UK: Zero Emission Vehicles Could Be Given Green Number Plates

12.09.2018

car-3321669_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Clean cars, vans and taxis in the UK could be given green number plates under new government plans to promote awareness of ultra-low emission vehicles.

It is seeking views on providing the “badge of honour”, which are already used in countries like Canada, China and Norway for electric and hydrogen cars.

Those vehicles with the special plates would be entitled to drive on bus lanes in addition to low-emission vehicles lanes and ultra-low emission zones.

The consultation, which is due to be launched later this year, will consider potential designs for the plates, which could be entirely green on the front, back or both sides of the vehicle, or a green symbol.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “This new cleaner, greener transport has the potential to bring with it cleaner air, a better environment and stronger economies for countries around the world.

“Adding a green badge of honour to these new clean vehicles is a brilliant way of helping increase awareness of their growing popularity in the UK and might just encourage people to think about how one could fit into their own travel routine.”

The government has also announced £2 million of funding to boost the uptake of electric delivery bikes.

The announcement comes ahead of the world’s first Zero Emission Vehicle Summit to be held in Birmingham this week.

Source: Energy Live News

Eva Kail: Vienna Acts Against the Climate Change

12.09.2018

Eva Kail, The Gender Planning Expert for the Executive Group for Construction and Technology, the City of Vienna

A survey conducted by Mercer, an international consulting firm, has shown that there’s no place in the world where the life is as good as it is in Vienna. Having been in a competition with 231 cities, the Austrian capital was honoured this year, the ninth time in a row, with the title of the city with the best quality of life, which has been contributed by a good security, developed public transport network and a number of cultural institutions and amusement places.

Eva Kail is a member of the team of the Executive Group for Construction and Technology in the Austrian capital which, among other things, enables comfortable life for its citizens. She is one of the leading experts – urbanists for gender-sensitive planning on the European continent. She coordinated more than 60 projects in the field of housing, mobility, public space, urban development and social infrastructure.

You will learn from this Viennese urbanist in what way her city crosses swords with the climate change, what the urban planning process looks like “in the West” and to what extent her own home is “green”. She and her colleagues know very well that the best weapon is the one at hand, so when they set out to fight the climate change challenges they make sure the urban plans are nearby.

So, how come Vienna ended up being an urban environment with the best quality of life? It’s due to the fact that no citizen, of any gender, material status or age, is kept out from the city’s efforts to ensure the most comfortable life for everyone.

Eva Kail also suggested to us to visit some of her favourite places in the city, and in case you are planning to visit Austria in near future, her hints might serve you as a Travel Guide.

EP: As an urban planner, could you briefly describe to us the process of construction planning in your city and tell us about all the experts involved in the project realization?

Eva Kail: Vienna is a fast growing city and a lot of construction work is ongoing. This is based on the outcome of the different planning levels. The urban development plan defines the planning principles and their specification in thematic concepts like ‘Mobility’, ‘Green and Open Spaces’, ‘Public Space’ or ‘Energy’. The transfer of master plans and urban design proposals for specific areas to legally binding land-use plans and zoning plans are the basis for project planning for public spaces, residential, public service and office buildings.

Energy and mobility concepts are usual for development of new areas, such as mobility points, car sharing, high quality of bike parking facilities, green roofs which are obligatory in most of the zoning plans. Vienna, as a federal state, is responsible for the housing subsidies law and distribution. In comparison with other European cities, Vienna has a very high percentage of social housing, with 220 000 dwelling units. Around 60% of the Viennese population live in social or subsidized housing. Ten years ago around 80% of newly built dwelling units were subsidized, due to the rapid growth and economic development this has decreased to 50%, but this is still a very high percentage. This explains why the assessment of projects asking for subsidies can play a decisive role in the implementation of high quality, sustainable and affordable housing construction. The Viennese housing fund is owned by the City. Its tasks are to buy sites for subsidized housing projects, to organize developer competitions for new subsidized housing projects, to make a quality assessment for smaller projects with a regular board and to distribute subsidies for urban renewal. This initially comprised a three-pillar model consisting of planning, economy, and ecology, and it was supplemented in 2009. with social sustainability as the fourth pillar. Due to the competitive situation, the quality of subsidized housing is rather high also in regard to green buildings, but also social sustainability, which is influenced by the gender criteria.

Gender-sensitive planning criteria are part of the general quality criteria of the Vienna Housing Fund, as the gender planning experts have been part of the juries of developer competitions for more than ten years. Most of the gender criteria were integrated into the criteria list of the Vienna housing found which are also shown in the chapter gender mainstreaming in housing construction in the Manual Gender Mainstreaming in urban planning and urban development. The gender criteria were an addition to a more detailed definition to the planning quality pillar in the context of a gender-specific preliminary review.

EP: What are some examples of green architecture in your hometown?

Eva Kail: For the office building, there are two well-known flagship projects.

One is the Raiffeisen office building on the Danube canal, which is a new construction from 2012. It has 21 story and 900 workplaces. It has a climate glass façade and uses geothermal, photovoltaic and cogeneration for energy production. The water of the canal is used for the cooling of the building. All this means a 50% reduction of energy in comparison to a similar building with conventional house technology. So this office building was the first one reaching a passive house standard. *
*Passive building is a strict standard on a voluntary basis for the energy efficiency of the buildings which enables reduction of their environmental footprint. These buildings require a rather small amount of energy for cooling and heating.

The other one is the Getreidemarkt Campus of the Technical University. This high rise building was developed with the active involvement of scientists of the University itself as future users. Finished in 2014 as a refurbishment of a building from the 70’s, this 11 storeys high office tower with 800 workplaces is already a cost-effective energy building. Austria´s largest photovoltaic system (facades and roof: 2200m²), the utilization of server waste heat and other measurements helped to reduce the 93% of the former energy consumption of the building. Both projects have gained several green building awards.

As for green residential buildings, there are quite a lot of interesting projects. I`d like to mention Seestadt Aspern, Vienna´s largest urban development area, which used to be an airfield in the outskirts, and now 2900 flats are already inhabited. The agency responsible for the planning processes is asking for high ecological standards due to the TQB criteria.

The latest project is ‘Living Gardens’, with green facades, and it demonstrates that a CO² neutral building is also possible to reach in a multi-storey.

Taking into account social sustainability, the special place belongs to Wohnprojekt, a self-governing co-housing community near the train station in the north part of Vienna. This complex with 40 flats is a very low energy consumer and it is enhanced with varieties of facilities for users, such as two private sharing cars, big bike garage, many shared rooms of an extraordinary quality, roof garden, food cooperation,self-run coffee shop, neighbourhood garden, etc. This project has been awarded many times, and the users of the building take the planning and house administration decisions guided by the principles of sociocracy.

EP: Are there future plans for making already quite a green Vienna even greener?

Eva Kail: Since 2014. Vienna has a Smart City Framework Strategy, which was approved by the city´s Council. This is not only a concept about energy saving, CO² reduction, and sustainable economic innovations, but it defines life quality as a central field of action and a core issue of future developments. The Fair shared City concept was influenced by Vienna´s Gender Planning activities, which aimed to improve the quality of everyday life for many different groups including also the weaker ones. This social awareness is an outstanding characteristic in comparison to the Smart City Strategies of other Cities. The Executive Office for Construction and Technology, where I work, coordinates now a broad implementation process in order to use the potential of the public buildings owned by the City, such are schools, hospitals, etc.) and to support private initiatives.

EP: What is the area of land covered with trees in your city?

Eva Kail: The area of Vienna is 41.487 ha. The green land covers 18.887ha, 8.169 ha are forest, 1.756 ha are parks and graveyards. Vienna has 86.683 trees on the streets.

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine on SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE, July 2018.

Interview by: Jelena Kozbasic

Scaling Up Climate Action ‘Could Provide $26tn to Global Economy’

11.09.2018

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Scaling up climate action in line with the Paris Agreement would deliver a $26 trillion (£20tn) boost to the global economy by 2030.

That’s according to the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, which calls for nations to ramp up efforts on carbon pricing, move to mandatory disclosure of climate-related financial risks and accelerate investment in sustainable infrastructure.

It also says the international community must harness the power of the private sector to support innovation and ensure the transition to a low carbon economy is fair to all people.

It estimates these actions could help generate a combined $2.8 trillion (£2.1tn) in government revenues, create more than 65 million new low-carbon jobs and avoid more than 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution per year by 2030.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Finance Minister of Nigeria and Co-Chair of the Global Commission, said: “Policy makers should take their feet off the brakes, send a clear signal that the new growth story is here and that it comes with exciting economic and market opportunities – $26 trillion (£20tn) and a more sustainable planet are on offer, if we act decisively now.”

Source: Energy Live News

Solar to Become Europe’s Most Competitive Energy by 2030

11.09.2018

solar-power-862602_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Solar will become the continent’s most competitive source of energy by 2020.

That’s the verdict from Sun Investment Group, which suggests the elimination of the Minimum Import Price (MIP) allowing solar modules to become up to 30% cheaper.

It says the decision to lift trade tariffs on the import of solar panels from China means solar energy will become an even more attractive form of energy to investors, consumers and policy makers and as a result become more widely adopted.

The EU originally imposed tariffs of up to 64.9% on the price of Chinese solar panels in 2013, after accusing the nation of selling subsidised panels below cost and threatening European manufacturers.

Experts predict Europe could begin to reap the benefit of the lifted tariffs in as little as a few weeks.

Deividas Varabauskas, CEO of Sun Investment Group, said: “Lifting of the trade duties was a decision long due. The whole photovoltaic sector is going to benefit greatly from this change.

“With the cost of carbon dioxide emission rights on the rise and the reduction of the cost of solar modules, solar will most likely become the most competitive form of energy in the bigger part of the EU by 2020.”

Source: Energy Live News

British Fashion Council Commits to a Fur-Free London Fashion Week

10.09.2018

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London Fashion Week (LFW) will be the first event of its kind to go fur free. The British Fashion Council just announced that all of the designers at the event this month are excluding animal fur in their clothing lines. The move is a response to the criticism LFW has received over the past two years from activists.

More than 250 protesters appeared at LFW last year, a big increase from the 25 that showed up in 2016. With more people boycotting brands that use real fur, companies are starting to switch over to non-fur materials. Caroline Rush of the British Fashion Council said the move to go fur free corresponds to a growing trend in the country.

One major company that plans on eliminating fur from its inventory entirely is Burberry. The British fashion giant recently announced its decision to ditch fur and has initiated a plan to phase out the material over the next few years. Given its popularity in the U.K., the company hopes other fashion business will follow its lead and stop using animal fur.

While it’s great to see that fur will not be a part of LFW this year, the British Fashion Council is not planning on banning it entirely. The head of the organization Stephanie Phair recently explained that the council does “not define or control the creative process of the designers.” Phair added that the U.K. government has not banned fur, and the decision to go fur free is up to individual companies.

That said, the British Fashion Council does encourage companies to research more sustainable and cruelty-free materials for their clothing lines. In addition to Burberry, the number of fashion houses going fur free is growing. This includes Gucci, Versace, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Yoox Net-A-Porter, among others.

Source: Inhabitat

Danish Brewer Carlsberg to Swap Plastic 6-Pack Rings for Glue

10.09.2018

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The Danish beer company Carlsberg is doing its part in cutting down plastic waste. The brewing company just vowed to stop using plastic six-pack rings to hold its cans together, instead opting for glue. Once the new policy is in full swing, Carlsberg estimates it will save around 1,200 tons of plastic every year.

CEO Cees ‘t Hart explained how Carlsberg experimented with some 40,000 variations before settling on the perfect glue. Hart described the glue as something similar in consistency to chewing gum and says it is just as effective as traditional plastic rings.

Carlsberg plans on debuting its glue-based six packs in Norway and the U.K. before distributing them around the world. Hart would not say how much the company invested in researching the new glue. The CEO did, however, assure customers that the price of Carlsberg beer would not go up with the new packaging. Instead, the company plans on using previous cuts to help pay for the new glue.

Although Carlsberg invested heavily in the new glue, the company does not own the rights to the substance and hopes that other brewers will follow its lead. For reference, the glue does not stick to the hand once the cans are separated. Each six-pack will still feature a tiny plastic handle to make it easier to carry around.

The new glue is not the only way in which Carlsberg is becoming more eco-friendly. In addition to ditching the traditional plastic rings, the company is improving the technology surrounding its recyclable bottles. Carlsberg is planning on using an extra layer of protection on each bottle that will increase its lifespan.

The brewer has also created a new bottle cap that keeps the beer fresher and a different type of label ink that is more sustainable. It is yet to be determined if the moves will improve sales, but Carlsberg is definitely taking steps in the right direction for the environment.

Source: Inhabitat

Adidas Sold over a Million Pairs of Trainers Made from Ocean Plastics in 2017

09.09.2018

parley-clp-fw18-pre-rfto-restoration-ubparley-landing-creative-desktop-716x565_tcm66-249129 — Photo: Adidas

Two years ago, Adidas jumped into the sustainable apparel market to clean up toxins in their shoes and help prevent ocean pollution. They announced in March that they reached a milestone of one million sales last year and expect to see that number increase this year.

Adidas teamed up with Parley, an organization that collaborates with various companies to help protect our oceans. They supply material needed for the shoe company to create sustainable products. Products were now packaged in paper instead of plastic bags and microbeads were eliminated from the manufacturing process.

The collaboration was initially going to be on a limited run basis, but Adidas has since gone all in. Last May, they released a new line of Boost running shoes and apparel that would be created from plastics and fishnet fibers. 11 plastic bottles are repurposed to create the laces, heel linings, and sock liner covers of the shoes.

Company CEO Kasper Rorsted told CNBC last week that they sold one million shoes. Last April, the company was scheduled to switch over to 100 percent sustainable cotton by this year, they removed 70 million plastic shopping bags since switching over to paper, and Parley was going to help out with new Adidas uniforms in Major League Soccer.

Within the next six years, Adidas wants all of their products to be created from plastic that would otherwise have been put into the ocean. According to Racked, they expect five million pairs of recycled shoes to be sold this year, but that’s a very small fraction of the 450 million they sell on an annual basis.

Eric Liedtke, head of global brands at Adidas, told The Current Daily that the goal is a “moonshot” and that five million pairs is “a drop in the bucket.” However, he believes that it’s time for no new plastics to be made at all. While it was a good invention, “it was made to never go away, so all that has been made is still floating around the world today.”

Source: World Economic Forum

Blue Dye Could Be the Next Key to Harnessing Renewable Energy

09.09.2018

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Scientists at the University of Buffalo have discovered an adept way of storing renewable energy thanks to wastewater produced from the textile industry. Polluted water containing blue dye, chemically referred to as methylene blue, has been found to have electrical properties and may soon be repurposed to revolutionize the battery industry in the near future. The revelation could help the textile industry, which is not known for its sustainable practices, reach a milestone in dealing with its water pollution and consumption issues. Similarly, for countries such as Sri Lanka where the textile industry makes up the majority of income, the discovery is paramount in facing the world’s changing environmental standards.

Only 5 percent of methylene blue is absorbed by fabric in the dyeing process, meaning that thousands of liters of dye are released by factories daily to produce the azure hues people love to wear. The rest of the dye, now infused into water sources, is simply thrown away. Discovering the electrical properties of methylene blue — which is also used as medicine in some blood diseases, urinary tract infections and cyanide poisoning cases — is a game changer for both the textile industry and countries where textiles are increasingly damaging the environment.

“The textile industry is what most of my country’s income is based on, but it’s associated with a lot of waste water, which is causing problems,” collaborating chemist and Sri Lankan national Anjula Kosswattaarachchi explained. “The good thing is we can repurpose the wastewater and create a green energy storage technology.”

The research, published last month in the scientific journal ChemElectroChem reveals how methylene blue molecules change form when voltage is applied to the compound. Two protons and two electrons are taken on by the deep blue dye to form leuco-methylene blue, a colorless byproduct.

This composition is then used by chemists in alternating reduction and oxidation processes, making it a successful alternative to current battery compositions. Using a solar cell to generate power, large quantities of the dye can be transformed into leuco-methylene blue. Alternately, the reverse process is employed at night when the electricity is needed back from the dye. Best of all, by varying the size of the cell in which the dye is subject to the voltage, the desired power output may be obtained independent of the size of the chemical storage tanks. This is a quality that other batteries, such as lithium ion models, do not have.

The configuration is being referred to as the redox flow battery, which is already available with vanadium solutions, however the near-perfect reversibility exhibited by the methylene blue composition will certainly create some competition. Kosswattaarachchi and PhD supervisor Tim Cook are now working on repeating tests with actual samples of waste water, which contain other chemicals as well as the methylene blue, and creating scalable models in an effort to refashion both textiles and renewable energy into more sustainable models.

Source: Inhabitat

Asia’s Growing Appetite for Meat Is Causing Problems for the Environment

08.09.2018

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Asia’s growing appetite for meat and seafood over the next three decades will cause huge increases in greenhouse gas emissions and antibiotics used in foods, researchers said on Tuesday.

Rising population, incomes and urbanisation will drive a 78 percent increase in meat and seafood demand from 2017 to 2050, according to a report by Asia Research and Engagement Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based consultancy firm.

“We wanted to highlight that, because of the large population and how fast the population is growing, it is going to put a strain on the environment,” said co-author Serena Tan.

“By recognising this and where it comes from, we can tackle the solutions,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

With supply chains ramping up to meet demand, greenhouse gas emissions will jump from 2.9 billion tonnes of CO2 per year to 5.4 billion tonnes – the equivalent of the lifetime emissions of 95 million cars – the researchers said.

A land area the size of India will be needed for additional food production, according to the report, while water use will climb from 577 billion cubic meters per year to 1,054 billion cubic meters per year.

The use of antimicrobials – which kill or stop the growth of micro-organisms, and include antibiotics – will increase 44 percent to 39,000 tonnes per year, said the report, which was commissioned by the Hong Kong-based ADM Capital Foundation.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food is rife in Southeast Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said this year, warning of serious risks for people and animals as bacterial infections become more resistant to treatment.

Growing urban areas contribute to the rising demand for meat and seafood, because people there usually have better access to electricity and refrigeration, said David Dawe, a senior economist at the FAO in Bangkok.

“But income growth is the big driver,” he added.

Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Pakistan are among nations likely to contribute most to the rise in meat and seafood consumption, while countries with ageing populations, like China, will likely limit growth, Tan said.

Food producers can increase efficiency by implementing rainwater harvesting, using sustainable animal feed and capturing biogas from cattle, Tan said.

Regulators, consumers and investors can also pressure restaurant chains and producers to limit the use of antibiotics in meat supplies, she added.

At meal times, consumers can also choose plant-based foods made to look like meats as an alternative, Tan said.

“You have a lot of people in Asia who don’t get that great a diet so animal-sourced food intake will increase,” said the FAO’s Dawe.

“In many ways it’s a good thing for nutrition, but it does raise environmental issues.”

Source: World Economic Forum

Botswana Poaching Spree Sees 90 Elephants Killed in Two Months

08.09.2018

elephant-111695_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Ninety elephant carcasses have been found in Botswana with their tusks hacked off, in what is believed to be one of Africa’s worst mass poaching sprees.

Most of the animals killed were large bulls carrying heavy tusks, Elephants Without Borders said on Tuesday.

The discovery was made over several weeks during an aerial survey by scientists from Elephants Without Borders and Botswana’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

Mike Chase, the charity’s director, said: “We started flying the survey on 10 July, and we have counted 90 elephant carcasses since the survey commenced. Each day, we are counting dead elephants.”

The wild pachyderms were shot with heavy-calibre rifles at watering spots near a wildlife sanctuary in the Okavango Delta.

According to Chase, the carcasses’ skulls were “chopped open by presumably very sharp axes, to remove their tusks”. In some cases, the trunks were also removed.

“The scale of elephant poaching is by far the largest I have seen or read about in Africa to date,” Chase said, adding that the poaching coincided with Botswana’s rangers being reportedly disarmed earlier this year.

Botswana previously had a zero-tolerance approach to poaching, with a “shoot-to-kill” policy against poachers.

The landlocked country with its unfenced parks and wide open spaces has the largest elephant population in Africa at more than 135,000.

Chase said elephants in Zambia and Angola “have been poached to the verge of local extinction, and poachers have now turned to Botswana”.

Botswana’s tourism minister, Tshekedi Khama, confirmed dozens of elephants had been poached.

“I am very concerned, it’s a huge worry,” he said. “I’m aware that the numbers are in double digits, and for Botswana they are high.

“Because we had been spared poaching for a long time, I think now we are realising the sophistication of these poachers. Unfortunately, sometimes we learn these lessons the hard way.”

Maj Gen Placid Segokgo, the country’s defence chief, said he was unable to immediately comment on rangers being apparently disarmed earlier this year under a new government policy.

The number of African elephants has fallen by about 111,000 to 415,000 in the past decade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The killing is taking place at a rate of about 30,000 elephants a year, to meet demand for ivory in Asia, where tusks sell for about $1,000 (£780) a kilo.

The Botswana poaching occurred months after Ian Khama, who is passionate about protecting wildlife, stepped down as president, handing power to his chosen successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare’s vice-president for conservation, Jason Bell, said of the slaughter: “Until now, Botswana’s elephant herds have largely been left in peace, but clearly Botswana is now in the crosshairs.”

Poachers have also targeted rhinos in Botswana, with six white rhino carcasses found in recent months.

Source: Guardian

World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Opens in Irish Sea

07.09.2018

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The world’s largest offshore wind farm opened in the Irish Sea on Thursday, covering an area of 145 square kilometers (55 square miles).

The 659-megawatt Walney Extension, located approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) off the coast of Cumbria, England, consists of 87 turbines and is capable of generating enough renewable energy to power almost 600,000 UK homes.

To compare, the 175-turbine London Array—now the second largest offshore wind farm in the world—has a 630-megawatt capacity, or enough to power about half a million homes.

The Walney Extension is run by Danish energy giant Ørsted (formerly Dong Energy) and the Danish pension funds PKA and PFA.

The project was constructed on time and within budget, Ørsted UK managing director Matthew Wright said in a press release.

The wind farm features 40 MHI Vestas 8-megawatt turbines and 47 Siemens Gamesa 7-megawatt turbines, the first project to use wind turbines from two different manufacturers. That’s less than half the number of turbines used at the London Array, but Walney’s turbines are more powerful.

“It’s another benchmark in terms of the scale. This—bigger turbines, with fewer positions and a bit further out—is really the shape of projects going forward,” Wright told The Guardian.

MHI Vestas turbines stand 195 meters (213 yards) tall, and are the most powerful being used globally.

The UK government approved the Walney Extension contract in 2014 that promised a minimum price of £150 ($195) per megawatt hour for 15 years. Since the contract was awarded, costs of offshore wind plummeted more than 50 percent, with the latest auction dropping as low as £57.50 per megawatt hour, Reuters noted.

Offshore wind technology is advancing at a rapid pace, meaning the Walney Extension could soon lose its title. For instance, Ørsted’s Hornsea Project One off the UK’s Yorkshire coast is expected to be fully operational by 2020 and will have a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, or enough power for more than one million UK homes.

The Netherlands is also planning a massive offshore wind farm proposed by Dutch electric grid operator TenneT. If that gets the green-light, the 10,000-turbine complex could produce up to 30 gigawatts of power by 2027. That’s enough electricity to power a city of 20 million people.

Watch here to learn more about the Walney Extension:

Source: Eco Watch

Burberry Vows to Stop Burning Unsold Clothes and Using Real Fur

07.09.2018

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Burberry has confirmed it will no longer destroy fashion items it cannot sell. The British company has officially vowed to stop its long-standing practice of burning clothes and bags that remain unsold at the end of the year. The company is also moving to end the use of real fur in its products. Burberry’s policy changes follow criticism by environmental agencies and activists for how it disposed of unsold products.

In 2017, Burberry burned more than $36 million USD worth of items to keep the products out of the hands of its competitors, fearing that the materials would be sold at discount prices and damage the brand. Since 2012, Burberry has destroyed over $135 million USD worth of products. In the past, the company defended these actions by claiming it reused the energy produced from the massive burns.

Fortunately, Burberry has changed its attitude on the issue and will no longer burn old products. Instead, the fashion giant will recycle the goods by reusing the materials or donating them to local charities.

With the new policy in place, Burberry is the first fashion company to stop burning unsaleable products. The company also hopes that other businesses will follow its example and recycle old products instead of outright destroying them.

In addition to not burning old clothes, Burberry has confirmed it will stop using real fur in products. The company is planning on releasing a new collection this month that does not feature any real fur. All existing lines containing real fur will be gradually eliminated in coming years. In order to promote its drastic change in policies, Burberry is also redesigning its logo and wants customers to know that it is serious about protecting the environment.

Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti said of the new policy change, “Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible.”

This past May, Burberry became an official partner with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and is working with its program, Make Fashion Circular. The initiative was established to stop waste in the fashion world.

Source: Inhabitat

UP Project Leads to World’s First Lion Cubs Born Through Artificial Insemination

07.09.2018

cub.zp161160 — Foto: Univerzitet u Pretoriji

A lioness at the Ukutula Conservation Center (UCC) and Biobank, in South Africa North’s West province has given birth to two cubs conceived via non-surgical artificial insemination (AI), using fresh semen collected from an adult male lion at the same facility. These are the first ever lion cubs to be born by means of artificial insemination – the first such pair anywhere in the world.

This achievement is part of a research study by a team of scientists from the University of Pretoria (UP) on the reproductive physiology of the female African lion, and the development of artificial insemination protocols for this species, which could be used as a baseline for other endangered large wild felids.

Although African lions normally breed quite well in captivity, the wild population is highly fragmented and suffers progressively from isolation and inbreeding. Indiscriminate killing and prosecution, habitat loss and prey depletion, epidemic diseases, poaching, and trophy hunting threaten the extinction of these existing wild populations. The African lion population is estimated to have decreased from 1,2 million individuals in 1800 to about 25 000 in 2016, and 18 000 in 2018. This is a decrease of more than 98% over 220 years, with a decline in numbers of more than 60% just over the past 25 years.

The African lion is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, with the West African lion subpopulation considered critically endangered, while the Asiatic lion is also considered endangered in the wild.

According to Dr Isabel Callealta, a qualified veterinarian from Spain and PhD candidate at UP, the team now has novel data for the African lion’s reproduction physiology. “This, together with the success of the AI births of the lion cubs, not only celebrate a world-first achievement, but has laid the foundation for effective non-surgical AI protocols for this species, using both fresh and frozen-thawed sperm.”

According to the researchers, the application of these new techniques could provide a faster and broader diversification and distribution of the genetics, and a reduction of disease transmission, as well as, of course, independence from animal translocation for breeding purposes.

Source: UP

Indonesia Mobilizes 20,000 Citizens to Clean Up Plastic Pollution

06.09.2018

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Indonesia wastes upward of 10 billion plastic bags every year, making it the second highest polluter of plastic in the entire world. To address the growing plastic pollution problem, thousands of volunteers gathered around the country last month and participated in one of the largest plastic cleanups to date. The goal of the event was to educate citizens about the dangers of pollution and promote better recycling practices among young people.

More than 20,000 people from 76 different areas of the country participated in the event, which organizers dubbed “Face the Sea.” The volunteers scoured beaches in Indonesia for plastic trash in order to raise awareness about ocean pollution.

The country only trails China in the amount of plastic it wastes every year. In total, Indonesia produces some 3.2 million tons of plastic trash annually, a quarter of which gets dumped in the ocean. Once the plastic gets into the ocean, currents gather it up and create huge areas of floating garbage. The biggest patch, located in the Pacific Ocean, is twice as large as the state of Texas. Marine life, including fish, whales and birds, often mistake the plastic for food and eat it. The plastic stays in the digestion system of the animal for life and frequently leads to death. If the world continues to waste plastic at this rate, the amount of waste in the ocean will outweigh sea animals by the year 2050.

Fortunately, countries like Indonesia are starting to turn things around by understanding the importance of preserving the ocean. Apart from the recent event, the Southeast Asian country has also promised to decrease its plastic waste by 70 percent over the next seven years.

The government initiated an extra tax on plastic bags two years ago, which cut the country’s plastic bag use in half over the course of just three months. The program is no longer in existence, however, because local businesses claimed it decreased overall sales. Many activists say the low number of successful policies to fight plastic pollution is because of a lack of awareness, which is what the ocean cleanup organizers are hoping to address.

Source: Inhabitat

Deforestation in South America Causes Extinction of 8 Bird Species

06.09.2018

parrot-1182931_960_720 — Photo-illustration: PIxabay

The Spix’s Macaw, a bird many would recognize as the star of the animated film Rio, is officially extinct. The macaw has been listed among eight bird species that have gone extinct in South America in the last decade in a new study conducted by BirdLife International. While the majority of bird extinctions are associated with island species sensitive to invasive organisms and hunting, these new extinctions are linked to a growing problem in South America: deforestation.

Stuart Butchart, a scientist who lead the BirdLife International study, said that the extinctions in South America are proof that a crisis is currently unfolding in places that have historically been free of such events — and it’s all because of the destruction of natural habitats.

In the past, about 90 percent of bird-related extinctions have been isolated to species on remote islands. But as Butchart points out, the new study indicates a rise in extinction events on large continents that are “driven by habitat loss from unsustainable agriculture, drainage and logging.”

As it currently stands, there are more than 26,000 species on the verge of extinction. With that number continuing to rise, scientists warn that humans could usher in another global extinction event.

Half of the birds that recently went extinct were native to Brazil. The Spix’s Macaw was last sighted in the wild in 2000, though the bird is being raised in captivity. Scientists hope to reintroduce the bird at some point in the future.

But that is not the case for many of the birds who have disappeared. The Alagoas Foliage-gleaner, the Cryptic Treehunter and the Poo-uli, for example, will never be seen again.

Apart from the eight bird species that have already gone extinct, there are 51 others that are “critically endangered.” Butchart and his team hope that their findings will promote future conservation efforts to save these bird species from becoming extinct.

Source: Inhabitat

Green White City

05.09.2018

2018 04 13 Montaze iz okoline - Carice Milice — Foto: Stattwerk

Did you know that the highest tree in the Serbian capital is growing on Zeleni venac? It is not Sequoia sempervirens, Eucalyptus regnans or Picea sitchensis but Stattwerk Biotop – an artificial light installation of a German design company.

Inspired by the metamorphosis of nature “Stattwerk” has symbolically planted “seed” for its eco-centre project in the bare building of the former Beobanka building, by using recycled planks and wooden battens. In the city center on twelve floors “grew” almost 50 meters high Biotop. Canvases are placed at different angles and arranged to “capture” light and wind that revive this green facility. “The Tree” is visible at night from all the surrounding parts of the city, but it is not the only one that brings life to the gray concrete structure.

The architectural bureau of “Stattwerk” team is located at 18 Zeleni venac Street – or it is better to say that it is “ticking”? The office space was built in a form of asymmetrical heart in contrast to the sterility of modern Belgrade architecture from the second half of 20^th century. Right there, on 10^thMay 2018, Stattwerk presented the conceptual design for their first energy efficient building with green façades.

The skyscraper will, in relation to its two predecessors in the same place – “the tree” and “the heart” raise the scale of spatial revitalization and environmental protection.

The future construction achievement is inspired by the desire to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and a create more comfortable and healthier environment in the area of one of the most polluted and busiest intersections of Belgrade through the architecture and at the same time to enrich the city’s silhouette.

The first green multi-storey building in Serbia will have the total area of more than 30,000 m², and 2,737 m² of façades will be covered with a green robe. Pot plants will be placed on the outer parts of the building, and the roofs with the total area of 2,631 m² will also be enriched with numerous plants, just like the interior of the building.

One square meter of green façade can purify the pollution that is produced at 1.4 square meters of busy city road such as the intersection at Zeleni venac. With almost 3,000 square meters of greenery, “Swattwerk”skyscraper will have the capacity to purify nearly 4,000 square meters of streets. This is further optimized by choosing the position of certain plant species.

What kind of vegetation can we expect on Zeleni venac? While choosing plant species, it is necessary to take into account their tolerance to the specific ecological conditions that prevail in different parts of the façade (including temperature, insolation, air flow, etc.) significant seasonal variation of ecological factors, but also high levels of air pollution. It is also necessary to take into account the size of the plants, their growth rate, characteristics of the root system, their need for nutrients and many other features. A broader list of plant species that could be implemented in the project is made taking into account all the above-mentioned characteristics, as well as appropriate aesthetic criteria related to the appearance of the façade itself. Several types of bushy grass, succulents, ferns and creeper plants that grow on the territory of Serbia and the Balkan Peninsula are among these species that will contribute to the promotion of biodiversity in this area, emphasize the experts of this company.

The mission of Belgrade “Stattwerk” project is to promote the “green” way of thinking, not only in the field of architecture and construction but also in the other areas of business and lifestyle. Its place under the sun below the vibrant roof and within greened walls will find eco-hub, a centre for education and practical training of pupils, students and young scientists, eco-stores, fair, start-ups and individuals who develop “green” ideas. “Stattwerk” building will also include office area dedicated exclusively to ecologically-oriented companies and organizations, as well as the aparthotel. There will be a garage with 514 parking places, as well as parking for bikes and chargers for electric vehicles in the basement. The roof of the highest part is envisaged for a panoramic spot and an eco-restaurant.

“Stattwerk” multi-storey will use the energy of wind, sun and geothermal energy. In addition, new alternative sources such as piezoelectric floors and heat exchange within the sewage system will be used. All technologies will be incorporated and made easier for the users. The entire facility will be a kind of a showroom that will provide an insight and information on how these systems work to all interested parties.

In addition to the systems for the exploitation of renewable energy sources, ecological materials will be used within the reconstruction and environmental protection will continue after the completion of the works. Advancement of energy consumption and consumed water will be done through a smart monitoring system, plastic will be avoided and waste will be sorted and sent to recycling facilities. Primarily rainwater will be used for watering the plants and also as technical water. At the time when we are facing the challenge of preserving the planet for our successors, the concept of sustainable development should represent the path of our aspirations, and architecture is one of the indispensable means of our struggle for nature.

The forest at Zeleni venac in numbers:

Estimated investment value 30 million euros
Planning and time optimization of the project, after obtaining the permits 3 months
The construction process from 12 to 15 months
Property area more than 30,000 m²
Green façade area 2737 m², the capacity for purification is almost 4000 m² of streets

“Stattwerk” is a design company founded in 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany. Since 2016 it has been present in our capital. Why did the Germans choose Belgrade? “Stattwerk” wants to give its contribution in raising awareness in Serbia about the importance of environmental protection. Representatives of the company pointed out that they saw Serbia as an excellent market for the development of various eco-business which would find a base in this facility. There is a lot of potential for business cooperation between for province of Baden Wurttemberg from which comes the parent company, and Serbia, as evidenced by the recent April visit of the president of province Winfried Kretschmann and his delegation to the Belgrade office. A lot has been done for the development and empowerment of these connections, which will contribute to the further development of “green” construction and eco-industry in Serbia.

Although the skeleton usually marks the end of life, the skeleton of Beobank building has resurrected thanks to the company “Stattwerk”.

This article was published in the eleventh issue of the Energy Portal Magazine SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE, in July 2018.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

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The forest at Zeleni venac in numbers:

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