Read on for great news on electric transportation, green offices, onsite solar and more
Published weekly, this series shows how businesses and sustainability professionals are working to achieve their ‘Mission Possible’ across five key campaign pillars – energy, resources, infrastructure, mobility and business leadership.
Across the UK and the rest of Europe, leading businesses, cities, states and regions are driving environmental ambitions. Here, we’ve rounded up five positive sustainability stories from this week.
ENERGY: Nursing home installs onsite solar array amid energy price crisis
edie’s recent Net Zero Business Barometer survey of energy and sustainability managers in 148 organizations found that more than half are exploring or installing onsite energy generation in response to rising energy and operating costs.
Today, family-run Foxholes Care Home in Hertfordshire has announced the installation of 132 solar panels on its roof, including ground-mounted solar panels. It commissioned Use the Sun to complete the installation and set aside an undisclosed five-figure sum for the project. The business expects the solar array to reduce annual energy costs by at least a third.
“With rising energy costs every year, this project has been in the pipeline for some time now – but, with rising energy prices, the time for it to finally come together could not be better,” said the director. in the care of Foxholes Care Home Neil Gandecha .
“Wholesale electricity is not worth it, we are happy to see our vision come to life at the environmental level – because the impact cannot be overstated… we feel it is important to not only be greener, but also help the country by eliminating the pressure. the national grid.”
RESOURCES: Harrods has launched an in-store recycling scheme for beauty product packaging
Image: MYGroup
It is estimated that the global cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion packaging units per year. Many of these packaging formats are difficult to recycle, consisting of mixed materials that are difficult to process using traditional mechanical recycling processes.
Many retailers, therefore, have launched their own take-back schemes for this packaging, such as Body Shop, Lush, Maybelline and Superdrug. These schemes usually transfer the packaging to a waste management partner with specialist infrastructure.
Harrods this week followed in their footsteps, teaming up with Yorkshire-based recycling firm MYGroup to launch a pilot take-back scheme. The scheme will run for three months, for the first time, at H Beauty in Milton Keynes. It will collect beauty packaging from all brands and in a wide range of formats, including mascara, compacts, nail polish bottles and perfume bottles.
Customers will be encouraged to use the scheme through the Harrods MyBeauty rewards scheme. The collected packaging will be used to make products such as outdoor furniture.
“As a leading voice in the UK beauty industry, we are committed to making beauty more circular, and by partnering with MYGroup we have recovered many materials that might have found their way to landfill and waterways,” said the head of Harrods. beauty Mia Collins.
MOBILITY: A new e-bus project has been launched in Germany
Image: Flixbus. Pictured: A Flixbus vehicle operating in Portugal.
The electric bus market is growing faster in some countries than the electric car market, as cities seek more modern vehicles to reduce air pollution and emissions from public transportation. Straits Research predicted last year that the global electric bus market will experience a compound annual growth rate of 18% until 2030, surpassing $3.1bn at this point.
Of course, e-bus technology is poised to improve significantly in the coming years. This week, edie received news of an exciting new collaborative project developing the next generation of pure electric buses, capable of driving longer distances per charge, in Germany. Bus network operator Flix participated in the project, along with Daimler Buses and academics from three German universities.
Funding for the project, which aims to develop a fully electric drive for long-distance e-buses within four years, has already been granted by the German government. The project will see the development and testing of two prototype coaches, which will serve as the starting point for their production for commercial use. The resulting buses must be able to run at least 400 km (248.5 miles) on a charge.
Flix chief executive and founder Andre Schwaemmlein said: “With Daimler Buses and reliable research partners who share our vision of a greener transport future, we can now pursue a yet integral to our goal of transforming mobility and offering green, technology-driven and affordable travel. a universal solution to discover the world.”
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: The new sustainable office in London has signed up the Carbon Trust as a tenant
The edie team has covered some recent sustainable office designs in previous editions of this roundup, including 11 Belgrave and 105 Victoria Street, both in London.
This week, we received news that the developers of Arbor Bankside Yards, an office block in the works for Lambeth, have exchanged contracts with the Carbon Trust. The 19-storey building will open to tenants this March and the Carbon Trust will take space on the fifth floor for its HQ.
The Arbor will be a ‘smart’ building, equipped with digital technologies that improve energy efficiency, including an intelligent façade that will enable the management of passive lighting and reduce solar heat gain, thus reduce the need for cooling. It will be equipped with electrified heating and cooking facilities. Development manager Native Land is targeting BREEAM Excellent certification for Abor and certification of the development as carbon neutral in operations. Offsetting will not be used excessively, with the building developed in accordance with scientifically proven climate targets.
Carbon Trust chief financial officer Timon Drakesmith said: “We chose Arbor as our new home based on its strong environmental credentials, great location and great facilities. It also offers at the only all-electric site of its kind, in our desired area… We look forward to working with Native Land to support them as they advance the sustainability of the land.
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: BMW is collaborating with SDG specialists from Oxford University
A study last year from the BSI found that half of decision-makers in large British businesses do not know what the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are – let alone how to align the strategy of their organization in this framework until 2030.
However, some businesses take bold steps to ensure that their strategy has a positive contribution to the delivery of global goals, choosing the focus goals that are most materially provided by their sector and other context factor.
Among them is BMW, which this week announced a collaboration between the MINI factory in Oxford and the SDG Impact Lab at Oxford University. The Lab gathers Fellows from social sciences, science and technology and humanities backgrounds. It launched in 2021 and previously partnered with easyJet. BMW is the second corporate partner.
This year, graduate students from the University will collaborate with BMW staff to develop and implement new initiatives to improve staff well-being, maximize the plant’s positive impact on the local community and reduce its negative impact on the environment. The focus here is on material and energy consumption and waste management. The students had an induction day at the MINI Plant on Thursday (January 12).
“The Oxford SDG Impact Lab is an exciting initiative that will not only provide skills for the graduates to participate but will give us a fresh perspective, bringing new ideas and experience,” said the chief executive of finance MINI Plant Oxford Andreas Kindler.
© Faversham House Ltd 2023 edie news articles may be reproduced or transmitted for individual use only. No other copying or distribution is permitted without prior written permission.
