Green Thinking In The Construction Industry?

Greetings,

I was browsing Twitter and came across a link to this article and was really interested by the use of recycled plastic as a concrete aggregate. The con s truction industry is responsible for generating huge amounts of landfill waste (albeit often inert) , so to see an innovative use of a potentially difficult waste stream being recycled into a useable long-term product is encouraging. I would be interested to know what the long term implications of the product are, for example is it durable? What happens when is it breaks down and what environmental impacts the plastic will have when used in this format?

I’m not entirely convinced that this is the best practical final use of the material, but it’s good to see the construction industry getting its ‘green’ hard hat on.

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

Bentley - Somewhat Missing The Point?

Greetings,

I was initially encouraged to see that car manufacturer Bentley of all people were making an eco-car, the Bentley Continental Supersports 'Extreme'. Bentley have always been associated with the manufacture of large cars with even bigger engines and so this seemed to be an interesting change of direction for them. (For more information about Bentley's biofuels policy and research see here)

However I am sorry to report that whilst the 'Extreme' runs on a hybrid 85% bioethanol fuel, it is still a 630hp two seat sports car which only does 11.5mpg and emits 388g of carbon dioxode per kilometre. Whilst the 'Extreme' does show a significant improvement upon its counterparts, I just can't see how this type of car is still viable or even, dare I say it, legal in this day and age?

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

Airmiles Strikes Again!

Greetings,

I've discovered another moment of genius from the people at Airmiles, they are now rolling out a mobile phone recycling scheme which allows consumers to receive airmiles in return for unwanted mobile phones, not only that but they have the gall to suggest that this scheme is 'environmentally friendly' because your phone is recycled or reused in line with the WEEE directive! This completely green washes over the fact that you will be collecting credits towards air travel through the scheme, completely undermining the benefits gained by recycling the phone in the first place.

Working from these figures, the average phone requires emission of 60kg of CO2 to be manufactured. Sending your phone to be recycled means that you offset a total of 35 miles of air travel (assuming you are travelling long haul) after which you will be contributing a minimum of 0.17Kg CO2 per mile. As most long haul flights are a minimum of 6.5 hours in duration, you could be travelling as far as 550 miles, thus contributing an additional 85Kg of CO2 to the atmosphere.

It always pays dividends to look at the detail in more depth and think about the true environmental benefit of such schemes; in this case there are plenty of businesses out there which recycle mobile phones without trying to bribe you with air travel.

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

The UK's First Eco Kitchens

Greetings,

I've just discovered a great business, Milestone Eco Design based in Ilkley, they have produced the UK's first kitchen made entirely of recycled materials.

Some of the great features include; cupboard doors made from recycled yoghurt pots (at last!), work surfaces made from recycled coffee cups (trivets recommended!), a recycled (and recyclable) steel sink and cabinets made from 50% recycled timber.

Is this the eco-kitchen of the house of tomorrow? I certainly hope so.

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

Big Brother - Spying On Your Waste?

Greetings,

I was very interested to hear about the recent scheme of waste tracking which is being implemented by MIT, 3000 pieces of rubbish in London, Seattle and New York will be fitted with hi-tech tags which use mobile phone technology to send out a real time tracking signal. In effect this means that MIT will be able to watch exactly where the waste is moving to in real time.

The aim is to highlight exactly what happens to the waste we throw away and that it doesn't always end up where we think, sometimes it will even end up in a completely different country, where the approach to waste management is not as stringent and as such it can end up becoming a pollutant.

The BBC have written a quite extensive article about the technology behind the transmitters and what MIT are hoping to achieve in the lifetime of the project.

I think that projects like these are great tools to raise awareness of our throw-away lifestyle and that waste doesn't simply disappear when the bin man collects it.

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

Sony Ericsson Launch Recycled Mobile Phone - C901 Greenheart

Greetings,

I'm glad to see another of the major mobile phone manufacturers has decided to produce a handset which is more environmentally sustainable.
The C901 Greenheart is the first product to be developed with Sony Ericsson's sustainablity guidelines in mind.

Featuring a casing made from 50% recycled plastics and their first ever in-phone manual (which reduce the amount of paper produced per phone by 90%), this phone is full of eco-gubbins like a carbon calculating pedometer and light sensors to reduce energy usage. It also comes bundled with a low power charger and a 100% recycled plastic headset.

It is great to see Sony Ericsson joining the ranks alongside other phone manufacturers such as Motorola and Samsung designing and producing products for those of us who are more environmentally minded.

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.

Sustainable Chocolate Powered F3 Racing!

Greetings,

I came across this and just felt I had to share it with you. Worldfirst Racing have just built a proof of concept racing car which runs on a biodiesel fuel which is derived from vegetable oil and waste chocolate. Not only that but a lot of the vehicles components have been built around sustainable materials, i.e. potato starch coated in flax fibre for the wings and a steering wheel made from 'curran', a carrot derivative! See here for more detail about the technology behind the car.

Just in case you're checking your calendar for the 1st of April, here's a clip of the car in action:



Bear in mind it is often the racing industry which drives forward (pardon the pun) automotive innovation which eventually is passed onto the consumer market, one day we could all be motoring in cocoa powered cars!

Onwards & upwards!

Lucy.