Report : Sustainability
Sustainability is increasingly occupying the minds of developers, architects and major contractors. Being able to offer a sustainable product is no longer a question of competitive advantage, it is about survival – and not just of companies
Sustainability is big. Global. And growing by the day. Governments are comparing the sizes of their green credentials. Powerful vested interests are involved and sustainability empires are growing.
Sustainability is even developing its own language. Anything this big offers commercial opportunities and nowhere more so than in construction, where it is generally assumed half of all carbon reduction opportunities lie.
But if you are confused about what sustainability actually means and how you can get involved in it, you’re not alone.
The government’s Innovation & Growth Team (IGT) looking at sustainability in construction published a report in November called Low Carbon Construction. You can download it from the website www.bis.gov.uk/constructionigt. It identified the problem of getting a handle on the subject.
“There is complexity and over-crowding in almost every aspect of the landscape relating to carbon reduction, including: responsibility in Government; the number of special interest groups and advisory bodies; the number of apparently unco-ordinated research programmes; the mass of published policies, reports and initiatives, undertaken by a variety of Government Departments or by NGOs, incapable of absorption by businesses who need to focus on the more immediate interests of their clients and shareholders; a host of tools and methodologies, sometimes leading to quite different answers to the same questions; fundamentally different choices between competing technologies, with conflicting advice as to the effectiveness of each; and, finally, shifting terminology – so that, for example, ‘carbon’ can sometimes mean carbon, sometimes carbon dioxide, and sometimes a carbon dioxide equivalent, and the definition of zero carbon is far more complex than that rightly aspirational term might suggest.”
In a foreword to the report, Paul Morrell, Chair of the Steering Group of the IGT, says (slightly more succinctly): “For all of those already engaged, and the many still to be engaged [in sustainability]… there are three crying needs: for clarity – for a clearer path through all the complexities which attend the transition to low carbon; for co-operation – for Government and industry to work together in finding that clarity and making plans; and for confidence – for market failure to be addressed so that building owners and occupiers are incentivised to become customers for commercial offers aimed at carbon reduction. In the meantime, there is a powerful sense of pent up potential in the industry.”
Some of the confusion is the result of an underlying understanding of the potential commercial benefits of sustainability by the more astute of those supplying products into the marketplace. They are trying to find the best way of presenting their products as sustainable, which leads to a lot of different and competing evidence being presented to support cases.
The stone sector in the UK has been a little slow off the mark, perhaps, and its reluctant participation in the compilation of the BRE Green Guide has left it smarting about some of the conclusions reached about the sustainability of stone systems. Stone Federation last year commissioned a £5,000 scoping study from BRE to find out where the industry needs to gather more information about its activities. Where it goes next in the light of that remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Stone Federation produced its own response to sustainability, titled Natural Stone: the oldest sustainable material, for its stand at Ecobuild in ExCeL London this year. It included evidence from the SISTech / Heriot-Watt report produced for Historic Scotland on the embodied carbon in stone and the University of Bath ICE (Inventory of Carbon & Energy) report – to download them you can follow the links to the appropriate websites from the NSS website home page (www.naturalstonespecialist.com).
The Federation’s publication also refers to the Green Guide, where nearly half of all systems using stone achieve an ‘A’ or ‘A+’ rating.
The Federation says it is setting targets over the next 10 years based on the BRE standard BES 6001. Called Responsible sourcing of construction products, BES 6001 enables construction product suppliers to ensure and then prove that their products have been made with responsibly sourced materials. The standard describes a framework for the organisational governance, supply chain management and environmental and social aspects that must be addressed in order to ensure the responsible sourcing of construction products.
The Federation intends to revive its Hallmarque Scheme and link it to the standard to make it easy for specifiers to source certified materials with maximum credits for sustainability assessment measurements such as the Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM.
But, as the Innovation & Growth Team identified, standards themselves are adding to the confusion because organisations that produce the standards for measuring sustainability are competing with each other to have their standards accepted and used by industry.
Some standards that currently receive general recognition include the BRE’s Green Guide and associated BREEAM, BSI’s Publically Available Specification (PAS) 2050 and the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Footprint.
BSI also last year published BS 8903: Principles and framework for procuring sustainability. It was quickly followed by a guide explaining how to use it. It is a standard providing guidance to any size and type of organisation on adopting and embedding sustainable procurement principles and practices. It covers all stages of the procurement process and is applicable across industry – public, private and charities.
In stone (and other sectors that import from the Far East) sustainability has evolved to include issues relating to ethical sourcing, something championed by the Ethical Trading Initiative set up by the previous government.
In February this year there was the first of what is intended should become an annual Sustainable Procurement Conference, run by Action Sustainability, an organisation established to provide advice and support on sustainable procurement.
It was a full day’s event held at Sainsbury’s Conference Centre in Holborn, London. It attracted a large and influential audience to hear some pretty impressive speakers on a broad range of issues relating to sustainability – issues that covered the environmental, the ethical and the economic. In fact, one of the most frequently repeated phrases at the conference was ‘the triple bottom line’. It is used as shorthand for saying environmental and social issues should be put on an equal footing with profit.
The conference began with a key note address by Peter Head, the global chair of planning at Arup and the chair of the Institute of Sustainability.
While for individual companies sustainable procurement might be motivated by improving the bottom line, triple or otherwise, Peter Head reminded the conference what lay behind it all – the need to find a way for the World to support a human population that will have reached 9billion by 2050 without also producing global warming of 3-4ºC sometime in the second half of the 21st century that will result in a human catastrophe.
To put carbon emissions into perspective, he said: “We’re putting a million years worth of stored carbon into the atmosphere every year.”
Although the British government has enshrined in law an 80% reduction in carbon output by 2050 from a (mostly) 1990 base, Peter Head said it was cities that would make the difference globally not governments because governments would not be able to reach agreements.
The inhabitants of cities rebel against living in increasingly choking atmospheres and planners and designers are already responding by creating less energy-consuming buildings and removing vehicles from the streets, because vehicles sitting in traffic jams with their engines running is a disaster for energy use as well as for air quality.
Even so, the traffic in London only accounts for 22% of emissions. Most come from buildings and they could be cut by 25% simply by changing our behaviour – such as turning off lights in empty rooms and other electrical devices when we are not using them.
A group of cities worldwide, including London, have formed themselves into the C40, headed by Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York. Their aim is to make high density living greener and, therefore, more pleasurable. Already rooftop food production and facade electricity generation is increasing in cities.
Peter Head said the World is entering the ecological age, when the challenge is to reduce the ecological footprint of each individual human to the point where he or she can be supported by the 1.5hectares that is the mean area of the planet that will be available to each of us by 2050.
The level of commitment to the aim of sustainability was evident from both the private and public sector speakers at the Sustainable Procurement Conference. Andy MacAskill, the Procurement Director of Skanska, for example, said: “Skanska have a very clear vision that they want to be world leader in green and ethical construction.” You can find out more about the conference on the website created to support it at the address below.
www.sustainableprocurementconference.com
Offering a helping hand with wind turbines
“When selecting a wind turbine it is of the utmost importance to ensure that you have the right turbine for your needs and that it is sited in the right place,” says Christine Griffiths, Partner of Aeolus Power (Wind-Energy) in Gloucester.
As a specialist wind energy supplier and installer Aeolus Power have a portfolio of turbines to suit the varying requirements of businesses, landowners, airports or anyone else who wants one.
They supply turbines from 4.2kW, suitable for siting in public places, up to 50kW, which are powerful turbines that benefit from the Feed in Tariff.
The company began as a direct result of the Partners’ own experience of siting a wind turbine at their farmhouse home – and as early adopters of wind turbines, Christine & Peter Griffiths found little information available to help them with the process.
Christine says: “It’s essential when installing a wind turbine to site it in the correct place. Turbines are manufactured for different conditions, some are designed to catch free-flowing wind, others deal with turbulent air and some are for outlying locations where connection to the national grid is not possible.
“It’s not a case of ‘one size fits all’, but rather which turbine best suits your needs, the wind speed and the geography of your land.”
Aeolus Power (Wind-Energy) have a range of turbines so they can guide their customers through the process of installation and ensure they have the right turbine in the right place to generate the maximum amount of power.
The company always check wind speeds and complete a thorough site survey before supplying and installing any of their turbines. This ‘full service’ approach provides assistance with the planning process, discussions with the grid supplier, financing, installation and commissioning.
Christine Griffiths says: “As a specialist wind energy business, Aeolus Power (Wind-Energy) take the time and care to ensure that the right turbine is installed in the right place.”
The company’s top 10 tips for earning money from a wind turbine are:
1. Install the right turbine
2. Put it in the right place
3. Get the appropriate turbine for the wind speed.
4. Consider siting more than one turbine.
5. A site survey is worthwhile to check every aspect of installing a turbine before purchasing.
6. Ask for a ‘payback’ estimate.
7. Ensure that grid connection is compatible.
8. Start the planning process early – and talk to your neighbours so you don’t get objections.
9. Take advantage of the Feed in Tariffs.
10. Find a financial package that suits you.
Environment Agency add interest to new Energy Efficient Financing
NSS rather prophetically said in the September issue that if you wanted a Carbon Trust interest free loan to invest in up-grading machinery to more environmentally friendly versions it might be an idea to move quickly before the Government realised the scheme existed and cut it.
If you didn’t do so, you are now too late. First the interest free loans were restricted to Northern Ireland and Wales, now the scheme has been scrapped altogether. It is being replaced by a new scheme called Energy Efficiency Financing that will be available nationwide but will no longer be interest free.
The rate of interest charged will depend on the circumstances of each individual application but will, say the Carbon Trust, be commercially competitive.
The new scheme was to have been introduced in time for the new financial year this month (April), but was not ready. The Carbon Trust told NSS they were expecting it to be introduced soon.
Energy Efficient Financing is only for energy saving investment. Albion Stone took advantage of the previous scheme while it was still interest free to buy inverters for their workshops at a cost of about £20,000. They say it was easier to apply for the money than it is with a lot of government schemes.
Whether that remains true of the new programme, being run in conjunction with Siemens Financial Services, remains to be seen, although the Carbon Trust promise it will be easy, affordable and flexible. They say repayments will be designed to be offset by the anticipated energy savings, so the loans pay for themselves.
Loans from as little as £1,000 will be available and, unlike the previous scheme that had an upper limit of £100,000, this time there is no upper limit.
Applications for loans have to be made through suppliers recognised by the Energy Efficiency Financing scheme.
Albion’s environmental advantages of going underground
Albion Stone have bought a new l385,000 Fantini GU50 and spent almost £200,000 on a Doosan DT160 Telescopic Handler to improve efficiency at their Portland limestone mine.
The Doosan is capable of lifting stone blocks of up to 16tonnes, which is ideal for removing blocks from the confined spaces in the mine. It has four-wheel steering and excellent all-round visibility.
The telescopic handler, which can operate with either forks or a bucket, is fitted with a number of adaptations for safe working in the mine – for example it has an in-built fire suppression system on the engine and a catalytic converter to process exhaust gasses.
The Fantini GU 50 is a self-propelled mining saw with a new generation cutting blade to increase extraction rate from the mine face.
Albion say that these two new machines will double the rate blocks are extracted from the mine without using significantly more fuel, resulting in stone products with a lower carbon footprint.
Albion’s calculations show that block extracted from the mine has a carbon footprint half the size of blocks taken from an open quarry, largely due to the fuel used just remove the 7.5-11m of rubble, clay and Cap stone above the dimension stone beds.
And they are in the unusual position of being able to compare mining with quarrying in the same geology on the same site – Jordan’s quarry. They still quarry part of it and are mining into the side of the quarry to recover further reserves.
As well as the two major pieces of new equipment bought by Albion, they have also made a number of smaller purchases, including a new GMM saw for their workshop, three compressors and various energy saving improvements.
The investments came as a result of areas specifically highlighted in a Carbon Trust report that Albion Stone commissioned in order to measure their carbon footprint and identify ways of reducing it.
At the Natural Stone Show in London last month (March) Albion were giving out a leaflet entitled Portland Stone Carbon Footprint – Mining v Quarrying that highlighted their environmentally friendly methods of production. It included their most recent figures that show the Carbon Footprint of stone from the mine is 64.48kg per cubic metre of block while the carbon footprint of block from the quarry is almost twice as much at 115.45kg per cubic metre.
Reducing the amount of carbon embodied in the stone is only part of the action being taken by Albion to minimise their environmental impact. Mining does not only require less energy than quarrying, it also means the stone is extracted without the land above, and therefore the flora and fauna, being disturbed.
And Albion are reducing their impact on water supply by collecting rainwater from the roofs of their factory and recycling it.
Why pay £56 a tonne to dump water?
The landfill tax increased by £8 to £56 a tonne this month (April) and will increase by a further £8 a tonne each year until at least 2014. Landfill space is limited, allowing operators to increase their gate fees. It does not make sense to be paying these prices to dispose of water, say filter press makers Latham International, who last year took over Exact Dewatering. Here they explain how filter press systems not only mean you dump less water, but can also increase tool life by 25%.
Processing stone requires water as a means of cooling and lubricating the machinery but the water becomes contaminated with the product. This is a problem experienced in all stone cutting, edging, profiling, routing, milling and polishing, as the system is a self contained, closed loop where the water is continually recirculated and fed back to the machine heads or saw blades.
Re-using the water accelerates the build up of the removed solids in the system and therefore a method is required to remove them on a continual basis without stopping production.
Apart from settling in slow moving parts of the system, a certain amount of the material removed from the stock remains in suspension and recirculates back to the tool contact area. Instead of washing away solids, at this point the effect is to feed additional recirculated solids to the cutting or polishing tip. This is effectively creating a grinding media fed directly to the contact surface, accelerating wear of the tooling.
- Filtering out the solids suspended in the water in a proper manner can improve:
- Environmental issues linked with disposal to landfill and quarry
- Clean water usage
- Waste handling
- Production downtime
- Tool lifespan
Small particles of stone are more dense than water and will sink where the water is not being agitated by circulation – typically, that is in machine sumps.
To prevent the build up of solids in these areas it is necessary to control where the material is allowed to settle and collect it at a point where it can be dealt with easily. There are various ways of doing this.
Sump Weir system
This is an extension to the existing machine sump creating a system of adjacent tanks into which the liquid from the machines is introduced to the first tank with an outflow simply overflowing to the next tank.
This is a crude way of capturing the solids and the weirs will periodically require the removal of the solids.
Settlement System
The principal of reducing the flow rate is adopted in all settlement systems but improvements are made in the way the solids are collected.
For ease of maintenance, the settlement tank is generally installed above ground, unlike the sump system fed by gravity flow. Therefore a small collection sump with a facility to pump is required.
There are three types of settlement tank: a basic conical bottom tank with overflow; a conical tank with central inlet baffle tube and top overflow launder; a Lamella or tilted plate separator. Each of these options will do the same job but with varying degrees of efficiency based on cost and unit size.
However, we are still faced with the same problem that the solids collected in the system need to be removed on a regular basis to prevent compaction of the settled material and recirculation of solids.
Chemical Conditioning
The settlement rate and particulate removal can be enhanced with the addition of polyelectrolyte (or flocculant). This is an electrically charged long chain molecule that attracts the smaller particulate to join together to form larger particles, which speeds up settlement and the clarity of the top water for recirculation.
For the further removal of water from the settled solids a fabric filter media can be used. This can be done using gravity or, to speed up the process, pressure filtration (a filter press). For large volumes that require a high throughput, the pressure filtration route is the best option.
For many years the technology developed in Stoke on Trent in the late 1800s by James Bradbeer has been used for pressure filtration, although the many developments in filter plates, filter fabrics and operational aids over the years are what have made this the system of choice for the stone industry. It is now used worldwide in conjunction with a settlement system to produce clean water for recirculation and solid filter cake with in excess of 70% dry solids for disposal – and often removing as much as 80-90% of the moisture.
A filter press can also reduce the amount of space needed for the water recirculation system by as much as three-quarters.
Latham make bespoke systems for customers, tailoring them to the requirements of the individual customer, something that, being British (they are based at Newcastle-under-Lyme) is easy for them to do for customers in the UK and Ireland. The presses are used by some customers twice a day and by others once a week, depending on the throughput and the size of unit, although once a day is usual.
Below is a typical arrangement for a multiple saw input into a central collection sump with clarified top water returning to a clean water reservoir.
Photovoltaic cells and the FIT
If you went to EcoBuild in March you will not have failed to notice there are a lot of companies selling photovoltaic cells. If you are planning to put the cells on the roofs of your workshops (or anywhere else) you might also have noticed the reduction in Feed in Tarrif (FIT) hastily proposed by the Government in February to stem an explosion of ‘energy farms’ as land owners discovered they could earn more from fields of PV cells than they can from growing food.
The reduced rates for systems above 50kW, which is larger than the average roof could accommodate, are due to take effect from
1 August and will inevitably reduce the expected return on investment from the current 12% or so to about 8.5%.
The change will only relate to new installations, so anyone who installs PVs before August will benefit from the current higher rates.
FIT guarantees a minimum payment for a set number of years (usually 25 ), adjusted for inflation each year, for all electricity generated under the scheme, as well as a separate payment for the electricity exported to the grid. These payments are in addition to the savings made by using the electricity generated so you don’t have to buy it from an electricity supplier. It is the electricity suppliers who will pay the FIT.
Feed in Tariffs are designed so that the average monthly income from your installation will be greater than the repayment on a loan taken out to invest in the technology (based on a 25-year loan).
The scheme covers electricity generation up to an installation size of 5mW from solar electricity (roof mounted or stand alone PV units), wind turbines (building mounted or free standing), hydroelectricity, anaerobic digestion and micro combined heat and power (micro CHP).
You can find out more about government moves on sustainability on the Department of Energy & Climate Change website at the address below.
Cut the Carbon campaign to help smaller companies
Small and medium-sized construction businesses must act now to up-skill if they want to take advantage of the growing demand for low carbon construction.
That was the challenge outlined by Mark Farrar, Chief Executive of CITB-ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for construction, as he launched the ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign in Westminster.
The campaign is a partnership between CITB-ConstructionSkills, the National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC) and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). Its aim is to help SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to understand what new carbon legislation will mean to them and equip them with a tangible mix of knowledge and skills to respond to client demand.
Mark Farrar and his partner CEOs, Suzannah Nichol (NSCC) and Richard Diment (FMB) agree on the need for the campaign partnership.
Richard Diment says: “In its Energy Security & Green Economy Bill, the Government is outlining measures through the ‘Green Deal’ to create almost 250,000 jobs by improving the energy efficiency of the UK’s building stock.
“Research reveals that a large and growing number of clients want SMEs to be able to propose carbon reduction solutions – and deliver them.
“At a time when many small businesses across the UK are battling with the impact of the recession, the prospect of new work in the construction sector couldn’t come at a better time.”
Suzannah Nicol takes up the story. “That’s where the campaign partnership comes in. We’re working together to help businesses get the right skills in the right place at the right time. Being carbon ready will really help SMEs carve out a future for themselves.”
Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said at the launch of the ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign in October: “Small businesses have lots to gain from a shift to a low carbon economy – not only does energy saving help the bottom line but the opportunities for growth are huge.
“The government is putting in place the Green Deal to help them seize those opportunities. ‘Cut the Carbon’ will provide advice and practical help in what more small businesses need to do to prepare for a greener future.”
The Cut the Carbon Partnership was joined by Dr Paul Toyne, Chair of the Strategic Forum for Construction’s Carbon Group, in highlighting the growing influence that low carbon skills are having on client procurement decisions.
He said: “This campaign is the practical next step that industry needs. The demand for low carbon construction is set to grow, driven by Government legislation and targets such as the Green Deal in England, the Energy Efficiency Action Plan in Scotland and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Green Jobs Strategy. By focusing specifically on knowledge and skills, the Cut the Carbon Partnership is helping the construction industry, and SME contractors in particular, to be ready to respond. The size and scale of the opportunity on offer should not be underestimated.”
A survey commissioned by the Cut the Carbon Partnership has revealed that low carbon skills are having a real influence on clients’ procurement requirements. The findings not only suggested there are significant business opportunities for carbon-conscious SME contractors, but also that businesses that are slow to acquire low carbon knowledge and skills might find it much harder to win work in the coming years.
A new website – www.cskills.org/cutcarbon – gives SMEs a start in learning more about the opportunities available to them.