CHIRPSTORY: £5.25m funding for heating and cooling efficiency study
http://chirpstory.com/li/76684
The UK Research Council’s Energy Programme has announ-ced funding of £5.25m for a study of energy-efficient heating and cooling technologies.
The research will be carried out by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy, which will be known as i-STUTE.
The University of Warwick will play a leading role in the project, working alongside London South Bank, Loughborough and Ulster universities.
i-STUTE director Professor Bob Critoph told H&V News the intention is to outline a strategy that will be easily understandable for consumers that will also “allow suppliers to make money”.
He stated that i-STUTE was already speaking to companies such as Dimplex, Emerson and all the major boiler manufacturers.
“We want to identify something that’s universally acceptable,” said Prof Critoph, explaining that the four partners had already carried out work in a number of complementary areas.
“In many ways this follows on from the work we did within CALEBRE [Consumer-Appealing Low Energy technologies for Building Retrofitting],” Prof Critoph said, adding that this would allow the project to “hit the ground running”.
He also revealed that there would be a focus on studying air-to-water and gas-absorption heat pumps.
The four partners are due to sign legal documents to confirm their involvement by 1 June.
The project will run for five years and be able to diverge its studies if necessary.
MORE TOPICS:
http://crowncapitalmng.livejournal.com/
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/80770-Environment-Crown-capital-earth-management-fraud-warriors-take-a-stand
The UK Research Council’s Energy Programme has announ-ced funding of £5.25m for a study of energy-efficient heating and cooling technologies.
The research will be carried out by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Storage, Transformation and Upgrading of Thermal Energy, which will be known as i-STUTE.
The University of Warwick will play a leading role in the project, working alongside London South Bank, Loughborough and Ulster universities.
i-STUTE director Professor Bob Critoph told H&V News the intention is to outline a strategy that will be easily understandable for consumers that will also “allow suppliers to make money”.
He stated that i-STUTE was already speaking to companies such as Dimplex, Emerson and all the major boiler manufacturers.
“We want to identify something that’s universally acceptable,” said Prof Critoph, explaining that the four partners had already carried out work in a number of complementary areas.
“In many ways this follows on from the work we did within CALEBRE [Consumer-Appealing Low Energy technologies for Building Retrofitting],” Prof Critoph said, adding that this would allow the project to “hit the ground running”.
He also revealed that there would be a focus on studying air-to-water and gas-absorption heat pumps.
The four partners are due to sign legal documents to confirm their involvement by 1 June.
The project will run for five years and be able to diverge its studies if necessary.
MORE TOPICS:
http://crowncapitalmng.livejournal.com/
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/80770-Environment-Crown-capital-earth-management-fraud-warriors-take-a-stand
Topic : Crown Capital Eco Mgt - Genre : Blog
INDONESIA FRAUD WATCH CROWN CAPITAL ECO MANAGEMENT - SO WHEN DID ENVIRONMENTALISM LOSE ITS SOUL?
The Vermont Times Argus published a spot-on review of a new book by Bill McKibben -one of many who made a career out of jetting between conferences about the environment.
It’s written by Suzanna Jones, described as “an off-the-grid farmer living in Walden.” She does not object to local power – but disagrees with McKibben about the trend towards industrial scale renewables. It is, she says, part of the mainstreaming of the environmental movement.
“In his 2008 book “Deep Economy,” Bill McKibben concludes that economic growth is the source of the ecological crises we face today. He explains that when the economy grows larger than necessary to meet our basic needs – when it grows for the sake of growth, automatically striving for “more” – its social and environmental costs greatly outweigh any benefits it may provide.
Unfortunately, McKibben seems to have forgotten what he so passionately argued just five years ago. Today he is an advocate of industrial wind turbines on our ridgelines: He wants to industrialize our last wild spaces to feed the very economy he fingered as the source of our environmental problems.
His key assumption is that industrial wind power displaces the use of coal and oil, and therefore helps limit climate change. But since 2000, wind facilities with a total capacity equivalent to 350 coal-fired power plants have been installed worldwide, and today there are more – not fewer – coal-fired power plants operating.
(In Vermont, the sale of renewable energy credits to out-of-state utilities enables them to avoid mandates to reduce their fossil fuel dependency, meaning that there is no net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.)
At best, industrial wind simply adds more energy to the global supply. And what for? More! More energy than the grid can carry, more idiotic water parks, more snowmaking, more electronic gadgets, more money for corporations.
Why should we spend millions of dollars to destroy wildlife habitat, kill bats and eagles, pollute our headwaters, fill valuable wetlands, polarize our communities, make people sick, mine rare-earth metals – just to ensure that we can consume as much or more next year than we did this year?
The costs of industrial wind far outweigh the benefits – unless you are a wind developer. Federal production tax credits and other subsidies have fostered a gold rush mentality among wind developers, who have been abetted by political and environmental leaders who want to appear “green” without challenging the underlying causes of our crises.
Meanwhile, average Vermonters find themselves without any ability to protect their communities or the ecosystems of which they are a part. The goal of an industrial wind moratorium is to stop the gold rush so we can have an honest discussion on these issues.
Why does this frighten proponents of big wind? Because once carefully examined, industrial wind will be exposed for the scam that it is.
McKibben’s current attitude toward the environment has been adopted by politicians, corporations, and the big environmental organizations. Environmentalism has been successfully mainstreamed, at the cost of its soul.
This co-opted version isn’t about protecting the land base from the ever-expanding empire of humans. It’s about sustaining the comfort levels we feel entitled to without exhausting the resources required. It is entirely human-centered and hollow, and it serves corporate capitalism well.
In “Deep Economy,” McKibben points out that the additional “stuff” provided by an ever-growing economy doesn’t leave people happier; instead, the source of authentic happiness is a healthy connection to nature and community. As Vermonters have already discovered, industrial wind destroys both.
SOURCE OF STORY: http://www.topix.com/forum/business/THMT7M2B8PR84QNNT
It’s written by Suzanna Jones, described as “an off-the-grid farmer living in Walden.” She does not object to local power – but disagrees with McKibben about the trend towards industrial scale renewables. It is, she says, part of the mainstreaming of the environmental movement.
“In his 2008 book “Deep Economy,” Bill McKibben concludes that economic growth is the source of the ecological crises we face today. He explains that when the economy grows larger than necessary to meet our basic needs – when it grows for the sake of growth, automatically striving for “more” – its social and environmental costs greatly outweigh any benefits it may provide.
Unfortunately, McKibben seems to have forgotten what he so passionately argued just five years ago. Today he is an advocate of industrial wind turbines on our ridgelines: He wants to industrialize our last wild spaces to feed the very economy he fingered as the source of our environmental problems.
His key assumption is that industrial wind power displaces the use of coal and oil, and therefore helps limit climate change. But since 2000, wind facilities with a total capacity equivalent to 350 coal-fired power plants have been installed worldwide, and today there are more – not fewer – coal-fired power plants operating.
(In Vermont, the sale of renewable energy credits to out-of-state utilities enables them to avoid mandates to reduce their fossil fuel dependency, meaning that there is no net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.)
At best, industrial wind simply adds more energy to the global supply. And what for? More! More energy than the grid can carry, more idiotic water parks, more snowmaking, more electronic gadgets, more money for corporations.
Why should we spend millions of dollars to destroy wildlife habitat, kill bats and eagles, pollute our headwaters, fill valuable wetlands, polarize our communities, make people sick, mine rare-earth metals – just to ensure that we can consume as much or more next year than we did this year?
The costs of industrial wind far outweigh the benefits – unless you are a wind developer. Federal production tax credits and other subsidies have fostered a gold rush mentality among wind developers, who have been abetted by political and environmental leaders who want to appear “green” without challenging the underlying causes of our crises.
Meanwhile, average Vermonters find themselves without any ability to protect their communities or the ecosystems of which they are a part. The goal of an industrial wind moratorium is to stop the gold rush so we can have an honest discussion on these issues.
Why does this frighten proponents of big wind? Because once carefully examined, industrial wind will be exposed for the scam that it is.
McKibben’s current attitude toward the environment has been adopted by politicians, corporations, and the big environmental organizations. Environmentalism has been successfully mainstreamed, at the cost of its soul.
This co-opted version isn’t about protecting the land base from the ever-expanding empire of humans. It’s about sustaining the comfort levels we feel entitled to without exhausting the resources required. It is entirely human-centered and hollow, and it serves corporate capitalism well.
In “Deep Economy,” McKibben points out that the additional “stuff” provided by an ever-growing economy doesn’t leave people happier; instead, the source of authentic happiness is a healthy connection to nature and community. As Vermonters have already discovered, industrial wind destroys both.
SOURCE OF STORY: http://www.topix.com/forum/business/THMT7M2B8PR84QNNT
Indonesia Beef Imports Rife with Corruption on Crown Capital Eco
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesia-beef-imports-rife-with-corruption/571683
When Indonesia slashed quotas on beef imports in 2011, the goal was to boost domestic production. But the ensuing shortage has pushed prices skyward, and fed a corrupt system where quotas go to the highest bidder.
Several unscrupulous meatball producers were even caught secretly mixing pork with beef to keep costs low.
An ongoing investigation by the anti-corruption commission (KPK) has toppled the president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), who resigned after being accused of receiving kickbacks from executives of a major meat importer, Indoguna.
Industry players said that endemic graft worsened after the government slashed import quotas in 2011 from 100,000 tones a year in 2011 to 40,000 tones last year and 32,000 tones this year. Some beef importers began bribing officials to get a share of the pie, and smuggled beef into the country.
Indonesian Meat Importers Association executive director Thomas Sembiring told The Straits Times that so long as meat import quotas are imposed and enforcement is "not transparent", graft will remain a problem.
"Bribery, corruption — it's already in their bone marrow. You have to cut down maybe two generations to get rid [of it]."
The big problem, said Franky Sibarani, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian employers association Apindo, is that there are no good numbers on demand and supply "and therefore, lack of enforcement of the quota."
Late last month, PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq resigned and was detained after his aide Ahmad Fathanah was caught with one billion rupiah ($103,000). The money was allegedly a bribe from Indoguna directors to Luthfi, who has influence with officials at the Agriculture Ministry led by fellow PKS member Suswono.
Days after his arrest, Customs officers found 1.7 tones of undeclared wagyu beef in a raid at Jakarta's Tanjong Priok port, brought in by Indoguna.
Importers said the process of securing a share of these quotas is opaque and open to abuse at various levels of government.
Investigative magazine Tempo, which broke the story on corrupt practices in beef imports in 2011, reported last week that a businessman had been offered a slice of the quota if he was willing to pay 10,000 rupiah a kilo in bribes.
Since quotas were slashed two years ago, the price of beef for the public has more than doubled, on average, to hit some 100,000 rupiah a kilo.
In December, consumers were outraged when police and agriculture officials, acting on a tip-off, raided a factory in South Jakarta and found workers had mixed beef with pork, which is much cheaper, to make meatballs.
Ultimately, critics said, the quotas should be reconsidered as local production is a long way off from meeting rising consumption.
"Indonesia cannot produce live cattle in time to cater to rising consumption from a growing middle-income group, foreign workers and tourists," Siswono Yudhohusodo, who is in the parliamentary committee on agriculture, told reporters.
"The government needs to rethink its agrarian policy."
When Indonesia slashed quotas on beef imports in 2011, the goal was to boost domestic production. But the ensuing shortage has pushed prices skyward, and fed a corrupt system where quotas go to the highest bidder.
Several unscrupulous meatball producers were even caught secretly mixing pork with beef to keep costs low.
An ongoing investigation by the anti-corruption commission (KPK) has toppled the president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), who resigned after being accused of receiving kickbacks from executives of a major meat importer, Indoguna.
Industry players said that endemic graft worsened after the government slashed import quotas in 2011 from 100,000 tones a year in 2011 to 40,000 tones last year and 32,000 tones this year. Some beef importers began bribing officials to get a share of the pie, and smuggled beef into the country.
Indonesian Meat Importers Association executive director Thomas Sembiring told The Straits Times that so long as meat import quotas are imposed and enforcement is "not transparent", graft will remain a problem.
"Bribery, corruption — it's already in their bone marrow. You have to cut down maybe two generations to get rid [of it]."
The big problem, said Franky Sibarani, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian employers association Apindo, is that there are no good numbers on demand and supply "and therefore, lack of enforcement of the quota."
Late last month, PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq resigned and was detained after his aide Ahmad Fathanah was caught with one billion rupiah ($103,000). The money was allegedly a bribe from Indoguna directors to Luthfi, who has influence with officials at the Agriculture Ministry led by fellow PKS member Suswono.
Days after his arrest, Customs officers found 1.7 tones of undeclared wagyu beef in a raid at Jakarta's Tanjong Priok port, brought in by Indoguna.
Importers said the process of securing a share of these quotas is opaque and open to abuse at various levels of government.
Investigative magazine Tempo, which broke the story on corrupt practices in beef imports in 2011, reported last week that a businessman had been offered a slice of the quota if he was willing to pay 10,000 rupiah a kilo in bribes.
Since quotas were slashed two years ago, the price of beef for the public has more than doubled, on average, to hit some 100,000 rupiah a kilo.
In December, consumers were outraged when police and agriculture officials, acting on a tip-off, raided a factory in South Jakarta and found workers had mixed beef with pork, which is much cheaper, to make meatballs.
Ultimately, critics said, the quotas should be reconsidered as local production is a long way off from meeting rising consumption.
"Indonesia cannot produce live cattle in time to cater to rising consumption from a growing middle-income group, foreign workers and tourists," Siswono Yudhohusodo, who is in the parliamentary committee on agriculture, told reporters.
"The government needs to rethink its agrarian policy."
Biomass Boiler Addresses Alaskans' Environmental, Economic Concerns
http://redgage.com/#rf:/blogs/marionyusef/biomass-boiler-addresses-alaskans-environmental-economic-concerns.html
Crown Capital Eco Management - The heavily forested city of Ketchikan, Alaska, is built on rock and surrounded by water. Every commodity that comes into Ketchikan must arrive by sea or air. The use of fuel oil is problematic for both economic and environmental reasons because the oil must be obtained and refined elsewhere and transported (using additional fuel). What's more, fuel oil is subject to price instability.
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan, which provides information to more than a million visitors each year, is the site of a pilot biomass boiler system now coming to life. Two oil-fired boilers serving the 250,000-sq-ft center were replaced with a highly efficient system fueled by local wood. Manufactured by Hurst Boiler & Welding Company Inc., the hot-water boiler was custom-designed to fit within very limited indoor space.
Under the direction of E. Dane Ash, project manager for Tyonek-Alcan Pacific LLC, the biomass boiler system was developed with Hurst representative Gregory W. Smith of Global Energy Solutions Inc. to address environmental concerns, as well as issues related to building space, fuel costs, comfort, reliability, and simplicity of operation.
The new boiler is located on the lower level of the Discovery Center, which requires heating for a minimum of nine months a year. Local wood densified into fuel pucks is delivered to an elevated walking-floor storage bin in a vestibule area built to protect against excessive moisture. (The biomass-fired boiler can burn any wood product with up to 50-percent moisture content.) An auger moves pucks from the storage area to a metering bin and into the boiler. Freezing is not an issue because the walking floor easily breaks up any frozen contents.
The boiler system was designed to highlight how biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Visitors can see the boiler operate through specially designed windows. In the hall just outside of the boiler room, the noise level and ambient temperature is consistent with the rest of the building.
Savings
Fuel costs have been cut by two-thirds. The densified pucks are used with almost no residual ash; eventually, however, tree clippings from the Ketchikan walking trails will be ground and fed into the boiler, eliminating the need for transport to a landfill, burning, and other methods of disposal.
The Boiler
The Hurst S100 Series Fire Tube 27 HP Hydronic Water Heating Boiler features a pre-heater to optimize combustion and an underfeed stoker with dry-ash-removal system.
Results
The system easily can be replicated for heat or heat/power generation up to 20,000 kw. In June 2011, Smith served as a keynote speaker for the fifth annual Native American Economic Development Conference in Anaheim, Calif., where he described the initiatives being implemented in Ketchikan and shared success stories of biomass-fired boiler systems installed on institutional campuses and in manufacturing facilities throughout the United States, particularly in challenging and remote locations. Systems include municipal solid waste, as well as woody biomass for steam production and steam to power.
Crown Capital Eco Management - The heavily forested city of Ketchikan, Alaska, is built on rock and surrounded by water. Every commodity that comes into Ketchikan must arrive by sea or air. The use of fuel oil is problematic for both economic and environmental reasons because the oil must be obtained and refined elsewhere and transported (using additional fuel). What's more, fuel oil is subject to price instability.
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan, which provides information to more than a million visitors each year, is the site of a pilot biomass boiler system now coming to life. Two oil-fired boilers serving the 250,000-sq-ft center were replaced with a highly efficient system fueled by local wood. Manufactured by Hurst Boiler & Welding Company Inc., the hot-water boiler was custom-designed to fit within very limited indoor space.
Under the direction of E. Dane Ash, project manager for Tyonek-Alcan Pacific LLC, the biomass boiler system was developed with Hurst representative Gregory W. Smith of Global Energy Solutions Inc. to address environmental concerns, as well as issues related to building space, fuel costs, comfort, reliability, and simplicity of operation.
The new boiler is located on the lower level of the Discovery Center, which requires heating for a minimum of nine months a year. Local wood densified into fuel pucks is delivered to an elevated walking-floor storage bin in a vestibule area built to protect against excessive moisture. (The biomass-fired boiler can burn any wood product with up to 50-percent moisture content.) An auger moves pucks from the storage area to a metering bin and into the boiler. Freezing is not an issue because the walking floor easily breaks up any frozen contents.
The boiler system was designed to highlight how biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Visitors can see the boiler operate through specially designed windows. In the hall just outside of the boiler room, the noise level and ambient temperature is consistent with the rest of the building.
Savings
Fuel costs have been cut by two-thirds. The densified pucks are used with almost no residual ash; eventually, however, tree clippings from the Ketchikan walking trails will be ground and fed into the boiler, eliminating the need for transport to a landfill, burning, and other methods of disposal.
The Boiler
The Hurst S100 Series Fire Tube 27 HP Hydronic Water Heating Boiler features a pre-heater to optimize combustion and an underfeed stoker with dry-ash-removal system.
Results
The system easily can be replicated for heat or heat/power generation up to 20,000 kw. In June 2011, Smith served as a keynote speaker for the fifth annual Native American Economic Development Conference in Anaheim, Calif., where he described the initiatives being implemented in Ketchikan and shared success stories of biomass-fired boiler systems installed on institutional campuses and in manufacturing facilities throughout the United States, particularly in challenging and remote locations. Systems include municipal solid waste, as well as woody biomass for steam production and steam to power.
Zimbio - Crown Capital Eco Management Indonesia Fraud|Fraudsters attack even natural disasters victims
Natural Disasters Victims: Scammers Wait until we are in our Lowest
Opportunists prey on natural disasters’ victims and even those who want to help. They would not miss any single chance that they could profit something from any kind of people by taking
Advantage of their weaknesses. Victims are at their most desperate state and scammers see
this as an opportunity to deceive them.
“After practically every disaster, in the United States or abroad, charity scams pop up,” says John Breyault, vice president of the National Consumers League. “We saw charity scams pop up after Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and the Indonesian tsunami, to name just a few.”
These frauds come in various shapes and sizes as well as the scammers. They would take advantage the helplessness of the victims, they will show up and their front door, offer help and after they collected the payment in advance they would not show-up afterwards or worse make a bigger damage on the victim’s properties.
Beware of email scams; through email fraud they can easily target victims during in time of need. Although natural disaster’s victims are not their target rather potential donors after the disaster are being preyed.
Following a number of cases against email frauds after a disaster, the U.S. Department of Justice established the National Center for Disaster Fraud. Email and social medias are often also being used, urging you to click on a photo and then would ask for many things after that will lead you to send out money. The department insisted not to click on links instead independently seek information about charities you are interested in helping. Better yet, go directly to well known charities or charities that you already know.
Request of money donations are automatically considered as illegitimate, no record will be provided if the said organization did received the money and on your part you will not have a record for tax purposes. It is not advisable to make donations.
It will be hard to be rational during a time of calamity but take time to think about things because more often than not being impulsive will worsen things. Number one rule that you must remember is never send out or give money until the work is done or the product is at hand. Government is sure to help you, better wait for their action before making decisions on your own.
If you would like to help out, go to reputable charities and send out help yourselves. Help also comes in different shapes and sizes, as much as possible avoid sending out money to help.
You must keep in mind that although there are good people out there, scammers are also not far. It is a matter of being rational and intelligent more especially in worse times. Double check everything first, it is better sure than sorry.
Opportunists prey on natural disasters’ victims and even those who want to help. They would not miss any single chance that they could profit something from any kind of people by taking
Advantage of their weaknesses. Victims are at their most desperate state and scammers see
this as an opportunity to deceive them.
“After practically every disaster, in the United States or abroad, charity scams pop up,” says John Breyault, vice president of the National Consumers League. “We saw charity scams pop up after Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti and the Indonesian tsunami, to name just a few.”
These frauds come in various shapes and sizes as well as the scammers. They would take advantage the helplessness of the victims, they will show up and their front door, offer help and after they collected the payment in advance they would not show-up afterwards or worse make a bigger damage on the victim’s properties.
Beware of email scams; through email fraud they can easily target victims during in time of need. Although natural disaster’s victims are not their target rather potential donors after the disaster are being preyed.
Following a number of cases against email frauds after a disaster, the U.S. Department of Justice established the National Center for Disaster Fraud. Email and social medias are often also being used, urging you to click on a photo and then would ask for many things after that will lead you to send out money. The department insisted not to click on links instead independently seek information about charities you are interested in helping. Better yet, go directly to well known charities or charities that you already know.
Request of money donations are automatically considered as illegitimate, no record will be provided if the said organization did received the money and on your part you will not have a record for tax purposes. It is not advisable to make donations.
It will be hard to be rational during a time of calamity but take time to think about things because more often than not being impulsive will worsen things. Number one rule that you must remember is never send out or give money until the work is done or the product is at hand. Government is sure to help you, better wait for their action before making decisions on your own.
If you would like to help out, go to reputable charities and send out help yourselves. Help also comes in different shapes and sizes, as much as possible avoid sending out money to help.
You must keep in mind that although there are good people out there, scammers are also not far. It is a matter of being rational and intelligent more especially in worse times. Double check everything first, it is better sure than sorry.