Everyday, bogotá, colombia, sees 740 tons of plastic waste that
could take around 300 years to degrade and we’re quite sure the
situation is the same in different parts of the world.
thankfully, a start up in colombia is trying to mitigate the negative
environmental impact of waste plastic by transforming it into an
alternative construction material. created by fernando llanos and
architect oscar mendez, conceptos plásticos — plastic concepts —
is based on the transformation of plastic residues and rubber in pieces
like blocks, which are used for housing construction.
‘the
objective of plastic concepts is to answer to different problematic
that affect the community nowadays, contributing at the same time with
the reduction of the pollution that plastic residues have on the
environment and his incident on the global warming,’said ricardo rico, business manager, conceptos plásticos.
Conceptos plásticos empowers communities of recyclers around the world, starting in colombia all the way to africa.
to create the LEGO-like building blocks, they use plastics that not
everyone recycles and others that are difficult to dispose of. each type
of plastic gives the bricks a different property, so they are mixed in
different ways to obtain the desired product. the resulting bricks are
easy to assemble, durable and inexpensive. they are also stronger than
traditional construction materials; are thermo-acoustic, meaning they
can be used in both hot and cold weather; they are also anti-seismic;
and do not spread flames.
at first, it happens to us everywhere that people say: a plastic
house! and think of a bag, people associate plastic with a bag. so they
think that by bringing a lighter closer, it will ignite and that by
putting a finger through it it will break. when they see the product and
how solid it is, they realize and begin to weigh in a different way,
then breaking that initial barrier for the user is very easy,’oscar méndez comments.
In 2019, conceptos plásticos partnerted with UNICEF to
develop a factory to convert plastic waste in côte d’ivoire into
modular, easy-to-assemble, low-cost plastic bricks for classrooms.‘this
project is more than just a waste management and education
infrastructure project; it is a functioning metaphor—the growing
challenge of plastic waste turned into literal building blocks for a
future generation of children,’ concluded UNICEF representative aboubacar kampo.
Interested in how plastic is being used around the world as a building material? see another project in kenya on designboom here:
What a great way to deal with the plastic problem and the housing shortage too! I like the way it involves the local community too. I see more and more of these projects popping up all over the world and it gives me a lot of joy to see it.
The blog song for today is: "All right now" by Free
What is – and is not – in the energy strategy and what does it mean for bills?
The energy strategy has a focus on new nuclear, boosting offshore wind and doubling hydrogen production capacity.
Hinkley Point construction (Ben Birchall/PA) / PA Archive
By
Emily Beament
The
Government’s much delayed energy strategy focuses on securing UK energy
supplies in the coming years, but has faced immediate criticism that it
does nothing to help families with soaring bills now.
Here is what is, and is not, in the new strategy.
– Nuclear
There is a big focus on new nuclear, including smaller “modular” reactors, to replace Britain’s ageing fleet, with the Government hoping to get 25% of power supplies from the zero carbon technology by 2050.
That
includes an aim to take the decision to go ahead with one project
within the next two years and for another two projects in the five years
after that, potentially progressing work on up to eight new reactors
across those projects by 2030.
The
nuclear industry has strongly welcomed the plans, which it says will
create tens of thousands of new jobs and help to achieve energy
security, but even industry groups acknowledged that new nuclear power
stations will take well over a decade to build.
The Nuclear
Industry Association said steps are now needed to speed up investment,
such as removing barriers to getting projects started, money from a
promised fund allocated “at pace” and sites made available for
development.
But nuclear power remains relatively expensive, and the Liberal Democrats warned construction of the full eight reactors could add £96 a year to household energy bills.
– Offshore wind
As
part of a drive to generate 95% of UK power from low carbon sources by
2030, with fossil fuels shrinking from around 40% today to 5%, the
Government has set a new ambition for 50 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind
– up from a previous goal of 40GW.
The cost of offshore wind has
fallen dramatically in the past few years, and the energy contracts
windfarm operators have to deliver power are now significantly cheaper
than the current wholesale electricity price which is driven by the high
gas prices.
A sailing boat passes the Kentish Flats Offshore Wind Farm (Gareth Fuller/PA) / PA Archive
This
means energy prices are lower than they would be without renewables on
the system – a trend expected to continue as more, and cheaper, offshore
wind is added to the grid.
– Onshore wind
Despite
being one of the cheapest forms of electricity, along with solar, and
widely popular with the public, onshore wind has effectively been banned
by Tory governments in England for nearly a decade through planning
restrictions.
The Government is not planning a wholesale change in the planning regulations for onshore wind.
It
said it will “consult on developing local partnerships for a limited
number of supportive communities in England who wish to host new onshore
wind infrastructure in return for guaranteed lower energy bills”.
“The consultation will consider how clear support can be demonstrated by local communities, local authorities and MPs,” it said.
But Boris Johnson has said new sites “will have a very high bar to clear” and would have to reward local residents with cheaper energy.
– Hydrogen
The
strategy doubles the target for hydrogen production by 2030, to 10
gigawatts, with the intention of making at least half of that using
electricity, which could come from clean renewables.
Hydrogen is
seen as a potentially clean way of shifting from the use of fossil
fuels, as it could be an alternative fuel for power plants, industrial
processes, heavy goods vehicles and even instead of heating with gas
boilers.
But energy expert Jan Rosenow said: “Using hydrogen for
home heating is much less efficient than heat pumps and district
heating. All recent independent research agrees that hydrogen for home
heating is costly.”
And he warned: “If the hydrogen is made from
fossil gas it would mean that the UK would increase its dependence on
fossil gas. This is because blue hydrogen from fossil can only be
produced with a significant efficiency penalty.”
A view of Romney Marsh Solar Farm in Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA) / PA Archive
– Solar
The
costs of solar power have also plummeted in the past decade, and the
strategy expects to see a five-fold increase in deployment by 2035.
There
will be a consultation on amending planning rules to strengthen policy
in favour of development on non-protected land, while making sure
communities still have a say, and moves to simplify planning permission
for rooftop solar.
– Oil and gas
Promoting the new energy strategy, the Prime Minister
said the Government was taking a “sensible and pragmatic view” on new
North Sea oil and gas and said it was important to license domestic
resources rather than importing higher carbon fossil fuels from Russia
and other places.
But the International Energy Agency has said
there should be no new oil and gas exploration after 2021 to meet
targets to avoid the most dangerous warming, and UN scientists have
called for the end of the fossil fuel age.
Onshore, while the Government has launched a review into the science of fracking, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said shale gas would not deliver at a commercial scale for years, and would do nothing for bills now.
(PA Graphics) / PA Graphics
The
Government’s independent Climate Change Committee has said the best way
of reducing consumers’ exposure to volatile prices is to cut demand for
fossil fuels, through developing more wind and solar power, electric
vehicles, heat pumps and energy efficiency such as insulation in homes.
Yes, what about energy efficiency?
While
the strategy highlights existing energy efficiency measures, there is
nothing new on helping cut demand for gas and boost insulation – which
is seen as the quickest way of reducing exposure to Russian gas and cut
energy bills.
Analysis by climate think tank E3G finds that energy
efficiency and clean heat such as heat pumps in homes could be
implemented within this year, would reduce bills, and would cut gas use
by the equivalent of 149% of current Russian imports by 2025.
A
focus on insulation is also backed by the public, with a poll for the
Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit finding that 84% thought it was
important the Government should take steps to insulate homes to cut
Russian gas.
Insulation being installed in a loft (Philip Toscano/PA) / PA Wire
– So what does it mean for bills?
By
the Government’s own admission, the energy strategy will do little to
reduce bills in the immediate term, though ministers say other policies
will help.
This is a long-term strategy, with technologies such as
nuclear, the scaling up of offshore wind, and tapping into further
domestic oil and gas resources set to take years or even decades to
deliver.
With households hit by an energy price hike of more than
50% in April and further rises looming in October, pressure is likely to
mount on the Government to take more action to help make homes cosier
and curb energy demand and bills. Unfortunately the government is twisting and turning to wriggle out of the COP26 agreement (what a surprise) and are using any and every excuse to keep lining the pockets of fossil fuel companies with tax reductions (or no tax bills at all) paid for by the ordinary people.
Luckily summer is almost here and the electricity bills should go down, unless you have air conditioning and they will probably stay high! We're a "leave the windows open" family when it comes to summer time! I'm not a big fan of re-circulated air and most people don't know that the filters need to be cleaned regularly to keep those nasty bugs out!
The blog song for today is: "Waterfall" by the Stone Roses.
