On Saturday 21 March Dr Stephen Allen of Circular Ecology is giving a talk on the embodied carbon of building materials to the annual conference of the National Society of Master Thatchers. Steve will give an overview of carbon footprinting and what it can be used for, and illustrate this through the results of an […]
In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was born. It was the first international agreement of its kind, a revelation that would stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the climate to “prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. Flash floods, rising sea levels, record droughts and extreme weather would all to be resigned to the books of […]
Guest Blog by Erich Lawson Climate change has become a reality in today’s world. While many environmentalists are advocating green and sustainable energy, people are still not emphasizing enough on the hazards of reckless waste disposal and treatment. When waste is treated or makes it way to landfills, it emits greenhouse gases that have an […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]