Scientists Hit Back: Another Paper Claims 100% Renewables is Possible and Affordable

22.05.2018

Is it possible for the world to run on 100 percent renewable energy? It’s a noble goal, as the best science tells us we must significantly slash fossil fuel consumption or else the planet faces dangerous climate change.

A number of academics believe it’s not only feasible to wean off coal, natural gas and other polluting fuels by transitioning to renewable sources such as solar and wind power, it’s even cost-effective.

Other researchers disagree, and this divide has spilled out into a spiraling debate, with each side pumping out more research to prove their positions. Last September, Australian scientist Benjamin Heard, an advocate for nuclear power, and his team published a critical review in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Review that stated, “there is no empirical or historical evidence” that a 100 percent renewable electricity system is feasible.

Now, in a direct rebuttal published Thursday in the same journal, scientists concluded there are no roadblocks on the path to a clean energy future.

The authors of the new paper hail from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Delft University of Technology and Aalborg University.

In the earlier paper, Heard and his colleagues raised a number of questions, including whether renewables-based systems can survive extreme weather events or when the wind isn’t blowing or when the sun isn’t shining. They also questioned if the power grid could stay stable with such variable generation.

The scientists in the current paper responded to each critique after reviewing of dozens of existing studies and highlighting examples of successful grid operators around the world, from Denmark to Tasmania.

In the first scenario, during periods of extreme weather or when wind and solar energy fail or fall short, Brown and his team suggest imports, hydroelectricity, batteries and other storage methods. Or, in the ” worst-case solution,” they said hydrogen or synthetic gas produced with renewable electricity could fill that gap. As for maintaining grid stability, they offered technical solutions, such as rotating grid stabilizers and newer electronics-based solutions.

“While several of the issues raised by the Heard paper are important, you have to realize that there are technical solutions to all the points they raised, using today’s technology,” said lead author Tom Brown of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in a statement.

“Furthermore,” added Christian Breyer of Lappeenranta University of Technology, who co-authored the response, “these solutions are absolutely affordable, especially given the sinking costs of wind and solar power.”

“There are some persistent myths that 100 percent renewable systems are not possible,” noted Brian Vad Mathiesen of Aalborg University, another co-author of the response. “Our contribution deals with these myths one-by-one, using all the latest research. Now let’s get back to the business of modelling low-cost scenarios to eliminate fossil fuels from our energy system, so we can tackle the climate and health challenges they pose.”

After the paper was released, Heard, the lead author of the September paper, tweeted “congratulations” to Brown and his team for the publication and called it “a tough journal.”

But it’s clear the debate is not over yet. Brown added, “There *is* something about the way all this ‘possible and affordable’ stuff, under a little scrutiny, demands massive additional research, subsidies, far-reaching policies interrelated across economic sectors, market reforms etc. AKA ‘political will'”

Source: Eco Watch

Climate Change on Track to Cause Major Insect Wipeout, Scientists Warn

21.05.2018

Global warming is on track to cause a major wipeout of insects, compounding already severe losses, according to a new analysis.

Insects are vital to most ecosystems and a widespread collapse would cause extremely far-reaching disruption to life on Earth, the scientists warn. Their research shows that, even with all the carbon cuts already pledged by nations so far, climate change would make almost half of insect habitat unsuitable by the end of the century, with pollinators like bees particularly affected.

However, if climate change could be limited to a temperature rise of 1.5C – the very ambitious goal included in the global Paris agreement – the losses of insects are far lower.

The new research is the most comprehensive to date, analysing the impact of different levels of climate change on the ranges of 115,000 species. It found plants are also heavily affected but that mammals and birds, which can more easily migrate as climate changes, suffered less.

“We showed insects are the most sensitive group,” said Prof Rachel Warren, at the University of East Anglia, who led the new work. “They are important because ecosystems cannot function without insects. They play an absolutely critical role in the food chain.”

“The disruption to our ecosystems if we were to lose that high proportion of our insects would be extremely far-reaching and widespread,” she said. “People should be concerned – humans depend on ecosystems functioning.” Pollination, fertile soils, clean water and more all depend on healthy ecosystems, Warren said.

In October, scientists warned of “ecological Armageddon” after discovering that the number of flying insects had plunged by three-quarters in the past 25 years in Germany and very likely elsewhere.

“We know that many insects are in rapid decline due to factors such as habitat loss and intensive farming methods,” said Prof Dave Goulson, at the University of Sussex, UK, and not part of the new analysis. “This new study shows that, in the future, these declines would be hugely accelerated by the impacts of climate change, under realistic climate projections. When we add in all the other adverse factors affecting wildlife, all likely to increase as the human population grows, the future for biodiversity on planet Earth looks bleak.”

In the new analysis, published in the journal Science, the researchers gathered data on the geographic ranges and current climate conditions of 31,000 insect species, 8,000 birds, 1,700 mammals, 1,800 reptiles, 1,000 amphibians and 71,000 plants.

They then calculated how the ranges change when global warming means some regions can no longer support particular species. For the first time in this type of study, they included the 1.5C Paris target, as well as 2C, the longstanding international target, and 3.2C, which is the rise the world will experience by 2100 unless action is taken beyond that already pledged.

The researchers measured the results in two ways. First, they counted the number of species that lose more than half their range and this was 49% of insect species at 3.2C, falling to 18% at 2C and 6% at 1.5C. Second, they combined the losses for each species group into a type of average measure.

“If you are a typical insect, you would be likely to lose 43% of your range at 3.2C,” Warren said. “We also found that the three major groups of insects responsible for pollination are particularly sensitive to warming.”

Guy Midgley, at University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and not part of the research team, said the new work built on previous studies but is far more comprehensive. He said major impacts on wildlife would be expected given the potential scale of climate change: “Global average surface temperatures in the past two million years have rarely approached the levels projected over the next few decades.”

Warren said the new work had taken account of the ability of species to migrate, but had not been able to include the impact of lost interactions between species as ranges contract, or of the impacts of more extreme weather events on wildlife. As both of those would increase the losses of range, Warren said the estimates of losses made were likely to be underestimates.

Warren said that the world’s nations were aware that more action on climate change is needed: “The question is to what extent greater reductions can be made and on what timescale. That is a decision society has to make.”

Another study published in Science on Thursday found that one third of the world’s protected areas, which cover 15% of all land, are now highly degraded by intense human pressure including road building, grazing, and urbanisation.

Kendall Jones, at the University of Queensland, Australia, who led the work, said: “A well-run protected area network is essential in saving species. If we allow our protected area network to be degraded there is a no doubt biodiversity losses will be exacerbated.”

Source: Guardian

Researchers Don’t Know What’s Killing Florida’s Coral Reef

21.05.2018

koralni-greben — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In the fall of 2014, something mysterious started happening to the brain corals near Miami, Florida. Dead, white patches were appearing on the coral’s colorful flesh. The spots grew until they consumed the entire thing, leaving just a skeleton behind.

Almost four years later, researchers still don’t know what is destroying Miami’s corals. And the problem has only gotten worse.

The mystery illness now thrives across more than 170 miles of Florida’s coast, and according to the Miami Herald, qualifies as the largest and longest reef infection on record. All kinds of research teams, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to Florida universities, have joined the effort to defeat this coral killer. And since our warming oceans are already putting Florida’s corals under a lot of stress, the world’s third largest reef might not be in good enough shape to withstand a disease like this one.

Biologists are pretty sure the so-called “white syndrome” is a bacterial infection. But narrowing down which species of bacteria is responsible would mean they would have to infect a healthy coral with the bacterial suspects in the lab. But like your own body, corals host a huge range of bacteria even when healthy, so isolating the one responsible has turned out to be difficult. It’s also managed to pass between reefs that are physically separated, like those on either side of the Seven Mile Bridge, that researchers didn’t think a disease could cross. In short, its progression is unpredictable.

Since the disease is moving so quickly, researchers don’t have time to identify the culprit before trying to stop it. And, seriously, they’re trying everything: cutting out the diseased corals, applying chlorine- or antibiotic-laced patches to corals as a kind of disinfectant.

None of these have done the trick. Right now, hopes are riding on combat tactic that is slower-growing, literally. Mote Marine Lab, a private, independent marine research facility in Florida, grows brain corals that can replace parts of a reef that have suffered the most damage. So far, their brain corals are resistant to the disease, though they don’t do much to help the remaining corals around it survive. The facility plans to plant 35,000 of their homegrown corals in the Florida Keys this year, according to NPR.

Fingers crossed their implants help stop the syndrome. The Miami Herald notes that, in the 1980s, a similarly brutal disease hit Florida’s reef and pushed two species of coral, staghorns and elkhorns, onto the endangered species list. But there’s a chance this disease won’t get that far. Even 30 years ago, we couldn’t grow healthy corals in the lab.

So it’s safe to say we understand more about coral biology than ever before. Perhaps that’s enough to help us stop their demise.

Source: Futurism

Chilean Villagers Claim British Appetite for Avocados Is Draining Region Dry

20.05.2018

British supermarkets are selling thousands of tonnes of avocados produced in a Chilean region where villagers claim vast amounts of water are being diverted, resulting in a drought.

Major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl source avocados from Chile’s largest avocado-producing province, Petorca, where water rights have been violated.

In Petorca, many avocado plantations install illegal pipes and wells in order to divert water from rivers to irrigate their crops. As a result, villagers say rivers have dried up and groundwater levels have fallen, causing a regional drought. Residents are now obliged to use often contaminated water delivered by truck.

Veronica Vilches, an activist who is responsible for one of the Rural Potable Water systems, says: “People get sick because of the drought – we find ourselves having to choose between cooking and washing, going to the bathroom in holes in the ground or in plastic bags, while big agri-businesses earn more and more.”

In 2011, Chile’s water authority, the Dirección General de Aguas, published an investigation conducted by satellite that showed at least 65 illegal underground channels bringing water from the rivers to the private plantations. Some of the big agribusinesses have been convicted for unauthorised water use and water misappropriation.

The British Retail Consortium, which represents the major supermarkets, said the stores had been made aware of the allegations. A spokesperson said: “Our members have been made aware of the allegations made regarding production practices of avocados in the Petorca region of Chile. Retailers will work with their suppliers to investigate this.

“Safeguarding the welfare of people and communities in supply chains is fundamental to our sourcing practices as a responsible industry.”

Lidl said most of its avocados came from a supplier whose practices they trusted. But the store said it would investigate to see if any of its fruits came from Petorca.

A spokesman said: “While not all of our avocados are sourced from the Chilean province of Petorca, those that do come from this region are sourced from Rainforest Alliance-certified producers. Nevertheless, we were concerned to learn of these allegations and will therefore be investigating the matter with both our supplier and the Rainforest Alliance.”

Two thousand litres of water are needed to produce just one kilo of avocados – four times the amount needed to produce a kilo of oranges, and 10 times what is needed to produce a kilo of tomatoes, according to the Water Footprint Network.

In Petorca, the required amount is even larger. “This is a very dry region, where it almost never rains, so every cultivated hectare requires 100,000 litres of water per day, an amount equivalent to what a thousand people would use in a day,” says Rodrigo Mundaca, an agronomist and activist with the environmental organisation Modatima.

More than 17,000 tonnes of avocados were imported to the UK from Chile in 2016 and the demand for avocados in the United Kingdom has gone up 27% in just the last year, figures show. Some 67% of those avocados come from the Valparaiso region where Petorca is located.

Both Vilches and Mundaca have received death threats in response to their water rights activism. “We have suffered various forms of intimidation and in some cases people have lost their jobs for having protested against illegal water extraction,” says Mundaca. Amnesty International has taken on the case and has launched an appeal to support them.

The impact of the drought on villagers is clear from a visit to Vilches’ home. Vilches doesn’t allow herself to use the little clean water she has, so she opens the cistern where the run-off from the sink and shower end up, fills up a bucket and empties it at the base of her lemon trees, making big bubbles that continually pop into a rainbow-coloured puddle.

“For years, avocado plantations have used up all the water that should be used for everything else,” she says. “And now the rivers have dried up, just like the aquifers.”

Three hours north of Santiago, the Petorca province is completely covered by avocado plantations, mostly growing the Hass variety. The immense expanses of trees climb from the valley to the surrounding slopes, making them shine with green on what would otherwise be rugged mountain terrain. The emerald colour contrasts with the dust from the now dry river bed that was once full of water.

“Here there are more avocados than people, but only people are lacking water, never the avocados,” Vilches says while continuing to water her trees. She is director of the Rural Potable Water system (APR, in its Spanish initials) of San José and is responsible for the distribution of water to approximately a thousand households.

Aside from damaging the environment and causing irreversible damage to local ecosystems, activists say enormous avocado plantations in Petorca are also destroying the social fabric and cultural identity of the area. It has become impossible for smaller farmers to cultivate their land or raise animals, so people are leaving in an attempt to remake their lives elsewhere.

“Our province is ageing, the young are moving to the cities and many of the men are going to look for work in the mines in the North,” says Rodrigo Mundaca, activist with the environmental organisation Modatima. He insists that he doesn’t want to leave his land, but now he is forced to admit that “life is becoming unbearable.”

Many residents have been obliged to use water transported by cistern trucks. Each individual has the right to 50 litres per day, “often not enough to take care of our needs,” says Mundaca. “The quality is terrible. The water is often yellow or has dirt in it, other times it smells strongly of chlorine. They say it’s potable, but people get sick when they drink it, so we are forced to boil it or buy bottled water.”

In 2014 the APR of San José commissioned a study of the water brought in by truck. The study demonstrated that the levels of coliform (bacteria found in faeces) were much higher than the legal limit. “Coliform is an indication of the pollution levels in the water,” Vilches explains, “in order to send good avocados to Europeans, we end up drinking water with shit in it.”

Aside from intimidation, some companies make sure that people keep their mouths shut by giving “aid” to the community. “There are many people who support the boss because he gives them work,” continues Mundaca, “and there are also poor areas where avocado business owners have built churches, community centres, football pitches… in order to earn people’s support. When people complain about the lack of water, they threaten to cut these benefits, and everything goes back to normal in short order.”

Despite having received threats, Vilches remains steadfast. “They pulled up in front of my house in a car with tinted windows and insulted me. Then they said if I didn’t stop they would kill me. They have also offered me money to remain quiet. But I will continue on my path. They can’t buy my dignity.”

Source: Guardian

A Third of World’s Nature Reserves Severely Degraded by Human Activity

20.05.2018

A third of global protected areas such as national parks have been severely degraded by human activities in what researchers say is a stunning reality check of efforts by nations to stall biodiversity loss.

A University of Queensland-led study, published on Friday in the prestigious academic journal Science, analysed human activity across 50,000 protected areas worldwide.

Researchers found more than 90% of conservation sites, such as national parks and nature reserves, showed some signs of degradation from human activities including logging, mining, tourism and urbanisation and a third – or 6m square kilometres of protected land – had been severely modified.

The worst damage was found in highly populated parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, but researchers said there was significant degradation in all nations, including wealthy and less-populated countries such as Australia.

James Watson, the paper’s senior author and a conservation scientist at the University of Queensland, said the results were alarming and showed countries were failing to protect biodiversity even in places specifically identified for that purpose.

“What we found was massive amounts of high-level human infrastructure, for example mining activity, industrial logging activity, industrial agriculture, townships, roads and energy,” he said.

“These are the places that nations have said they are setting aside for nature’s needs not human needs.

“So for us to find such a significant amount of human infrastructure in places governments have set aside for safe-guarding biodiversity is staggering.”

He said there were some glaring examples in Australia, such as Barrow Island off the Western Australian coast, a nature reserve that is home to 13 mammal species and the Gorgon gas plant.

“Some of these species are found nowhere else on the planet and yet we allow significant human infrastructure to occur inside these boundaries,” Watson said.

“Australia should be setting the standard that other nations should look to and yet we are one of the worst behaved of the lot.”

Martin Taylor, conservation scientist at WWF Australia, said the Turnbull government’s proposal to downgrade high-level protections in sensitive marine parks, including critical waters around the Great Barrier Reef, was another example of industry being given precedence over conservation.

He said there was also a low level of public awareness of the extent to which a range of industries had been able to encroach on protected areas.

“The public just aren’t aware that these kinds of things are going on and we hope this paper builds awareness of it,” he said.

“The community expects a national park to be reserved for wildlife.”

In Australia alone, more than 1,800 plants, animals and ecological communities are known to be at risk of extinction.

Conservationists and scientists have described the situation confronting Australia’s vulnerable wildlife as a “national disgrace” and the systems that are supposed to protect it as broken.

Source: Guardian

San Francisco Seeks 100% Electric Bus Fleet by 2035

19.05.2018

elektricni-bus — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SF Muni) Board of Directors passed a resolution to begin procuring zero emission battery buses to replace electric hybrid vehicles by 2025, with a goal of achieving a 100 percent electric bus fleet by 2035. The resolution allows SF Muni to catch up to other Californian transit agencies from Los Angeles to Stockton that have already started switching their bus fleets to zero-emissions electric buses.

The resolution comes after a coalition of community, environmental and labor groups delivered a joint letter to SF Muni decision-makers last month, urging them to go electric.

“Today, I am a proud San Franciscan. Despite our city’s history of being on the vanguard of environmental protection and clean technology, our transit system had fallen behind, relying on dirty diesel buses for too long. Along with our labor, community, and environmental partners, Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign strongly supports the transition of our SF Muni bus fleet to zero emission, battery-electric buses,” said Paul Cort, staff attorney at Earthjustice, who delivered the letter to SF Muni in April.

“It’s terrific that SFMTA is taking concrete steps to get battery-powered zero emissions buses on the ground in San Francisco,” said Nick Josefowitz, who represents San Francisco at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. “Upgrading to clean buses is good news for our air quality, reduces our carbon footprint and will deliver far more reliable Muni bus service.”

Seven other Californian transit agencies—representing almost one-third of all public buses in California—have already committed to making a full transition to zero-emission buses in the past year. Back in its 2004 “Clean Air Plan—Zero Emissions 2020,” SF Muni itself boldly announced its visionary goal “to be the first major transit agency in the world to operate a 100 percent zero-emission fleet by the year 2020.” The resolution passed by SF Muni finally sets that plan in motion, prompting the agency to begin procurement of electric buses.

“While this is a good start, SFMTA must move faster, ensure its planned 2023 procurement is 100% electric, and plan for the infrastructure to make that happen,” said Alex Lantsberg, Director of Research and Advocacy for the San Francisco Electrical Construction Industry. “As of September of 2017, 107 battery-electric and fuel cell buses were already driving people to work, school and home in over 20 transit fleets across California, with thousands of Californian workers manufacturing them. It is no longer an excuse to say this technology isn’t ready—because people are already building and benefiting from electric buses throughout our state.”

The commitment to a zero-emissions fleet comes after SF Muni committed last month to testing nine battery electric buses. Those first electric buses are expected to hit the streets in fall 2018. The pilot program will evaluate how electric buses perform on crowded and hilly routes, and allow staff to evaluate the facility upgrades needed to support an all-electric fleet. The Bay Area’s own electric bus manufacturer Proterra recently took one of their buses on a record 1,100-mile trip on a single charge and on a trip along Utah’s steepest mountain highways.

“SF Muni is going to be pleasantly surprised by how well these electric buses will perform in San Francisco’s steep and hilly neighborhoods,” said Jimmy O’Dea, senior vehicles analyst with Union of Concerned Scientists. “Electrifying buses is a big step forward in the local and global fight against the worst impacts of climate change. SF Muni’s commitment to battery electric buses means that by 2035 buses on San Francisco’s streets will have 40 percent lower life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than the diesel buses currently on the road.”

SF Muni’s current bus fleet consists of mostly diesel and diesel-electric hybrid buses. The health impacts of diesel particulate matter are well-known. In 1998, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant based on published evidence of a relationship between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer and other adverse health effects.

“There’s no reason we should be running dirty, polluting buses in our communities when we have better, cleaner options,” said Emily Rusch, executive director of CALPIRG. “Whether commuters are on the bus or boarding the bus, they’re exposed to toxic air in high concentrations, while simultaneously, diesel contributes to global warming. We have the technology to avoid this, so why wouldn’t we?”

The resolution also comes as CARB is developing strategies to transition all Californian transit agencies to zero-emissions vehicles to meet air quality, climate and public health protection goals. The long-term vision of CARB’s Innovation Clean Transit (ICT) effort is to achieve a zero-emission transit system across California by 2040—five years after SF Muni’s 100 percent electrification goal.

“CARB’s Innovative Clean Transit rule should be a huge signal to every transit agency in the state that our future is zero-emissions electric vehicles—not just because battery electric is the best option for our climate, but because it is best for our communities,” said Eddie Ahn, executive director of Brightline Defense. “Californian communities—especially those most impacted by poor air quality—are demanding absolutely zero-emissions transit powered by clean energy. Because anything more than zero emissions means more air pollution for our families.”

Source: Eco Watch

Zeleni and Obilicev venac

18.05.2018

Two important landmarks of the Serbian capital are becoming truly greener.

It is expected in the future that the first green building rises on the site of the former Beobank building at Zeleni venac. Compared to the rest of multi-story buildings in Belgrade, the planned multifunctional building will have living walls, where diverse vegetation planted in vertical gardens will improve the microclimate in this part of the city. It is also planned to install the rainwater harvesting system, solar panels and wind turbines for electricity production. Only five-minute walk from this future architectural achievement, on the top of Garage “Zeleni Venac”, the project based on the alternative energy production was developed which will improve the quality of life in this neighborhood.

On the top of the public parking garage at 13 Kraljica Natalija Street, 115 polycrystalline solar panels with an aluminum substructure were installed. These photovoltaic modules are expected to have a production of up to 32 thousand kWh annually. The garage will use the produced electricity for its own consumption, which will reduce the network load and the exploitation of fossil fuels, together with zero carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, the use of completely free and unlimited solar energy will result in cost savings. The solar power plant was built as part of the garage’s refurbishment that has now been modernized with implemented modern lighting technology, while the works were carried out by Termomont Ltd. from Belgrade, as the main contractor and designer of the solar power plant in Zeleni venac, and MT-KOMEX Ltd. from Belgrade, as a subcontractor. The project was financed funded from the City budget for the needs of the public utility Parking Service.

In the twenty-first century, when climate change is hovering threateningly in the air in the form of harmful gases, it is very important to turn to clean, renewable energy resources. It is commendable when steps in this direction are made by a public company. The associates in achieving their goal and socially responsible business practices they will always find in MT-KOMEX company. This Belgrade based company with decades of experience in the field of mechanical engineering and welding has enriched its contracting activity, over the past seven years, with practice in the domain of renewable energy sources. Following the world trends, MT-KOMEX employees went through a series of training and specializations in assembly, construction and installation works. In the last period, they participated in numerous projects for the construction of small hydropower plants, gas, and solar power plants. Engineers from MT-KOMEX have been trained and certified in solar power plant construction. So far, the name of this company has appeared in projects for 9 solar power plants with the installed capacity of almost 2.5 MW.

To keep up the pace with modern trends, the company’s management also got involved in activities supporting the introduction of electric vehicles on Serbian roads and application development of charger stations. MT-KOMEX engineers are trained to install chargers, both in smaller residential and business units, as well as in larger buildings with more demanding infrastructure. The results of the strategic partnership with Schneider Electric and ABB, two global leaders in the production of chargers for electric cars, are obvious. MT-KOMEX installed chargers for slow and medium-speed charging in the BMW car showroom, in the head office of ProCredit Bank and at the IKEA department store parking lot. Engineers also used their skilled fingers in setting up the charger in the public garage Obilicev venac in Belgrade, which was the first one in Serbia to offer its users charging of electric vehicles, which was also realized as part of the reconstruction of this garage carried out by the Termomont’s expert team.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

You can read the entire text in the tenth issue of the Energy Portal Magazine SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, in March 2018.

Tesla Unveils 18.2MW Big Battery in Belgium

18.05.2018

Tesla has unveiled its latest large-scale battery project, this time in Europe, where an 18.2MW collection of 140 Powerpacks and inverters has been connected to the grid in Terhills, Belgium

The project – which Tesla says took six months to complete from inception to operation, with the battery installation itself taking about five weeks – was unveiled on Tuesday afternoon (Australian time) by the California based company via its various social media channels.

According to ReNews, the €11 million storage array, located at the Terhills resort, is pooled with a mix of demand response assets from industrial and commercial consumers, and is one of the largest batteries in Europe contributing to the grid.

While a fraction of the size of the 100MW Hornsdale Power Reserve “big battery” in South Australia, the Belgian battery bank will be used for similar “grid balancing” purposes on the European grid – as the video below explains.

It will combine with various demand response services to provide around 32MW of grid capacity. The number of Powerwalls – 140 – suggests storage capacity of 28MWh, but this will depend on the final configuration.

Meanwhile, in Australia, work has begun on the Bulgana Renewable Energy Hub in Victoria which will see the state’s first combine wind farm and battery storage, including a 20MW/34MWh Tesla battery.

Tesla is also working on another large-scale battery storage project – the Gannawarra Energy Storage System, which will add a 25MW/50MWh Powerpack battery system to Victoria’s biggest solar farm, the 50MW Ganawarra project in the state’s north-west.

And earlier this month, Tesla CEO and chief visionary Elon Musk let slip about a soon-to-be announced new big battery project that would dwarf the SA installation.

Musk said the new project would be announced within a few months – he did not say where it will be installed – and that at 1GWh it would would be eight times bigger than Hornsdale.

“The utilities have really loved the battery pack. I feel confident that we will be able to announce a deal at the gigawatt hour scale within a matter of months,” Musk told a conference call following the release of the company’s March quarter results.

Source: Renew Economy

Water Shortages to Be Key Environmental Challenge of the Century, Nasa Warns

17.05.2018

Water shortages are likely to be the key environmental challenge of this century, scientists from Nasa have warned, as new data has revealed a drying-out of swaths of the globe between the tropics and the high latitudes, with 19 hotspots where water depletion has been dramatic.

Areas in northern and eastern India, the Middle East, California and Australia are among the hotspots where overuse of water resources has caused a serious decline in the availability of freshwater that is already causing problems. Without strong action by governments to preserve water the situation in these areas is likely to worsen.

Some of these hotspots were previously undocumented or poorly understood: a region in north-western China, in Xinjiang province, has suffered dramatic declines despite receiving normal amounts of rainfall, owing to groundwater depletion from industry and irrigation.

The Caspian Sea was also found to be showing strong declines owing to similar forces, which is resulting in a shrinking shoreline. Previously, this change had been attributed to natural variability, but the new report demonstrates it was caused in large part by the diversion and extraction of water from rivers that feed it, for agriculture and industry. This depletion mirrors the well-known fate of the disappearing Aral Sea in the same region: because the Caspian Sea is much bigger it would take millennia to disappear altogether, but its shrinking shoreline and pollution will cause major problems throughout its borderlands.

The comprehensive study, the first of its kind, took data from the Nasa Grace (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission to track trends in freshwater from 2002 to 2016 across the globe.

“What we are witnessing is major hydrologic change. We see for the first time a very distinctive pattern of the wet land areas of the world getting wetter, in the high latitudes and the tropics, and the dry areas in between getting drier,” said James Famiglietti, of the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and co-author of the paper published today in Nature. “Within the dry areas we see multiple hotspots resulting from groundwater depletion.”

Climate scientists, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have predicted such a global trend. The new paper’s authors said it was too soon to confirm whether their observations were definitely the result of global warming, but said their results showed a “clear human fingerprint” on the global water cycle.

The study is unprecedented, as the Grace data allowed the scientists to see in detail the changes in freshwater resources around the world, even where locally amassed data has been scarce or unavailable. By linking the satellite data with local monitoring, they added another crucial dimension.

Marc Stutter, of the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, who was not involved with the study, said: “Such new data add insight into how we manage both obvious surface waters and hidden subsurface water stores [as] the satellite techniques see vital hidden water reserves under our feet, much like an x-ray to see the health of our unseen water reserves.”

He said it provided an early warning that could allow better management of water resources across the world, which was needed.

In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite rainfall being normal throughout the period studied. “The fact that extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts,” the authors said, adding that the much-discussed melting of Himalayan glaciers was of only minor significance in the period studied.

In Iraq and Syria, widespread over-reliance on groundwater has resulted from the construction by Turkey of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, over the last three decades. This has made the area the biggest hotspot identified by the study, outside of sparsely or uninhabited regions such as Antarctica and Greenland, with water resources nearly a third below their normal state.

Jonathan Farr, senior policy analyst at the charity WaterAid, said governments must take note of the findings and increase their role in preserving water resources and providing freshwater to people in a sustainable manner. “This report is a warning and an insight into a future threat. We need to ensure that investment in water keeps pace with industrialisation and farming. Governments need to get to grips with this,” he said, pointing to estimates that between $30bn and $100bn of investment was needed per year to provide freshwater where needed.

Sustainable solutions were available, he said. “We have been solving the problem of getting access to water resources since civilisation began. We know how to do it. We just need to manage it, and that has to be done at a local level.”

Providing access to clean water provides knock-on benefits to health, education, equity and the economy, he added, so investment in water assets yields both economic and social dividends.

Source: Guardian

New Labelling Helps UK Shoppers Avoid Plastic Packaging

17.05.2018

A new plastic-free “trust mark” is being introduced today, allowing shoppers to see at a glance whether products use plastic in their packaging.

The label will be prominently displayed on food and drink products, making it easier for consumers to choose greener alternatives.

UK supermarket Iceland and Dutch supermarket chain Ekoplaza – which introduced plastic-free aisles earlier this year – will start using the new labelling, alongside Teapigs teabags, but campaigners hope others will follow suit.

“Our trust mark cuts through the confusion of symbols and labels and tells you just one thing – this packaging is plastic-free and therefore guilt-free,” said Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, the campaign group behind the scheme.

As well as items obviously wrapped in plastic, scores of everyday products – from tinned beans to tea bags – have some plastic in their packaging.

Sutherland said she hoped the new labelling system would revolutionise the way people shop and lead to a radical reduction in plastic waste.

“Finally shoppers can be part of the solution not the problem,” she added.

There has been growing concern about the devastating impact of plastic on the oceans and wider environment. Plastic pollution is now so widespread that it has been found in tap water, fish and sea salt – with unknown consequences for human health.

Iceland will begin to adopt the new labelling system on relevant own-label products this month, and roll it out across its range, which it has said will be free of single-use plastic packaging by 2023.

Ekoplaza said it would be rolling out the trust mark in 74 outlets across the Netherlands.

A Plastic Planet has been campaigning for supermarkets to introduce plastic-free aisles and there has been growing pressure on the major retailers to do more to tackle the problem.

Earlier this year the Guardian revealed that supermarkets are responsible for 1m tonnes of plastic waste a year.

Iceland managing director, Richard Walker, said: “With the grocery retail sector accounting for more than 40% of plastic packaging in the UK, it’s high time that Britain’s supermarkets came together to take a lead on this issue.

“I’m proud to lead a supermarket that is working with A Plastic Planet to realise a plastic-free future for food and drink retail.”

Source: Guardian

From Plankton to Mahi-Mahi and Beyond: Toxic Plastic Is Traveling Up the Food Chain

16.05.2018

spoons-629921_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Even a hundred yards out from the stern of the old steel sloop, the fish at the end of the line looked enormous. And it was strong: As it leapt up out of the water in an attempt to free the hook from its mouth, its long body—green and yellow and speckled with fluorescent blue—slashed violently, unspooling more and more line. The sailor at the end of the reel had to put up a significant fight to avoid losing his rod in the vast blue Pacific.

“That is a mahi-mahi, the most beautiful fish in the world!” called out the ship’s captain. At the beginning of the third week of what would turn out to be a 23-day scientific expedition across the Eastern North Pacific Gyre—a highly polluted ocean vortex that swirls clockwise from the California coast to the Hawaiian Islands and back again—a fresh fish was a welcome source of food for his crew of eight.

After several minutes of an intense duel, the sailor reeled in the fish, smiling.

That smile soon faded a bit. After the sailor was done separating the fish’s thick flesh from skin and bone, he cut open its stomach as requested by the ship’s lead scientist. Inside was a small flying fish. The scientist directed the sailor cut open that second fish’s stomach.

Out rolled two small pieces of plastic.

These plastic bits were what’s classified as “microplastic” due to their small size—less than .04 inches in diameter.

“That’s not too appetizing,” said the scientist, Kristian Syberg, a professor of environmental risk at Roskilde University in Denmark who was aboard the ship to sample the seawater for plastic.

Scientists who study plastic, like Syberg, are just beginning to understand the implications of microplastic and even smaller pieces of plastic called nanoplastic on the marine food web. Fishers, beachgoers and scientists are finding a growing number of marine animals—from live-caught fish to deceased seabirds and whales—with microplastic in their bodies. While the issue has only been studied in-depth for a handful of years, the latest research suggests these tiny pieces of plastic are capable of being transferred from organism to organism, wreaking havoc all the way up the marine food web—possibly all the way to humans.

At the Cornish Sea Sanctuary in the UK, Plymouth Marine Laboratory Ph.D. student Sarah Nelms compared the levels of microplastic found in the bodies of wild-caught Atlantic mackerel and the scat of the captive gray seals to which they were fed over the course of 16 weeks in 2016. She found microplastic in half the seal scat she studied, and in one-third of the mackerel fed to the seals. She posited that the mackerel—considered secondary consumers because they are one step above the bottom of the marine food web—ate microplastic particles along with their normal diets of zooplankton and this plastic was passed on to the seals.

“The seals are not exposed to any other sources of plastic,” Nelms told me recently.

Yet the plastic still ended up in their systems. In a paper published this February in the journal Environmental Pollution, Nelms and her coauthors noted that her team took “extensive contamination control measures” to prevent the seals from being exposed to other sources of plastic during the study. “We were therefore able to conclude that the microplastics we found in the seal scats came via the fish.”

The fishes’ bodies contained a higher number of plastic particles than the seal scat did, particularly microfibers, which crumble off fishing rope or are shed from clothing when washed. Nelms said this could mean the unaccounted-for plastic particles might be getting caught inside the seals’ bodies, causing unknown harm.

Microplastic is known to absorb chemicals from ocean water. When marine creatures consume microplastic, they’re also getting a dose of toxins. Syberg has studied this so-called “vector” effect where microplastic acts as a transporter of toxic chemicals. He said persistent organic pollutants, called “POPs” for short, are most worrisome because, once consumed, they tend to adhere to organisms’ fat cells where they are metabolized by the body and cause health problems.

Throughout history humans have released huge amounts of POPs into nature, where they persist and spread for decades without degrading. These chemicals, which include pesticides, industrial chemicals and unintentional pollutants such as DDT, PCBs and hexachlorobenzene, are considered highly toxic to humans and wildlife. They are proven to cause health problems such as allergies, reproductive and hormone problems, immune system disorders and cancer.

For this reason, and because there’s still so much scientists don’t known about how plastic acts inside the bodies of living things, Nelms said, “I would consider any amount of plastic inside an animal to be too much.”

Plastic’s movement up the marine food web appears to start with the ocean’s smallest animals, and even in these creatures can cause severe harm. Independent plankton scientist Richard Kirby recently filmed a common plankton species called an arrow worm found off Plymouth, in the UK, eating a tiny plastic microfiber. The fiber blocked the worm’s gut, stopping the movement of copepods—its food source—through its body. Eventually this would kill the worm—though Kirby pointed out that doesn’t always happen with microplastic.

“In some cases the microplastics will pass through the animal or can be retained and eaten by another animal when the plankton itself is eaten,” said Kirby.

Widespread deaths of plankton caused by microplastic would certainly disrupt the marine food web. But their consumption is already changing the health of the oceans: Microplastic has been found in middle-ocean and deep-sea fish, which, like mackerel, are prey to ocean top predators, like seals or mahi-mahi. With each bite, plastic is moving up the food web, all the way to fish sold for human consumption in markets across the world. Kirby said scientists must urgently perform more research to gain a better understanding of the quantity and geographical distribution of microplastics in order to get a clearer picture of its effects on the oceans.

After my expedition across the North Pacific, Syberg took the plastic pieces and a chunk of the mahi-mahi’s flesh back to his lab in Denmark. He hopes to compare the chemicals found in the plastic with the chemicals found in the fish flesh to see if the vector effect had begun to act on the fish. While results of his chemical analyses are pending, he told me when I visited him in his lab a few months after our sailing trip that “I don’t even have to test the mahi-mahi and plastic to tell you that both of these things contain toxic chemicals.”

At sea, yes, we ate that fish. Just one more link in the chain.

Source: Eco Watch

Philippines Plans Manhattan-Sized Green City

16.05.2018

The Philippines has an ambitious plan to deal with its capital’s pollution woes—build an entirely new, sustainable city 75 miles from Manila.

The proposed New Clark City will be larger than Manhattan and house up to two million people, Business Insider UK reported May 9.

The project’s current price tag is $14 billion, and it will be funded through private-public partnerships.

New Clark City will feature innovative green technology like electric, driverless cars and buildings designed to be energy efficient and conserve water. Two-thirds of the city’s area will be devoted to farms and green spaces in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The New Clark City website describes it as “A destination where nature, lifestyle and business, education, and industry converge into a global city based on principles of sustainability.”

The city is also designed to be resilient to disasters caused by climate change. At 184 feet above sea level, it should be largely safe from flooding. Further, the green space means that rivers have room to expand without flooding infrastructure, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported in March.

“The objective is not simply to build a disaster-resilient city, but rather a successful, innovative and economically competitive city that is also disaster-resilient,” RAND Corporation researcher Benjamin Preston told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The project is being developed by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), owned by the Philippines’ government, and the Singapore urban planning firm Surbana Jurong.

Surbana Jurong CEO Heang Fine Wong told CNBC that the city would act as a “twin city” to Manila.

Manila’s Pasig River is so polluted that it can only support janitor fish and water lilies, according to Sciencing. Air pollution in Manila is also 70 percent higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended safe levels, the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported.

According to the Thomson Reuters foundation, it is also one of the densest cities in the world, so experts think the construction of New Clark City will relieve pressure on the capital and allow it to focus on making itself more sustainable and resilient as well.

“(It) has the potential to take pressure off Manila so that Manila can also invest in building a more resilient future,” Lauren Sorkin, director for Asia-Pacific with 100 Resilient Cities, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

According to BCDA President Vince Dizon, the government is working to develop the new city as quickly as possible while making sure it retains its green design.

“We need to strike a balance between fast-paced development that maximises value for the private sector, and protecting open spaces and making the city walkable, green and resilient,” Dizon told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Currently, the BCDA is working to complete the New Clark City sports facility in time for the Philippines to host the Southeast Asian Games in 2019, breaking ground on the complex April 25, the New Clark City website reported.

Source: Eco Watch

Proposed Future EU Budget Embraces Increased Climate Action

15.05.2018

evropska-unija-zastave — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Today the European Commission has published its proposal for the post-2020 EU budget, kicking off the political battle over the rules and priorities that will govern EU spending in the period 2021-2027. The Commission has chosen climate action to be one of the top priorities for future EU funding.

The proposal indicates how big the future EU budget should be, how it should be filled, and what the main priorities for future funding should be.

Climate action has been identified as one of the main priorities for future funding. While the current budget for the period 2014 to 2020 has a 20% climate action spending target to be implemented horizontally throughout all spending programmes, the new proposal sets apart 25% of the EU budget for climate action. This 5% increase compared to the current climate spending results in a total of €320 billion for climate action during the entire period (2018 prices).

Markus Trilling, finance and subsidies policy coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, said: “The European Commission acknowledges the EU budget’s role in tackling climate change. More money is needed to boost European and international climate action. So far the green potential of the EU budget has regrettably been untapped. It is a good sign that the European Commission considers increasing the share of the future budget dedicated to climate action.”

“To bring European economies closer to the Paris Agreement, the post-2020 EU budget must spend at least 40% on the decarbonisation of energy, industry and mobility systems, and ensure not one cent will benefit fossil fuel-related activities and infrastructure. In the upcoming negotiations, Member States must support French President Emmanuel Macron’s plea for a 40% share of the next EU budget to be dedicated to climate action and the ecological transition.”

Source: CAN Europe

In Blow to Monsanto, India’s Top Court Upholds Decision That Seeds Cannot Be Patented

15.05.2018

In an another legal blow to Monsanto, India’s Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Delhi High Court’s ruling that the seed giant cannot claim patents for Bollgard and Bollgard II, its genetically modified cotton seeds, in the country.

Monsanto’s chief technology officer Robert Fraley, who just announced that he and other top executives are stepping down from the company after Bayer AG’s multi-billion dollar takeover closes, lamented the news.

Fraley tweeted, “Having personally helped to launch Bollgard cotton in India & knowing how it has benefited farmers … it’s sad to see the country go down an anti-science/anti-IP/anti-innovation path…”

Monsanto first introduced its GM-technology in India in 1995. Today, more than 90 percent of the country’s cotton crop is genetically modified. These crops have been inserted with a pest-resistant toxin called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt.

Citing India’s Patents Act of 1970, the Delhi High Court ruled last month that plant varieties and seeds cannot be patented, thereby rejecting Monsanto’s attempt to block its Indian licensee, Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd., from selling the seeds.

Because of the ruling, Monsanto’s claims against Nuziveedu for unpaid royalties have been waived, as its patents are now invalid under Indian law. Royalties will now be decided by the government.

Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who is known for her fierce activism against corporate patents on seeds, called the top court’s move a “major victory” that opens the door “to make Monsanto pay for trapping farmers in debt by extracting illegal royalties on BT cotton.”

She also said in a video Monday in front of the Supreme Court, “Our sovereignty is protected, our laws are protected. Our ability to write laws in the public interest [and] for the rights of farmers through the constitution are protected.”

“The Earth will win. Seed will win. Monsanto will lose,” Shiva added.

A Monsanto India spokesman told Reuters the case will be submitted for an expedited preliminary hearing on July 18.

“We remain confident on the merits of the case. India has been issuing patents on man-made biotech products for more than 15 years, as is done widely across the globe,” the spokesman said.

Source: Eco Watch

Electric Buses Put the Big Hurt on Fossil Fuel Companies

14.05.2018

o-bus-2151318_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Change is a funny thing. You can’t see it, hear it, feel it, or taste it, but one day you look around and suddenly, there it is. Isbrand Ho, managing director for BYD in Europe, tells Bloomberg he was laughed out of the room at a conference in Belgium 7 years ago when he introduced a prototype of the electric bus his company had developed. “Everyone was laughing at BYD for making a toy,” he recalls. “And look now. Everyone has one.”

Everyone is right. While China has seen the biggest surge — Shenzen, BYD’s home city, now has 16,359 electric buses — they are making inroads into public transportation fleets around the world. They are in London, Poland, Brazil, Portugal, and Korea. Oslo plans to add 70 electric buses by next year and Paris is making plans to add 1,000 of them over the next 5 years.

There are now almost 400,000 electric buses in the world — the vast majority of them in China — according to BNEF. Every five weeks, China adds 9,500 more, equal to London’s entire bus system. All those electric buses are beginning to have an impact on the demand for diesel fuel. By the end of this year, Bloomberg believes electric buses will be displacing 279,000 barrels of diesel fuel per day. That’s about as much as Greece consumes on a daily basis.

“This segment is approaching the tipping point,” says Colin Mckerracher, head of advanced transport at the London-based research unit of Bloomberg LP. “City governments all over the world are being taken to task over poor urban air quality. This pressure isn’t going away, and electric bus sales are positioned to benefit.”

BYD estimates its buses have logged 10 billion miles and saved 1.8 billion gallons of diesel fuel over the past 10 years. According to Ho, that means as much as 18 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution has been avoided, which is equivalent to removing 3.8 million cars from the world’s roads.

Keeping all that pollution out of the air pays major dividends. Shenzen once had some of the worst smog in all China, which is saying something in a country where smog has become a major contributor to poor health, accounting for 1.6 million extra deaths in 2015 according to Berkeley Earth.

“The first fleet of pure electric buses provided by BYD started operation in Shenzhen in 2011,” Ho says. “Now, almost 10 years later, in other cities the air quality has worsened while – compared with those cities — Shenzhen’s is much better.”

Source: Clean Technica

How the UK Fell out of Love with Wet Wipes

14.05.2018

tissues-1000849_960_720 — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

On the eighth-floor isolation ward of London’s University College Hospital, nurses have two lines of defence against the spread of life-threatening diseases. First are the airtight double lobbies in every room. Second – and, arguably, more importantly – are the disinfectant wipes they rely on to prevent the spread of germs and viruses.

For nurse consultant Annette Jeanes, the disposable flannels are a godsend that allow her and her staff, not only to protect themselves from superbugs such as C difficile and other viruses, but also to make the most of their time, a crucial factor in the National Health Service.

“It’s hard to imagine a time when the NHS didn’t use wipes,” she declares as she surveys the length of T08 ward. “Our nurses are one of our greatest resources and we don’t have enough of them. Wipes have made their lives easier and freed them up to do other things.”

Similar arguments could be heard the length and breadth of the UK this week after the government announced plans to address the worst effects of wet wipes following a host of revelations about the ubiquity of the throwaway towels.

While the NHS – which is by far the biggest public sector user – can make a strong case for the necessity and benefits of disposable hygiene products, the picture is very different in wider society, where wipes can be more aptly described as a consumer luxury that chokes waterways and threatens wildlife.

Until now, the rise of the wet wipe has been irrepressible; its history a mirror of global inequality, consumerism and short-term thinking. In the 60 years since the first was deployed, usage has surged to an estimated 450bn a year – or about 14,000 every second.

Market research suggests wipes and other throwaway hygiene items are near-perfect markers of haves versus have-nots. In poor nations, usage is close to zero. But once average salaries rise to $1,500 per month, women begin to buy sanitary products. From $3,500, parents are willing to spend on disposable nappies. Once incomes hit $8,000, people splash out on wipes.

Age is also a factor. Younger generations whose bottoms were cleaned as babies are more inclined than their parents and grandparents to use wipes. Busy mums are the main market. In the US, 22 million Americans used pre-moist cloths 31 times or more within a week. Between 2005 and 2015, the surface area of non-woven wipes produced in Europe almost doubled.

The supplanting of cloth napkins, cleaning rags and toilet paper began 60 years ago.

The first pre-moistened, scented napkin was produced in a Manhattan loft in 1958 by a former cosmetics industry employee, Arthur Julius, who later convinced Col Harland Sanders that his finger-lickin’ chicken would sell better if messy eaters could clean up with the Wet-Nap® he had trademarked. Kentucky Fried Chicken has since given away close to a billion wipes. “Enough to reach halfway to the moon,” a spokesman claimed, omitting to mention that disposal will have to be an earthly operation and not a cosmic one.

This is only a tiny fraction of the total. Tweaks to the chemical and manufacturing processes have led to alcohol swabs, baby wipes, airline refreshment towels, disinfecting tissues, antibacterials, makeup removers, insect-repellent towelettes and countertop cleaners.

Julius’ company – Nice-Pak is still the market leader, churning out 150bn wipes per year – almost 5,000 a second. Rival firms spin out more than that number again, but the most modern products have little in common with the original.

Fibres of the paper can now be woven, spun-laced, doused in sanitising isopropyl alcohol, scented, and preserved with anti-fungal agents such as methylisothiazolinone.

But the fastest-growing market in recent years is for damp, chemically-treated alternatives to toilet paper, such as adult moist tissues, toddler care products and feminine hygiene wipes. Unlike baby wipes, they are designed to be flushable. Consumers do not appear to know the difference.

Cities are growing used to reports of subterranean “fatbergs” – giant blobs of congealed grease and other waste that blocks sewers. A study by Water UK found wipes made up 93% of the 300,000 sewer blockages that it deals with each year. Belfast, Denver, Melbourne and Baltimore have all been affected. The fattest fatberg found so far however was in Whitechapel, where sewer workers in hazmat suits had to clear a blockage the size of 11 double-decker buses. When a chunk was later displayed in the Museum of London, one reviewer compared the exhibit to the portrait of Dorian Gray, suggesting the foul-smelling waxy matter was “a kind of collective self-portrait”.

As well as ugly, it is expensive. Blockages cost the UK about £100m every year, according to Water UK’s director of corporate affairs, Rae Stewart: “Water companies spend billions of pounds every year improving water and sewerage services in this country, but our sewers are just not designed to handle these new wipes which clog up the system. Sewer blockages end up costing the country about £100m every year so it’s clear that something needs to change.”

This has contributed to a second wave of pollution of the Thames. Following the contamination of the industrial era, London’s river is now increasingly clogged with the detritus of the consumer age.

Walk along the bank near Hammersmith or Barnes at low tide and many of the exposed rocks are flecked with wet wipes discharged through nearby sewer outlets. These are now the most common item of rubbish found on the riverside, overtaking plastic bottles and cotton buds. The citizen clean-up group Thames21 recently claimed wipes are reshaping the waterbed after finding 5,000 in an area half the size of a tennis court.

Although some are supposed to be biodegradable, the risks do not go away when they break down. Kirsten Downer, campaigns officer for Thames21 fears for the herons and ducks she sees pecking on the dirty clumps in case they suffer the fate of fish.

“Wet wipes break down into microplastics, which can be ingested by marine and riverine animals, including zooplankton, and are entering into the food chain,” Downer says. “More than 70% of Thames flounder surveyed have been found to have plastic in their guts for example and there are concerns that Thames oysters will likely contain microplastic too.” Other sources of plastic – including clothes, cups and bottles – are also to blame.

The problem has also spread along waterways towards the coast.

Over the past 10 years, the Great British Beach Clean – an annual event in which volunteers collect rubbish from shorelines – has recorded a fifteenfold increase in the number of wet wipes. On average last year, they found one every five or six steps.
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The government’s promise of tough action on these single-use plastics has yet to be matched with deeds. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it is not planning a full ban on wet wipes, but says it will work with industry to develop plastic-free alternatives and examine which products are most at fault for sewer problems.

Other countries are also taking steps. The European Union is investigating wet wipes as part of a wider study of ocean microplastics. Earlier this month, Australian authorities fined Pental $700,000 for falsely claiming its White King wipes were flushable.

Industry leaders in other countries prefer to stress Britain’s exceptional circumstances, saying the problem here is one of sewers rather than products. “I see issues in the UK that we don’t have in the States, notably the presence of waste on the shoreline,” said Dave Rousse, president of the the US Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry. “This suggests – with a high possibility – that sewers are opening out directly into rivers. The waste water is not being filtered.”

Rather than a ban, he said the best solution was for better markings on packaging and more education of consumers so they can distinguish between more “flushable” wipes – which are made of cellulosic materials (which break up and sink) – and regular thermoplastic wipes (which bind and float). But many environmentalists and water authority officials are unimpressed by the distinction, and the higher price of the more biodegradable products puts off all but one in 10 buyers.
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Manufacturers are trying to develop greener products that use wood fibres and other natural materials. There are also calls for a universal ‘Bin it, don’t flush it’ logo on packaging, but the best way to ease the wipe problem is to use them less or stop completely. To help, Thames21 have issued a guide for plastic-free parenting.

For the many individuals and institutions that cannot be weaned, the best bet is to seek the most nature-friendly alternative and to discard items responsibly.

At the University College Hospital, which gets through 90,000 packs of wipes each year, staff are trained to dispose carefully. Only used wipes contaminated by faeces, blood and bodily fluids and deemed to be ‘infectious waste’ are destroyed by incineration. All others are ‘macerated’ or pulped down and recycled.

Specialist medical suppliers are also working on solutions without plastic. They will inevitably be more expensive, but Jeanes supports change: “I can’t see wipes disappearing from the NHS but it’s a good thing if we are questioning whether we can do things in a way that is better for the environment and reduces our own waste.”

Source: Guardian

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