Australian researchers store 50,000 tonnes of CO2

The country’s first demonstration project of deep geological storage of CO2 has marked its halfway point, reaching the 50,000 tonne “securely stored” milestone late last month. The CO2CRC Otway Project, which was kicked off in April 2008 at the site in south-western Victoria, is also going to plan in terms of storage dynamics.

“The CO2CRC Otway Project has safely and securely stored 50,000 tonnes of CO2,” said CO2CRC chief executive Dr Peter Cook. “More importantly, sampling of deep underground fluid and gas, as well as soil, groundwater and atmospheric monitoring, are showing that the CO2 and the rocks in which it is stored are behaving as researchers have predicted.”

The project has been touted as the world’s largest research and geosequestration demonstration project.  It will inject 100,000 tonnes of CO2 underground in a bid to demonstrate that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is technically and environmentally safe and meets the expectations of government and the community.

The Otway Project includes a monitoring program, “which international and national scientists believe to be the most comprehensive of its type in the world”. The gas is being stored 2km underground in a depleted natural gas reservoir. Researchers have developed a range of monitoring and verification procedures, including “sophisticated subsurface monitoring techniques, some of them used for the first time”.

This story sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003037

For more on the project go to: http://www.co2crc.com.au/images/otwaypics/OBPP_locationmap_485.jpg 

A new dawn for solar power?

David Biello posed this question in Scientific American recently and it raised quite a response from readers.

If solar power is ever going to take off—and the world needs it to—photovoltaic cells will have to become a whole lot cheaper to produce.

Making solar cells from silicon, the most common approach, can be expensive and relatively inefficient at turning sunlight into electricity. As semiconductor manufacturer Applied Materials chief technology officer Mark Pinto told me last year: "With solar, it's all about cost."

But there are signs of improvement, writes Richard Swanson of SunPower Corp. in Science. Last year, manufacturers made 5 gigawatts of photovoltaic panels. And some of these panels required just under six grams of silicon per watt of power—down from 15 grams at the turn of the century. And that watt of power now costs around $1.40 to produce compared with $2 or more in the 1990s.

Swanson argues that the cost will fall to $1 per watt within five years—making solar power for the first time cost competitive, without subsidy, with conventional fossil fuel–fired generation.

For the full article and comments from others go to: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=a-new-dawn-for-solar-power-2009-05-15

With thanks to Glen Moore of the Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium (http://sciencecentre.uow.edu.au) for sourcing this article.  

Macquarie goes sewer mining for water

Macquarie University will save more than 21ML of water a year on its Sydney campus through a new water recycling system that uses reed bed technology to treat sewage. The university said it has built the infrastructure for the new system and begun stage one of its required water quality testing.

The $1.6 million project, expected to be fully operational by the middle of this year, relies on sewer mining, which involves tapping into an existing sewer, extracting and treating sewage, and then using it as recycled water. The university’s vice chancellor Professor Steven Schwartz said wastewater would be treated before being used to irrigate the seven hectares of playing fields on the campus.

“The new system is fundamental to our commitment to embed sustainability into campus culture and university life,” he said. “We will now have the capacity to self-produce good quality irrigation water using a method that is cost-effective with minimal energy consumption.”

Sewer mining, according to Sydney Water, is the process of tapping into a sewer, either before or after the sewage treatment plant, and extracting sewage, to treat and use as recycled water. Some sewer mining by-products may be acceptable for return to the sewerage system.

Sewer mining schemes in Sydney include operations at the Sydney Olympic Park and other locations, with similar schemes in development at Ku-ring-gai Council, Sydney Airport and various other facilities.

At Macquarie University, Deidre Anderson, Chief Executive of the University’s student services organisation, said “we will be harvesting stormwater from the surface and sub-surface drainage system of the sports fields and storing it onsite to supplement the treated water from the reed beds”.

For more on this story go to: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1002952

In the midst of this downturn, what are the keys to organic growth?

Leading  European business school IMD in Switzerland has produced a number of short summary videos on Leading in Turbulent Time. In the latest video, Professor Seán Meehan discusses how customer focus and brand are keys to any recovery. He clarifies 3 key lessons observed in leading companies like Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Phillips and others.
Professor Seán Meehan is the Professor of Marketing and Change Management at IMD. To watch the summary of his views on video go to: http://www.imd.ch/

Not a surprising idea? Global financial woes affect world’s hungry

The number of hungry people in the world could soon hit a record 1 billion, despite a drop in food prices, the UN food aid organization has stated. The recent financial crisis, though it has helped bring global food prices down, also has led to falling trade and lower development aid, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization's general director, Jacques Diouf.

As a result of the crisis, an additional 104 million people were likely to go hungry this year, Diouf told reporters after a two-day meeting in Paris between the FAO and the OECD. "We have never seen so many hungry people in the world," Diouf said.
From the Development Executive Group: www.devex.com

I & I comment: Of course we have also seen local charities being affected by increased demands and potentially lower sources of donations as businesses and individuals tighten their belts.

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