News archive - Week ending 29th June 2007

Climate Change Business Delivery Group Meets

A group of leading business people interested in addressing the issue of climate change has met for the first time. The Climate Change Business Delivery Group, chaired by Scottish and Southern Energy Chief Executive Ian Marchant, aims to share ideas and challenge Scottish business to do more on this issue. Fifteen organisations were represented at the inaugural meeting.

The Group has agreed a work plan focusing on ensuring business is properly informed of the compelling evidence of climate change. Two working groups will look at logistics, including staff travel, in order to reduce emissions and consider in detail the most successful ways of significantly reducing energy consumption.

Each of the businesses in the Group has pledged to go further in their own actions to reduce emissions in the hope of inspiring and informing others in the Scottish business community.

£13m Environmentally-friendly Health Centre

A £13m 'green' health centre, thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland, is to be built in Govan. It will bring together a range of health and social care services into a "one-stop shop".

Assuming the project is approved, it will be the first "carbon-neutral" building in Scotland which is open to the public. The idea is the building will end up saving the same amount of carbon emissions it creates. The 'health hub' will be built on a redundant blaes pitch in Craigton Road and use landscaping to help ensure a constant temperature in summer and winter. Ventilation will be provided through natural airflows, rainwater will be collected and redirected towards the building¿s sanitation system and an aerofoil-style roof will maximise the use of daylight. It will be sunk low into the ground so, although over two levels, it will stand at less than 40ft high to help it integrate into its surroundings.

MSPs Take Up the Home Energy Challenge

Five Scottish parliamentarians have taken on a home energy challenge to reduce emissions from their own properties. Jack McConnell, Rob Gibson, Robin Harper, Jim Hume and Mary Scanlon have pledged to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
The aim is for the politicians to try to make their homes "climate-friendly".

The competition is being run by Friends of the Earth Scotland and the winner will receive £500 for their chosen charity.

In order for the five politicians to make their homes more energy efficient over the course of the year, they will make changes such as adding loft insulation and low energy light bulbs or installing solar panels. Each MSP will have their home energy use calculated by experts from the Energy Saving Trust.

Friends of the Earth Scotland's Greener Homes Officer, Liz Murray, said: "By taking up this challenge, the five MSPs will be playing their part personally and in doing this, they will see at first hand what government could do to make it easier for all households in Scotland to become more climate-friendly." A website, hosted by Friends of the Earth Scotland, will publish updates on the MSPs' progress, including blogs by the MSPs themselves.

Edinburgh Tram Project Approved

Plans have been approved for a £600 million project to run trams through Scotland's capital, possibly helping the nation to cut its CO2 emissions. The administration had claimed that the plans would be too expensive and unnecessary but opposition parties joined together on the issue to force the Scottish National Party to accept the project. However the proposal will only go ahead providing it can be kept within the £600 million budget.

PGL Opens Sustainable Office Building

PGL's new office building in Banchory, which is one of the first in Scotland to incorporate geothermal heating, has been officially opened by Jennifer Craw, CEO of Scottish Enterprise Grampian. The building's design incorporates a number of other innovative features, such as rainwater harvesting for 'grey water' use, and high specification timber- framed double glazing that will offer greater economy and environmental sustainability in the long term.

Last autumn, PGL's commitment to sustainability won it a special award in the VIBES (Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland) scheme. The VIBES judges were particularly impressed by the commitment to environmentally friendly operation shown by PGL's senior management and by the high degree of staff involvement.

WRAP Trials Green Compost at Quarry Site

Lafarge Cement's Dunbar Works site in East Lothian will use 2,300 tonnes of BSI PAS 100 compost in a former quarrying area to restore and improve the soil for the growth of woodland and grazing areas. The compost is being sourced from Scottish Water Waste Services in Deerdykes, near Glasgow. The project will determine the benefits of the use of compost in restoring quarried land, which will hopefully set an example for other firms in the quarrying industry to follow.

WRAP says the conditions of the site make it an ideal location to investigate the benefits of mixing PAS 100 compost with existing soil forming materials. According to WRAP, the resulting properties of the improved soils should enable better growth of sustainable woodlands and grasslands.