Weather centre a massive polluter

A SUPER-computer designed to predict climate change causes massive pollution.

The £30million machine at the Met Office's HQ is understood to be the second most powerful system in Britain.

But the building in which it sits, in Exeter, Devon, was named as one of the worst polluters in Britain.

The Met Office HQ is responsible for more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and 75 per cent of that is caused by the computer, according to the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Met Office spokesman Barry Grommett said the computer was vital to help forecast weather and environmental change and its predictions helped to reduce global carbon emissions.

Emissions of every public building in the country were calculated. The Met Office was 103rd out of 28,259.

Top was Manchester University's Oxford Road campus, while the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' lab in Surrey came 35th.

Source