Green Earth Africa

Alternatives for aviation industry and the military pose issues related to land use, clearing peatland, fertilizer use, costs and more emissions

Image: Flickr/Simon_sees

DURBAN, South Africa—My share of the carbon dioxide my flight to Johannesburg emitted over 15 hours amounted to 1,391.3 kilograms, according to the helpful information provided by South African Airlines. Add a dollop of 53.8 kilograms of CO2 for the jet jaunt to Durban and you can see that the aviation industry—and theDurban climate talks—have an emissions problem. 

In fact, flying now accounts for some 2 percent—and growing fast—of globalgreenhouse gas emissions, although the industry has pledged to stop that growth by 2020. According to the aviation industry, a full 80 percent of the roughly 650 million metric tons of CO2 annually emitted by aircraft are from those flying more than 1,500 kilometers (like my trip from New York City to Durban) for which there is no alternative mode of practical transport. And, given the energy density of kerosene, there really is no alternative to liquid fuel either—with the exception of lightweight solar-powered drones, electric planes cannot get off the ground. As for hydrogen, it is hard to carry enough of it and still have space for passengers, too. 

That’s why the U.S. military, a slew of airline companies, Boeing and others have invested heavily in jet fuel made from plants—the oils provided by weedy camelina or hardy jatropha shrubs or even algae. The fuels have successfully passed all trials—even delivering more thrust per gallon—and have now entered regular commercial use in the U.S. and Europe, promising to cut CO2 emissions by 80 percent, albeit at a premium price. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is giving out $7.7 million in contracts to such jet biofuel–makers. 

“Everybody wants a solution to oil,” says Jigar Shah, CEO of the Carbon War Room, an organization founded by Virgin Airlines founder Sir Richard Branson and others to combat climate change. “Aviation is where it’s going to come first.” 

Unfortunately, there’s a problem. As much as ethanol from corn turns out to be a bad biofuel idea, the climate-friendly value of these bio-jet fuels depends largely on how they are produced. A fuel made from palm oil turns out to be worse for greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere than jet fuel refined from petroleum because it involves clearing rainforest or peatland. To help solve this problem, the Carbon War Room has launched RenewableJetFuels.org, which ranks all biofuel companies on sustainability, among other criteria. 

“We need to ensure that these fuels are made in a way that doesn’t put pressure on ecosystems that are already stressed,” says Suzanne Hunt, who is leading the Carbon War Room’s aviation effort. “They must not put pressure on food security and we must make sure the greenhouse gas reductions are real and verified.” 

Per the Carbon War Room’s main criteria of scalability (Can it be made in bulk?); sustainability (Can it be made with minimal environmental damage?); and economic viability (Can it be made at a profit?), the top five producers include: Lanzatech,  SG Biofuels, AltAir, Solazyme and Sapphire—all of which have already provided biofuels to fly jets. 

All of these fuels cost more than petroleum-based jet fuel. “For airlines, a third or more of the operating costs are fuel,” Hunt notes, arguing that locking in bio–jet fuel at a consistent price will help airlines hedge that cost. “The E.U. including aviation under the cap [of its emissions trading program] is a major incentive.” 

But each would-be jet biofuel–maker faces other challenges as well. Solazyme can make lots of oil from its stressed algae grown in the dark and fed industrial-grade sugar, but the source of that sugar makes the ultimate fuels less sustainable. Sapphire wants to grow its algae in ponds, which will make it more sustainable but also much more costly to produce. AltAir does better by sourcing its bio–jet fuel from oil seed–bearing plants, like camelina, but that limits the amount that can be planted in rotation with food crops like wheat given constraints on the amount of land available for the latter.

SG Biofuels gets high marks in all respects from the Carbon War Room and relies on jatropha grown in Guatemala and other parts of Central and South America. This hardy plant seems ideal, given that it can resist droughts and grow on marginal lands, producing oily seeds. But the biofuel crop has already come in for criticism both because it is displacing cereals in other places where it is grown, such as Kenya and Tanzania, as well as requiring fertilizers to get good oil yields.

That leaves Lanzatech, which has a technology to turn synthesis gas derived from almost anything composed of hydrogen and carbon into fuels and chemicals. But, of course, that technology doesn’t have to use sustainably grown plants as a starting point. They can just as easily use other alternatives, like alcohol or coal. In fact, that is exactly what Lanzatech is attempting with Chinese coal mining company, the Yankuang Group.

Turning coal to motive fuel is something that South Africa’s SASOL has been doing for a long time. For years SASOL has been making jet fuel (and diesel for trucks and buses) out of coal. It is actually chemically the same fuel as that which is made from plants—synthetic paraffinic kerosene. Unfortunately, jet fuel derived from coal results in even more CO2 emissions, which makes it no alternative at all if the goal is to combat climate change.

The importance of Water from WWF on Vimeo.

Of all the water on this blue planet of ours, only 3% of it is freshwater. And this precious, life-giving resource has seen a decline of 35% in the species that live within its realm since 1970. We must use water more wisely. We must make better use of the bounties and services that it provides. 

Find out where you fit in, and how you can help: wwf.panda.org/water

Port Louis Mauritius 28th June 2011

Green Earth Africa announced today that due to the wave of interest created by their various environmental credit initiatives the company has received numerous offers from interested parties in different parts of the world for participation in creating a renewable source of energy and carbon credits through various land holdings made available to the company. Working in partnership with local communities and partners, Green Earth Africa will refocus and expand their operations and fund raising to take advantage of the opportunities made available to the company within the carbon credit sector by expanding into the renewable energy sector in the form of bio fuels, bio mass and renewable power through various fully integrated agricultural operations. In a brief statement, Havercroft was quoted as saying “Green Earth Africa is in a unique position in that it has had various blocks of prime agricultural land made available in various parts of the world and is in the enviable position of not having to raise finance to purchase these blocks of land but will rather develop and work this land in partnership with local communities, the rightful owners of the land. This situation has allowed the company to be in the enviable position to enable it to invest all funds raised into the production of various commodities and renewable energy sources rather than tying up investor’s funds into land ownership, thus creating a far bigger and quicker return on investor’s funds. Our fully integrated business model allows for the production of food crops and various plantation crops with the bi products being used for the production of renewable energy in the form of electricity through the use of the crop waste being converted into bio mass for electricity generation, or in the case of our planned sugar cane estates, the production of bio butanol fuels and the crop waste being used in bio mass production for electricity generation through continuous pyrolosis, thus creating a multiple cash flow stream. Our model offers the perfect investment destination for various funds seeking to invest in the renewable energy, environment, green, social and agricultural sector and ticks all the right boxes .For a comprehensive insight into the company’s current and planned operations and opportunities, the Green Earth Africa web site is being rebuilt and updated and will be relaunched within the next few weeks, or alternatively I can be contacted directly.”

Port Louis, Mauritius 28th June 2011 — Nick Havercroft, founder and president of Green Earth Africa announced today the demerger of Green Earth Africa from Z R Energies/Good Earth Power.

In a brief statement, Havercroft advised that though the shareholders of Green Earth Africa will maintain a substantial shareholding in Z R Energies in their individual capacities and will continue to work with and alongside Z R Energies, but due to the enormous wave if interest currently being experienced by Green Earth Africa and their environmental business and investment opportunities, Havercroft felt it was paramount to take advantage of this interest and refocus his energies into Green Earth Africa. He will continue to offer his help and advice to Z R Energies on a part time basis.

Havercroft was quoted as saying .”Z R Energies has a very capable founder and CEO, Jason Rosamond, who has an extraordinary amount of energy and a fantastic team around him and with the enormous amount of opportunities currently available in the renewable energy and environment sector throughout Africa, it is far more advantageous to the economies and communities of developing countries for myself and Jason to head up both Green Earth Africa and Z R Energies independently. Rather than combine our skills and energy through one entity, It will be far more advantageous and effective to develop the markets and opportunities in the various targeted sectors through both companies .This will invariably lead to greater investment into these economies and communities, whilst at the same time promoting job and wealth creation , poverty alleviation and the development of the renewable energy sector.”

Speyside combined heat and power plant to harness energy from distillery waste

Skyfarming is getting real, with one wall of the 9m tower covered with plants, all edible, the other with solar panels to power the hydroponic growing system

The stories of thoughtful citizens who are trying to make great green ideas a reality.

(Image: Ryan McVay/Getty)

Popeye was right all along: to generate energy all we need is sunlight and spinach.

Researchers have long attempted to mimic the way in which photosynthetic organisms use the energy from sunlight to break down water into oxygen and hydrogen, with the latter then reacting with carbon dioxide to produce sugars.

Now a team led by Hugh O’Neill at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has combined light-harvesting proteins with compounds known as block copolymers and a platinum catalyst to produce a membrane that generates hydrogen from sunlight.

The team extracted light harvesting complex II (LHC-II) proteins from spinach. They then added them to a liquid containing the copolymers and sodium hexachloroplatinate, which is converted into platinum in the presence of sunlight and the proteins. 

The proteins interact with the copolymers, self-assembling to form layered sheets like those found naturally in photosynthetic membranes. When the team studied these sheets using a technique called small-angle neutron scattering analysis, in which a beam of neutrons is fired at the sample and the refracted radiation is measured to determine what elements are present, they found that the membranes were producing hydrogen. What’s more, they continued to do so for over 100 hours.

The protein molecules absorb sunlight and release electrons, transferring them to the nearby platinum molecules. The platinum then catalyses the reduction of protons to hydrogen gas, which is readily usable as fuel.

A new project aims to convince teenagers of the benefits of being environmentally friendly – by making it cool

Researchers hope to turn teenagers on to energy consumption awareness.

Photograph: Janine Wiedel Photolibrary/Alamy

Most teenagers want to be considered “cool”. But do they also want to be thought of as green – in the environmental sense of the word, that is? Trying to make greenness equate with cool is the focus of a new three-year research project involving five British universities sharing £1.5m from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The scheme has been christened Teddi, which doesn’t sound particularly cool, but does condense into a handy acronym the stated aims of Transforming Energy Demand through Digital Innovation. Parents may yet be inadvertent beneficiaries of the scheme – the ones who follow teenage offspring around the house, switching off lights, computers, televisions, mobile chargers and hairdryers, while still receiving electricity bills only slightly lower than the gross national product of Albania.

“Most teenagers are non-bill-paying consumers,” says the project leader, Dr Janet Read, a computer scientist at the University of Central Lancashire. Read ought to know: three of her four children still live at home. (One is 14, one 17 and one 20.)

“Subliminally, that might have given me the idea,” she concedes. “But I’m not over-preoccupied by our domestic electricity bills, to be honest. It was more that this project offered the opportunity to change the way a whole generation think about their energy consumption.”

Read spends a lot of time in schools. “I’ve always felt frustrated that teenagers get such a bad press,” she says. “I think many of them are attuned to environmental issues and blame their parents’ generation for being negligent with the earth’s resources.”

But how do you encourage teenagers to show that they can be more responsible without seeming earnest or dull? Two of the universities involved, Northumbria and the Institute of Education, in London, will be advising on teenage psychology and how it evolves between the ages of 12 and 19. “They will also be creating tools to evaluate changes in attitudes as the project progresses,” says Read. In addition, the universities of Birmingham and Swansea will be developing the technology to enable youngsters to monitor their energy consumption.

“All of us have two core schools in our locality,” Read explains, “which means that we can reach quite a lot of students at various stages in their education. I know from watching my own children that attitudes can change very quickly within a comparatively short time. Teenagers tend to be very trend-driven and they also have a great need to belong.”

Researchers will be encouraging those who participate to spread the word on social networking sites. Initially, a competition will be set up in each of the 10 core schools to create “a social community of shared experiences” through narrative, images and video – essentially an online diary about how they consume energy and how successful they are in changing habits. “We might have a few iPads to give away to successful schools,” says Read.

She has been working closely with Dr Russell Beale, an expert in computer design and artificial intelligence at Birmingham University. While she spends time with “junior teens” (13-15) and “senior teens” (16-19) to draw out their design ideas on energy monitoring devices, he will be informing them about the sort of technology they might like to think about.

“My initial idea,” says Beale, “is to integrate something into their mobile phones that turns from green to red when their energy consumption goes over a certain level.” Is that feasible? “The work that Janet’s done so far suggests that it is. Our partners include [the energy company] EON and AlertMe, experts in developing censors that monitor energy use in the home. Mobile technology these days has such great connectivity that such information can be passed quickly to your phone. Our aim is to create fun, cool things that they like having around and that help users to engage others in the process of change. Things, in other words, that make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Making a Difference, condensed to MAD1 for younger teens and MAD2 for older ones, is the theme of phase two, when computer scientists from Swansea become involved in building the devices their Birmingham colleagues have designed. Then there will be more consultation with the youthful would-be users before refinements are added. Around 40 pupils will be invited to a summer school in August 2012, where they’ll be instructed on how to conduct interviews and interpret data. Then they’ll be sent back to their peer groups and families to gather information on attitudes to energy use in preparation for a dissemination workshop in May, 2013, where industry and academics will discuss technology designs that change the energy habits of teenagers.

By that time, those who were 15 at the start of the project will be around 18. Read is acutely aware that, in the fast-changing world of teenage trends, what is cool one year can seem passé the next. “There is a chance that could happen,” she says. “But if we could get one year to make a difference, then that could have a big impact. And what you learn in youth often comes back to you in adulthood.”

Especially when the gas and electricity bills are yours to pay.

Eight carriages for a core party of 14 people to preach a message of sustainability on week-long tour of Britain

Prince Charles boards the royal train at Glasgow Central station. Photograph: Wpa Pool/Getty Images

As a mode of transport, the royal train suits Prince Charles down to his hand-made brogues: resolutely old-fashioned, rather costly for the taxpayer, but just possibly ahead of its time.

The locomotive this afternoon hauled the prince out of Glasgow station, furnished with the prince’s bespoke study, a grand dining room and bedroom suite, complete with bath and his and hers beds, on the start of a four-day tour of Britain that will cost the taxpayer at least £50,000.

The contrast between the train’s opulence, which seemed worthy of an oligarch, and the purpose of its journey was, to some, jarring. Charles has begun a week-long trip to persuade his “subjects” to go green, and the train from which he has chosen to assert his voice in the climate debate has been converted to run on cooking fat, which, its suppliers estimate, creates just one-eighth of the carbon dioxide of oil-based diesel.

Until Friday the prince will criss-cross Scotland, England and Wales to “extol the virtues of a sustainability revolution”, preaching the benefits of towelling nappies, cycling, and European city breaks by train. The “Start” campaign, as he is badging the initiative, “doesn’t lecture or hector anyone, nor does it attempt to frighten”, he insisted today. To run the campaign, which could cost £2m a year, he has hired a leading marketing executive from B&Q, Jo Kenrick, and signed up major sponsors including Asda, BT and EDF.

“What I hope to get across to as many people as possible is that, however awful the predicament we face with climate change and the unsustainable use of resources that keep us all alive, we aren’t going to get anywhere by telling everyone they need to stop doing things,” he said on the platform. “There has been quite enough of that in recent years.”

But even before his train set off to the sound of a lone piper, the prince was facing perhaps inevitable accusations of double standards for using lavish transport – eight carriages for a core party of just 14 people – to preach a message of sustainability.

“I’m not sure he’ll get that many people jumping on his bandwagon,” said Nicky Coles, 38, a child carer who watched Charles roll up to the launch in a motorcade of petrol-guzzling cars. “He’s a royal. He has the money to go green while Joe Bloggs hasn’t. He can get his gardener to grow organic vegetables while the rest of us go to the supermarket and pay more.”

It was also noted that his itinerary hardly minimises emissions, which Clarence House has yet to estimate. Tonight the train takesthe prince from Edinburgh to west Wales and will tomorrow chug back up to Newcastle upon Tyne so he can visit a local food market, before dropping south towards London again.

Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of campaign sponsor Marks & Spencer, accepted a pair of the prince’s old green cords as part of the store’s recycling initiative and defended Charles’s role as “a great convener”. “For 25 years, the guy has been banging away at the importance of sustainability and he has been mostly proved right,” Rose told the Guardian. “He has realised that the way to do it now is to get it done through the vox populi.”

But campaigners for an elected head of state claimed the tour was a “political roadshow” and represented a breach of Charles’s constitutional role. Graham Smith, director of Republic, said: “What he is doing is conducting his own political roadshow at taxpayers’ expense. He is crossing the line between being heir to the throne and being a political activist and there needs to be a parliamentary inquiry into his use of public funds.”

When he announced Start, Charles said he imagined it as like the Great Exhibition of 1851 – a display of world-changing technology. Today, he visited a craft stall offering wine bottles melted down into cheese boards and sat on a foldaway bike. He did not appear overly keen to talk about going green with the public; instead he greeted a line of Glaswegians with smalltalk.

“Are you going somewhere or have you been?”

But supporters insisted that while Charles has had success gathering world leaders and business leaders to make his voice heard on climate change, Start will open a new front with the general public. “He has access to heads of state, but like everybody else he has realised a big part of this challenge is about popular culture,” said Tony Juniper, his environment adviser. “To achieve change you need [a] culture change and public backing. In the past, his message has been mediated by the media. Through Start, he is able to articulate a clearer message and for it to come across in a more coherent way.”

To help, TV celebrities including Alan Titchmarsh, Rory Bremner and Antony Worrall-Thompson have been enlisted to enliven a 10-day festival of sustainability in the gardens of Clarence House, Lancaster House and Marlborough House which starts on Wednesday. Rolf Harris will perform, some lucky visitors will get to make bags out of Charles’ old curtains while others can “admire a display of eco cars”. Later this autumn, Harmony, a book written by the prince, will set out his vision for the environment, as will a TV documentary of the same name, made with NBC.

In it he declares that he may, at last, have found his role: “I can only somehow imagine that I find myself being born into this position for a purpose.”

Bored on board?

How does Prince Charles wind down on the royal train? There’s an old-fashioned Roberts radio in his well-appointed study for his preferred late-night Radio 4 news. A photo of the Queen Mother has pride of place, and the phone has the quarters of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on speed-dial.

The train’s video collection, housed between the royal dining carriage and the staff dining area, features some eclectic alternatives. Norman Wisdom’s 1958 comedy, The Square Peg, about a council workman who ends up captured by the Germans, and Jim Carrey in The Mask. A series of Only Fools and Horses and a 1989 war film, Return from the River Kwai, are solid fallback options.

For music, few will argue with the dependability of the Status Quo CD, and if HRH is feeling sociable, there is a selection of popular games: Chinese chequers, cribbage and Monopoly.

The most eyebrow-raising entertainment option is Extreme Maniacs, cert 15, which appears to have come free with a copy of Bizarre – a gore and fetish sex magazine.

A spokeswoman for the prince said she couldn’t comment on items in the staff dining area that may or may not have been used by staff.