Environment Solutions

This list is not exhaustive but will give you a good indication of which vehicles can use biodiesel;

Audi  cars All TDI models since 1996.
BMW  cars Model 525 tds/1997 onwards,
3 + 5 series diesel since 2001.

Case-IH Tractors All models since 1971.
Caterpillar MMT, Industrial, marine All engines except
some Perkins.
Claas Combines, Tractors Warranties exist
Faryman Diesel Engines Warranties exist
Fiatagri Tractors For new models
Ford AG Tractors For new models
Holder Tractors Warranties exist
Iseki Tractors Series 3000 and 5000
Iveco Truck Cursor since 2000
John Deere Combines, tractors Warranties since 1987
KHD Tractors Warranties exist
Kubota Tractors Series OC, Super Mini, 05,03
Lamborghini Tractors Series 1000
MAN Truck Engine numbers 8953591
to 8953001
Mercedes-Benz cars, lorries, buses Series C and E 220, C200 and C220, a.o. Series BR300, 400, Unimog 1988 a.o.
Nissan car Type Primera since 2001.
PSA  car All Hdi up to 30% biodiesel Blend*,
Tractors Since 1990

Seat  cars All TDI since 1996

Skoda  cars All TDI since 1996

Steyr tractors & boats since 1988
Series M16, TCAM and M14 TCAM
Valmet Tractors Since 1991.
Volkswagen  cars All TDI series since 1996, new Sdi series (EURO-3).
Volvo Personal cars Series S80-D, S70-TDI,
V70-TD

image: typical home design for Hanham Hall by bdonline

Housing and regeneration architect HTA has revealed details of its design for the country’s first eco-village. Hanham Hall, on the outskirts of Bristol, will provide 200 homes, all of which will meet with the requested level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Project overview

. 188 units (62 affordable and 126 private/for sale, including some senior citizen sheltered housing and First Time Buyer homes.
. Density of scheme: 53 dwellings/ha - size of site: 6.6ha.
. Landscaping of site to include the provision of two new large parks.
. The project will also provide: community facilities, a sustainable living centre, farm shop, restaurant, crèche, café, offices.
. The scheme will start on site in late 2008 with an estimated two year construction period. The homes are 100% better in energy performance than the current building regulations standard.

Energy performance

The homes promise 100% improved energy performance than the current UK building regulations standard. This includes the basic fabric which is highly insulated, the windows which are triple glazed and the doors that are insulated. This means that a family occupying these homes can reduce their carbon footprint by approximately 60% without making any lifestyle changes, the team behind the scheme claim.

All houses have the living spaces facing south to take advantage of natural light and warmth. The bedrooms face north to help them stay cool in summer.

They have shading devices, in the form of moveable screens, to reduce the risk of overheating in the event of a warmer future. The houses also have thermal mass in the ground floors and in the wall linings, and mechanical ventilation which works overnight to introduce cool night air into the fabric.

Heating and electricity

The heating and electricity are provided by a zero carbon biomass combined heat and power plant (CHP). This will be backed up by a connection to the grid and gas boilers. The CHP produces 100kWe and 255kWh. The heat and electricity is delivered to the homes via a private heat and power network, this may be extended beyond the boundary of the project to other homes or businesses.

Water

The homes use recycled rainwater, collected from the roof, stored underground, and pumped into the washing machine and WCs. This, together with other measures, reduces the average family water use by approximately 47%, from 150 litres per person per day to 80 litres per person per day.

Walls and windows

The homes are built from factory made elements which minimise waste and which are energy efficient to produce and build. Walls are Kingspan TEK SIPS (structural insulated panels) made from two layers of Oriented Strand Board with urethane insulation between to make a rigid structural panel.

Windows will be made of high specification timber. Cladding will be a mixture of render and timber cladding from sustainable sources. Recycled materials will be used in the foundations and in the road construction. The sound reduction of the construction is better than the current building regulations.

Impact to existing site

Where existing buildings are demolished, the materials will be crushed and reused onsite. Existing ecology will be protected during construction and the new landscape is designed to enhance and improve the local wildlife. The historic building will be refurbished to the highest UK sustainable office standard for reuse as a community and employment facility. There will be a crèche on site built as part of the historic building refurbishment.

Article

VentureBeat have a very good round-up of electric cars from around the world. Some have been on the market for some time and others are still at prototype stage.

There’s little doubt that electric cars are here to stay and that for some areas of the world, such as China, they could make a significant impact.

Some of these cars have good ranges and very good top speeds, but they’re expensive and tend to be going for the sports car market. Others look plainly silly. In the middle are simple, plain looking saloons such as the Miles XS500 (shown above), coming into production soon from China. Miles Electric Vehicles is an American company.

As I say, check out the interesting list of vehicles put together by VentureBeat.

Ealing has become the first London borough to recycle all its residents’ food waste into electricity.

The council, which has been collecting leftovers for the past two years, uses tiny bugs to break down the food into fertiliser. The process, called anaerobic digestion, creates gas which is converted into electricity. This is, in turn, used to power the processing plant. Any excess is sold to the National Grid.

In April Ealing announced plans to send hundreds of tonnes of food every month to the Biogen plant in Bedfordshire following a successful sixmonth trial.

Keith Townsend, executive director of environment and customer services, said: “We have signed up to this scheme as part of our commitment to being environmentally friendly and tackling climate change. Recycling rates have soared across the borough over recent months and it’s a great achievement for Ealing to be the first council to recycle all of its food waste in the most environmentally efficient way possible.”

Anaerobic digestionis a biological process that relies on naturally occurring micro-organisms to break down organic matter into a valuable fertiliser while producing biogas.

Using the process for waste food reduces the amount that would otherwise end up in landfill sites to produce harmful greenhouse gases. “The process is rather like creating a giant stomach,” said Julia Dunmow of Biogen, the company which owns the plant.

“The compacted waste comes from Ealing and is mixed with pig slurry from our farm, then placed in a giant warm vat for 30 days, where it is digested by microbes.” As the microbes digest the waste, they create heat, which is used to warm the plant, and gas, which is used to create the electricity.

“Over an average hour, we can create enough power for 1,000 homes, so we think we can use this technique to create significant amounts of electricity,” said Miss Dunmow. The process also creates a large quantity of fertiliser, which is used by nearby farms.

The BIOGEN process ensures that what started on the farm ends back on the farm and nothing goes to waste. The BIOGEN Twinwoods plant, the first of its kind in the UK, operational since 2005, was officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal in Sept 2007.

Have a look at the Biogen website for more information. See here for more technical info and background about BIOGEN, which was only set up in 2005. The company is part of the Bedfordia Group who are themselves involved in a number of agricultural sectors.

For general information about anaerobic digestion see the Anaerobic Digestion Community website.

 Article

London may see electric black cabs as soon as 2009.

Manganese Bronze, the Coventry-based maker of the black cabs, plans to ramp up its green credentials by working on an electric version of its TX4 cab. The company will work with Tanfield, the specialist electric car designer and developer. The plug-in taxi is planned to be available by the middle of 2009.

The green version of the black cab will be able to run for at least 100 miles on one charge of its lithiumion battery. The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) estimates that the average driver clocks up between 120 and 150 miles a day.

The upside for the drivers will be the running costs. At today’s electricity prices, the green taxi will cost about 4p per mile to run. According to the LTDA, the average spend on diesel, which the vast majority of taxis run on, is £70 to £80 a week, making the cost per mile between 8.5p and 9.3p.

An LTDA spokesman gave the green taxi a cautious green light: “It depends how much it is going to cost. But taxi drivers are very reasonable people. Anything that is clean and green will be good for taxi drivers and the community and they will back it. If it makes economic sense, of course they will support it.”

An interview with a representative of the company set to produce the electric cabs said on BBC Radio 4 (listen here; You & Yours, 07/05/08) that he expects the cabs to cost 15-20,000 pounds more, meaning savings on the investment kick in after 4-5 years.

Markets in China & the US

If the green cabs prove successful, they could find their way on to the streets of China through Manganese’s joint venture Shanghai LTI. The company will soon start production of its taxis in China.

Manganese chose to develop an all-electric car rather than a hybrid electric/petrol model because it is using technology already established by Tanfield. Tanfield makes all-electric vehicles for Sainsbury’s and TNT, among other customers. Last year sales of its electric cars rose 37 per cent to £26 million. This year it expects to raise production from 260 vehicles last year to between 875 and 1,100.

Last week Tanfield unveiled two new vehicles based on Ford cars as it works with the American carmaker to develop zero emissions versions of its cars. The US market is more receptive to electric cars than Europe at present.

So, what do the cabbies think?

Bass is often called ‘King of the Sea’ - the fish is prized for its high oil content and fantastic taste. Handlining is the best way to catch this fish. It is likely to be freshest and least damaged (for example, by nets) and handlining is also the most sustainable way of catching it.

Half of wild bass is caught in nets but the most highly prized of all is caught using the historic method handed down from father to son. Handliners use three lines, two from poles on either side of the boat, a third trailing behind. All wild caught bass is subject to a minimum landing size of 40cm. The government plans to increase this to 45 in 2010.

The boats handlining for bass are usually between 15 and 20ft in length and work from the many small coves and harbours dotted around the Coast of Cornwall and Devon in the UK.

Your fish, individually tagged

The South West Handliners Fishermen’s Association website says;

With the bad press Sea Bass has been receiving the SWHFA decided to highlight the ethical, and sustainable alternative to farmed or pair-trawl caught bass by introducing individual tags for each fish caught using hook and line.

The SWHFA numbered tags are inserted in the gills or mouth by the fishermen and should remain in the fish until taken out by the end-user.

As well as environmental reasons for choosing line-caught bass, the wild caught bass have more muscle and are less flabby than farmed bass as they have a 100% natural diet.

To reduce costs we are keen to re-use the tags. If you would like to help us re-cycle the tags then please send them to:

South West Handline Fishermen’s Association
c/o Cornwall Fisheries Resource Centre
78b The Strand / Newlyn / Cornwall / TR18 5HW

image: malcolm baker

Former Changing Rooms presenter and eco-friendly
designer Oliver Heath explores some of the benefits
of recycling and the new products that can be made
from recycled goods. See www.recyclenow.com
for more info.

Watch the recyclenow message on youtube here.
2min 45sec

The allotments having waiting lists as long as your cucumber. Food collectives such as the one in Hackney (called Growing Communities) are springing up. And farmer’s markets are in every London suburb including the famous Borough Market. Foodies, as they get called by journalists, have never had it so good.

This is good for the farmer-customer relationship, often completely lost in big cities, it’s good for the local economy, a great reason to venture out and of course you are helping to save on food miles which means less airplane emissions.

Here are some very useful links;

1. London Farmer’s Markets - www.lfm.org.uk

2. Food finder - find food producers in the capital at www.farmgarden.org.uk

3. London Food Link - join the network of food producers, businesses, writers and community groups here; www.londonfoodlink.org

4. Federation of City farms and Community gardens - find out what’s happening at the 100+ community gardens and the 17 London farms; www.farmgarden.org.uk

Enjoy!

London Bio Packaging Ltd provides businesses in the UK with a range of environmental supplies. In particular they specialise in providing environmental packaging for food related businesses.

They claim their bio-plastics are 100% biodegradable, have a low carbon footprint and are made from annually renewable plants. Bio-plastic disposal has a lower impact than oil based plastics because it is recyclable and compostable / biodegradable.

The company facilitates closed loop composting of bio-plastics. They collect the bio-degradable waste from you and return it to the fields to grow more plants. Plant starch is the material they utilize instead of oil based plastics.

London Bio has an extensive range of products to choose from. You can read more about this company, their mission statement, environmental practice and about the founders here.

Contact London Bio Packaging Ltd.

Diagram: Green Farm Energy, energy from manure process

Approximately 12000 Danish farmers produce 24 millions pigs per year, of which 85% are exported. Dealing with the waste is a big part of farm management.

Manure can be gasified under anaerobic conditions and the biogas can be converted into heat and power in combustion plants or engines. Pig farmers in Denmark can choose to utilize pig manure at “farm scale plants” (where pig farmers have their own production units) and “joint biogas plants” (where several farmers share one large production unit).

The main production processes are following:

(1) pig manure is transported from the pig stable to a pre-storage tank

(2) the manure is heated to about 37ºC and transferred to an anaerobic reactor where it is mixed with organic matter from e.g. slaughter houses and fish industry

(3) biogas produced in the reactor from gasification of manure and organic matter from industry is transferred to a gas storage tank

(4) biogas is transferred to a stationary engine or a gas combustion unit which is producing heat and electricity or just heat

(5) degassed manure and organic matter from industry is transferred to a manure storage tank and distributed on agricultural fields as fertilizer

(6) electricity and heat is used locally and/or transferred to the national electric grid respectively the local district heating system.

Average manure transportation distances in step 1 and 4 range between 1.5 km and 7.5 km (Seadi, 2000) at joint scale plants. At farm scale plants, transportation of pig manure is small. About 80% of manure gasified in Denmark is gasified in joint scale units and about 20% is gasified in farm scale units (Biogasbranchen, 2004).

Biogas is to a large extent combusted in stationary engines at both farm and joint scale plants. However, gas furnaces are also used occasionally e.g. in cases of excess gas production and in cases of extraordinary heat demand (personal communication with various actors in business). All electricity produced at both farm scale and joint scale plants is utilized and most of heat produced at joint scale plants is utilized.

Article Source

More general info on Danish pig farming

If you are interested in the possibility of installing such a system Green Farm Energy, in Denmark are a company at the forefront of this technology.