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Waste-to-Energy Solutions crucial to combat High Per Capita Waste Generation and Population Growth rate in the GCC, says Frost & Sullivan
Waste Management Services in the GCC adopting some of the best global practices
Dubai, U.A.E., 28th January, 2014: The global trend of increasing urbanisation and higher disposable income being directly proportional to increase in per capita waste generation has been mirrored in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries as well. The increasing volume and complexity of waste is posing a threat to the ecosystem and human health. At the current rate, Global Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Generation volumes are likely to nearly double by 2025.
The GCC countries stand out in terms of lavish lifestyles, unsustainable consumption levels, rapid urbanisation, and rapid growth in population. Owing to this, the total volume of the waste generated in the GCC is likely to touch 130 Million Tonnes in 2014 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.7 per cent from 2009 to 2014.
As per recent Frost & Sullivan analysis, one of the key factors driving the market for waste management services is the shift to alternative integrated waste management solutions and Waste-to-Energy (WTE). However, WTE is an emerging market in the GCC with only 0.25-0.3 terrawatt-hours (TWh) of energy being produced from waste in the countries presently. Qatar is the first GCC country to implement WTE on a large scale with its Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre (DSWMC) successfully deploying a WTE plant with a capacity to generate 50 Megawatt (MW) of electricity.
These facts, along with other similar insights on the WTE market in the Middle East, were presented in an exclusive Frost & Sullivan Whitepaper titled, ‘Middle East Waste Management Market: Transforming Liability Into Value' at EcoWASTE 2014. Kumar Ramesh, Industry Manager, Environment and Building Technologies Practice, Middle East and North Africa, Frost & Sullivan also moderated a panel discussion on WTE at the prestigious 7th World Future Energy Summit.
Speaking specifically about the United Arab Emirates (UAE) waste management market, Kumar Ramesh said, "Waste-to-Energy is an emerging market in the GCC and has immense potential owing to the high waste generation per capita and high population growth rate. A well-managed WTE mechanism can reduce up to 90 per cent of the waste going to landfill. The GCC countries' policies, interests in looking towards renewable energy, and reducing dependence on fossil fuel, along with constant public pressure and urbanisation, are driving the WTE market, which has witnessed 20-25 per cent growth in the past three years. With more projects on the anvil, and the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Qatar announcing multi-billion dollar investment plans towards improving waste management services, this growth trend is likely to attract more WTE technology providers to the region. This would present more opportunities for both domestic waste management service providers and international technology companies to come together and offer customised and reliable solutions based on the region's requirements.
Based on government reports and announcements of upcoming projects, Frost & Sullivan estimates that the WTE projects in the GCC will produce between 300 MW-500 MW of power by 2020. This is approximately 10 times the current WTE production estimates.
Amongst the GCC countries, the KSA has the most ambitious renewable energy target of 25 Giga Watt (GW) of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), 16 GW of solar Photo Voltaic (PV), 9 GW of wind, 3 GW of WTE, and 1 GW of geothermal by 2032.
The WTE target capacity of the KSA is followed by Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. While the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) has announced plans to convert municipal WTE and produce 100 MW of electricity, the Kuwait Partnerships Technical Bureau, in collaboration with the Kuwait Municipality, has invited interested international and regional companies to develop a 3000 Tonnes per Day (TPD) of solid WTE project facility in the Kabd area.
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?Src=RSS&docid=288852679
Hong Kong patent filing/examination
http://ipsearch.ipd.gov.hk/patent/ereg/fssr02100.jsp?AH_NO=13107545&AH_CD=0&AH_SEQ=0&LANG=en
India patent filing/examination
http://ipindiaservices.gov.in/patentsearch/search/index.aspx
put in application number: 2745/KOLNP/2012
then the captcha
Booming Oil Extraction and the Higher Water Cut to drive the GCC’s Produced Water Management Market
Strong R&D investment by stakeholders bodes well for the PW equipment and services market
Dubai, U.A.E., 27th January, 2014 - Produced Water (PW) is a byproduct of oil and gas extraction and needs special handling like any industrial waste. PW treatment is a major area for R&D in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, providing huge market opportunities for PW management equipment and service providers. The market will witness continued growth as the PW Society, Global Water Summit, International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, Qatar National Research Fund, a few water treatment companies, educational institutions, and government agencies in the region work to improve existing PW treatment standards.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.environmental.frost.com), Produced Water Market Analysis in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries, finds that the market earned revenues of USD 316.8 Million in 2013 and estimates this to reach USD 482.6 Million in 2017.
"Considering the large total proven oil reserves in the GCC, the amount of PW generated is quite high," said Kshitij Nilkanth, Program Manager, Environmental Technologies, Frost & Sullivan. "To address the mammoth task of safely handling PW and extracting maximum oil before disposal, various governments are investing in R&D through joint efforts and grants – such as the USD 0.7 Million provided by Qatar National Research Fund to ConocoPhilips – for the development of newer technologies."
Other countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however, have a lower water cut (PW proportion of total production) and therefore, do not invest in PW management. Suppliers in these countries are not given a clear idea about current or future management strategies, hindering them from knowing and addressing requirements. In fact, many oil and gas companies do not even monitor water produced from the fields and are unaware of the various options to manage PW.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies too can be disruptive to the PW management market as EOR restrains the volume of PW generated from a well. On the other hand, growing volumes of oil and gas extraction will continue to produce a large amount of PW that offsets the PW volume drop enabled by EOR methods.
While the PW management equipment market is competitive, the services segment is relatively new in GCC and will be a high-growth sector in the long run.
"One of the most effective ways to enter the GCC PW management market is through joint research collaboration to utilise the technology developed within the region," reasoned Nilkanth. "This will help capture the domestic market, increase technology knowhow, and develop relationships with customers to ensure more projects."
If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an e-mail to Tanu Chopra/ Paroma Bhattacharya, Corporate Communications, at tanu.chopra@frost.com/paromab@frost.com, with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.
Produced Water Market Analysis in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries is part of the Environmental Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan’s related studies include: Water and Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market in Saudi Arabia, Global Waste to Energy Plant Market, and Global Smart Water Metering Market. All studies included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?Src=RSS&docid=288800317
U.S. senators propose bill to prevent chemical spills after West Virginia leak
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. senators introduced legislation on Tuesday aimed at preventing chemical spills like the one that left 300,000 West Virginians without drinking water this month.
The bill streamlines oversight of chemical facilities and is designed to make sure factories are properly inspected by state officials and that proper response procedures are in place for accidents.
"No West Virginian or American should have to worry about the contamination of their water supply from a chemical spill," said Senator Barbara Boxer, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"This commonsense bill makes sure all chemicals are appropriately monitored and protects the safety of the water we consume and use every day," Boxer said in a statement.
She introduced the legislation with the two senators from West Virginia, Joe Manchin and John Rockefeller, both Democrats.
More than 300,000 people around the state capital of Charleston were left without drinking water after a Freedom Industries tank leaked as much as 7,500 gallons (28,000 liters) of coal-processing chemicals into the Elk River on January 9.
The spill was about a mile upstream from a West Virginia American Water plant, the biggest in the state.
The bill, the Chemical Safety and Drinking Water Protection Act, would require state inspections of aboveground chemical storage facilities and the industry's development of state-approved emergency response plans. It would allow states to recoup emergency response costs and to ensure drinking water systems have the tools and information to respond to spills and other emergencies.
The proposed legislation follows a move last week by West Virginia's governor to regulate aboveground storage tanks, including those near public water supplies and distribution systems.
West Virginia authorities lifted the ban on the use of tap water on January 18, but advised pregnant women to continue using alternative water sources. A day earlier, Freedom Industries had filed for bankruptcy protection after vendors demanded that the maker of specialty chemicals pay in cash, straining its finances.
"It's clear more could have been done more to protect the water supply for hundreds of thousands of West Virginians," Rockefeller said. He said the bill was a first toward bringing accountability to companies in the state.
(Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Amanda Kwan)
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0R1F320140128
Water Stewardship – Key to Food Security
GERMANY - How sustainable water use can secure food production over the long term was the central theme of the Blue Planet session at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture during Green Week in Berlin.
The panel discussed the thesis that new partnerships on the basis of Water Stewardship can contribute to food security.
As a result of the panel concrete recommendations will be formulated for the creation and implementation of such partnerships as well as for the necessary financial instruments.
The high-level panel was part of the BLUE PLANET – Berlin Water Dialogues organised by the European Water Partnership (EWP) in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research of Berlin and the Messe Berlin GmbH.
The panel discussion centred around the concept that access to safe and reliable sources of local water is the basis of global food production and represents around 70 per cent of all water demand.
Meeting the needs of an expanding global population in the face of climate change thus requires fair and responsible management of increasingly scarce water resources. Whilst global competition for both food and water resources is rapidly increasing, innovative solutions can be found through deepening cooperation.
This is the starting point of the interactive format BLUE PLANET. It promotes the exchange on water-related issues across various sectors and along the regional, national and international positioning of businesses, institutions and organizations.
The goal is both a comprehensive awareness building and the elaboration and communication of practical solutions in order to promote the NEXUS thinking.
According to the panel. the concept of water stewardship serves to unite a wide set of stakeholders interested in the improvement of water management and the reduction of water related impacts of internal and value chain operations.
It is also a commitment from businesses and agriculture to the sustainable management of shared water resources in the public interest through collective action with other water users, governments, NGOs and communities.
The European Water Stewardship (EWS) – an initiative of the European Water Partnership – is an integrative system for industry and agriculture, enabling food producers and processors to better understand the long-term trends influencing their water source and to engage constructively with other water users to tackle shared risks at the source.
EWS provides a catalyst for collective action through established channels and resources, drawing all water-related activities into a comprehensive response strategy.
It is a regional implementation initiative of the global standard developed by the Alliance for Water Stewardship.
TheBioenergySite News Desk
http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/13834/water-stewardship-key-to-food-security
Water scarcity now linked to slowing energy production
[bolds are mine]
[National security implications?]
ABU DHABI, UAE
January 21, 2014
By Tom Freyberg
Chief Editor, WWi magazine
A new initiative has been launched by the World Bank that aims to link the water and power industries better globally.
Called Thirsty Energy, the initiative will help design “assessment tools and management frameworks” to help governments “coordinate decision-making” when it comes to scaling up water and power projects.
The challenge faced is that energy production is water intensive yet often the companies responsible for power and water are separate.
Last year alone, water shortages reportedly shut down thermal power plants in India, decreased energy production in power plants in the United States and threatened hydropower generation in many countries, including Sri Lanka, China and Brazil.
The International Energy Agency said that by 2035 the world’s energy consumption will increase by 35%, which in turn will increase water consumption by 85%.
Part of the challenge for the energy sector is the competing demand for water. This demand will grow as the world’s population reaches 9 billion, requiring a 50% increase in agricultural production and a 15% increase in already-strained water withdrawals.
With two-thirds of the world’s population - or 5 billion people - urbanized by 2030, cities in developing countries will be under tremendous pressure to meet the demand for food, energy, and water services.
Yet today, some 780 million people lack access to improved water and 2.5 billion, more than one-third of the world's people, do not have basic sanitation.
With the energy sector as an entry point for Thirsty Energy, initial work has already started in South Africa and dialogue has been initiated in Bangladesh, Morocco, and Brazil where the challenges have already manifested and thus where demand exists for integrated approaches, according to the World Bank.
The World Bank said that failing to anticipate water constraints in energy investments can increase risks and costs for energy projects. In fact, the majority of energy and utility companies consider water a substantive risk and report water-related business impacts, it said.
Rachel Kyte, World Bank group vice president and special envoy for Climate Change, said: “The water energy interrelationship is critical to build resilient as well as efficient, clean energy systems. The time to act is now.”
Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, added: “Water constraints on the energy sector can be overcome, but all stakeholders, public and private, must work together to develop innovative tools and use water as a guiding factor for assessing viability of projects. The absence of integrated planning is unsustainable.”
###
http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2014/01/water-scarcity-now-linked-to-slowing-energy-production.html
bolds are mine...
Ohio city anaerobic digestion upgrade to harness wastewater for renewable energy
Jan. 20, 2014 -- Due to the expansion of an anaerobic digestion facility at a wastewater treatment plant in Akron, Ohio, domestic sewage will generate roughly 12,192 megawatt hours (mwh) of electricity in 2014 -- enough green energy to provide electricity to 1,600 homes.
According to Biogas Data, over 4,000 additional wastewater treatment facilities across the U.S. have the potential to adopt AD technology.
http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2014/01/ohio-wastewater-treatment-plant-upgrades-anaerobic-digestion.html
Researchers at MIT said they expected 5 billion (52 per cent) of the world’s projected 9.7 billion people to live in water-stressed areas by 2050.
Also, by then, about 1 billion more people would be likely living in areas where water demand exceeds surface-water supply. A large portion of these regions -- India and MENA -- already face water stress.
Further, of the 5 billion people, up to 3 billion could be exposed to overly exploited conditions.
The population at 2050 under this overly exploited water stress are nearly double the current estimate (1.7 billion people), and among the future scenarios it represents a range of increase between 1 and 1.3 billion people.
Read more at...
http://www.indiawaterreview.in/Story/TopNews/indias-socioeconomic-growth-to-heighten-water-stress-in-years-ahead/1392/15#.Ut_o2Xn0C2x
“Do you want to smell the water?”
She goes into the bathroom and turns both faucet knobs wide open. “Just wait for it,” she says. Sure enough, a pungent aroma fills the bathroom: black licorice with a hint of industrial chemicals, stifling and nauseating.
The odor is the result of a recent chemical contamination episode that has left hundreds of thousands of West Virginians without tap water for nearly a week, sparking a state of emergency that made international headlines.
The rest of the story....
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surviving-the-west-virginia-water-crisis
bolds are mine... How the Army Became a Leader in Third-Party Clean Energy Financing
The path toward net-zero energy in the military is paved with ESPCs and PPAs.
Katherine Tweed
January 17, 2014
News stories about the Army don’t always leave readers with a warm and fuzzy feeling.
But if you work in a clean energy industry, or are a taxpayer concerned about the U.S. Department of Defense’s $4 billion annual energy bill for its facilities, the recent policies and actions of the Army in this area are bound to make you smile.
The Department of Defense has ambitious targets for all branches of the military to be more efficient and use cleaner sources of energy. The DOD must reduce the energy intensity of its facilities by 3 percent annually and get 25 percent of its energy from renewables by 2025. Each branch has a goal of achieving 1 gigawatt of renewable energy in the same time frame.
The numbers in recent years show that the military has made promising strides toward these goals. From 2010 to 2012, the number of energy savings projects more than doubled to 1,339, and direct appropriations for energy conservation rose by 115 percent to $907 million. Renewable energy projects are up too, increasing by 54 percent to number 700 in 2012.
Every military branch has made progress, but it is the Army that is arguably out in front for now. And it’s not just competing with the Air Force, Navy and Marines. The Army leads the federal government in clean energy savings performance contracts. It has five times the number of any other government agency, according to Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment.
The advances of the Army and the larger DOD efforts are detailed in a new report from the Pew Charitable Trust, Power Surge. The report is the third installment of Pew’s research into the military’s clean energy policy.
Despite recent advances, the challenges are significant. Not only does supplying energy to bases all over the world cost a lot of money -- and sometimes lives -- but the military also saw 87 power outages in the U.S. that lasted more than eight hours in the period analyzed in the report. Power outages on the Army’s North American bases alone more than doubled from 2010 to 2011.
To increase resiliency, the military is moving toward more onsite generation, enhanced energy management and testing innovations in clean energy. An important recent step is that the DOD has started to embrace third-party financing to bring clean energy and energy efficiency to bases.
Performance Contracts Make Headway
The Army achieved record levels of third-party financing in 2012. Last summer, the Army announced up to $7 billion in solar contracts that would be handed out in coming years. Hammack said that behind the $7 billion is a pipeline of about 4 gigawatts of renewable projects that her branch was evaluating.
The Army has already awarded about $500 million in the past two years, and has already booked $75 million in utility and energy savings performance contracts in the first quarter of 2014, according to Hammack. In the past decade, the Army has reduced energy consumption about 16 percent.
army third party financing
But it’s a slow process that requires partners with patience.
"Third-party-financed solar has led to widespread adoption in nearly every segment,” said Scott Provinse, director of government programs for SunEdison, “but the government has struggled to transition to the PPA.”
Provinse would know. He pointed to a 166-megawatt power purchase agreement project that SunEdison developed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base that is now commercially operational. It took three years to develop. One issue was bringing financiers to the table.
“We’ve really had to tap the deep relationship with our financiers to get them interested in federal projects,” said Provinse. Also, some projects have seen provisions in contracts that don’t really add value, but can cause project delays.
The DOD is aware of the delays and hurdles, and is looking to standardize the process so that the pipeline can be opened up.
“Some of the rules were drawn up to buy tanks,” said Hammack, “not to buy green electrons.”
Provinse agreed that many delays on large projects such as the one at Davis-Monthan have been solved.
"Stumbles and trips pose a threat, and until these [projects] are more standard, we need partners that can see these through,” he said. “The DOD has the drive and the commitment, but with more success will come more opportunity.”
Efficiency Is Only the First Step
As the details of military PPAs get hammered out, success is already being measured across the DOD. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been saved. The Army has cut its energy use by about 16 percent in the last decade.
But the federal government has far bigger designs. Executive Order 12514, issued in October 2009, directed that all of its buildings in the planning phase after 2020 should be designed to be net-zero energy.
The Army is not waiting around for 2020. It is exploring how all of its bases could become net-zero not only for energy, but also for waste and water. By the end of 2012, the Army had seventeen pilots at bases across the U.S.
The first step is to reduce energy waste and then maximize efficiency. For net-zero energy projects, the next step involves energy recovery and cogeneration that is then offset with renewable generation.
“Renewable energy is an endpoint,” said Hammack. The plans for net-zero water and waste are similar, with efficiency being the first phase. Water-related initiatives focus on switching to non-potable water for some applications, and waste reduction will involve more recycling techniques, such as composting.
After the pilots, the net-zero plans will be expanded to all permanent installations and then to forward-operating bases. One aspect of the Army’s push to net-zero bases is the use of microgrids. The Army has several microgrid projects now underway, but more are coming.
“Microgrids are a tool in the toolbox that we need to deploy more of,” said Hammack. The next step is to evaluate combined heat and power systems and renewables with microgrids.
One of the most significant struggles for the Army and DOD has been valuing energy security, said Hammack. She noted that when she used to work for American Express in the private sector, the company valued power outages at $1 million per minute. Once the DOD can put a value on energy security for military installations and the value of that resiliency to the surrounding community, the opportunities for clean energy and microgrids could be enormous -- and more tangible.
“It’s much more difficult to value that in the Army,” she said. “But we’re working hard at finding a solution.”
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/How-the-Army-Became-a-Leader-in-Third-Party-Clean-Energy-Financing
Flooded Philippines to Get More Rain
Means more water contamination.
http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303465004579325673165927390?mg=reno64-wsj
California governor expected to declare drought emergency
By Sharon Bernstein
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown is expected to declare a drought emergency for the parched state on Friday, allowing him to seek federal help as the state faces its third dry winter in a row, according to a Democratic political source and local media.
California has just completed what may turn out to be the driest year on record in many areas, leaving water reservoirs with a fraction of their normal reserves and slowing the normally full American River so dramatically that brush and dry riverbed are showing through in areas normally teeming with fish.
The Folsom Reservoir near Sacramento is so low that the remains of a Gold Rush-era ghost town - flooded to create the lake in the 1950s - are visible for the first time in years.
January and February are the wettest months in much of the state, and so far 2014 has been mostly dry, with little precipitation expected, according to the National Weather Service.
Brown is expected to make the declaration Friday morning at a hastily called news conference in San Francisco. Declaring a drought emergency will allow him to call for conservation measures, and also provide flexibility in deciding the state's water priorities.
A spokesman for the governor would not provide details, but a well-placed political source told Reuters that Brown would be declaring a drought emergency, and several California news agencies, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee, have also said that they expect him to make the declaration on Friday.
Brown has repeatedly hinted that he was edging closer to an emergency declaration in recent days, as lawmakers including Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein urged him take the step.
The state's mountains, where runoff from melting snow provides much water for California's thirsty cities and farms, have just 20 percent of the snow that they normally have at this time of year, officials said.
HALF-EMPTY RESERVOIRS
Some reservoirs are at their lowest levels in years. As of Wednesday, Folsom Reservoir had just half the water it normally has this time of year, according to state records, prompting cities that rely on it - including Sacramento - to implement rationing.
Lake Shasta, the largest reservoir in the state, is also down from its historical average by nearly half, holding just 36 percent of the water it is built to contain. Normally at this time of year, the reservoir holds 55 percent of its capacity, the state said.
Other sources of water, including the massive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, are also affected, prompting cities to dip into reserves and forcing farmers to scramble. Some public agencies may be able to purchase just 5 percent of the water that they contracted to buy from the state.
Water has long been a contentious issue in California, where it has been diverted from mountain lakes and streams to irrigate farms and slake the thirst of metropolitan areas.
Many of the state's efforts to deal with the problem are controversial, including a $25 billion plan to divert water from above the delta by sending it through a pair of gigantic tunnels.
For many in the state's $44.7 billion agriculture business, water scarcity is a problem made worse by a recent switch to orchard-style crops such as almonds and olives. Unlike vegetables or cotton, which grow in fields that can be left fallow in dry years, the trees need water every year.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0G0BZ20140117?feedType=RSS&irpc=932
CNBC reports, massive water shortage in California. Food prices set to spike.
Water and who should provide it - the public or private sector - has become the first issue to be pushed onto Brussels' policy agenda via a new mechanism meant to involve ordinary people in EU decision-making.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0C12I20140113
China's water squeeze worsens as wetlands shrink 9%
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0C08220140113
How dangerous is the coal washing chemical spill in West Virginia?
Don't drink the water...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-dangerous-is-the-chemical-spilled-in-west-virginia
U.S. attorney opens investigation looking into release of chemical into parts of West Virginia's water supply.
U.S. attorney opens investigation looking into release of #chemical into parts of #West #Virginia's #water supply.http://t.co/gBFcSpIoaW
— Pilus Energy (@PilusEnergy) January 10, 2014
Water trouble for 200K people in W. VA!
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http://www.dupont.com/corporate-functions/our-approach/global-challenges/energy.html
NuclearBot related?
TEPCO to siphon off radioactive water from tunnels under Fukushima plant
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant plans to start cleaning underground tunnels believed to be part of the sources of radioactive materials poisoning the groundwater in the area.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will first block the flow of tainted water between the damaged buildings and the tunnels. Workers will begin burying pipes in the ground to carry refrigerants in January, NHK TV network reported. In April, they are set to start draining the contaminated water from the tunnels.
Late last month, TEPCO said it had found new leaks at the No. 1 reactor, in addition to the previous ones discovered last earlier in December. The latest incident on December 24 may have leaked around 225 tons of radioactive water, Japan Daily Press reported. It turned out that the water in that area contained Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission with a half-life of 28.8 years, at a level as high as 440 becquerels per liter. The current temporary limit for water to be released from the concrete boundaries is said to be 10 becquerels of Strontium-90 per liter. A TEPCO representative feared the water may have already seeped into the ground.
On December 21, Tepco said it had found a record 1.9 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances at its No.2 reactor, the highest since the nuclear meltdown in March 2011. The discovery was made after high levels of radioactive cesium were detected in deeper groundwater at the No. 4 reactor. Previously, the highest level recorded was 1.8 million becquerels at the No. 1 reactor on December 13. It's believed that the radioactivity in the groundwater at reactor No. 2 has been rising since November.
Since the outbreak of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, leakage of radiation-contaminated water has been the major threat to Japan’s population and environment, as well as to the international community.
The chairwoman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned last month that water exposed to radiation from the wrecked plant would soon reach the US.
"The highest amount of radiation that will reach the US is of two orders of magnitude – 100 times – less than the drinking water standard," Allison Macfarlane told Bloomberg. "So, if you could drink the salt water, which you won’t be able to do, it’s still fairly low."
According to Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, radiation released during explosions at the plant meltdowns and during subsequent leaks of contaminated underground water will reach mainland US shores by early 2014.
The San Francisco Bay area city of Fairfax, California, passed a resolution in early December calling for more testing of coastal seafood and ways to reduce radiation emissions from Fukushima.
AFP Photo / TepcoAFP Photo / Tepco
On December 4, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), advised the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to consider dumping toxic water into the ocean after lowering the level of radioactive materials to below the legal limit. Meanwhile, according to a draft report released by officials on the Japanese Industry Ministry's contaminated water panel, the Fukushima Daiichi plant could run out of storage space for contaminated water within two years. The report suggested covering the ground with asphalt to reduce the rain inflow and building giant tanks with more capacity, as well as installing special undersea filters to reduce the radioactivity of water that leaks into the sea. Currently, 400 metric tons of highly contaminated water is being produced at the site on a daily basis, much of it later flowing to the sea.
To tackle the problem, TEPCO has been running a test operation of an advanced water processing machine, known as ALPS, which can remove all radioactive materials except for tritium from tainted water. Its operation could be key to reducing the high levels of radiation in the water. TEPCO plans to clean up all of the tainted water through ALPS by the end of March 2015. It says that over 300,000 tons of radioactive water has been stored in 1,000 tanks at the Fukushima plant, and that the amount will double within a few years.
In July 2013 TEPCO acknowledged the fact that contaminated water has been escaping from basements and trenches of the Fukushima plant into the ocean. Since then, the operator reported two major leaks of highly radioactive water into the ocean from storage tanks – a 300-ton leak in August and 430 liters in October.
Major setbacks have stalled TEPCO's handling of the nuclear disaster amid widespread criticism and calls to put Fukushima-related work under government control. Earlier this week a former employee in the facility said that one of the reasons for so many leaks could be the cost-cutting measures applied by TEPCO, such as using duct tape and wire nets to mend the leaking tanks.
http://rt.com/news/fukushima-tepco-cleanup-tunnels-221/
4 states confirm water pollution from drilling
Associated Press review of complaints casts doubt on industry view that it rarely happens.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation's energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.
The Associated Press requested data on drilling-related complaints in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas and found major differences in how the states report such problems. Texas provided the most detail, while the other states provided only general outlines. And while the confirmed problems represent only a tiny portion of the thousands of oil and gas wells drilled each year in the U.S., the lack of detail in some state reports could help fuel public confusion and mistrust.
The AP found that Pennsylvania received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling polluted or otherwise affected private water wells, compared with 499 in 2012. The Pennsylvania complaints can include allegations of short-term diminished water flow, as well as pollution from stray gas or other substances. More than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years.
Just hearing the total number of complaints shocked Heather McMicken, an eastern Pennsylvania homeowner who complained about water-well contamination that state officials eventually confirmed.
"Wow, I'm very surprised," said McMicken, recalling that she and her husband never knew how many other people made similar complaints, since the main source of information "was just through the grapevine."
The McMickens were one of three families that eventually reached a $1.6 million settlement with a drilling company. Heather McMicken said the state should be forthcoming with details.
Over the past 10 years, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has led to a boom in oil and natural gas production around the nation. It has reduced imports and led to hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue for companies and landowners, but also created pollution fears.
Extracting fuel from shale formations requires pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to break apart rock and free the gas. Some of that water, along with large quantities of existing underground water, returns to the surface, and it can contain high levels of salt, drilling chemicals, heavy metals and naturally occurring low-level radiation.
But some conventional oil and gas wells are still drilled, so the complaints about water contamination can come from them, too. Experts say the most common type of pollution involves methane, not chemicals from the drilling process.
Some people who rely on well water near drilling operations have complained about pollution, but there's been considerable confusion over how widespread such problems are. For example, starting in 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection aggressively fought efforts by the AP and other news organizations to obtain information about complaints related to drilling. The department has argued in court filings that it does not count how many contamination "determination letters" it issues or track where they are kept in its files.
Steve Forde, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the leading industry group in Pennsylvania, said in a statement that "transparency and making data available to the public is critical to getting this historic opportunity right and maintaining the public's trust."
When the state Environmental Department determines natural gas development has caused problems, Forde said, "our member companies work collaboratively with the homeowner and regulators to find a speedy resolution."
Among the findings in the AP's review:
— Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 106 water-well contamination cases since 2005, out of more than 5,000 new wells. There were five confirmed cases of water-well contamination in the first nine months of 2012, 18 in all of 2011 and 29 in 2010. The Environmental Department said more complete data may be available in several months.
— Ohio had 37 complaints in 2010 and no confirmed contamination of water supplies; 54 complaints in 2011 and two confirmed cases of contamination; 59 complaints in 2012 and two confirmed contaminations; and 40 complaints for the first 11 months of 2013, with two confirmed contaminations and 14 still under investigation, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark Bruce said in an email. None of the six confirmed cases of contamination was related to fracking, Bruce said.
— West Virginia has had about 122 complaints that drilling contaminated water wells over the past four years, and in four cases the evidence was strong enough that the driller agreed to take corrective action, officials said.
— A Texas spreadsheet contains more than 2,000 complaints, and 62 of those allege possible well-water contamination from oil and gas activity, said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling. Texas regulators haven't confirmed a single case of drilling-related water-well contamination in the past 10 years, she said.
In Pennsylvania, the number of confirmed instances of water pollution in the eastern part of the state "dropped quite substantially" in 2013, compared with previous years, Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz wrote in an email. Two instances of drilling affecting water wells were confirmed there last year, she said, and a final decision hasn't been made in three other cases. But she couldn't say how many of the other statewide complaints have been resolved or were found to be from natural causes.
Releasing comprehensive information about gas drilling problems is important because the debate is no longer about just science but trust, said Irina Feygina, a social psychologist who studies environmental policy issues. Losing public trust is "a surefire way to harm" the reputation of any business, Feygina said.
Experts and regulators agree that investigating complaints of water-well contamination is particularly difficult, in part because some regions also have natural methane gas pollution or other problems unrelated to drilling. A 2011 Penn State study found that about 40% of water wells tested prior to gas drilling failed at least one federal drinking water standard. Pennsylvania is one of only a few states that don't have private water-well construction standards.
But other experts say people who are trying to understand the benefits and harms from the drilling boom need comprehensive details about complaints, even if some cases are from natural causes.
In Pennsylvania, the raw number of complaints "doesn't tell you anything," said Rob Jackson, a Duke University scientist who has studied gas drilling and water contamination issues. Jackson said he doesn't think providing more details is asking for too much.
"Right or wrong, many people in the public feel like DEP is stonewalling some of these investigations," Jackson said of the situation in Pennsylvania.
In contrast with the limited information provided by Pennsylvania, Texas officials supplied a detailed 94-page spreadsheet almost immediately, listing all types of oil and gas related complaints over much of the past two years. The Texas data include the date of the complaint, the landowner, the drilling company and a brief summary of the alleged problems. Many complaints involve other issues, such as odors or abandoned equipment.
Scott Anderson, an expert on oil and gas drilling with the Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit based in Austin, notes that Texas regulators started keeping more data on complaints in the 1980s. New legislation in 2011 and 2013 led to more detailed reports and provided funds for a new information technology system, he said.
Anderson agreed that a lack of transparency fuels mistrust.
"If the industry has nothing to hide, then they should be willing to let the facts speaks for themselves," he said. "The same goes for regulatory agencies."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/05/some-states-confirm-water-pollution-from-drilling/4328859/
Value of water? Is half a trillion big enough?
As major industrial groups consider expansion into the water sector, the global market size has become a much sought-after piece of information.
For example, Siemens stated that the global water industry was worth $400 billion a year, when it announced its decision to buy US Filter. GE values the business at $360 billion per year.
GWI’s global water pricing survey can also be used as a starting point for estimating the size of the global market for water.
The weighted average price of water in cities representing 10% of the world’s population is $0.54.
If the global average residential water use per head is 56m3/year (according to the Earth Trends database), then the average person spends $58.80 on water each year. With five billion people with access to an improved supply, the total global tariff income might be in the region of $160 billion, assuming that GWI’s average price is representative of the rest of the world not covered by the survey.
To calculate the total expenditure on potable water for the domestic market it is then necessary to add expenditure of water from taxation. Our best estimate is that this adds a third again to tariff income, taking total expenditure on potable water services for the residential market to $210 billion. We have not collected systematic data for wastewater tariffs, although in researching potable water tariffs, we have anecdotal evidence that total expenditure on sewerage represents around one third of total expenditure on potable water (this estimate takes into account the fact that 2.4 billion people around the world do not have access to adequate sanitation).
This takes the total value of the domestic water services market to $280 billion.
On top of this, there is the industrial water sector.
Global industrial water use is 682,000 million cubic metres per year according to Earth Trends. It is extremely difficult to estimate the cost of this usage. The average cost of water for industrial consumers in the 14 countries covered by the NUS survey which represent half the world’s total industrial water use is $0.86/m3.
However only around 20% of the water used by industry is treated. The largest industrial users are power stations with single pass cooling systems which barely bother to filter out the fish from their intake. Our best estimate is that the 682,000 million cubic metres of water used in industry should be priced out at an average of $0.10/m3, creating a market worth around $70 billion – $140 million including industrial wastewater treatment (assuming a 1:1 relationship between expenditure on process water and wastewater).
This suggests a total market for domestic and industrial water services of $420 billion.
Those looking for really big numbers might add to this the agricultural water market, which is the largest market in terms of total volume.
Earth Trends suggests 2.4 trillion cubic metres of water are withdrawn for agricultural use per year which, at an estimated average cost of $0.05/m3, creates a market worth $120 billion in irrigation for farmers around the world.
For those who want to impress, this pushes the global water market over half a trillion dollars to $540 billion – with a healthy margin for error.
http://www.globalwaterintel.com/archive/5/9/general/sizing-the-global-water-market.html
Bill Gates Invests In The Urine Powered Mobile Phone
The main aim of this proposal is to recover useful levels of electrical energy directly from urine, and thus convert an existing – entirely unexploited – waste into a sustainable fuel for the future, with concomitant clean water production.
To achieve this Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) utilize specialised, naturally-abundant microbes housed within the anodic chamber of the fuel cell as the bio-catalyst. The microbes are fed urine directly and as part of their normal metabolic process consume the urine which generates electrons and when connected to a cathode allows a path for these electrons generating current. In addition the passing of these electrons and protons through an ion-selective membrane, (which separates the anodic and cathodic chambers of the MFC), reacts with air generating clean water.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/23/bill-gates-invests-in-the-urine-powered-mobile-phone/#b01g03t20w14
Global investment in clean energy climbed to $260 billion worldwide in 2011, a record high. That’s a 5% climb compared to 2009 and five times the investment made in 2004. And 2010 was the first time that investment in renewable energy surpassed investment in fossil fuels. According to one estimate, global clean energy investment will grow by another $140 billion by 2021.
http://realitydrop.org/#myths/102
Pilus Energy tweet...
https://twitter.com/PilusEnergy/status/419217735684337664/photo/1
2014 could be the hydrogen breakthrough year. eom
To all you 'oids still out there in TPM land...
Have a safe and prosperous New Year!
i'm selling all my taug to get in that
sheesh
Interesting
Thanks for reminding me. I forgot that Apple is really just the little player in the mobile space.
I will go back from whence I came....
Really? Pinch me. Is it true? Wave and its stalwarts are now trying to ride the Apple? Tell me it ain't so....
My Steve Jobs Take-Away thought...
Last week was a love fest. The enigmatic CEO of Apple Computer announced a medical leave. The announcement’s timing was a lesson in share price management. As a shareholder since the ’80s, I appreciated the consideration.
In the background of cleantech energy musings, wastewater research, and business model refinement, I passively listened to a prominent financial news network. I was thankful the network turned its attention to Mr. Hu Jintao, the Chinese President and his official State visit to the White House. Not because I do not like Steve Jobs, rather because it freed up my mind to consider the legacy of Steve Jobs. More importantly, to determine the most important take-away from his tenure....
http://pilusenergy.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/the-steve-jobs-take-away/
Is it true that Seagate may be...
... taken private?
Stem cell experiment reverses aging in rare disease
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a surprise result that can help in the understanding of both aging and cancer, researchers working with an engineered type of stem cell said they reversed the aging process in a rare genetic disease.
The team at Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells but are made from ordinary skin cells.
In this case, they wanted to study a rare, inherited premature aging disorder called dyskeratosis congenita. The blood marrow disorder resembles the better-known aging disease progeria and causes premature graying, warped fingernails and other symptoms as well as a high risk of cancer.
It is very rare and normally diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 30. About half of patients have bone marrow failure, which means their bone marrow stops making blood and immune cells properly.
One of the benefits of stem cells and iPS cells is that researchers can make them from a person with a disease and study that disease in the lab. Harvard's Dr. George Daley and colleagues were making iPS cells from dyskeratosis congenita patients to do this.
But, reporting in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, they said the process of making the iPS cells appeared to reverse one of the key symptoms of the disease in the cells.
In this disease, the cells lose telomerase, an enzyme that helps maintain the telomeres. These are the little caps on the ends of the chromosomes that carry the DNA.
When telomeres unwind, a cell ages. This leads to disease and death.
BECOMING IMMORTAL
But in cancer, telomerase appears to help tumor cells become immortal and replicate out of control. Some experimental cancer drugs target telomerase.
A gene called TERC helps restore the telomeres and Daley's team said it may be that tumor cells make use of TERC to become immortal.
In making the iPS cells and getting them to grow in the lab, Daley's team discovered they had three times as much TERC as the diseased cells they were made from.
Simply turning the skin cells into iPS cells helped restore their damaged telomeres, Daley's team reported. This in theory stops a major component of the aging process as well.
"We're not saying we've found the fountain of youth, but the process of creating iPS cells recapitulates some of the biology that our species uses to rejuvenate itself in each generation," Daley's colleague Suneet Agarwal said in a statement.
Treatments that restore TERC may help dyskeratosis congenita patients, they said.
"This paper illustrates how reprogramming a patient's skin cells into stem cells can teach us surprising lessons about human disease," Daley added in a statement.
Agarwal says the team is now seeking funding to study this more.
Patients with dyskeratosis congenita often die when they get bone marrow transplants, Agarwal said.
"For these patients, and for patients with other bone marrow failure syndromes, it would be ideal to give them a gentler stem cell transplant from their own cells," he said.
http://link.reuters.com/
Stem cell experiment reverses aging in rare disease
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a surprise result that can help in the understanding of both aging and cancer, researchers working with an engineered type of stem cell said they reversed the aging process in a rare genetic disease.
The team at Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute were working with a new type of cell called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which closely resemble embryonic stem cells but are made from ordinary skin cells.
In this case, they wanted to study a rare, inherited premature aging disorder called dyskeratosis congenita. The blood marrow disorder resembles the better-known aging disease progeria and causes premature graying, warped fingernails and other symptoms as well as a high risk of cancer.
It is very rare and normally diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 30. About half of patients have bone marrow failure, which means their bone marrow stops making blood and immune cells properly.
One of the benefits of stem cells and iPS cells is that researchers can make them from a person with a disease and study that disease in the lab. Harvard's Dr. George Daley and colleagues were making iPS cells from dyskeratosis congenita patients to do this.
But, reporting in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, they said the process of making the iPS cells appeared to reverse one of the key symptoms of the disease in the cells.
In this disease, the cells lose telomerase, an enzyme that helps maintain the telomeres. These are the little caps on the ends of the chromosomes that carry the DNA.
When telomeres unwind, a cell ages. This leads to disease and death.
BECOMING IMMORTAL
But in cancer, telomerase appears to help tumor cells become immortal and replicate out of control. Some experimental cancer drugs target telomerase.
A gene called TERC helps restore the telomeres and Daley's team said it may be that tumor cells make use of TERC to become immortal.
In making the iPS cells and getting them to grow in the lab, Daley's team discovered they had three times as much TERC as the diseased cells they were made from.
Simply turning the skin cells into iPS cells helped restore their damaged telomeres, Daley's team reported. This in theory stops a major component of the aging process as well.
"We're not saying we've found the fountain of youth, but the process of creating iPS cells recapitulates some of the biology that our species uses to rejuvenate itself in each generation," Daley's colleague Suneet Agarwal said in a statement.
Treatments that restore TERC may help dyskeratosis congenita patients, they said.
"This paper illustrates how reprogramming a patient's skin cells into stem cells can teach us surprising lessons about human disease," Daley added in a statement.
Agarwal says the team is now seeking funding to study this more.
Patients with dyskeratosis congenita often die when they get bone marrow transplants, Agarwal said.
"For these patients, and for patients with other bone marrow failure syndromes, it would be ideal to give them a gentler stem cell transplant from their own cells," he said.
http://link.reuters.com/