Singapore based energy, water and marine company, Sembcorp Industries is to build a 1000 tonne per day waste to energy facility – its largest waste to energy facility to date – at a cost of over S$250 million. It will process commercial and industrial waste collected by its waste management operation. The facility is Sembcorp’s second waste to energy project in Singapore, in addition to its international renewable energy portfolio which includes waste to energy, biomass and wind power facilities in the UK and China. Read More

SEMBCORP TO BUILD 1000 TPD WASTE TO ENERGY PLANT IN SINGAPORE

By Ben Messenger, Managing Editor Waste Management World (2 August 2013):

Sembcorp  to Build 1000 TPD Waste to Energy Plant in Singapore

Singapore based energy, water and marine company, Sembcorp Industries is to build a 1000 tonne per day waste to energy facility – its largest waste to energy facility to date.

According to the company it will invest over S$250 million ($196 million) to build, own and operate the facility, which will process commercial and industrial waste collected by its waste management operation.

Located in the Sakra area of Jurong Island, the facility will consist of two boilers capable of producing a combined 140 tonnes per hour of high-pressure process steam to serve the needs of petrochemical manufacturers in the vicinity.

The company added that the facility strengthens synergies between its energy business and its solid waste management operations, through the conversion of waste, which would otherwise be sent for disposal, into energy in the form of steam for its customers.

Sembcorp claimed that once complete, the plant will offer a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with a coal-fired steam plant, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by around 50%.

Thefacility is Sembcorp’s second waste to energy project in Singapore, where the company already owns and operates a steam boiler running on woodchips recovered from construction and demolition waste (pictured).

In addition to its waste to energy plants in Singapore, the company said that its international renewable energy portfolio also includes waste to energy, biomass and wind power facilities in the UK and China.

In Teesside in the UK, it owns and operates a 35 MW wood-fuelled biomass power station, and recently announced the development of a new energy from waste facility capable of generating 49 MW of gross power or 190 tonnes per hour of steam using municipal and commercial waste.

The company added that the investment will be funded through a combination of bank borrowings and internal sources and that the facility is expected to be complete by 2016.

Source: www.waste-management-world.com/

India is seen as a technology powerhouse, but as far as sustainability is concerned, the country is a laggard and has no companies listed on the top 100 by Corporate Knights. Things are changing as Kathryn Cave reports for IDG Connect. She says IT has the potential to lead the way across every areas of sustainability – in India as well.  In the modern age, sustainability is far more than simply power and electricity… and technology can help provide the necessary building blocks to facilitate global improvement across the board. Read more

“Cause India”: Global 100, Tata & ABG (Sustainability in Tech, Part 1)

Kathryn Cave for IDG Connect (3 August 2013):

Businesses are increasingly being judged within wider social frameworks and one of the most obvious ways to do this is via sustainability initiatives. Today, indexes, awards, and damning reports are popping up left, right and centre, whilst this year’s World Brand Congress is using “sustainability brands” as its overall theme. In the first of a two-part series on sustainability, Kathryn Cave looks at the Global 100, “cause India”… and what all this sustainability stuff really means.

“Cause India”: Global 100, Tata & ABG (Sustainability in Tech, Part 1)

Edward O. Wilson, the American biologist, researcher and author famously defined the great challenge of the twenty-first century as: “to raise people everywhere to a decent standard of living while preserving as much of the rest of life as possible.” This statement more or less holds the nub of sustainability – a word that is used and abused randomly – and increasingly hijacked to showcase a whole variety of very different things.

More often than not sustainability is the vehicle through which people talk about the environment, generally and the generation of electricity specifically. Yet as one of the great buzz words of the modern age it can also, equally suggest organisations’ levels of involvement in wider social causes, their treatment of staff, and how a company interacts with its customer base in the long-term.  All this makes sustainability extremely hard to pin-point… and even more difficult to measure.

The Global 100 is an annual project, run by Corporate Knights Inc. since 2005 and aims to do precisely that. Based on a data driven survey of 350 companies this seeks to identify an elite group of the top 100 large-cap companies in the world.  The methodology for evaluating sustainability or “clean capitalism”, as it is also known, is to analyse whether “a corporation’s long-term interests are intellectually and financially consistent with resource efficiency, proactive health and safety practices, and responsible leadership.”

Toby Heaps, editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights, stresses sustainability is when what is good for a company is also good for the planet, and vice-versa. “It means creating more wealth than we destroy. It means that a company is on balance increasing our overall stock of wealth, grounded in human, produced, financial, natural, and social capital.” Surprisingly enough, the full findings can even be accessed on an excel spreadsheet, complete with ratings against each criteria… this is not the usual slick PR presentation and actually suggests greater integrity.

The top three tech companies listed on the index are Intel (14), Cisco (20) – a company that incidentally ties with Google in the latest Greenpeace ranking of IT sector climate leadership and Alcatel-Lucent (28). The top two performing countries are the US and Canada (with 10 representative companies from each). Although the top three positions went to companies from: Belgium (Umicore SA), Brazil (Natura Cosmeticos SA) and Norway (Statoil ASA).

No Indian companies were included in the ranking, but India itself does have an extremely interesting attitude to sustainability. This year’s World Brand Congress  which will be held in Mumbai at the end of October and takes “sustainable brands” as its core theme.  Sustainability (in the wider sense) always generates a lot of attention in India.  A fact which is underpinned by Cause Marketing, a local trend where consumers are happiest to bond with brands that integrate Sales and Marketing strategies with social causes.

Interestingly, the Havas Prosumer Report 2012 shows that 83% of Indians would like to be part of a truly important cause compared to 45% from the UK and 61% from the US. Vikas Puthran, Vice-President-Alliances and Operations GiveIndia, explains this is because: “In India we see ‘in your face reality of the under privileged’ on a day-to-day basis. The young generation who have had the privilege of an education and, as a result, a decent livelihood, and want to make a contribution and give back to society. Since the beneficiaries are available in their local community or near about, the social impact they can make is visible for them to see and feel. So they have first-hand feedback of their return on social investment contributed either in money or resources.”

This can also be seen in a wider interest in social causes from some companies. There are so many (much publicised) companies that abuse society, that those that do have a conscience put a great deal of effort into it. Puthran offers the example of the ‘Aditya Birla Group’ (ABG) which puts its “excellent sustainability vision, execution and programs” at the centre of its various business groups:

“For ABG, sustainability is about working in the communities that they operate. They run programs to sustain the environment, livelihoods of people who are directly employed with them or generate indirect revenue to partners and employees of ABG. [This includes] providing education to underprivileged kids in their communities so that their families become sustainable and probably be a source of human resources.”

Another Indian corporate that’s a role model for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability, Puthran tells me is the TATA Group. “Apart from the many CSR programs, the Tata Group has, Tata Index for Sustainable Human Development, a pioneering effort aimed at directing, measuring and enhancing the community work that Tata enterprises undertake. The Index provides guidelines for Tata companies looking to fulfil their social responsibilities.”

​In the IT sector however, the overwhelming tendency is to concentrate on environmental issues. This is natural because the industry as a whole is so dependent on power and datacentres. However, when Interbrand released its Global Green Brands report in June this year, 12 brands came from the IT industry and helped to reveal some broader, and often overlooked, truths.  The report stressed that across every sector, those organisations which were successful were those committed to transparency and clear communication with consumers. Because of this, market leading tech firms have the potential to take a real global leadership stance in environmental issues and can often spread a wider influence into other areas.

Today, IT has the potential to lead the way across every areas of sustainability. It can help reduce energy consumption through more efficient datacentre designs. It can help cut company waste through better managed processes. It can even help the disenfranchised poor by giving access to education, health and communication.  In the modern age, sustainability is far more than simply power and electricity… and technology can help provide the necessary building blocks to facilitate global improvement across the board.

Kathryn Cave is Editor at IDG Connect

DG Connect is the demand generation division of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s largest technology media company. Established in 2005, it utilises access to 35 million business decision makers’ details to unite technology marketers with relevant targets from any country in the world. Committed to engaging a disparate global IT audience with truly localised messaging, IDG Connect also publishes market specific thought leadership papers on behalf of its clients, and produces research for B2B marketers worldwide.

Source: www.ieet.org

Is a sustainable car industry just a pipe dream? The car industry insists that huge progress is being made. Average fleet emissions in Europe stood at 186g of CO₂ per kilometre in 1995. By 2011, that was down to 136.6 gCO₂/km, and the figure continues to fall. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) credits “huge efforts” by manufacturers and “billions of euros of investment” in research and development for lowering the environmental impacts of driving. Is it enough, asks the Guardian Professional’s Oliver Balch. Read More

Is a sustainable car industry just a pipe dream?

Car companies are keen to trumpet their sustainability efforts, but there’s little sign of real change

By Oliver Balch in Guardian Professional (2 August 2013):

SUVs get a bad rap. Hulking great gas-guzzlers, they clog up city streets, belch out CO₂ and depreciate faster than the spinning price digits on a petrol pump.

Now car manufacturers are wising up. With regulators pushing them to cut tailpipe emissions and consumers worried about their wallets, a new generation of smaller, nippier, more “eco” SUVs is hitting the market.

The Range Rover Evoque epitomises this new-look category. With a lightweight body (with minimum 50% recycled content) and packed with hi-tech plastics, the cross-coupé vehicle is 35% lighter than its predecessor, the Land Rover’s 2010 Range Rover Sport.

“It has less fuel use, better performance, better breaking. It has a strong body, so it’s a safer vehicle as well,” enthuses Jonathan Garrett, sustainability director at Jaguar Land Rover.

So less polluting and a better drive: what’s not to like? Not much, it would seem. The Evoque now comprises around 30% of all Jaguar Land Rover’s global sales, with more than 100,000 units shifted in 2012 alone.

Yet, with car travel representing about 12% of all carbon emissions in the European Union, do the sustainability efforts of automakers go far enough?

Shifting gears

The industry insists that huge progress is being made. Average fleet emissions in Europe stood at 186g of CO₂ per kilometre in 1995. By 2011, that was down to 136.6 gCO₂/km, and the figure continues to fall.

Cara McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), credits “huge efforts” by manufacturers and “billions of euros of investment” in research and development for lowering the environmental impacts of driving.

This isn’t just industry puff. Only last month, the UK’s Department of Transport announced £500m in research grants for low-emission technologies. Car companies are earmarking large sums for sustainability innovations, too. A “large part” of the €32bn or so spent on R&D by European carmakers is destined for low-emission and fuel efficient technologies, according to the ACEA.

That such investment is having results is not without doubt. Phil Harrold, a partner in advisory firm PwC’s automotive practice, points to advances in engine management systems, such as start-stop functions and regenerative braking. Advances in low-carbon propulsion technologies are also under way, with substantive developments in hydrogen, bio-methane, fuel cell and – especially – electric power trains.

Sustainability is spreading into the manufacturing process, too. For example, Toyota’s Burnaston factory boasts more than 17,000 solar panels with an annual generation capacity of nearly 4m kWh – the largest of any manufacturing site in the UK. Moves to assemble cars closer to their destination market, rather than ship them fully manufactured, is another way in which the production process is getting greener.

These approaches are winning plaudits. Take Interbrand’s recent Best Global Green Brands ranking, a benchmark for eco-leaders. The top three green companies are all car manufacturers: Toyota, Ford and Honda.

Diversions ahead

Take a step back, though. Average tailpipe emissions of 136.6 gCO₂/km may be good, but they’re far from great. The European Union wants the figure down to 95 gCO₂/km by the end of the decade, and possibly as low as 68-78 gCO₂/km by 2025. Nor is car ownership slowing. Forecasts from PwC suggest that about 24m cars are expected to roll off European factory lines come 2019, up from 19m at present.

PwC’s Harrold describes sustainability as the “lifeblood of the industry”, but concedes much more must be done. “Is it enough?” he asks, referring to carmakers’ progress. “No, clearly not. We’re at a staging post in a journey.”

So, how will we achieve sustainable car travel as fast as possible? No one really knows.

Much has been made of electric vehicles (EVs) in recent years. EVs certainly tick a lot of boxes. The BMW i3 electric supermini, due to hit UK streets in November, weighs in at 1,195kg (similar to a Ford Fiesta) and has no tailpipe emissions. We should all drive one: problem solved.

Only, we won’t. There are plenty of reasons why. Range anxiety (the BMW i3 will run for 100 miles or so before the battery runs out), infrastructure limitations (most regions lack sufficient charging stations) and price (the basic i3 model starts at £25,680).

According to PwC’s forecasts, only 1.34% of all the cars produced in Europe by 2019 are likely to be electric. Hybrids fare little better, with projections of a 2.3% share of the market. Even if these numbers were to shoot up, questions still hang over the technology. If the electricity to charge a battery-powered car is generated from fossil fuels, then the carbon footprint remains much the same.

According to Jaguar Land Rover’s Garrett: “Unless you’ve got a green [electricity] grid, all you’re doing is switching the impact to another part of the lifecycle.”

Another area trumpeted by the industry is consumer use. Smart driving – not revving at the lights, or driving with flat tyres – can increase fuel efficiency (and reduce emissions) by up to 22%, according to ACEA. In the UK, Fiat has packaged its Blue&Me infotainment system with an eco-Drive application. Linked via a USB, the interactive tool offers drivers tips on fuel-efficient driving techniques and enables them to track their carbon savings.

From a usage perspective, lift sharing and car lending could reduce car ownership and individual journeys significantly. Peer-to-peer services such as BlaBlaCar, ZipCar and WhipCar are helping breathe life into these collaborative modes of car travel. With a mind to scale, it bodes well that manufacturers such as Daimler (with its car2go initiative) and BMW (with Drivenow) are getting in on the game.

Rear mirror view

For all its championing of sustainability, car manufacturers (much like oil companies) ultimately have a very fixed view of the future. It’s a future in which everyone has the right to drive a car. Their current business models are premised on shifting as many new cars as they can.

The only way this vision will change is if we, the driving public, start championing our own alternative. To date, there’s little sign of that happening.

Within the existing paradigm the industry’s strategy of incremental improvements in fuel efficiency is perhaps the best we can hope for. Unless we renounce our car keys and seriously seek out more sustainable modes of mobility. Unlikely? Maybe, but if SUVs can change their spots, perhaps their drivers can, too.

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Source: www.theguardian.com/