Tag Archives: sustainability

News

Sustainability : Carbon Capture For Ships

With container ships being bigger greenhouse gas producers that aeroplanes, London-based company ‘Seabound’ has developed technology that reduces up to 95 per cent of CO2 emissions per ship.

The Problem 

The shipping industry is responsible for producing around 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which equates to at least 2.5 per cent of the world’s total CO2 emissions. This is the reason why the International Maritime Organisation is introducing new regulations from 2023 and setting a target to cut these emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

Seabound’s Carbon Capture System

Seabound, founded and led by Alisha Fredriksson and Roujia Wen, has developed a prototype system that uses lime to capture the CO2 emissions from ships. The system uses an onboard device filled with porous, calcium oxide pebbles to trap emissions from a ship’s exhaust. These bind with the CO2 to form calcium carbonate (limestone). The Captured CO2 in the limestone can then be unloaded when the ship docks and sold for utilisation or can undergo a process to separate the carbon using heat. In this case, the calcium oxide could be re-used and the carbon sold for use or sequestration (the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide).

Not The Only One 

Although Seabound have made the news recently, they are not the only company working on different types of tech solutions to reduce the CO2 emissions of ships. Others include:

– UK company, Smart Green Shipping (SGS) which has developed a wind-assist power solution (based on America’s Cup wing sails). This system uses ‘smart’ vertical aerofoils mounted on ships which are paired with an analysis system that accurately calculates the available wind to any ship, with the initial goal of reducing fuel consumption by at least a fifth.

– In August 2020, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding announced that it had started work on developing a carbon-capture system for ships that could reduce their carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent and produce raw materials for new fuels to be produced.

– Dutch company Value Maritime has developed the ‘Filtree System’ for small and medium-sized ships based on new unique technology which, in addition to sulphur, also filters ultra-fine particulates and CO2 from the air. The ‘plug and play’ system tackles the problems of ships polluting the air and acidifying seawater.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

The shipping industry produces a large amount of CO2 and other pollutants. With strict targets to meet and regulations from the International Maritime Organisation to comply with, it is important that practical and affordable tech solutions are found and rolled out soon. At the moment, the complexity of the problem and the expense and time needed in R&D mean that many of the different proposed solutions are still at the prototype stage. On the plus side, several seem workable and as technologies continue to evolve and combine and industries around are all now focusing on tackling the same issue, reducing greenhouse gasses, other ideas and solutions may also come to the fore, thereby increasing the likelihood of developing systems that will work well and meet the targets.

News

Sustainability : 27 Per Cent Increase In Clean Energy Investment In 2021

BloombergNEF’s reports of a record-breaking 27 per cent year-on-year increase in global investment in clean energy technologies and infrastructure could point to real progress being made towards hitting climate-change goals.

$755bn Increase – Asia Focus

Energy strategic research provider BloombergNEF’s annual investment report, Energy Transition Investment Trends 2022, has highlighted a record-breaking 27 per cent rise in clean energy investment, which equates to an increase of $755bn. BloombergNEF reports that almost half of all investment occurred in Asia.

Most Investment In Clean Power & Electrification

BloombergNEF reports that, together, clean power and electrification (renewables, nuclear, energy storage, electrified transport, and electrified heat) accounted for the majority of the investment ($731 billion), and hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and sustainable materials made up the remaining investment ($24 billion.)

The report showed that renewable energy (wind, solar and other renewables) attracted a record-breaking $366 billion investment in 2021, and electrified transport (electric vehicles and associated infrastructure) was the second-largest sector with $273 billion invested. The electric vehicle sales sector, for example, grew by an incredible 77 per cent in 2021!

Investment Despite Commodities Crunch

As Albert Cheung, Head of Analysis at BloombergNEF, pointed out in the report there was a 27 per cent increase in energy transition investment in 2021, despite a global commodities crunch creating input cots challenges for key clean energy technologies. This could be a sign of a real low-carbon transition by investors, governments, and businesses. Asia is reported to have made the biggest investment in clean energy technologies last year, but it is also very promising to hear that China, often reported as being climate change laggard, made the biggest transition Investment.

Clean Energy, But Not Clean Rivers

Clean energy investment, particularly in Asia, may be at a high but sadly, it seems that same concern for the environment may not have been shown by the UK’s environment agency in recent times. For example, following news last summer that sewerage has been discharged regularly into UK waterways by some water companies leaving almost one-third (32 per cent) of rivers failing to meet tests for good ecological status, recent reports show pressure from the top for a cover-up. Last week, for example, it was reported that Environment Agency Chief executive James Bevan attempted to deal with criticism about failures to protect waterways by sending a memo to staff threatening sanctions or dismissal for anyone making derogatory statements about the organisation inside or outside work. This apparent attempt to cover-up the pollution follows news that, last November, it was reported that staff were told to shut down and stop investigating low level pollution events (level 3 and 4 incidents), thereby axing important core pollution detection work.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

International Energy Agency (IEA) figures show that electricity and heat generation correspond to over 40 per cent of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, with 70 per cent of the associated emissions coming from coal plants. This highlights how important it is to make the change to clean energy sources. The record-breaking 27 per cent year-on-year increase in global investment in clean energy technologies and infrastructure in 2021 highlighted in BloombergNEF’s report is, therefore, a very promising sign. It is also promising that China, for example, made biggest transition investment, which some would say it needed to do to start to bring about positive environmental change. With transport also being such a big polluter, its also promising news that electrified transport, which includes spending on electric vehicles and associated infrastructure, was shown to be the second-largest sector with $273 billion invested in 2021.The report makes positive reading but the job now is accelerate the rates and scale of change and investment if the world is serious about hitting its net zero by 2050 target.

News

Sustainability : Removing CO2 Via Direct Air Capture Technology

With some climate commentators suggesting that current action and targets to reduce global warming may not be enough, we look at how Direct Air Capture Technology (DAC) could help.

The Challenges

The world’s governments have set targets to reduce the amount of CO2 produced by human activities in order to at least slow and, hopefully, make headway in trying reverse the effects of global warming. However, some of the challenges include:

– Simply ending emissions may not even be enough to stabilise the climate.

– The world’s energy consumption is growing at round 2 per cent per year anyway.

– Not all CO2 emissions are from large, controllable sources e.g., power plants where CO2 can be captured as it comes out.

(DAC) Technologies

Direct air capture (DAC) technologies can be used to extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere using liquid and solid DAC systems. Liquid systems pass the air through chemicals (e.g., a hydroxide solution) to remove the CO2, whereas solid DAC technology uses ‘solid sorbent’ filters that chemically bind with CO2. Heating the filters and placing them under a vacuum then releases the concentrated CO2 so it can be captured and stored.

Technology Used At Carbon Capture Facilities

There are already 20 direct air capture (DAC) plants operating worldwide, capturing more than 0.01 Mt CO2/year. New advanced versions may able to capture even more. For example, the DAC 1 facility at Permian Basin in the US is due to go live in 2024 when it will become the world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) facility being able to eventually capture to 1.0 MtCO2 (0ne million tonnes)/year.

The Advantages

Some of the advantages of setting up plants/facilities that use DAC to remove CO2 from the air include:

– They can help tackle the less controllable sources of CO2 emissions e.g., cars, planes, and household emissions.

– CO2 removal plants can be set up close to where the CO2 needs to be stored.

– CO2 mixes quickly in the air so it doesn’t matter where in the world the CO2 is removed – the removal has the same impact.

– DAC helps to close the ’carbon loop’ i.e., CO2 is repeatedly captured and reused to avoid producing more.

Issues

Although DAC looks like being a helpful addition in the fight to stabilise the earth’s climate, some of the current issues in scaling it up include:

– The high cost of building CO2 removal facilities.

– The potential high energy usage by the facilities themselves.

Hope, Breakthroughs, and Alternatives

Despite the issues, progress is being made to address them, and alternative ideas for carbon removal and storage are surfacing regularly. For example:

– Arizona State University Professor Klaus Lackner’s use of ‘mechanical trees’/vertical columns of discs coated with a special chemical resin and the use of moisture in the process could reduce the energy requirements of CO2 removal at scale.

– Mineral sequestration is a method that uses calcium-rich minerals, of which there are large areas around the world, to permanently store large quantities of CO2.

– Underground saline aquifers are being used to store CO2.

– Rewards are now being offered to incentivise innovation in CO2 capture technology. For example, in February 2021, billionaire Tesla founder and SpaceX boss, Elon Musk, pledged to give a $100 (£73 million) prize to whomever comes up with the best technology to remove carbon dioxide (which is produced from fossil fuels) from the air.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

Global warming and the greenhouse gas emissions, such as large quantities of CO2, which are causing the warming are everyone’s problem. It is likely to be the case that not enough is being done to reduce levels quickly enough so, if DAC and similar technologies can be shown to make a real difference, it makes sense that efforts and investments are fed into setting up CO2 extraction and storage plants. Progress is already being made in increasing their effectiveness e.g., the US plant that may be able to capture 0ne million tonnes per year when it goes live in 2024. These technologies should be viewed as one of many tools to be used and measures to be taken to dramatically reduce the amount of CO2 we produce globally, and we may still have some way to go towards motivating some of the biggest CO2 producing countries to take serious steps to cut emissions which is a vital step in the overall strategy of which DAC can also play a role.

News

Tesco Set To Be First To Use Fully Electric Commercial Articulated HGV Trucks

Tesco has announced that, from this month, it is launching the UK’s first commercial use of fully electric, heavy freight articulated trucks.

Two For Use In Wales

In partnership with logistics and international freight forwarding company FSEW, the first of the electric fleet to take to the road will be two new 37 tonne DAF electric vehicles used to transport food and other products from the Wentloog rail terminal near Cardiff to Tesco’s distribution centre in Magor, Wales.

Charging Points

The Wentloog – Magor route is 30 miles each way and logistics partners FSEW has installed charging points at its site in South Wales that provide enough energy to power the lorries for 100 miles before needing to charge again.

Clean, Green Energy

HGVs make up only 5 per cent of vehicle miles but a disproportionately greater contribution to the UK’s domestic transport emissions of around 16 per cent. Tesco says that these first two lorries will be able to replace around 65,000 diesel-fuelled road miles with clean green energy, removing 87.4 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Could Help Meet Zero Emission Targets

It is hoped, therefore, that these newly commissioned EVs could help demonstrate that electric HGV transportation is commercially viable, and in doing so, encourage wider investment in technology and innovation. Electric HGV transportation could play a key role in accelerating not just the haulage industry’s transition to zero emission transport over the next few years, but also Tesco’s own target of reaching net zero emissions in its operations by 2035.

Progress

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO said: “We’ve already made progress by starting our switch to electric home delivery vans and rolling out electric vehicles charging points for our customers. I’m excited that Tesco can also lead the way in electric haulage innovation, helping to tackle this last source of road transport emissions with the support of FSEW.”

Renewable Energy Partnership Too

Tesco already has a partnership with renewable energy investor, Low Carbon, to create three new solar farms in Essex, Anglesey, and Oxfordshire which can generate up to 130GWh of energy per year, enough to power 44,828 three-bedroom homes, helping the retail giant to procure more renewable energy and contribute to the grid.

Tesco has committed to use 100 per cent renewable electricity across the whole Tesco Group by 2030 which could save 30,308 tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 14,457 cars off the road.

What About The Other Supermarkets?

Back in July 2021, Sainsbury’s announced that it had become the first UK retailer to introduce fully electric refrigerated trailers to its delivery fleet. The fridges don’t release carbon emissions or particulate matter such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke into the air and have low noise emissions, thereby reducing the overall environmental impact of the retailer’s delivery vehicles.

Also, in July 2021 Morrisons announced the addition of ultra-fast electric car charging points to 100 stores to help build the biggest supermarket charging network in the UK, with the electricity used for charging coming from zero-carbon energy sources like wind and solar.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

There is broad agreement that EVs are the way to tackle transport emissions particularly those made by disproportionately larger polluting vehicles such as HGVs. This move from Tesco and its logistics partner FSEW is, therefore, very promising and if the initial experiment demonstrates a solid commercial case for these electric HGVs, investment, expansion, and similar moves by Tesco’s competitors will most likely follow. Although the costs of replacing HGV fleets with new EVs is high, supermarkets like Tesco have already committed to net zero targets and these vehicles will represent a way to help them reach the targets much more quickly. All businesses with a transport/delivery element will need to think about the move electric vehicles in the coming years and for many smaller businesses, current high costs of EVs and the availability of enough charging points are major considerations. Having many more electric HGVs on the road as replacements for the current diesel fleets is likely to something welcomed by all for environmental and public health benefits.

News

Autonomous Electric ‘Roboats’ In Amsterdam

The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS) has announced that it is testing the world’s first fleet of driverless, battery-powered, autonomous boats on Amsterdam’s Waterways.

‘Roboat’

The tests involve battery-powered, autonomous boat prototypes, dubbed ‘Roboats.’  These prototypes are the result of three years of research, building up from 1:4 and 1:2 scale prototypes to the full-size versions. The research is part of a joint program between AMS and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Floating Dumpsters

One of the first full-size prototypes is a floating dumpster which could, if introduced full-time, play a key role in clearing Amsterdam’s canals from waste and improving the city’s waste separation rates. This is because the inconvenience of the current process of having to take different types of waste to distinct locations has discouraged residents from separating waste correctly, but a dumpster coming to them could help turn things around. Using a fleet of autonomous dumpster ‘Roboats’ could also speed up waste collection not just in Amsterdam, but in other water-based cities, where there is a real need for both infrastructural improvements and a nimble waste collection system.

Taxis Too

With Amsterdam’s 60 miles of canals stretching across the city, another anticipated use that is being tested with ‘Roboats’ is water taxis that could help to achieve the concept of “smart urban mobility”. These taxis could prove to be a much more environmentally friendly (no emissions like combustion engines), and enjoyable way to get around the city, particularly for tourists.

Canals Being Used As Goods And Passenger Transportation Routes Again

Udo Kock, the former Deputy Mayor of the City of Amsterdam sees a commercial version of the Roboats (in ten years’ time) creating a situation where “Amsterdam’s canals could again be used intensively for goods transport. Just like three centuries ago.”

How They Work

The autonomous boats use Laser Image Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data for localisation and mapping so that the on-board computer can constantly compensate for external factors that influence the boat’s direction (wind, current and waves) and sail along a specific route while avoiding obstacles.

Roboats also use ‘automatic docking’ whereby they can autonomously steer and latch themselves to appropriate docking stations using two opposed-pairs of robotic arms which can be deployed to securely grab onto the stationary poles of a dock or the sides of another Roboat.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

For many organisations, and for the city itself, an existing extensive network of canals coupled with a 24/7, all-year round, efficient (autonomous) transportation service could represent a real opportunity for goods and passenger transportation.

Also, the busy port of Amsterdam where there are lots of vessels, quays and piers is a great place to test and improve the safety with autonomous systems to ensure that the commercial product, when it is ready in several years’ time, is highly effective, safe, and provides maximum value for organisations that use them.

The fact that Roboats are lithium battery-powered and, therefore, don’t emit greenhouse gasses like petrol-powered road vehicles makes them an ideal, sustainable, environmentally friendly urban transportation method for the city’s future.

News

Sustainability: Most Consumers Aiming For Environmentally Friendly Christmas Due To ‘COP26 Effect’

A recently published World Wildlife Fund (WWF) poll shows that nearly two-thirds of UK adults who celebrate Christmas intend to be more environmentally with their choices this year, with one-third citing recent news about the climate and nature crisis as the reason.

Driven By The ‘COP26’ Effect

The results of the poll, commissioned with Opinium Research, showed that what the WWF named the “COP26 effect” (the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference in Glasgow) has been a major driver in 64 per cent of UK adults looking to have greener Christmas than last year.

7 Out Of 10 Young People

The WWF poll results shows that the idea is particularly popular among the young with 7 in 10 of those aged 18 to 34 who celebrate Christmas saying that they intend to have a more environmentally friendly Christmas. The poll also revealed that the ‘COP26 effect’ of green issues being highlighted on the world stage was a driver for half of them making this decision.

How?

Some of the other important stats from the poll reveal just how people intend to have a more environmentally friendly Christmas.  For example:

– 38 per cent of respondents intend to choose Christmas gifts with less packaging.

– 30 per cent intend to use energy-saving LED lights on their Christmas trees.

– 30 per cent intend to purchase FSC certified, recyclable wrapping paper and Christmas cards.

Chartered Institute of Marketing Poll

The results of the WWF poll echoed those of a Chartered Institute of Marketing poll just days earlier.  The CIM poll of 2,000 adults, also carried out by Opinium, showed that more than half of UK adults (53 per cent) who celebrate Christmas think that doing so in a more environmentally friendly way is more important this year than last year. The CIM poll also showed that almost half of respondents (45 per cent) are willing to spend a bit more to have an environmentally friendly Christmas. This figure was 60 per cent among 18- to 34-year-olds and this extra willingness among the young was also a feature of the WWF poll.

Greater Transparency and Less Packaging

The CIM poll also revealed that most consumers are concerned that companies use too much packaging (82 per cent), and most consumers (two-thirds) would prefer companies to be more transparent about the impact Christmas products and services have on the environment.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

These polls appear to show that whether it is purely the effect of COP26, or a combination of things strengthened by an increased focus during and because of the pandemic, environmental issues are now being valued much more highly by consumers, even at a time where degrees of care-free excess has ruled in past. Young people who, arguably, have most to worry about with climate change and are more in touch with each other globally than ever before are, understandably, leading the charge in terms of prioritising the environment, even at Christmas.  Businesses and organisations should, therefore, take note that investing in greener products and reducing the amount and type of packaging (particularly reducing non-recyclable/ non-biodegradable packaging) and telling consumers about it could be rewarded by more sales and more favourable perceptions among target customers. Environmentally friendly products and packaging could, as the polls have indicated be a source of competitive advantage and differentiation (people are even prepared to pay more for it) that is valued at Christmas and beyond.

News

Sustainability : 97% Cost Reduction For Lithium Batteries

With a recent study finding that the costs of producing lithium-ion battery technologies have fallen by about 97 per cent since their commercialisation three decades ago, we look at the reasons why, and the possible implications.

What Is A Lithium-Ion Battery?

A lithium-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery. The lithium ions in it move from the negative electrode through an electrolyte to the positive electrode during discharge, and back again when charging. Lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of being made small and yet having a relatively high ‘energy density’, a lower self-discharge rate than other battery types and are a low-maintenance battery. This makes them ideal for providing portable electricity and powering many of our favourite electronic business gadgets (e.g. mobile phones, laptops, and tablets). They are also now helping to enable the electrification of cars and buses and are beginning to support the integration of renewable energy resources into the electricity grid.

Cost Decline – Study In March

A previous study in March this year found that since their introduction in 1991, the cost of lithium-ion batteries had fallen at a comparable rate to that of solar photovoltaic panels. This rate of cost decrease for solar panels was thought to be exceptional, but the story of lithium-ion batteries has proved this to be wrong.

New Study – The Reasons For The Rapid Decline in Costs

The latest study, the results of which are published in the Journal Energy and Environmental Science (Micah Ziegler, Juhyun Song PhD, Jessika Trancik) show a 97 per cent reduction in the cost of lithium-ion technologies over the last three decades. The authors of the report suggest that the main reasons for the substantial cost reduction include:

– Greater efforts to increase charge density between the late 1990s and early 2010s (38 per cent cost reduction).

– Reductions in cathode materials prices (18 per cent of the cost reduction).

– Changes in non-material costs (14 per cent of the cost decline).

– A large reduction in costly public and private research and development, which accounted for the majority of the observed cost reduction. Most of the R&D contribution can be attributed to advancements in chemistry and materials science.

– Learning-by-doing, and economies of scale.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

This massive reduction in the cost of lithium-ion battery technologies, mainly brought about by a reduction in R&D costs, has certainly benefitted organisations in terms of powering the various, ever-more compact devices used daily for work on the go. The cost reduction has also helped the growth of sales of electric vehicles and the general ongoing electrification of transportation.

In terms of the environment, reduced costs associated with electrochemical energy storage technologies may be helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing lithium-ion battery usage in stationary applications, helping to compensate for the intermittent supply of clean energy like solar and wind. This is enabling the growth of renewable energy technologies.  Cheaper electrochemical energy storage technologies (like lithium-ion batteries), therefore, is a factor that’s playing an increasingly important role in helping to tackle climate-change and move other green technologies forward.

News

Sustainability: Ethical Phones and Computers

In this article we look at what ethical phones and computers are, what makes them ‘ethical’ and what contribution they could be making to helping the environment by tackling issues such as the growing e-waste mountain.

Tackling E-Waste

The world currently has a big problem with electronic waste in terms of a “take, make, consume, dispose” attitude, mounting volumes of production and disposal, and little engagement with the circular economy by many manufacturers. For example, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor report (2020) shows that e-waste is now the fastest growing global waste stream with a record 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste generated worldwide in 2019, up 21 per cent in just five years. Not only does the worldwide pile of electronic waste weigh more than all the commercial airliners ever made, or the Great Wall of China (WEEE), but less than 20 per cent of the world’s e-waste is collected and recycled. This means that gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high-value, recoverable materials, conservatively valued at US $57 billion, are simply dumped or burned, and there is a huge polluting environmental impact.

Other Issues

Also, there are also arguments that many of the factory workers who manufacture electronic goods such as phone handsets are on low wages, and that governments are overlooking opportunities to promote and incentivise more re-use and recycling of the kinds of scarce materials found in e-waste. There are also questions about ethics and responsibility and whether manufacturers are putting profits before the planet and people.

Right-to-Repair

Making phones and computers that can be repaired by their users, rather than just by approved repairers is seen as another important way to help reduce the e-waste mountain. The ‘right-to-repair’ is a movement that seeks to have rules/legislation passed that forces manufacturers e.g., of electrical products, such as phones to make parts (and information) available to end customers, not just approved/authorised repairers, and technicians, so that it is possible for end-users to fix the product at home. The basic idea is that this could help tackle built-in obsolescence, thereby prolonging product life cycles, creating better value and saving money for consumers, and reducing the number of products going to waste thereby helping the environment. Ethical phones and other ethical devices have the ‘right-to-repair’ built-in to their design.

How Could Ethical Electronic Devices Help?

If devices such as ethical phones and computers are manufactured with fair trade, welfare of workers, repair, and recycling already built into the business model from the outset, and if there is wide market adoption, it could have a much more positive environmental impact than the current situation, and could slow and cuts the flow of e-waste, and help countries to meet their environmental targets.

What Is An Ethical Phone?

An ethical phone is one that has been manufactured with the circular economy in mind and the end-of-life of the product being incorporated into its design and manufacture (repair and recycling). Taking ‘Fairphone’ as an example of an ‘ethical phone,’ it offers:

– A take-back scheme so that customers can easily return the handset, thereby giving the opportunity of recycling the phones rather than sending them to landfill.

– A handset that’s ‘e-waste neutral’ because an equivalent volume of electronics is recycled per phone that’s sold.

– Workers who manufacture the handsets have a living wage bonus scheme enabling them to (depending on targets) receive 30 per cent extra on their wages.

– Ethically sourced precious metals and recycled metals are used in the handset manufacture e.g., aluminium and tungsten, plus recycled tin, copper, and rare earth metals. Also, Fairphone claims to be the first and only smartphone company to integrate Fairtrade gold in its supply chain.

– Recycled plastic for the phone casing.

– A modular design to minimise both repair costs and downtime. This helps tackle popular phone damage issues such as screen damage (accounts for 67.4% of phone repairs) and battery problems (33.9% of phone repairs).

– The right-to-repair built-in to the design with handsets able to be repaired using just a screwdriver and easy access to parts. This coupled with the phone’s modular design can give it longevity, thereby reducing the need for a new phone and reducing the environmental impact.

Big Phone Manufacturers Turning To More Ethical Ideas

Apple, for example, recently announced the introduction of “self-service repair” programme, beginning next year, which will give iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 customers access to parts and information which will allow them to repair their own phones.

Ethical Computers

There are now also ethical computers on the market which have many of the same ideas as ethical phones incorporated in their design and manufacture. For example:

– The Iameco D4R (laptop) – encased in recycled wood and made so that it can be repaired easily/components can be swapped. The company claims that this laptop model accounts for at least 30 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and 75 per cent less freshwater use compared to standard laptops.

– Aleutia PCs – made primarily for use in the developing world, (where there is little access to grid power) these computers use solar cells for power.

– VeryPC computers e.g., the Broadleaf model, built to ‘green’ principles. In 2009, for example, the company set out to build “the most sustainable PC on the planet”.

– More well-known brands introducing models with a more environmental focus. For example, these include the Lenovo ThinkPad L Series laptops with their low energy consumption and more post-consumer recycled content (30 per cent) than other ThinkPads.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

Organisations get through a lot of phones, computers, and other electrical devices, and although they may be happy to promote environmental aspects of their operations and services, this aspect i.e., the problem of contributing to the e-waste mountain is often overlooked. As Fairphone points out, choosing ethical phones is a way that organisations can make a conscious decision to contribute to globally recognised UN Sustainable Development Goals, and it is an opportunity to send a clear signal about environmental and ethical values as an organisation, and as an employer. Consumers, employees, customers, and other stakeholders are increasingly conscious of the environment and value the environmental credentials of organisations. Using ethical phones and devices, therefore, is a way to both help the environment, and enjoy the benefits of improved customer attitudes to an organisation.

News

Google Maps Suggests Routes To Navigate More Sustainably

Google has announced the introduction of three new features to Google Maps that will enable users to make greener travel route choices.

Help Cut Transportation CO2 emissions

The new features, which were unveiled at the company’s ‘Sustainable With Google’ event are designed to help tackle the problem of 75 per cent of transportation CO2 emissions being one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gasses worldwide (International Energy Agency).

Three New Features

Based on a new sustainable routing model, the three new Google Maps navigation features are:

Eco-friendly Routing. Google says that AI and insights from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have helped it to design an entirely new routing model for Maps that not only gets users to their destination as quickly as possible, but also optimises for lower fuel consumption.

In addition to showing the fastest route, this new feature (which is already live) will also show the most fuel-efficient route, even if it isn’t the fastest. Eco-friendly routing also gives users an ETA for each option, thereby allowing users to make their own sustainability choices while taking into account their own travel needs.

Google estimates that this feature could prevent over one million tons of carbon emissions per year, which is the equivalent of removing over 200,000 cars from the road!

Lite navigation for cyclists. Based on the statistic that biking directions on Maps has dramatically increased in cities around the world (by up to 98 per cent), this feature is designed to make cycling safer and easier for the growing number of urban bike users. With cyclists citing having to constantly look at a screen-on phone and use turn-by-turn navigation as a problem, Google’s Lite Navigation instead give users an at-a-glance snapshot of the route and includes real-time ETA update and route elevation details. Lite navigation will be live on Android and iOS in the coming months.

Bike and scooter shared information. This expansion of an existing feature now draws upon shared bike and scooter information from over 300 cities around the world and help from Google’s micro-mobility partners including Donkey Republic, Tier and Voi (Europe), and Bird and Spin (US-based).

With this feature, Google Maps users can find nearby stations, pinpoint how many vehicles are available at that moment in any of the cities, and even make sure there’s a place to park before heading to the station.

Criticism

There has, however, been some criticism of another of Google’s travel/traffic related sustainability projects. Google’s use of artificial intelligence to optimise traffic lights in a scheme at four locations in Israel has led to some critics voicing concern that Google may not know enough about traffic engineering to be extending the scheme (as it plans to do).

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

With the climate crisis now high on the world agenda, big tech businesses, many of which have been involved in sustainability projects around the world for some time, are now using their tech skills and their communications reach to highlight and compete using sustainability innovations and product features that users can share and understand the value of. AI is a key technology that is driving many of these sustainability features and is now beginning to really prove its value in helping to tackle some of most difficult challenges to businesses, governments, and the world. Some businesses involved in transportation of passengers or goods in city centres e.g., food delivery, couriers, and others, may find these new features from Google useful, and these features along with other sustainability efforts by Google e.g., water stewardship at data centres represent valuable good publicity as well as delivering environmental benefits.

News

Google Joins Other Tech Giants With ‘Water Stewardship’ Sustainability Pledge

Google has matched water use pledges by Microsoft and Facebook by announcing a ‘water stewardship target’ to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030 and to support water security in communities where it operates.

Stewardship

Google says that through focusing on water stewardship at office campuses and data centres, ecosystems in water-stressed communities, and by sharing prediction technology and tools, it can replenish 120 per cent the water it consumes.

Water For Data Centre Cooling

Data centres have traditionally been big water users as part of cooling process. For example, back in 2019, it was reported (from public records and online legal filings) that Google requested/was granted, more than 2.3 billion gallons of water for data centres in three different states. Also, in 2020 in early 2020 in Red Oak, just south of Dallas, a legal filing indicated that that Google may have needed as much as 1.46 billion gallons of water a year for its data centre by 2021.

Criticism

Google is not the only big tech company that’s needed lots of water for data centre cooling, often in hot locations where others are urged to conserve water. The practice has led to criticism that tech companies may have been taking away critical resources away from water-scarce communities as well as consuming vast amounts of water at a time when there is a strong focus on the environment and climate change.

Office Campuses

Google has stressed that its water stewardship pledge, as part of its broader carbon-neutral plan, is a journey that it has been on for some time. For example, Google’s water stewardship announcement highlights its plans to look at how it can utilise more on-site water sources (collected storm-water and treated wastewater) at its office campuses for landscape irrigation, cooling and toilet flushing, and the company has already developed drip irrigation, using watering systems linked to local conditions for its San Francisco Bay campuses.

Prediction Tech

Google’s latest announcement also highlights how it has already partnered with organisations including United the Nations Environment Programme and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), Global Water Watch, and OpenET to help Communities, policymakers, and planners with need tools to measure and predict water availability and water needs.

Sustainable Water Management at Data Centres

In Google’s 2020 Environmental Report, a year before this latest water stewardship pledge, the company highlighted its work on sustainable water management practices and new cooling options at its datacentres in Finland, Belgium, Ireland, and Douglas County, Georgia.

Facebook and Microsoft

Back in August, Facebook announced its commitment to replenishing more water than it consumes in its global operations by 2030 by improving water efficiency in-house and investing in water restoration projects. Also, in September, Microsoft pledged to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030 on a global basis.

Innovative Solutions

Examples of innovative solutions to data centre cooling that Microsoft has tried in recent years include sinking a data centre to the ocean floor of the coast of Orkney for 2 years (retrieved and hailed a success in 2020) and using liquid immersion cooling at datacentre on the eastern bank of the Columbia River.

What Does This Mean for Your Organisation?

Climate change, a growing world population and increasing industrial development have all contributed to a water crisis that requires innovative moves to reduce the amount of water humans use to operate economies and societies. The huge growth of the Internet, the big move to the cloud, and closer scrutiny, particularly about water requirements in data centres (often in water-scarce communities) have put pressure on the big tech companies to make public pledges and work harder to find more innovative and sustainable solutions to their resource requirements, and to communicate these to stakeholders. Although tackling a growing water crisis is a challenge that requires a global effort and changes at individual as well as enterprise and government level, big tech companies like Google are keen to highlight ways that show they are doing their part and in doing so, maintain a positive brand image, as well as compete effectively on environmental credentials.