For further information please visit:

http://resolve.sustainablelifestyles.ac.uk/events

On 4 September 2010, Christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake causing extensive structural damage but not loss of live. On 22 February the city was hit by a shallow, violent aftershock, at magnitude 6.3, the quake killed over 180 people and ‘munted’ or destroyed thousands of homes. Since then over 8000 aftershocks of varying intensity have hit the city. In the six month period to July 2011, the community coped on average, with a magnitude 5 earthquake every 10 days. Working from a tent for 12 weeks on campus and living with ongoing suspension of local democracy in a cordoned central city, prompts this professional and personal reflection on the concept of resilience.

20% of the world's CO2 emissions from energy and processes arise in the production of just five materials: steel, cement, plastic, paper and aluminium. Demand for these materials is likely to double in the next 40 years, but the industries that make them are already very efficient, so if we look ahead with one eye open - pursuing energy and process efficiencies only - we can't make a significant reduction in their impact.  However if, in addition, we look ahead with both eyes open - looking for opportunities to pursue material efficiency, to deliver the same services with less new material - we can make a much greater reduction in our impacts.  This talk, based on the £1.5m EPSRC funded WellMet2050 project, will explore the realities of future material efficiency, particularly for steel and aluminium goods.

There is a large body of literature regarding the choice and optimization of different processes for converting feedstock to bioethanol and bio-commodities; moreover, there has been some reasonable technological development in bioconversion methods over the past decade. However, the eventual cost and other important metrics relating to sustainability of biofuel production will be determined not only by the performance of the conversion process, but also by the performance of the entire supply chain from feedstock production to consumption. Moreover, in order to ensure world-class biorefinery performance, both the network and the individual components must be designed appropriately, and allocation of resources over the resulting infrastructure must effectively be performed. The goal of this work is to describe the key challenges in bioenergy supply chain modelling and then to develop a framework and methodology to show how multi-scale modelling can pave the way to answer holistic supply chain questions, such as the prospects for second generation bioenergy crops.

The DEFRA-funded research programme SLRG (2010-2013), directed by Prof. Tim Jackson of CES, has just completed its first full year, and initial results are coming in from fieldwork. In this seminar Ian Christie, a Fellow of CES and coordinator of the SLRG, presents an overview of the programme and discusses emerging findings and the policy and research context for the work

This seminar will examine how efficiency can be addressed in the context of materials choice and when considering that materials are almost always used together.  The overlap and tension between materials and product efficiency will be discussed as will the question of how we would recognise a materials efficiency economy if one existed.  Examples from packaging and the auto industry will be used to illustrate these topics.

The use of wild animal species as a source of meat is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, with “bushmeat” being used directly for food and sold.  Overexploitation, and the targeting of threatened species in some regions, particularly West and Central Africa, has been referred to as “the bushmeat crisis”, and a detailed study of animals in the Gola forest of Sierra Leone give a case study with which to investigate the issue.

This includes an assessment of the biomass of primate and other mammals in forest habitats, the species composition of the trade, and therefore options for managing wildlife population.

This project aims at demonstrating the process development of solar energy projects in Greece. The advantages of those projects vary since they could bring benefits to the country’s economy, the society, and of course the environment. However, there are many barriers that may occur during the development of these projects that sometimes are responsible even for the project’s cancelation. This presentation will explain the benefits that have occurred from the development of five solar energy projects in Greece, along with the barriers that appeared and how those have been overcome.

A presentation will be given on the Industrial Symbiosis at Kalundborg, Denmark, - the classic example of an industrial ecological network.  The history of the spontaneous evolution of the symbiosis is presented, from the very start up to the present situation.

There is an urgent need to decarbonise global energy systems to tackle the twin challenges of mitigating climate change and improving energy security.