Saturday, March 31, 2012
Demand in the United States for HVAC equipment is projected to increase 5.1 percent annually to $16.8 billion in 2015, according to a study that came out in November titled HVAC Equipment from The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm. Advances will be stimulated by growth in residential and many types of nonresidential construction spending from a low 2010 base. Rising interest in more energy-efficient HVAC systems, in part spurred by regulatory changes, will also support increased demand — particularly in value terms given that more efficient systems and those using less environmentally harmful refrigerants are typically priced at a premium. Furthermore, public and private incentives will encourage owners to upgrade to models with efficiency ratings that are at or above Energy Star levels. These and other trends are presented in the 329-page survey.
Unitary Air Conditioners
Unitary air conditioners are the largest segment of the cooling system market, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the total in 2010, said the survey. In addition, demand for unitary systems will increase at an above-average pace, benefiting from the continuing development of higher-efficiency models and from gains in the share of homes with central air conditioning. The cooling equipment industry is affected by a variety of regulations, including those involving ozone-depleting hydrochlorofluorocarbon refrigerants.
According to the survey, heat pumps accounted for the largest share of heating equipment value demand in 2010 and have been gaining share at the expense of less-efficient equipment and those that provide heating only. Through 2015, demand for heat pumps is expected to post the strongest gains of any heating equipment, supported by their ability to provide efficient heating and cooling in moderate climates, and by rising interest in geothermal versions. Demand for boilers will also post above-average gains benefiting from the rebound in nonresidential and residential multiunit construction, and interest in radiant heating systems. For more information, visit www.freedoniagroup.com
SOURCE: ACHR News
Yashentech Corporation is based out of Shanghai, China. It has developed a technology which helps to unlock the chemical which is stored in coal and which polluted the environment
Yashentech Corporation is based out of Shanghai, China. The company was started by the husband and wife couple Jane Chuan and Wang Youqi. They have developed a technology which helps to unlock the chemical which is stored in coal and which polluted the environment. The catalysts they have discovered speeds up the conversion of methanol extracted from coal into dimethyl carbonate. The dimethyl carbonate when added to diesel fuel it cuts black carbon soot emissions.
The organization needs to find areas for innovation in supply chain to carve a niche and differentiation for itself in the competitive market.
The organization needs to find areas for innovation in supply chain to carve a niche and differentiation for itself in the competitive market.
The planning process is an annual process The execution plan is drawn up daily. There is no linkage between the weekly and monthly plan. There is no evaluation of the capacity. It is important to draw up the linkage between the monthly plan and the weekly plan.
Transportation planning is done with various departments like the Transport Vendors, Surface Transport and Stock Yards
The transportation planning is done with various departments like the Transport Vendors, Surface Transport and Stock Yards. Unless they participate in the transportation planning process it will not be effective. The process also has to link the yearly planning process with the monthly process and daily execution.
Study of transportation can bring in enormous cost reduction and also help to reduce fuel consumption
The scope of transportation study can be broken down on the supply side and on the distribution and sales side. Even in the distribution side it can be broken down into the primary distribution and the secondary distribution. Study of transportation can bring in enormous cost reduction and also help to reduce fuel consumption.
Friday, March 30, 2012
This calls for centralization of servers and consolidating the resources. This also helps to lower electricity costs, infrastructure cost etc. The peak load capacity also increases. This also helps to improve the utilization and efficiency. Most of the systems are only utilized for 10-20% of their capacity.
WASHINGTON — Impatient with the slow pace of international climate change negotiations, a small group of countries led by the United States is starting a program to reduce emissions of common pollutants that contribute to rapid climate change and widespread health problems.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to announce the initiative at the State Department on Thursday accompanied by officials from Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden and the United Nations Environment Program.
The plan will address short-lived pollutants like soot (also referred to as black carbon), methane and hydrofluorocarbons that have an outsize influence on global warming, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of global warming. Soot from diesel exhausts and the burning of wood, agricultural waste and dung for heating and cooking causes an estimated two million premature deaths a year, particularly in the poorest countries.
Scientists say that concerted action on these substances can reduce global temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 and prevent millions of cases of lung and heart disease by 2030.
“This is very much in the win-win category — good on climate at the same time that it’s good on health, food production and energy,” said Todd D. Stern, the State Department’s special envoy for climate change.
“It’s not a negotiation over who takes what targets,” he said, “but a voluntary partnership aimed at producing tangible results in a relatively short period of time.”
The United States intends to contribute $12 million and Canada $3 million over two years to get the program off the ground and to help recruit other countries to participate. The United Nations Environment Program will run the project.
Officials hope that by tackling these fast-acting, climate-changing agents they can get results quicker than through the laborious and highly political negotiations conducted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or U.N.F.C.C.C. That process, involving more than 190 nations, grinds on year after year with incremental political progress but little real impact on the climate.
At the most recent United Nations climate summit meeting, in Durban, South Africa, negotiators agreed to try to produce a binding global climate change treaty by 2015, to take effect after 2020. Many scientists say that irreversible damage to the atmosphere will be done before then.
Soot, methane and hydrofluorocarbons, which are used in foam and refrigerants, have a short life span in the atmosphere, measured in weeks or years. By contrast, carbon dioxide, the primary cause of climate disruption, persists in the atmosphere for thousands of years — and its effects are much more difficult to mitigate.
Researchers have identified about a dozen ways to significantly control black carbon and methane emissions. Soot can be reduced by installing filters on diesel engines, replacing traditional cookstoves with more efficient models, modernizing brick kilns and banning the open burning of agricultural waste. Methane can be captured from oil and gas wells, leaky pipelines, coal mines, municipal landfills, wastewater treatment plants, manure piles and rice paddies.
The new initiative will provide money for developing countries to reduce short-acting pollutants and will try to raise additional public and private funds for new mitigation projects. Drew T. Shindell, a senior climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute on Space Studies, said that attacking short-lived climate agents could have immediate impacts.
“From a political point of view,” he said, “what’s really appealing about these measures is that a lot of the
benefits are realized by those that take the action. If you reduce these emissions in the developing world, it’s the developing world that gets most of the benefits, by stabilizing rainfall and improving public health.”
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, said that the initiative, if expanded and adequately financed, would have more impact on the climate than the United Nations climate change negotiations, at least in the near term.
“This is a formal declaration that we’re opening a second front in the climate war,” said Mr. Zaelke, who has been agitating for action on fast-acting climate change agents for years.
“We’d be fools to count on the U.N.F.C.C.C. for our salvation, though I wish it well,” he said. “This is a complement, not a substitute.”
SOURCE: The New York Times
Cloud service providers need to comply with various regulations like FISMA, HIPPA and SOX . Some of these are mandatory in United States. Cloud Service providers for the Credit Card industry have to adhere to PCI and DSS. Because of security reasons sometimes hybrid models of cloud offerings are preferred where companies have to meet government policy requirements.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Ecuador trabaja por la eliminación del consumo de sustancias que desgastan la capa de ozono
El Ministerio de Industrias y Productividad, como punto focal del Protocolo de Montreal en Ecuador, iniciará
en enero del 2013 el proceso de reducción y eliminación de hidroclorofluorocarbonos (HCFC), sustancias agotadoras de la capa de ozono, aseguró la Subsecretaria de Industrias, Productividad e Innovación Tecnológica, Silvana Peñaherrera.
Peñaherrera afirmó que en una primera fase, la Cartera de Industrias llegó a tener cero importaciones de sustancias como cloro, fluoro, carbonos (CFC) y en el año 2010, el país logró cumplir la meta del consumo de cero toneladas métricas al año.
Reiteró que el Ministerio de Industrias y Productividad trabaja conjuntamente con la Organización de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Industrial, ONUDI, en calidad de agencia implementadora en el fortalecimiento y reconversión tecnológica del sector industrial que usa en sus procesos productivos sustancias agotadoras de la capa de ozono.
Indicó que Ecuador para cumplir con el compromiso de reducir y eliminar el consumo de los HCFC, desde enero del 2013, logró una cooperación no reembolsable de $ 2’278.940 del Protocolo de Montreal.
Peñaherrera, precisó que según el Plan Nacional de Eliminación de HCFC (hidroclorofluorocarbonos), el año 2030 se tiene previsto la eliminación del 98 por ciento del consumo de estas sustancias agotadoras de la capa de ozono en nuestro país.
Finalmente, precisó que el Ministerio ha trabajado conjuntamente con las industrias de aerosoles, refrigerantes, aires acondicionados y línea blanca, en general, quienes se han comprometido a sustituir el consumo de estas sustancias.
Is it possible that ancient civilizations , from Egypt to South America could have once harnessed electricity in a highly advanced, eco-friendly way
Over the last few decades, scientists and archaeologists have found evidence of electricity use at ancient sites around the world, from Egypt to South America, suggesting that these people were more technically advanced than our culture today.
Is it possible that ancient civilizations could have once harnessed electricity in a highly advanced, eco-friendly way? And if so, why has it been hidden for so long?
In a couple of months, my team and I will embark on an incredible adventure all over the world, where we will investigate the mysteries surrounding ancient power plants that have been kept secret for thousands of years.
Greatest driver for Cloud computing is the whole debate about capital expenditure to operational expenditure
The greatest driver for Cloud computing is the whole debate about capital expenditure to operational expenditure. The economic pressures are pushing companies to move from capital expenditure to operating expenditure. However calculations show that if the number of users are large and the if an organization wants to use subscription based model for a long time it becomes more expensive compared to a on premise model.
Hardware virtualization is a great way to create the effect of using hardware remotely without actually knowing where is the hardware located. It feels as if the hardware is locate in front of you. There are three kinds of virtualization, Full Virtualization, Partial Virtualization and Para Virtualization. In Virtualization software which is known as hypervisor imitates the role and functionality of a hardware. This has opened doors for cloud computing. This also means greater utilization of hardware.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Cloud computing has huge benefit for consumers who want to utilize their unused hardware infrastructure – Green IT
Cloud Computing has huge benefit for consumers who want to utilize their unused hardware infrastructure. Over the years popular software platforms and have also gained from cloud computing. Infrastructure as a Service ( IaaS), Platform as a Service ( PaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS) are all the building blocks for Cloud computing. This is a great way to make your IT department Green.
The booklet devotes a fairly large amount to end-of-life issues for refrigeration and air conditioning equipment in developing countries, as well as export/trade issues.
Some of the highlights are listed below:
Page 16: "Furthermore, the environmentally sound management of end of-life refrigerators, air conditioners and similar equipment is significant in mitigating the climate change impacts as the ozone depleting substances in these devices, such as chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, have a high global
Page 25: "Insulating foam from dismantled refrigerators, primarily CFC containing polyurethane, or old car tyres are often used as the main fuels for the fires (Prakash et al. 2010), contributing to acute chemical hazards and long-term contamination at the burning sites, as well as emitting ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere."
Page 25: "Formalized processes in the e-waste recycling chain are only about to develop in the form of initial manual dismantling pilot projects (Ghana and Nigeria) or are planned (Benin and Côte d’Ivoire) through either private initiatives or development cooperation projects. All of them at least partially rely on financial start-up funding, which is not yet secured. More costly treatment processes, such as degassing CFCs and HCFCs from cooling and freezing appliances and CRT recycling are not available in West Africa. Only in Ghana there is a project commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aiming to set up a refrigerator collection and recycling system to recover and destroy CFCs. In most countries, formal refining processes exist for metallic fractions like steel and aluminium. This ranges from rather simple re-melting operations to larger metal smelters and refineries. Metallic scraps from e-waste are usually treated in these facilities, together with mixed metal scraps from other sources or sometimes with mining concentrates."
Page 28: Ghana - "New specific regulations with relevance to EEE and e-waste are the LI 1932 Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2008 (Prohibition of Manufacture, Sale or Importation of Incandescent Filament Lamp, Used Refrigerator, Used Refrigerator-Freezer, Used Freezer and Used Air-Conditioner). This prohibits the import as well as the sale and distribution of used refrigerators, freezers and air-conditioners. The enforcement of these regulations at this moment remains challenging."
Page 33-34: "In the case of refrigerators, the comparison of currently applied recycling techniques and best applicable technologies revealed that there are significant untapped environmental and, possibly, economic improvement potentials. These potentials can be realized by the recovery of CFCs and HFCs from cooling circuits and foams and subsequent destruction of these ozone depleting substances in dedicated facilities. Additionally, the sound management of hazardous components and a better utilization of the plastic fractions add to the benefits of sound refrigerator recycling. Economic benefits can be tapped if CFC and HFC-recovery and destruction are marketed using one of the existing emission reduction certification schemes, such as the Carbon Action Reserve (CAR) or the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).
From an environmental perspective, best applicable technologies which would recover a minimum of 90% of total CFCs contained in cooling circuits as well as foams, would lead to proper management of two to seven tonnes of CO2 per device. Together with better utilization of plastics, mainly polystyrene – a potential which is neglected in currently applied recycling technologies – revenues from CO2 emission trading would yield much higher economic benefits. However, investment costs for setting up such facilities would range from around US$ 200,000 to 300,000 for basic machinery to recover CFCs from cooling circuits, to several million US$ for advanced recovery facilities. In addition, the management aspects related to the export of CFCs and certification and compliance within the framework of emission trading schemes could be quite complex. Thus, the informal e-waste sector is probably not in the position to manage such a recycling system. However, this sector should still be engaged in the collection of obsolete refrigerators, their transport to the recycling facility and the manual recycling steps. In this way, formal recycling businesses could closely interlink with current informal e-waste recycling structures to avoid competition in acquiring obsolete refrigerators."
Page 37: "According to the Dutch customs authority and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM)-Inspectorate, nearly 80% of the containers which were selected for inspection after a pre-screening process, have problematic contents or declarations (Öko-Institut et al. 2010).
The Port of Antwerp is the dominant Belgian port and an important gateway for trade with West Africa offering high capacities for both containers and car loading.
It is considered by government agencies to be more of a transit port, whereby containers and cargo are transported to the port by truck, rail, and barge and then loaded onto seagoing vessels (Öko Institut et al. 2010). Germany, and in particular Münster and Essen in the Ruhr-Region, is a major source of the cargo channeled through Antwerp, although cargo may originate from nearly any place in Europe, including the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Eastern European countries. Furthermore, Antwerp terminals also handle used cars in containers originating from the USA and destined for Africa (Öko-Institut et al. 2010).
The Belgian inspection authorities conduct many inspections on transiting goods through the Port of Antwerp. In 2008, approximately 1200 container checks were conducted of which 127 contained e-waste and 47 were sent back to the country of origin. Belgian customs authorities assume that 90% of illegal waste shipments are conducted by co-loading e-waste into used cars (Öko-Institut et al. 2010). In both ports, used EEE is often declared as “second-hand goods”, “private goods”, “for charities”, “for personal use”,
“miscellaneous” and “effets personnels” (referring to EEE as second-hand goods, etc.). In order to disguise illegal exports, even the labeling of used EEE may be manipulated in itself (e.g. false codes for used refrigerators or removal of generators of used refrigerators in order to classify them as “not containing CFCs”) and custom declarations are given to the competent authorities only on the day the ocean carrier is scheduled to sail. In Antwerp, there are even agents specialized in the export of used EEE (Öko-Institut et al. 2010). Both, the Dutch and Belgian port authorities emphasize that personnel and financial limitations are severe obstacles to achieving better control of exports of used and end-of life EEE. In addition, a clear distinction between used and end-of-life EEE is often difficult to determine in practice."
Page 40: "Many West African re-use markets prefer refrigerators and TVs from European countries, as power formats and broadcasting systems make the installation of these products much easier than those originating from North America. However, there is an indication that some countries, for example, Liberia, also import refrigerators and TV sets from the US because of the compatibility of the power and installation systems."
Page 41: "In the past decade, sales of electrical and electronic equipment have been steadily increasing on all continents while used televisions, computers, refrigerators and many other types of used electrical and electronic equipment have been exported from OECD-member countries, such as the European Union and the US, to non-OECD member countries. There are several factors contributing to the trade of used EEE. One important factor is the demand in the countries of import to have access to good quality second-hand equipment at an affordable price. A second factor is intentional and unintentional leakages of used EEE and e-waste from the formal to the informal sector in developed countries, possibly spurred on by stringent environmental legislation in the countries of export."
Page 42: Lastly, lack of coordination at the national level poses problems not only in the area of enforcement of e-wasterelated legislation, but also for the sound management of chemicals and waste in general. Preventing and detecting illegal traffic of hazardous waste requires the expertise of different ministries and agencies. Customs officers cannot combat illegal traffic alone. They have to rely on the relevant national environment agencies to provide them with the appropriate legal and technical information, equipment and facilities. Conversely, national environment agencies need the support of customs agencies. In the case of illegal traffic of e-waste, cooperation between environment agencies, customs, port authorities, and port police is crucial and mechanisms for cooperation and information exchange must be strengthened. Those agencies responsible for health and occupational safety issues and national security should also play a role in effective enforcement of laws and regulations preventing the illegal traffic of e-waste."
Page 44: "The numerous training workshops and outreach activities organized in the scope of the project have raised awareness on e-waste challenges in the partner countries and, in some cases, contributed to the development of legislation aiming to tackle e-waste issues. For example, Nigeria has recently adopted National Environmental (Electrical/Electronics Sector) Regulations S.I. No. 23 of 2011 directly dealing with e-waste (see section 2.4.5, chapter 2) and the development of specific e-waste legislation in Ghana is under way. Furthermore, the awareness raising activities have helped strengthened the enforcement of the Basel Convention: between April and October, 2010 five ships from developed countries which carried containers with used TV sets, computers, refrigerators, monitors and vehicles co-loaded with used EEE, were intercepted in Lagos and Port-Harcourt, two busiest ports of Nigeria."
The booklet is available at >> http://bit.ly/ySJFg1
James Cameron has directed block buster movies like Titanic and Avatar. He has now become the first person to go 7 mile below the surface to Mariana Trench alone.
James Cameron has directed block buster movies like Titanic and Avatar. He has now become the first person to go 7 mile below the surface to Mariana Trench alone. There are two other people who have gone down the Mariana Trench in the 1960s.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
A study is pegging Indian potential for wind energy at 3,000 GW. It claims that the potential for wind energy utilisation with the prevalent technologies is far in excess of earlier estimates by Center for Wind Energy Technology (CWET). The Centre estimated Indian wind energy potential at 49,000 MW and increased to 100 GW subsequently.
"Scientific and research work carried out by Indian wind industry expert Jami Hossain has inspired scientists at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) to challenge assessments of the Chennai based government agency CWET, on the potential for wind farms in India. Hossain in his paper, published in the international renewable energy journal Renewable Energy, presented his findings on the assessment for potential for windfarms using Geographical Information System Platform," read a media statement issued by World Wind Energy Association (WWEA).
In the paper, Hossain assessed the potential at around 2000 GW, which has now been confirmed by the LBNL study which sees the total onshore wind potential of India between 2000 and 3000 GW.
Commenting on the development, WWEA secretary general Stefan Gsanger said, ""These findings have significant policy implications for India as every unit of electricity generated from wind not only saves oil and coal but also prevent emissions of CO2 and other environmentally dangerous gases. Unfortunately India is not the only country where the wind potential has been underestimated by far." He added that recent studies and national targets from China, Denmark or Germany - and now from India - have demonstrated that wind could cover the whole electricity demand of these countries.
"Many more countries should update their wind potential assessment, based on real data, in order not any more to underestimate the potential contribution of wind power to the national energy supply," said Gsanger.
Hossain stated that they have tried to further refine and improve figures based on competing uses of land in the country but with the continued improvement in technology, the onshore potential is indeed very high compared to what was assessed earlier. "The gross under estimation by CWET has prevented the policy makers and the planning bodies in the country such as the planning commission and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in recognising wind energy as a major and possibly mainstream source of wind energy," said Hossain.
Monday, March 26, 2012
What kind of data and information need to be looked at when you are evaluating initiatives for Green Supply Chain? What kind of simple analytics help us to understand opportunities?
What kind of data and information need to be looked at when you are evaluating initiatives for Green Supply Chain? What kind of simple analytics help us to understand opportunities?
The following data analysis are done (depending on the focus areas):
- Root cause analysis and Fish bone diagram
- PSI Analysis: Production , Sales and Inventory.
- Forecast accuracy , lag etc.
- Inventory Balance: Stock outs, over stocking,
- Inter-location stock transfers and movements,
- Express movements and costs incurred
- Control impact analysis
- Capacity Utilization and balance in the production system
Make Consulting and Navigant Consulting Inc. have reduced their growth forecast for the wind power market
Make Consulting and Navigant Consulting Inc. have reduced their growth forecast for the wind power market. The wind – power market may grow slower than it was previously estimated. They have revised the increase to a compounded rate of increase to 7% per annum. Previously it was expected to increase at 10% per annum.
Global Initiative to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Refrigerants
A unique global collaboration is committed to promote a shift away from harmful fluorinated gases toward natural refrigerants
Fluorinated gases have a negative impact on the environment, and are widely used in commercial refrigeration applications, such as vending machines, coolers and freezers. Initiated with the Montreal Protocol in 1978, the focus on embracing environmentally friendly refrigeration alternatives has been accelerated through influential civil society campaigns, government action, and the commitment of visionary companies.
As a response to this challenge, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever and McDonald's, with the support of Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), launched Refrigerants, Naturally!, a global not-for-profit initiative committed to promote a shift away from harmful fluorinated gases toward natural refrigerants, with a focus on their point-of-sale cooling applications.
Natural refrigerants are naturally occurring substances, such as hydrocarbons (HC), carbon dioxide (CO2), water and air; when used as refrigerants, these substances do not harm the ozone layer, and have zero or negligible climate impact.
Both The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever rely on refrigeration throughout the value chain.
At The Coca-Cola Company, refrigeration is the greatest contributor to its climate footprint. Coca-Cola beverages are kept cold in over 10 million coolers and vending machines around the world. The Coca-Cola Company has invested more than $60m over the past decade in research and development to advance the use of Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC)- free cooling technologies. The company has 380,000 HFC-free units in use around the world, and also is phasing out HFCs in all new cold drink equipment, as of 2015.
At Unilever, refrigeration is less significant in connection with the company's overall environmental profile, but still relevant in absolute values. As the largest producer of ice cream, it keeps its products in over 2 million freezer cabinets at the point of sale. Having proved the HC technology, Unilever began replacing cabinets in 2004. By 2011, Unilever had replaced around 900,000 and is currently accelerating this rollout globally, with the objective of purchasing a further 400,000 by 2015.
In 2010, the members of The Consumer Goods Forum, a global industry network gathering consumer goods companies, committed to phase out HFC refrigerants as of 2015, and replace them with natural refrigerants.
Despite the initial challenges of developing financially and technologically viable solutions, through vision, commitment and collaboration, this initiative has generated several benefits. It has contributed to environmental protection, fostered new technologies, brought different value chain actors closer together, and demonstrated that by working together, solutions to difficult problems can be found.
There are three major lessons to take away from this unique global collaboration. Firstly, a shared vision may not lead to an immediate solution. Some initiatives require a long-term commitment to engagement and collaboration. Secondly, solutions cannot be driven by business alone. Collaboration between business, civil society organisations and government often yield the most viable solutions to global issues. And thirdly, collaboration with companies is a delicate matter. Due to competition regulations, any kind of coalition must be based on the commitment of companies to contribute to specific issues on an individual basis to avoid cartel accusation. For more details click here
SOURCE : The Guardian, Sustainable Business, Partners Zone,
Companies flocked to Poland for investing in shale gas exploration. However they have been disappointed as the investments turned sour
Companies flocked to Poland for investing in shale gas exploration. However they have been disappointed as the investments turned sour. The estimates of shale gas deposits have been lowered by the government. The cost of drilling has also increased to three times than that was estimated initially. The shale gas would have helped Poland to reduce its dependency on supplies from Russia.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Over the last 30 years the pay of CEOs have increased however this has not necessarily meant increased performance of their companies.
In a nice article I was reading today it mentioned how over the last 30 years the pay of CEOs have increased however this has not necessarily meant increased performance of their companies. Over the years corporate gurus have argued how increase in stock options for the top executives will increase their motivation to work hard. However the financial crisis and other developments have shown how the stock option have only lead the CEOs to take unwarranted risks which have actually eroded share holders value. Sustainable corporate governance will only come from a more sustainable approach and not necessarily with increased pay.
A typical POC of Green Supply Chain Initiatives involve starting from understanding the strategic vision to narrowing down on the improvement areas
A typical POC of Green Supply Chain Initiatives involve starting from understanding the strategic vision to narrowing down on the improvement areas
- A typical POC of Green Supply Chain Initiatives involve the following steps:
- Study of the strategic and competitive strategies of the company
- Study the operation strategy of the customer
- Get an understanding of their organization, structure and operations
- Narrow down on the improvement areas
- Work on the details which involve root cause analysis
- Work on number simulate and try to quantify the improvement areas
- Develop the improvement plan and the improvement areas
For Green Supply Chain initiatives Proof of Concept is typically used in the early part of the customer engagement cycle
For Green Supply Chain initiatives Proof of Concept is typically used in the early part of the customer engagement cycle, because of the following reasons:
- Helps customer to crystallize their needs in a better way.
- The business case and ROI helps the customer to get it approved through their management
- The customer gets confidence of our offerings and depth of knowledge.
- The customer gets a better understanding of the benefits before it gets into the actual engagement.
Energy efficiency devices are becoming important with organizations. Brazilian organizations are planning to invest about $3 billion in energy efficiency mechanisms.
Supreme Court of U.K. government has refused and overturned the government’s move to bring forward the subsidy cuts in solar power
The United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden together with the UN Environment Programme have announced the foundation of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon and methane.
The United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the initiative yesterday. An initial $15 million (about €11 million) has been committed to get the coalition up and running, $12 million (about €8.8 million) of which coming from the US and $3 million (about €2.2 million) from Canada. In contrast, however, ozone measurements have been cut back at several Canadian monitoring stations since August 2011 as budgetary cuts start biting in Canada. Sweden is also expected to contribute additional funding; however the amount has yet to be determined. The initiative will seek to realise concrete benefits on climate, health, food and energy resulting from reducing the short-lived climate pollutants that together account for approximately one-third of current global warming. Efforts of the new coalition will complement and not replace global action to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, through instigating new actions but also reinforcing work under existing efforts such as the Arctic Council, the Montreal Protocol, and the Global Methane Initiative (GMI) etc. Areas of action The coalition will reduce short-lived climate pollutants by:
- Driving the development of national action plans and the adoption of policy priorities
- Building capacity among developing countries
- Mobilising public and private funds for action
- Raising awareness globally
- Fostering regional and international cooperation, and
- Improving scientific understanding of the pollutant impacts and mitigation
Expanding the coalition The coalition will be reaching out to other countries. There are a number of countries that have expressed interest, and it is anticipated that the small initial group of six will expand quickly.
SOURCE : http://r744.com/news/view/1611
Read remarks/view video >> Remarks by Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, at the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Initiative – Washington, DC, 16 February 2012, http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2012/02/184061.htm
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Almost three years since holding the first-of-its-kind underwater Cabinet calling for global cuts in carbon emissions, Maldives has been not seen or heard much at the international forum (except the recent coup). Small islands like Maldives have always been at the forefront of risks and danger associated with global warming and sea level rise which undermines a wide range of human rights. It faces a double-whammy since land submersion will lead to decline tourism which is the main sources of income. With merely a handful population and not-so-strong international domination, Maldives has been wanting to be heard at the international forum and much has been done in this respect. In fact climate change has emerged as the most important aspect of Maldivian foreign policy. It is an active member of Alliance of Small Island States (ASOIS) which is consortium of low lying coastal areas and island countries. This consortium asserts urgency and put forwards ambitious plans through. It set an example through its domestic policy to become a carbon neutral country by 2020, the only country in the world to do so, and formulating a national strategy to put this political commitment into practice. The first ever nation-wide carbon audit took place in Maldives and recommended steps to reduce oil dependency and emissions.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Jim Yong Kim is the President of Dartmouth College. He has been appointed as the next World Bank President by President Barack Obama.
Williams has been the Formula One Champion for nine times. They have developed a energy saving device which will be tried on London public busses.
Williams has been the Formula One Champion for nine times. They have developed a energy saving device which will be tried on London public busses. If successful it can be a good business for the company.
Artist rendering of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (NPP), which NASA launched on October 28, 2011 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (Credit: NOAA)
In the near future, NOAA scientists will begin using data from an advanced instrument to monitor the health of Earth’s stratospheric ozone, a layer in the atmosphere that shields the world’s population from harmful levels of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
The Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite, or OMPS, is one of five new instruments flying aboard NASA’s Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite (Suomi NPP), which was launched on October 28, 2011. OMPS measures stratospheric ozone, which has eroded over the years as a result of chlorine and bromine from human-produced substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons.
In the 1970s, scientists predicted that an increase in CFCs would significantly deplete Earth’s ozone layer. The 1987 United Nations Montreal Protocol agreement protected the ozone layer by phasing out and then eliminating the use of ozone-depleting substances.
The Earth's Ozone Layer as Seen by Suomi NPP A cross-section of the Earth's ozone layer as measured by the limb profiler, part of the Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite that's aboard the Suomi NPP satellite. A new instrument, the limb profiler makes high vertical resolution measurements of of the ozone layer, a shield that protects the Earth's surface from the sun's dangerous ultraviolet radiation. Smaller amounts of overhead ozone is shown in blue, while larger amounts are shown in orange and yellow. Suomi NPP is a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense.
Download here. (Credit: NASA/NOAA)
OMPS is designed to look at the upper parts of the atmosphere and tell where ozone is distributed. It will help verify the beginning of the recovery of the ozone layer during the coming few decades, a crucial period when the layer is expected to recover from the effects of the ozone depleting substances.
“Ozone depletion has been a major concern for decades,” said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service. “Scientists need reliable technology that tracks ozone from space,
and OMPS gives us the opportunity.”
"With the large ozone depletion seen in the Arctic in March 2011, it was critical to get OMPS into orbit for measurements in the Northern Hemisphere," said Paul Newman, NASA scientist and co-chair of the United Nations Montreal Protocol Scientific Assessment Panel.
The OMPS continues a long partnership between NASA and NOAA and consists of three instruments--the downward-looking nadir mapper and nadir profiler, and a new instrument called the limb profiler. The OMPS limb profiler looks at the atmosphere from the side and very accurately estimates how the ozone is distributed. The OMPS nadir mapper and nadir profiler look down at the atmosphere and monitor the total column ozone amounts with full global coverage.
The Suomi NPP team will continue initial checkouts as part of its commissioning activities until early March and then handoff operations to NOAA. NOAA will continue calibration and validation activities and leading to the processing and distribution of data to users around the world.
Thirty Years of Ozone over the South Pole This shows the thickness of the Earth's ozone layer on January 27th from 1982 to 2012. This atmospheric layer protects Earth from dangerous levels of solar ultraviolet radiation. The thickness is measured in Dobson units, in this image, smaller amounts of overhead ozone are shown in blue, while larger amounts are shown in orange and yellow. These ozone measurements begin with the Nimbus 7 satellite; continue with the Earth Probe Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (EP TOMS); the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard the Aura satellite; and the most recent, the Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite (OMPS) aboard the satellite Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP). Suomi NPP is a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense. Download here. (Credit: NASA/NOAA)
The Suomi NPP mission is the bridge between NOAA’s Polar Operation Environmental Satellite (POES) and NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites to the next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which NOAA will operate.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the Suomi NPP mission for the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NOAA and the Department of Defense funded the OMPS instrument. The JPSS program, funded by NOAA, provides the satellite ground system for Suomi NPP. NOAA is also providing operational support.
NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.
SOURCE: NOAA News
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Green Supply Chain Initiatives should try to understand customers’ business needs and to identify specific improvement areas
While focusing on Green Supply Chain initiatives try to understand customers’ business needs and to identify specific improvement areas. Then these improvement areas should be supported by business case derived from actual data given by the customer. The improvement plan should be designed to help customers derive benefits within a reasonable period of time while minimizing risks. The improvement plan might involve IT products and services to help the customers to meet their business objectives.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Guus J. M. Velders*, A. R. Ravishankara, Melanie K. Miller, Mario J. Molina, Joseph Alcamo, John S. Daniel, David W. Fahey, Stephen A. Montzka, Stefan Reimann
The Montreal Protocol is not only protecting the ozone layer, it is also providing some climate protection. However, this climate benefit may be reduced or lost completely if the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as substitutes for ozone depleting substances, continues to increase. The climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol can be preserved by choosing appropriate alternatives to fulfill the growing global demand for HFCs for refrigeration, air-conditioning and foam production applications. This is the conclusion of a study published in the scientific journal Science.
The Montreal Protocol is responsible for a global phase-out of the consumption and production of most ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which do not destroy stratospheric ozone, were considered long-term substitutes for ODSs and are not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Because
most HFCs are potent greenhouse gases, they are included in the Kyoto Protocol. HFCs are being used increasingly in applications that traditionally used ODSs, e.g., refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, blowing agents for foams, aerosol sprays, fire protection systems, and solvents. Rising use of HFCs is directly attributable to intent and actions of the Montreal Protocol, hence, the HFC contribution to climate change can be viewed as an unintended negative side effect of these actions. In an upper-range scenario, global radiative forcing from HFCs increases from about 0.012 W/m2 in 2010 to 0.25 to 0.40 W/m2 in 2050. This corresponds to 14 to 27% of the increase in CO 2 forcing under the range of IPCC business-as-usual scenarios from 2010 to 2050.
Most fluorocarbons (e.g., CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs) have a similar ability (within about a factor of three) to trap infrared radiation, on a per-molecule basis, in Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, differences in the future relative impact of HFCs on climate arise primarily from differences in atmospheric lifetimes. The longer the lifetime of a molecule, the larger its potential contribution to climate forcing. If the current mix of HFCs with an average lifetime of 15 years (average GWP of 1600) were replaced by HFCs with lifetimes less than 1 month (GWP less than ~20), the total HFC radiative-forcing contribution in 2050, even under the high-emission scenario, would be less than the current forcing from HFCs. Such choices are currently available.
A large number of countries have formally stated their intention to preserve the climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol. A challenge for policy-makers is to identify how this might be accomplished. Given that climate impacts of HFC use can be viewed as unintended side effects of the Montreal Protocol, an option is to expand provisions of this protocol while drawing from parties’ experience in formulating successful ODS controls that took scientific, economic, and technical aspects into account. The Montreal Protocol has the relevant infrastructure for accomplishing this. This infrastructure and experience suggest that such an approach could effectively and quickly limit continued growth of high-GWP HFCs and preserve the substantial climate benefits that were gained by the Montreal Protocol in phasing out ODSs.
*Contact : Guus J. M. Velders , National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands, Phone: +31-30-274 2331, E-mail: email@example.com
NOTE: The above is a short version of the article available from UNEP OzonAction
The full article is available from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), ScienceMag, 24 February 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6071 pp. 922-923 - POLICY FORUM - CLIMATE CHANGE – Read/Download the summary >>
See also related article on ScienceDaily >> http://bit.ly/zcH0Os
U.S. solar industry has been able to attract investors with high returns. Big investors like Warren Buffetts’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
1st International Chiefs of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Summit, to be held between 27 – 29 March 2012 at INTERPOL General Secretariat, Lyon, France.
Learn more >>> http://bit.ly/rA32jS
The 30th National Pesticide Forum, Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies New Haven, CT -- March 30-31, 2012, http://www.beyondpesticides.org/forum/
10th IIR-Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Working Fluids (GL2012), 25–27 June 2012, Delft, Netherlands, http://bit.ly/AdalFy
The 103rd IDEA Annual Conference and Trade Show at the Hyatt Regency Chicago will be held from June 30 to July 3, 2012. The theme of the conference is “Cooler, Cleaner Cities”. Learn more >> http://bit.ly/yWuhSo
Focus on Large Building Design and Facility Management
ASHRAE Announces Call for Papers for 2013 Winter Conference, January 26-30, Dallas, Texas. The Conference’s technical program will focus on core HVAC&R tracks and, with the re-branding of ASHRAE highlighting its efforts in building technology, the Conference presents timely tracks on Large Building Design and Facility Management…. Learn more >> www.ashrae.org/Dallas
From : OzoNews
Carbon Market: Should there be a voluntary carbon market in India?
The growing pressure on countries to address climate change has given rise to a multi-million dollar international market for buying and selling emissions of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol which came into force in February 2005, mentions that industrialized countries will commit to collectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 5 percent by 2012 compared to 1990 levels. Firms face marginal cost of emission that reflects the damage they cause, this encourage emitters to invest in cleaner lower-carbon technologies, trading in emissions rights, or buying permits. A carbon market is thus an international market for buying and selling carbon credit, like any other commodity, against emission of environmentally harmful greenhouse gases.
Ever since its establishment, the carbon market has captured the imagination of Indian entrepreneurs. Majority of projects that have sold carbon credits include renewable energy (wind power, biomass cogeneration and hydropower), energy efficiency measures in several sectors (such as cement, petro-chemicals and power generation), as well as the reduction of industrial gases that contribute to climate change. But more incentives are necessary to lure companies for further investment. Now, only a few private entities are involved. The challenge is to come up with a transparent and comparable international carbon price. Firms with higher efficiency and lower abatement cost can buy permits and sell the extra to the firms with higher marginal abatement costs, and hence inefficient. By incorporating the negative externality into their input costs, the firms will be able to optimize their private profits as before, but produce at the socially optimum level. With investment in sustainable technologies, Indian industry can gradually enter the green market worldwide, which is emerging and flourishing, with immense scope of money in the near future. So for a better and progressing India, investing in lower carbon and carbon trading should be made voluntary.
Stern Nicholas, “Economics of Climate Change, The Stern Review”
By : Sanjana Das
“If not us, who? If not now, when?” By Rajendra Shende, Chairman, TERRE Policy Centre, former Director, UNEP
“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
By Rajendra Shende, Chairman, TERRE Policy Centre, former Director, UNEP
“If not us, who? If not now, when?” These words reverberated at the round table in The White House, Washington DC. Temptation to hazard a guess on who said it is overwhelming. Some may probably speculate that these words emanated from the secret meeting of the supreme military command of USA before Iraq was attacked.
Wrong. Those were the words of a Nobel Laureate, in 1997. He was not inspiring the troops and ordering the march of the military to attack the enemies. He was, in a high level meeting of the scientists, urging the world community to march for the action against the common enemy: climate change! His discourse and his emphatic words had no shade of rhetoric and no shadow of grandiloquence. He was speaking with confidence emanating from the success of the Montreal Protocol.
F. Sherwood Rowland, a chemist with a grit and grace. He not only sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth’s ozone layer and but crusaded against the use of man-made chemicals that were harming earth’s atmospheric blanket. He passed away on 10th March 2012. He laid his life at the age of 84 after saving all of us from one of the worst environmental catastrophe.
Prof Rowland was born when the refrigerators were using absorption technologies and in some cases Sulfur Dioxide and Methyl Fromate as refrigerants. Soon the so called ‘Freons’ –CFCs were introduced. In a way, in his life, Prof Rowland saw the ‘rise and fall’ of CFCs. His unwavering commitment to unfolding science, and grit to face inconvenient truths was displayed with unusual integrity and a grace of angel.
Atmospheric research of Prof Rowland had its origin in his love for nuclear and atomic reactions- popular hunting ground of chemists at that time. Elements in seventeenth group of the periodic table have abundant cloud of electrons that engulf the nucleus of each of these elements. They were the favorite ‘ guinea pigs’ of the scientists. One of those elements was Fluorine- otherwise wonders element till humans manipulate it to chemically combine with some other elements. While working on the atomic dimensions of these elements, he stumbled upon the fact that some of the F-chemicals like CFCs have longer life and hence have potential to reach to Stratosphere-humanity’s barrier for the flood of UV-rays.
Rowland was among three scientists awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry –nearly two decades after he, along with his post-doctoral student Mario Molina, hypothesized how the ozone is formed and decomposed through chemical processes in the atmosphere and if human use of chlorofluorocarbon, used in of aerosol sprays, deodorants and other household products was to continue at an unaltered rate, the ozone layer would be depleted after several decades.
I was studying Chemical Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology-IIT Mumbai, when the postulation of ozone depletion due to CFCs formulated by Prof Rowland, Paul Crutzen, and Mario Molina caught enormous attention. It was a time in when Indian Chemical Industry was entering second phase of takeoff. The prediction of these scientists was strongly challenged partly because the non-toxic properties of CFCs were thought to make them environmentally safe. Then came the debate of the developed and developing country’s ‘common but differentiated responsibility’. I was fortunate to be part of that debate in which I took part at close quarters. Fortunate, because I was able to contribute to some extent in resolving the impasse by suggesting ‘ strategic cooperation’ between developed and developing countries. The technology and financial cooperation was initiated under auspices of United Nations Environment Programme –UNEP. Rest is the history of success that started with Prof Rowland’s courage to speak on his scientific findings.
"Isn't it a responsibility of scientists, if you believe that you have found something that can affect the environment, isn't it your responsibility to do something about it, enough so that action actually takes place?" Rowland said in that White House climate change roundtable in 1997.
I recall very interesting and telling remarks by the Nobel committee while citing the coveted award to Rowland, Molina and Crutzen.
It said, "It was to turn out that they had even underestimated the risk".
It looks like history repeats more in failures than in successes. Early warning on climate change by scientists is also being debated and argued for decades now. Implementation to save our earth from climatic catastrophe is still eluding us. There is ample support by the climate-scientists that the present assessment of the risk is even underestimated.
Prof Rowland has departed but considering the underestimated risks, his words will continue to resonate:
“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Natural resource management; could water credits market in India be a solution to deal with water issues?
More than three quarters of the World’s population live in areas with threats to water security, more than 3 million die every year from water related diseases, 1 in 8 people do not have access to safe water supplies, and women spend 200 million hours daily collecting water.
The majority mentioned in the above statistics are some of the poorest living in developing countries. India’s case is however unique because India has abundant fresh water sources, ground water and neither is the climate very dry, and yet we see a water crisis in the country, a crisis worsening by the day. The water crisis is mainly a man-made problem. Constant competition over water for agriculture and urbanization, corruption, unsustainable use, ambiguous water protection laws, pollution and unsustainable usage are all to be blamed for today’s water situation.
It is clear that a reversal of the effects is an utmost priority but choosing the optimum from a range of possible solutions including repairing existing water systems, stopping pollution, water harvesting, desalination etc. is not that simple.
A sustainable solution that is gaining growing popularity especially in the developing countries is Water Credit. Before one critically analyses its effectiveness in dealing with India’s Water Issues, it is important to better understand the initiative and the manner in which it works.
Water Credit is an initiative that puts together microfinance tools to work in the water and sanitation sector. Water Credit system aims to meet the need for safe water and sanitation for communities in the developing countries and also provide the needed finance to secure these necessities. This system works in a continual cycle, every time a loan taken is repaid, it is lent out again to new people in need of safe water and sanitation. The benefits of the Water Credit market are more far reaching than what meets the eye. It frees up government subsidies for the poorest of the poor who cannot avail micro credit, more people have access to safe water, the time previously spent on collecting water can be put to more productive and income generating use, women empowerment and building community health because of the reduced spread of water borne diseases are some of the lasting benefits.
In India, WaterCredit had been a success story by empowering communities to transform itself, a change of such magnitude that charity alone could never achieve. The success of the WaterCredit initiative by the water.org in the villages it was undertaken and the fact that WaterCredit is projected to grow exponentially all points back to one thing – it is the solution for India’s water issues.
Undoubtedly the Water Credit Market system complimented with awareness building and community ownership would lead to the sustainable lasting change we aim for.