The Football Carbon Footprint

This week we were thinking about a subject to post on the blog and sports came to our minds.
There is no doubt that sports are, in general, a positive element for society.  Sports practice improves the quality of life of the population, sporting goods industry generates jobs around the world and major sports events literally transform the life of a population of a city or even a country (The legacy of Barcelona Olympic Games is a great example).

But in an era of scarcity of resources, are huge sports events like Olympic Games or FIFA World Cups sustainable?
Since 2005 FIFA is putting efforts into a program called Green Goal to reduce the carbon footprint of football events. The incentive to construct environmentally friendly stadiums is part of this program. Although these efforts, a study of the consulting firm Ernst &Young Terco brought a shocking conclusion that 2010 FIFA World Cup generated a carbon footprint of 2,7M tons of CO2, mainly caused by transportation emissions (international travel: teams, fans, administrators, and support staff all contributed to the 1,856,589 tons).
For the 2014 World Cup that will take place in Brazil, the policy to build “green stadiums” has been taken in practice but, due its location and continental size the transportation remains a huge challenge.

Plastic from plants?

Two days ago five global brands (The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, H.J. Heinz Company, NIKE, Inc. and Procter & Gamble) announced the formation of the Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC).

Their aim? To accelerate the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.

Everything started almost 3 years ago, when CocaCola unveiled "PlantBottle", a new plastic bottle made partially from plants.
Traditional PET bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. The PlantBottle is made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% plant-based materials, reducing carbon emissions by up to 25%.

A good result considering that more than 50% of Coca-Cola beverage volume is delivered in plastic bottles! In 2010 alone, the use of this packaging eliminated more than 60.000 barrels of oil.

You will never distinguish a PlantBottle PET bottle because it feels like traditional PET plastic, they have the same weight and function identically.

The Green Radar applauds this commitment and hope that the 100% renewably sourced bottle goal will be reached in 2020 . PTC is worth keeping an eye on. We can see wide spread adoption for it.

Electrifying idea on electrification of trucks by Siemens

The 26^th International Electrical Vehicle Symposium, held in Los Angeles from May 6^th to May 9^th, 2012 showcased new and innovative solutions to enable electrification of transport.

One idea we particularly liked dealt with electrification of truck transportation. While most new ideas focus on improving electrification for cars, trucks are often neglected. This is quite unfortunate as trucks are a serious contributor (roughly 29%) to CO2 emission related to transport.

Siemens, the German industry giant, is promoting a different approach to electrify trucks.

The concept introduced at the EVS in LA proposes a hybrid drive. This in itself is not new. However, instead of using a Diesel engine and a battery to save the energy generated, the trucks will get their electricity from overhead lines similar to the ones used for trams and trains.

As long as trucks are using streets equipped with overhead lines providing electricity, trucks are using electricity only. Once they leave the so-called e-Highways, the Diesel engine kicks in to generate electricity to keep the truck running on electricity.

Sounds like a promising idea. Unfortunately details such as how much such an infrastructure would cost and when it could be implemented are not available yet.