For Julia and Tony? Polishing up for your Career Development:
You've got your credentials, certifications, experience, and various leadership and management abilities, but are you polished enough? Read “How the Right Soft Skills Can Advance Your Career (And Your Salary)” on MyPath to learn how to brush up on your soft skills. Maybe Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott could use these tips over the next few weeks!
For more go to: http://connect.mypath.com/mypath/thread/2123.
Story sourced via American Society for Quality (www.asq.org)
Adelaide becomes solar city
The Adelaide Solar City property group Goodman and MTU Detroit Diesel Australia, have unveiled the first Adelaide Solar City commercial solar photovoltaic installation. The solar installation at Goodman’s Keylink Industrial Estate is the first commercial installation and the sixth large-scale installation for the consortium since 2007.
The $600 000 installation is expected to generate 70,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy each year through 300 solar panels positioned on top of the Detroit Diesel’s warehouse and is expected to reduce greenhouse gases by 70 tonnes each year. The installation was designed by Adelaide Solar City consortium member BP Solar (http://www.keylinksolar.com.au/), who also project managed the installation.
Story sourced via: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net
Vacuuming the Sea by Electrolux??
The Pacific Ocean is polluted with the largest floating garbage islands in the world. Electrolux intends to gather plastic from the world's oceans and turn it into a number of vacuum cleaners. The initiative - Vac from the Sea - aims to bring attention to the issue of plastic pollution and at the same time combat the scarcity of recycled plastics needed for making sustainable home appliances. For the full story, visit Electrolux: http://newsroom.electrolux.com/uk/2010/06/29/electrolux-launches-vac-from-the-sea-initiative-to-turn-plastic-islands-into-vacuum-cleaners/
This information comes from the Resource Recovery Forum: www.resourcesnotwaste.org
Celtic football club uses recycled kits
Celtic is to become the first club in Scotland to play in a recycled kit after agreeing a new deal with sportswear manufacturer Nike. The shirts will be made of polyester from recycled plastic bottles, reducing energy consumption by up to 30 per cent compared with normal fabrics.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona and Inter Milan also wear the environmentally friendly kits. "It's important we all do what we can to assist the environment and we therefore fully support the great work Nike has achieved...in relation to our new kit," Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said.
Story sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1036034
Brain food exercises
Total Executive organisation provides brain food exercises. So to keep your brain in top form click here: http://www.totalexec.com.au/totalexec-views/tag/brain-food?utm_source=Total+Executive+Community+Membership+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5c0d52a14b-Newsletter_test_47_29_2010&utm_medium=email
Cows and power at Colac
Colac, approximately 150km south-west of Melbourne, will get a new power plant that converts organic waste from the dairy, meat and other agricultural industries to electricity. Based on an input of 80 tonnes of liquefied waste per day, the plant will be able to produce about 1MW of electrical power, enough to run 2000 homes.
The plant will be set up with the aid of a $1.5 million grant from the Victorian Government. A consortium of the Camperdown Compost Company and Diamond Energy will set up the plant. Company director Tony Evans said the biogas plant could take all types of organic waste including grease trap waste, paunch material, dairy liquids and solids and meat scraps.
The waste produces methane, which is burned through a gas-fired engine that runs a generator, which generates electricity. The process produces heat as a by-product, which could be harnessed to produce hot water or steam. Other by-products included liquids and solids, both of which were rich sources of phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen and other trace elements, which could be used as fertilisers.
Story and photo sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1035991
Recycling old toilets
Looking to fix what critics have called a major oversight in environmental policy, the City of Austin has started, on an experimental basis, recycling old toilets. The Statesman reports that the service targets old toilets removed after residents replace them with low-flow toilets available free of charge under a city incentive programme. The recycling began last month at a city centre in East Austin, on FM 812, at what was once the city dump.
The new programme comes in response to complaints from environmental activists, who were irked at the seeming irony of a programme that advanced water-conservation goals but also used public money to bloat the area's landfills with porcelain, undermining a city commitment to recycling. City officials had said they could not find a cost-effective way to recycle toilets. But after renewed criticism earlier this year, the city established the pilot programme. Officials say it is part of an effort to better coordinate environmental efforts across city departments and avoid such policy gaps.
For the full story, visit The Statesman: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-begins-recycling-old-toilets-781540.html
Going nuts for diesel
A new option in terms of replacing incumbent diesel engines and power stations with a biodiesel-powered alternative has reached Australia. Already trialled by its global parent company, Wärtsilä Australia’s environmental services division is installing engines driven by a rich oil obtained from a naturally occurring product, the jatropha nut.
Wärtsilä has already delivered a number of jatropha oil driven engines around the world. For example, in January 2009 Continental Airlines successfully completed a test flight from Houston, Texas using a 50/50 mixture of algae/jatropha oil-derived biofuel in one of the two CFM56 engines of a Boeing 737-800. Closer to home, Air New Zealand has announced plans to use the new fuel for 10% of its needs by 2013.
According to Wärtsilä Australia’s GM of services sales, David Trench, “jatropha oil is cheaper than crude oil, costing an estimated $43 a barrel. Even though the falling cost of crude oil has changed the dynamic a bit, it is still nominally trading in the $60-75 range per barrel”.
Jatropha oil comes from jatropha curcas nuts or seeds which are crushed, giving an overall oil content of up to 60%. But in real terms, the maximum oil content that has been reported in jatropha seeds has been closer to 47%, with the accepted average about 40%.
In addition, the jatropha plant is only cultivated for the purpose of extracting the oil, which negates the problems seen with the likes of using corn for biodiesel, which has raised food prices in certain parts of the world due to the competition for its use.
Story sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1036163
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