Lifetime Lab was delighted to welcome Mr. Svein Tveitdal on May 18th as a speaker  to our series of breakfast briefings. Mr.Tveitdal is a former Director at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Environmental Ambassador to the Norwegian city of Arendal and provided invaluable insight into how other countries, cities, businesses and corporations are developing green economies and responding to the climate change challenge by embracing a low carbon future and joining the UNEP Climate Neutral Network.

 
Lord Mayor Cllr. Brian Birmingham and Mr.Svein Tveitdal UNEP discuss building a low carbon economy at Lifetime Lab

A select group of influential leaders including the Lord Mayor of Cork, representatives of City Council and Cork County Council, leading academics at UCC, CIT and senior executives of small and large companies listened with interest as Mr. Tveitdal addressed the latest findings from the IPCC as well as international experience by members of the UNEP Climate Neutral Network and how Cork City and County may benefit from participation in joining the growing international community that make up the network of major towns, cities, companies and nation states joining together to build a green economy and tackle climate change.

Fergal Duff IDEA,Lord Mayor Cllr.Brian Birmingham,Svein Tveitdal UNEP,Michael O' Brien Cork City Council and Declan Waugh Envirosolutions at Lifetime Lab breakfast briefing

A group of dedicated individuals have been working hard on a very exciting proposal to support the development of a green economy in Cork City and County. Together they are seeking to facilitate the participation of Cork County and City in joining the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Climate Neutral Network (CN Net).Cities from Europe to Asia and North America are also coming on board with strategies including clean transport, carbon neutral buildings and awareness raising campaigns. A growing number of companies are taking steps to reduce their energy consumption and become more sustainable. From banks to energy producers and cosmetics firms, companies from across sectors are taking bold steps towards climate neutrality. Strategies range from the local to the global, with greener offices, climate neutral products and far-reaching commitments to reduce emissions across the supply chain.

 
Mervyn Horgan Lifetime Lab,Will Roche Bord Gáis,Donal Healy CBA and John Twomey Cork City Council

Svein Tveitdal Presentation Cork 2009   Building A Low Carbon Economy 

Cork City Council and Carbon Reduction

Cork City Council consistently seek to reduce the carbon impact of day to day operations and have been involved in a number of innovating projects detailed below, through Cork City Energy Agency which is based at Lifetime Lab

• Harvesting methane at Kinsale Road Landfill, the gas is fed into a Combined Heat and Power plant where 1.8MW electricity is generated (which is equivalent to approximately 4% of the city’s domestic electricity demand). The electricity is being sold to the national grid. The capping of the landfill has also resulted in a reduction of 60,000 tons of CO2 equivalent entering the atmosphere per annum.
• Cork City Council has 15% of its vehicles using Biofuel, one of the largest biofuel fleets among local authorities in Ireland, and is a leader in helping Ireland realise its biofuel targets of 5.75%.
• The Environment Directorate and Docklands Directorate of Cork City Council have appointed Cork City Energy Agency, in conjunction with Geology Department of UCC, to undertake a ground water research study to determine the feasibility of using the potential geothermal resource beneath the Docklands area to heat the buildings. Creating sustainable guidelines and energy targets for the Cork Docklands project
• Cork City Council has also piloted a car sharing scheme named “go-car” whereby small engines vehicles leased by the Council can be used for short trips around the city.
• Cork City Council is collaborating with UCC on projects such as Gas from Grass for transport and also the ECLIPSE project monitoring emissions from shipping around Cork Harbour.
• Recent Tendering of larger electrical users by Cork City Council has allowed the purchase of Green Electricity; this process will be repeated for small-medium accounts.
• Cork City Energy Agency are advising on the introduction of energy efficiency measures such as new low level water pumps for City Council Waterworks on the Lee Rd.

 Lifetime Lab

Lifetime Lab has been developed as a model of sustainability and offers a working example of best practice.80% of the materials used in the renovation are from the original 19th century buildings, the centre also a working example of  how energy efficient technologies can be integrated into old buildings. Lifetime Lab uses geo-thermal heating, solar and wind technologies as well as the Generation of hydro electricity.The turbine house at Lifetime Lab, presents an excellent example of micro-renewable energy generation and has been supplying green electricity to Cork City Council's electricity accounts since 2004.

The staff at Lifetime Lab has also implemented a policy of “onsite best practice”, basically a change in behavior when using electricity, the results of which have reduced electricity consumption by 36%, this is the carbon equivalent of removing 10 cars from the roads, similar progress has been made in water and waste.

Lifetime Lab can also be looked on as a centre of learning and information, through the schools science programme, and cooperating with programmes run by An Taisce, Sustainable Energy Ireland and Engineers Ireland, a culture of sustainable living is being promoted.It is fitting that Mr Tveitdal choose Cork as a point to deliver his message, Cork City Council/Lifetime Lab has a strong link with Norway as the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA) of which Norway is a member (the others are Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland) provided a substantial amount of the funding necessary to restore the old waterworks buildings, the end result being the Lifetime Lab you see today.