bad news full stop, but the avalanche continues, and it’s hard to avoid them unless you get into the habit of carrying your own bag.
Friends of the Earth Those designed to be reused tend to have a lower environmental impact than single-use plastic bags but, importantly, they must be used a sufficient number of times. For cotton bags, 50-150 times; paper bags, four-eight times; durable plastic bags like bags for life, 10-20 times. Cotton bags can be used for years, and can be washed and reused. So if you take the long view, cotton is best and more durable than plastic, particularly if it’s organic, unbleached fibre.
The Good Shopping Guide There are pros and cons to all types of shopping bags. The main problem is that many people use them once and discard them after. Regardless of what material they are, single-use bags are always unsustainable. Whichever bags you prefer to use, remember to bring them to the shop with you.
Leaf I am a big fan of the cotton tote bag. We have seen a lot of movement away from people always expecting a new plastic carrier bag when shopping, and our next step is to strive to ensure the bags we use are long-lasting, sustainably sourced and robust.
Cutting down on meat is one way to help the environment. Photograph: Ed Brown/Alamy
What’s the top thing a shopper should do to help the planet?
Tim Lang Cut down on meat. Eat it less often and buy high-quality meat such as pasture-fed. Less but better.
Friends of the Earth Livestock production has an enormous environmental impact, contributing 14.5% of the world’s planet-warming emissions. The industry is also a key driver of deforestation and the loss of important habitats, not to mention the huge amount of water and fertiliser needed, or the amount of waste produced in the process. That’s why buying and eating less meat and dairy is one of the best ways to reduce our own environmental impact.
The Good Shopping Guide Be aware of the ethical issues. This not only relates to which supermarket you use, but also which brands you are buying. We independently assess companies on their practices towards the environment, animals and people, providing a score out of 100 for each brand.
Leaf Naturally, seek out and purchase Leaf Marque produce. Quality fruit and veg grown with care for the environment, enhancing biodiversity, improving our soil health and water quality, and grown by farmers committed to more regenerative, climate-positive farming systems. Plus, go and visit a farm to see what farmers are doing to address climate change challenges.
The climate emergency is the biggest threat to civilisation we have ever faced. But there is good news: we already have every tool we need to beat it. The challenge is not identifying the solutions, but rolling them out with great speed.
Some key sectors are already racing ahead, such as electric cars. They are already cheaper to own and run in many places – and when the purchase prices equal those of fossil-fueled vehicles in the next few years, a runaway tipping point will be reached.
Electricity from renewables is now the cheapest form of power in most places, sometimes even cheaper than continuing to run existing coal plants. There’s a long way to go to meet the world’s huge energy demand, but the plummeting costs of batteries and other storage technologies bodes well.
And many big companies are realising that a failure to invest will be far more expensive as the impacts of global heating destroy economies. Even some of the biggest polluters, such as cement and steel, have seen the green writing on the wall.
Buildings are big emitters but the solution – improved energy efficiency – is simple to achieve and saves the occupants money, particularly with the cost of installing technology such as heat pumps expected to fall.
Stopping the razing of forests requires no technology at all, but it does require government action. While progress is poor – and Bolsonaro’s Brazil is going backwards – countries such as Indonesia have shown regulatory action can be effective. Protecting and restoring forests, particularly by empowering indigenous people, is a potent tool.
Recognition of the role food and farming play in driving global heating is high, and the solutions, from alternatives to meat to regenerative farming, are starting to grow. As with fossil fuels, ending vast and harmful subsidies is key, and there are glimmers of hope here, too.
In the climate crisis, every fraction of a degree matters and so every action reduces people’s suffering. Every action makes the world a cleaner and better place to live – by, for example, cutting the air pollution that ends millions of lives a year.
The real fuel for the green transition is a combination of those most valuable and intangible of commodities: political will and skill. The supply is being increased by demands for action from youth strikers to chief executives, and must be used to face down powerful vested interests, such as the fossil fuel, aviation and cattle industries. The race for a sustainable, low-carbon future is on, and the upcoming Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow will show how much faster we need to go.
Transport
Responsible for 14-28% of global greenhouse gas emissions, transport has been slow to decarbonise, and faces particular challenges in areas such as long-haul flight.
But technical solutions are available, if the will, public policy and spending are there, too. Electric cars are the most obvious: petrol and diesel vehicles will barely be produced in Europe within the decade. EV sales are accelerating everywhere, with the likes of Norway well past the tipping point, and cheaper electric vehicles coming from China have cut the fumes from buses. Meanwhile, combustion engines are ever more efficient and less polluting.
Employees on the assembly line for electric buses in Xi an, Shaanxi province, China. Photograph: Visual China Group/Getty Images
Bike and scooter schemes are growing rapidly as cities around the world embrace electric micromobility. Far cleaner ships for global freight are coming. The potential of hydrogen is growing, for cleaner trains where electrification is impractical, to be followed by ships and even, one day, planes. Manufacturers expect short-haul electric aircraft much sooner. Most of all, the pandemic has shown that a world without hypermobility is possible – and that many people will accept, or even embrace, a life where they commute and travel less. Gwyn Topham
Deforestation
Deforestation and land use change are the second-largest source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. The destruction of the world’s forests has continued at a relentless pace during the pandemic, with millions of hectares lost, driven by land-clearing in the Brazilian Amazon.
Volunteers plant mangrove tree seedlings in a conservation area on Dupa beach, Indonesia. Photograph: Basri Marzuki/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
But there are reasons for hope. The UK has put nature at the heart of its Cop26 presidency and behind the scenes, the government is pushing hard for finance and new commitments from forested nations to protect the world’s remaining carbon banks. Indonesia and Malaysia, once global hotspots of deforestation, have experienced significant falls in recent years, the result of increased restrictions on palm oil plantations. However, the 2000s soy moratorium in Brazil shows these trends are reversible. Finally, there is a growing recognition of the importance of indigenous communities to protecting the world’s forests and biodiversity. In the face of racism and targeted violence, a growing number of studies and reports show they are the best guardians of the forest. Empowering those communities will be vital to ending deforestation. Patrick Greenfield
Technology
Emissions from technology companies, including direct emissions, emissions from electricity use and other operations such as manufacturing, account for 0.3% of global carbon emissions, while emissions from cryptocurrencies is a huge emerging issue.
Mining – the process in which a bitcoin is awarded to a computer that solves a complex series of algorithms – is a deeply energy-intensive process and only gets more energy-intensive as the algorithms grow more complex. But new mining methods are lighter, environmentally. A system called “proof of stake” has a 99% lower carbon footprint.
Researchers pose for a group photo at the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals in Beijing, China. The centre was inaugurated to support the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock
Scrutiny of the whole sector is increasing, spearheaded by tech workers who walked out in their hundreds to join climate change marches in 2019. The companies have pledged to do better: Amazon aims to be net zero carbon by 2040 and powered with 100% renewable energy by 2025. Facebook has a target of net zero emissions for its entire supply chain by 2030 and Microsoft has pledged to become carbon negative by 2030. Apple has committed to become carbon-neutral across its whole supply chain by 2030.
They’re still falling short when it comes to delivering, but employee groups continue to push. Kari Paul
Business
For decades Exxon Mobil has arguably been corporate America’s biggest climate change denier. But this year, the activist investor Engine No 1 won three seats on the company’s board with an agenda to force the company to finally acknowledge and confront the climate crisis.
Across corporate America and all around the world there are signs of change. The Federal Reserve, the world’s most powerful central bank, is beefing up its climate team. BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, has made environmental sustainability a core goal for the company.
This isn’t about ideology: it’s about “common sense.” According to BlackRock, failure to tackle climate change is simply bad for business. The investor calculates that 58% of the US will suffer economic decline by 2060-2080 if nothing is done.
Much more needs to be done, and some question whether corporate America can really solve this crisis without government action. But the days of denial are over – what matters now is action. Dom Rushe
Electricity
The rocketing global market price for gas has ripped through world economies, forcing factories to close, triggering blackouts in China, and threatening to cool the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
But it has also spelled out a clear economic case for governments to redouble their efforts in developing homegrown, low-carbon electricity systems.
The good news is that renewable energy is ready to step up and play a greater role in electricity systems across the globe.
A woman completes paperwork by the light of solar-powered lamps in a village shop for solar products. Photograph: Kunal Gupta/Climate Visuals Countdown
The precipitous fall in the price of wind and solar energy has helped to incentivise fresh investments in electricity vehicles and energy storage technologies, such as batteries, where costs are plummeting too. Soon, wind and solar power will help to produce green hydrogen, which can be stored over long periods of time to generate electricity during days that are a little less bright or breezy.
All of these advances are made possible by cheap renewables, and will help countries to use more renewable energy too. There has never been a better time to step back from gas and go green. Jillian Ambrose
Buildings
The built environment is one of our biggest polluters, responsible for about 40% of global carbon emissions.
Over the past two decades, the carbon footprint of buildings “in use” has been greatly reduced by energy-saving technologies – better insulation, triple-glazing, and on-site renewables such as solar panels and ground-source heat pumps. Onheat pumps, the UK lags far behind: Norway, through a mixture of grants and high electricity prices, has installed more than 600 heat pumps for every 1,000 households.
As national energy grids are decarbonising, the focus is shifting to reducing the “embodied energy” of materials – which can account for up to three-quarters of a building’s emissions over its lifespan – for example by reducing the amount of concrete and steel in favour of timber.
The Vertical Forest in the Porta Nuova district in Milan. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty
There is also a growing movement to prioritise refurbishment and reuse over demolition, driven by the realisation that the most sustainable buildings are the ones that already exist. Oliver Wainwright
Food and farming
The hoofprint of the global livestock industry is a significant one, accounting for about 14% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions. But it is increasingly recognised and accepted by national governments.
New Zealand now has a legal commitment to reduce methane emissions from agriculture by 10% by 2030, while Denmark has passed a legally binding target to reduce climate emissions from the agricultural sector by 55% by 2030.
While global meat production is increasing, there is a growing shift towards fish and poultry, which have a comparatively lower emissions footprint than red meats. The food industry is also developing a range of lower-carbon products using plant-based proteins such as soy and pea, and insect and lab-grown meat alternatives. Tom Levitt
Manufacturing
Decarbonising the manufacturing of every product needed by a modern economy is a vast and varied task. Some sectors are well on their way. For instance, Apple, the world’s third-largest maker of mobile phones by volume, has pledged to produce net zero carbon throughout its supply chain by 2030.
For many others, advances in efficiency of factories and their products will be accelerated by machine learning and other artificial intelligence technologies that are still in their infancy. There are even hopeful signs in some of the hardest sectors to decarbonise, such as plans by Volvo to replace coal with hydrogen in the steel it uses in cars.
One of the greatest reasons for optimism is manufacturers’ increasing awareness of circular design principles. Making products easier to recycle from the start will help to cut emissions from fresh resource extraction– although a bigger question remains as to whether rich societies can reduce consumption, the most obvious way to cut emissions. Jasper Jolly
Dealing with the climate crisis involves the overhauling of many facets of life, but few of these changes will feel as tangible and personal as the transformation required within the home.
The 128m households that dot America gobble up energy for heating, cooling and lighting, generating around 20% of all the planet-heating emissions produced in the US. Americans typically live in larger, more energy hungry dwellings than people in other countries, using more than double the energy of the average Briton and 10 times that of the average Chinese person.
This sizable contribution is now coming under the scrutiny of Joe Biden’s administration, which recently put forward a raft of measures to build and upgrade 2m low-emissions homes. “Decarbonizing buildings is a big task but it’s an essential task,” said Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Rapid change will be needed to avoid disastrous climate change. To get to zero emissions by the middle of the century, the sale of fossil fuel boilers will have to end within five years, all new buildings will have to run on clean electricity by 2030 and half of all existing buildings will have to be fully retrofitted by 2040, a recent landmark International Energy Agency report warned.
“The appliances we use at home have tended to be overlooked but they are contributing a significant amount to climate change and we need to address that,” said Mike Henchen, an expert in carbon-free buildings at RMI. “That will touch people’s lives – our homes are our refuges, the places we know best. But hopefully the change will also make people’s homes more comfortable, safer and healthier, as well as reduce the climate impact.”
So what will the climate-adapted homes of the future look like?
Designing the home to use less – and cleaner – energy
Changes on both the outside and inside of our structures will shape the future of climate-proof homes. According to Alejandra Mejia Cunningham, building decarbonization advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, homes will have to follow three interlocking mantras: “using the least energy possible from the cleanest sources at the right time”.
Source: The Guardian
Solar panels on roofs will become more common while, in rented or apartment accommodation, community solar schemes could provide an alternative. Solar panels can also be married with home batteries to help store excess energy which, along with proper insulation, will help keep a house functioning even during the sort of lengthy power blackouts Texas experienced earlier this year.
Such a scenario opens up the possibility of utility companies operating an automated network of homes, as is the case in parts of Vermont, to manage demand and supply, rather than rely on hulking centralized infrastructure. “Having solar panels, batteries and water heaters all orchestrated and distributed makes the home a part of the energy system and can provide a lot of savings,” said Henchen.
Power use will become smarter and more automated, with technology helping spread energy use throughout the day to work in tandem with a grid powered by variable wind and solar, rather than cause big surges in demand that require the burning of gas or coal.
New tools for heating and cooling the home
Another energy efficient move will be to properly insulate homes. In fact new homes could be pre-fabricated in factories and fitted on site to reduce gaps where heat can escape.
Source: The Guardian
Deep reductions in emissions will involve revamping the major appliances in the home, such as the water heater, furnace and air conditioning unit. As these items become older, they become wasteful and they will need to be replaced by more efficient appliances that run off clean electricity.
Some of these replacements will be relatively innocuous, such as the installation of heat pumps, which will be in the basement or on the side of the house. Heat pumps work on principles similar to a refrigerator, shifting heat from outdoors indoors and vice versa. They can heat and cool your home and can also heat your water with an efficiency rate four times greater than a gas-powered version.
The changes you’ll notice in everyday life
Other changes will be more obvious in day-to-day life, such as replacing incandescent lightbulbs with LEDs, installing low-flow shower heads and phasing out gas stoves in favor of electric induction stovetops.
Source: The Guardian
Such a change may be unnerving to dedicated home cooks but proponents point to the swifter heat-up time, reduced indoor air pollution and negated risk of injuries to the hands of curious children.
“People will get used to technology like induction cooktops. There are already top chefs out there giving out the message that they don’t have a worse performance than gas,” said Rohini Srivastava, a buildings expert at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The phase-out of gas will also remove the need for a carbon monoxide detector in the home, although in the western US, air purifiers may become a standard feature in an age of growing wildfire smoke.
At what cost?
All of this will cost money – about $70,000 for the average American household to decarbonize, according to Rewiring America. And broader, systemic changes will need to take place to make housing denser and centered around transit lines and walkable communities to reduce car use, as well as a concerted effort to make homes resilient to the storms and fires spurred by the climate crisis.
Climate advocates are calling for a slate of government support to aid this transition – San Francisco is currently working out how to make the $5.9bn switch to electrify all its homes currently powered by gas – but stress that the public will need to view the changes as painless.
“The only way we will be able to do this is if the home feels just as comfortable and user-friendly as it has always been” said Cunningham. “You need to be able to take hot showers, be cool in summer and warm in winter and not know the difference in terms of how that is all powered.”
