The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has finally published the long awaited standard on water footprinting. This new standard, known as “ISO 14046:2014: Environmental management. Water footprint. Principles, requirements and guidelines” was originally due to be released in 2012. Water footprinting is an environmental accounting technique, much like a carbon footprint, but to measure the amount of […]
It’s that day of the week again. For the last 7 days you’ve recovered some of your plastic bottles, metal cans and glass jars, ready for the recycling man to take away. In fact, each and every year we recycle or compost over 200 kg of waste per person in the EU. So clearly recycling […]
The European Commission estimates that clothing represents the fourth largest environmental footprint of EU consumption and that its impacts are significant over a range of environmental issues. So reducing the impacts of production, use and disposal of clothing is vital for tackling key environmental challenges, including climate change and freshwater scarcity and pollution. Dr Stephen […]
The UK is legally committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% between 1990 and 2050. This is a considerable challenge and all sectors have a valuable part to play. To be achieved the electricity sector is expected to have an almost complete decarbonisation and it’s clear to see why. Electricity generation contributes around […]
Embodied carbon has slowly been gaining attention, but it still lacks the recognition that it arguably deserves. It has been a poor understudy to operational carbon emissions, which traditionally grabs the headlines. But could this be about to change? Perhaps. April 7th to 11th is UK Green Building Council (UK GBC) ‘Embodied Carbon Week’, where […]
Whether you are designing a new building, completing an extensive refurbishment or just looking to replace the windows in your home with more energy efficient windows then you will be offered the choice of double glazing or triple glazing. But is this a good environmental choice? Intuition tells us that triple glazing should have a […]
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been working hard to release their fifth assessment reports on climate change (AR5). Their report on “Mitigation of Climate Change” revealed that in 2010 the world’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) were 181% of 1970 levels. In fact, emissions over this 40 year period were responsible for […]
The Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) database is once more available for download. The ICE database has become an important resource in the world of carbon footprinting, with over 15,000 users from all around the world. It is used far and wide and appears in countless reports, carbon calculators, lectures, journals, books and more. […]
Circular Ecology supported Materials Council (www.materialscouncil.com) on their fascinating ‘In the Scale of Carbon’ exhibition, which was in London from Sept 19-22, see www.inthescaleofcarbon.com. The purpose of the ‘In the Scale of Carbon’ exhibition was to put into perspective what 1 tonne of CO2e really means. The guys at Materials Council used their strong connections […]
Circular Ecology will be supporting Materials Council (www.materialscouncil.com) on their exciting ‘In the Scale of Carbon’ exhibition. If you ever wondered what 1 tonne of CO2e really looks like then this is the exhibition for you. The exhibit will display the volume of material, as a cube, that is equal to 1 tonne CO2e embodied […]