Kansas City Company Plants 1,000 Trees
(PRWEB) November 20, 2009 — Tekniq Data Corporation, a Kansas City based information technology services company, is working with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant over 1,000 trees in our national forests. The trees, to be planted on behalf of Tekniq’s clients, are to draw attention to environmentally sound technology solutions and do something positive for the environment.
Tekniq (http://www.tekniq.com) also helps clients implement green technology. “We offer products and business solutions that help our customers save energy and reduce waste.” stated Steve Schmidt, founder. “Businesses can do their part for the environment by simply updating aging servers and computers for ones that use less energy and have recycled materials. It’s also surprising how much waste can be prevented by choosing an environmentally friendly copier or printer and implementing a document management solution.”
Tekniq hopes the green technology campaign will raise awareness locally and show companies that they no longer have to choose between their bottom-line and the environment. Many of these environmentally friendly solutions are both cost saving and high quality.
Tekniq saves power by using energy-saving servers and by reducing office lighting to save power. Along with these energy-saving strategies, Tekniq uses recycled marketing materials, copiers that use less toner, and PCs with recycled parts. All these things together make Tekniq a greener I.T. company. Tekniq hopes to be able to show more companies how they too can go green.
Tekniq was established in 1991 and is the only I.T. company in the Kansas City metro that offers such a wide range of business services. Solutions include copiers and printers, server virtualization, document management, custom software, website design, computer networking (http://tekniq.com/computer_networks.html), and VoIP phone systems. Tekniq also produces business software including LogicBright CRM, an online contact manager (http://www.logicbright.com).
Photovoltaic White Paper Discusses PV Solar Panels, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Solar Industry Trends
Munich, Germany, (PRWEB) October 5, 2009 — Messe München has just published a white paper that captures the current state of the photovoltaic (PV) market, including PV solar panels, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power, solar industry trends and market predictions.
“The worldwide photovoltaic market – a bright spot in a dark world economy” discusses industry trends, market size, advances towards grid parity (in which solar-generated and conventionally-generated electricity costs are essentially equal) and the status of technologies including thin film (amorphous), cadmium telluride, copper indium (di)selenide (CIGS) gallium arsenide and organic photovoltaics. There is also a brief mention of concentrated solar power in relation to solar photovoltaic generation.
productronica 2009 (November 10-13, 2009, Munich) will feature a special forum on “Boosting Photovoltaics PV to Grid Parity” as well as other PV-related events. See the productronica program for more information.
The photovoltaic PV white paper covering PV solar panels, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power, solar industry trends can be downloaded free of charge from the productronica 2009 white paper download page
About productronica
productronica is the leading world trade fair for innovative electronics production. It has taken place in Munich every two years since 1975 and is a core element of the electronics trade fair network of Munich International Trade Fair. This network includes the leading global trade fairs, electronica, and Productronica, held in Munich, as well as leading regional trade fairs in Brazil, Hong Kong, China, and India. With over 8,000 exhibitors and more than 280,000 visitors, the Munich International Trade Fair is one of the internationally leading trade fair organizer in this segment.
Wind Power Report Shows Facts Instead of Myths
London (PRWEB) August 8, 2006 – ABS Energy Research’s (www.absenergyresearch.com) 2006 Wind Power Report details an eventful year in this sector of the renewable energy industry. While generating capacity is up, solid new evidence suggests that some of the costs of producing electricity using the breeze sometimes mean that wind generation is not always unambiguously good. So are industry critics quoting facts or tilting at windmills?
The Report shows continued growth in wind power generating capacity. Capacity in this type of renewable energy increased by 11.3 GW in 2005 to reach a total of 59 GW. Germany is the world leader, with 31 percent of the world’s installed capacity, followed by Spain, the USA, India and Denmark.
The big surprise among the five leaders was the recovery and surge in production in the USA after years of stagnation. Guaranteed production tax credits, valid for a three year period instead of annually as before have justified the new investment in renewable energy.
Growth is expected to continue. As the leaders consolidate and re-power smaller installations with larger turbines, the market is now widening and entering a new phase with many new countries entering the market for renewable energy resources, such as wind.
The most important findings of this report highlight studies that raise critical concerns challenging some of the claims made for wind power. Badly needed evidence is now available after three years of large scale operation of wind turbines in five countries. In one such country, Ireland, the government placed a moratorium on wind power development, although this has been rescinded.
These studies are the first real evidence showing how wind actually works, as opposed to what has been claimed, and come from some of the most authoritative voices on energy in the world. Reports from E.On Netz, the system operator with the largest wind power feed-in in the world, and Eltra of Denmark, which had the largest percentage wind power contribution, show disturbing results.
E.On cites a study from the Deutsche-Energie Agentur. The report was sponsored by the German government and all sides of the industry. Among bombshells contained inside, the study suggests that while wind power capacity will reach 48 GW by 2020 in Germany, the source is so intermittent and unreliable that it is equivalent to only 2 GW of stable fossil fuel capacity.
The evidence also shows a mismatch of supply and demand. High pressure weather systems bring cold winters and hot summers which unfortunately coincide with low wind levels. These meteorological realities mean that wind makes its maximum contribution when demand is lowest and its minimum contribution when demand is highest. In 2004, wind accounted for 20 percent of total electricity production in Denmark but supplied only 6 percent of consumption, because it produced a surplus at periods of lowest demand. What’s more, 84 percent of Danish wind-generated electricity was exported to Norway, and sold at a loss for Denmark. Furthermore, the Norwegian electricity system uses carbon free hydro power, so the effect of carbon reductions realised in power produced by windmills was nullified.
Also, because of this variability in wind, back-up fossil fuel plants must be operated at low load to maintain system reliability. There is new evidence that shows that switching base load fossil fuel plants on and off to balance a system produces higher carbon emissions than continuous operation, certainly not a supposed benefit from switching to renewable energy sources.
Because wind installations tend to be concentrated in areas with high wind speeds, regional grids are heavily overloaded at times of maximum feed-in. Each country studied reported extreme difficulties in balancing the grid. A further 2,700 km of costly high voltage transmission lines will be required in Germany to accommodate new wind capacity.
It is clear that wind-generated electricity can only work as part of a generation portfolio. The US Department of Energy advocates small local targets within states, most recently proposing targets of 100 MW in each of the 30 states, rather than the huge wind parks favoured in Europe.
ABS Energy Research’s report does not relegate wind power to the dustbin. But it does show how essential proper analysis is to establish what renewable energy can and cannot deliver and how it must be accommodated within a total electricity generation system. Objective analysis is essential. Nearly every one of the points described in the study has been labelled a “myth” by a lobby group.
About ABS Energy Research
ABS Energy Research’s (www.absenergyresearch.com) extensive report was compiled through a comprehensive literature search, the help of the regulators and assistance from governments, energy organisations and metrological bureaux.
For more information, please contact Melany Krangle at:
ABS Energy Research
8 Quarry Road
London SW18 2QJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8432 6378
Not What the Doctor Ordered: Rapid Environmental Change Threatens the Foundations of Human Health
Washington, D.C. (Vocus/PRWEB ) November 5, 2009 — Changes to the Earth’s land cover, climate, and ecosystems are endangering the health of hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of people worldwide and now represent the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century. The scale of these global changes is rapidly undermining human life-support systems and threatening the core foundations of healthy communities around the globe: access to adequate food, clean air, safe drinking water, and secure homes.
These are the findings of the new report, Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health, published today by the Worldwatch Institute and the United Nations Foundation. The report notes that, as a result of rapid changes to the climate and in land use, we are already seeing alterations in the distribution of malaria, schistosomiasis, and other infectious diseases in many regions. It concludes that poor populations, mainly in developing countries, are the most vulnerable to these environmental changes, even though they are the least responsible for contributing to them.
“It is increasingly apparent that the breadth and depth of the changes we are wreaking on the environment are imperiling not only many of the other species with which we share the ecological stage, but the health and wellbeing of our own species as well,” writes the report’s author, Dr. Samuel S. Myers, M.D., M.P.H., an instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Research Associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
The report outlines a series of public health threats—food and water scarcity, altered distribution of infectious diseases, increased air pollution, natural disasters, and population displacement—that collectively threaten large segments of the human population. But most of the death and disability from these threats is fundamentally preventable, Dr. Myers writes, if the political will can be mobilized to take strong, concerted action. The report outlines the need for national-level risk assessments to identify the greatest threats in different regions, as well as unprecedented technical and financial assistance from the international community to help developing countries adapt to the health impacts of accelerating environmental change.
Ultimately, the report argues, we will need to find new ways to generate economic growth that do not cause serious ecological deterioration, or the progress that has been made toward global health, nutrition, and poverty alleviation will be undone. “At present, all of the major types of human caused environmental change—climate change, changes in land use and cover, and ecosystem service degradation—are accelerating,” Myers says. “To reduce the avoidable human suffering that will result, we must redouble our efforts to slow the pace of environmental change, reduce the rate of human population growth, and reduce the vulnerabilities of those in harm’s way.”
In her preface to the report, Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and Special Envoy on Climate Change to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, describes the report as “a call to action.” She writes that, “The knowledge that we can make a difference means that we have a large responsibility to act. By fighting ignorance, inaction, and inequity, we can create the conditions under which health threats can be averted. Most importantly, we must take targeted collective action to reduce the vulnerability of the poorest people on the planet to threats they played little role in generating.”
The United Nations Foundation, of which Gro Harlem Brundtland is a board member, supported this report. The UN Foundation connects people, resources, and ideas to solve the world’s global problems.
For a review copy of Global Environmental Change: The Threat to Human Health or to interview Dr. Samuel Myers, please contact Darcey Rakestraw at drakestraw(at)worldwatch(dot)org or Julia Tier at jtier(at)worldwatch(dot)org or (+1) 202.452.1999 x594.
About the Worldwatch Institute: Worldwatch Institute delivers the insights and ideas that empower decision makers to create an environmentally sustainable society that meets human needs. Worldwatch focuses on the 21st-century challenges of climate change, resource degradation, population growth, and poverty by developing and disseminating solid data and innovative strategies for achieving a sustainable society. For more information, visit www.worldwatch.org.
About the United Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation is an advocate for the UN and a platform for connecting people, ideas, and resources to help the United Nations solve global problems. It builds partnerships, grow constituencies, mobilize resources and advocate policy changes to support the UN’s work for individual and global progress. The UN Foundation’s work is focused on decreasing child mortality, improving disaster relief, protecting diverse cultures and environments, creating a clean energy future, empowering women and girls, and improving U.S.-UN relations. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.
Contact:
Darcey Rakestraw
(+1 202) 452.1999 x517