Life Cycle Assessment. BASF's Eco-Efficiency Analysis How does your company assess sustainability when making design, procurement and operational decisions? If you are one of the companies that utilizes life cycle assessment tools, you have probably found a lot of value in this approach — as well as a lot of opportunity for improvement. At BASF, we’ve spent over 15 years developing and utilizing a portfolio of sustainability measurement tools. We have found it important to continually develop these tools as the “science of sustainability measurement” evolves — and, as a growing number of companies in many of the value chains we support begin to utilize sustainability factors in their decision-making — creating a unique opportunity and challenge to ensure the “science of sustainability” is a theory that is put into practice. Begin by defining what you want to measure Complementing environmental assessment with economics1 Bringing in societal aspects Considering value chain specifics Integrating stakeholder concerns.
GAP inc sustainable products. SB Learning Library GAP inc. Sustainable Product Design An Overview of Prevailing Approaches, with Nathan Shedroff. Sustainable Brands | The Bridge to Better Brands. What the consumer pays vs energy costs. Jump to: The questionAnalysisSummary 11.00am: Gas prices alone have gone up by 18% in recent months and on Friday the energy regulator Ofgem reported that energy companies' annual profit for combined gas and electricity customers has gone up from an average of £10 a year in June to £125 a year now.
The prime minister and energy secretary Chris Huhne are meeting consumer and energy groups this afternoon for a summit on how to help people struggling with their household bills. But this morning, Phil Bentley, the managing director of British Gas, the UK's biggest domestic energy supplier, said that price hikes are "inevitable". He told the BBC's Today programme: We are importing 50% of the gas that comes into Britain and we are having to compete for sources from the Middle East - Japan is importing huge amounts of gas on ships and that was gas that used to come into the UK market. It is an inconvenient truth that unit prices of energy are going to go up. The question Analysis 2.52pm: Summary. Energy by source (U.K.) See Pages 5&6 Pie Chart of Energy Generation. See Pages 12 &13 for FIT schemes. See page 39. Energy consumption (U.K.)
‘Energy consumption in the United Kingdom’ (ECUK) is an annual statistical publication providing a comprehensive review of energy consumption and changes in efficiency, intensity and output since the 1970s, with a particular focus on trends since 1990. As well as covering statistics across the UK, ECUK reports energy consumption statistics by four sectors – the transport, domestic, industrial and services sectors. Chapter 1 – Overall energy consumption in the UK Chapter 2 – Transport sector energy consumption Chapter 3 – Domestic sector energy consumption Chapter 4 – Industrial sector energy consumption Chapter 5 – Services sector energy consumption Each chapter consists of: An excel workbook A factsheet summarising key trends and information within the sector.
Are solar panels the next e-waste? | Environment. In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life's end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air, and lungs. Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium, and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry's green credibility.
Solar modules have an expected lifespan of at least 20 years so most have not yet reached the end of their useful lives. Solar energy is the most widely available resource we have. "Of those we interviewed, 100 percent want recycling," she said. Easing Concerns About Pollution From Manufacture Of Solar Cells. In a finding that could help ease concerns about the potential environmental impact of manufacturing solar cells, scientists report that the manufacture of solar cells produces far fewer air pollutants than conventional fossil fuel technologies. Their report is the first comprehensive study on the pollutants produced during the manufacture of solar cells. Solar energy has been touted for years as a safer, cleaner alternative to burning fossil fuels to meet rising energy demands.
However, environmentalists and others are increasingly concerned about the potential negative impact of solar cell (photovoltaic) technology. Manufacture of photovoltaic cells requires potentially toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium and produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. In the new study, Vasilis M. The researchers found that producing electricity from solar cells reduces air pollutants by about 90 percent in comparison to using conventional fossil fuel technologies. What is the environmental impact of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels? | CAT Information Service. As with any industrial product there is an environmental impact associated with solar Photovoltaic panels. The main areas of potential concern are: The energy required to produce them, particularly the photovoltaic cellsWhat happens to them at the end of their lifetimeToxic and other potentially harmful materials used or created in the production of PV panels/cells However, it is important to take these issues in context.
All electronic equipment can cause these concerns, and whereas many electrical goods are only designed to last for a couple of years, PV panels are expected to last for at least 30 years (here at CAT we have some that are 15 years old and still functioning well). The question of energy and carbon payback is answered separately on our website here. Making monocrystalline panels tends to result in more waste, as they are made from slices of silicon ingots - leaving offcuts, etc.
There is also lead and small amounts of aluminium and silver in the electronics. Centre for Alternative Technology Home Page. Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever - environment - 30 January 2012. By Michael Le Page and Anil Ananthaswamy Editorial: “Taking the long view on the world’s energy supplies“ “A better, richer and happier life for all our citizens.”
That’s the American dream. In practice, it means living in a spacious, air-conditioned house, owning a car or three and maybe a boat or a holiday home, not to mention flying off to exotic destinations. The trouble with this lifestyle is that it consumes a lot of power. It is clear that continuing to rely on fossil fuels will have catastrophic results, because of the dramatic warming effect of carbon dioxide. While this kind of work is still at an early stage, some startling conclusions are already beginning to emerge. There is a fundamental problem facing any planet-bound civilisation, as Eric Chaisson of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, points out.
Much of the electrical energy that powers your mobile phone or computer ends up heating the circuitry, for instance. Waste-heat warming. Sustainability is 'the ultimate design brief' | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional. "There are professions more harmful than design", wrote the godfather of sustainable design, Victor Papanek in 1972, "but only a few". Papanek accused designers of creating useless, unnecessary and unsafe products; of wastefully propagating product obsolescence; of creating "stuff-lust" that promoted materialistic lifestyles. As the 2012 London Design Festival kicks off this week, one wonders how much has really changed.
Are the objects of desire emerging from the festival destined to bulge our landfills or secure our future? A look at the agenda shows scant reference to sustainability so one can only conclude, and hope, these issues are increasingly integrated rather than dealt with as a stand-alone. Design matters The material world that surrounds us – the signs that direct us, the smartphone pages we flick through, the way we use buildings, how we move around cities – is consciously or unconsciously designed. Though design may be guilty of past malpractice (who wasn't?)