Resources

Broadly speaking, resources include anything that is used to supply a business. The impact of resources such as those described below are often forgotten since their impact is out of sight and may not be directly linked to on-site processes. Resources do, however, have a huge impact on climate change. In this section we have also included waste, since waste is part of the resource management cycle and is, without a doubt, an area where industry is responsible for emissions.  

Waste 

Ireland has made significant progress towards the achievement of its EU recovery/recycling obligations. The current recession has also led to a noticeable decrease in waste generation, particularly in the commercial and construction and demolition waste streams. Because of the economic downturn, Ireland is also moving towards achievement of the EU landfill Directive targets for biodegradable waste diversion. Detailed reports and bulletins concerning national waste can  be found on the EPA website.

The management of waste materials created by SMEs, through landfilling, directly results in greenhouse gas emissions. Landfill gas for example, consists of 50-60% methane and 35-40% carbon dioxide. In fact, landfills are recognised as one of the most significant man-made sources of methane released into the atmosphere. Even with efficient methods of gas control, which include energy recovery, landfilling is not comparable in terms of emissions to a policy of reducing, re-using and recycling.  

As Ireland moves towards economic recovery, waste prevention (not merely diversion) must be a priority. SMEs, like all members of the industrial/commercial sector, will have their part to play in waste prevention. Adequate infrastructure must also be in place to treat the large amounts of organic food waste that must be diverted from landfill under the EU Directives.

Materials

A further way in which SMEs impact on climate change is the choice of materials used. Goods made from recycled materials generally require less energy than producing goods from virgin materials.

When virgin materials are used rather than re-using or using products made with less material, more energy is needed for extraction, production, processing, treatment and transportation. This results in more energy being produced at power stations or used during the production and transportation stages and therefore results in more greenhouse gas emissions. Using new materials will also ultimately result in more waste ending up in the landfills, and therefore more methane.

This area has largely been overlooked to date, since each of the impacts due to the extraction, construction, processing and transportation of the material are largely unseen by customers, suppliers, producers and retailers alike.

More recently, the idea of green procurement has become more commonplace. Green procurement is essentially choosing services and goods that have less of an impact on the environment. It requires businesses, individuals, government or large industry to make the responsible choice, and thereby limit the impact that their action or consumption will have on the environment.

The impact of the choices of businesses, individuals and the government on climate change, although extremely difficult to measure, cannot be overstated. Fundamentally, the climate change challenge begins with these choices. For more information on choosing responsible materials click here.


Water

With a total of approximately 160,000 SMEs in Ireland (ISME) SMEs can exert considerable pressure on our water supplies. Not only does the water used by SMEs have the potential to stress supplies, but it also consumes energy required for the treatment and distribution of the water, thereby using energy and adding to emissions of climate warming gases.

With the government expecting an increase in the amount of SMEs, and therefore their overall consumption of energy and resources, an increase in the demand on water resources is almost inevitable. Not only will this require more energy for treatment, it will also require the construction of new water treatment facilities and distribution networks, resulting in more emissions due to construction and requiring more materials, also resulting in further emissions through their manufacture and transportation.
 
It is also important to remember that every litre of water used in Ireland has been cleaned and treated to drinking water standards, meaning that our treatment plants are consuming energy to produce high quality water which may not be needed at all or is not needed to be of this high standard. This results in unnecessary consumption of energy.

Although climate change may bring wetter winters to Ireland they will not fully offset the reduction in water from the predicted longer, hotter and drier summers. Because of the change in precipitation, water will become more expensive to store and manage and as energy costs rise, so too will the cost of treating and pumping.

With the change in precipitation patterns the cost of water will rise. Reduction of water consumption is thus the most effective way of combating both this rise in cost and greenhouse gas emissions.


previousPrevious - Energy
Next - Useful Definitionsnext