Visualising Green?

In the midst of clearing out all the bits and bobs from my year as Guild Environment officer, I came across the trail of investigating that I did around the environmental credentials of the Centre of Excellence for Visualisation in Wales, currently under construction on the Penglais campus (shown and scheduled for completion by the end of the summer. I've taken a bit of time to sum things up here and include excerpts where apropriate:

I began by asking, under a Freedom of Information request, for minutes from meetings discussing the Visualisation project that had to do with the BREEAM building standards. I recieved a copy of 'Visualisation Centre Building Group' minutes from the 6th of April 2006 and the following is agenda point 3.14:

"An initial BREEAM assessment will be done to find out the likelihood of obtaining an excellent rating. "Keith Lewis noted that he understood that WEFO [Welsh European Funding Office] had required a BREEAM rating of 'excellent'. Diana Bain confirmed that it was not included in the WDA offer of grant. [Since the date of this meeting, Diana Bain was able to confirm that neither it is a requirement of the WEFO offer of grant.]

"An excellent BREEAM rating will be difficult to obtain due to the glass facade on the main floor and the air-conditioning requirements of the HPC and projection equipment. Options for improving the BREEAM rating will be considered if needed."

A further FoI request, asking for a specific cost assessment for the BREEAM assessment, produced the following response:

> The decision regarding the BREEAM assessment was made in the light of an
> initial cost plan received from the contractors of £3,917,000. This was
> against an available budget of £3,600,000. Discussions with the
> contractors confirmed that the pursuit of a very good or excellent BREEAM
> rating would add significantly to this cost overrun and that it was by no
> means certain that a very good or excellent rating could be ever achieved.
> This is due to the nature of the building and in particular the amount of
> energy consuming HPS and visualisation equipment that it will contain.
> This uncertainty, combined with the budget overrun resulted in a decision
> not to pursue this avenue.
> 
> There was no further discussion in the Building Group minutes regarding
> the BREEAM assessment, following those released to you from the meeting on
> 6 April 2006.

So in the end no BREEAM rating was achieved at all. A £300,00 pound difference to achieve a BREEAM rating is not small change, but for a building whose design life is 60 years, I'm not sure if the math was actually done to take into account savings in running costs. I've certainly not seen anything to that end.

What was most striking to me, however, was how initial requirements highlighted its supposed environmental credentials. The 'Employers Requirements' tender documents, published on the 12th of May 2005, stated as the very first item 1.1: "The building aims to be an exemplar in terms of sustainability."

The Centre also happily recieves £4.3m of European Union Objective 1 funding out of its total 10.4m budget. In the final version of its application form for this EU grant (signed off by Vice-Chancellor Noel Lloyd sometime in 2005), which I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the main part of the section on "Environmental Impacts" reads as follows:

"The project complies with all relevant EC and national environmental directives (with particular reference to Sections 1-4 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990). It has no significant emissions to land, air or water. It will not require LAPC or IPPC consent. The building would be built to modern environmental standards and would not use any outlawed susbtances in its construction or operation. A BREEAM audit will be undertaken of the building design in accordance with BRE guidelines, and it is anticipated that this will show a good or excellent rating. The building will be designed to fit in naturally with, and complement, the surroundings on the University campus.

"The Centre will liase with the WDA to incorporate the principles of its Sustainable Development Policy 'Learning to Work Differently', which has the goal of delivering economic growth and improving both living standards and the quality of the environment through the sustainable use of natural resources."

A later section goes on to describe the contribution that the actual purpose of the Centre will make to the environment:

"Visualisation technology has a vital role to play in helping to maintain and enhance the environmental assets of the region. For example, it can be used to model and display the effects of any proposed changes to the environment, such as the construction of on-shore and off-shore wind farms...Although these will help reduce carbon emissions significantly, the visual impacts of such projects are serious considerations. Using visualisation/VR technology, all interested parties - e.g. developers, planners and residents - will be able to better understand the effects of proposed developments."

Indeed, this particular environmental benefit is explicitly made clear as one of the five broad aims of the entire project - coming under the heading of "to improve environmental performance through the adoption of clean technologies" (the others are 'to create a culture of innovation, to create more technology in knowledge-driven firms, to increase R&D investment, and to stimulate demand for and adoption of ICT).

I obviously have no quibble with this part and I fully appreciate the benefits that it provides in this regard towards planning for renewable energy development and so forth. But it goes without saying that environmental projects are held to a higher standard than 'conventional' development. Its functional elements (what the project is for) are perhaps no more or no less important than its operational elements (how the project runs).

If the supposed environmental benefit of the project is played up, it would indeed be a travesty, if not contradictory, that the prospect of ensuring that the building is as eco-friendly as possible has been given short shrift despite initial expectations.

To Brussels by Bike

To drive up (no pun intended) support and public awareness for his proposals for carbon trading as a way of addressing climate change - snappily summed up as Cap and Share - Dr. Will Howard, (who earlier this year came to speak at a People & Planet meeting) is travelling from his home in Machynlleth to the EU Commission in Brussels to lobby European Union officials on the ideas behind the scheme.

While it is an electric bike, which provides the user with peddling assistance, 500 miles is still a bit of a long way to be travelling at 15mph.

"The first message really is who has the right to have the emission permits, because at the moment they're being given to the big companies.

"What I'll be saying is in fact, they should be given to citizens. The government's got no right to give away our emission rights."

How Green is My Hospital?

A report from the NHS Confederation may seem a bit of an odd subject for this blog, except for two reasons - it's about the NHS' contribution to climate change, and it's Wales-specific.

The report, Taking the Temperature, was co-authored by the NHS Confederation UK and the new economics foundation, points out that not only is the NHS at the frontline of addressing the impacts of climate change upon humans (warmer temperatures, spread of disease, etc.), but it is also one of the largest and most resource-hungry public-sector institutions there is.

The report highlights good practice from across the UK, from power supplies to more efficient transport solutions and local food procurement. It ends by listing ten key questions for NHS boards to consider to make a difference, in these areas: leadership on climate change, a strategic response, setting targets, partnerships with local organisations, energy consumption, building construction, procurement practices, green transport, waste management and staff management. None of these are, however, specific to the NHS, and can be just as easily applied into say, the higher education sector.

These questions need to be asked, and this report highlights how effective environmental management must take place across all sectors of society. All of Wales' hospitals are, for instance, running on green electricity. Its target is to cut carbon emissions by15% by 2010.

Will we soon see universities and HE funding councils undertaking a similar sector-wide study?

Causing a Fuss

News of the Green League hits the press this week, as student newspaper The Courier features UWA's 'fail' on its website, while local paper Cambrian News covers the joint-97th (how coincidental is that?!) rankings of both UW Aberystwyth and UW Lampeter in the table, including a quote by me:

Nick Chan, Aberystwyth Guild of Students’ Environment and Ethics Officer, who works closely with People and Planet, said he was equally disappointed. He said: “There is no reason why Aberystwyth should be falling so far behind other universities, particularly when you consider the excellent environmental-related research at the university, the closeness of the Centre for Alternative Technology and the relatively good environmental record of the town.

“Just last week a Carbon Trust report highlighted Aberystwyth as the town having the lowest amount of CO2 emissions released by business in the UK, but this quite clearly does not apply at a university level.”

Note: The Cambrian News link, while reproducing the text, isn't the easiest to read - if you can get the print edition it'll be well worth it.

In the immediate wake of the Green League's publication two weeks ago, Aber People & Planet sent off a letter to the Vice-Chancellor to draw Aber's performance in the table to his attention. Incredibly a reply has already come back at the beginning of this week. (I say incredibly because my initial letter to the Vice-Chancellor last November which first raised the concerns of the Go Green campaign didn't recieve a reply for five weeks...).

Both letters are around two pages along and perhaps too long to reproduce here but do email if you want a copy of the letters and they can be sent to you. The following are excerpts from the Vice-Chancellor's response:

"Firstly, I want to emphasise that the university places high importance to environmental issues. We are committed to the continuing improvement of our environmental management systems and performance, and a wide range of initiatives are being implemented.

"We are disappointed that the progress we are making is not reflected in the information contained in the Green League: this may be because of timing and the way that some of our initiatives are reported....

"...I am determined that the university establishes a cohesive and integrated approach to these important issues.

"I should also like to emphasise that the university has very considerable scientific expertise in Environmental Science generally, and we have the opportunity to make a very significant contribution through our research and knowledge transfer activities."

The main chunk of the letter put in more detail about work and progress on recycling, the university's 'environmental policy' and green transport (through the AHA bus pass). No word on employing a full-time environmental manager though.

Cans, CDs and Composting

Just a quick, routine update on new developments with things coming along nicely for recycling and waste management on campus...

- The nice people at Ceredigion County Council have donated more wheeled aluminum/tin can deposit banks to be placed around campus, making it ever-easier for staff and students...

- There'll be a dedicated drop-off bin in the Hugh Owen library to recycle CDs and DVDs (including their packaging) safely and securely, so keep an eye out for this...

- A couple of funding bids are being put in by House Services to the Welsh Assembly Government's public sector waste disposal funding stream, to hopefully introduce separate recycling sack holders in residences and a kitchen composter. Even if these bids aren't successful they are a good sign of the thinking going on towards waste reduction!

Forced Out

Protestors at the Brecon campsite against the gas pipeline being laid across Wales have been evicted following a court order against them about ten days go granting the National Grid immediate possesion of the occupied land and shutting down their protest camp in the pipeline's route. Even the news that an ancient Roman road has been found in the pipeline's path won't appear to halt it any further - the prevailing mood seems to be that we simply have to hope for the best that the National Grid will take care of ecological and archaeological concerns.

The issue of tunnelling across a national park was brought up at last month's Hay-on-Wye festival - the pipeline, of course, coming close to the iconic town on its way to Gloucestershire. Apparently the subject caught Environment Secretary David Miliband off-balance, which goes some way to show how much the issue has registered in London-centric political circles. That said, though, hardly a peep out of the Cardiff-based political junkies either...

UPDATE (19/06): It seems I was slightly premature in remarking on the eviction of the protestors at the Brecon campsite. The last I had heard from them was two weeks ago just after the eviction notice had been served, when they expected to be turfed out in the next day or so, but today the BBC reports that the eviction has finally begun today, with six arrests made. Police, in support of High Court enforcement officers, have moved on to the site to dismantle it and remove protestors on charges of trespass and failing to comply with the court order.

Transition Town Aberystwyth?

I've just come back from a public meeting in Aber which hopes to be the beginning of putting Aber onto a Transition Town path - the 'transition' meaning how we learn to live differently in the world of scarce oil that lies ahead of us.

The main part of the meeting was a screening of The End of Suburbia, a documentary about suburbia - our way of living of urban sprawl where most people live in the suburbs and commute into the cities for work, often by car, and what peak oil means for this way of life. Peak oil refers to the point where global oil production reaches its peak and thereafter production rates begin to decline. It isn't running out of oil - but it's the beginning of the end, where decreasing supply means that prices are going to increase unless demand begins to fall too.

The screening was followed by an introduction to the principles, background and examples of transition by Sarah Pugh, who has been involved with TransitionCity Bristol - trying to apply transition principles to a city of 400,000! Transitioning is about an 'energy descent' - getting used to using much lower levels of oil and gas, descending from our current level of consumption in preparation for a world where those lower levels will be the only choice available.

I blogged in April about a massive public meeting in Lampeter to introduce the Transition Town concept (see the Guardian article here) , and it is brilliant to see Aber residents taking up the initiative to spread the word, ideas and practices locally! Transitioning begins with ten key steps - raising awareness, forming local groups, connecting with local government, 'the great re-skilling' and so forth, but what is empowering is a sense of any means possible - there is no fixed, dogmatic way to transition, but different places will discover different ways of doing things.

The first meeting to start thinking aloud about what making the transition entails, with other concerned residents takes place this coming Monday (18 June) at 7pm in the Treehouse on Baker Street - if you can't make this but want to be kept in touch, email Albrecht Fink (fogelfink[at]gmail.com) who is leading this initial bit of coordination on the project.

Getting People Excited

You can really feel the public momentum behind a greater sense of individual engagement with environmental issues after hearing recent reports about London's one-hour Lights Out switch-off later this month, and the build-up to a plastic bag-free Christmas 2007 taking rapid shape.

Both of these ideas are about making green issues more accessible to individuals in a direct, real and positive way. Taking part in things like these help to achieve a sense of empowerment which on its own doesn't count for much but forms part of a sequence of involvement and greater action. (Could I have made that last sentence any more dull?) Put differently, these ideas inspire and catalyse change. That's why they're important and significant.

Now, the relevant question is: how we can replicate a lights-out and plastic bag-free Aber? Far too often there is a student-local disconnect in Aber but these issues (which regrettably I won't be here to see happen) are great examples of the potential to come together on issues of common concern.

What a Shocker!

People & Planet have released The Green League 2007, a first-ever league table for universities based on their environmental performance - and UWA has come in an embarassing 97th of 105 UK universities surveyed. In true academic spirit the table has been split up into grade classifications - so coming in 97th counts as a 'Fail'.

Top of the pile is Leeds Met, scoring 48 out of 50 points; the highest Welsh university is Glamorgan University coming in at 4th nationally. UWA is joint 97th with UW Lampeter, the bottom-two universities in Wales. How green are Welsh universities? The overall distribution mirrors the UK average - one first, two 2:1s, two 2:2s, two passes and two fails.

The table was is broken down over a number of criteria - and a section on methodology details these - focusing on management issues (a publicly available environmental policy, full-time staff dedicated to environmental management, comprehensive environmental auditing, a green travel plan and Fairtrade University status), and performance issues (% of energy from renewable sources, & of waste recycled and carbon emissions per head). See the table for the specific breakdown of how UWA has fared across these criteria.

Fair? I think so. My year has undoubtedly exposed me to the detail and substance behind the headlines and progress is certainly be undertaken. These processes (an environmental strategy, reducing carbon emissions) have, however, really only begun this year and will take some time to kick in and next year's ranking is likely to be higher. But they are a reminder of just how far progress still has to go, particularly in relative terms, and the interest that the Green League will provoke across the HE sector means that UWA will have to walk faster simply to keep up.

Left Hand and Right Hand

One of the long-running themes through my year as E&E officer has been following a waste and energy reduction project called Wastewise. The big idea is a public awareness and education initiative to keep students and staff aware of the small, simple things that can be done to cut down on energy consumption and waste. So far so good - and much needed indeed! The messages need to be present, frequent and visible to inspire changes in habits and marginally greener lifestyles.

With the price of energy inching upwards in the long-run, and the cost of waste disposal only going to increase as landfill sites reach peak capacity, this should be a no-brainer. So I was approached by the Estates Office, who have been the main organizing point behind the project, to help with the distribution of the materials - door hangers, stickers and posters with the 'how' and 'what difference it makes' ideas of the project.

The project was subcontracted to design company blah d blah to design the materials - over a year ago now, when the decision was taken to proceed with the project. It was supposed to come with a website too, for further information, especially locally-relevant contacts and opportunities - but remains under construction. The project, by the way, is part-funded by UWA, UW Bangor and the Carbon Trust. Finally all the materials arrived in Aber, and it took a couple of weeks to set up the apropriate meeting with Residential Services to discuss the implementation and delivery of these materials. This was in March, and where it all got a bit sticky.

RHS' argument was, more or less, 'no'. The stickers would affect the paintwork and contradict existing messages against students putting stickers in halls; the posters could only be put in limited places because of fire hazards and would be inconsistent with RHS' other ongoing efforts (apparently there are ongoing efforts - but as a PJM resident these haven't been obvious); the door hangers would be confusing given current door hangers about fire and personal safety. At that, at the time, seemed that. Only some 'recycle' stickers, as demonstrated above, were put in place across the various university recycling facilities.

At our next Guild Exec meeting I mentioned the issue and Ben Gray, Union President took up the issue with the Vice-Chancellor. The following are the notes and summary from a meeting that he had about two weeks ago with Jim Wallace, RHS Director and John Harries, Pro Vice-Chancellor.

1 The campaign will launch in academic buildings on1 September (stickers and posters)

2 The campaign will launch in residences from start of session, at Freshers (stickers and posters)

3 There are different versions of the posters and stickers that are applicable to academic and residential areas

4 We agreed that posters are to be placed in kitchens only in residences, and on notice boards only in academic buildings

5 We agreed that stickers (of the appropriate type) were to be placed on windows or walls adjacent to light switches in all bedrooms and kitchens in residences, and in all rooms in academic buildings, including individual offices, but (for both types of buildings) not in any entrance ways, corridors, toilets, or communal areas

6 We agreed that the door hangers would only be used in residences, and are not appropriate for start of session, and they would, instead, be used at start of second semester in February

7 Nigel Owen will ensure that the Wastewise websiteis up-and-running by 1 September

8 We agreed that RHS is the most appropriate route for distribution and fixing of posters/stickers; House Services for academic buildings and Residential Services for residential buildings

9 A limited number of each type of sticker/poster/door hanger has been printed and these are likely to be insufficient to cover all requirements

10 Additional posters can be printed from the website as required, and Nigel Owen will organise and provide this

11 We are to forward a list of the numbers required of each type of communication (poster, sticker, door hanger) to Nigel Owen ASAP

12 Those stocks already printed are presently in store with the SU, and will be delivered when requested to Penbryn Reception

13 An email communication to all staff will go out on 1September in the joint names of John Harries PVC and the Guild President

14 Email communication to students has yet to be determined

From my perspective, this has all been intensely frustrating and only drives my observation of a lack of communication between university departments and the absence of a joined-up approach to promoting environmentally sustainable change. In the end, the materials will get put out and the message communicated - but no less than a full academic year after the project was first mooted and at least six months after the earliest possible opportunity to do so.

It is a tragedy that the issue has only been resolved with the direct involvement of top-level university senior management, and only after the intervention of the Guild President to raise the issue with the Vice-Chancellor. And of course, will all these be followed? It's up to you, with the Guild officers, to ensure that these promises and program of action is lived up to.

Free, Eco-Friendly Music

Friends of the Earth have teamed up with Johnny Borrell, Razorlight frontman, to offer a new free-to-download track, 'Funeral Blues' from their website. Don't really know much about Razorlight's music, apart from the few songs that they performed at the I Count rally in central London last November, so I'll reserve judgment on the track for now!

The recording was made at Europe's first solar-powered recording studio in London in support of The Big Ask - FoE's continuing campaign for a strong climate change bill.