Supermarket group Sainsbury’s has installed 69,500 new photovoltaic solar panels, or 16 MW of power, across 169 stores in the UK. The significant investment means collectively Sainsbury’s supermarkets currently host the largest solar array in the UK and Europe – large enough to cover Wembley’s pitch 24 times. The solar power will reduce Sainsbury’s total CO2 emissions by an estimated 6,800 tonnes per year, and each store’s energy consumption as well as delivering energy cost savings.

The retailer worked closely with solar manufacturing and installation businesses to make the contract viable, and find the most efficient and cost-effective way to execute the project across its store estate.

Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, says: “We’ve already made real progress towards achieving our environmental commitments detailed in our stretching 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan. This solar rollout is another big step forward. It makes sense for us – it’s good for the environment and for our business and we are actively looking to install more panels.”

He adds: “We already produce far more solar power than most commercial solar farms. We believe the retail sector should take another look at solar energy as a viable way to reduce its impact on the environment.  Supermarkets have the equivalent of football fields on their roofs, many of them underutilised. It’s a perfect time to turn that space into something positive.”

The investment in onsite renewable energy technologies is part of Sainsbury’s ambitious corporate target to reduce its operational carbon emissions by 30% absolute and 65% relative by 2020 compared with 2005. This is part of a broader target of an absolute carbon reduction of 50% by 2030.

This broader target is one of 20 goals published in Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan, which acts as a cornerstone to Sainsbury’s business strategy and sets out 20 sustainability goals to be achieved by 2020.

As well as solar panels Sainsbury’s has installed over 40 biomass boilers and has recently announced the roll out of an innovative geo-thermal heat pump technology at up to 100 stores, tapping renewable energy from deep underground to provide heating and hot water. It follows Sainsbury’s successful world-first use of geo-thermal technology at its Crayford store, enabling it to supply 30 per cent of its energy from on-site renewable sources.

NUI Galway’s first-year Engineering students have scooped first, second and third prize in the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Ireland ‘Student Idea of the Year’ Awards. The awards are presented to the originators of the most innovative ideas which could make the most significant contribution to some aspect of the transport industry in Ireland.

NUI Galway students Declan Bredin and Liam Coakley, both from Ennis, Co. Clare, Jarlath Donoghue from Gort, Co. Galway, Brian Fitzgibbon from Oranmore, Co. Galway and Cathal O Murchu from Celbridge, Co. Kildare, were announced as the overall winners. Their project, entitled ‘Tachographs Against Speeding’, focused on a digital tachograph, integrated with a GPS tracking system, to monitor the speed of motor vehicles and to compare this, in real time, with the speed limit of the road and to record infringements. The device is also useful to remove or at least reduce the inequity that the team perceived to exist in the current system of car insurance, where safe driving cannot be fully recognised because of the absence of relevant driving behaviour data.

Second place was awarded to NUI Galway students Ciaran Coen from Roscahill, Co. Galway, Gary Dillon from Kilkishen, Co. Clare, Kevin Gilmartin from Colgagh, Co. Sligo, Ruán Naughton from An Spideál, Co. Galway and Ian Richardson from Bray, Co. Wicklow. Their project, ‘University Carpooling Website’ consisted of the establishment of a university website, with an app for smart phones, to enable students to make carpooling arrangements and thereby reduce travelling costs and CO2 emissions.

Third place was presented to NUI Galway students Mark Roche from Glasson, Co. Westmeath, Michelle Egan from Menlough, Co. Galway, David Connolly from Gurraun North, Co. Galway, Gavin Connolly from Cregmore, Co. Galway and Rikki Graham from Gort, Co. Galway, for their project ‘Car Insurance Decreaser’. The team devised a method, using GPS technology, of acknowledging good driving behaviour thereby eliminating the stereotyping of all young drivers as ‘boy racers’, improving road safety and reducing insurance costs.

CAPTION:

Ian Richardson from Bray, Co. Wicklow; Mark Roche from Glasson, Co. Westmeath; David Connolly from Gurraun North, Co. Galway; John Henry, Chairman, Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Ireland; Mary Dempsey, College of Engineering and Informatics, NUI Galway; Aidan Murphy, President, Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Ireland; Michelle Egan from Menlough, Co. Galway; Declan Bredin from Ennis, Co. Clare; and Rikki Graham from Gort, Co. Galway.

While UN climate negotiations show no sign of significant progress, calculations from the European Wind Energy Association show that wind energy is achieving over a quarter of the emissions reductions required under the current Kyoto agreement.

The recent UN climate negotiations in Bangkok “produced little more than the agenda for further negotiations,” according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

“Discussions continue to focus around the legal form of a new treaty,” explains Remi Gruet, EWEA regulatory affairs officer, “ignoring the key issue of how the international community will achieve the CO2 emissions reductions needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.”

He continues: “An international agreement remains absolutely vital but it’s clear that while there’s an impasse in the negotiations, many countries around the globe are getting on with avoiding CO2 emissions by installing wind energy and other renewable energy sources.”

EWEA calculations show that at the end of 2010, wind energy across the world avoided 255 Mt of CO2, equivalent to 26% of the emissions reductions commitment of industrialised countries under the Kyoto Protocol. By 2020, wind power should avoid between 46% and 69% of the pledges made in the Cancun agreement, depending on whether pledges are met to the full or the minimum.

The EU directive on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles, which applies to all procurements of vehicles for public transport services from this month, requires public authorities, when buying a vehicle, to take account of its energy consumption, CO2 emissions and pollutant emissions over the vehicle’s lifetime.

The clean vehicle directive introduces for the first time sustainability obligations into public procurement law for the whole EU. All purchase decisions by public authorities and private operators concerning vehicles for public transport services will now have to take into account the impact of their energy consumption, CO2 emissions and pollutant emissions affecting air quality, integrated over the entire lifetime of vehicles.

Thus, the real costs to be encountered over the lifetime operation of vehicles are anticipated, giving a relative advantage (lower lifetime costs) to vehicles that pollute less and consume less energy. The obligation extends to all purchases of road transport vehicles by public authorities or by transport operators charged with public service obligations.

The directive defines a methodology for the calculation of lifetime cost for energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and pollutant emissions of vehicles:

* Lifetime cost of energy consumption = cost per unit of energy X energy consumption per km X total lifetime mileage;

* Lifetime cost of CO2/pollutant emissions = cost per kg of emissions X kg of emissions per km X total lifetime mileage.

The clean vehicle portal has been set up to support public procurement of vehicles as well as help private users in buying a cleaner and more energy-efficient car. The portal takes advantage of Europe’s largest vehicle database and provides the consumption and emission data of vehicles, as required for the calculation of lifetime cost. It features an online calculator to carry out lifetime cost calculations for the vehicles chosen. An internet forum allows public procurers to team up to joint procurement calls. This should allow aligning and bundling purchases of vehicles to achieve economies of scale with larger volumes.

The portal also gives information on the technical and economic aspects of the different vehicle technologies, including hybrid, electric, biofuel, natural gas, LPG, and hydrogen vehicles. Information is provided on public procurement legislation and specific programmes and incentives for the purchase and operation of clean and energy-efficient vehicles, at EU level and in the different Member States at national, regional, and local levels.

Average CO2 emissions from new cars sold in the EU dropped by 5% last year, the biggest annual fall ever recorded, a report just published by the European Commission shows.

The Commission report summarising data on emissions from new passenger cars for the monitoring year 2009 shows a 5.1% drop in average C02 emissions against the previous year – the largest annual fall since the monitoring scheme began in 2000.

Moreover a slight decrease in the power, engine capacity and weight of cars, seen for the first time in 2008, accelerated last year. This was due to a combination of the economic crisis, the scrappage schemes introduced in some Member States and increased demand for and development of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The EU C02 emissions target of 130g CO2/km that is to be met in 2012 by the average 65% lowest emitting cars was reached last year. Considering the average fuel efficiency improvements achieved over the past seven years, several large volume manufacturers are expected to reach the 2015 target a few years in advance if this trend continues.

The Commission has also adopted detailed rules and guidance to harmonise the EU scheme for monitoring CO2 emissions from cars and ensure its correct functioning. This forms part of the implementation of the Regulation on C02 from cars. The rules include instructions to Member States, and provide car industry with a time table for the delivery of data.

European commercial vehicle manufacturers are developing an evaluation tool to calculate real-life CO2 emissions from trucks and buses ahead of purchase. Market forces play an instrumental role in reducing CO2 emissions from road transport and an accurate CO2-calculator would further support the customer in finding the most fuel-efficient vehicle for each specific transport mission.

The initiative marks an important step in realising the commercial vehicle industry’s Vision 2020’, announced in Hanover in 2008, pledging to further reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020.

“Our industry fully supports the common objective to reduce CO2 emissions, and by sharing our expertise with the market as well as with policy makers, we will arrive at ambitious results”, says Leif Johansson, chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Board of ACEA and president and chief executive of Volvo Group.

The CO2 evaluation tool is designed to help customers to choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle specification, involving issues such  as engine-gearbox combination, aerodynamic features and tyre specification.

CO2 emissions from commercial vehicles vary hugely depending on the vehicle’s ultimate size and shape and on the work it does (ie the load carried, the travelling distance and speed, the number of start-stops, and many more factors). Unlike for cars, the carbon dioxide emissions of trucks and buses cannot be simplified into an average tailpipe output defined in grammes of CO2 per kilometre.

Government funding of €9 million has been granted to 43 organisations involving capital investment projects of approximately €25 million, under the national Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF) for public and private sector businesses.

The projects, 20 of which are public sector, and 23 private and voluntary sectors, will be completed by the end of 2010, and the energy efficiency actions taken will create lifetime savings of over Eur70 million. Some 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions will also be avoided each year as a result, equivalent to taking over 100,000 cars off Irish roads.

The EEF, which is being managed and coordinated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), provides support for upgrades to buildings, services and facilities involving ambitious packages of energy efficiency investment actions aimed at achieving ongoing and lasting energy savings. Projects relate mainly to thermal and electrical energy usage in buildings. The fund, which was launched in May 2010, was oversubscribed with applications by its closing date in August.

Professor Owen Lewis, chief executive of SEAI.

“We must tackle the needless waste of energy across all sectors. In these straightened times, no one can afford to pay for unused energy. Increased energy efficiency is the one sure way to secure enduring reductions in energy use and energy expenditure,” comments Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. “For every euro granted by the Government under this scheme, Eur10 in savings is delivered. The benefits far outweigh the costs. This is an important Government scheme delivering instant savings for both public and private enterprise.”

Professor Owen Lewis, chief executive of SEAI says: “The EEF is a timely example of organisations in Ireland working towards best practice in energy efficiency to deliver real energy reductions in all sectors of our economy. There are tremendous opportunities for almost every company in Ireland to learn from these organisations and replicate the benefits of energy savings by following in their footsteps.”