Pollution watchdog group Surfers against Sewage (SAS) claim that tens of thousands of visitors to Britain’s most prestigious Blue Flag beaches could have been unknowingly exposed to raw sewage, after freedom of information requests revealed that a quarter of Britain’s top beaches are failing to meet designated standards.

Research carried out by the group has shown that at least 35 of the UK’s 131 Blue Flag beaches have not met criterion 28 of the Blue Flag code – which requires beach operators to warn visitors during and after events such as sewage discharges. The group were further up in arms when they discovered that many local authorities responsible for the beaches don’t even ask for any data from water companies with regards to sewage overflow spills.

Andy Cummins, the director of Surfers against Sewage, said:

“It is a major concern that these 35 beaches could have the Blue Flag flying while the public could unwittingly be swimming around in raw sewage discharged from nearby combined sewer overflows. Pathogens associated with sewage polluted waters include ecoli 0157H, hepatitis A and gastro enteritis.”

He also added that the group had heard from plenty of bathers who had felt ill after using Blue Flag beaches.

A Blue Flag is awarded to beaches that meet 30 strict criteria with regards to water quality standards, safety standards, environmental education, services provided and environmental management.

Some of the UK’s busiest beaches were included in the list of 35 drawn up by SAS. Here it is in full:

Cornwall: Polzeath, Gyllyngvase, Carbis bay, Challaborough

Devon: Woolacombe, Bigbury on sea

Isle of Wight: Ventnor, Shanklin, Sandown

Kent: Joss Bay, Margate main, Westgate West bay, Botany bay, Ramsgate main

Suffolk: Lowestoft south, Cromer

Lincolnshire: Cleethorpes central

Yorkshire: Filey, North Bay beach, Whitby west cliff

County Durham: Whitburn north

Wales: Prestatyn central, Llanddona, Fairbourne, Abersoch, Aberporth, Llangrannog, Newagle, Langland, Rest bay

Scotland: Fife West Sands, Elie Ruby bay, Coldingham

Northern Ireland: Coleraine Castle rock, Portrush west, Whiterock west

Transport is a necessary evil in this day and age. We try and cut down on our travelling in order to keep our carbon footprint down, however sometimes it just needs to be done. With transport accounting for 20% of the emissions in the United Kingdom, it’s no wonder that we’re worried about the planet.

However, what if you could run your car on something more eco-friendly than traditional fuels? The Bio-Bug may offer us such a solution. And what does it run on? It runs on biogas, which is the gas that is produced at sewage plants from human waste. What a lovely thought. However, it does offer a more eco-friendly way of powering our cars.

While the Bio-Bug will still have an unleaded petrol tank, it will only run on the petrol while the engine is heating up, then the biogas can be used. The petrol tank also kicks in if you run out of biogas, meaning you’ll never unexpectedly run out of fuel.

The most unique thing about the Bio-Bug is the fact that it is carbon neutral. This is due to the fact that the CO2 being released by the car would have been released in methane gas from the sewage works anyway.

So finally, a car that might just be almost totally environmentally friendly. The current Bio-Bug (pictured below) has been converted from a normal two litre VW Beetle convertible. And you won’t have to compromise on the power of your car, as this little Bio-Bug can still get up to speeds of 114 MPH.

While I’m all for the eco-friendly nature of this car, if I was to buy one I really hope it wouldn’t have “Powered by your waste!” written down the side. Aside from that though it seems a great idea. Though I really don’t want to think about filling up my fuel tank.

Image via www.telegraph.co.uk

Arzel Ariosa who often goes by the nickname Arencis is no stranger to the blogging scene and a frequent guest blogger around the web. Having read some of her previous work, there was no way we could refuse her the opportunity.

Little things matter when it comes to caring for the environment. Help reduce greenhouse gases and other harmful impacts through following ten simple steps.

1. Conserve water. This may sound like an old record, but conserving water can be a big impact to the environment. There are already countries experiencing fresh water shortages due to global climate change. Brush your teeth with the faucet turned off. Check for leaks in your toilet so you don’t waste gallons of precious water. Try drinking tap water instead of bottled water so as to reduce waste.

2. Reduce your trips on the road. Greenhouse gas emissions can be substantially reduced by limiting your trips for even just one day per week. Combine your errands. This will save you both gas and time.

3. Use your legs. Walk or ride a bike to school, office or just anywhere you can. It not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions, it can be also a good way to burn calories and improve your health.
4. Recycle. Put empty soda cans, plastic bottles and other recyclable items to reduce pollution. These can be transported to recycling facilities to become useful again. Try recycling things in your home. You may even find it enjoyable.

5. Compost. Reduce waste going to landfills. Practice throwing rotten dishes and other biodegradable items in your compost pit. It does not only contribute to the reduction of pollution, it can also be good fertilizer.

6. Switch your standard light bulbs to Compact Flourescent Light bulbs (CFLs). They not only last 10 times longer, CFLs use only 2/3 of the energy used in the standard bulb.

7. Make your home energy efficient by cleaning your air filters regularly so your system doesn’t work overtime. Get a programmable thermostat so that when you are not home, your system does not waste energy.

8. Under-inflated tires can increase tire wear and greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing fuel saving by three percent. Check your tires regularly. You can find the correct tire pressure for your car listed either on the door to the glove compartment or on the driver’s side door pillar.

9. Tune your car. Follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, keep it well-tuned and use the correct grade of motor oil. A well-maintained car can be fuel efficient, safe and less harmful to the environment.

10. Turning off lights and appliances when not in use can also positively impact the environment.

Care for your environment now and reap benefits in the future. Save Earth.

Author: Arzel Ariosa

Do you have any tips on how to save the environment? Perhaps there are a few little changes you’ve made in your own life that – if more people got involved – could really make a big difference. Why not leave a comment and share them here?

At times it must seem as if adverts for buying back old mobile phones pepper all the popular TV programs. We’ve everything from cute animated mobile characters trying to persuade you that they’ll be happy to be sold for money and recycled off to a growing economy elsewhere to blondes trying to buy their new hat by handing their now-not-fashionable mobile over to the shop assistant.

What started out as a niche, populated by new starts and unknown brands has become very competitive. This competition has attributed to two trends;

1. Bigger brands are now involved. Heck. Even Boots is in on the act.
2. There’s less focus on the environmental and more emphasis on the cash.

Is that a good thing? Surely those brands which took the green angle might want to keep it to help differentiate themselves from larger competitors moving into the space?

This is a green blog. We think it’s a good thing to keep the emphasis on the green side of mobile phone recycling.

Other, wiser and more gadget friendly blogs – like In Pure Spirit and TreeHugger – will know which mobile phone companies also offer phone recycling but the very fact the mobile operators are moving into this sphere is another warning sign for the original companies?

Henry Daniell, a scientist from the University of Central Florida has developed a method of using household waste materials to produce ethanol.
Sources claim his approach could be greener and less expensive than current methods used to fuel vehicles which are powered by the substance.

The Engineer reports Daniell’s method has been used on products such as orange peel and newspaper, but can also be applied to products such as sugarcane, straw and switchgrass.

The method uses plant-derived enzymes to break down materials into sugar which can then be fermented into ethanol. Currently corn starch is used in the fermentation process and conversion into ethanol but this method is believed to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than petrol.

200 million gallons of ethanol could be produced from the discarded orange peels of Florida state alone, said Daniell.

British Airways have revealed a plan to create Europe’s first sustainable jet fuel plant which will convert household waste into environmentally-friendly aviation fuel.

In a partnership with US bioenergy group solena, British Airways will set up the new plant in east London claims eTravel and hope to be able to power part of its fleet by 2014 with the greener, low-carbon fuel.

The plant will convert roughly 500,000 tonnes of waste materials from households into some 16 million gallons of green jet fuel via a process that offers lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of up to 95 per cent compared to fossil-fuel derived jet kerosene.

The environmental savings would see the equivalent of 48,000 cars being removed from the roads each year.

In addition to the fuel conversion, using household waste would also lessen the impact on the volume of waste sent to landfill sites, as well as cutting down on the production of methane. The project will also see 20MW of electricity generated each year.

Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene. We are absolutely determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the way on aviation’s environmental initiatives.”

Harry Potter star Emma Watson – Hermione Grainger in the films based on the books by JK Rowling – has launched a fashion range in collaboration with People Tree, a sustainable fashion label to produce environmentally friendly clothes and accessories reports Edie.

The range is scheduled to launch next week (February 8th) and Emma acted as creative advisor on the designs which includes jerseys, t-shirts, dresses and trousers among others. The range will be available to both men and women.

Emma previously also fronted advertising campaigns for Burberry.

The People Tree line will use 100% organic and fair-trade cotton, and will be made entirely by hand by fair-trade groups in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Edie.net reports that a Peterhead firm have been fined following an explosion in May 2008, which sent cement powder into the air and falling onto homes and businesses up to two kilometres away.

The firm, CEBO UK, has pled guilty to a charge of breaching its Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit and ordered by Peterhead Sheriff Court to pay court costs plus a fine of £14,000.

The explosion was caused when a silo broke due to poor maintenance. It was found that the silo’s hatch lid retaining brackets were badly corroded during a SEPA investigation. It also found silo maintenance records weren’t up to date and the silo should not have been in use.

Cement, although in common use, is an abrasive powder which can cause damage and harm to the environment, human health and property, said SEPA’s investigating officer Martyn Howie.

Despite man’s ability to put a man on the moon and send satellites into the far reaches of space, the deepest parts of earth’s own ocean are still shrouded in mystery; indeed it’s probably true that scientists’ maps of Mar’s surface is more detailed that any map they possess of the ocean floor.

Scientists attribute this to the inherent difficulty of communicating with robots and submarines beneath the sea, due to the intense pressure, currents and even marine life that form part of the ocean’s deeper reaches.

However, in order to address this problem, scientists developed the new NEPTUNE network, which went online Wednesday 8^th December.  The deep-sea network will stream data collated from hundreds of undersea instruments, sensors and probes and stream them direct to the internet direct from the ocean floor.

The network consists of a 497-mile ring of fibre-optic cable, situated off the Canadian coast and features five nodes which act as routers to transmit data to the internet.  Each node is encased in a 6.5 ton cage to protect it from fishing trawlers, sea vessels and giant squids.

The network is expected to produce around 50 terabytes of data each year, all of which will inform scientists about everything from earthquake dynamics to the effects of climate change on the water column, and from deep-sea ecosystems to salmon migration.  It will also study gas hydrate deposits which are found along the continental margin and the effects deep-sea fishing can have on benthic communities and marine life as fishermen cast their nets wider and deeper.

The government has given the green light to a scheme which will see smart meters being installed into all of the UK’s 26 million homes. Although touted for some time, the approved plan will see British Gas and other energy suppliers given responsibility for installing the meters, which will allow consumers to monitor their own energy use, as well as allow the energy companies to read consumption levels remotely.

The ability to read meters remotely will forego the use of estimated bills, while the consumers’ ability to monitor their gas and electricity usage will help in their efforts to adopt a greener lifestyle.

But the estimated £8.5bn outlay threatened to usurp the announcement, with critics warning that energy companies may pocket the benefits rather than passing them back to the consumer by way of cheaper fuel. The Department of Energy and Climate change believes the expected savings to be in the region of £14.5bn – dwarfing the outlay costs – due to reduced administrative costs.

While the plans were welcomed by power companies and industry bodies, consumer groups and energy consultants voiced concerns that the smart meter rollout was being placed into the hands of a sector that had already come in for fierce criticism over high charges, and allegedly not passing on previous benefits to customers.

“We’re concerned that consumers could be saddled with the entire multibillion pound bill for a project that’s going to save the industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year,” said Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? magazine.

British Gas, however, believe that the government estimate of 2% saving on energy per household was conservative and the actual saving could be considerably higher after research in the United States suggested that customers’ energy use could be cut by as much as 20% by using smart metering technology.

The company also believes the roll-out of smart meters could create up to 2,600 additional jobs by 2012.