Dung it! Cows with Power
An agricultural college in the UK is using methane from the waste produced by its dairy herd to power its working farm. The cows at Walford and North Shropshire College are housed for seven months a year and all their dung is collected and pumped into a digester. There it is converted into methane and used to power a generator. This produces enough energy to run the farm.
Not only does the anaerobic digester produce power, it also reduces the amount of methane – which accounts for about 7 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions – produced by the herd. There are 2.2 million dairy cows in the UK that, along with sheep, are reported to produce a quarter of the country’s methane emissions.
(From www.SustainabilityMatters.net.au )
It is known that methane has a significantly greater greenhouse impact than a similar quantity of carbon dioxide. Therefore I&I wonders which political party might put up funds to toilet train our free range cows and sheep to do their stuff at specific locations in the paddocks - so it is easy to collect the methane source! By thunder, Thorium as a fuel?
A recent Australian research paper reviewed the potential of Thorium as an alternative source of fuel for the generation of electricity. Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element. It was discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist and mineralogist Jöns Jakob Berzelius who named the element after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. In 1898 Gerhard Carl Schmidt and Marie Curie independently found that thorium was radioactive.
In summary the paper found:
* Thorium is a radioactive element that can be used in a new generation of nuclear reactors as an alternative source of fuel for the generation of electricity.
* A thorium-based fuel cycle is more proliferation resistant than conventional uranium-based reactors though there is still a degree of risk.
* A thorium-based fuel cycle is less accident prone and is more energy efficient than conventional uranium-based reactors.
* Thorium-based fuel cycle waste products are not as long lived as those from conventional nuclear reactors.
* Thorium is abundant in Australia.
* There are technical issues still needing resolution before a thorium-based fuel cycle can become common.
* Even if the technical issues can be resolved there are still residual environmental concerns in the mining, handling and storage of radioactive materials.
The main source of thorium in Australia and worldwide is the mineral monazite which is a reddish-brown rare-earth phosphate mineral. Monazite contains 8–10 per cent thorium. Other minerals containing thorium include thorite (thorium silicate), a thorium–uranium mineral which is also an important ore of uranium and thorianite which contains around 70 per cent thorium dioxide.
In Australia monazite is usually found as a component of heavy mineral sand deposits. Because there is no market for the mineral, monazite is not extracted during mining for heavy mineral sands but dispersed back through the original host material when a mining site is returned to its agreed post-mining land use. This dispersal of monazite is done to prevent concentrations of radioactivity in rehabilitated mine sites. CSIRO builds a sustainable merger?
An amalgamation of two CSIRO units has created one division dedicated to transforming the manufacturing sector into sustainable and globally competitive industries.
CSIRO's newest division, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE), is the result of the merging of the Melbourne-based Manufacturing and Materials Technology unit and Sydney-based Industrial Physics. The CMSE will work for industry in two ways. The first is to form Cooperative Research Centres with businesses to bring together research leading to new products and materials based on market need. Secondly, it can form collaborative partnerships where CSIRO and a specific manufacturer invest directly in developing projects.
One of the collaborative projects CMSE has been involved in includes the development of lightweight concrete known as HySSIL. These building panels are half the weight of conventional concrete material but just as strong. HySSIL panels also offer up to five times the thermal insulation of concrete, meaning buildings will require less energy-intensive heating and cooling. They are also impact and fire resistant.
Under a joint venture between CSIRO spin-off company HySSIL and precast concrete company Westkon, a pilot plant is being constructed in Sunshine, Victoria to complete large-scale process development.
( From www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net )
Event 1 - Skilling our ICT Future?
The objective of this ICT Forum at North Parramatta on Tuesday 13 November is to initiate and develop practical solutions, and to work collaboratively to meet the challenges facing the ICT sector and industry!
Researchers warn Australia faces a crisis in ICT talent within a few years if we don’t address the ICT skills shortage now. The forum will aim to draw on the knowledge, experience and insights to help to turn around this trend and ensure Australia continues to grow a competitive technology sector.
Speakers at the forum will include:
Len Rust, Executive Director, Dialog Marketing and Editor of The Rust Report will present an overview of the industry and the current skills shortages issues.
Ian Dennis, Executive Director, Centre for Innovative Industry Economics Research will discuss recent key statistical survey findings and future trends and drivers for the industry.
Peter Kazacos, Managing Director, PK Business Advantage, Chairman of AIIA Board of Directors and founder of KAZ, will offer an employer’s perspective on ICT issues and his ideas for the way forward.
It will be held on Tuesday 13 November, 2007 from 7.30am for 8.00am–10.00am (with light breakfast) at Western Sydney Business Centre, Level 2, 470 Church St, North Parramatta, NSW 2151.
RSVP: 9 November 2007 Anne Russell, Industry Officer, TAFE WSI OTEN Phone: 9715-8145 or email: anne.russell@tafensw.edu.au Event 2 - Learn to better use technology to make your working life easier
This seminar is organised by the Western Sydney business centre. At the seminar Suzanna Kopman of We’re All About Marketing, will share some of the company’s secrets for using automation to add systems and procedures to your business.
According to its promotion, the seminar aims to:
• Assist you to use internet access and computer systems better to make your working life easier.
• Give you an idea of what the internet is truly capable of, and walk away with many instant ideas of what you can do with your business, how to add procedures, systems to better manage your own business and much more.
It is on 14 November 2007 from 9.00am – 11.00am at Western Sydney Business Centre, NSW Department of State and Regional Development, Level 2, 470 Church Street (Cnr Harold St), North Parramatta, NSW 2151.
This event is FREE. For further information, please contact: Mangala Srinivasan, Project Officer, Western Sydney Business Centre, Phone: 8843 1116, Email:mangala.srinivasan@business.nsw.gov.au
Your Ideas, Innovations or Events?
If you want publicity for an idea, innovation or technically related event, contact the I&I editor, Colin Seaborn on 4254 0258 or 0419 841829 or click here->
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