Pushing up Daisies

A speaker at the climate change roadshow I am organising for Oxfordshire’s FSB recently told us how polluting it is to die.

That’s right, we are terrible for climate change, you know.

Cremations comprise around 70% of UK funerals. Imagine, all those people every year, generating plenty of CO2. We are, after all, carbon based life forms, are we not? Apparently, 160Kg of CO2 is produced by a cremation. The New Scientist estimates 18 million cremations a year, worldwide. So what are the alternatives?

• The Swedish idea freeze-dry bodies to produce a perfect compost sounds fine, except that you need energy to do the freezing.
• Zoroastrians allow their dead to be consumed by vultures, which is carbon neutral, and supports the food web.
• Local burials in grassland with wild flowers and a tree of your choice seems a nice way to go

How about speeded up anaerobic digesters? Local energy production, courtesy of our forebears.

Piggy Bank or Guinea Pig?

Pig farmers considering setting up a poo-eating anaerobic digester might want to reconsider their motives.  It could be an attractive proposition to generate your own heat and power at the moment, with energy prices what they are, you’d be investing in something that could save you cash in the future, a bit like an enormous piggy bank.

But the cost of a reasonably small-scale AD plant is pretty steep, and may take a long time to pay back.  There is another option, which is becoming more attractive to a certain farmer of my acquaintance.  That is to look at a larger digester which takes “feedstock” (what you put into the digester) from other sources, and turns the digester into a pig-poo-powered money generator (or “guinea-pig” as I call it).

One of these sources could be food waste, diverting grotty smelly stuff away from landfill sites and turning it into energy.  Our farmers could then not just cover their own heat and energy costs, but make that tantalizing transition from food producer to electricity generator.

Artistic License

I met an artist who produces works from Bronze. Her sculptures sell for thousands, but she has a worry.

The artist is concerned about the environment, and bronze has a rather polluting production method. She would love to move to a beautiful, resinous, material which is much more climate-change friendly, but is concerned customers won’t pay the same price and will deem it an inferior material.

Then I went to Potato Day in Ryton in early February. In one of the tents, there was a large group surrounding a stall selling pure copper gardening tools. They were beautiful. But it made me think – copper is getting more and more scarce – should we be buying so much of it to use on our spuds?!

Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps now it is time to value art or artisan products in a new way. Recycled, renewable and non-polluting materials may have had a crusty, left-over image in the past, but I think it is time they became chic and desirable. After all, doesn’t the true artistic beauty reside in the creativity of the artist, rather than the materials themselves?

Carbon’s bad – but watch out for perflourocarbons

So what’s with the Carbon focus? CO2 reduction, Carbon Trading, Carbon Trust carbon footprinting. Companies looking at climate change often have carbon on the brain. Why is this?

Well, the scientists tell us that carbon dioxide contributes to 80% of the problem of global warming, mainly because CO2 is so prolific. That’s why we are so bothered with it. But watch out – the other 20% comes from other greenhouse gases – some of which are evil incarnate.

Take perflourocarbons. If carbon has a warming potential of 1, perflourocarbons have a warming potential of 6,500 – 9,200 over a 100 yr time horizon. That’s a nasty gas.

Should we be bothered, if the quantities of these gases are relatively small? Well, if we are all busy inventing new ways of reducing carbon, we need to make sure we don’t produce something that emits perflourocarbons instead…

…that’s why Ems2’s name contains the word “Emissions” (as in all greenhouse gases), rather than “Carbon”. Let’s keep our eyes open folks.

A good place to think creatively

I’m originally from a city as close to Cornwall as you can get without being in it, and have always been a fan of its breezy coastline and fabulous surf and sand. The South West Development Agency have been busy transforming Cornwall’s economy from lowly-paid seasonal hotel jobs into clusters of highly-paid year-round businesses.

One of the clusters is environmental technologies, and the northern coastline has a dramatic skyline of wind turbines.

I met with the Eden Project and told them my vision to help businesses to think positively about their approach to climate change, and they agreed Ems2 can use their new-ish Core building for creative workshops and strategy development. Thankfully, there is public transport and a fantastic local hotel…

Nice one chaps!