A field of wind turbines floating on Lake Michigan isn’t that far off, a naval architect and engineer told a crowd of about 45 people in Muskegon Thursday, Aug. 15.
Or, at least, the technology is nearly ready, said Glosten Associates naval architect and marine engineer Charles Nordstrom. There’s still no state mechanism to regulate such a project.
“There is not a framework for proceeding with a project,” Nordstrom said. “We’d love to.”
Glosten in 2012 had a partnership with Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center and Michigan Technological University for a federal grant to test its floating wind turbine technology on the Great Lakes, but the U.S. Department of Energy did not fund the grant.
Glosten is now completing engineering work on a demonstration project to put floating wind turbines using its PelaStar technology off the southeast coast of England. PelaStar works using tension-weight platforms, buoy-like hollow steel bases, anchored to the sea floor by cables.
PelaStar would work best where the lake is more than 160 feet deep, Nordstrom said. That contrasts to turbines with solid-construction foundations in the sea bottom, which become unfeasible before 160 feet of depth.
The depth of the water needed for PelaStar could place the floating turbines far enough out into the Great Lakes as to be nearly invisible from shore, Nordstrom said.
He pointed to maps that show strong wind conditions off the thumb of the Michigan mitten and off the coast of Southeast Michigan. The deep water in those areas starts 12 miles from shore.
“Pretty much can’t see these machines from the shoreline at 15 miles from shore,” he said, adding that the wind is also stronger. “It’s cheaper and deeper.”
The past debate over a proposal for the Scandia Offshore Wind project in Lake Michigan off the West Michigan coastline was a major controversy and ended with opposition to being able to see the turbines from shore. With deep-water deployment, wind turbines could be put on Lake Michigan without any detection from shoreline properties or public beaches, MAREC Director Arn Boezaart has said.
“(Land-based wind energy) is here to stay, the horses are out,” Boezaart said on Thursday. “But I think we’re at the point where offshore wind is a reality.”
Glosten is designing its turbines to be easily and more cheaply installed than others in the past. Nordstrom tried to show how close the floating turbines are to being feasible by comparing current electricity prices with the target prices Glosten is designing toward.
“This is not something that is just too expensive, and doesn’t work, messes up my view,” he said. “The conversation needs to change. This is not going to happen tomorrow, but let’s keep talking about it.”
For Dr Johann Overath, principal managing director of the Bundesverband Glasindustrie e.V. (Federal Association of the German Glass Industry), this show is just the right forum for verifying these requirements: "Glass packaging has always been a part of the beverages market. For wine, sparkling wine, beer and spirits, almost exclusively glass bottles are used. For this reason drinktec, too, is very important for us, because the customers of the glass-container industry come to this forum.”
In the view of Dr. Johann Overath there are currently two main trends in glass packaging: "On the one hand there is increasing public focus on sustainability. And on the other, in particular as regards mineral water, we are seeing a real renaissance in glass. And in trend beverages, too, we are seeing glass bottles being used for new and innovative drinks."
Popularity of cans on the up again
Glass is 100% recyclable, and so, too, are beverage cans. Germany is seeing a return to the use of cans as containers for beverages. Since the introduction of deposits on disposable containers in 2003, beverage-can sales have only now broken back through the billion barrier. In 2011 sales of this type of can were at over 1.1bn, a rise of around 19% or 175m, over the previous year.
Even back in 2006 the three biggest beverage can manufacturers – Europe′s Ball Packaging Europe, Rexam Beverage Can Europe & Asia and Crown Bevcan Europe & Middle East – were seeing an upwards trend. These companies are members of BCME, and all of them will be at Drinktec 2013.
For Welf Jung, spokesman for BCME Deutschland and sales and marketing director for Germany at Rexam Beverage Can Europe, the advantages for cans lie in their variety of formats and designs, the ideal product protection they offer and in terms of convenience and recycling: "Increasing mobility, the global battle against food wastage and a rising awareness of sustainability are trends in society and good reasons why people are choosing the beverage can. New segments where cans are currently making good ground include health drinks with sensitive ingredients and wines. With the latter in particular the can is the key to reaching a young, mobile target group."
Manufacturers are currently working on functional improvements to cans, in terms of better convenience and reduced material consumption. They are also trying out innovative new looks and even a new feel for cans.
One example is the development of thermochromic beverages cans, which change colour as they cool down. Another idea is for fluorescent cans that glow in UV light, for use in particular in discotheques and clubs. Tactile cans feel different because of their raised surface designs and they also have visual appeal. All-round modelling, for example, can be used to suggest to the consumer, both visually and through touch, that he is holding an orange, for example.
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2013年8月16日星期五
2013年5月14日星期二
Florida cities quiet on kids’ gaming machines
Since Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation outlawing video Game machines last month, South Florida cops have rolled through their cities like the Untouchables, seizing dozens of machines from mom-and-pop stores and cafes and arresting their owners, while politicians deliver fiery orations about rubbing out a cancer on the community.
But everybody has been curiously quiet about another aspect of the law: big, well-heeled — and lawyered-up — kiddie and adult arcades whose machines were also outlawed by the new legislation. A Miami Herald check of popular chains like Dave & Buster’s, Chuck E. Cheese’s and Game Time found hundreds of machines that don’t comply with the new law.
“I’m not going to go arrest Chuck E. Cheese in front of a bunch of 6-year-olds,” said Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, whose city, on the day the law took effect, confiscated 72 machines from cafes and arcades that cater to the elderly. “If the governor and the Legislature want that, they can come and do it themselves.”
His words drew a bitter reaction from Jennifer Morejon, who was ordered by Hialeah police to close down her video arcade catering to the elderly and dismantle its 100 machines, or face arrest.
“It’s just discrimination,” she said. “How can the machines be bad for my customers, who are adults spending their own money, but not for kids? This is something you expect in a country like Cuba, not the United States.”
The new law was approved by overwhelming margins in both chambers of the Legislature after the news broke that so-called Internet cafes where computers were set up for casino-style gambling, which supposedly were operated by a charity that sent the profits to veterans’ organizations, were actually pocketing nearly all the money.
The scandal forced the resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, whose public-relations firm had represented the Internet cafes. And it threatened to spread when it turned out the operators had made campaign donations to a number of legislators.
The law effectively put the Internet cafes out of business, as well as making illegal the so-called maquinitas — “little machines,” coin-operated gambling games scattered through stores and restaurants in South Florida’s blue-collar neighborhoods.
But it also included several provisions that would apply to most popular video arcades. Prizes must be merchandise — not cash or gift certificates — and they can’t be worth more than 75 cents. The games must include at least some element of skill. And they must be coin-operated rather activated by dollar bills or swiping a computerized card. The law also upped the potential penalty for operating illegal games to a second-degree felony punishable by 15 years in prison.
The sweeping nature of the law, coupled with the harsh penalty, convinced many business owners to get rid of their machines — especially after Miami cops staged a series of photo-op seizures and arrests. Hundreds of arcades for senior citizens around the state shut down after their association’s attorney warned them their businesses ran afoul of the law.
But everybody has been curiously quiet about another aspect of the law: big, well-heeled — and lawyered-up — kiddie and adult arcades whose machines were also outlawed by the new legislation. A Miami Herald check of popular chains like Dave & Buster’s, Chuck E. Cheese’s and Game Time found hundreds of machines that don’t comply with the new law.
“I’m not going to go arrest Chuck E. Cheese in front of a bunch of 6-year-olds,” said Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez, whose city, on the day the law took effect, confiscated 72 machines from cafes and arcades that cater to the elderly. “If the governor and the Legislature want that, they can come and do it themselves.”
His words drew a bitter reaction from Jennifer Morejon, who was ordered by Hialeah police to close down her video arcade catering to the elderly and dismantle its 100 machines, or face arrest.
“It’s just discrimination,” she said. “How can the machines be bad for my customers, who are adults spending their own money, but not for kids? This is something you expect in a country like Cuba, not the United States.”
The new law was approved by overwhelming margins in both chambers of the Legislature after the news broke that so-called Internet cafes where computers were set up for casino-style gambling, which supposedly were operated by a charity that sent the profits to veterans’ organizations, were actually pocketing nearly all the money.
The scandal forced the resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, whose public-relations firm had represented the Internet cafes. And it threatened to spread when it turned out the operators had made campaign donations to a number of legislators.
The law effectively put the Internet cafes out of business, as well as making illegal the so-called maquinitas — “little machines,” coin-operated gambling games scattered through stores and restaurants in South Florida’s blue-collar neighborhoods.
But it also included several provisions that would apply to most popular video arcades. Prizes must be merchandise — not cash or gift certificates — and they can’t be worth more than 75 cents. The games must include at least some element of skill. And they must be coin-operated rather activated by dollar bills or swiping a computerized card. The law also upped the potential penalty for operating illegal games to a second-degree felony punishable by 15 years in prison.
The sweeping nature of the law, coupled with the harsh penalty, convinced many business owners to get rid of their machines — especially after Miami cops staged a series of photo-op seizures and arrests. Hundreds of arcades for senior citizens around the state shut down after their association’s attorney warned them their businesses ran afoul of the law.
2013年5月6日星期一
Niagara's Water Power Prowess Embraces the Allure of Wind
While the Niagara Region of Canada is known worldwide for its magnificent waterfalls and associated hydro power, the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance is attending WINDPOWER 2013 in Chicago to announce a series of national and international wind investments by companies including Capital Power Inc., Enercon Canada Inc., Niagara Region Wind Corp. (NRWC), NextEra Energy Canada ULC, REpower Systems SE, Samsung Renewable Energy Inc., and TSP Canada Towers Inc.
These companies are manufacturing components and building an estimated 200 wind turbines that will soon dot the landscape in a swath extending throughout Ontario's Haldimand County and into the Niagara Region. They are attracted by an excellent wind profile and connections to existing transmission lines that carry power from Niagara Falls into southern Ontario's manufacturing heartland.
The wind power infrastructure investment is also made possible by the Province of Ontario's visionary Green Energy Act of 2009 that helped ignite growth in the production of clean and renewable energy. Since 2009, Ontario's Clean Energy Strategy is helping to build on the $27 billion in private sector clean energy investments attracted to Ontario. Ontario's clean energy sector has already created 31,000 jobs and over 30 clean energy companies have set up shop in the province.
"While the 230-megawatt industrial wind turbine project by NRWC is the Niagara Region's largest, promising 770 construction phase jobs through to 2014 and 110 more to maintain the turbine structures, the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance team is working hard to build on this momentum," says Valerie Kuhns, Sector Manager for the Niagara Region's Economic Development Department.
She cites three foreign companies -- Denmark's Avanti Wind Systems, Helukabel USA, Inc. and Synergy Cables USA Ltd. -- that have recently set up shop across Ontario as a direct result of Ontario Clean Technology Alliance investor pitches at international wind industry trade shows.
Kuhns' employer is one of eight municipal members of the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance that also includes the Southwestern Ontario Marketing Alliance, The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment.
Kuhns also points out that just last week, wind turbine manufacturer PowerBlades Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of German-based REpower Systems SE, chose Welland, also in the Niagara Region, as the site of a blade production factory that will serve the province's wind project needs as well as supply the rest of the North American market.
PowerBlades is currently looking for experts in the fields of logistics, purchasing, management as well as production workers and maintenance technicians. The new German-backed Ontario company will create about 125 jobs within its first phase and about 75 within its second phase of operations.
Ontario is Canada's largest province by population, and clean technology industries take advantage of an Ontario government economic growth strategy, backed by a comprehensive series of legislative, regulatory and policy initiatives specifically designed to support the expansion of clean, green industries.
These companies are manufacturing components and building an estimated 200 wind turbines that will soon dot the landscape in a swath extending throughout Ontario's Haldimand County and into the Niagara Region. They are attracted by an excellent wind profile and connections to existing transmission lines that carry power from Niagara Falls into southern Ontario's manufacturing heartland.
The wind power infrastructure investment is also made possible by the Province of Ontario's visionary Green Energy Act of 2009 that helped ignite growth in the production of clean and renewable energy. Since 2009, Ontario's Clean Energy Strategy is helping to build on the $27 billion in private sector clean energy investments attracted to Ontario. Ontario's clean energy sector has already created 31,000 jobs and over 30 clean energy companies have set up shop in the province.
"While the 230-megawatt industrial wind turbine project by NRWC is the Niagara Region's largest, promising 770 construction phase jobs through to 2014 and 110 more to maintain the turbine structures, the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance team is working hard to build on this momentum," says Valerie Kuhns, Sector Manager for the Niagara Region's Economic Development Department.
She cites three foreign companies -- Denmark's Avanti Wind Systems, Helukabel USA, Inc. and Synergy Cables USA Ltd. -- that have recently set up shop across Ontario as a direct result of Ontario Clean Technology Alliance investor pitches at international wind industry trade shows.
Kuhns' employer is one of eight municipal members of the Ontario Clean Technology Alliance that also includes the Southwestern Ontario Marketing Alliance, The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment.
Kuhns also points out that just last week, wind turbine manufacturer PowerBlades Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of German-based REpower Systems SE, chose Welland, also in the Niagara Region, as the site of a blade production factory that will serve the province's wind project needs as well as supply the rest of the North American market.
PowerBlades is currently looking for experts in the fields of logistics, purchasing, management as well as production workers and maintenance technicians. The new German-backed Ontario company will create about 125 jobs within its first phase and about 75 within its second phase of operations.
Ontario is Canada's largest province by population, and clean technology industries take advantage of an Ontario government economic growth strategy, backed by a comprehensive series of legislative, regulatory and policy initiatives specifically designed to support the expansion of clean, green industries.
2013年4月17日星期三
Sheet Metal Workers’ building brings unique presence
Members of the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 36 started construction on their new workshop, office and banquet space in St. Louis during the last few years, and since have brought the sustainablity-centered building into city limits.
Bob Barrett, Union marketing director, said since the building opened later last year, the organization has been able to bring in a new batch of trainees, and host multiple other organizations in the 600-person banquet hall. Additionally, the building houses offices for the union and benefits 30 employees.
“This is a state of the art workforce to train our members,” Barrett said. ‘We have to make sure they are the best trained in the industry.”
A glance at the building shows its uniqueness, with a slight peek at the wind turbines on the roof. The turbines, Barrett said, are one of multiple energy sources powering what he calls the “living lab of green technology.” Among the other energy sources include solar heating, solar electricity, solar producing hot water and natural light.
The 55,000 square foot building cost about $22 million to build, Barrett said, and not a dollar of it came from the government, which he said the Sheet Metal Workers pride themselves on. The only exception, he added, came from Brownfield tax credits when they first purchased the building, as the building was vacant and had been neglected prior to their purchase.
Barrett said the building houses five full-time instructors who work with the Union’s apprenticeship program, teaching students that come in from across the state — and eventually from across the country — how to weld, work with HVC programs, architectural work, panel siding, computer CAD drafting, how to maintain the energy systems that run the building and all other aspects of the field that will keep the members competitive.
The building is one of 10 throughout the country that’s commissioned to teach the three-day training and in the Testing Adjusting and Balancing lab.
Since the building’s construction, Barrett said there have been renovations to neighboring stores on the block, and said he’s glad the Sheet Metal Workers were able to give back to the community. He said he doesn’t think they could’ve done it without the help of their contractor’s partners, Congressman Lacy Clay, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Mayor Francis Slay and City Treasurer Tishaura Jones.
ones, who said she helped the union primarily with the Brownfield tax credit application and other funding-related items, said she’s been more than impressed with the work done by the Sheet Metal Workers.
“They did a great job making sure it’s a lead-certified building,” Jones said about the Sheet Metal Workers’ building. “It reduces the carbon footprint and it’s got a top- high lead certification. Most importantly, it’s there to train people to be more gainfully employed. It’s all about jobs, which is what we talk about most.”
Bob Barrett, Union marketing director, said since the building opened later last year, the organization has been able to bring in a new batch of trainees, and host multiple other organizations in the 600-person banquet hall. Additionally, the building houses offices for the union and benefits 30 employees.
“This is a state of the art workforce to train our members,” Barrett said. ‘We have to make sure they are the best trained in the industry.”
A glance at the building shows its uniqueness, with a slight peek at the wind turbines on the roof. The turbines, Barrett said, are one of multiple energy sources powering what he calls the “living lab of green technology.” Among the other energy sources include solar heating, solar electricity, solar producing hot water and natural light.
The 55,000 square foot building cost about $22 million to build, Barrett said, and not a dollar of it came from the government, which he said the Sheet Metal Workers pride themselves on. The only exception, he added, came from Brownfield tax credits when they first purchased the building, as the building was vacant and had been neglected prior to their purchase.
Barrett said the building houses five full-time instructors who work with the Union’s apprenticeship program, teaching students that come in from across the state — and eventually from across the country — how to weld, work with HVC programs, architectural work, panel siding, computer CAD drafting, how to maintain the energy systems that run the building and all other aspects of the field that will keep the members competitive.
The building is one of 10 throughout the country that’s commissioned to teach the three-day training and in the Testing Adjusting and Balancing lab.
Since the building’s construction, Barrett said there have been renovations to neighboring stores on the block, and said he’s glad the Sheet Metal Workers were able to give back to the community. He said he doesn’t think they could’ve done it without the help of their contractor’s partners, Congressman Lacy Clay, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Mayor Francis Slay and City Treasurer Tishaura Jones.
ones, who said she helped the union primarily with the Brownfield tax credit application and other funding-related items, said she’s been more than impressed with the work done by the Sheet Metal Workers.
“They did a great job making sure it’s a lead-certified building,” Jones said about the Sheet Metal Workers’ building. “It reduces the carbon footprint and it’s got a top- high lead certification. Most importantly, it’s there to train people to be more gainfully employed. It’s all about jobs, which is what we talk about most.”
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