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Greencap Eco-News | Issue 01 | November 2021
Introducing Greencap's Eco-News!
As part of Greencap's commitment to all things sustainable, the team is pleased to now share this monthly communication where Greencap's own Eco-Sustainability Committee team members provide interesting facts, quick eco-tips, and recent environmental news.
Greencap has been producing this newsletter internally for some time now, and it has been widely shared amongst friends and family of the team. Because of this, the team has now decided to circulate Greencap’s Eco-News with you - our valued subscribers. Feel free to share with your work colleagues, family and friends.
Whilst recipients so far have found these staff-written comms to be really informative and interesting, you are able to opt-out of them by updating your preferences here and make known the topics you find valuable.
Issue 1: Team Member Tips - Plant Watering
If you are one of those people who has always felt there is a lot of water being wasted down the kitchen sink, then here are some quick changes you can make to reuse some to water your plants.
Easy steps and tips to remember:
- Reuse water from washing fruit, vegetables and rice
- Reuse water (once cooled down) from boiling pasta and vegetables (great nutritional value to the plants as many of the micronutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and calcium are boiled off into the water)
- Reuse water (once cooled down) from boiling eggs (full of calcium your plant needs to grow)
Benefits include:
- Saves on water bills
- Acts as a fertiliser for the plants, provides better stability and enhances steady growth
- Promotes natural nutrient storage within the soil hence minimising use of chemical fertilisers
- Provides longevity for the soil, moisture retention and minimising the amount of times needed to water the plants.
Hydrogen - the cleanest, greenest energy!
Did you know?
Hydrogen was the first element to form after the big bang!
Hydrogen was the first element to form after the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and all other elements are formed from hydrogen. Representing a staggering 94% of all the atoms in the universe, hydrogen is the tenth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, and is most readily available in water.
Hydrogen is a gas that burns when combined with air.
A couple of the more spectacular examples of it in use are in the US Space Shuttle, the workhorse of the US Space program for two decades and the X-15 rocket plane that set a world record of 7,274 km/h in 1967 on hydrogen power.
However despite its impressive qualities, interest levels in the development of global hydrogen industries have fluctuated over recent decades.
The CSIRO National Hydrogen Roadmap states that "today however, there are a number of global trends and activities that distinguish the renewed focus on hydrogen from what has been observed previously."
Since as far back as approximately 3000 years ago (when Chinese manufacturers were using coal as a fuel to smelt copper), coal has been the primary fuel source for humans.
Large scale coal mining has largely powered global industry from the 18th century until the 1950s when alternative fuels became available and people started to become aware that coal might be contributing to global warming.
Jump forward 70 years and two things have happened. Coal is still being used but much less so, and now we know for sure it’s contributing to global warming. For Australia, coal is now the
dirtiest and most expensive energy source and the coal market is in rapid decline.
For maybe two decades we have debated what might replace coal as an energy source but as the debate raged renewables have crept up and overtaken coal.
We are about to experience another revolution with a new source of energy – hydrogen.
What are the benefits?
Apart from its obvious potential to bring the world to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades, hydrogen is also very straightforward to produce.
Pure hydrogen is produced by putting two electrodes in slightly salty water and bubbles will emerge from each electrode. One stream of bubbles will be pure hydrogen, the other pure oxygen. It can be done on an industrial scale to make virtually unlimited amounts.
The production and storage of hydrogen has also improved spectacularly since the start of this century and it is now being used to power large scale industrial operations and small motors such as those in cars.
Not only that, it can also be exported as a gas fuel. To produce enough clean energy to replace the entire Australian LPG export industry we need four key ingredients:
- Sun
- Wind
- Land
- Water
The first three we have in abundance. The water component is a bit harder but the total required would still only be about one third of the amount currently used by Australia’s mining industries. If hydrogen replaces coal as an export industry there would be no shortage of water for this.
What are the major obstacles?
Apart from the redirection of water form other industries the major obstacle to achieving hydrogen lead net-zero emissions in Australia is government policy.
The process to produce hydrogen takes quite a bit of energy, and that can come from two different sources:
- Using renewable sources
- Using coal, oil or gas-based energy
Using clean renewable sources will produce hydrogen that makes zero contribution to greenhouse emissions. Conversely using coal, oil or gas to produce hydrogen largely defeats the purpose and will contribute to global warming.
The Australian Government is very interested in hydrogen as a fuel, but currently only in the context of a “gas-lead recovery” from COVID – which potentially suggests an intention to use gas as the main energy source to create hydrogen.
This approach would unfortunately result in using a 'dirty fuel' to create what's designated a 'clean fuel'.
Australia’s commitment to reduce our greenhouse emissions will apply pressure to ensure renewable sources are used in future large-scale hydrogen production, but temptation to repurpose natural gas in the production process will be counter-productive in our quest for net-zero.
Interesting things to come though - watch this space!
Greencap - Green by name, Green by nature
While a transition to hydrogen still remains some time off, Greencap is proud to have committed to purchasing the majority of its total energy consumption as GreenPower, starting at 53% in 2021.
Purchasing Greenpower means that Greencap is selecting 100% renewable energy to power 53% of our business with the intention to increase this percentage on an annual basis. GreenPower is independently accredited renewable energy from entirely renewable sources and is available through most energy retailers. More than 160,000 properties around the country have joined GreenPower and have reduced their impact on the environment by investing in the renewable energy sector.
Greencap - working towards making our world safer
Upcoming Eco Dates
- World Antibiotic Awareness Week (18-24 November)
- World Toilet Day (19 November)
- National Agriculture Day (19 November)
- World Fisheries Day (21 November)
- World Olive Tree Day (26 November)
- World Soil Day (5 December)
Click here to learn more on Wesfarmers commitment to Sustainability
