My four strange but true green stories for Easter

With Easter Sunday a few days away now is a good time to look back at four of this year’s amazing but true green stories.

Ron Fox, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park, (www.noreus.co.uk), picks his favourite recent environmental tales.

1. Building a green 21st century solar energy project led to workers finding an ancient Copper Age fort from nearly 5,000 years ago. The discovery also unearthed a mystery – a grave with a skeleton of what appears to be a Roman legionary soldier buried head down with his feet cut off and a sheathed military dagger, or pugio, on his back. The bones of the man, thought to have been 25 to 35 years old, date from the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD. The remains of the fortress, covering 13,000 square metres, with three concentric walls, 25 towers and deep protective moats, were discovered near Badajoz in the western Extremadura region of Spain. The site, known as Cortijo Lobato, was found during the building of a solar energy project outside Almendralejo by the Spanish company Acciona Energia. “It just shows how green projects can even help archaeologists,” concluded Ron.
2. Restoring wolves to the Scottish Highlands could help the UK reach net zero. Official records suggest the last Scottish wolf was killed in 1680 in Killiecrankie, Perthshire, but there were sightings of wolves in Scotland in the 18th century. Their disappearance led to the number of red deer surging as they had no natural predators and they subsequently devoured saplings and stripped older trees of bark. But scientists believe reintroducing about 170 grey wolves would be enough to hunt and kill red deer which would lead to an expansion of woodland that could help store a million tonnes of the harmful climate gas carbon dioxide (CO2). Professor Dominick Spracklen, of the University of Leeds who led the study, believe the new trees saved would absorb about five per cent of the carbon removal target needed to help reach net zero by 2050. Each wolf would contribute to an annual CO2 reduction of 6,000 tonnes, while each year the UK releases about 400 million tonnes of CO2. Despite hunting and culling there are thought to be about 400,000 red deer in Scotland today. However, the idea may be opposed by livestock farmers and deer stalkers. The findings were published in Ecological Solutions and Evidence.
3. A green solution could even help solve the £14.4 billion problem of potholes blighting UK’s roads and frustrating motorists. Engineers believe that “self-healing” roads could be the solution and that asphalt roads could be made far more durable by adding recycled cooking oil. Potholes appear when water penetrates the cracks in the asphalt, freezes and expands in winter when the broken material is washed away. In laboratory experiments researchers found that by adding tiny particles of a porous material made from plant waste and filled with recycled oil, the new material was shown to completely heal new microcracks in less than an hour.
4. Mercedes-Benz is developing a solar paint for the outside of their electric cars that could generate enough electricity to power a car for 12,000km a year – almost 7,500 miles. They hope to incorporate this technology into cars by 2040. “I never cease to be amazed by the brilliant and imaginative ways people and organisations are finding to help save the planet and cut global warming,” said Ron.

He added: “If you want any green energy advice, contact me call Ron on 0845 474 6641 or go to www.noreus.co.uk – but do have a happy Easter holiday.”

Caption: Helping experts out of a hole – A green solution could help solve the £14.4 billion problem of potholes blighting UK’s roads and frustrating motorists.