Find out how knowing more about your energy use can help businesses operate in a more sustainable way. It’s time for some sustainability analytics!

Dan Lavinskas is the founder and CEO of Citera, a Montreal-based company who lead on digital energy and emissions calculations and consultations. And it all started for him when he studied a unit on environmental accounting at university.

Dan tells us about the challenges of founding and building a sustainability business, the need to be willing to fail and start again, and how his company use their data expertise to analyse companies’ energy usage and emissions.

Dan questions how we might address crucial global consumption issues if we are to become more sustainable, enlightens us on what Scopes 1, 2, and 3 are when it comes to emissions for companies, how businesses can get information on all three, and what they need to know and do with that information.

We look at the carbon impact throughout a building’s life cycle, and how you can make decisions that alter that impact; and how politics are changing priorities around ESG, sustainability and energy efficiency in North America.

Plus, we find presenters on the extremes of the coffee divide (and discuss the sustainability credentials of a cuppa), porridge causes more friction, and consider if St Andrews is better known for golf or accounting.

For more details about Citera, see here: https://www.getcitera.com

And for coffee buffs, Dan recommends James Hoffman: https://www.jameshoffmann.co.uk/

WARNING: This episode includes some mild bad language.

How do we get more people to leave the car behind and take the bus? When public transport can make such a positive difference to the planet, the task is to get the public to use it.

Ben Wakerley is a Lancaster University graduate – and long-time friend of Paul – whose lifelong love of buses has taken him on a journey from driving them around Manchester when he was a student to become CEO of Warrington’s Own Buses. The company has an award-winning fleet of 105 electric buses that makes them even better for the environment, but Ben catches the No.1 bus to campus to tell us you still need more to encourage passengers on board.

We consider the natural fit between public transport and sustainability, how better bus networks can help ease congestion and speed up life in big cities, and how we can build bus cultures that match that of London.

Ben explains how the sunk costs of buying a car plays a major part in people deciding to drive or take the bus, and what bus companies need to do to encourage people to make the switch without making it a war on motorists. We find out the challenges – logistically and investment-wise – and benefits – economically and environmentally – of switching from diesel to electric buses; and dispel some of the myths on battery range.

Find out whether the introduction of electric buses has seen passenger growth, how new housing developments need to better consider bus access, and how bus companies across the UK are taking on the sustainability agenda.

Plus, Ben is impressed by Paul’s bus knowledge, we think about our favourite bus routes around the UK, and we uncover Jan’s history working with bus companies.

Find out more about Warrington’s Own Buses: https://www.warringtonsownbuses.co.uk/

If you want to know what the Laffer curve is, look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

And discover some of the Great Scenic Bus Journeys here: https://www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk/

Episode Transcript

You might find accessing the commercial world straightforward. Not everyone does. One in five people in the UK have a disability, so how do we make the marketplace more accessible for them?

Dr Leighanne Higgins and Dr Killian O’Leary are here to talk about their Marketplace & I project, which works with organisations to improve their accessibility for consumers through specialist training.

We find out how they use art and artworks produced by people with a disability and their families at the heart of their project – and which artworks really stand out to the project leaders; and how their work goes beyond shops and cafes to charities, universities, and councils, taking a broad look at issues.

Leighanne and Killian tell us why they are so passionate about ending exclusion from society, and how all of us might face accessibility issues as we enter old age. They show how things have evolved over the last decade when it comes to accessibility attitudes, and how organisations they worked with several years ago are now exemplars of change.

We talk about the difference between visible and invisible disabilities, and how needs differ when entering the marketplace. And we discover how public exhibitions of the artworks led to direct business engagement with key issues.

We look at the importance of creating a welcoming atmosphere, uncover myths surrounding the costs of accessibility, and see how employees can be inspired by training.

Plus, why is Jan not a fan of shopping? And why are we talking about Monsters Inc’s Mike Wazowski?

Find out more about the Marketplace and I project and some of the artworks here: The Marketplace and I

And details of their accessibility training workshops are here: Accessibility training workshops - Lancaster University

This is the website of the Jumbulance Trust, whom we mentioned in the show: Jumbulance Home

And the NeuroChatin podcast can be found here: https://pod.co/neurochatin

Episode Transcript