Lisboa em Agosto: Marquês de Pombal

Lisboa, ainda com centenas de arruamentos sem árvores, está a ficar cada vez mais quente e por isso mais dependente de sistemas mecânicos de arrefecimento. No caso da Praça Marquês de Pombal, o túnel só veio contribuir para um aumento da temperatura desta zona urbana. Para além do abate de árvores, temos que considerar a impermeabilização feita numa grande área do arruamento. A pegada ecológica de Lisboa cresce... Para quando um sério investimento da CML na arborização de ruas da capital?

«Coke's New Bottle Is Part Plant»

Coca-Cola Co., under fire from environmentalists for using plastic bottles, has introduced a new packaging material made partly from plants. The container has "the same weight, the same feel, the same chemistry, and functions exactly the same way" as a regular plastic bottle, a Coke spokeswoman says.

Coke isn't the only beverage concern trying to reduce its carbon footprint. Rival PepsiCo Inc. has introduced a compostable bag made from plants for its SunChips snacks. But Coke is the world's biggest drink maker, and Coke Chairman and Chief Executive Muhtar Kent calls the new container, which uses material derived from sugar cane, "the first generation of the bottle of the future."

Coke touted its "plantbottle" at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen last month, and it plans another push next month at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where all the sodas and water it provides will be packaged in the plantbottle. "Preliminary research" shows the new container leaves a smaller carbon footprint than regular plastic bottles, Coke says.

Traditional plastic bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate, commonly known as PET, which is derived from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. In 2006, production of plastic bottles for U.S. beverage consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based environmental think tank.

The new plant-based bottle developed by Coke is composed of 70% petroleum-based and 30% sugar-cane-based materials. The cane is crushed and mashed to produce juice, which is then fermented and distilled, producing ethanol. That ethanol is then converted through a series of chemical processes such as oxidation to a mono-ethylene glycol—a component normally derived from petroleum for use in plastic bottles. The MEG is then mixed with terephthalic acid to create PET plastic.

Coke began selling its flagship Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light and Coke Zero in the new bottles in Denmark in time for the United Nations Climate Change summit. With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games just a few weeks away, the company has introduced plantbottles containing its Dasani water in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. Coke says it aims to sell two billion drinks in plantbottles globally by the end of 2010.

Coke also commissioned and funded an Imperial College London analysis that compared the "life cycle" of the new bottle to a regular plastic bottle to see if the impact on the environment was different, says Scott Vitters, the company's director of sustainable packaging. He says the study found that production of the plantbottle leaves a 12%-to-19% smaller carbon footprint than production of a regular plastic bottle. The company is awaiting third-party verification of the findings from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Germany, he adds.

Environmental groups say the Coke bottle now being introduced is a slight improvement over regular PET bottles, but they say it won't solve a bigger problem with plastic bottles: the fact that most consumers don't recycle them.

A mere 27% of PET containers were recycled in the U.S. in 2008, according to the National Association for PET Container Resources. The new bottle is "definitely positive, but no, this doesn't make me jump up and down with joy," says Susan Collins, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute, who wishes the beverage makers would also use recycled content.
And some competitors question Coke's assessment of the plantbottle's environmental footprint. "It's an admirable first step that Coke is taking," says Andrius Dapkus, director of innovations and renovations for Nestlé Waters North America Inc., a Nestlé SA unit that markets the bottled-water brands Poland Spring, Deer Park and others. "But as it stands today, we still don't know whether a plantbottle's environmental footprint is better, worse or the same" as that of an oil-derived bottle.

Instead of changing ingredients, Nestlé is continuing to reduce the amount of plastic in its bottles, a strategy known as "lightweighting" that Coke and PepsiCo also use. In the spring, Nestlé plans to introduce a new, lighter version of its Eco-Shape bottle that uses 9.3 grams of PET, 25% less than its most recent version.

PepsiCo's new 10.5-ounce SunChips bag is 33% polylactic acid, which is derived from corn. The company's bags will be 90% plant-based by Earth Day on April 22, says Robert Lewis, a PepsiCo vice president who works on new packaging. PepsiCo is looking into expanding its plant-based containers beyond bags, Mr. Lewis adds, but he calls such bottles a "very complex puzzle."

Plant-based bottles can pose hurdles, beverage-industry experts acknowledge. The bottles often have a shorter shelf life than PET bottles, and they don't hold carbonation as long, says Wade Groetsch, president of Blue Lake Citrus LLC, a Winter Haven, Fla.-based juice processor, who says he supports Coke's environmental push.

Mr. Groetsch's company uses plastic containers that are 100% polylactic acid, derived from corn, for its organic Noble Juices drinks. "It just doesn't keep the product protected the same way that the current bottles do," he says. "It's definitely a tradeoff."

Indeed, Coca-Cola has created a 100% plant-based bottle in its labs, Coke's Mr. Vitters says. "We're just trying to figure out how to make it in a way that's commercially viable."

Corrections & Amplifications

In 2006, producing plastic water bottles for U.S. consumption required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based environmental think tank. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that producing plastic bottles for U.S. beverage consumption required the equivalent of 17 million barrels of oil.

in Wall Sreet Journal, 24 de Janeiro de 2010

http://online.wsj.com/

Lisboa: 18ª no ranking das cidades verdes

Lisboa em 18ª (em 30) no ranking das cidades verdes

A cidade de Lisboa está na 18ª posição entre 30 cidades analisadas pelo Índice Europeu de Cidades Verdes, um estudo sobre sustentabilidade desenvolvido pela Economist Intelligence Unit para a Siemens.

O estudo analisa a sustentabilidade da capital portuguesa nos oito temas que temos vindo a abordar neste blog: energia, edifícios, dióxido de carbono, transportes, água, lixo e uso do solo, qualidade do ar e governança ambiental. Nos próximos dias iremos abordar, uma a uma, todas as matérias incluídas neste estudo. Para já, ficam as principais conclusões.

Lisboa conseguiu um valor de 57,25 para um máximo de 100 pontos. Segundo a Economist Intelligence Unit, “a geografia da cidade, o clima e a actividade económica não compensam as pobres políticas de transportes, de qualidade de ar, de uso da água e do solo e de gestão dos resíduos urbanos”.

Ainda de acordo com a Economist Intelligence Unit, Lisboa ficou atrás de cidades de rendimentos médios e climas quente, como Madrid e Roma. E avança um possível porquê. “A fragmentação do poder entre serviços públicos locais, regionais e nacionais reduz a capacidade da cidade para implementar as suas próprias políticas e as coordenar”, refere o estudo.

in http://lxsustentavel.blogs.sapo.pt/

FOTO: Basílica da Estrela vista do miradouro do Príncipe Real

As ÁRVORES e as CASAS: Kinoka no Ie

WOOD DWELLERS

Twenty-nine Japanese families have found their version of happiness by creating their own idyll in a Tokyo suburb. Together with eco-architect Akinori Sagane they have built Kinoka no Ie, a community development in Machida-shi in the south of the city. It’s a 21st-century alternative to the hippy commune: eco-logically sound, but without the home knits and tie-dye. Sagane found the land, advertised for buyers and then organized the group’s purchase of the plot. Residents own their apartments – which range from 45 to 80 sq m – and each has a share in the rooftop vegetable gardens.

Non-toxic materials were used wherever possible and chemicals avoided at all costs. Even the concrete was mixed with filtered water. Over the course of two years of planning, discussion and seminars on everything from sustainability to eco-DIY, residents contributed their voices to the design. (…)

Decisions that affect all the residents are made together, and everyone takes it in turns to tend to the public areas. "The best part about living here is the sense of community,” says Nakabayashi, whose top-floor apartment has a balcony overlooking the gardens. “We all got to know each other during the time the development was being planned.” Now they exchange vegetables, look after each other’s children and share cars and bicycles. They all pitched in on waterproofing the exterior: instead of coating the timbers with chemicals, they used an old Japanese technique to scorch the wood and seal it.

Kinoka no Ie (literally “Wood-flavoured House” looks bucolic – the gardens are bursting with vegetables and flowers, children play together and doors are unlocked. But behind it is the challenge of building pratical urban homes while sticking to ecological principles.

“It is not easy to make a community like this in the city,” says Sagane. “But we’ve shown it’s possible. One of the residents is 100% self-sufficient in rice and vegetables, while the rate of self-sufficiency in Tokyo is less than 3%.”

Sagane, whose studio Ambiex is based in Tokyo, has spent two decades trying to persuade people to live in a more environment conscious way. “People have a hard time accepting that a little mould is better than a house full of chemicals,” he says. “Japanese are meticulous and don’t like the slight changes tha happen with woods. Japanese houses usually only last for 30 years and then they just become toxic waste.”

The hard slog is paying off. Sagane has built three eco-projects in the past 10 years and one more are at the planning stage. (…) Sagane’s work has been focused on city projects, but he’s now turning his attention to rural Japan. “There’s this illusion that only people who live in the countryside lead eco-friendly lives,” he says. “But the reality is they usually drive, use agri-chemicals and live in houses full of chemical substances. I think the city and the countryside can influence each other.” Sagane plans to take his work nationally from 2009 and he’s in talks with a prefab construction company about producing an eco-house. “I’m aiming to build houses that last 300 years,” he says. “They don’t need to have major repairs and the running costs are cheap. That should make people happy.”

In MONOCLE, Dezembro 08/Janeiro 09

Portugal entre os seis piores gestores da água

Cada português gasta em média 2,26 milhões de litros de água por ano. Um resultado muito mais elevado do que a média mundial – 1,24 milhões de litros anuais por pessoa – e que coloca Portugal no sexto lugar dos que pior gestão fazem deste recurso vital.

A pegada da água foi um índice novo introduzido neste relatório e que alerta para a forma insustentável como se consome água. Os países mediterrâneos são os que ocupam os primeiros lugares da tabela e aqueles em que os problemas de escassez se colocarão com maior gravidade.

Na origem do consumo desmesurado de água pelos portugueses está a agricultura de regadio, altamente utilizadora de água, e a degradação das infra-estruturas de rega que permitem grandes perdas, considera Luís Silva, da WWF Portugal. Por isso, é urgente alterar os padrões de consumo agrícola, ainda mais tendo em conta que a falta de água será agravada, no futuro, pelas alterações climáticas.

Outro resultado interessante desta análise é a contabilização, para a pegada nacional de cada país, da quantidade de água consumida na produção de produtos importados. Ou seja, contabiliza-se a água consumida internamente mas também a gasta nos países de origem dos quais importamos produtos. Em Portugal este consumo reparte-se em 50% para cada tipo.

O relatório da pegada da água mostra ainda que 50% países estão a enfrentar uma situação de stress hídrico moderado ou elevado e que o número de pessoas afectadas pela escassez tenderá a aumentar devido às mudanças climáticas. in DN, 29-10-2008

FOTO: Lisboa, Cais das Colunas. Tejo continua a receber esgotos sem tratamento.

Mundo está à beira de um colapso ecológico

O mundo está à beira de um colapso pois os recursos naturais consumidos pelo homem em muitos países são muito superiores à capacidade de regeneração da natureza. Se não houver alterações drásticas nas atitudes humanas, a ruptura pode ser irreversível, alerta a WWF

Recursos estão a ser gastos a um ritmo alucinante

Se todos os habitantes da terra fossem como os portugueses, seriam necessários dois planetas para assegurar a sobrevivência da população mundial. Isto porque, em Portugal, o consumo de recursos naturais é quatro vezes superior à capacidade biológica do nosso território. Um deficit ecológico preocupante, extensível a muitos países do mundo. O futuro avizinha-se ainda mais dramático, pois se a situação não se inverter drasticamente, o planeta entrará em crash ecológico. O alerta é da WWF, o Fundo Mundial para a Natureza, e consta do relatório Planeta Vivo 2008, ontem divulgado. Numa altura em que a crise financeira domina a agenda mediática, a WWF sublinha o risco de viver acima das possibilidades. E lembra que consumir recursos naturais acima daqueles que a natureza é capaz de produzir torna-se ainda mais perigoso pois coloca--no à beira de um colapso irreversível. O problema é global, pois mais de três quartos das pessoas vivem em zonas onde o consumo de recursos excede a capacidade biológica de produção e de mitigação de desperdícios. Ou seja, a base natural que suporta a vida desaparece à medida que cresce a pressão humana sobre os ecossistemas.

Nesta análise à sustentabilidade do planeta, Portugal não sai bem na fotografia. Nos três índices analisados, o País aparece em posições preocupantes. Quando se avalia a pegada ecológica - a pressão do homem sobre a natureza - aparece em 28.º lugar numa contagem de 151 países, com uma pegada ligeiramente inferior à dos europeus que utilizam o equivalente a dois, três planetas. As emissões de carbono resultantes do consumo de combustíveis fósseis (poluição automóvel, industrial, consumo energético de fontes não renováveis) são os principais responsáveis pelo retrato. Mas a contribuir para o desastre estão também as alterações climáticas.Na avaliação da quantidade de recursos naturais disponíveis, o País aparece no final da lista, mas nesta contagem os melhores ascendem aos primeiros lugares. Conclusão: os nossos recursos são escassos, e servimo-nos deles de forma desastrosa.

A biocapacidade do planeta encontra-se distribuída de forma desigual e mais de metade dos recursos estão na mão de apenas oito países. Apesar de Estados Unidos, Índia e China constarem da lista dos mais abastados em recursos naturais, apresentam deficits ecológicos pois o seu consumo é ainda maior do que a riqueza. Cada americano precisa de quatro planetas e meio para viver, enquanto que a pegada indiana e chinesa são mais moderadas porque aqui os padrões de consumo ainda não são tão desenfreados. Na avaliação da pegada da água, as notícias também não são animadoras. A escassez elevada ou moderada de água já afecta 50 países. in DN, 29-10-2008

Foto: Lisboa, longe de ser um modelo de sustentabilidade

Planeta entrou em dívida ecológica: «Nature's budget 'has run out'»

«The world has slid into "ecological debt", having used up all the natural resources the planet can provide this year, according to the New Economics Foundation.

The think-tank said humans were using up resources such as forests and fisheries faster than they can be regenerated and producing more waste, mainly carbon dioxide, than the planet can absorb.

As a result, we have been increasingly "overshooting" nature's budget each year since the 1980s, NEF said.

Tuesday marks the date when we have exceeded the natural resources the planet can provide for this year - a day which has been creeping steadily earlier each year.

From now until the end of the year, humanity is "dipping into our ecological reserves, borrowing from the future," according to Dr Mathis Wackernagel, executive director of the Global Footprint Network.

Each year, the network calculates humanity's ecological footprint - the demands it puts on the planet - and compares it to the capacity of the Earth's ecosystems to generate resources and absorb waste.

Human beings are currently using up the capacity of 1.4 planets, and consumption is increasing.

Last year, Ecological Debt Day, formulated by NEF based on data from the Global Footprint Network, was October 6 - although new data has been taken into account this year including emissions from slash and burn agriculture and biofuels.

Incorporating the new data into last year's calculations would have put Ecological Debt Day 2007 on September 28, showing human consumption is still on the rise, NEF said.

According to the foundation, the failure to live within our ecological means is the root of many of the most pressing environmental concerns, including climate change, collapsing fisheries, declining biodiversity and factors contributing to the current food crisis.» Press Assoc.

Segundo os cálculos da pegada ecológica , seriam necessários 2,4 planetas Terra para sustentar os padrões de vida dos portugueses, caso fossem adoptados por toda a população mundial.

FOTO: o rio Tejo junto da Estação Fluvial de Belém