Best Foot Forward

BFF has been commissioned to look at the carbon footprint of satellite communications, such as television and internet services. Having previously footprinted various types of passenger and freight aircraft, helicopters and hot air balloons, the prospect of investigating the rocket-powered transport of satellites held no fear for our analysts... but it did yield its fair share of surprises.

Today is a big day at Best Foot Forward. We are launching our latest Footprinter™ carbon accounting software and supporting website. Footprinter™ has been in development for over three years now and has been used by many of our clients including Hertfordshire County Council and the Forestry Commission. We have also produced dedicated, standalone editions for clients including FIRA, Amec, and Chicago2016. Visit Footprinter.com for product insight, demonstrations and instant access to free versions of Footprinter™.

Personal travel and particularly flying are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, as we know. Winter ski trips are hugely popular, but from the UK the most common mode of travel is still by plane even when many European resorts can be readily reached by train.

BFF is delighted to be providing all visitors and delegates to The Carbon Show 2009 with access to Footprinter™, BFF’s sophisticated online software for carbon accounting. Delegates to the first international show dedicated to all things carbon can use the free Footprinter™ to calculate their carbon footprint in accordance with recognized standards and guidance. This access to our software pre-empts our imminent, international release of our upgraded Footprinter™ and its supporting website. The Carbon Show takes place on 29 - 30 September at ExCeL, London.

BFF client Sheppard Robson has been awarded the "Most Sustainable Practice" award from Architecture Journal. The award is sponsored by another BFF client InterfaceFlor. In 2008 Sheppard Robson commissioned BFF to assess the carbon and ecological footprints of their annual office activities in London and Manchester. The results from the study have enabled them to develop a strategy to monitor and reduce their footprint in the future.

Having completed a carbon and ecological footprint study of a Worksop school for Balfour Beatty's Transform Schools initiative, BFF were recently invited to present the results to the student council and facilitate a student workshop on how to best reduce the school's footprint. After some fantastic discussions and ideas the Portland School students came up with a wide range of possible actions including introducing a vegetarian day in the canteen, emailing newsletters rather than printing, encouraging staff to car share one day per week and switching from bus travel to walking or cycling. We look forward to catching up with the students of Portland School in the future to see how their actions are making a change.

BFF has expanded the training courses we offer, to provide guidance to delegates on some of our other core knowledge areas. This week saw the successful delivery of ‘Understanding Product Carbon Footprinting’ – based around the recently released PAS2050 guidance – and ‘Building the Price of Carbon into Decision Making’.  Although the titles could be snappier, these new courses offer succinct training on specialised applications of carbon accounting.

Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games is taking carbon footprinting seriously. They have turned to Footprinter™, Best Foot Forward’s web-based carbon management tool, to help them measure, monitor and reduce the likely environmental impact of hosting the Games.

US wine producer Fetzer has announced the results of a study undertaken by BFF into the carbon savings associated with the lightweighting of their bottles. The new design eliminates the punt — the concave indentation on the bottom of bottles — and reduces the thickness of the glass.

The September issue of The ENDS Report features a full review of BFF's work with the Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse on the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing printer cartridges. Our study concluded that a remanufactured cartridge has a 46% lower carbon footprint than a new one, saving approximately 2.8kg of CO₂ per cartridge.