Of Construction, Fashion, Wine and Spell Check!
Of course you are probably wondering about how there are links in this headline – if so, read on!
I&I as with many Sydney consumers last week witnessed a building being constructed on Martin Place. Forklifts and blocks were used to get the levels exactly right as well as create quite a liveable edifice. Then as the building took shape it emerged it was being built specifically for Fashion Week in Sydney.
It went from nothing to a substantial temporary building in a matter of days. Presumably the contractor and his employees were being paid well to achieve the feat as a security guard claimed it cost about $5 million. Whether this was fully for the building or to pay the models (you may have seen Jennifer Hawkins strutting the walkway in other media), you can guess.
The event was sponsored by Rosemount Wines as well as others so no doubt the guests were well supplied. However, I&I thinks that the advertising designers probably got into the vino well before the event or they thought Bill Gates spell check would ensure there were no errors. It was not to be as the photo below indicates.
For those of you who have not picked the error yet, please be aware that events normally have “Principal” sponsors not “Principle” Sponsors. My old English teacher would be turning over in his grave as he taught us that “Principal” means main, head or major (as in a school principal) while “Principle” is about behaviour, rules, ethics etc.
Maybe, the agency was trying to confer an ethical approach to cash in on US Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard’s naked protest against animal fur clothing. Or as a colleague said maybe they meant to say “Principled” sponsor!!
The offending “Principle” was not just on the temporary building but on all the signs around the event. We wonder how Rosemount responded to the gaffe or did they just have another drink?
I&I feels that with all that money to splash around someone could have got it right and hopes that readers will forgive I&I and other YOC columnists if we make a “speeling” error.
Increase that zT to get more power
Your car wastes around 60% of the energy you put into it as heat. But that could soon change, thanks to a new way to boost the efficiency of thermoelectric materials that are able to convert heat into electricity.
Just as steam engines use heat to move water vapour to drive the machinery, thermoelectric devices use heat to move electrons that can be harnessed usefully. Since so many mechanical and electrical devices produce waste heat, the materials could potentially allow huge efficiency savings.
Adding small chunks of thermoelectric material to any heated surface, like a car exhaust or a computer processor, could produce essentially free energy. But existing thermoelectric materials have poor efficiencies, as described by their zT figure. Despite decades of study, the best commercial thermoelectrics have a zT of around 0.7. To compete with mechanical engines that convert heat into electricity a zT of 3 to 4 is considered essential, but is far from being achieved.
One limit on zT is the amount of heat a given piece of material can convert to power at any one moment. Only now has it proved possible to increase that property. Joseph Heremans and Vladimir Jovovic at Ohio State University in Columbus have developed a new way to alter the common thermoelectric material lead telluride by adding small quantities of thallium to have that effect.
Tests show that the thallium-doped compound is most effective between 230 and 510 °C - the temperature range of motor engines. At 510°C, the zT reached 1.5.
Earlier this year, Zhifeng Ren at Boston College, Massachusetts, and his team produced a thermoelectric material with a zT of 1.4 using a different technique. They physically altered the crystalline structure of bismuth antimony telluride to reduce the rate at which heat passed through the material. That increases the proportion of heat that can be converted into electricity, increasing efficiency.
I&I comment: another way of increasing energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gases? Story extracted from www.NewScientist.com news service and supplied by Glen Moore, Director of Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium (http:///sciencecentre.uow.edu.au )
Don’t burn it but energise the wood waste
The WA EPA has recommended environmental approval for a proposal by Western Australia Biomass to construct and operate a 40MW biomass power plant in the south-west of the state fuelled by up to 380,000 tonnes of plantation waste a year. Plantation waste will be purchased from independent contractors, who will collect, process and deliver the biomass fuel to the plant, which is located near the town Manjimup. The supplies will come from plantations within a maximum radius of 100km and transported by road from the source to the power plant. The timber is currently stockpiled and burnt in the fields where the trees are harvested, resulting in local pollution and the release of greenhouse gases.
By burning the timber in an electricity generator, the plant offsets production of electricity from fossil fuels and therefore reduces greenhouse emissions by about 280,000 tonnes of CO2e per year. Electricity will be supplied to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), helping the state meet its target to increase the amount of renewable energy supplied to the SWIS to 20% by 2025.
"The controlled combustion of plantation waste would produce significantly less emissions, when compared to current open burning practices, decreasing the pollutant load currently emitted to the region’s airshed,” said EPA chairman Paul Vogel.
Navy flags the loss of Organisational Knowledge
Dr Peter Massingham of the University of Wollongong has recently been awarded a Linkage Project in partnership with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN): ‘Measuring and Managing the Impact of Lost Organisational Knowledge’. The ageing workforce represents a significant threat to the sustainability of Australian organisations. As the workforce ages, it moves collectively toward retirement. This poses the very real threat of enmasse retirements, where organisations might lose substantial proportions of their workforce over a short period of time.
The increasing average age of staff at many organisations, including Defence, may mean that substantial numbers of staff, with a lifetime of experience, leave at the same time. This could result in 20 or 30% of the organisation’s most valuable human capital being lost rapidly. This Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project will aim to understand the implications of knowledge loss and develop ways to minimise the impact of this serious corporate risk. The research findings will have significant economic and social benefits to the nation by improving the RAN’s capacity to maintain national security.
More information can be found at: http://www.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@raid/documents/doc/uow047266.pdf
Apprenticeships – an opportunity
With the lack of skilled trades in many industries there is an increasing focus on apprenticeships. Illawarra Group Training is one organisation providing opportunities.
Apprenticeships are being offered in the following trade vocations to commence January 2009: Engineering Mechanical (Fitting & Machining); Engineering Fabrication (Boilermaking); Electrotechnology (Electrician); Automotive (Heavy Vehicle Mechanical).
Applications close on 29 August 2009. Contact: Steve Irving Ph: (02) 4275 3885
Fax.: (02) 4275 3869 Email: stephen.irving@bluescopesteel.com
Be a part of Small Business September ’08
Exciting events in your area to help you start, manage and grow your business.
Small Business September, the State’s most comprehensive small business program, is designed to help business operators deliver results for their enterprises by connecting with clients and other business operators, encouraging innovation, and creating new possibilities and new opportunities.
Small Business September is run for business owners across regional and metropolitan NSW by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development. It consists of more than 300 seminars, workshops, expos, award ceremonies and more. Over 150 partners from business, industry, professional and government organisations support the program by delivering events.
Small Business September events provide ideas and techniques to "future-proof" your business and help businesses navigate a challenging business environment. To register for the above events visit www.smallbusinessmonth.nsw.gov.au and select your region.
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 0200 or 0419 841829 or click here->
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If you want to promote your product or service via video please contact YOC office on (02) 4254 0200 or click here-> | 
