Tag Archives: technology
‘We Can Produce Our Own Power Or Depend On Russia And The Middle East’: Drax Boss’s Blunt Message To Protesters As She Backs Fracking
By VICKI OWEN, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY PUBLISHED: 22:18, 24 August 2013 Target: Dorothy Thompson has faced green protests Power giant Drax’s chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, reckons burning wood for light and heat is as old as time – and it’s hardly fracking, so why all the protests? The Drax power station in North Yorkshire is the UK’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide, but Thompson’s plan to turn its fuel from coal to biomass – wood-based pellets – has made environmentalists see red. Drax is the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe and produces about 7 per cent of UK electrical consumption – enough for six cities the size of Leeds. But campaigners argue that it is a myth that biomass is a low-carbon process and its large-scale use for power generation is sustainable, claiming it leads to the destruction of forests. Drax’s annual meeting was targeted in April by protesters chanting ‘Drax, Drax, what do you say? How many trees have you killed today?’and carrying ‘Drax the Destroyer!’ banners. Thompson remains unfazed, proudly recalling the moment a few months ago when, in the Starship Enterprise-like control room of the power station, her ‘Project Phoenix’ staff flicked the switch that made one unit of the station run solely on biomass for the first time. ‘It was the culmination of ten years of research, development and analysis, and it started beautifully. I mean very smoothly. It is as old as time to burn wood to generate energy.’ Drax’s critics, she says, just don’t see the full picture. ‘I think controversial might be the wrong word for biomass. I think it is counter-intuitive. And, certainly, when we started it wasn’t the route I thought we’d go down. The Drax power station in North Yorkshire (pictured) is the UK’s biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide ‘It is one of those classic cases where you really have to understand the data. People who haven’t understood the data sometimes come to what I would suggest is the wrong conclusion. When we burn biomass we get about 80 per cent carbon savings relative to coal and we really do calculate the carbon cost all the way along the chain. ‘There are only two ways you can reduce carbon emissions: either improve your efficiency so you use less fuel for the same output or change what you burn. ‘Well, we’ve invested more than £100million in improving our efficiency and we’re pretty well at the technical limit. So in parallel we’ve been working on burning this renewable fuel, which is biomass.’ The vast majority of it is imported from the US, and Drax is two months into building huge processing facilities there. Thompson describes biomass as the ‘residues, leftovers and low-value products of agriculture and forestry’. She says: ‘The UK is really quite a small island and it doesn’t have that much forestry and agriculture, and it certainly doesn’t have enough to produce low-value biomass, so the vast majority we burn we import from the US, which has a vibrant commercial forestry industry.’ Huge quantities of biomass will be stored in four large domes – each 30 per cent bigger than the Royal Albert Hall. Indeed, everything about Drax is big: the company has just unveiled a new 62ft-long railway wagon, the largest sealed wagon in the UK, 200 of which are being produced for transporting biomass to Drax. Starship enterprise: The futuristic control room that runs the biomass operation Despite the protests, Drax’s conversion to biomass is on course: ‘We’re hoping to convert the next unit next summer and the third in 2016 and we’re beginning to design plans for a conversion of the fourth. It is ‘‘wow’’. It has never been done at this scale before – all new.’ Thompson’s first experience of the power sector came from funding an independent power project in the Philippines. Now the former banker, who is married with two children, divides her time between a ‘very low-carbon house’ in London with solar panels and ground-sourced heating, a York home nearer to the power station, along with trips to the Ipswich-based retail business, Haven Power, and America. She admits she knew nothing about biomass before joining Drax in 2005, but claims the Government is supportive. ‘It has put significant investment into understanding the detail of biomass and is going to be the first in the EU to produce mandatory sustainability standards for biomass,’ she says. When it comes to national energy policy, she believes the Coalition is right to keep its options open. ‘It is driving policy to create capacity, to essentially ensure you always have sufficient supply to meet demand. ‘People care a lot about security of power supply, so I think they will support it because they want to have electricity to light their homes and power their washing machines.’ Thompson can take some comfort, perhaps, that Drax is not involved in fracking, which has led to large environmental protests at Balcombe in West Sussex. ‘We have a source of wealth [shale] for the country, and we can either neglect it and import from where we are importing – Russia, the Middle East – or we can choose to develop it. It’s our choice,’ she says. Thompson believes her business has the support of the broader community. ‘One of the things I think is really stunning is the support we have from the local community,’ she says. They’ve been absolutely fantastic. It’s a big construction, there are villages behind us, but there’s been nothing. No complaints. Nothing. ‘We try to be as responsible as we can. But you’d think someone would say something. I’m really, impressed. We’ve had no nimbyism at all.’ A huge new plant that ‘captures’ CO2 and stores it deep under the seabed The downside is that CCS plants demand more energy to work properly It sounds like the answer to a previously insoluble problem: coal-burning power stations belching out carbon dioxide could divert the fumes into a massive pipe to be stored under the seabed. It is called carbon capture and storage, and Drax Power, Alstom and BOC have formed a consortium to develop the White Rose Project on land next to to the Drax power station. The consortium is seeking funding from the Government and the European Union for the project, which will be a 426MW new-build power plant that could burn coal together with biomass, producing enough power to meet the needs of more than 630,000 homes. Drax says 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide produced by the plant will be captured and transported by pipes underneath Yorkshire for permanent storage beneath the North Sea seabed in depleted oil and gas fields. The downside is that CCS plants demand more energy to work properly, while the technology has yet to be produced on a truly industrial scale. Nevertheless, a US study reckoned America had enough storage capacity for 900 years worth of carbon dioxide at current production rates. The Drax consortium, one of two preferred bidders, is in discussions with the Government for funds to conduct a study, lasting about 18 months. A final investment decision will be taken by the Government in early 2015. Read more: http://www.thisismon…l#ixzz2d40Xr7XS Continue reading
Financing by the people
Financing by the people Sarah Young / 26 August 2013 The crowdfunding craze continues to gain momentum overseas … But will it follow suit and take off here? As crowdfunding expert and lead associate at Booz & Company Jihad Khalil points out, the phenomenon is not new — look back to 1885, when cash from over 120,000 Americans helped build the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty in the United States. And today, digitised crowdfunding, a model of financing projects or ideas by individual contributions which originated in the US, is continuing to diversify and grow — as are the level of funds involved. In 2012, the crowdfunding market grew more than 80 per cent by gaining over $2.7 billion in funds worldwide, a number expected to almost double to more than $5 billion this year, according to Khalil’s blog. And it is no longer just the domain of films and other creative projects, with a growing shift towards funding start-ups and small businesses. USA Today reported recently that American Olympians and athletes were now using the model, such as speedskater Emily Scott who raised nearly $48,000 in less than a week, while a technology project on one of the newer American sites, Indiegogo, recently set a record for funds raised, hitting about $11.5million early last week. Meanwhile, US and German students had started using crowdfunding to finance their studies, while locals in the UK were turning back to private donations to revamp parks, playgrounds and public areas in response to cash-strapped municipalities and town councils slashing budgets, Khalil told Khaleej Times . Why not in the Middle East? So what about here in the UAE, and the wider Middle East region? Searching some of the main sites in the Middle East — zoomaal.com and aflamnah.com for creative projects, and Eureeca, for equity investing — the number of current projects from Dubai are few. UAE project owners jump on the bandwagon Project owners say it’s all still a learning curve at the moment, but they are confident crowdfunding will be the way to go in the UAE. Dubai designer Moussa Beidas is looking for $5,000 on crowdfunding platform Zoomal.com to bring his Solar Banners project, “a series of engraved mirrors reflecting typography across every major time zone on the planet”, to life. His proposal closes on August 25, and so far, he’s raised $307. His project was originally a winner in the Design as Reform competition organised by Traffic in 2010. After competition organisers faced delays in funding the project, Beidas decided to seek funding himself after meeting Zoomal founders at the ArabNet conference in Beirut. His three donors so far have come from Greece and Lebanon, while the most views were from Washington DC (783), followed by Dubai (157) , Beirut (137) and Greece (7). Crowdfunding in the UAE was still just starting out, and on a massive “learning curve” at the moment — but at least it was out there, he said. “The crux of the matter is people’s apprehension at putting banking information online…but the UAE has demonstrated it can adapt quickly.” He also believed the insurgence of young people due to political instability in the wider region would help, as they would be more willing to go online, have a look and donate to these types of projects. It was too early to tell whether investors would get on board or not, but he believed what would attract them would be project-specific, he said, citing the example of Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila which raised $67,000 via the crowdfunding site. “The cool thing about (it was) the Arab and Lebanese community really felt a camaraderie towards this band — they grew up with it, and it’s a bunch of cool young people doing something they love, and reshaping Arab music for the modern era. “People are much more attuned to backing something like that than something they might not know about. This is different to the US — their social build is more confident, open-minded… they will read anything and if they can see it will work they will fund it regardless of what anyone else says.” The most successful projects would be those that “moved with the punches”, understood what their audience liked — and were not “cookie cutter approaches” imported from the US, but had a local flavour. “I think it’s those ideas that investors are much more looking out for to succeed, rather than ones that mimic what succeeds overseas, and just try to see what happens here.” If he doesn’t reach his target, he will repackage it and try again, based on audience feedback, he said. Meanwhile, Dubai-based design and manufacturing company DGrade, which specialises in recycled products made from plastic bottles, is looking for $200,000 — 10 per cent of the company — to help grow the business on equity crowdfunding platform Eureeca.com. CEO and founder Kris Barber said they had lowered their target from $300,000 due to the volume of interest, and a new partnership with the main supplier, and extended their time period another two and a half months. This was the first time he had used crowdfunding, and he did think there were fewer willing investors here than overseas, although they probably had more disposable income than anywhere else, he said. “Certainly the individual investors here seem to be better off than others…(but) whether we can get the volume of people as per other regions still is to be proven. “(But) things here tend to follow on from other countries and I think if it can be illustrated it has worked…I don’t see why it shouldn’t take off here. I think initially it’s quite difficult for some people to get their heads around it but long-term it offers a good way for smaller (investors to invest in SMEs) from an early stage.” It also gave companies free marketing given the network of investors talking about the project, which was not the case if borrowing off the bank — something not always easy for SMEs to do in the early stages of business anyway, he said. sarah@khaleejtimes.com What’s holding us back? Khalil said he was not sure how quickly project owners would get on board during the early stages of a project, given the fear of failure common here, compared to the US where people were more comfortable putting themselves out there and testing their ideas within their social networks. “Unlike in the Middle East, failure is not a shame; it’s just a necessary (albeit painful) step on the road to success.” However, the need and potential drivers were there, Khalil said. Getting finance was becoming more and more difficult and expensive, especially for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs. Many project owners and types such as social, humanitarian and arts projects could not afford “the exorbitant rates of micro-financing, let alone banks”, he said. Meanwhile, the MENA region had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world — and in many other developed countries, this was one of the precursors to a spike in small business creation, he said. Crowdfunding could push this along by supporting new ideas and initiatives as financing became more expensive, and, through the “wisdom of the crowd”, help to validate ideas before they even went to market. There was also a “huge Middle Eastern market of philanthropic giving” which could be leveraged if platforms did the right things to appeal to these types of donors, he said. However, project owners would have to come up with “their own local ideas based on specific local needs”, which fitted the local market and added value to a critical mass of backers in order to succeed, he said. Risks and protection And despite these positive indicators, there was no guarantee the crowdfunding model in its current format would work in the Middle East. Examples of ideas that had not taken off such as the businesses similar to Groupon which “mushroomed a few years back” and were “now all reduced to a couple that adjusted their original approach” had showed the region there was room for failure if businesses did not make necessary changes quickly. “So until the Arab platforms prove their regional worthiness and reach a critical adoption rate, nobody can pretend that crowdfunding has more than even odds in this part of the world.” And the risks were aplenty — scams, broken promises and crowd disappointment. However, given crowdfunding was a public platform which demanded a great deal of transparency from project owners, it also had the ability to “publicly fame or shame” any participant, and the reputational risk was large if they did not follow through once funded, he said. Studies had also showed 90 per cent of the donors to successful projects were friends, family or part of the project owners’ extended social circle. “Coming to the crowdfunding market as a first-time fundraiser in the Middle East will be extremely hard for those who do not have an actual backing or following in the real world and who don’t run their own parallel “offline” campaign… let alone (for) the scam artist or those with little commitment who will be quickly weeded out by the keen and connected crowd.” Platforms still needed to conduct proper due diligence to ensure they “protect(ed) their own ecosystem from the bad apples” — and their users. “Until we see the first few successes and hear their positive stories spread virally, trust will be a hard sell and will simply need to be earned little by little. It is imperative that platforms, who are the prime curators of this new financing model, support project owners in following through and ensuring backers are protected from the possible negative outcomes.” Still, despite these risks and cautions, it was important any new regulations did not stifle smaller new platforms and ‘overregulate’, he said. “As the industry emerges quickly, support from regulators will be key. The fear is, though, that if regulatory oversight deem(s) this new form of democratisation of financing as dangerous to the system for one reason or another, they might take far too conservative and disparate measures across the region.” He pointed to the example of the equity crowdfunding law approved by Banque du Liban (central bank) in Lebanon requiring an equity crowdfunding platform to put down close to $700,000 in reserves before it could start to operate. And what about the donors? Unlike the West, where tax breaks and incentives, along with an established sense of social and civic duty, have cultivated a culture of charity giving, no such financial incentives existed for investors here, Khalil said. It remained to be seen what would draw the Arab digital consumer to donation models — whether that was the emotional appeal of humanitarian, social or environmental initiatives, or a sense of religious obligation. These types of appeals were evident in Zoomaal’s recent successes, which included a short film, an education project and an album from Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila, he said. Models with donation in exchange for goods or equity, such as Eureeca.com, were not moving as fast, although online skills marketplace Nabbesh.com, which raised $100,000, was one success story. While Khalil said he was not aware of any “super-supporters” in the region, he was sure they existed and would support quality local projects if they saw them. “And let’s not forget how much potential ‘angel’ money there is in this region… the Gulf States have some of the highest densities of dollar millionaires in the world. “So we can safely assume that if the industry gets built on sound principles and foundations, the money will come.” In fact, one of the biggest donors to American platform Kickstarter is from Abu Dhabi — Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki, chairman of Al Darmaki Group, who has this month launched a film company focusing on horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. The Wall Street Journal recently reported he had given to 90 Kickstarter campaigns, and often at the higher ends of the donating spectrum. His website also picks out hot Kickstarter projects to invest in, and provides tips for project owners. sarah@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Fine, black points for throwing out cigarette butts
Fine, black points for throwing out cigarette butts Amira Agarib / 25 August 2013 The Director of Dubai’s General Department of Traffic says he has personally given out Dh500 fines and four black points to people he has caught throwing cigarette butts out of their cars. Newly announced federal laws on tobacco control which will come into force next February will include traffic violations for smokers inside cars — but Dubai Police are slapping any driver caught throwing cigarette butts out of their car windows with a Dh500 fine and four black points. One of the new laws, announced several days ago, includes a ban preventing anyone from smoking while driving a private car if a child under the age of 12 is present, as well as restrictions on advertising, labelling and importing. The Director of General Department of Traffic, Major-General Mohammed Saif Al Zafin, said there was “no doubt” the new laws would limit the growing phenomenon of smoking, especially amongst young people. Since the percentage of smokers among children under the age of 15 reached 28 per cent in Abu Dhabi, it had become necessary for everyone to review the impact of the bad habit and refrain from harming others, he said. Maj-Gen. Al Zafin said that in addition to the Dubai Municipality, which penalises anyone who throws objects out of car windows onto the road with a Dh500 fine, the Dubai Police are also issuing penalties. He said he has even personally issued black points and fines several times. Maj-Gen. Al Zafin said that since smoking had a serious impact on health everyone should work to reduce the exposure of smoke to children. However, there were still many parents who both smoked in enclosed homes or cars. He said some parents were badly affecting their children when they smoked in their cars, especially in the summer when the high heat forced people to close car windows, which then allowed for the spread of toxic gas. In worst possible cases, this could lead to suffocation, especially for children who suffered from asthma or breathing difficulties, he said. – news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
