How many kilograms of coal does it take to power that electric car?

The importance of Life Cycle Thinking for sustainable consumption.

In light of the “green car” media frenzy that’s currently shaking the planet, it’s forgivable to assume that driving an electric car is, under all circumstances, more environmentally friendly than driving a fuel-powered car.

Interestingly, this is not always the case. If one traces the entire life cycle of an electric car from cradle to grave (i.e. from when the car was produced, to the end of its life when it enters the waste stream), it becomes clear that: yes, in many countries it is indeed the least environmentally damaging option, as the energy used to power the car is very likely to have been generated via clean energy resources.

But, in many countries, the lion’s share of power is still being generated by coal power stations - so, an electric car driven on the streets of Johannesburg, for example, runs on fossil-fuel generated electricity. Burning fossil fuels results in toxic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which enter our atmosphere and contribute significantly to climate change.

What we have then, is a surprising scenario where the environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels to power an electric car, outweigh the impacts of the exhaust emissions and fuel consumption resulting from driving a fuel-powered car.  So, although the potential environmental benefits of electric cars are indeed groundbreaking and should not be discounted, these benefits cannot be harnessed in every situation, and a study by the Journal of Industrial Ecology goes so far as to conclude that it is ‘counterproductive to promote electric vehicles in areas where electricity is primarily produced from lignite, coal or heavy oil combustion.' 

Have a look at the image below which shows how the carbon emissions of grid-powered electric vehicles varies considerably according to where you live:

You will find more statistics at Statista

Value judgements such as the above can only be made using information gathered during what is called a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), defined in a study by Rebitzer as ‘a methodological framework for estimating and assessing the environmental impacts attributable to the life cycle of a product, such as climate change, ozone depletion, smog creation, eutrophication, acidification, toxicological stress on human health and ecosystems, the depletion of resources, water use, land use, and noise—and others.'

If we had to perform a Life Cycle Assessment on a takeaway cup of coffee, for example, we would need to critically consider every step in the making of that coffee - from the farming of the coffee beans and the various phases of manufacturing and transport required, to the boiling of the water to make that coffee, and, finally, the disposal of the paper cup (and this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the steps!) Each of these phases in the coffee's Life Cycle can be matched with environmental impacts such as energy usage, carbon emissions, water use, and waste, amongst many others - and their combined environmental impact is often truly surprising.  

I recently attended a workshop on LCA and walked away with a number of my day-to-day assumptions challenged. The importance of this type of thinking is evidenced by examples such as the electric car, where we need to be careful of falling into the trap of ‘shifting burdens’. In other words, solving one problem, but ignoring another resulting problem that is somewhat disguised or more deeply hidden within the product’s lifecycle and therefore less obvious to the untrained eye.   

If consumers are aware of the holistic environmental impacts of the products that they interact with on a daily basis (as offered by LCA thinking), they can make informed decisions about the products they choose to use and consume. As per the adage, 'you can only manage what you can measure,' this transparency of information is extraordinarily powerful, provided that it is disseminated to the world’s decision-makers in the right way. Taking the science-based thinking behind LCA and communicating its findings in an effective, unbiased and understandable manner, could mean the start of people really and tangibly internalising the effects of their choices on the planet.

Cover image: FreeImages.com/Igor Kasalovic

Highlights: Sustainable Brands 2016

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I attended two days of Sustainable Brands 2016 in Cape Town earlier this week. Amongst the myriad of content seen and people met, the above words stood out for me the most. Being conscious and telling ourselves/others that we are aware of the social and environmental challenges facing our planet is incredibly important, but it is only the very first step; what are we actually doing - in our own small, or large, ways - to help the situation?

To digest the information overload that it was, as well as share some of the fascinating topics covered at the conference, I've listed a couple of my highlights. 

Donald Thomson, 'A'Gua

A Canadian entrepreneur living in Costa Rica has decided that relying on humans to recycle plastic bottles is simply not enough. Too often, fully recyclable bottles don't make it into the recycling stream and end up in landfills (best-case scenario) or, more depressingly, in our oceans.

Instead of trying to eradicate plastic water bottles entirely, or tackle the colossal issue of recycling behaviour change, Donald Thomson's company, the Center for Regenerative Design and Collaboration, is doing something quite radically different. They've re-designed the bottle.

'A'Gua bottles are slim, rectangular-shaped water bottles that, once empty, can be filled with other materials from the waste stream (waste paper and concrete) to form high-quality roof tiles for low-income families. 

Image: crdc.green/regen/

Image: designindaba.com (original: FastCoDesign)

Inspiring proof of how, with some careful thought and ingenuity, the waste stream of one industry can become the supply stream of another. 

Read more about it here. 

Dr. Sirikul Nui Laukaikul, The Sufficiency Economy

A sufficient economy means to have enough to support ourselves... It doesn't have to be complete, not even half, perhaps just a quarter, to enable us to live... - King Bhumibol of Thailand

This talk, despite being at the end of a very long day, received resounding applause. Dr. Sirikul, of the Thailand Sustainable Development Foundation, spoke about applying the Buddhist principle of 'moderation' to the way that we live and the way in which we develop our brands, whilst still fostering growth.  

Dr. Sirikul's approach is based on the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy - the idea that we should focus on living a moderate, self-dependent life without greed or overexploitation. Focusing on values of moderation, reasonableness, and prudence, will lead to a content, balanced way of living, and a responsible, admired brand. Contentment leads to a sharing economy, which is ultimately a sustainable economy. 

Many will argue that this philosophy is inconsistent with the realities of economic development, which cannot be ignored. However, what is important here is the change of gears, the shift in mindset to 'Do we need it?' As Ghandi said, the planet can produce enough for human need, but not for human greed, and we each need to take ownership of our actions with this in mind. 

Lufefe Nomjana, The Spinach King

"The fork and knife can be weapons of mass destruction" - Lufefe Nomjana, the Spinach King of SA

This trendy character just about danced onto the stage with an energy that won the audience over before he even opened his mouth. Lufefe Nomjana has taken an issue that faces so many South Africans, and turned it into an opportunity. Nomjana noticed that many of the people around him in his Khayelitsha home didn't have access to healthy food alternatives and weren't aware of how very harmful poor dietary decisions can be. He also realised that spinach, one of the most nutrient-rich vegetables, grows easily, almost everywhere. 

Nomjana now owns his own successful enterprise, Espinaca, which produces spinach bread and muffins for the surrounding community. His next goal is to roll out the concept nationally so a very exciting space to watch!

 

Thomas Kolster, Goodvertising

Given my background in communications, this session really resonated with me. Thomas Kolster from Copenhagen, Denmark, believes in the power of communication as a driver for sustainable change - and he's written a book called Goodvertising that details how. 

His key premise? Advertising has helped screw up our world. Now Goodvertising can make a difference. 

Find out more about it here.

 

Kevin James, GCX Africa

Kevin James' talk held two very impactful learnings for me.

The first was an overview insight into our planetary boundaries. We often grapple with the fact that there are 'so many issues' facing the planet that we don't quite know where to start. The Stockholm Resilience Centre has made a first attempt at identifying and quantifying nine planetary boundaries, warning us that transgressing these boundaries may be devastating for humanity, and showing us which of these are currently being severely transgressed. To date, we have transgressed three boundaries: biodiversity loss, nitrogen flow, and climate change. While there is still some degree of freedom on the remaining boundaries, we are approaching many of them fast.

Image: climateemergencyinstitute.com

Read more about our planetary boundaries here. 

The other part of Kevin's talk which I found extremely interesting was his look at the World Economic Forum Global Risk Report 2016. This assesses the numerous risks that our planet is currently facing, and ranks them according to their level of impact, as well as their likelihood. Interesting to note that the failure of humans to mitigate and adapt to climate change as well as large-scale involuntary migration are both high up on both the impact and likelihood scales. Have a look at the diagram below:

Image: World Economic Forum

The above simple snapshots form only the very tiny tip of the SB'16 iceberg. What an inspiring collection of people and ideas. Bring on SB'17!