Small Steps Toward ‘green’ Production

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Small Steps Toward ‘green’ Production
The majority of China’s export manufacturers cannot afford the investment required to run a fully sustainable production facility. But some are taking baby steps and modifying their equipment to decrease energy consumption.

The high cost of investment and the long wait to see positive returns are holding back most China makers from “greening” their factories.

Many of those that have taken serious measures toward introducing more environment-friendly practices and equipment in their production lines have external funding. These include some Hong Kong-invested companies in Guangdong province that were qualified to receive subsidies from the SAR.

By investing in advanced equipment, such businesses were able to reduce wastewater discharge from the printing lines or lower VOCs emitted during the painting process. The return on investment, however, can take between five and eight years, and most SMEs are reluctant to wait that long.

Nonetheless, about one-fifth of China’s export manufacturers are willing to introduce small measures to lower their carbon footprint. Most steps are geared toward reducing factories’ electricity consumption.

Energy-saving modifications

Plastic-injection machines, for instance, are being fitted with inverters that can decrease energy use by 30 to 60 percent. Widely used in many industries, the machines often need to run 24 hours daily. The inverter adjusts the pump speed automatically so that only the right amount of fuel is disbursed for each manufacturing step.

It costs about 30,000 yuan ($ 4,600) to fit a 37kW 350T plastic-injection machine with an inverter. Processing a plastic part generally takes 17 seconds, while the machine typically consumes 25kW per hour. Electricity charges, meanwhile, are 0.76 yuan ($ 0.12) per hour. By using an inverter, one unit running 24 hours daily can save as much as 4,100 yuan ($ 620) in energy costs.

Modifying the plastic-injection machine’s electromagnetic heating controller can reduce electricity consumption as well. The retrofitted controller heats up fast and boosts thermal efficiency without affecting the temperature of the plastic-injection machine and the workshop. This is said to cut one-third of energy use.

Meitu Plastic Ind. Co. Ltd is one of a number of companies that have invested in such energy-saving devices. A maker of plastic toilet seat covers, water tank fittings, and bathroom and kitchen accessories, Meitu converted 263 plastic-injection machines. Now, each unit is said to consume 36 percent less electricity.

Read the full report at Global Sources, a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with China manufacturers and India suppliers, providing essential sourcing information to volume buyers through our e-magazines, trade shows and industry research.

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What Are The Renewable Energy Sources In Demand Right Now?

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Sustainable energy is becoming considerably more popular than the conventional manners of electrical energy manufacturing. The process is green and relying upon natural techniques and materials that create no polluting of the environment or the exhaustion of specific sources.

This particular type of renewable energy can be derived in a number of different good manners. Each one comes with its gains.

The most frequent sustainable energy sources include natural light, wind power, water and geothermal energy. Energy may also be produced because of the usage of plant or animal-based biomass. Governing bodies across the globe are offering to you stimuli for renewable power production, which turns it into a truly great kind of investment.

Manufacture of electrical energy through the use of water is rather typical. Meticulous planning is needed for the manufacturing of the most efficient wave power plant. Flowing water is remarkably powerful, in addition the supplies of water are renewed on a constant basis.

Water is utilized to set specific machine elements in motion, stimulating mechanical operations. By setting turbines and electric generators in motion, water is capable of creating electricity in a neat and powerful manner.

Solar panel technology production is equally as popular and efficient. Unique variations of technologies are proven to capture the potency of sunlight. The light can be used as the production of both heat and electrical energy.

The sun is considered the most powerful source of energy known to humanity. It is also important to note that many other sources of alternative energy are powered by the sun. Producing plant-based biomass will be unimaginable without the sunlight.

The heat inside Earth delivers steam and boiling water. These resources can be used for the generation of electricity. Geothermal energy could also be used for heating purposes. Hot springs flow through many nations and are a absolutely free, 100 percent renewable source of energy.

Wind energy parks utilize the movement of air that is generally known as wind. Such actions occur when hot air moves upward, being replaced by colder air masses. The energy of wind has been used for centuries.

At present, turbines may be used to generate electricity through wind. Wind parks ought to be constructed very carefully and positioned in the right spot. These turbines should not be erected on the site of bird migration routes mainly because they can harm soaring birds.

Biomass is an additional source of sustainable energy. Its source is either plant or animal centered. Some production waste products can also be employed for the generation of electrical energy. Specific vegetation is grown particularly for the production of energy. As reported by many governments, biomass is one of the most significant renewable resources.

Biomass burning plants are a superb facility that many factories may benefit from. Factories that make bio waste and agricultural producers can form stable cooperation by using these plants, decreasing pollution and the dumping of natural waste.

Alternative energy sources are diversified. One of them works extremely well in any region, no matter what landscape and the accessibility of other natural resources. This particular type of energy manufacturing will be gaining all the more popularity in the future. The potential importance of renewable power generation is making it an extremely attractive investment option today.

Find out about Renewable Energy (in Dutch: Duurzame Energie, then visit http://www.duurzameburen.nl on how to choose sustainable building options.

A golden opportunity for Britain to lead the world in energy production | Robin McKie

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The government’s bold commitment to new sources of power is welcome. But we must not botch it this time

This week, our leaders are expected to commit Britain to a civic overhaul that no other nation has had the courage – or recklessness, depending on your viewpoint – to contemplate. On Tuesday, the cabinet is set to approve measures that will lead to a revolution in power generation, transport, house construction, planning, manufacturing and farming in Britain over the next 20 years. The aim is to mitigate the worst ravages of global warming.

The proposals form the basis of the fourth budget of the Committee on Climate Change and will be presented for cabinet consideration this week so they can be made law by the end of June. Initial hostility from business secretary Vince Cable and from Treasury officials, who fear funds needed for economic recovery are being wasted on projects of no immediate benefit, has been swept aside. Soon, we will be committed to the basic, radical goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions to around 390m tonnes a year by 2027.

To put those figures in perspective, current emissions stand at 550m tonnes while subsequent measures could produce even greater reductions – to around 200m – by the middle of the century. Thus the cabinet will trigger moves that will bring about the virtual decarbonisation of our society. The fossil fuels – coal, gas and oil – which powered Britain to industrial and imperial might will be outlawed. In their place, wind farms, nuclear power stations, electric cars and underground dumps of carbon dioxide will provide the bedrock for future economic growth in this country. Britain’s basic infrastructure is facing a radical rebuilding.

Other nations have made emission commitments, but most have planned no further than the end of this decade. The Committee on Climate Change’s budget takes Britain 10 years further down the line. As its chief executive, David Kennedy, says: “We have moved into uncharted territory and we are going to be watched, carefully, by other countries. No one else has a target like this.”

The budget is therefore not just one of domestic importance, it is of international significance. Hence the support of foreign secretary William Hague, who has made plain his backing for the budget. “If our domestic resolve is seen to be weakening, we will lose traction elsewhere,” he said last month. But what kind of nation will Britain be once we start investing those billions, raised from taxes and increased electricity costs, in new hardware? How will we move around the country and how will we power our homes and businesses? Very differently, it is clear. According to the committee, by 2027, we should be generating 40% of our electricity from renewable sources (currently only a few per cent) and 40% from nuclear plants (roughly double its present level). The remainder will come from coal, gas and oil plants, with the crucial caveat that most will be connected to carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems that will trap their carbon dioxide emissions and pump them underground for safe storage.

With that kind of kit, Britain can free itself from its dependence on fossil fuels and seriously cut back on harmful heating carbon emissions, says the committee. The obvious point is that most of this hardware does not exist yet. Carbon capture and storage is still only a gleam in the eyes of the odd, enthusiastic geologist, for example. Only one or two pilot plants are in operation at present. This is unproven technology.

Similarly, it is clear that the goal of generating 40% of our electricity from renewables cannot be met through our current obsession with building onshore wind farms. There is not enough land on the British Isles to provide homes for them. We will need other sources of renewable power. Tidal power plants and wave energy generators are two particularly promising candidates, though again the technologies involved are unproved.

And that might seem remiss. Relying on power sources that have still to be developed looks naive, an apparent oversight that will certainly be pounced on by those who deny that fossil fuels are dangerous and that we need to wean ourselves off their use. We are taxing ourselves to sustain an unrealistic ecological dream, they argue.

The argument is disingenuous, however. The very fact that many of these technologies are still in development offers us a key advantage. Over the past four decades, Britain has amassed a great deal of marine engineering experience following the exploitation of North Sea oil, for example. That expertise is precisely the kind needed to build up a strong offshore wind turbine industry in the UK.

The same is true for both tidal and wave power plants. The seas around Britain have some of the strongest tides in the world and are ripe for exploitation. Generating devices are still at a relatively primitive development stage, though plans have been announced for trials of tidal devices in Islay and Orkney. These are reckoned to have considerable promise. They will need careful and costly nurture, however.

The same goes for carbon capture and storage. We not only have North Sea oil experience, we have the depleted gas and oil fields that will make ideal stores for the carbon dioxide we extract from fossil plants. In total, it’s quite a package.

The crucial point is that by acting in a timely manner in facing up to climate change, Britain has given itself a chance to take pole position in the development of a range of renewable technologies which could then be sold round the world. For that, the government deserves congratulations. Passing the carbon budget is just the start, however, for it is equally clear that if we want to exploit these opportunities we will need to adopt a far more realistic attitude to the generation of power than we have in the past.

In the 20th century, Britain was given crucial leads that we should have used to build up other types of energy generation. We squandered them instead. Calder Hall, in Cumbria, was the first atom plant to supply power to a national grid, for example. However, development of the next generation of UK nuclear stations – the advanced gas-cooled reactor – was botched. As a result, Britain’s tranche of atom plants will be either French or American.

Similarly, we should have taken a lead in wind turbine development, given the gusty meteorological conditions of these islands but again we fluffed the chance. As a result, the wind farms that dot the countryside consist of turbines that are made in Denmark or Germany.

The new carbon budget gives Britain a chance to cut its emissions bill, establish energy security for the nation for the next century – and develop a range of new industries. The last on this list is arguably the most important – and the most vulnerable.

Environment: Energy | guardian.co.uk

Is nuclear power fair for future generations? Realities of nuclear power production

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Renewable Energy Provided 11% of Domestic Energy Production in 2010

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Competitive market amendment offers reasonable balance for all types of renewable energy production in Florida.

Tweet Today in the Communication, Energy & Public Utilities Committee of the Florida Senate, Senator Thad Altman will be introducing a competitive market amendment allowing independently built renewable energy systems to compete to sell electricity to the grid. The amendment will be heard in relation to Senate Bill 2078, which allows utility companies to raise their rates by 2% and then use those funds to self-build, own and operate renewable energy facilities. The amendment would allow the utilities to self-build 80% of the total project development and require that 20% of the total development to come from electricity that is purchased from distributed generation systems, including wind, solar and biomass, through a competitive market.
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