Environmental issues

Summary

• Environment Media Tracking
  • November 2008

    • Events	Affordability in Low Emission Water and Energy Roundtable - Wednesday 12 November, Canberra
      	Walk against Warming - Saturday 15 November

    • Movies	Human Rights Arts and Film Festival 2008
      	Bicycle Film Festival

    • Internet Sites

      Environmental Jobs Network (http://www.environmentaljobs.com.au/)

  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
    
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
• Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
• New Community Garden - Get Involved!
• Environment Report - July 2008
• YEA-V is Carbon Neutral
• YEA-V Environment Policy
• Build 'em High and Make Them Green (from New Scientist Magazine)
• YEA-V Carbon Neutral Project
• EA Release: Energy Future Review
  

Environment Media Tracking

November 2008

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October 2008

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September 2008

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August 2008

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July 2008

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June 2008

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May 2008

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April 2008

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March 2008

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February 2008

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January 2008

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Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

Last week the Australian Institute of Energy (AIE) held a luncheon where the guest speaker; Anthea Harris of the Department of Climate Change presented an outline of the Green paper for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The CPRS was formerly known as the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) but was given a name for a new beginning. YEA-V sent a representative to take it all in. There are three pillars of the Governments overall Climate Change Strategy.

The CPRS is the major strategy for the pillar of mitigation. The other two pillars are Adaptation and International Engagement. The CPRS will work as a cap and trade system, where there will be one permit for every tonne of CO₂ emitted and the total number of permits will be limited. The permits will be able to be traded and will have a value. A market will be created for the trading of these permits and the cap will be reduced over the years to reach set targets. The CPRS will cover all 6 Kyoto gases, and cover around 75% of business from scheme start. Small emitters will be captured through upstream suppliers. Agriculture will not be covered initially due to the complexities in capturing their impacts. Forestry's will be covered under on an opt in basis.

The national emissions target is for 60% reduction on 2000 levels by the year 2050. Targets are set for the next 5 years, and after 5 years a range in the target will be released. These firm targets will be generated after the Garnaut report and Treasury modelling is completed around October.

It is currently a green paper so is open to comment. The green paper can be found at http://www.climatechange.gov.au/emissionstrading/index.html and comments are welcome.

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New Community Garden - Get Involved! 

On Thursday, 7 August 2008, at the Werribee primary school, a community meeting was held to discuss the proposal of a community garden similar to the CERES gardens in Brunswick. There are community gardens spread all around Melbourne, however, there is a noted lack of such facilities in the western suburbs.

At the meeting there were presenters from local government, CERES community garden, TV personalities and local community representatives. They were all there to discuss the proposal which touted benefits such as:

The meeting was a great success with around 150 in attendance, which showed great support from the community for this initiative.

It is currently still at proposal stage as land and funding is sought. A new committee is being created to take the proposal further, and opportunities exist for young engineers to volunteer their time and put back into the community on a worthwhile project.

For more information on joining the committee call Cr Bob Fairclough on 0409 252 872 or email to bobfair@bigpond.net.au

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Environment Report - July 2008

July has been a big month for the federal Government, delivering significant documents that will shape the future of all Australians.

At the start of this month Professor Garnaut held public forums to garner feedback after releasing a 548 page draft document from the Garnaut Climate Change Review. This document was commissioned by Australia's Commonwealth, state and territory governments to examine the impacts, challenges and opportunities of climate change for Australia.

The opening address at the Melbourne public forum was insightful, with Professor Garnaut stating that climate change is one of the most complex issues the world has faced, and as a global community we have not faired well with complex issues. However, he did inspire optimism and has faith that the challenge can be met.

For a copy of the draft report and also a podcast of the forums held across the country go to www.garnautreview.org.au The CSIRO Future Fuels Forum also released a report this month entitled 'Fuel for thought.' This report has been quoted in the media as it predicts $8 a litre fuel by 2018 in the worst case scenario. From the website The Forum brought together 18 leading representatives from Australia's community, industry and government to share ideas and develop a range of options for our nation's transport fuel future, determining what could potentially get us ‘from A to B' by the middle of the Century. For the report and more information go to www.csiro.au/resources/FuelForThoughtReport.html. With these two documents reinforcing the implications of climate change and limitation of natural resources on our day to day lives, we need to keep informed of future government directions that will not only affect regular citizens but how as engineers we provide our skills to the community.

For us, that means tracking emissions resulting from YEA-V activities, and implementing strategies to reduce them. For you, that means continued enjoyment of YEA-V activities and membership benefits, with a cleaner conscience and greater awareness.

YEA-V's carbon neutral project will focus on reducing and offsetting emissions from:

• transport of people to and from events and activities
• energy consumed at venues for lighting and heating
• food and drink consumed at events and
• energy used by our hard working committee, including energy used in transportation and computer usage.

Members keen to contribute suggestions on how YEA-V can reduce or offset emissions, what you're doing to reduce your carbon emissions, or just want to express a point of view on the project, please contact: YEA-V's Environment Officer at yeavic@engineersaustralia.com.au. 

Keep an eye out on our website and newsletter for progress reports on our tracking and reduction of green house gases.

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YEA-V is Carbon Neutral

Over the last 12 months, YEA-V have measured carbon emissions from transportation activities, food and energy consumption and waste generation from all our events and activities and now, we’re ready go carbon neutral!

Breakdown of YEA-V’s emissions by category

Emissions for the year totalled 10 tonnes of CO₂-eq¹, including 3 tonnes from passenger vehicle use, 2.6 tonnes from food and beverage consumption, and 1.2 tonnes from public transport use.  The main activities driving emissions are choice of transport to and from events and choosing take-away foods instead of fresh foods produced with minimal processing.  Only 0.5 tonnes came from electricity use because YEA-V uses smaller spaces within Engineering House.

YEA-V will offset these emissions through offset provider Climate Positive.  Climate Positive sources offsets from accredited emissions reduction projects that generate renewable energy and displace energy that would otherwise come from a fossil fuel source.  In addition to the renewable energy offset, Climate Positive restore bio-diverse forest area, providing a carbon sink for future emissions and habitat for native wildlife, making their net contribution a positive one on the climate.  More information is available from www.climatepositive.org.

But offsetting is only the first step for YEA-V.  Now that we have identified our emissions, YEA-V need to implement a solid strategy to reduce them.  Some initiatives already identified include:

• providing a car pool register for members,
• using venues with easier access to public transport, and
• sourcing fresh foods from local suppliers for Committee meetings and events.

And you can help us too.  Some things you can do to reduce emissions are:

• Buy local and fresh.  Local produce travels less distance to get to your plate and fresh produce has minimal processing, so less energy has gone into preparing it for you.
  
• Turn down the heat.  With winter coming up, heat only rooms that are being used.  Also check the thermostat on your hot water service.  Due you really need to heat water to 60°C then mix with cold water when doing the dishes?  40°C is a good temperature.
  
• Stop being afraid of the dark.  Turn off lights and appliances when you’re not using them.  And consider energy efficiency appliances when making purchases.
  
• Think twice about taking the car.  Consider walking, using public transport or car pooling.
  
• Buy green power.  Most electricity retailers offer green plans.  Do some research and compare.  The best ones are the ones that displace fossil fuel power from the grid and introduce new and genuine renewable energy generation capacity.
  
• Nominate for the position of Environment Officer at the next AGM, Tuesday, 10 June 2008.  Send nominations to yeavic@ngineersaustralia.org.au.  YEA-V need passionate people to further the work we’ve done so far.

For more ideas, visit www.livingthing.net.au, click on the “Resource Centre” and visit “top tips”.  And there’s plenty of information out there and plenty of debate in the media.  Read it.

As engineers, we excel at analysing the world around us and finding ways to improve it.  We understand problems, find practical solutions, and get things done.  How to create a sustainable society will be the challenge that defines our generation.  As engineers, we need to step up to the plate and meet the challenge head on.  A new world needs to be designed and constructed.  It’s time to get on with it.

For more information on our Carbon Neutral project, contact yeavic@engineersaustralia.org.au.

1. CO₂-eq:  a measure of green house gases represented as an amount of carbon dioxide with equivalent warming potential.

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YEA-V Environment Policy

YEA-V Environment Policy

This document outlines the promises and practices of YEA-V towards becoming a carbon neutral organization.

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BUILD 'EM HIGH AND MAKE THEM GREEN (from New Scientist Magazine)

Rachel Nowak, Melbourne

The cluster of beige corrugatediron sheds and silos don’t look like much, but this unassuming factory in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, represents a potential revolution in greenhouse gas emissions. It’s the first commercial enterprise in the world dedicated to transforming waste from power stations and blast furnaces into geopolymer
concrete, a particularly promising green concrete.

The factory, owned by the company Zeobond, is due to start operations in February. Unlike with regular concrete the chemical reactions that form this polymer-based alternative don’t give off carbon dioxide or require high temperatures, which also lead to CO2 emissions. So it releases just 10 to 20 per cent of the greenhouse gases associated with making the standard stuff.

The first customers for Zeobond’s E-Crete will be individuals and local councils, who will use it in small, nonsafety-critical projects, such as building patios and walls on motorways that block sound, says company founder Jannie van Deventer, a chemical engineer at the University of Melbourne. If geopolymers like E-Crete prove to be durable, there is no reason why they shouldn’t replace regular concrete in a variety of applications, from high-rise buildings to bridges. So says Mark Drechsler of engineering consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, who are hoping to use E-Cret  to build low-cost housing. “If you replaced just half the new concrete that will be needed over the next 10 years with geopolymers, it would be a reduction of almost a billion tonnes of extra CO2 each year at a time of global demand for reducing emissions,” he says.

How bad can concrete be for the environment? The main culprit is the ingredient Portland cement , a fine powder containing calcium, oxygen and silicon, which forms concrete when mixed with water, sand and rocks. To make Portland cement, calcium carbonate, in the form of limestone, and other raw materials such as clay, must be roasted at over 1400 °C. The resulting chemical reaction produces half a tonne of CO2 per tonne of cement. Over a third of a tonne of additional emissions come from burning the fuel to heat the cement kilns and transporting raw materials. Between 5 and 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions are the result of cement production. With demand for concrete set to double in the next decade, the figures will only get more dismal.

“There is a need to change the product, change production methods, to innovate. The major cement producers are scrabbling to increase and refocus their research capabilities on energy use and the environment,” says Fredrik Glasser, a cement scientist at the University of Aberdeen, UK.

Cement manufacturers have reduced net emissions to some extent by building more efficient kilns and using greener alternatives to fossil fuels. Also helpful is the use of additives such as flyash or slag, the wasteproducts of power stations and blast furnaces respectively. They either replace some of the cement or make its production more efficient. But those tweaks have reached their limits, and don’t nearly compensate for the increase in cement production.

Enter geopolymer concretes, whose different chemistry could reduce CO2 emissions far more radically (see Diagram). The starting materials are silicon- and oxygen-containing compounds called silicates, and aluminiumand oxygen-containing aluminates, both of which are present in fly ash and slag waste.

When alkali is added to silicates and aluminates, a polymerisation reaction occurs that binds them into a long chain-like molecule known as a geopolymer. Add in rocks and sand at the same time, and you have a geopolymer concrete. No CO2 is produced during polymerisation and no heating is required.

An analysis of E-Crete’s production process by independent consultants showed that CO2 emissions are reduced by at least 80 per cent compared to producing Portland cement.

Over the past decade, geopolymers have been used for niche applications such as catalytic converters, fire-resistant components in Formula 1 racing cars, and fire insulation for passenger ships . But Zeobond is the first company to start making them commercially forconstruction projects.

One concern in the past was that geopolymers set too rapidly, which would make the concrete difficult to handle. Another was that they are more porous than regular concrete, making them vulnerable to decay. Although he won’t go into details for proprietary reasons, van Deventer, whose team has studied geopolymer chemistry for over 15 years, claims to have solved those problems with subtle changes to the productionp rocess, for example, by carefully controlling the rate at which reagents are added to the fly ash. What’s more, unlike regular concrete, geopolymer bond directly to internal steel reinforcements, which may provide an additional protective barrier, he says.

Geopolymer concretes have also been tested under some extreme circumstances, leading Van Deventer to believe they are just as strong as ordinary concrete. CSIC, Spain’s largest public research organisation, has tested them as railway sleepers or crossties, the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track. They passed “with high marks”, says materials scientist Angel Palomo of the Eduardo Torroja Institute in Madrid, part of the CSIC. “From an engineering point of view a sleeper is a very complex element, which is also subjected to very aggressive mechanical conditions and weather extremes,” he says. “The material is good enough for sleepers, so it will be good enough for many building parts.

”Whether they are as durable as standard concrete is less clear but there are encouraging signs. Zeobond has tested geopolymers including E-Crete, at very high temperatures and pressures, and for resistance to acids, for short periods of time. Although geopolymer concretes perform well, the tests don’t exactly mimic what happens when concrete is put under strain for decades, says van Deventer.

However, his hopes were raised by older versions of a similar technology. Forty years ago, in the Soviet Union, apartment buildings, water channels and roads were constructed using a concrete containing slag and high levels of alkali, which is only used in small amounts in regular concrete.

Van Deventer joined forces with Pavel Krivenko, a cement engineer from the National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Kiev, Ukraine. When they took samples from the structures and analysed their microscopic structure, they found that the material contained bonds between aluminates and silicates that resembled a geopolymer. Since the structures are still standing, Van Deventer says modern geopolymers are likely to be as durable as ordinary concrete. The analysis will appear in an upcoming issue of ACI Materials Journal .

Joseph Davidovits of the Geopolymer Institute in Saint-Quentin, France, also claims that the Egyptian pyramids weremainly constructed from geopolymer concrete rather than  from hewn rock, although his view is controversial.

Uptake of geopolymerconcrete is likely to be slow, due to a lack of testing in the field – a perennial problem for any novel construction material. Nonetheless, the timing couldn’t be better. Demand for green building materials in wealthy nations is expanding under the weight of environmental concerns, as well as in expanding economies with housing booms, such as India.

Geopolymer concretes also have some unique advantages. Made from waste materials, they are potentially cheap ; they strengthen in a matter of hours rather than days, and they are more resistant to acid, fire and microbial attack than standard concrete. “I’m optimistic,” says Palomo. “Attitudes to the environment are changing and governments are pressing the industrial community to reduce their emissions.”

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YEA-V CARBON NEUTRAL PROJECT

YEA-V are going carbon neutral, launching a project to minimise and offset green house emissions from YEA-V activities. For us, that means tracking emissions resulting from YEA-V activities, and implementing strategies to reduce them. For you, that means continued enjoyment of YEA-V activities and membership benefits, with a cleaner conscience and greater awareness.

YEA-V's carbon neutral project will focus on reducing and offsetting emissions from:

• transport of people to and from events and activities,
• energy consumed at venues for lighting and heating,
• food and drink consumed at events, and
• energy used by our hard working committee, including energy used in transportation and computer usage.

The project, which began tracking emissions from 1 July this year, is one way YEA-V are promoting a young engineer's importance to climate change issues. Also look out for media articles in our newsletters, and further informative seminars, with an Environmental focus.

Members keen to contribute suggests on how YEA-V can reduce or offset emissions, what you're doing to reduce your carbon emissions, or just want to express a point of view on the project, contact YEA-V's Environment Officer at mailto:yeavic@engineersaustralia.org.au?subject=YEA-V%20Environment%20suggestion .

Keep an eye out on our website and newsletter for progress reports on our tracking and reduction of green house gases.

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EA Release: Energy Future Review

Engineers Australia have released Australia’s Energy Future, a comprehensive review of the issues surrounding Australia’s energy and climate change policies.

In Australia’s Energy Future, Engineers Australia present a strong position favouring action to curb increasing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate damage from global climate change. At a local level, a long term emissions reduction target, and a pathway towards that target, is highlighted as “the most important feature” of climate change policy framework, and a major element lacking from Australian Government policy. The report suggests that “deferring action on an emissions reduction target means that when a target is eventually set there will be less time to affect the necessary changes, increasing the cost of adjustment.”

The report outlines options for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector, including advanced coal fired electricity technologies, with carbon capture and storage, solar power generation, geothermal energy generation and nuclear generation. It concludes there is no one method to deal with the necessary greenhouse emissions reduction on its own, rather, “Engineers Australia believes that energy policy should favour as wide a portfolio of measures as possible (and) market forces should determine the most effective for particular situations in most cases”.

“There are already signs that energy infrastructure investors are being confused by present policy. The evidence shows that the rapid growth in energy demand, particularly for electricity, cannot be accommodated without active new infrastructure investment in the next few years.”

The engineering profession have a significant role to play when it comes to developing and implementing sustainable solutions that meet energy needs responsibly. The right choices need to be made with the right lead from government, a lead that needs clarity and decisiveness.

Clarity includes setting caps on emissions and establishing market signals that make investment options easier to evaluate and implement. As engineers, we have a role to play in delivering technical solutions. We also have capacity to influence our Governments to set the pace for the future, and highlight the issues that are of importance to the greater community.

Australia’s Energy Future goes some way in doing that. To review the report, click here.

This article was produced with extracts from the report and other material published on Engineers Australia websites.

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The Institution of Engineers Australia, trading as Engineers Australia.