The University of Bath is undergoing a project to find environmentally friendly building materials that can be used as an alternative to the current products used within the construction industry.
A straw house came up as a viable option. Straw is not only a renewable resource, but also a farming by-product, which made it a popular choice for the researchers. It can be locally grown and absorbs carbon monoxide, therefore buildings made from straw have zero or even a negative carbon footprint. It can potentially provide such good insulation that normal heating may not be necessary, keeping running costs low and minimising environmental impact.
The construction itself has been built using prefabricated panels, consisting of wooden frames filled with straw or hemp, then rendered with a breathable lime based system.
Research into alternative building materials is important as cement contributes up to 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Hopefully this project, which over the year is to be monitored, will prove that straw is a sustainable building material. Let’s just hope it can withstand all the wolves huffing and puffing and trying to blow the house down!
Hard as it is to imagine, in these freezing temperatures, but the Met Office have forecast that 2010 will be a warmer year globally than 2009. Last year is being anticipated (once statistics are finalised) to be the fifth warmest on record.
Each December and January the Met Office issues a forecast of the global surface temperature for the coming year. It takes into account contributing factors such as increasing gas concentrations, the cooling influences of industrial particles, solar effects, volcanic changes and natural variations of the oceans.
Obviously, this forecast is open to change, but within the last 10 years the Met Office predictions have only had a 0.06c margin of error.
The conference provided a program on the first global agreement to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support adaptation for the most vulnerable and help establish environmentally sustainable growth.
Countries have agreed to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius. Developed countries are implementing targets for greenhouse gas emissions and financially supporting the developing countries.
Also, the most vulnerable will be identified and protected – taught to adapt to the changes brought on by global warming. In addition, discussions regarding the subject of reducing carbon emissions due to deforestation were initiated.
After 2 years of negotiations leading up to this UN Copenhagen conference, the above all appears rather vague and in fact a spokesperson from Greenpeace has been quoted as saying, ‘It’s so weak as to be meaningless’. Not quite the positive, inspirational outcome we were hoping for.
Dorset County Council have won their bid for government funding to help protect the Jurassic Coast from the ravages of climate change.
The main concerns for the area (15 sections of coastline between Devon and Dorset) are storm damage, erosion and rising sea levels. In fact, only last year a huge landslide destroyed 400 metres of the world heritage coastline near Lime Regis. Clearly, the councils realised it was time to act.
£376,500 is now available to Devon and Dorset in order for them to assist the most venerable communities in the area. However, the money will not, as you would imagine, be going to improve sea defences, but to help the inhabitants gain a better understanding and ability to adapt to the impact of inevitable coastal changes. Debates will be held at local level, contingency plans devised and there will be the introduction and development of training programmes for conservationists.
Is this a case of forearmed is forewarned? Although it’s a positive nod by the government, towards recognising the dangers facing an island nation from the ravages of global warming, perhaps more should be being done to slow erosion and raising sea levels in the first place.
The UN Climate Change Conference was always going to be controversial and yesterdays disturbances have certainly come as no surprise. With news of demonstrators arrested and cars set on fire we can be forgiven for thinking things of already gotten out of hand. However, when reports confirm that one man was hurt by a stone and another injured by a firework you can’t help feeling that there’s more damage done on an average Friday night out. Therefore, nearly 1,000 arrests under contentious anti-hooligan laws seem somewhat excessive.
With tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators flooding into Copenhagen, it can clearly only be a highly impassioned, more violent minority who are causing the trouble. Obviously this can’t be helping, but then people do feel incredibly strongly on this issue and with so much riding on Copenhagen it’s understandable that frustration levels are risings.
There seems to be mixed reactions to yesterday’s events with many people feeling that all the fuss in the news is purely a distraction from the real issues. There is also a school of thought that far more harmful to the climate struggle than the demonstrators, are secret closed door negotiations and the false hope the conference is giving, especially given the high profile delegates, without any actual definitive action agreed upon as yet. The conference continues until next Friday 18th December.
Is it only me, or is it massively suspicious that this week, of all weeks we hear that the validity of 160 years worth of Met Office temperature data is under question?
Apparently, we are led to believe, that this controversy was started due to leaked emails. It appears that it will take 3 years for the re-examination of the findings, so only by 2012 will the information have any perceivable credibility. The Met Office database is one of three main sources used by the UN to analyze climate change and was to be the foundation of the talks in Copenhagen this week
The timing plays straight into the hands of countries such as America and Australia, who are concerned that unrealistic CO2 emission cuts will be introduced at the summit.
With the Copenhagen Summit kicking off today, it has been reported that many people do not accept that global warming exists and that if it does, that we have no part in it.
Hard to believe I know, especially when the evidence is so clear – greenhouse gasses cause climate change, Fact. As the ice melts in parts of Antarctica, sea levels are anticipated to rise by 1.4 m by the end of the century, which could be disastrous for many countries. Climate change is a very real phenomenon; as greenhouse gasses go up, so the temperature increases.
And yet, there are still non-believers! Following a recent opinion poll, it seems members of the public feel the following: that the science is too confusing, that it doesn’t affect them personally; that there is no urgency and it is not an important priority. Some even view it as a costly over-reaction.
What also appears to be a major factor in the public not facing the hard reality of global warming is that the message is frequently conveyed by politicians, which immediately gives rise to scepticism. So, why after all the eye wash we are fed by politicians, is this the one thing we choose to question? Somebody please answer me that!
The major supplier of EV’s is a Danish company called Better Place, it is strategically located and now joined in partnership with the Danish government, just in time for the Worldwide Summit for Climate Change, which is to be held in Copenhagen, this December.
As EV’s are expected to be at the forefront of personal transportation within the next ten years, it’s not surprising that nearly every major car manufacturer has a program to develop these cars. Better Place is currently working with the Renault-Nissan Alliance and in talks with other car makers worldwide. They are en route to be a front runner in the introduction of EV’s as the future of global personal road transportation.
Electric Vehicles have instant torque and provide a smooth quiet drive. As they have half the moving parts of traditional cars there is less to go wrong, so cheaper maintenance costs are anticipated. Typically, the battery lasts for up to 100 miles and takes between 4 to 8 hours to recharge – so ideal for around town driving and to and from work (if you are not a travelling salesman, or the like, obviously), the car can then be recharged in the garage overnight. However, there will be charging posts at car parks and workplaces for those who tend to drive a little further afield, allowing them to top-up while the driver goes about their daily business. For journeys over 100 miles there will be easily accessible ‘switching stations’, which will enable the battery to be changed in less time and with less fuss than refuelling a normal car.
As these vehicles evolve, within a decade the majority of us could be driving EV’s! It really is an inspirational concept.
Alex Hartley, an artist, has discovered an island in the Arctic. It appeared from beneath the melting ice of a retreating glacier in the High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Alex was the first person ever to stand on it and has named it Nowhereisland. With this project Alex won the Artists Taking the Lead prize for the South West of England
Obviously distressed by this casualty of global warming, Alex has arranged, as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, to use a part of it to highlight the climate change crisis we are facing.
The ‘portion’ referred to, will be transported by barge to Poole, in Dorset by mid July 2012. It will then embark a 702 mile coastal journey to Weymouth, arriving in time for the start of the Olympic sailing events in August.
The artist hopes that the island will capture international interest and by registering it as a micro nation and allowing people to become citizens, it is highly likely that he will succeed. Alex said, ‘The island addresses the most significant global issue of our time, namely how we can respond to the urgent issue of climate change together.’
For those of you who are wondering, some time after the Olympics the land mass will be returned to the Arctic and made whole again.
This charity was set up last year by 3 Cambridge University students; Lynn Morris, Tim Bromfield and Will Lorimer. As the name ‘Atlantic Rising’ suggests their area of concern is the rising levels of the Atlantic Ocean and the potentially devastating repercussions of this.
In the next 100 years it is predicted that the Ocean will rise by 1.5m, taking with it unique landscapes, communities and reshaping our geography forever.
The trio believe that education is the key, particularly that of children. To this end they are embarking on a trip; the vision of which is to follow the 1m contour line around the edge of the Atlantic which is most likely to be affected. Their intention is to build educational links between places as far apart as the Scottish Isles, West Africa, Guyana and Canada.
Clearly some of these areas will suffer little or no affect whereas some will be devastated by the rising sea level – if these children communicate with each other it will, raise awareness of global climate change and hopefully teach our children the importance of helping and protecting the environment.
