Download this:
https://www.dropbox.com
Summarize this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/16/personal-productivity-apps
Then upload it to Dropbox.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Monday, 15 November 2010
Green technology - water
Water-saving solutions:
* A system for using cooling water of lower quality. Info here.
* The dry toilet & compost loos.
* Rainwater harvesting (alternative source) &
* Greywater systems (reuse)
* Desalination – solar desalination.
Green tech
Principle: Sustainability.
PPP – polluter pays principle
How? The law – legal instruments
Litigation – legal processes (in a court of law).
RRR – reduce, reuse, recycle
Increasing efficiency is green
Cradle to the grave analysis. Closed loop recycling.
Impact, footprint
At least one in five of the companies using the largest amounts of water in the world is already experiencing damage to their business from drought and other shortages, flooding, and rising prices.
The wide scope of commercial problems posed by growing pressure on global water supplies and changing weather patterns is revealed by a survey of the 302 biggest companies in the most water-intensive sectors, across 25 countries.
The study was commissioned by the increasingly influential Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which conducts an annual study of what companies are doing to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on behalf of investors holding US$16trillion (£9.9tr) of assets.
About half the companies responded to the water survey, of whom 39% said they were already experiencing "detrimental impacts". In answer to a separate question, about half said the risks to their businesses were "current or near term" - in the next one to five years - a sample likely to have significant crossover with those already reporting problems.
Companies most at risk are in the food and drink, tobacco, and metals and mining sectors, says the first CDP Water Disclosure report. Other concerns listed were fines and litigation for pollution.
Marcus Norton, who headed the report, said companies that replied to the survey were more likely to have taken action to address water issues affecting their business, but he was still "impressed" by the replies: 96% were aware of potential problems, and two-thirds have somebody responsible for water issues at board or executive committee level.
Of the companies which did not reply, not all would be ignoring the problems, but Norton hoped in following years more companies would show they take the issue "seriously".
"I don't think this is an issue of the price of water increasing even 10-fold, which I think in many cases it will," he added. "For me it's about building resilience to and avoiding catastrophic damage from water scarcity and physical risks. If you run out of water you can't operate. We have seen floods in China and Pakistan cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage."
Companies that ignore water dangers "pose a risk to investments", said Anne Kvam, head of corporate governance of Norges Bank Investment Management, a lead sponsor of the report.
The report, written by London-based consultancy Environmental Resource Management, names six companies showing "best practice" as mining giant Anglo American, consumer group Colgate-Palmolive, auto maker Ford, US utility PG&E, and engineers GE and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. This was not intended to suggest the named corporations were the top six, only that subjectively they were "good examples", said Norton.
A major report, Charting Our Water Future, commissioned by Nestlé and brewer SAB Miller among others last year, calculated by 2030 global water demand would outstrip supply by 40%, with shortages in some parts of the world much more severe than others, but also claimed existing management and technology could cut water use and boost supply enough to close the gap.
Nestlé chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, previously warned water is a greater threat than climate change, and called for significant rises in water prices to pressure big users to be more efficient.
Solutions:
Identify the problems.
More? We must make more!!! More, more, more. Really?
We are using too much water and fossil fuels.
Climate change impacts – droughts & floods.
Water resources.
Limits to growth.
Solutions: Less resources for the goods and services we use and using renewable sources of supply.
Nuclear power, fusion reactors? No.
Norwegian energy exports (hydropower).
HVDC and smart grids. Osmosis energy.
Reduce, reuse, recycle..but if you cannot…
Desalination (seawater to fresh water):
Reverse osmosis
Solar desalination
Cradle to the grave analysis. Closed loop recycling.
Where do we use water?
Domestic sector, water-saving systems. Grey water recycling.
Toilets – dry toilets
Compost toilets.
Urine - water, urea – full of nitrates – a fertiliser.
Faeces. The breaks down to form compost.
The trick is not to mix the two!
Hygiene is important here!
WC water closet.
Film by McKinsey
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/water/charting_our_water_future.aspx
* A system for using cooling water of lower quality. Info here.
* The dry toilet & compost loos.
* Rainwater harvesting (alternative source) &
* Greywater systems (reuse)
* Desalination – solar desalination.
Green tech
Principle: Sustainability.
PPP – polluter pays principle
How? The law – legal instruments
Litigation – legal processes (in a court of law).
RRR – reduce, reuse, recycle
Increasing efficiency is green
Cradle to the grave analysis. Closed loop recycling.
Impact, footprint
At least one in five of the companies using the largest amounts of water in the world is already experiencing damage to their business from drought and other shortages, flooding, and rising prices.
The wide scope of commercial problems posed by growing pressure on global water supplies and changing weather patterns is revealed by a survey of the 302 biggest companies in the most water-intensive sectors, across 25 countries.
The study was commissioned by the increasingly influential Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which conducts an annual study of what companies are doing to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on behalf of investors holding US$16trillion (£9.9tr) of assets.
About half the companies responded to the water survey, of whom 39% said they were already experiencing "detrimental impacts". In answer to a separate question, about half said the risks to their businesses were "current or near term" - in the next one to five years - a sample likely to have significant crossover with those already reporting problems.
Companies most at risk are in the food and drink, tobacco, and metals and mining sectors, says the first CDP Water Disclosure report. Other concerns listed were fines and litigation for pollution.
Marcus Norton, who headed the report, said companies that replied to the survey were more likely to have taken action to address water issues affecting their business, but he was still "impressed" by the replies: 96% were aware of potential problems, and two-thirds have somebody responsible for water issues at board or executive committee level.
Of the companies which did not reply, not all would be ignoring the problems, but Norton hoped in following years more companies would show they take the issue "seriously".
"I don't think this is an issue of the price of water increasing even 10-fold, which I think in many cases it will," he added. "For me it's about building resilience to and avoiding catastrophic damage from water scarcity and physical risks. If you run out of water you can't operate. We have seen floods in China and Pakistan cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage."
Companies that ignore water dangers "pose a risk to investments", said Anne Kvam, head of corporate governance of Norges Bank Investment Management, a lead sponsor of the report.
The report, written by London-based consultancy Environmental Resource Management, names six companies showing "best practice" as mining giant Anglo American, consumer group Colgate-Palmolive, auto maker Ford, US utility PG&E, and engineers GE and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. This was not intended to suggest the named corporations were the top six, only that subjectively they were "good examples", said Norton.
A major report, Charting Our Water Future, commissioned by Nestlé and brewer SAB Miller among others last year, calculated by 2030 global water demand would outstrip supply by 40%, with shortages in some parts of the world much more severe than others, but also claimed existing management and technology could cut water use and boost supply enough to close the gap.
Nestlé chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, previously warned water is a greater threat than climate change, and called for significant rises in water prices to pressure big users to be more efficient.
Solutions:
Identify the problems.
More? We must make more!!! More, more, more. Really?
We are using too much water and fossil fuels.
Climate change impacts – droughts & floods.
Water resources.
Limits to growth.
Solutions: Less resources for the goods and services we use and using renewable sources of supply.
Nuclear power, fusion reactors? No.
Norwegian energy exports (hydropower).
HVDC and smart grids. Osmosis energy.
Reduce, reuse, recycle..but if you cannot…
Desalination (seawater to fresh water):
Reverse osmosis
Solar desalination
Cradle to the grave analysis. Closed loop recycling.
Where do we use water?
Domestic sector, water-saving systems. Grey water recycling.
Toilets – dry toilets
Compost toilets.
Urine - water, urea – full of nitrates – a fertiliser.
Faeces. The breaks down to form compost.
The trick is not to mix the two!
Hygiene is important here!
WC water closet.
Film by McKinsey
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/water/charting_our_water_future.aspx
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Food and drink
Food & Drink
You are what you eat.
What do you eat?
I eat junk.
If you eat healthy food, you should be healthy.
If you eat healthy food you could also be ill, but not from the food, right?
If you drink English tea, you should become English…
Typical English tea is a mixture, or blend of different varieties, such as Ceylon, Assam & Darjeeling. There is also Kenyan, Rwandan, and tea from China. Earl Grey is a mixture of tea with flavouring from bergamot orange.
What is tea? Dried leaves of various plants.
Tea is a generic term. The opposite is specific.
There is the tea plant, which grows at over 1,200 meters above sea level.
I am on a diet – meaning you are eating less, or eating more – as in a sport diet. Both mean a change of diet.
What do you eat (or consume)?
Types of consumer:
If you eat at the Mensa, you are a Mensavore.
If you only eat vegetables and fruit you are a vegan. Vegans do not eat anything that comes from animals, insects, or seafood.
If you only eat insects, you are an insectivore. Examples food are locusts, ants, termites etc. E.g. anteaters
A vegetarian does not eat meat, but they sometimes eat seafood and also dairy products. This includes milk, cheese, yoghurt & eggs.
Squid & octopus are both closely related: Group of animals known as Cephalopods, which includes jellyfish.
If you only eat meat, or insects you are a carnivore.
Snails
Carnival – meat eating festival.
If you only eat fruit you are a fruitivore. E.g. the fruit bat, or some strange people. The urang utan is another example.
If you only drink blood you are a vampire, or a Masai.
Veins and arteries.
If you eat both vegetables and meat (everything in fact!) you are an omnivore. Most of us are omnivores.
If you eat people you are a cannibal.
Is there anything you don’t eat?
Insects, dogs, cats, horses, people? Raisins, spinach, sauerkraut, caraway, cucumber, gherkins,
pickled food e.g. pickled onions, eggs.
I don’t eat any of the things above and I also don’t eat chips (French fries).
Crisps are snacks.
What do you eat? What’s your favourite food?
Pizza. Fast food?
Why become vegetarian?
It healthy, or healthier?
We do not need to eat meat to survive. Meat is often contaminated with diseases and toxins and medicines such as antibiotics, growth hormones etc.
Animal rights, animal cruelty (factory farming),
Slow food is regional, traditional, enjoyable, healthy food.
My favourite German food is goose, served with dumplings and cabbage. St. Martins goose is a tradition.
What is the most common dish in England?
Beans on toast? Maybe.
Haggis is stuffed sheep’s stomach.
Clue: It’s not fish and chips. Cod was the food of the poor because it was cheap, but we fished out all the cod and that was the end of cheap fish.
It is Chicken tikka masala.
Finger food is food you can eat with your fingers.
I eat chicken…
What is good food?
No artificial substances (E-numbers for example), pesticides, artificial fertilisers (NPK)
N = Nitrates
P = phosphates
K = Potassium
If you do not use any artificial fertilisers, or chemicals in farming your food is organic (Bio in German).
Babies are very sensitive to trace amounts of chemicals. E.g. DDT, PCB’s etc.
FYI: LD50. Toxicology is the study of poisonous substances.
Meme = an information virus (from Richard Dawkins)
Ethics in food:
Hygiene (disease control) e.g. salmonella in egg production. Factory farms for chickens are unhygienic for example.
Conditions in which the animals live.
Health issues. How good for you is this food?
Junk food: Unhealthy food. Fast food.
Examples include McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC.
Fast food kills variety, but variety is the spice of life.
Kebab? Is a kebab unhealthy? Why? What makes food healthy, or unhealthy? It depends on where the ingredients come from.
Too much fat (uncountable)*
*Much and many: Much is uncountable. Many can be counted. For example: Wine.
Healthy food. Slow food. A balanced diet.
The ingredients are good for you. What does the body need?
Foodstuff:
Vitamins (fruit & veg also sugar), protein (eggs), minerals (NaCl, Ca, Mg, Fe etc), fats (unsaturated (in plants) & saturated fats (e.g. in meat)), carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, starch and fibre).
Carrots – vitamin A accumulates (builds up) in the body. Vitamin A is deadly in high amounts.
Too much of a good thing is bad for you.
Vitamin C however, passes through the body.
Vitamin D comes from sunlight. That is why we suffer in the winter (SAD disorder). Think of disease, or ill at ease. Sick is an old word, which also to throw.
Prefix – e.g. dis something negative.
Suffix
Fluids, especially water.
You are what you eat.
What do you eat?
I eat junk.
If you eat healthy food, you should be healthy.
If you eat healthy food you could also be ill, but not from the food, right?
If you drink English tea, you should become English…
Typical English tea is a mixture, or blend of different varieties, such as Ceylon, Assam & Darjeeling. There is also Kenyan, Rwandan, and tea from China. Earl Grey is a mixture of tea with flavouring from bergamot orange.
What is tea? Dried leaves of various plants.
Tea is a generic term. The opposite is specific.
There is the tea plant, which grows at over 1,200 meters above sea level.
I am on a diet – meaning you are eating less, or eating more – as in a sport diet. Both mean a change of diet.
What do you eat (or consume)?
Types of consumer:
If you eat at the Mensa, you are a Mensavore.
If you only eat vegetables and fruit you are a vegan. Vegans do not eat anything that comes from animals, insects, or seafood.
If you only eat insects, you are an insectivore. Examples food are locusts, ants, termites etc. E.g. anteaters
A vegetarian does not eat meat, but they sometimes eat seafood and also dairy products. This includes milk, cheese, yoghurt & eggs.
Squid & octopus are both closely related: Group of animals known as Cephalopods, which includes jellyfish.
If you only eat meat, or insects you are a carnivore.
Snails
Carnival – meat eating festival.
If you only eat fruit you are a fruitivore. E.g. the fruit bat, or some strange people. The urang utan is another example.
If you only drink blood you are a vampire, or a Masai.
Veins and arteries.
If you eat both vegetables and meat (everything in fact!) you are an omnivore. Most of us are omnivores.
If you eat people you are a cannibal.
Is there anything you don’t eat?
Insects, dogs, cats, horses, people? Raisins, spinach, sauerkraut, caraway, cucumber, gherkins,
pickled food e.g. pickled onions, eggs.
I don’t eat any of the things above and I also don’t eat chips (French fries).
Crisps are snacks.
What do you eat? What’s your favourite food?
Pizza. Fast food?
Why become vegetarian?
It healthy, or healthier?
We do not need to eat meat to survive. Meat is often contaminated with diseases and toxins and medicines such as antibiotics, growth hormones etc.
Animal rights, animal cruelty (factory farming),
Slow food is regional, traditional, enjoyable, healthy food.
My favourite German food is goose, served with dumplings and cabbage. St. Martins goose is a tradition.
What is the most common dish in England?
Beans on toast? Maybe.
Haggis is stuffed sheep’s stomach.
Clue: It’s not fish and chips. Cod was the food of the poor because it was cheap, but we fished out all the cod and that was the end of cheap fish.
It is Chicken tikka masala.
Finger food is food you can eat with your fingers.
I eat chicken…
What is good food?
No artificial substances (E-numbers for example), pesticides, artificial fertilisers (NPK)
N = Nitrates
P = phosphates
K = Potassium
If you do not use any artificial fertilisers, or chemicals in farming your food is organic (Bio in German).
Babies are very sensitive to trace amounts of chemicals. E.g. DDT, PCB’s etc.
FYI: LD50. Toxicology is the study of poisonous substances.
Meme = an information virus (from Richard Dawkins)
Ethics in food:
Hygiene (disease control) e.g. salmonella in egg production. Factory farms for chickens are unhygienic for example.
Conditions in which the animals live.
Health issues. How good for you is this food?
Junk food: Unhealthy food. Fast food.
Examples include McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC.
Fast food kills variety, but variety is the spice of life.
Kebab? Is a kebab unhealthy? Why? What makes food healthy, or unhealthy? It depends on where the ingredients come from.
Too much fat (uncountable)*
*Much and many: Much is uncountable. Many can be counted. For example: Wine.
Healthy food. Slow food. A balanced diet.
The ingredients are good for you. What does the body need?
Foodstuff:
Vitamins (fruit & veg also sugar), protein (eggs), minerals (NaCl, Ca, Mg, Fe etc), fats (unsaturated (in plants) & saturated fats (e.g. in meat)), carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, starch and fibre).
Carrots – vitamin A accumulates (builds up) in the body. Vitamin A is deadly in high amounts.
Too much of a good thing is bad for you.
Vitamin C however, passes through the body.
Vitamin D comes from sunlight. That is why we suffer in the winter (SAD disorder). Think of disease, or ill at ease. Sick is an old word, which also to throw.
Prefix – e.g. dis something negative.
Suffix
Fluids, especially water.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
The Weather
The Weather
How does the weather work? What drives the weather?
What is weather?
Wind – how do we measure wind? In m/s (mph) Beaufort scale (logarithmic scale of 0 to 15)
Clouds – Cirrus, cumulus, stratos
The sun drives the weather. It heats up the atmosphere?
The angle of the sun determines the seasons and temperatures during the day and during the year, but the climate is the driver of the weather. As the amount of greenhouse gases increase the climate changes. The planet is heating up resulting in the snow melting, sea level rise, more extreme weather. Another result is more, or less rain. In areas where it is dry it will become drier and wet areas will become wetter, leading to longer droughts in summer, and increased flooding in winter.
Not only that, climate change will also lead to increasing ocean acidification as more CO2 enters the system. This is bad news because coral reefs which are made of carbonate minerals will be destroyed.
Cause and effect.
Types of weather:
Objective: stormy weather (wind force 6 to 8), calm, hurricanes, tropical cyclones - weather systems.
Subjective: Nice weather, bad weather.
Characteristics of the weather:
Temperature (measured with a thermometer. In Europe the unit is in degrees Celsius, but in the USA it is degrees Fahrenheit. The scientific unit is Kelvin). Zero degrees Celsius (the freezing point of water) is 273.15 K, or 32°F. The boiling point is 100°C.
Air movement, water movement (or cycles) is described as wind.
Air pressures can high, or low. In BAR, or hPa. Normal air pressure at sea level is approx. 1 Bar or 1000 hPa. Air pressure is the result of the amount of air above us.
Seasons: Winter, spring, summer & fall (US English) UK English it’s autumn.
In the winter it’s colder than in summer.
What, where, why, how and when questions (about the weather).
Definition: The weather is a process in the atmosphere.
1. Understand the task (or the question).
2. Brainstorm
3. Report
HOME
How does the weather work? What drives the weather?
What is weather?
Wind – how do we measure wind? In m/s (mph) Beaufort scale (logarithmic scale of 0 to 15)
Clouds – Cirrus, cumulus, stratos
The sun drives the weather. It heats up the atmosphere?
The angle of the sun determines the seasons and temperatures during the day and during the year, but the climate is the driver of the weather. As the amount of greenhouse gases increase the climate changes. The planet is heating up resulting in the snow melting, sea level rise, more extreme weather. Another result is more, or less rain. In areas where it is dry it will become drier and wet areas will become wetter, leading to longer droughts in summer, and increased flooding in winter.
Not only that, climate change will also lead to increasing ocean acidification as more CO2 enters the system. This is bad news because coral reefs which are made of carbonate minerals will be destroyed.
Cause and effect.
Types of weather:
Objective: stormy weather (wind force 6 to 8), calm, hurricanes, tropical cyclones - weather systems.
Subjective: Nice weather, bad weather.
Characteristics of the weather:
Temperature (measured with a thermometer. In Europe the unit is in degrees Celsius, but in the USA it is degrees Fahrenheit. The scientific unit is Kelvin). Zero degrees Celsius (the freezing point of water) is 273.15 K, or 32°F. The boiling point is 100°C.
Air movement, water movement (or cycles) is described as wind.
Air pressures can high, or low. In BAR, or hPa. Normal air pressure at sea level is approx. 1 Bar or 1000 hPa. Air pressure is the result of the amount of air above us.
Seasons: Winter, spring, summer & fall (US English) UK English it’s autumn.
In the winter it’s colder than in summer.
What, where, why, how and when questions (about the weather).
Definition: The weather is a process in the atmosphere.
1. Understand the task (or the question).
2. Brainstorm
3. Report
HOME
Monday, 18 October 2010
Smart beer
I’m sitting at anchor on my solar PV powered boat as I type away on this laptop. Not far away the harbour is stuffed full of portable generators as 300 boat owners struggle to keep their beers cold after the electricity was cut off due to non-payment.
Pretty dumb really and not a reflection on everyday reality in suburbia… not yet at least. But we face many challenges in the near future if we want to keep enjoying our current lifestyles. It seems that energy resources are reaching peak, just as our demand for energy is increasing. Add the issue of the heat we are generating with the burning of fossil fuels and the scale of the challenge becomes clear.
So what’s the solution? In short there is no simple answer, no miracle cure. We could stop drinking beer, but granny needs her life support machine to keep functioning. Clearly we have to reduce our demand for energy and become smarter about how we utilise it. It is madness for example that we wastefully burn 70% of the oil we extract in planes, automobiles and ships when much of our transport needs can be met by electric motors and plug-in hybrids which are over 95% efficient in converting energy into motion (compared with a petrol engine at 40%). The only problem here is the massive demand for electrical power this would involve.
So how do we create the infrastructure we need to keep our transport systems running? The answer lies with smart grids. The combination of a responsive electrical grid, coupled with smart meters and linked to intelligent devices provides the solution. If we could make our devices truly intelligent by using open source protocols we could achieve a dynamic response network, which would keep the lights running while charging our vehicles. Believe it or not, we do have the electrical reserve in the system to enable this to happen today. How? Peak demand occurs during the day, but at night power stations have to maintain a spinning reserve which electric vehicles could use to charge their batteries. Fully charged vehicles can also provide power back into the grid when it’s needed at peak times during the day.
This just one example of the advantages of smart solutions. Builiding management systems have been using intelligent control systems based on open protocols such as LON for years. Such systems typically save 30% on energy bills due to the intelligent interoperation of systems. Smart solutions can also be found in street lighting and industrial automation and in just about any system that requires energy.
Now while none of this is new (the technology is already there)the problem is that we are simply not adopting it, or we are not adopting truly smart systems. Smart meters must allow communication at the device level and not just display information about energy consumption. They must also provide real value-added to the customer by enabling them to decide when that want their devices to operate. Flexible pricing provides a great incentive here.
We also need to build trust and confidence that smart solutions are in all of our interests. Badly implemented smart meters which only serve to allow power companies to save money and remote reading and cutting people off for non-payment are not the solution. The real benefits that smart systems provide is ensuring energy supplies, energy security and addressing climate change by increased efficiency, reduced demand and dynamic response.
As for the beers, the solar system on my boat just about keeps them cold, but this isolated solution is not suitable for everyone and judging by the pile of noisy generators in the harbour, the price people are paying for not preparing for the future is a high one. After all, how can anyone enjoy a quiet drink when they are chocking in fumes and deafened by the noise? Seems rather dumb to me. So let’s build a smart future, one which is open, fair and flexible. I for one would drink to that!
Pretty dumb really and not a reflection on everyday reality in suburbia… not yet at least. But we face many challenges in the near future if we want to keep enjoying our current lifestyles. It seems that energy resources are reaching peak, just as our demand for energy is increasing. Add the issue of the heat we are generating with the burning of fossil fuels and the scale of the challenge becomes clear.
So what’s the solution? In short there is no simple answer, no miracle cure. We could stop drinking beer, but granny needs her life support machine to keep functioning. Clearly we have to reduce our demand for energy and become smarter about how we utilise it. It is madness for example that we wastefully burn 70% of the oil we extract in planes, automobiles and ships when much of our transport needs can be met by electric motors and plug-in hybrids which are over 95% efficient in converting energy into motion (compared with a petrol engine at 40%). The only problem here is the massive demand for electrical power this would involve.
So how do we create the infrastructure we need to keep our transport systems running? The answer lies with smart grids. The combination of a responsive electrical grid, coupled with smart meters and linked to intelligent devices provides the solution. If we could make our devices truly intelligent by using open source protocols we could achieve a dynamic response network, which would keep the lights running while charging our vehicles. Believe it or not, we do have the electrical reserve in the system to enable this to happen today. How? Peak demand occurs during the day, but at night power stations have to maintain a spinning reserve which electric vehicles could use to charge their batteries. Fully charged vehicles can also provide power back into the grid when it’s needed at peak times during the day.
This just one example of the advantages of smart solutions. Builiding management systems have been using intelligent control systems based on open protocols such as LON for years. Such systems typically save 30% on energy bills due to the intelligent interoperation of systems. Smart solutions can also be found in street lighting and industrial automation and in just about any system that requires energy.
Now while none of this is new (the technology is already there)the problem is that we are simply not adopting it, or we are not adopting truly smart systems. Smart meters must allow communication at the device level and not just display information about energy consumption. They must also provide real value-added to the customer by enabling them to decide when that want their devices to operate. Flexible pricing provides a great incentive here.
We also need to build trust and confidence that smart solutions are in all of our interests. Badly implemented smart meters which only serve to allow power companies to save money and remote reading and cutting people off for non-payment are not the solution. The real benefits that smart systems provide is ensuring energy supplies, energy security and addressing climate change by increased efficiency, reduced demand and dynamic response.
As for the beers, the solar system on my boat just about keeps them cold, but this isolated solution is not suitable for everyone and judging by the pile of noisy generators in the harbour, the price people are paying for not preparing for the future is a high one. After all, how can anyone enjoy a quiet drink when they are chocking in fumes and deafened by the noise? Seems rather dumb to me. So let’s build a smart future, one which is open, fair and flexible. I for one would drink to that!
EU environmental law – does it really protect us?
The Hungarian red mud incident has shown us that European law is insufficient to protect us from the consequences of environmental damage. EU environmental law must be tightened in order to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future and to ensure that liability is made clear when such accidents do occur.
European environmental law is designed to improve and maintain a high quality of life for EU citizens. This takes the form of directives and is supported by case study law, which tests the application of such laws. EU environmental law is based on the polluter pays principle.
The recent spill of toxic waste in Hungary involved the accidental release of over one million cubic metres of so called red mud, which has affected air, land and water. Nine people have died and 120 injured in the incident after a reservoir containing the toxic waste from an aluminium plant burst, flooding local villages and sending the waste into local waterways, which feeds the river Danube. The CEO of the company was arrested, but has since been released due to a lack of evidence against him. In fact, the company involved cannot be prosecuted for harm to people, although it can be made liable to damage to the environment.
So which EU laws cover this incident? One possibly relevant directive is the EU Waste Framework directive, which invokes the polluter pays principle. Unfortunately this directive only covers highly toxic waste. The plant was given permission to operate in 2006 under the IPPC directive, which requires businesses to comply to certain conditions in order to operate. In retrospect it seems that the permit to operate was issued without the company complying to the mandatory environmental conditions as stated in that directive. Unlike with the Superfund in the USA, there are no sources of funding, which can cover the costs of cleaning up this waste. The recently implemented Environmental Liability directive (ELD) however, is currently being re-examined to include mandatory financial security in the light of the red mud disaster and may be tightened to take such incidents into account.
Clearly there are a number of issues here: Existing EU law is insufficient to protect the environment while existing laws are not being implemented properly. Hungary is set to take over presidency of the EU in January next year and is promising to tighten the law, but it seems to be a case of closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted and getting down to business as usual.
The plant has now reopened and villagers invited to return to their homes, giving a clear signal that economic and social concerns are overriding environmental issues as the incident is swept under the (red) carpet. Greenpeace Hungary stated that the decision to allow the villagers to return to their homes was "entirely irresponsible" as no data existed regarding whether it is safe to do this.
The incident in Hungary is certainly not the first,or the last of its kind. An incident in Romania in the year 2000 saw the release of wastes including cyanide and heavy metals from a gold mine entering the river Danube. The mine owners refused to accept liability for the incident, claiming that reports of the damage had been “grossly exaggerated”. Despite demands from Greenpeace at the time for full liability, a ban on mining in sensitive areas and improved working standards nothing was done to improve matters. It must be noted that Romania was not a member of the EU at the time as it joined seven years later in 2007, but the whole region is home to the legacy of ex-Soviet mining, which could lead to many more of such incidents in the future. A spokesman for the World Wide Fund for Nature stated in a recent Guardian article that: "There are a string of disasters waiting to happen at sites across the Danube basin".
It seems that current EU legislation and it's implementation is insufficient to improve and maintain a high quality of life for EU citizens as the case of the red mud spill in Hungary has proven. By re-examining such cases it is hoped that future EU law will prove effective in protecting the environment.
European environmental law is designed to improve and maintain a high quality of life for EU citizens. This takes the form of directives and is supported by case study law, which tests the application of such laws. EU environmental law is based on the polluter pays principle.
The recent spill of toxic waste in Hungary involved the accidental release of over one million cubic metres of so called red mud, which has affected air, land and water. Nine people have died and 120 injured in the incident after a reservoir containing the toxic waste from an aluminium plant burst, flooding local villages and sending the waste into local waterways, which feeds the river Danube. The CEO of the company was arrested, but has since been released due to a lack of evidence against him. In fact, the company involved cannot be prosecuted for harm to people, although it can be made liable to damage to the environment.
So which EU laws cover this incident? One possibly relevant directive is the EU Waste Framework directive, which invokes the polluter pays principle. Unfortunately this directive only covers highly toxic waste. The plant was given permission to operate in 2006 under the IPPC directive, which requires businesses to comply to certain conditions in order to operate. In retrospect it seems that the permit to operate was issued without the company complying to the mandatory environmental conditions as stated in that directive. Unlike with the Superfund in the USA, there are no sources of funding, which can cover the costs of cleaning up this waste. The recently implemented Environmental Liability directive (ELD) however, is currently being re-examined to include mandatory financial security in the light of the red mud disaster and may be tightened to take such incidents into account.
Clearly there are a number of issues here: Existing EU law is insufficient to protect the environment while existing laws are not being implemented properly. Hungary is set to take over presidency of the EU in January next year and is promising to tighten the law, but it seems to be a case of closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted and getting down to business as usual.
The plant has now reopened and villagers invited to return to their homes, giving a clear signal that economic and social concerns are overriding environmental issues as the incident is swept under the (red) carpet. Greenpeace Hungary stated that the decision to allow the villagers to return to their homes was "entirely irresponsible" as no data existed regarding whether it is safe to do this.
The incident in Hungary is certainly not the first,or the last of its kind. An incident in Romania in the year 2000 saw the release of wastes including cyanide and heavy metals from a gold mine entering the river Danube. The mine owners refused to accept liability for the incident, claiming that reports of the damage had been “grossly exaggerated”. Despite demands from Greenpeace at the time for full liability, a ban on mining in sensitive areas and improved working standards nothing was done to improve matters. It must be noted that Romania was not a member of the EU at the time as it joined seven years later in 2007, but the whole region is home to the legacy of ex-Soviet mining, which could lead to many more of such incidents in the future. A spokesman for the World Wide Fund for Nature stated in a recent Guardian article that: "There are a string of disasters waiting to happen at sites across the Danube basin".
It seems that current EU legislation and it's implementation is insufficient to improve and maintain a high quality of life for EU citizens as the case of the red mud spill in Hungary has proven. By re-examining such cases it is hoped that future EU law will prove effective in protecting the environment.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Current affairs notes 11/10
Current affairs
China – state communism – human rights, no freedom of expression.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/10/intellectuals-detained-nobel-celebration
China
North Korea – communism – Dictatorship – Kim jong il
Both have no press freedom, no democracy
Hungary – a mixture of toxic waste has escaped from a bauxite plant.
Al ore. Red mud.
Many people have been affected/moved (evacuated)
The environment has been badly affected and will be for many years.
Aluminium Al, electrolysis. Energy intensive. Recycling saves 95% of the energy of production.
Liability. Who is to blame and who pays? Us.
----
Chile: 33 miners have been trapped underground for 66 days. The mine used to produce gold and copper. They have been trapped 800 metres underground for months. Initially they sent medication to the miners. They want to get them out by December, but they will probably start getting them out this week.
Human interest stories…
Google cars
Search engines
Advertising, data mining, profiling
Target audience
Male, interested in technology, disposable income.
Amazon -books
Sell everything.
Targeting advertising. Profiling.
B to C
…
Proposition 19
Legalisation
Tourism
Afghanistan
Cannabis
Opium – codine, morphine, heroin.
Morroco –billions
Mexico drug wars, Cartels – an illegal business.
Network of organised crime. Corruption.
Demand and supply.
Cambodia, & The Philippines
Tobacco & alcohol
China – state communism – human rights, no freedom of expression.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/10/intellectuals-detained-nobel-celebration
China
North Korea – communism – Dictatorship – Kim jong il
Both have no press freedom, no democracy
Hungary – a mixture of toxic waste has escaped from a bauxite plant.
Al ore. Red mud.
Many people have been affected/moved (evacuated)
The environment has been badly affected and will be for many years.
Aluminium Al, electrolysis. Energy intensive. Recycling saves 95% of the energy of production.
Liability. Who is to blame and who pays? Us.
----
Chile: 33 miners have been trapped underground for 66 days. The mine used to produce gold and copper. They have been trapped 800 metres underground for months. Initially they sent medication to the miners. They want to get them out by December, but they will probably start getting them out this week.
Human interest stories…
Google cars
Search engines
Advertising, data mining, profiling
Target audience
Male, interested in technology, disposable income.
Amazon -books
Sell everything.
Targeting advertising. Profiling.
B to C
…
Proposition 19
Legalisation
Tourism
Afghanistan
Cannabis
Opium – codine, morphine, heroin.
Morroco –billions
Mexico drug wars, Cartels – an illegal business.
Network of organised crime. Corruption.
Demand and supply.
Cambodia, & The Philippines
Tobacco & alcohol
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