Use solar energy to cool

With the recent power outages in Victoria and South Australia as air conditioners go full time to cope with the heat wave, the CSIRO has announced it is working on solar power for cooling. Its Energy Transformed Flagship is working on harnessing warmth from the sun to cool homes and offices in the summer heat, admitting it sounds like a “strange concept” – but one that works. Although the technology isn’t new, it has previously always been a complex process.

While using heat to cool sounds like a strange concept, the technology we are developing is able use that heat in conjunction with an absorbent material, or desiccant, to dehumidify and cool air,” said CSIRO solar cooling research project leader Dr Stephen White. “This new type of desiccant cooling promises to be simpler and more cost effective than absorption chillers.

“Solar cooling utilises heat from solar thermal collectors to generate cooling for building air-conditioning. The solar cooling technology we are developing directly uses the natural heat from the sun to power a thermally-driven cooling process.”

Most conventional mechanical air conditioners use high-emission electricity derived from fossil fuels to provide the energy to compress a refrigerant and cool a building, which Dr White said “typically accounts for 20-30% of building energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions”. Solar cooling consumes less electricity.

More on this CSIRO project from http://www.csiro.au/news/Keeping-cool-using-summer-heat.html

The solar cooling idea is catching. World-renowned piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons announced in the past week that it would be installing a solar-powered rooftop system to cool and dehumidify its factory in New York’s Queens.

The US$875,000 ($1.32 million) solar system, partly funded through a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and US tax credits, will be completed by mid-2009. It will pump solar-heated water into a double-effect absorption chiller that serves as a heat exchanger. The chiller removes the superheated water and leaves cool air for dehumidifying, the company said. Sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net

Of Wollongong, Dubai, Princess and Planetariums

Following the completion of a Global Immersion full dome digital upgrade, Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has officially opened the new Planetarium at the Children’s City Science Center, Dubai. This prestigious event was held in January to mark the launch of Dubai’s largest and most advanced digital Planetarium.

But you do not have to go to Dubai to get the full dome planetarium experience. The Wollongong Science Centre and Planetarium, NSW’s own planetarium, has a similar full dome experience (different manufacturer) and the same shows (http://sciencecentre.uow.edu.au). Also like Dubai’s Children’s City Science Centre, the Wollongong Science Centre features interactive exhibits.

Food story 1: Rescuing surplus food

FareShare, a not-for-profit organisation that rescues surplus food to prepare healthy meals for Melbourne's hungry and homeless, has released a new report quantifying the environmental benefits of its waste reduction efforts.

The report, Sustainability gains through the recovery of unsold or off-specification food — produced with Sustainability Victoria and Hyder Consulting — estimates FareShare will save 620 tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2008–09. This is the annual equivalent of switching off 953 refrigerators a year.

“The waste reduction associated with our large-scale food recovery program has significant benefits for the environment”, said FareShare CEO Marcus Godinho.

For every kilogram of food recovered, FareShare will also save 56 L of water. This is a significant saving when you consider it takes a farmer 70 L of water to produce an apple, 135 L for an egg and 800 L for a large steak. The results were measured using. FareShare's new MS Excel calculator that can measure the savings in water, landfill, energy and greenhouse gas emissions of 40 food ingredients.

Food is collected that would otherwise be wasted from growers, manufacturers, wholesale markets, caterers, major retailers and hospitality schools. All types of food are accepted with a preference for pastry, meat, cheese and vegetables. A large quantity of uncooked food is redistributed directly to charities.

Heinz offers surplus produce including sauces, condiments and dressings that can be added to make pasta meals, stews and casseroles. It also donates other products such as tomato sauce, tinned soup, tuna and some fruit juices.

As a result of a significant increase in demand for emergency food relief, the organisation has recently moved into a new kitchen. Its new ovens have the capacity to produce 1500 pies, quiches and pastries an hour, which is 10 times the capacity of its previous kitchen.

To download the full report visit www.fairshare.net.au. Story sourced from: www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au 

Food Story 2: The perfect food recycling system?

Ito-Yokado Co., a major retail distributor in Japan, has announced that it will start managing a farm to develop a perfect food recycling system by connecting the farm with its supermarket stores and composting facility.

The company borrowed a two-hectare farm in Tomisato, Chiba Prefecture, from the Tomisato Agricultural Cooperative Association in July 2008 and established Seven Farm Tomisato, an agricultural production corporation. Vegetables produced on the farm will be sold at six Ito-Yokado stores in the prefecture. For the full story go to: http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/027990.html. This story was sourced via the Resource Recovery Forum www.resourcesnotwaste.org

Recycling Plant for old TVs – but only in South Australia?

A fully automated recycling plant for cathode ray tubes (CRT) has opened in South Australia. CRT Recycling Australia says it is the only company in Australia and NZ to recover lead-containing CRT glass from televisions and computer screens, diverting it from landfill.

Michelle Morton, director of the newly-formed company, said recycling is “the only sound environmental solution available for CRT glass. We are the only ones in Australia and New Zealand providing this service, [which] effectively transforms a hazardous material into a much valued product, and it is all done within Australia,” she says. Export of the material to international facilities is restricted because it is classed as a hazardous waste, meaning “landfill has been receiving the lion’s share of [Australian] material”.

Morton says about 70,000 tonnes of CRT material is currently disposed annually in Australia, and the switch to digital television is expected to increase and “potentially spike” the volume of analogue television sets landfilled in the next 2-3 years. She expects the facility at Gepps Cross will initially process 6,000 tonnes of CRT material a year, sourced from around the nation. They will be delivered to the plant as an intact tube, which has its metal components and phosphor coatings removed, while the glass is separated into unleaded panel glass and leaded funnel glass.

The leaded glass is processed through the cleaning system, which removes all the coatings such as graphite and silicate conductive coating, iron oxide, aluminium oxide, and other substances (depending on who the original CRT manufacturer was).  The glass can be reused in the same application. In addition to removing lead from the municipal waste stream, glass-to-glass recycling “avoids the environmental impacts associated with mining and processing raw lead from ore by supplying lead in the form of CRT glass for CRT glass manufacturing”.

The value of the recovered materials is not enough to cover the cost of the processing, however, and a gate fee of around $2 per screen will be charged. Story sourced from:   www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net.

Engineering Image Problem Could Fuel Shortage

Although the short term jobs demand might be lower due to the current financial crisis, a recent survey commissioned by the American Society for Quality indicated that when it comes to kids’ dream jobs, engineering has its own problem to solve.  An overwhelming 85% of kids say that they are not interested in a future engineering career for a variety of reasons, according to recent surveys of youth and adults conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of ASQ (American Society for Quality).

Survey results indicate the top reasons why kids may not be interested in pursuing engineering:

• Kids don’t know much about engineering (44%).
• Kids prefer a more exciting career than engineering (30%).
• They don’t feel confident enough in their math or science skills (21%) to be good at it— despite the fact that the largest number of kids ranked math (22%) and science (17%) as their favourite subjects.  

Findings from the adult survey on this topic show:

• Only 20% of parents have encouraged/will encourage their child/children to consider an engineering career. 
• The vast majority of parents2 (97%) said they believe that knowledge of math and science will help their children have a successful career.

The ASQ survey among youth ages 8-17 as well as among parents aimed to provide a better understanding about the perceptions of selecting an engineering career in light of a troubling shortage of U.S. engineers, which will reach 70,000 by 2010 based on an estimate by the National Science Foundation.

Maybe not surprisingly, more girls say their parents are likely to encourage them to become an actress (21%) than an engineer (10%)!

I&I wonders whether the figures in Australia would be any different! More on the survey from: http://www.asq.org/media-room/press-releases/2009/20090122-engineering-image.html?

Event: How to Sell More When Others Stop Selling

The Western Sydney Business Centre is pleased to commence its 2009 Business Growth Seminars Program with this event on 11 February 2009 from 8:30am to 10.30am

 This seminar, with John C. Jacob from The Training Department, aims to improve your chances of making your business more immune to adverse external factors. John will focus on:

 Tools to help make your sales “sticky”
 The five most common external factors that kill small businesses
 Ways to think more creatively and innovatively about your product
 Strategies to assist you in creating a niche for your business

To register send an email to dsrdparramatta@business.nsw.gov.au. For more information contact Western Sydney Business Centre (telephone 02 8843 1100);

NSW Department of State and Regional Development, Level 2, 470 Church Street, North Parramatta  NSW  2151. For future seminars go to: www.business.nsw.gov.au and click on Upcoming Events on right hand side of home page.

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