2012-09-28 — /travelprnews.com/ — Heathrow has secured a prestigious award for ‘Best Contribution to Corporate Responsibility’ from The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). This is a global organisation dedicated to promoting best practices in procurement and supply. The shortlist included Balfour Beatty, EDF Energy, The FA Group and LOCOG.
The award recognises ‘the highly measurable and sustainable results’ associated with a state of the art wood fuel energy system at Heathrow’s new Terminal 2 development. The 10MW Combined Heating and Power (CHP) system – the largest ‘own use’ renewable energy installation in the UK – will open later this year. Prior to serving T2, due to open in Spring 2014, the biomass energy plant will provide base heating and power to Terminal 5.
The wood fuel process will enable Heathrow to reduce CO2 emissions at the airport by at least 13,000 tonnes each year, compared with producing the same output from natural gas. The aim is to reduce Heathrow’s carbon footprint by 34 per cent by 2020.
To ensure sustainability of the wood chip power and bring life to under-managed woodlands in the South East of England, Heathrow has entered into a 15-year wood fuel supply contract with leading wood chip provider, LC Energy.
Heathrow’s senior procurement manager, Dianne Sanders said:
“The CIPS award for CSR demonstrates that we take sustainability extremely seriously. The tender process sought to achieve a sustainable end to end supply chain. This is a very exciting contract delivering sustainable benefits to the local community as well as Heathrow.”
LC energy will supply 25,000 tonnes of wood chip a year, 75 per cent of which will come from timber. This will be sourced within a 50-mile radius of the airport, reducing haulage requirements, costs and CO2 emissions. In addition, the ash from the timber will be recycled and used to make fertiliser for reuse on the land, which in turn delivers further cost-savings. This process also eliminates the need to send the ash to land fill.
As one of the UK’s leading suppliers of sustainable wood fuel power LC Energy’s managing director, Mark Lebus, said:
“We’re ecstatic that the CIPS has recognised the contribution Heathrow has made to corporate responsibility and sustainability and the efforts we’re making to reduce Heathrow’s reliance on ever-decreasing fossil fuels. We regard this award as testimony to the value of the work we are doing and it demonstrates how a biomass supply chain is a credible and long- term solution to sustainability.”
Furthermore, the community benefits in a number of ways, from the jobs created in rural areas due to the large volumes of timber required through to better management of previously neglected woodland, improving biodiversity and providing havens for wildlife at these sites.
By sourcing the wood fuel from the surrounding region, we’re also reducing emissions and energy use involved in transporting the fuel”.
HEATHROW’S GROUND-BREAKING SUSTAINABLE ENERGY CENTRE RECOGNISED IN AWARDS
Notes to editors
- LC Energy is one of the UK’s leading specialists in sustainable wood fuel supply, complete biomass systems and long-term timber purchase agreements. Specialising in biomass wood fuel solutions – including design and feasibility, service and maintenance – LCE has a proven track record of more than six years. Clients include public, private and commercial sectors from primary schools and care homes to global hotel groups, leisure parks, hospitals and international airports. With distribution hubs in Essex, Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Surrey, LC Energy has the network to supply wood fuel and biomass solutions to all sectors in the South and East of England and is expanding its services across the UK
- Heathrow oversees the implementation of the airport’s sustainability policy. It directly controls sustainability impacts associated with activities at the airport. These include infrastructure design, procurement of products and services, and the management of the people, vehicles, equipment and processes it employs to help run Heathrow.
- The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply exists to promote and develop high standards of professional skill, ability and integrity among all those engaged in purchasing and supply chain management. CIPS assists individuals, organisations and the profession as a whole. More
- Biomass takes carbon out of the atmosphere while it is growing, and returns it as it is burned. If managed on a sustainable basis, biomass is harvested as part of a constantly replenished crop. This is either during woodland or arboricultural management or coppicing or as part of a continuous programme of replanting with the new growth taking up CO2 from the atmosphere at the same time as it is released by combustion of the previous harvest. This maintains a closed carbon cycle with no net increase in atmospheric CO2 levels, sometimes referred to as carbon neutral.
- What are the carbon costs of wood fuel?
All traditional fuel (excluding nuclear) releases carbon dioxide (CO2) when it is burnt. However, the net CO2 released by burning sustainably produced wood is considerably less than the CO2 released when fossil fuels are burnt as the following table shows:
| Net CO2 emissions by fuel type | |
| Fuel type: | Life cycle CO2 emission |
| Wood | 7 kg/MWh |
| Natural Gas | 270 kg/MWh |
| Oil | 350 kg/MWh |
| Coal | 480 kg/MWh |
| Electricity | 530 kg/MWh |
In essence, CO2 is not saved by burning wood fuel – it is only saved by displacing the fossil fuel equivalent, and savings depend on what fuel is being displaced.
| CO2 savings when wood is substituted for fossil fuels | |||
| Net CO2 released | CO2 Saved by substituting 1m3 of wood for fossil fuel | ||
| 1 m3 of wood provides 2,500kWhrs of energy (when seasoned) | 17.5kg | ||
| Fossil fuels delivering the same amount of energy | Natural Gas | 675kg | 657kg |
| Oil | 875kg | 857kg | |
| Coal | 1,200kg | 1,182kg | |
| Electric | 1,325kg | 1,307kg | |
To convert from CO2 saved to carbon you divide by 44 (the molecular weight of CO2) then multiply by 12 (the atomic weight of carbon). So 1kg of CO2 would equate to 0.27 kg of carbon.
- What are the cost advantages of wood fuels compared with other fuels?
Using a domestic home requiring about 15,000kWhrs of heat per year. At this rate, and at current prices for usable heat, here are the costings:
Electricity = 12.7 p/kWhr = £1,900/yr
Oil = 5.9 p/kWhr = £885/yr
(based on 59pence per litre and 10kWhrs per litre)
Coal = 6.0 p/kWhr = £900/yr
Mains gas = 4.0 p/kWhr = £600/yr
Wood pellets = 5.8 p/kWhr = £870/yr
(based on £281 per tonne (bagged) and 4,800 kWhrs per tonne)
Woodchips = 3.5 p/kWhr = £530/yr
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