Gas from coal seams gets a guernsey after 20 years!
Centennial Coal has recently announced that inseam methane gas which would otherwise be expelled into the atmosphere at Centennial Coal’s Mandalong Mine will be converted to CO2 or used to generate electricity onsite in a new two-phase sustainable project. The mine decided on a two-phase project involving an initial methane flare that will convert the gas to carbon dioxide before a gas power plant is built onsite to trap, process and convert some of the gas to electricity.
This announcement is some twenty years after Kembla Coal and Coke’s Westcliff mine near Appin south west of Sydney, pioneered the process to convert the methane extracted from the seam into electricity using a gas turbine. The methane had to be extracted to make mining safe - supplying power was a supplementary benefit as well as having a positive impact on the greenhouse effect. Methane has a negative greenhouse effect many times that of carbon dioxide.
Following Westcliff’s success a number of other mines have been developing ways to convert the dangerous mine gas to energy, including BHP Billiton’s nearby Appin mine which uses gas engines. In a further development , the Westcliff mine, now owned by BHP Billiton, recently pioneered a system of converting low levels of methane in the normal mine ventilation system to energy.
Also recently there has been an upsurge of interest in extracting gas from coal seams well before mining or even where mining may not be economic (particularly in Queensland). I&I remembers a former colleague, the late Dr Ripu Lama, advocating such approaches and developing techniques to achieve it, in the late 1980s!
Mandalong story and photo sourced from Australian Longwall Magazine (courtesy of www.longwalls.com and www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net)
So you think our cities have problems!
With Asian cities growing by over 100,000 people a day, a major rethink is needed on how cities manage growth because the current approach is no longer economically, environmentally or socially sustainable, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said at the World Cities Summit. Speaking in Singapore, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said providing jobs and services for the 1.1 billion people who will move to cities in Asia over the next 20 years is a task of “magnitude never before attempted by humanity."
Cities in Asia have populations and economies the size of nation states, Kuroda said in a speech at the conference. “For most major cities in Asia, growth rates are too rapid for their infrastructure to keep up. Each year, there is a $30 billion shortfall in urban infrastructure investments, leading to greater deterioration of existing infrastructure and worsening urban environments." Kuroda cited a new report published by ADB, Managing Asian Cities, which outlines how the region's cities can meet the enormous challenges they face. It says that the technology, money and skills necessary are available, but the current institutional structures needed for coordination, financing and capacity development are inadequate.
To learn more, go to
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Studies/Managing-Asian-Cities
Kiwi questions Aussie solar rebate
New Zealand-based sustainable energy consultant Frank Pool has questioned why grid connected solar panel systems on residential rooftops are being supported with government subsidies ahead of measures such as insulation, solar shading and energy efficient appliances, which are more cost effective options.
Parsons Brinckerhoff consultant Pool said in an interview with Environmental Management News “the real question is not whether it is reasonable that the solar subsidies have been means tested but rather why is grid connected solar in Australian cities being supported at all?”
He said while solar panels are the more visible, flashy options in comparison to “boring and invisible” systems such as heat pump water heaters, the reality is grid connected rooftop solar for households will not be a cost effective options for another 10-20 years.
In the meantime, solar systems should be installed in remote mining camps and in communities served by diesel generators, where solar energy is cost effective at current diesel prices. Solar systems for these purposes are larger scale and hence produce electricity at a lower cost per unit.
“It seems logical to me to let Germany spend money on solar subsidies, alongside worldwide economies of scale, to eventually reduce the cost of solar over time until it is cost effective on urban roofs, and don’t spend scarce Australian government funds on grid connected urban solar when remote grid solar is already economic,” Pool said.
For renewable electricity in Australian cities, the lowest cost option is currently grid connected wind power, and in Queensland sugar cane bagasse co-generation, according to Pool. The next most cost effective renewable electricity generation option is then most likely to be large scale solar thermal. (Story and photo extracted from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net )
UWS goes for BPM
The University of Western Sydney invites participation in locally based research and to engage with international thought leaders in Business Process Management (BPM).
The Business Process Evolution Studies (BPES) Research Node at UWS is hosting an Executive Breakfast Briefing on 13th August, 7:30 – 9:30 am at the Parramatta campus of UWS. The keynote speaker will be Paul Harmon, one of the global thought leaders in Business Process Management. Paul is Co-Founder and Executive Editor at BPTrends USA, the most trusted source of information and analysis on directions and best practices in BPM . His recently released best selling book, Business Process Change, 2nd edition: A Guide for Business Managers and BPM and Six Sigma Professionals has become a standard text for BPM practitioners and researchers around the world. Register for the Executive Briefing Breakfast: http://bpes.uws.edu.au/bpmebb/
Mr Dash Forghani and Dr Vijay Khandelwal, researchers at UWS have conducted a Survey in 2007 to study the current state of BPM adoption by the Australian organisations. The findings of this first survey of its kind in Australia has recently been published as a comprehensive report. The full report can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.uws.edu.au/cinis/bpm
To further facilitate the development of process improvement and management, UWS is associated with Leonardo ProcessDays. The 6th annual Leonardo ProcessDays is on in Sydney from 12 to 15 August. ProcessDays provides an opportunity to get up to speed on current thinking about BPM. It’s a popular annual event providing many chances to meet other people with an interest in process. To register go to: http://www.leonardo.com.au/processdays08/
St George and Sutherland help all micros get started
The St George and Sutherland Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) has introduced a Micro Business Starters Kit, which is a collection of Word and Excel templates to assist you in the running of your business with easy-to-use instructions. All documents can be customised for your business. For those of you, who would like more information or would like to order a kit, call 9545 5900.
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