As the project in Namibia shows, climate mitigation strategies need to be approached from all angles, especially in anticipation of a de- velopment boom across Africa. As the continent closes its annual infrastructure spending shortfall – placed as high as $170 billion – the construction sector is expected to grow 6.7 percent annually making it imperative that such development is carried out as sustainably as pos- sible. The Academy’s GCRF Africa Catalyst programme is working in partnership with the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to build the capacity of engineering organisations across the con- tinent, particularly in the infrastructure sector to share best practice and help to drive sustainable development. At the University of Rwanda, engineers are developing a toolkit to help built environment profes- sionals to measure and reduce the country’s embodied carbon. Africa is disproportionately exposed to the impacts of global warming and is already confronting issues that other regions will not experience for some time. Being on the frontline of climate adaptation techniques will provide unique insights that could help the rest of the world to pre- pare and plan ahead. Amplifying African-based engineering expertise is therefore critical to improving the wider world’s defences against the increasing threat of climate change.
Not only is locating and retrieving all that paper slowing you down, the cost of things like storage space, paper supplies, and printing can add up fast. Not to mention the impact that all of that paper has on the environment. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, of all trees harvested for industrial use, 42 percent go to making paper. Unfortunately, the degradation of forests is only part of the story. The pulp and paper industry is also the largest industrial user of water, the biggest water polluter, and the third largest emitter of global warming pollution in most industrialized nations. Paper also accounts for 25 percent of landfill waste and 33 percent of municipal waste. HCSS and Command Alkon have teamed up to streamline heavy materials management by eliminating paper tickets, removing manual
In most construction businesses, paper is everywhere – invoices, requisitions, purchase orders, notes, and drawings scattered around the office and sprinkled everywhere at the jobsite. Minimizing Environmental Impact While Maximizing Productivity By Karli Langner
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