The Water Pavilion

It may come as a surprise to hear that COP26 is the first COP to have a dedicated Water pavilion. Due to the frightening circumstances we find ourselves in, more than 30 of the biggest water organisations across the world have collaborated to bring the challenges facing our water supply to the forefront. Some of the key organisers include the IUCN and SIWI to name just a few. Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of SIWI had this to say about the Water Pavilion: “The climate crisis is primarily a water crisis. To a large extent, we experience global warming in the form of too much or too little water, as floods or droughts. But few countries are aware of how much they can gain from focusing more on water in their climate action, and that is what we want to change with the first-ever Water Pavilion.”

The pavilion runs livestreams of the various sessions, so if you are interested why not check out the agenda and have a watch?

The Key Topics

Obviously the topic of water is as vast as the oceans themselves, but where climate change is involved there are some key areas of focus.

The first is mitigation. What can policy makers do to reduce the strain on our water supplies and prevent future strain where possible

The second resilience, as the climate changes the burden on water supplies will increase drastically, especially when we rake into account that many renewable energy sources require a lot of water to produce. So how do policy makers help to preserve and maintain the water that we have currently to meet the needs of the future?

The third is adaptation. There will be many situations where we can not mitigate the impacts of climate change and our water resources aren’t resilient enough to cope. So how do we adapt to this? What changes do we need to make so that we are still able to function effectively in our new reality?

These are of course broad-brush themes and within each of these are much more detailed topics being covered throughout the summit. Here at Halcyan we’re particularly in the intersection of water and energy.

Where does Halcyan fit?

So where does Halcyan fit into the conversation? We are after all a small business with a small product (one of its selling points in fact!). The answer is of course hard water. Across the world areas are supplied by hard water, hard water in turn produces limescale which, over time significantly reduces the efficiency of heating elements. Not only does energy usage increase in areas suffering from hard water but so does waste. When elements and equipment become scaled up they are scrapped more often than not.

Halcyan and systems like it take limescale out of the equation. This means less energy and materials are wasted in both domestic and commercial contexts. It is estimated that a household can save 0.5 tonnes of carbon a year with a Halcyan fitted. Multiply that by the millions in Britain alone and our small contribution starts to add up!

Final Thoughts:

Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative! Stay tuned for more COP26 coverage and more helpful blogs tackling all sorts of water related topics! If you’d like to know more about how Halcyan tackles limescale then please check out our system explained page linked below!

What is COP 26?

COP is a UN run summit which aims to bring together representatives from almost all nations on earth to tackle climate change. COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’ and these conferences have been running annually since 1995. The upcoming COP will be the 26th session since these events were started, hence the title COP26. The aim of these summits is to devise agreements, treaties and goals in the fight against climate change. The Paris agreement of 2015 was drawn up at COP21 for example. You may have noticed that most previous COPs didn’t generate as much press as COP26.

What is different about COP26?

The sense of urgency around climate change has shifted into another gear entirely since the Paris agreement. The goal of the Paris agreement was to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C. The current global trajectory is well and dangerously beyond that mark. The effects of climate change are now more obvious than ever with frequent record breaking extreme weather events in countries across the globe. For many COP26 is seen as our last real chance to get our emissions under control.

What to expect from the Summit.

Under the Paris agreement signatories agrees to draft plans, detailing the extent they would curb their emission and how they would set about doing so. These plans were know as Nationally Determined Contributions or ‘NDCs’. An important part of the NDCs was the agreement that they would be revisited and updated in 5 years. The 5 years are up and COP26 is the event where we should hope to see some very ambitious targets declared by many of the key polluting countries.

The UK, which is running the conference has also stated that there are 3 additional areas which will be focused on along with the overarching goal of reducing emissions to meet the 1.5 target.

The first is climate finance, as part of COP 15 in Copenhagen poor countries were promised $100bn a year to tackle climate issues by 2020. The target was not met and developing countries are pushing to receive the rest of the funds along with an expansion in finance going forward.

The second is the total phase out of coal, this is an essential step to remaining under 1.5C. Many countries including China, India and Australia all still consume and produce significant amounts of coal. Convincing these nations to drop their reliance on coal will be one of the big pushes of the event.

Finally there will be a focus on nature based solutions to climate change. These include more focus on protecting and expanding existing natural carbon sinks such as forests, wetlands and peatlands. The Amazon rainforest will be an area of particular focus as one of the worlds largest carbon sinks which is under considerable threat.

Final Thoughts:

We hope that you have a better understanding of COP26 and why it matters. Whilst watching the summit live may be a bit keen we would certainly urge you to follow the outcomes of the event as the decisions made here will have a significant impact on your and all of our futures! If you’d like to know more about how you can help reduce your homes carbon footprint please read our article below on carbon saving changes you can make to your home.

1 – Treating your Hard Water

You’ll forgive us if we start with the solution most close to our hearts here at Halcyan, hard water. Very much an underappreciated area as far as energy efficiency is concerned limescale from hard water can be a significant drain on your energy bills. Limescale builds up on heating elements insulating them meaning you need more energy to heat your water. British water suggests that for every 1mm of limescale the energy needed to heat your water increases between 7-10%. You can remove this inefficiency with minimal effort which will save you energy and money. Not to mention approximately 0.5 tonnes of carbon a year!

2 – Insulating your home

Insulation is always one of the go to recommendations for reducing energy use in the home, and for good reason! An uninsulated loft, attic or flat roof can result in whopping 25% of your heat being lost! The walls are an even bigger drain with 35% of heat being lost through uninsulated walls. By adding insulation to your roof and walls you can save a significant amount of energy and thereby a significant amount of money as well.

Loft insulation can be relatively straightforward to fit. Insulating material is simply fit between the joists in the loft or attic space. Wool is an excellent sustainable source for this material and is commonly used as insulation.

Cavity walls are also simple to insulate, and it can be inexpensive to do so. Usually, holes are drilled into the wall from the outside of the property and insulating material is injected into the cavity.

Adding insulation to solid walls can be trickier and more expensive, usually insulating material or insulating boards are fixed to the walls internally and then covered over with render or cladding.

3 – Double Glazing your Windows

Heat loss through windows results in 25-30% of residential heating and energy use. Fitting windows with high energy efficiency is a great way to reduce wasted energy and save money in the long run. Double or triple glazing is an excellent option for keeping your house warmer in winter and cooler in the summer and ensuring that energy bill is kept low!

4 – Boilers and heat pumps

Your boiler itself may be more of a drain on your energy bills than it needs to be. Older boilers are much less efficient than newer models. Condensing boilers are some of the most efficient systems available. They can save you  up to £340 a year if they are used to replace older models. Not only that but you’ll also be cutting down your carbon footprint.
But why stick with a boiler? Two renewable heating options are becoming much more popular, ground source and air source heat pumps. Both absorb heat from their surroundings, either the air or the ground and transfer this heat to your water. Not only will this cut down on your heating bills and your carbon footprint but you may also be eligible for the Governments renewable heat incentive scheme which will help to cover the cost of installation.

5 – Solar Panels

Whilst solar panels are a hefty upfront cost they more than make up for it! The most obvious benefit is that you’ll be able to provide energy for yourself thus cutting down on those pricey bills but you’ll also have the potential to sell your energy back to your energy supplier through the feed-in-tariff ! Solar panels are also a sustainable source of energy which means you’ll be cutting down on your homes carbon footprint as well! If you’ve got the budget and the space for them solar panels are a no brainer!

Final Thoughts:

Hopefully this list has proven useful to you and you come away with some ideas for energy saving improvements for your home! All the options listed will have a significant impact on your energy usage. So whilst they may be pricey upfront, in the long run they will pay for themselves, and you’ll be doing your bit to make your home that much more sustainable! If you’d like to know more about how our Halcyan system works check out our system explanation below