Archive for Carbon Dioxide emissions

Sony takes up the Eco Challenge to reduce CO2 emissions

April 12, 2010 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon neutral, Companies going green · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Ethical and Green recently had the opportunity to speak with Emily Young at Sony Europe about how Sony are reducing their CO2 emissions. Sony are a company who takes its concern for the environment very seriously with a number of initiatives and projects designed to promote eco-aware projects both internally and externally.  Emily provides guidance to other internal teams on how they can transmit Sony’s commitment to eco-friendly activities to their particular regions.
Emily has been working on environmental and sustainability projects for nearly two years, working across all of the various Sony divisions and product categories. It’s a wide and varied role that requires Emily to champion news of working and thinking, which in turn means her ideas and thinking have to stay sharp and fresh. Emily also heads up the internal ‘eco task force’, which is a cross-divisional team focusing on all aspects of eco-related developments.  So as you can tell Emily was well placed to answer the questions put to her.  It’s great to see a huge company like Sony employing someone to champion eco issues!  Check out the interview below:

1.How important are green issues to Sony?

We see ‘green issues’ and sustainability as a critical part of our company ethos and activities. The main aim of our sustainability activities is to both minimise our impact on the environment (which includes tough targets to reduce waste and energy) as well as to demonstrate that technology can be an important part of the solution to climate change issues and how we as a technology company can help with finding solutions – thus having an overall net positive impact as a company.

Eco conscious thinking also influences our product cycles – from the materials we source, recycle and reuse in manufacture, to the development of smaller packaging that takes less space for more energy efficient transportation. .

We’re committed to finding new ways of reducing the company’s impact on the planet; one of Sony’s long-term goals is to achieve zero carbon by 2050 with clear commitments and published targets for the short term and mid term (2015.)

Sony offices, warehouses and manufacturing across Europe have already cut CO2 emissions dramatically, but we are aiming to cut emissions by another 10 per cent in 2010 for all of our UK specific sites for example, as we’re signed up to the UK’s 10:10 initiative.

We see the 10:10 Campaign as an excellent initiative to engage employees and involve them in the overall environmental objectives of the company. We have established green teams across the UK businesses who are tasked with leading the way in co-ordinating the activities across the different sites. This includes actions such as cutting general power consumption in facilities and offices, as well as reducing employee travel, especially flights.

The 10:10 Campaign is part of a real commitment in our organisation to reduce C02 across our business and is part of an overall global corporate target to cut a further 30% in C02 emissions worldwide by 2016.

2. What have Sony done in the last 12 months to improve their carbon footprint?

March 2009 saw the announcement that CO2 emissions from Sony’s European sites have reduced by 90% (equivalent to 113.000 tonnes) over the period FY2000 to FY2008. The achievement of this reduction is part of the overall Sony commitment to reducing its impact on the environment, as mentioned above.

In addition to the reduction of CO2 emissions, Sony Europe was proud to announce last summer that all of its main 32 sites in the region were powered by electricity from renewable sources.

Energy saving measures have the biggest priority, with those that have been implemented by European manufacturing sites accumulating to an energy consumption reduction of 20.000.000 kWh in FY08.

3. How big an impact do you think our increasing reliance on technology has on the environment?

As a whole, our use and reliance of technology has grown over time. Some innovations in technology have a very positive role to play – such as better communication technology in video conferencing and telepresence solutions, to name one example, so people don’t have to travel huge distances.

At Sony we recognise that our products can have a negative impact on the environment, especially in terms of energy consumption, so we’re looking at many different ways to try to minimise power consumption in our products.

We’re also championing new ways in which innovations in technology can be part of the solution to some environmental challenges.

Technology can be effectively reapplied to actually help the environment; an example of this is the Forest Guard project – a powerful initiative devised by a group of school children. Their clever idea was to help prevent forest fires – a constant threat in their region – by having a network of solar powered CCTV cameras survey the forest. Not only do these fires create terrible human devastation but they also have a huge environmental impact – the carbon dioxide emitted during these fires can equal that produced by several million cars on the road in a year. The Forest Guard system would allow people all over the world to log on to view the forests and alert the authorities in the event of a fire.

This was an initiative that Sony wanted to be a part of as we could add our technology and engineering skills to the project and help this young team’s idea become a reality. To apply technology to help solve the problems of climate change is at the heart of Sony’s philosophy and we will continue with these types of initiatives into 2010 and beyond.

4. Has Sony released any products that will help customers reduce their carbon emissions? If so, how will these products help the environment?

Our 2010 BRAVIA range of TVs continues to have a strong focus on eco-aware credentials, which have been one of the cornerstones of our LCD TV development for a long time now, including the continuing push to reduce power consumption. The 2010 BRAVIA range of TVs incorporates LED backlighting technology, which provides superior performance with lower energy consumption. This reduced energy consumption means the majority of Sony’s 2010 range of TVs have been awarded the ‘EU Flower’ eco symbol, the official EU mark for greener products. As well as reduced energy consumption during use, compliance also includes a take-back policy for recycling and limiting the spread of harmful substances into the environment.

Additionally, all of the TVs include the Energy Saving Switch, whilst the BRAVIA LX900 will feature an updated version of the Presence Sensor and an Ambient Sensor, which will automatically detect the brightness and colour temperature of ambient light in the room, to adjust the TV for optimum viewing quality with minimum energy consumption.

This year we are expanding our line-up of LCD TVs using mercury-free LED backlighting, which is more energy efficient than traditional CCFL backlights.

Also, many of the laptops in our VAIO range have been awarded the Energy Star® 5.0 qualification. They are packed with energy saving features, not only do they have the latest energy-efficient LED backlight technologies, the power management settings put you in control of the power consumption so you can work or play all day on a single battery charge.

In our VAIO W series “eco edition” model, nearly 80 per cent of all plastic parts, including the top and bottom cover, are made up of recycled plastics, including CD and DVD waste.

This model is also supplied in an environmentally friendly, 100% recycled material carry bag.  The bags replace individual cardboard cartons, reducing packaging material from factory to store and from store to home. This means reduced CO2 emissions when the models are transported, as well as less waste, as there is no outer packaging.

5. Does Sony offer an exchange or recycling programme for old Sony merchandise?

Sony Europe is a member of several schemes financing the European Waste Electronic and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations, which include batteries and packaging take-back and recycling schemes.

In 2002 Sony founded (together with Braun, HP & Electrolux), the first pan European WEEE compliance scheme called European Recycling Platform (ERP). ERP’s mission is to deliver compliance & quality, including the prevention of illegal WEEE shipments by regular onsite audits of contracted recyclers and high treatment and recycling standards. In 2008, around 60,000 tons of electronic waste were collected and recycled on behalf of Sony Europe.

6. What are your top tips for becoming greener at home?

You can find a host of energy saving tips on Sony’s website (http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/eco/energy-saving-tips)

Here are three of the best:

Turn off your screen: switch the picture off if you’re listening to music through your laptop, and in a year you will save enough energy to charge your MP3 player more than 10,000 times

Switch off connected equipment: we know we should switch the TV off when not watching. But did you know that by switching off connected equipment like games consoles and home cinema systems for just one night could save enough energy to run the tumble dryer for 2 hours?

Turn down the brightness: most TVs and laptops allow you to change the brightness of the picture. Turn the brightness down, and in a year you could save enough energy to run sixty loads of laundry.

There we have it.  Some great examples of how Sony are stepping up to the challenge of reducing carbon emissions.  If you are in the market for new electrical items check out Sony’s range of eco-friendly products.  Not only will you be helping the environment but you’ll also save money on your electricity bill which can’t be bad.

Hopefully other big companies will follow Sony’s lead and improve their eco-credentials.  It’s also great to see that they have signed up to the 10:10 campaign.

Many thanks to Emily for taking the time to answer the questions.

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10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 10% in 2010

April 5, 2010 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, CO2 emissions, reduce carbon footprint · Tagged , ,

Ethical and Green has become one of many to join Eugenie Harvey’s 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.  You can sign up as an individual, business or organisation.  10:10 emails you tips to help reduce your CO2 emissions on a daily basis.

When you sign up you’ll be asked to invite your friends too.  Here is a copy of the email they send out:

‘Everyone’s looking for something to do about climate change. What’s needed is something straightforward, immediate and meaningful. I think I’ve found it. Today I joined thousands of individuals and organisations from across the country to unite behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in carbon emissions during 2010. It’s called 10:10, and everyone can be a part of it.

Cutting 10% in one year is a bold target, but for most of us it’s an achievable one, and is in line with what scientists say we need right now. By signing up to 10:10 we’re not just promising to reduce our own emissions – we’re becoming part of a national drive to hit this ambitious goal country-wide. In our homes, in our workplaces, our schools and our hospitals, our galleries and football clubs and universities, we’ll be backing each other up as we take the first steps on the road to becoming a low-carbon society.

To find out more and sign up go to www.1010uk.org To read coverage of the campaign from the Guardian go to www.guardian.co.uk/10-10.’

Ethical and Green would encourage all readers and the companies they work for to sign up.  If we all pull together we can make a real difference to the world we live in.


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Data centres convert heat into electricity

January 11, 2010 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, CO2 emissions, Companies going green, reduce carbon footprint · Tagged , , , ,

The technology boom and rise of the internet has lead to for data centres that house computer servers.  These are vital to power the digital economy and keep us logged on.  However as you can imagine the consume a vast amount of electricity.  In fact some data centres use as much electricity as a small town!!  Those of you who know about computers will have noted that not only do the computers need power to work they also need energy to cool them down.

The company Telecity realised it was pumping a lot of hot air into the atmosphere and when designing its new data centre in Paris it coupled with a company to take away its heat.  The French national agronomic institute built a greenhouse next to the data centre that will allow scientist to study how plants adapt to global warming.  In Amsterdam the waste heat is used to warm an office block and heat the water supply of a hospital.

Telecity estimate that the data centre will save 2500 tonnes of CO2 each year.  They will also have a white roof to reflect solar rays and therefore stop the sun heating the building.

So there we have an example of how a company has looked at their waste and come up with a solution to help other businesses.  Good stuff!  Hopefully Telecity will act as an example to other companies about how to cut their CO2 emissions.

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Technology increases CO2 emissions

May 7, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint · Tagged , , , , ,

In this world of new technologies that are meant to make our lives easier people often don’t consider the effect their usage has on the environment.  For all the hype that sending emails means we don’t have to print or send out letters or that video conferencing cuts down on travel, we are still using technologies that increase our carbon footprint.

It is true to say that companies who manufacture laptops, mobiles etc are becoming more environmentally aware but they are some way off from being totally green.  Climate Group, a non for profit consultancy group have discovered that the information technology sector is growing rapidly and accounts for 2% of global CO2 emissions.  That might not sound a lot but is comparable with the aviation industry!  It is commonplace for us to see demonstrations at airports to stop runway expansion but when was the last time any campaigned against IT companies?

 

We all use technology.  It might be fair to say that we are addicted to new technologies- just look at the hype that surrounds the launch of a new Apple product.  We all want super fast broadband and we want it on the go.  We want laptops that are paperlight and batteries that last for days.  This all comes with an increase in CO2 emissions and is something that needs changing.

With developing economies in China and India all producing IT products the problem is global and not likely to disappear.  Climate Group estimate that by 2020 emissions will have doubled adding 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  To put this in perspective that’s more than twice the current emissions of the whole of Britain!

Then there is the problem of the recession.  The credit crunch is making companies put their obligation to the environment on hold.  The bottom line is that going green costs money that companies don’t have or don’t want to spend.  Telecommunication companies have the ability to go green but not the inclination.  This is worrying considering that soon the industry will have to be seen to be reducing their CO2 emissions as part of UK legislation.

Whilst laptop computers are becoming more energy efficient the reality is that more people are buying them so CO2 emissions increase.  Also trendy mobiles such as the iPhone use 60% more energy than standard handsets.  Considering they are the best selling phone and other companies are creating iPhone style phones this is very detrimental to the environment.  At the end of the day reducing CO2 emissions is not on the top of most people’s list when it comes to buying a phone.

 

So what can be done?  In a world where technology is so important we are not going to stop people buying laptops or top range mobiles.  Perhaps the answer lies in green energy- making the source greener will help offset CO2 emissions.  Or perhaps we should campaign the IT industry as a whole to invest in greener technologies?

 

Ethical and Green will be identifying the greenest laptops and mobiles soon so we can make an informed choice about environmentally friendly technologies.  If you have any suggestions let us know!

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Earth Day 2009

April 21, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , ,

The 22nd April sees the return of Earth Day.  So a year on and Ethical and Green ask if there have been any big changes since last Earth Day?  We think there have.  Over the last year environmental issues have been headline news and on the front pages of newspapers, compared to small articles previously.

America has a new President who spoke of environmental and green issues in his inauguration speech.  It is now common place for Governments to have policies on the environment alongside the economy, health and education.  This is progress indeed!  Just today climate change made the news with the UK government still opting for coal fuel but pumping emissions under the sea!  Interesting….Possibly not the best idea in the world but at least climate change and reducing CO2 emissions are on the government’s mind.

On a smaller level it seems that people at home are taking advantage of loft insulation schemes, buying environmentally friendly light bulbs and recycling.  People are more clued in to buying low Co2 emission or green cars and other electrical items.  All in all this is great news for the environment.

 

If you want to check out some ideas for Earth Day 2009 take a look at this website.  Become believe that this Earth Day page (http://www.become.com/resource-center/earth-day.html) will offer readers the power to find; natural cosmetics, resource conserving appliances and tips on how they can do their part to reduce waste for the environment.   Check it out!  Happy Earth Day!

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NHS plans for reducing its carbon footprint

January 26, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, carbon neutral, Companies going green · Tagged , , ,

Today saw leaked information about the NHS’ plans to try and reduce its carbon emissions.  The NHS has a special Sustainability Group that comes up with ideas on how to become more green.  Their great idea is, and prepare yourself, it is amazing- is to reduce the amount of meat it serves in hospitals!  Wow!

The powers that be think that by reducing the amount of meat they buy in it will reduce their carbon footprint.  It is true that the NHS is one of the biggest buyers of food in the UK but even so is this really the best idea they can come up with?!  In the UK the NHS accounts for more than three percent of carbon emissions in England which isn’t bad considering it is the largest employer in Britain and the third largest in the whole world.  The NHS also has a lot of properties throughout the country.

Whilst it is true that the carbon footprint of food is quite high there are other things the NHS could do to reduce its carbon footprint.  However, instead of cutting down on meat products perhaps the NHS should actually buy in locally sourced, fresh produce rather than microwave meals that come from goodness knows where.  In fact this might keep patients healthy, they might actually enjoy the food and it is better for the environment!

We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the full outline of the plans to reduce carbon emissions and go carbon neutral.  We’ll keep you posted!  Ethical and Green wonder what Jamie Oliver will make of this considering he is promoting British meat at the moment?!

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Google- harmful to the environment?

January 12, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , ,

Google is a company that has ethical and green credentials- or so we thought!  Recent research by Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist has shown that using Google can actually harm the environment.

Google likes to pride itself at being at the forefront of green computing.  There are tools on Google that allow you to calculate your carbon footprint and it is a supporter of Earth Day that highlights environmental issues.  (Interestingly though you will be hard pressed to find figures on the size of its carbon footprint or energy consumption.)  So how can a company that is going green actually be harmful to the environment?

The problem lies in the way Google works. Using a search engine generates CO2 emissions because the search request goes to more than one server that can be thousands of miles apart.  Google have servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.  It has been estimated that the number of internet searches in a day is around 200 million.  Can you imagine the electricity consumption and greenhouse gases that this releases?  It’s estimated that the global IT industry has a carbon footprint similar to that of the airline industry.  That is to say that the IT industry could account for as much as 2% of global CO2 emissions.

 

Google’s response?  They feel that they are amongst the most energy efficient search engine out there.  However in order to get the fastest search you have to offset the fact that this releases more CO2 emissions.  Perhaps the most interesting statistic comes from John Buckley of www.carbonfootprint.com.  They feel that doing a Google search can emit anywhere between 1 and 10g of CO2 depending on whether or not the computer had to be switched on.  Others have put this figure at 7g to 10g.

 

So are we going to stop using Google for our searches?  Ethical and Green doubt it very much.  The figures show that using search engines in general cause an increase in CO2 emissions.  This is not going to change until companies such as Google look into their processes to make them more energy efficient.  Google is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and therefore you can expect their searches to be the most efficient out there.

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Cut your carbon footprint with liftshare

January 11, 2009 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, green driving, reduce carbon footprint, responsible travel · Tagged , , , , ,

Something is happening in the world of car-sharing: drivers are no longer happy to sit in traffic jams, surrounded by other single-occupancy vehicles, and more of them than ever have been signing up to car-sharing schemes. The environmental and financial benefits are making it an increasingly mainstream form of transport.

In fact, by the end of January, over 300,000 people will have registered with liftshare,  the UK’s largest scheme – with about 300 new members signing up to the free network every day. But does it really make a genuine difference to how green your lifestyle is?

Well consider this: in 2005, over 60% of cars on the UK’s roads had only one occupant (among commuters, that figure was 85%). Overall, our average occupancy level is 1.6 people per car. In 1965, that figure was 2. Not such a big drop, you may think. Until you realise that it results in literally millions of empty car seats on the UK’s roads every single day.

If occupancy levels only increased back from 1.6 to two, nine million tonnes of CO2 would be saved per annum. The potential environmental impact of car-sharing is enormous.

 

Indeed, it would surprise many people to learn that a fully-occupied car is as environmentally friendly as public transport. If the UK is to enable maximum mobility while still aspiring to achieve its Kyoto commitments, it is essential that we acknowledge the car’s ability to provide one of the greenest forms of motorised transport – when used correctly.

 

Members of liftshare are currently taking 40,000 cars off the road every day,sharing about 70 million miles per year. And many of them are doing it for environmental reasons, knowing that the typical commuter who car-shares with just one other person every day saves one tonne of CO2 a year.

 

Finding someone to share your journey with is very straightforward. Just register your details and your journey on the free website, liftshare.com, and then do a search for people going the same way as you. The journey-matching success rate is increasing all the time as the number of registered journeys grows, and new members are often surprised at how quickly they find someone to share with.  liftshare is a social enterprise so is not a company concerned with making money.  Any profits made are put straight back into the business.

 

But perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones, and are already in a position to take the even greener option of walking or cycling to work. If so, you might have been put off by the idea of doing it alone – especially in the darker months.

 

If you want to give it a go, but would prefer a bit of company to brighten that journey, liftshare also has a smaller but growing membership of their BikeBUDi.com and WalkBUDi.com sites, which are worth investigating. Again, membership is completely free – you just register your journey, and see if someone else is walking or riding the same way.

 

With any of the three sites, it only takes a few moments to sign up, and it could have more benefits than you ever imagined…!

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Second runway for Stansted Airport

December 9, 2008 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, climate change, CO2 emissions · Tagged , , , , , ,

Yesterday 50 protesters broke through the perimeter fences of Stansted Airport and causing flights to be cancelled and generally causing chaos.  The protesters were making a stand against the government go ahead for a second runway at Stansted Airport.  BAA want to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million and to increase flights from 241,000 to 264,000 a year.

 

The protesters were members of the climate action group Plane Stupid.  Their website showed that the protest was aimed to bring attention to the CO2 emissions from the aviation industry.  However, whilst they managed to create massive media attention in the UK it seems that their message may have been somewhat lost in the panic over the security breach at Stansted Airport.  The media and public have been outraged at how easy it was for 50 protesters to break into the airport.  Security officials for BAA pointed out that the protesters did not make it to the runway.  They were also quick to point out that the runway is about 2000 acres in size making it difficult to protect in it’s entirety.  

 

Passengers who were due to fly out of Stansted on 8th December were advised that their flights had either been severely delayed or cancelled.  Most of the flights affected were Ryanair flights causing relations between the budget airline and BAA to become rather stretched.  Passengers were angered and not at all impressed by Plane Stupid’s protest.  Rather than highlighting the environmental issues with the aviation industry the protest angered most people.  Those involved now face criminal proceedings.

 

On the plus side some media reports have highlighted the climate change issues surrounding the aviation industry.  Ed Miliband, the UK’s Energy Secretary told the Guardian newspaper that world leaders need to act on climate change amid fears of economic repercussions.  He said that there needs to be a ‘mass movement’ along the lines of the Make Poverty History campaign.

Matthew Knowles from the Society of British Aerospace Companies condemned the protesters saying that they were ignoring the changes that the aviation industry is making for climate change.  He quoted that although flights have increased by 50% the noise disturbance around Stansted Airport has decreased and aircrafts are 70% more fuel efficient.  Further cuts are due to made by 2050.

 

So, it would appear that rather than promoting the topic of climate change in a positive manner than protesters with their illegal protest have in fact angered the public and people within the aviation industry.  This adds weight to the stereotype that people who care about the environment aren’t law abiding citizens and have a general disregard for the people whose lives they affect by their actions.  The other side of the coin is that they might just have highlighted a massive security issue at Stansted Airport……

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As Lewis Hamilton becomes F1 World Champion can the sport ever hope to go green?

November 2, 2008 · Filed under Carbon Dioxide emissions, carbon footprint, CO2 emissions, reduce carbon footprint · Tagged , , , ,

Firstly congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on his great achievement.  Despite not being a fan of F1 it was a great race.  Seeing how much fuel the cars use and being sponsored by companies such as Shell it made Ethical and Green wonder about how green the sport could ever be and what effect this would have on driving as a whole.

It has been estimated that 20 cars emit around 9,150 kg of carbon emissions per race which is quite staggering!  So that’s the cars.  What about all the lighting, power cables, tourists who travel from all over the world….When you add it up the carbon emissions of an F1 race are HUGE!!

We all know that a huge amount of money is invested into F1 so if they go green the investment into new technologies could benefit us all.  Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation is keen for the sport to cut down on it’s carbon footprint and this season F1 cars had to have some biofuel in their tanks.  Practice laps have also been dropped to stop wasting fuel.  This is great but what next?

Well next season clean technology systems to harvest kinetic energy from deceleration and to capture heat from machines engines will become mandatory. Hotels in cities where the races are held should also stand up and be counted.  For example the Singapore Freeport skylounge at the Fullerton Hotel built a solar canopy to offset half the energy it used to entertain its 250 guests during the Singapore Grand Prix.  Wouldn’t it be great if other hotels took part in this.

It’s great to see that F1 racing is taking onboard it’s responsibilities to the planet.  However, in a sport where efficiency isn’t a priority it will be interesting to see how the proposed changes to the sport will be received by the makers of the cars.

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