McLaren goes from F1 to mini
What's the perfect vehicle for today's urban motoring? It is a question that has been troubling one of Britain's most celebrated car designers for more than a decade. Called the T25, the vehicle is as far from its creator's previous effort as it is possible to get.
The Times Online reports that twenty years ago Gordon Murray stunned the world with the McLaren F1 supercar. The 240mph machine was light years ahead of the competition; it didn't so much rewrite the supercar rulebook as rip it up and start all over again.
If Murray is to be believed, the T25, which has just started initial road-testing, is equally revolutionary. Like the F1, the T25, built by his company Gordon Murray Design, dispenses with the conventional layout and has a centrally positioned driver's seat with two passenger seats that are set slightly behind it. Yet unlike the F1, the T25 isn't geared for speed but for convenience.
When you first see it, the thing that strikes you is just how small it is. At less than 8ft long, it's about 1ft shorter than a Smart Fortwo coupé yet still manages to look funky enough to be something you might actually want to drive. Its tiny dimensions allow it to park end-on to the kerb and because it is just over 4ft wide (8in less than a Smart), three T25 cars can legally park in a standard, single car-parking bay.
For the full story, visit The TimesOnline: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article7138468.ece . Sourced via the Resource Recovery Forum: www.resourcesnotwaste.org
From CO2 to algae to bio-fuel
US-based algae-to-petroleum biofuel technology developer Origin Oil has signed an agreement to supply Australian carbon capture and recycling company MBD Energy, its first customer, with its Quantum Fracturing and Single-Step Extraction systems. The parties signed an agreement for the systems to be supplied as part of a multi-phase commercialisation program.
Origin Oil’s Quantum Fracturing System breaks down nutrients such as CO2 into micro-particles that stay suspended in water longer, allowing algae to feed more efficiently. The Single-Step Extraction system is claimed as the first commercial wet extraction system able to separate algae oil from its biomass without costly and energy-intensive dewatering operations.
The algae-based technology will be integrated into the MBD system to enhance algae growth and perform oil extraction. In the initial phase, Origin Oil will equip MBD Energy’s research and development facility at James Cook University in Queensland, where testing will take place.
Photo: James Cook University algae research facility
Subject to the success of the initial test phase, MBD will purchase larger feeding and Origin Oil extraction units to serve facilities planned for its three algal synthesiser power station projects, at Tarong Energy in Queensland, Loy Yang A in Victoria and Eraring Energy in NSW. They are designed to capture smoke-stack carbon emissions to grow oil-rich algae in solar bioreactors, achieving bio-CCS carbon capture and storage.
“Each of the three current MBD power station projects has the potential to grow to 80-hectare commercial plants, each capable of producing 11 million litres of oil for plastics and transport fuel,” said MBD managing director Andrew Lawson.
For more on this story go to: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1109932
Collecting food waste made easy in flats
Merton Council in London is all to carry out a year-long trial of food waste collections from flats in the borough.
24Dash.com reports that 194 selected flats in Mitcham, Phipps Bridge and Wimbledon, will benefit from the new service. Thirty-two of the flats within the trial are also located in the council's Low Carbon Zone.
In advance of the trial, the council has supplied each flat with a ventilated kitchen caddy. Residents can place food waste such as vegetable peelings, cooked meat and tea bags into the caddy. The council has also provided packs of compostable starch liners to make emptying the caddy as easy as possible.
New communal metal food waste banks will be located next to existing recycling bins, into which residents taking part in the trial can empty their caddies when full. The council will empty the food waste banks every week, and the food waste will be taken to a special processing facility to be composted.
For the full story, visit 24Dash.com http://www.24dash.com/news/local_government/2010-06-15-Merton-pilots-food-waste-collection-for-flats
Click here to view Merton's food waste collection video http://www.merton.gov.uk/foodwaste.
This information sourced via the Resource Recovery Forum:
www.resourcesnotwaste.org
Dutch electric car project paves the way for Australia
As Australia launches its first public electric car charging station in Sydney, Logica has announced it is working with the Dutch e-laad.nl foundation company to lay down the national infrastructure necessary to roll out 10,000 charging stations for electric cars in the Netherlands. In one of the world’s first major electric car trials, Logica’s systems will provide the backbone for a range of services that will be developed for clients using the charging stations.
Read more on this news item at: http://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/news/41124?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=423947345&utm_campaign=sm_1006a&utm_term=readmoreonthisNewsitem
Chinese government cracks down on polluters
The Chinese government is unveiling campaign-style measures to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, including simply shutting down companies that fall short. ''By the end of July, we will publish all failed corporations to the public,'' Minister for Industry Li Yizhong told Chinese media. ''These corporations will be forced to shut down by the end of the third quarter”.
Shutdowns would focus on areas of west and south-west China, where energy intensity has increased. Wu Changhua, head of greater China operations at the Climate Group said ''the aggressive comments and very serious actions reflected leadership resolve to hit energy targets and prepare the ground to exceed China's pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2020.
Story sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1035845
Mineral carbonation project for NSW
A CO2 mineral carbonation plant is set to be built in NSW, in a joint venture between GreenMag Group and the University of Newcastle, thanks to $3 million seed funding announced by the NSW Minister for Mineral Resources for a pilot project.
Once mineral carbonation technology is proven at scale, an industrial plant could transform up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year into safe and re-usable materials. This equates to taking a third of Australia’s cars off our roads each year.
The plant will demonstrate locally developed technology processes which transform CO2 from coal and gas-fired plants and industrial sources. The technology is expected to become economically viable once a carbon price has been established. There are around 30,000 fossil fuel plants in the world.
“The science of mineral carbonation is well established at lab scale and already used widely in processes such as carbonating water. The question is whether we can scale it up to make it economically viable and environmentally acceptable. We believe we have an answer and so does the NSW Clean Coal Fund,” GreenMag Group CEO Marcus St John Dawe said.
Mineral carbonation is an alternative to geosequestration, which has, for the past decade, been the energy industry’s primary solution to dealing with carbon dioxide. Geosequestration traps CO2 pumped deep underground. Recent test drilling programs has revealed that the geology of NSW is not as well suited to geosequestration as the other states.
The GreenMag-Newcastle Process will combine CO2 with serpentinite, an abundant and easily obtained rock. The two-phase process transforms the serpentinite with the CO2 to make magnesium carbonate, which could be used for products such as building materials, bricks, pavers, cement and agricultural additives. There is enough serpentinite in NSW to capture carbon dioxide in this way for thousands of years if the technology proves to be feasible on scale.
Mineral carbonation mimics the earth’s own carbon cycle process by transforming carbon dioxide into minerals. “It is fast-tracking a natural process that would otherwise take millions of years through weathering,” Dawe said.
The pilot demonstration plant will be built at a decommissioned BHP experimental site in Newcastle and will provide bulk sample carbonate material to interested product developers by 2012. Given success at Newcastle, an industrial demonstration scale plant is scheduled to become operational by 2016 and an industrial full-scale plant could be available around 2020.
For more on this story go to: http://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/articles/41409?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=423947345&utm_campaign=sm_1006b&utm_term=readmoreonthisArticle
Turning sewage gas into energy
Victorian water authority Western Water has opened a cogeneration plant using Australian-first micro-turbine technology.
For more on this story go to: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1035959
Believe it or not – Lamb Curry’s high carbon footprint
Lamb curry ready-made meals eaten in the UK amount to an annual carbon footprint equivalent to 5,500 car trips around the world or 140 million car miles.
The figures were calculated using a new carbon foot printing tool developed by researchers at The University of Manchester.
The estimates are based on the figure of 30 per cent of adults in the UK who eat ready-made meals at least once a week. Curry is one of the nation's favourites, accounting for up to 10 per cent of ready-made sales - which have soared during the recession.
The academics found that the fast food meal generates the equivalent of 43 kg of carbon dioxide emissions per person.
The meal's ingredients are responsible for 65 per cent of the carbon footprint, with lamb contributing half of the total. Meal manufacture contributes on average 14 per cent and packaging 4 per cent of the total carbon footprint. The contribution of transport is small at 2 per cent. However, storage at the retailer contributes 16 per cent.
The £1m project is led by Adisa Azapagic, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester, and funded by the Carbon Trust, the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council.
For the full story, visit The University of Manchester. http://www.nerc.ac.uk/press/releases/2010/22-curry.asp Sourced via Resource Recovery Forum: www.resourcesnotwaste.org.
I&I Comment: Does this mean that to lower CO2 emissions we just have to stop eating??
How to Age Proof your Career
Sure, many companies value older workers for their institutional knowledge, industry expertise, and mentoring capacity. But you can't rest on those laurels in a rapidly changing workplace. Read Dan Kadlec’s article, “How to age-proof your career” (from Money Magazine) to learn some tips for staying current in the workplace.
Story sourced via American Society for Quality (www.asq.org)
For more go to: http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/28/pf/age_proof_career.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2010042811&WT.mc_id=EM5037M&WT.dcsvid=1930024308
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