Car Pooling made easier through IT?
Carpool-It.com runs a live internet portal, the MyCarpools.com system, that enables businesses to deliver an automated service to their workforce. The secure system matches potential carpool partners geographically and according to timelines of travel and other criteria, such gender preferences, smoker, non-smoker and music preferences.
“The product can accurately calculate the avoided activity and can report road kilometres avoided, fuel saved, emissions avoided and thus generate a net present value,” the company claims. “This information can be used both to promote and support carpooling in the organisation and community and to justify the corporate investment required to produce and sustain the behaviour change.”
The company recently won $64,000 in funding from AusIndustry’s Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) scheme, which will be used for strategic business planning, market research and other activities. The company grew out of a teaming-up in 2003 of two people. Melita Matchett was running the concept in its original form, managing carpooling arrangements for her husband and his teams of bricklayers and builders around southeast Queensland. Michael McCann had approached the Australian Greenhouse Office with a proposal to do a trial of a carpool system in 2000.
“We have looked at the many internet based carpooling systems that have been tried and have failed and identified the most common faults… mostly because they were created by IT people and not with a good understanding of what clients actually wanted… and we have looked at the few international examples of systems that have worked,” McCann told Environmental Management News. For more on this idea go to: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003009
For more on AusIndustry’s COMET scheme go to: http://www.ausindustry.gov.au
Mighty wings for wind power
A new wind turbine that promises to advance the harnessing of offshore wind energy has been given the go-ahead in the UK. No longer is the structure just a gigantic propeller atop a cylindrical tower, but instead it is a pair of V-shaped arms up to 120 m high with four rigid 'winglets' along their length.
The wings act as aerofoils with the wind generating the lift necessary to turn the whole structure at about three revolutions a minute, enabling the turbine at the foot of the arms to produce up to 9 MW of electricity. By contrast, today’s conventional turbines generate an average of 2 MW.
The problem with today’s horizontal-axis turbines is that they are top heavy because the rotors and generators are mounted at the summit of the tower where gearboxes also have to be located to turn the rotors into the wind.
The new design of spinning vertical-axis machine is more efficient in being able to draw wind from any direction and — with the turbine and other mechanisms located at ground level — the structure is bottom heavy and therefore much more stable and easy to maintain.
A totally UK-based consortium now formed by Wind Power to exploit the new technology brings together world-leading research and development groups from the three universities of Cranfield, Sheffield and Strathclyde as well as QinetiQ, one of Europe’s top science and technology companies.
Development work will cover a six-year period and be completed in three phases.
This story sourced from: www.sustainabilitymatters.net For more on this story go to: http://www.sustainabilitymatters.net.au/
Achieving Success; Leading with Courage
Psych Press provides two articles on Achieving Success and Leadership.
Article 1 - Achieving Success: Did you ever notice that people who are the most successful in life seem the least busy? Somehow, these people are able to put their attention on things that really matter and, as a result, get extraordinary results. They know what is important and are able to organise their life so their best effort is focused on what matters most. For the full article go to:
http://psychpress.com.au/psychometric/files/newsletter_may09_achieving.pdf
Article 2 - Leading with Courage: Why and How Good Leaders Go Out on a Limb.
Some leaders possess it. Some don't. It is a differentiator in today's complex organisational world. Some organisations embrace it. For others, leaders' behaviours and business practices make it appear foreign. For the full article go to:
http://psychpress.com.au/psychometric/files/newsletter_may09_leading.pdf
Finding value in Wastewater with Intec
Novel technology to recover heavy metals from spent pickle liquor will be employed by GB Galvanizing Service. The Victorian company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Intec (ASX:INL), which claims it can deliver a zero-waste treatment solution that provides a host of environmental benefits at much lower costs than current processes. The technology could be quickly deployed at other galvanizing sites across Australia, and around the world.
Acid ‘pickle liquor’ is used to clean and prepare steel prior to hot-dip zinc galvanising. Over time, the acid accumulates contaminants from the surface of the steel, particularly zinc and iron, and the acid strength is depleted.
At present, this ‘spent’ pickle liquor is sent for chemical treatment that requires the addition of reagents to precipitate out the metals and stabilise them ready for landfill disposal as a hazardous waste. The treatment process results in a total of 2.3 tonnes of waste being disposed for every tonne of spent pickle liquor treated. GBG produces around 1ML of spent liquor annually, resulting in almost 3,000 tonnes of waste being sent to landfill. But the dedicated facility Intec plans to build will fully recycle this spent liquor, eliminating the need for landfill by instead generating an industry-applicable iron product, high grade zinc metal that can be returned to the galvanising bath, and refreshed acid pickle liquor.
Photo: An electrowinning cell at Intec's Burnie demonstration plant
The patented Intec process uses halide hydrometallurgy to give rapid, high-efficiency leaching at low temperature and atmospheric pressure. Following purification, the technology applies direct electrowinning from the chloride-based system to yield high-grade metals, such as copper, zinc and lead.
The technique was originally developed with an eye on recovering metals from mineral feed stocks, but Intec has more recently branched into treating waste. In March it signed a deal to treat about 100,000 litres of wastewater containing traces of lead, iron, copper, tin and nickel from Automotive Components Limited’s bearings plant in Launceston, Tasmania. The waste stockpile had built up over 15 years as ACL had been unable to find suitable treatment options.
For more on this story go to: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1002962
New facility boosts scientific research at University of Western Sydney
A sophisticated instrument that will help scientists further their research on projects as diverse as renewable energy and biological science has been purchased by the University of Western Sydney.
The Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS), which analyses the surface of materials, will be installed at the Hawkesbury campus. The unique facility will be used by researchers from across the disciplines at UWS and their colleagues from around Australia and internationally.
The SIMS can provide chemical analysis of surfaces, and just below the surface, of a range of materials with a sensitivity of up to parts per billion. It has the potential to be used in a diverse range of research including alternative energy production, forensic science, silicon chip manufacturing, geology, environmental science and biological science. The SIMS will be operational in mid 2009.
For more on this story go to: http://pubapps.uws.edu.au/news/index.php?act=view&story_id=2432
Previously advertised Events:
Innovation Festival Events: Throughout May there will be a number of Innovation festival events throughout Australia. For Australian Innovation Festival events listed so far go to page 133 of the festival magazine:
http://content.yudu.com/
The Illawarra has a major event planned for Monday May 25 from 2pm to 8.30pm at the University of Wollongong Innovation Campus, Squires Way, Fairy Meadow (just north of the CBD of Wollongong). This includes tours of the Innovation Campus (including the Australian Institute of Innovative materials), short presentations on innovations in health, education, engineering, materials science and technology as well as a keynote lecture/demonstration on 3D stereo film and video applications. For details of Illawarra events on the day go to:
Keynote Lecture: http://www.wollongong.youronlinecommunity.com.au/innovation/keynote-lectures.cfm
Expos: http://www.wollongong.youronlinecommunity.com.au/innovation/expos.cfm
Seminars: http://www.wollongong.youronlinecommunity.com.au/innovation/seminars.cfm
When the Going gets Tough, Smart Businesses get Going: Eric Toeing of CAD Partners shows how to survive and profit in this challenging economic environment. This is a critical time to fine-tune the business model and focus on important business drivers such as revenue, price, cost of goods/services, margin, operating expenses, receivables, payables, and inventory/work in progress.
Hosted By: NSW Department of State and Regional Development on 26 May 2009 8:30am - 10:30am at Level 2, 470 Church Street (corner Harold Street), North Parramatta, 2151. For more details click on: http://events.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/Events.aspx?eventid=131
For other NSW Department of Regional Development business events across NSW: http://events.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/Search.aspx?
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