Wonky Fruit and Veg: The Carbon Footprint of Food

  On our recent ‘life admin’ trip to the supermarket, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it now sells a range of ‘wonky veg’ and at a fraction of the price of the ‘non-wonky’ variety. Realising the environmental benefit of using these veg provides some simple satisfaction, but it also poses some important questions. […]

Carbon Footprint of UK Electricity – Year on Year Change

Each year the UK government releases their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions factors for company reporting. Within the carbon footprinting sector they are often know as Defra’s GHG emissions factors, despite now being produced by the Government department, BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy). They are an invaluable resource for carbon footprint professionals.​In August […]

Whole Life Carbon as a Vehicle for Innovation

This is Part II of the article, part I revealed how the HM Treasury stated that…  “Reducing carbon reduces costs” – HM Treasury, 2013 The Infrastructure Carbon Review (2013) made this bold statement. It appears word for word in the report. However, such a bold statement should not be taken out of context and it […]

The Business Value of Carbon Footprints: Reducing Carbon Reduces Costs

What is the value of carbon footprinting? Why should I carbon footprint our business, products, activities or constructions? Why should I do an embodied carbon assessment? These are the questions we face almost daily. The reply is now: “Reducing carbon reduces costs” A bold claim indeed. It’s a claim that would normally be met with […]

Zero Carbon Homes Abandoned by UK Government

The UK government recently announced that zero carbon homes 2016 and zero carbon buildings 2019 (non-domestic) will be abandoned. The zero carbon homes policy was designed so that all new buildings would generate as much energy from on-site renewables (PV, wind,…etc) as they consume to heat and power the building. It was a flagship environmental […]

Low Carbon Energy Reaches Record High

Blog by Stephen Allen The contribution of low carbon energy in the UK has risen to an all-time high, while our dependence on fossil fuels has fallen to a record low. Such good news stories seem rare when it comes to the environment – so how did we get here? Percentage Shares In 2005, I began […]

Circular Ecology giving keynote speech at BuildingEnergy Boston 2017

Dr Craig Jones of Circular Ecology will give a keynote speech and run a workshop at the BuildingEnergy Boston conference, 7-9 March 2017 at the Seaport Trade Center, Boston, USA. BuildingEnergy Boston is a green building conference organised by the NorthEast Sustainable Energy Association.  It is the region’s leading event for professionals and practitioners working […]

The Impact of Embodied Carbon in Real Estate – Spring Mews Case Study

Embodied carbon is the carbon footprint of producing materials. It is steadily gaining attention from both industry and parts of government, where it is now recognised that embodied carbon emissions make up a large fraction of the emissions from the construction sector. In fact, it’s often 20-40% of the whole life (embodied + operational) carbon […]

Circular Ecology presenting on LCA and carbon footprinting at Imperial College London

Circular Ecology is giving an invited lecture for the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, on 27 October 2016. Dr Stephen Allen will present on “Life cycle assessment and carbon footprinting – business applications”. A growing number of businesses are assessing the carbon footprint of their products and operations.  Some consider a wider […]

Circular Ecology Speaking on Cutting Carbon in Rail Infrastructure

Circular Ecology is presenting at an event on Cutting Carbon in Rail Infrastructure on 21 September 2016 in London.  The event will introduce the Rail Carbon Tool, which helps users measure and reduce the carbon footprint of rail infrastructure projects.  The tool draws on data from the Inventory of Carbon and Energy. The UK was […]