‘Sustaining Future Ecosystem Services – From Understanding to Action’ Mini-Conference, National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, London, 26th June 2009

CARBON AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS ON THE PATHWAY TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

G.R. Cranstona, G.P. Hammonda,b and C.I. Jonesa

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, b Institute of Sustainable Energy & the Environment (I•SEE), University of Bath, Bath. BA2 7AY. UK

Speaker: Prof. Geoff Hammond, Director of I•SEE [Email: ensgph@bath.ac.uk]

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CONTENTS

‘ECOLOGICAL’ OR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS

SOME EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS -

One Planet Living

Urban and rural communities

‘CARBON FOOTPRINTS’ - EMBODIED ENERGY AND CARBON IN BUILDINGS, GOODS AND SERVICES

THE ‘INVENTORY OF CARBON & ENERGY’ [ICE]

THE ROLE AND LIMITS OF FOOTPRINTING ESRC-NERC

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ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTING: THE BASICS

Definition: Resources used and wastes produced by a defined population are converted to a common basis - the area of productive land and aquatic ecosystems sequestered (in hectares) from whatever source in global terms.

Land Types

Bioproductive Land Crops Pasture Forest

Bioproductive Sea Built Land Energy Land Biodiversity Land

NORTH AND SOUTH: GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINTS

Environmental footprints represent a partial measure of the extent to which the planet, its regions, or nations are moving along a sustainable development pathway

Such footprints vary between countries at different stages of economic development and varying geographic characteristics

The relative significance of population density, economic wealth,

and pollutant emission intensity has been determined (using WWF and other international statistics)

This indicates which individual nations are currently frugal or profligate in terms of their resource use and environmental impacts

Source: Hammond (2006); Cranston et al. (2007) ESRC-NERC

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Eth iop ia

Czech Republic

Uganda

Ind ia

China

Russia

UK

US A

JapanArgentina

Peru

Bangladesh

M ozam bique

Thailand

Austra lia

Environm enta l Footprin ts (2000)N

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)

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TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE?

‘Sustainability’ is synonymous with scenarios that lead to steady-state conditions, or ‘stabilisation’, rather than collapse due to resource or other limits.

Whether or not humanity will experience such a collapse, or will be able to secure a sustainable future for people and wildlife, is too soon to tell.

The timescale for achieving sustainability is likely to be 2050-2100, or longer [Parkin (2000)]

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SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE

Wiltshire – mainly rural County area of Wiltshire Including the four districts of Salisbury, Kennet, North and West Wiltshire

Swindon – mainly urban The unitary authority of the Borough of Swindon

Base Year: 2003

Source: Eaton, Hammond & Laurie (2007)

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FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS OF SWINDON AND WILTSHIRE

Wiltshire – mainly rural 2,594,000 global hectares. 5.94 global hectares per Wiltshire resident. This amounts to an overshoot ration of 2.01:1 If the world’s population reflected this consumption, then we would need the equivalent biocapacity of 2.3 extra Earths:

Swindon – mainly urban 1,024,000 global hectares. 5.65 global hectares per Swindon resident. This amounts to an overshoot ration of 10.35:1 If the world’s population reflected this consumption, then we would need the equivalent biocapacity of 2.0 extra Earths:

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‘CARBON FOOTPRINTING’: THE BASICS

Definition: The ‘carbon footprint’ is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment, and in particular on climate change. It is the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating, and transportation in order to produce a good or service.

Carbon Footprints or Carbon Weights? The units are kgC per functional unit, not ha.

Standards

ISO 14040 & 14044 – Environmental Life Cycle Assessment

PAS 2050 – Life Cycle GHG Emissions of Goods & Services

Databases

Ecoinvent

Bath - Inventory of (Embodied) Carbon and Energy [ICE]

THE CREATION OF THE ICE DATABASE

Created in support of a Carbon Trust and EPSRC-funded research project – the ‘Carbon Vision Buildings’ Programme.

Aim: To produce an open-access, reliable database of embodied energy and carbon for typical building materials … from ‘cradle to gate’.

It required values for the wide diversity of materials associated with buildings and construction.

… this was considered this to be unavailable at the start of the project (in 2004).

Therefore we developed our own database… ESRC-NERC

INVENTORY OF CARBON & ENERGY (ICE)

An embodied energy and carbon database for building materials

ICE Excel and pdf files created to summarise data

Draws from over 250 references

Embodied energy & carbon coefficients ~ 400 selected values Aim: Typical & usable market products

Identifies primary & secondary materials

Available freely online ESRC-NERC

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THE FIVE SELECTION CRITERIA FOR ICE DATA

Source: Extracted from studies that are compliance with approved methodologies/standards (e.g., ISO 14040 series compliant).

System boundaries: Chosen to comply with cradle-to-gate embodiment. Non-fuel carbon emissions were included.

Origin (country) of data: The best available embodied energy data from around the world has been adopted, although a preference was given to good quality UK sources.

Age of data: Modern sources were employed wherever possible, because the fuel mix and carbon coefficients associated with power generators has changed over time.

Embodied carbon: Preference given to data from LCA studies, but otherwise estimates were made on fuel split. ESRC-NERC

VERIFICATION OF THE ICE INVENTORY

Validation of the dataset was initially undertaken through application and comparison with embodied energy & carbon estimates for whole buildings

Case Studies…

Domestic buildings (see the following figures) Non-domestic buildings

…Comparison with BedZed estimates (BRE Data)

Embodied energy = ICE was within 1%

Embodied carbon = ICE was within 10%

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THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE ICE DATABASE

The ICE database has been publicly downloadable via an online website [see http://www.bath.ac.uk/mech-eng/sert/embodied/] since April 2007. Over 4,500 copies have now been distributed worldwide.

Feedback from professional users has played an important part in the choice of 'best values' for 'cradle-to-gate' embodied energy & carbon from the range found in the literature.

The variation in published embodied energy & carbon data stems from differences in boundary definitions, age of the data sources, and rigour of the original life-cycle assessments.

Data from the ICE inventory has been incorporated into a number of carbon footprinting tools for products, structures and activities by various industrial companies and government agencies. ESRC-NERC

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ICE Professional Interest - Jan 2009

32%

45%

19%

4%

4,116

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

TOTAL Business Academic Misc. Government

Nu

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ICE

Do

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CONCLUSING REMARKS 1: THE ROLE OF FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS

Planning Model alternative scenarios – but a simple measure are

rarely adequate tools for predicting the future, particularly the consequences of technological innovation.

Prioritise actions to address adverse impacts.

Monitoring Determine trends in resource use and ecological impacts

over time. Evaluate local strategies to combat climate change.

Education and Awareness Raising Simple to understand. They show how much natural

capital we use in relation to how much we have. Promote behavioural changes.

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CONCLUSING REMARKS 2: THE LIMITS TO FOOTPRINTING

The role of carbon and environmental footprinting has not gone without challenge:-

The uncertainties and deficiencies of using footprints (and related parameters) as, albeit partial, sustainability indicators include problems associated with boundary definitions, data gathering, and the basis for weighing the various consumption and associated impacts.

Its adoption as a tool for decision-making in a policy or planning context depends on an understanding of these assumptions and uncertainties. Criticisms have also been made concerning the dominant influence of fossil fuels in footprint calculations. It may underestimate the potential of a switch to renewable energy technologies as a means of lowering humanity’s footprint.

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“DON’T TAKE ANYTHING BUT PHOTOGRAPHS,

DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS”

Signpost seen by the speaker,Sinharaja Rainforest Reserve,

Sri Lanka (June 2001)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS AND LISTENERS

ANY QUESTIONS?

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