Case study - Zero Waste Recycling of Metals

Umicore produces battery materials and a leading recycler of precious metals. The mobile devices, such as laptops, cell phones, and palm pilots, are powered by lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which are manufactured using nickel and cobalt as well as other metals and plastics. Recycling these products requires special processing and treatment to avoid waste materials. Umicore began a research and development programme for a new technology in 2002, and, by late 2003, the company completed a process called VAL'EAS® to meet this gap in recycling technology. The technology uses the plastics contained in the batteries as fuel, burning it in a furnace to create extra heat. Metals are recovered as an alloy rich in cobalt, nickel, copper and iron. This alloy is refined and separated into pure metal and metal compounds. No hazardous waste is generated due to a special gas cleaning system using plasma technology, which was developed to avoid the formation of dioxin or furan and capture all potential vapours of metals. The recovered metals and metals compounds are re-used, often in a 'closed' recycling loop. Example, cobalt is re-transformed into cobalt dioxide in one of Umicore's Belgian plants. This is then sent to another Umicore plant in Korea to be converted into lithium cobaltite, which is used to make new lithium-ion batteries - and the cycle starts again.

Solar-thermal power plant: Putting the desert to use, 19 December 2007

This article shows that US is supplying environmentally friendly electricity - thanks to a solar-thermal power plant that recently went online in the desert there. The facility with an area of one sq km focuses sunlight for heating water, with the resulting steam used to drive a 64-megawatt turbine. The power plant currently supplies around 14,000 households with electricity. Similar new power plants are now set to be built worldwide, according to the magazine Pictures of the Future. In my opinion, Malaysia can try to demonstration this kind of project because Malaysia weather is very hot where is suitable for using solar power.

Malaysia launches billion$ Sarawak development plan, 11 February 2008

Malaysian government would spend huge amount to support the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy plan. This plan is focuses on developing the state’s energy resources of hydropower, coal, natural gas and petroleum. This is good plan to develop power by using natural resources because natural resource will never last in a day and it will not cause to pollution. The premier said the project aims to bring economic growth and eradicate poverty in the predominantly rural state by 2030, by creating some 800,000 jobs and luring billons in private investment. Besides, others company also involve to success this kind of project.

Soybeans that give you gas - 1 August 2006

Argentina is a prime market for making and selling renewable biodiesel fuel thanks to cheap land and labor, as well as bumper crops of soybeans.Biodiesel is a renewable fuel because it's made by refining oil derived from plants like soybeans, palm trees, and rapeseed. Thinner than vegetable oil, biodiesel can power diesel engines without further conversion. That gives it a big advantage over ethanol, which burns in standard gasoline engines only when it's blended with petroleum. Year 2005 Edmundo Defferrari, an industrial engineer, built a prototype of such a plant 145 miles west of Buenos Aires for just $150,000. It already produces 130,000 gallons of biodiesel a year and requires human labor only to load the plant with soybeans and turn it on. Defferrari sells fuel to local farmers for 95 cents a gallon, about two-thirds the cost of regular diesel. It's a virtuous circle: His customers grow the soybean feedstock that he puts into his machinery.

Turning human waste in energy – 27 February 2008

Sintex Industries, a plastics and textiles manufacturer in Gujarat, India, is betting it can find profit in human waste. Its new biogas digester turns human excrement, cow dung, or kitchen garbage into fuel that can be used for cooking or generating electricity, simultaneously addressing two of India's major needs, which are energy and sanitation. Sintex's digester uses bacteria to break down waste into sludge, much like a septic tank. In the process, the bacteria emit gases, mostly methane. But instead of being vented into the air, they are piped into a storage canister. A one-cubic-meter digester, primed with cow dung to provide bacteria, can convert the waste generated by a four-person family into enough gas to cook all its meals and provide sludge for fertilizer.

USM's efforts in building a healthy campus

From 1st January 2008, the university has formally banned the usage of polystyrene containers throughout the campus. Canteen is no longer preparing any polystyrene containers for take-away food. Instead, students can choose to use biodegradable containers with an additional charge of 20cents. Or, students may also bring their own reuseable container if insist to take away food. This actually can cause certain degree of troubles to students. However, we still should look at this matter from the long-term perspective. Polystyrene containers are non-biodegradable. The usage of them on today can cause serious problems to the future generation. Additional 20cents each meal is worth for saving the earth before it is too late. We should not have the idea to throw the responsibility to protect the earth to others, thinking that our actions have no significant effect to the earth. A little inconveniece should not be outweighed by the well-being of community. It is wise for USM to make this decision. A healthy campus should be viewed from many different aspects. Not just having students with healthy life style, but also have students to adopt environmental friendly practices.

Should solar power be used in campus?

Having the long term goal to build a healthy campus, there are a lot needed to be done. One of them might be choosing solar power to generate power besides hydropower which is already been used. Solar energy is economical. It is also environmental-friendly indeed. It does not produce any emissions and use no fuel. Standing as civic-conscious students of USM, our group strongly suggests that solar energy to be used as an alternative for power sources. We hope that this could be done to prevent more emissions to be produced and perhaps can help the university to save some costs for electricity. In fact, the hot weather in Penang is quite suitable to apply solar power cell in campus. Lots of heat energy can be gathered and transformed into energy. This will be a good option to apply one more practice for renewable resources usage in campus.

Power jacket – 30 January 2008

Power jacket is the first luxury outerwear in the world with a unique function. It able to produce energy that is capable of recharging portable devices such as mobile phones, iPods and any other small devices with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) tap that powered at 5 or 6 volts.The sun's energy is extensively converted into other forms of energy such as heat and electricity. Power Jacket is done from two ways: solar power plants for mass consumption and photovoltaic (PV) devices or "solar cells" which change solar energy directly into electricity to power small devices like calculators, watches and road signs. The renewable and sustainable energy is generated in an environmentally friendly manner by harnessing the sun's energy through solar panel technology.Two solar panels are mounted on the removable neoprene collar of the jacket which directly convert the solar light into sustainable energy via conductive textile cables linked to a rechargeable buffer battery that is safely stored in a waterproof pocket on the inside of the jacket.The electricity generated can be used to charge a device directly or store the power until needed. It requires four to eight hours of exposure to full sunlight to load up power and, when full, can be used to charge a mobile phone or iPod in less than four hours.This jacket encourage the use of energy from sustainable sources with the aim to safeguard the planet's resources.

Buy toilet paper, save the planet – 26 February 2008

Procter & Gamble has evidence to back up its green claims, which are bigger toilet paper rolls mean less packaging and waste and cold-water detergent saves energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Its biggest environmental breakthrough is probably Tide Coldwater. The impact of washing clothes in cold water is not trivial. If every U.S. household used cold water for laundry, the energy savings would be 70 to 90 billion kilowatt hours per year, which is 3% of the nation's total household energy consumption. These savings would translate into 34 million tons of carbon dioxide per year not released into the environment, which is nearly 8% of the Kyoto target for the United States. Switching to oversized rolls of bathroom tissue or paper towels can also have big impact. According to P&G, if 1 million consumers switched from Regular Charmin to Charmin Mega, it would save 85,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 500,000 pounds of trash per year because the MegaRolls need fewer cardboard cores per sheet of tissue. Interestingly, that's not how the MegaRolls are sold to consumers. Similarly, Tide Coldwater is marketed as a way for consumers to save money and improve fabric care, and not for its environmental benefits.

Biodiesel – 1 December 2005

Topia Energy Production Ltd. is currently one of Canada’s leaders in the biodiesel industry. In September 2005, Topia opened the first planned nationwide chain of "alternative" fuel stations called GreenStop. GreenStop pumps only renewable fuel blends which are traditional diesel spiked with cooking oil, and gasoline mixed with corn ethanol. The first GreenStop station, in Ottawa, is itself "green," constructed from renewable materials such as compressed strawboard and chemical-free linoleum. There are green electric power companies and green food chains. GreenStop has provided three fuels. First is B20, which combines 20 percent biodiesel with 80 percent regular diesel. Second is E10, which are 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent traditional gasoline. It can be burned by standard engines. Last is 85 percent ethanol use in "flexible fuel" vehicles only. Gas made from such seemingly low proportions of renewable resources might not solve the world's developing energy crisis. Imagine if the world just have 10 percent more gas and 20 percent more diesel. So it is important to renew or reuse the natural and limited sources. Topia plans to open 15 GreenStop stations across Canada and the northeast United States within the next year and to reach 50 locations by the end of 2007. It is another sign that there may soon be more than one kind of "green" in green energy.

Google's green power play – 27 November 2007

In a move to shake up the nascent renewable energy industry, Google will spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing new solar and wind technologies while investing in green tech startups. The goal of Google is to send the fossil fuel industry to the coal bin of history by making renewable energy cheaper than coal, a main culprit in the global warming crisis. They want to deploy it as broadly as possible, which means they will license the technology or put it in place ourselves. Of particular interest is spreading renewable energy technology to rapidly industrializing but coal-dependent countries like China and India. Dubbed “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal”, the Google initiative will involve hiring green energy engineers and technologists for an in-house R&D program that will focus on developing breakthroughs in large-scale solar power plants. At the same time, Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, will invest in green energy companies. Within a few years Google wants to be able to produce a gigawatt of clean energy, which enough to power a city the size of San Francisco at a price that will undercut cheap electricity from coal-fired plants. Google already is working with two renewable energy startups. One is eSolar, a Pasadena, Calif., developer of utility-scale solar thermal power plants whose chairman is serial tech entrepreneur Bill Gross. The other is Makani Power, a stealth Bay Area startup that is developing what it calls "high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at the most powerful wind resources." Page and Brin declined to say if Google has invested in those companies.

Nokia's Energy-saving Battery Chargers

An article found in Business Week recent days (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080129_384916.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business), it says that Nokia has promised to continually putting efforts in reducing the energy consumed by the battery chargers. The company aims to reduce the average no-load power consumption by 50% by the end of 2010. Even before they joined WWF Climate Savers program in January this year, they have been putting efforts in energy saving projects in different countries. In fact, by reducing energy usage, we not only able to save money but at the same time, we can reduce the emission of "green house gas". For example, the electricity generation by coal-burning in Gauteng, South Africa produces carbon dioxide (CO2) when burnt. Thus, by reducing energy usage, we can defintely prevent more carbon dioxide to be emitted. Simply by looking at Nokia's effort in the business, we should actually realize the importance of thinking beyond profitability. There is something priceless and much more important than grabbing profit. We have the obligation to take good care of our invaluable environment. Small incremental efforts may be a good start in protecting the environment. In short, everybody has the responsibility to protect our environment, even in a business. Indeed, there's alot other companies, besides Nokia, has begun to working on their social responsibility at all aspects. They not just trying to producing environmental-friendly products, they also give contribution at other socially beneficial programmes for the sake of community.

Global Warming effects

Global Warming

This is global warming issue which everyone are very concern about it.

Group Project: Innovating Operations from Social Responsibility Lenses

For this course (Operation Management) requires a case project that entitled as Innovating Operations from Social Responsibility Lenses, this weblog will be a space for us to present our outputs. First and foremost, let me introduce my group members and myself who will be working togother with me to make this project a success! Our group comprises four members. Heah Ai Pei works as the Editor, Lim Siew Mei as the Creative/Presentation Manager, Lui Lee Lien as the Solution-based Idea Manager and myself Cheong Yit Hui as the Manager. Our group will be working on the title which sounds "The Usage of Renewable Resources in Operations". We have decided to focus our study at the USM campus as a whole and we would like to investigate how much has USM been doing in practicing the usage of renewable resources in the campus. We will also suggest some ideas on possible ways for USM to broaden the usage of renewable resources in its operations. We do hope that you will enjoy reading what we are going to post on here and we look forward for any contructive comments on our works. Thank you.