The world’s energy demand may double in the next 50 years as the population grows to 9.5 billion and millions of people rise out of poverty, according to projections by oil and gas giant Shell, also predicting that by 2070, solar photovoltaic panels will become the world’s largest primary source of energy. Why then would Singapore hark back to the bad old days and commission a power plant to burn coal – its first and only one to use the worst of the fossil fuels? Read More

Singapore: First coal-fired power plant here limits emissions

By Grace Chua in The Straits Times (23 February 2013):

SINGAPORE’S first utility plant to burn coal will be opened officially next Wednesday – although it has been operational since August.

The first stage of Tuas Power’s $2 billion Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex on Jurong Island burns low-sulphur coal, palm kernel shells, wood chips, natural gas and diesel to supply steam and electricity to industries here.

Its customers – which include petrochemical firms like Asahi Kasei, Dairen and Lanxess – save about 10 per cent on utility bills as these methods are cheaper than burning natural gas alone. Unsold electricity is used for the plant’s operations or channelled into the national grid after being traded.

The plant was conceived in 2006 even before China Huaneng Group bought Tuas in 2008, said Tuas Power president and CEO Lim Kong Puay.

Construction began in 2009 and the first phase was completed last year. It consists of a circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler that produces 450 tonnes of steam per hour, two 200-tonne gas- or diesel- fired boilers, a powerful steam turbine and a demineralised water plant supplying water for steam.

Future phases, to be ready in 2014 and 2017, will add two more CFB boilers, a gas boiler, two steam turbines and waste water treatment and desalination facilities. When fully completed in 2017, the plant will be able to produce 160 megawatts of electricity and 900 tonnes of steam per hour.

About 66 per cent of its capacity will be fed by low-ash, low-sulphur coal, 16 per cent by palm kernel shells and wood chips, and 18 per cent by natural gas or diesel.

Environmental groups have criticised it for burning coal, which produces twice as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy as natural gas. But, from barge to boiler, the coal remains enclosed to minimise coal dust. Filters trap particles and sulphur dioxide, while nitrogen oxide emissions meet National Environment Agency standards, Mr Lim said.

The coal is stored in enclosed silos that hold 22,000 tonnes, or two weeks’ supply. And energy-efficient processes, such as producing steam and electricity at the same time, mean most of the energy stored in the fuel is used rather than lost.

Coal was chosen to diversify the plant’s fuel mix for energy security and price stability. Coal prices have remained stable, while oil prices are volatile.

Source: www.wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg

By Fiona Chan in The Straits Times (4 March 2013):

The world’s energy demand may double in the next 50 years as the population grows to 9.5 billion and millions of people rise out of poverty, according to projections by oil and gas giant Shell.

Depending on the pace of global economic growth, Shell foresees either natural gas becoming the dominant energy source, or coal remaining widely used until solar power takes over.

These two scenarios, released by Shell on Thursday, underscore the critical role that governments and businesses play in shaping the energy system of the future, said chief executive Peter Voser.

“Above all, the scenarios reinforce the urgency of addressing the world’s resource and environmental stresses,” he added.

In the next seven years, the world could generate new energy demand equivalent to China’s entire energy system, he said.

To address this, more use should be made of natural gas, renewable energy and technology that captures carbon dioxide emissions and stores them underground, he said.

Shell’s scenarios highlight the danger of “policy drift and unbalanced regulation”, which Mr Voser said could lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions and more pressing resource scarcity.

The first scenario, which Shell has termed Mountains, projects a sluggish pace of global economic growth, taking some pressure off energy demand.

In this environment, policymakers undertake smart urban planning in growing cities, triggering a transformation of the transportation sector.

Cars and trucks powered by electricity and hydrogen could dominate the road by the end of the century, and global demand for oil might peak around 2035.

This leads to greenhouse gas emissions starting to fall after 2030 and the eventual displacement of coal by natural gas, the cleanest burning fossil fuel.

This scenario also envisions the use of nuclear power becoming more widespread as well. Its market share could increase by about 25 per cent by 2060, Shell said.

The second scenario, called Oceans, paints a more prosperous but volatile world where the energy landscape is dictated by market forces and civil society, rather than government policies.

Public resistance and slow adoption of policies and technology limit the development of nuclear power and restrict the growth of natural gas outside North America, Shell said.

Coal remains widely used until at least the middle of the century, and oil demand continues to grow until about 2040, with higher energy prices spurring the development of hard-to-reach oil resources.

But Shell surmises that in this scenario, the rise in oil prices will also encourage the development of solar power as an alternative.

By 2070, solar photovoltaic panels will become the world’s largest primary source of energy, according to Shell.

Although both scenarios project that global emissions of carbon dioxide will drop to near zero by 2100, the Oceans scenario takes a longer time to get there. This will result in greater fossil fuel use and higher total carbon dioxide emissions over the century than in the Mountains scenario, said Shell.

In drawing up the scenarios, the company noted areas of public policy likely to have the greatest influence on a more sustainable energy future.

These include measures to promote energy-efficient cities, transportation and buildings, encourage the safe development of cleaner-burning natural gas, and put a price on carbon dioxide emissions.

Source: www.news.asiaone.com

Inspired by a trip to Singapore, Spain and the United States last year, Dave Hickson has brought together an exhibition of works that highlights our relationship to our urban environment. His photography, sculpture and drawings explore architecture and the interaction of objects in particular spaces, taking in the grandeur and occasional intimacy of public buildings and structures. The exhibition “New York, Barcelona, Murwillumbah” – recognises the quiet drama being played out in the shapes and colours of our everyday lives – opens at the Tweed River Art Gallery, Northern New South Wales (close to Gold Coast), Australia on 8 March and runs until 14 April. Read More

8 March – 14 April 2013

Most of the work for this show was inspired by a trip to Singapore, Spain and the United States. The work explores architecture and the interaction of objects in particular spaces, taking in the grandeur and occasional intimacy of public buildings and structures. I have attempted to make works that highlight our relationship to our environment, and the relationship of shapes and colours to each other.

I started this series of work by photographing towns in my region. In 2012, I signed up for the Endless Sunrise project, where a group of photographers documented the sunrise each day for a month. Rather than taking images of the sunrise at the beach, I began photographing the towns in my area, from Billinudgel to Crabbes Creek and Mullumbimby. I was inspired by the beauty in the buildings and trees of these areas, and when I had the opportunity to travel overseas with my partner, I wanted to continue developing this interest in architecture and urban landscape.

Travelling first to Singapore, I visited the newly built Marina Bay Sands Hotel, a 55-storey, three-tower building with a 150 meter swimming pool on its roof. The complex includes a shell-shaped theatre and the Art Science Museum, which is inspired by a lotus flower.

Then on to Spain to visit Madrid’s amazing art museums, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao , where Jeff Koons’ floral puppy guards the entrance to what locals call the “Dog House”. This is a building that has brought millions of visitors a year to a part of Bilbao that was, for a long time, an industrial area and port. Constructed of stone, steel and concrete and clad in titanium, it is a revolution in architecture using computer-aided design to bring Gehry’s organic, poetic forms to life.

Although I was amazed by the history and decorative quality of the buildings and monuments in Spain, it was in Barcelona that I had an architectural spiritual experience. Antoni Gaudi’s cathedral, The Sagrada Familia, has been under construction for 130 years. Gaudi died in 1926 and the construction is expected to be completed in 2026, the centenary of Gaudi’s death. The organic exterior, with sculptures growing out of the stone in every direction is remarkable, and inside the power of the massive columns leading to an undulating ceiling of different coloured stone and marble is incredible.

Reluctantly leaving Spain, we arrived in New York and quickly made a bee-line to Frank Lloyd Wright’s spiraling Guggenheim, and the Met with its buildings within buildings. From New York we drove to Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house at Mill Run. Its cantilevered structure and natural location are a great example of architecture that interacts with its environment. The original rock formations jut into the interior of the house and the waterfall under the house acts as a natural air conditioner. We then travelled to Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles before flying home.

My photographs of these buildings and urban landscapes were the starting point for both drawings and sculptures. I have simplified forms and played with scale and colour to produce works that sometimes only vaguely show their connection to the original image.

The series of work displayed in New York, Barcelona, Murwillumbah is simply an attempt to interpret our urban environments, to recognise the quiet drama being played out in the shapes and colours of our everyday lives.

Artefacts:

“New York, Barcelona, Murwillumbah” is a exhibition of drawings, photographs and sculpture inspired by a trip Dave Hickson took to Spain, Singapore and the United States in 2012.

Prior to travelling I had been making a series of photographs of towns near my home, such as Billinudgel and Murwillumbah. Then while overseas I visited a number of buildings designed by renowned architects: Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona; Frank Gehry in Bilbao and Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennsylvania and New York. These buildings were often designed with nature as their inspiration. Frank Lloyd Wright had coined the phrase “organic architecture”, which was architecture that responded to its environment and blurred the lines between the inside and outside. This was possibly a response to the development of the large rectangular-box skyscraper apartment buildings that became popular in the 19th century.

At art school I majored in sculpture, and I find I have always had a strong affinity for architectural spaces, whether it is simply the relationship of objects in a particular space or the grandeur and drama of public buildings and structures.

I wanted to create work that looked at these relationships: us to our environment, shapes and colours to each other, and the abstraction of our everyday lives.

In this exhibition I’m showing a series of photographs that represent most of the places I have visited on this trip: Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao in Spain; New York, Washington, San Francisco and Pennsylvania in the US; and Singapore.

I translated some of these photos into drawings, simplifying the compositions, shapes and colours, then translating them further into sculptures; using wood off cuts or reshaping recycled wood using a jigsaw, then playing with the colour, scale and composition, letting accidental associations happen, until it seems to be right.  Sometimes looking nothing like the original image – but still containing the essence and memory of the starting point, whether it was standing in the Metropolitan Museum in New York or in the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

If the viewer feels inspired to check out one of these buildings or to look at their surroundings with a different perspective – I think that’s great.

“New York, Barcelona, Murwillumbah” runs from March 8 – April 14.

The opening will be 6pm (for 6.30pm) on Friday March 8 at the Tweed River Art Gallery. To be opened by Richard Weinstein SC.

Dave Hickson Biography:

Dave was born in Auckland, but grew up in Christchurch and Singapore. After leaving school he studied broadcasting and worked for a small music television station in Christchurch. He moved to Sydney in 1997, where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with honours in Sculpture, at the National Art School.

He won the sculpture prize in 2002 at NAS, for a series of wood and welded steel constructions, inspired by painters such as Matisse, Bruegel and Poussin.

Since art school Dave has gained teaching qualifications; and has taught at schools and at TAFE. He continues to make artwork in a variety of media; including sculpture, photography, collage and drawing.

He has been shown in the Salon des Refuses at S.H.Irvin Gallery, Swell Sculpture Festival, and the Olive Cotton award for Photographic Portraiture.

Dave’s current show has drawn its inspiration from a trip to Singapore, Spain and the United States. It explores architecture – delighting in the interaction of objects in a particular space, or the grandeur and drama of public buildings and structures. He has made work that looks at the relationship of us to our environment and of shapes and colours to each other.

Dave has lived and worked in the Northern Rivers region since 2008.

Source: www.davehickson.net

While more is known about climate change and the urgent need for sustainability across all industries led by strong government policies, we are still having a climate change debate when the science is clear and it isn’t something that should be open to debate at all. Michelle Smytheman – who was there at the beginning – takes the Last Word stand to recognise five years of abc carbon express. Read More

By Michelle Smytheman, BA (Jour/Comm), Grad Dip Mrkt Mgt, MPRIA

www.reflectedimage.com.au

Wow! Five years – it’s a contradiction but so much and so little has changed.

While more is known about climate change and the urgent need for sustainability across all industries led by strong government policies, we are still having a climate change debate when the science is clear and it isn’t something that should be open to debate at all.

This makes what Ken and Sustain Ability Showcase Consultancy does – in communicating the issues around climate change and sustainability – even more important than it was when we assisted Ken to send out the first ABC Carbon newsletter in 2008.

As a public relations and video production consultancy, Reflected Image PRoductions, services clients across a range of industries and government level, providing comprehensive communications management.

We assisted Ken with the editing and promotion of the ABC Carbon book when it launched and also provided the RIPR Mail e-mail marketing platform from which he sent the newsletters for the first few years.

I first met Ken when we were both called on to promote a local literary festival in 2007 and we began working together on ABC Carbon soon after.  Ken also introduced me to teaching at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where I have taught Public Relations and Communications for more than five years.

Just as ABC Carbon grew and evolved into the Sustain Ability Showcase Consultancy and saw Ken move from Brisbane to Singapore, Reflected Image PRoductions has grown as well and while we are still based on the beautiful Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane, our clients are now spread throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Congratulations again to Ken on the milestone – keep up the good work – the need to communicate to everyone effectively about the issues of sustainability and climate change have never been more important!

www.reflectedimage.com.au