Danish Workshop

On 28th November, Tim will be helping run a stakeholder workshop at the Danish Centre for Environment and Energy in Roskilde, Denmark ad part of UWE's work to support the review of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution.

Tim in EU Meetings

On Tuesday 27th November, Tim will be in Brussels attending meetings with DG-ENV for UWE's projects on ozone and stakeholder recommendations.

'Air as a common good' paper published

AQMRC, UWE is pleased to announce the publication of a paper co-authored by members of the Faculties of Environment and Technology and Business and Law, and led by Dr Mark Everard. 'Air as a common good' has just been published online in the Journal of Environmental Science and Policy and can be found at:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.04.008. The paper explores the ecosystem services of air alongside its legal status and discusses how an ecosystem approach could improve management of air.

Europe's air story told in pictures

European Environment Agency (EEA)
www.eea.europa.eu

Air is a tricky subject to photograph, but this challenge has proved to be a source of inspiration for the winners of photo storycompetition ‘ImaginAIR’, organised by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Read more ...

What works in energy saving?

DECC has just published a new report on 'what works in changing energy behaviours in the home?' http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/tackling-climate-change/saving-energy-co2/6921-what-works-in-changing-energyusing-behaviours-in-.pdf

The report is from a project that Tim Chatterton undertook with RAND Europe and Charlie Wilson from the University of East Anglia.

It forms part of the wider evidence base for DECC's new Energy Efficiency Strategy http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/tackling/saving_energy/what_doing/eedo/eedo.aspx#

Jim chairs international expert panel in Portugal

The Environment and Global Changes Panel of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) met in Lisbon between the 7^th and  9^th of November 2012. The international expert panel, chaired by Jim Longhurst, evaluated 341 research proposals and made recommendations for funding to FCT.  

 

FCT Panel Members

Back row, left to right: Joel Knoery, Sabine Kleinsteuber, Christian Kjær, Alastair Grant, James Longhurst, Jürgen P. Kropp, Ingvar Brandt, José Miguel Rodríguez Maroto, Vincent O'Flaherty. Front row, left to right: Matt Bentley, Mara Silva, Georgina Mace, Ariana Zeka, Maryse Labriet, Lídia Ferreira, Jose Maria Baldasano Recio, Darren Reynolds, Petros Samaras.

 

Mo receives IAQM Ian McCrae Travel Award

One of our recently completed PhD students, Dr Mofoluso Fagbeja, has just been awarded the IAQM McCrae Travel Award.

The award is for a paper presentation at the 2013 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland USA in March.

The paper is titled, "A subjective assessment of the suitability of SCIAMACHY total column CO measurements to interpolate reliable concentration estimates over a low-latitude region."

Congratualtions, Mo!

Tim at Behaviour, Energy and Climate Change in Sacramento

Tim is currently attending the BECC conference in Sacramento, California this week. He will be presenting the work that he has been doing with DECC, Defra and DfTon multi-model approaches to energy behaviour, and running a workshop for practitioners on the 'Four Dimensions of Behaviour' (4DB) framework that he has been developing with Charlie Wilson at UEA. The workshop "When is a behaviour not (simply) a behaviour?" Will take examples brought by participants and use the novel 4x5 framework tool to examine the key characteristics of each behaviour and explore how they differ and how different models and tools for understanding them and devising interventions might be more or less applicable.

ImaginAIR - vote for your favourite photostory

The ImaginAIR competition - launched in September 2012 - asked Europeans to tell their story of air through three photographs and a short paragraph. Here are the finalists from the competition. Our external jury will select five thematic winners, but you get to choose the public vote winner. Vote for your favourites before 14 November 2012 to determine which photo story should win the ImaginAIR Public Choice Award. The photostory that receives the most votes will win the award. Become a member of our public jury. The decision is in your hands.
Vote for your favourites now

Jim Longhurst to Chair the Environment and Global Change Panel as part of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) 2012 evaluation process

The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is the public research-funding agency which selects and distributes research funds for a wide range of scientific fields of research. FCT places high importance on the international peer-review evaluation process as a critical element to ensure credibility and quality in all its activities.   FCT has established six high-level panels of leading field scientists to take part in the 2012 evaluation process and selection of the best applications.

The Board of Directors of FCT have invited Professor Jim Longhurst to chair the Environment and Global Change panel in the 2012 evaluation process. The Environment and Global Change panel will consider some 335 proposals in four sub themes:

• Global Environmental Change

• Sustainable Management of Resources
• Environmental Technologies
• Environmental Modelling and Assessment
 

For further information on the work of FCT see http://www.fct.pt/

AQMRC Port Talbot Report providing advice to Ministers

The 2009 report by AQMRC for the Welsh Government reviewing air pollution in Neath Port Talbot continues to be of importance.  The report is currently linked to the front page of the Welsh Government air quality website, described as "Advice to the Welsh Ministers on further measures to pinpoint the sources of particulate matter." 

Visualising Bristol's low carbon futures: John Rose Award public engagement project underway

Thanks to the 2012 John Rose Award grant from the Institution of Environmental Sciences and support from Bristol City Council, Rose's low carbon Bristol public engagement art project is under way.
Rose's PhD research consulted a large group of key local stakeholders about how Bristol might meet it's 80% carbon reduction target in 2050, producing 2 different scenarios for the city. To communicate the results in an engaging way to the Bristol public, Rose is working with local street artist Andy Council to produce visual interpretations of these two difference scenarios. The public will then be able to submit their thoughts and ideas on Bristol's low carbon future through local digital democracy company Delib's 'Dialogue app'.
The first sketches of the two scenarios have been finished, with the final images coming soon. Watch this space for the opportunity to have your say!

"Scenario X": a globalised, high-tech big-tech, 'low carbon business as usual' future

"Scenario Y": a re-localised, high-tech small-tech, 'resilient restructured community' future

AQMRC rolls out carbon support package for green SMEs

AQMRC have been working with South West SMEs on a range of carbon related business support activities through the Environmental Technologies iNet. Rose has been working one-on-one with selected companies to estimate the carbon emissions embedded in their products through lifecycle analysis and embedded carbon footprinting methods. This will help those companies with environmentally friendly products to capitalise on their green credentials, by being able to show commitment to environmental reporting and sustainability in their manufacturing and operations, as well as identify opportunities to further reduce their environmental impact and develop a carbon management strategy. It will also help emerging companies in meeting ever more stringent obligations placed on suppliers by major purchasers, themselves under increasing pressure to report environmental impacts.

For example, the results from one carbon assessment of an innovative new version of a product found that it:

• is responsible for 82% less carbon than the traditional product

• lasts four times as long as the traditional product, escalating the carbon saving to 95%

• has a transportation carbon impact of 97% less than the traditional product

• avoids 9.8 kg/CO₂e through the use of recycled materials

In addition to one-on-one support Rose, Enda and the Environmental iNet team also ran a two-day workshop on the carbon assessment of products, including lifecycle analysis, business incentives for reporting emissions, and ensuring legitimate 'green claims'. Businesses that attended varied from construction, biocrops, high-tech engineering to a zoo, but all went away with a bespoke lifecycle analysis carbon assessment inventory and toolkit and a framework for calculating the emissions from their products. 

The workshop was very popular and fully subscribed so will be running again soon – watch this space.

New Air Quality and Carbon Management Training

The Air Quality Management Resource Centre are now offering CPD training in the following Air Quality and Carbon Management courses (please click on the course name to access the webpage for descriptions and booking forms):

Introduction to Local Air Quality Management	08/11/2012
Review and Assessment: Updating and Screening Assessments & Progress Reports	09/11/2012
Environmental Permitting Regulations	22/11/2012
Review and Assessment: Detailed & Further Assessments	23/11/2012
Introduction to the Science of Climate Change	06/12/2012
Introduction to Climate Change Policy & Carbon Management	07/12/2012
Technical Guidance for LAQM: Monitoring, Modelling & Emissions Estimation	10/01/2013
Air Quality Action Plans and Action Plan Progress Reports	11/01/2013
Technical Introduction to Air Pollution Monitoring	24/01/2013
Integrating Air Quality Management into the Local Transport Planning Process	25/01/2013
Monitoring QAQC: Automatic Monitors and Diffusion Tubes	07/02/2013
Low Emission Zones and Strategies	08/02/2013
Dispersion Modelling & Model Validation, Verification & Adjustment	21/02/2013
Planning and Air Quality: Air Quality Assessments	22/02/2013
Consultation in Air Quality & Carbon Management / GIS for LAQM	07/03/2013
Sustainable Planning & Development: Local Development Framework & Healthy Urban Design	08/03/2013
Air Quality & Carbon Management: International Case Studies	21/03/2013
Action Planning: Behaviour Change & Innovative Technologies	22/03/2013

All of the Air Quality and Carbon Management short courses are run as single day sessions at the main Frenchay campus at UWE, Bristol, from 9.30 to 4.30 with one hour for lunch. The short courses are aimed primarily at professionals working in, or wishing to skill themselves to enter, the field of air quality and carbon management. However, they are equally applicable to those working in related fields such as transport, planning and energy management. The courses are accredited by the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) and the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM). The content of the short courses cover the breadth of air quality and carbon management including principles, policies, practices and integrated solutions. The fees are £150 per delegate with a 10% discount for three or more delegates from the same organisation.

For further information, contact Jo Barnes or the FET Short Course Unit.

Tim writes for 2degrees

Tim's article on "Behavioural change or societal change?" has recently been published on the 2degrees website: http://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/managing-sustainability/resources/behavioural-change-or-societal-change/.

Congratulations to Ross Hunter

Congratulations to Ross who successfully defended his PhD entitled “Enhancing air quality in Wales: Relating pollutant interactions to management approaches for Nitrogen Dioxide.” More information on his research can be found here: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/ross.html. Well done Ross!!

 

POST Note on Engergy Use Behaviour Change

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has just published a briefing note on ‘Energy Use Behaviour Change’ http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/POST-PN-417.  The note was informed by the report on multi-model approaches to energy behaviour that Tim wrote for DECC during his Fellowship (http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/about-us/economics-social-research/3887-intro-thinking-energy-behaviours.pdf), and he also provided additional support in reviewing the note as part of his Fellowship Follow-On Funding.

 

 

Eleven Member States exceed air emissions limits under LRTAP Convention

Emissions of most air pollutants have fallen over the last two decades in Europe. But many Member States have exceeded internationally-agreed pollutant limits set to protect human health and the environment, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). Road transport, households, power plants, agricultural activities and certain industry sectors continue to emit significant amounts of air pollution.

Read more...

Jo travels to Malta

Jo travels to Malta this weekend for a contract initiation meeting with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA). AQMRC have been contracted by MEPA to undertake air quality consultancy work in relation to Delimara Power Station. Jo will visit the plant and monitoring sites and discuss the project methodology with the Monitoring Committee. 

And the Dr Nurul Leksmono Memorial Prize goes to... Mo!

Dr Mofoluso Fagbeja was awarded with the Dr Nurul Leksmono Memorial Prize at yesterday's Graduation Ceremony in Bristol Cathedral. The award, which was devised to celebrate the life of our much-loved colleague, is awarded to the UWE Postgraduate International student whose PhD or MSc thesis on the subject of air quality, carbon management or environmental management can be considered the best in the graduating year. Congratualtions, Mo!

Dr Mofoluso Fagbeja