Lego: One Step Closer to Being Sustainable

The Lego Group is one step closer to reaching its goal of making all its products from sustainable materials by 2030.

The Danish toymaker revealed a prototype (雏形) brick made from     1     plastic. In a news release, Lego said the PET plastic from     2     bottles makes up the first brick to meet the company’s “strict quality and safety requirements.” One way the company     3     safety is by sourcing materials from suppliers that use processes approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority.

“The biggest     4     on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as long-lasting, strong and high quality as our existing bricks—and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years,” Lego Group Vice President of Environmental Responsibility Tim Brooks said. “With this prototype we’re able to    5     the progress we’re making to the public.”

It will be “some time” before bricks made from used materials can be     6    , Lego said. The company will continue to test and develop the PET formulation (配方) and decide whether to move to the     7     production phase, which is expected to take at least a year. One factor the company is testing is how the material can be     8    .

“Experimentation and failing is an important part of learning and     9    . Just as kids build, unbuild and rebuild with LEGO bricks at home, we’re doing the same in our lab,” Brooks said.

The move follows last year’s announcement that the company was making a $400 million investment over three years into sustainability     10    . It included phasing out the single-use plastic bags from its boxes and instead using recyclable paper for its packaging.

Carbon Impact

De-carboning existing housing will require households to stop burning fossil fuels and wood to power and heat their homes. If the UK’s current energy demand could be     1     by renewable, carbon-free energy, then there would be no problem. However, the infrastructure (基础建设) is not yet in place to do so and will not be by 2050.

The smart solution is to reduce the energy demand of homes. This energy demand includes the energy needed to heat (or cool) a home and that required for a home to run, such as     2     appliances.

Architects can have a big impact on energy demand through improving the performance of the building envelope by increasing insulation (绝缘) and airtightness. We can also work with building services engineers to     3     renewable energy generation (生成) technology and ensure that building services and appliances are running efficiently. Smart technologies can also help households control energy use. Gas boilers and cookers will need to be replaced with electric     4     such as heat pumps and conduction hobs. Some community renewable generation     5     will be needed. Household     6     changes will be useful too, for example not having windows open while the heating is on. Rebuilding houses will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Strategies for individual homes or building types will be required and     7     analysis of a home’s performance and its occupant’s habits will be needed. This was the first step of our R20 project, a rebuilding of 9/10 Stock Orchard Street reducing the energy demand of the building, 20 years after its     8    

The rebuilding works took place while the building was     9    . For all existing housing, careful     10     will be needed regarding health and safety and people’s wellbeing. Furthermore, households will need to learn how their rebuilt home works to use it successfully.

Urban Trees Are Threatened by Climate Change

By 2050, about three-quarters of the species will be at risk as a result of climate change, a study has found. Cities around the world may need to start planting different types of trees and shrubs that can     1     warmer and drier conditions.

“By ‘at risk’, we mean these species might be     2     stressful climatic conditions,” says Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez at Western Sydney University in Australia. “Those trees are likely to die.”

City trees have many benefits, from making urban spaces look beautiful and providing a refuge for wildlife to keeping places up to 12°C cooler than they would otherwise be in summer. Losing tree     3     would lead to cities becoming even hotter as the planet heats up.

To     4     the threat, Esperon Rodriguez and his colleagues used database called the Global Urban Tree Inventory to work out the conditions required by 3100 tree and shrub species currently grown in 164 cities worldwide. The researchers then looked at how these conditions would be affected by climate change under medium-emissions scenario known as RCP 6.0.

By 2050, 76 per cent of these species will be at risk from rising     5     temperatures and 70 percent from decreasing rainfall, the team concludes.

The study doesn’t take account of       6     urban growth, which could warm cities even faster. Nor does it take account of greater weather     7     caused by climate change, or the effects of pests and diseases. Warmer conditions are allowing more pests, such as bark beetles, to survive winters as well as to reproduce faster in summer, greatly increasing their     8    .

“Our     9     have scientific basis,” says Esperon-Rodriguez. There are some things that can be done to help trees survive. The best strategy is to choose tough species when     10     trees or planting new ones, the team concludes.