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| GreenTech - Building a greener future |
July 12, 2005 |
Technology isn’t all about business efficiency. Used intelligently, it can solve wider ranging problems, including reducing our impact on the envi ronment and cleaning up our previous excesses.
Backbone magazine showcases some of the best examples.
Canada has long been known for natural resources. With its rich forests and bountiful supplies of fresh water, the country’s responsibility to protect the environment is particularly urgent. With this year’s launch of Project Green, its plan to help meet its Kyoto commitments, the Federal government has proven that it is serious about helping make the world a cleaner place for our children. Initiatives such as the One Tonne challenge show the country is serious about bringing citizens on board and persuading people they have a personal responsibility to protect the environment.
But governmental plans cannot succeed without help from the private sector, and the most successful companies are those that innovate, thinking laterally and applying technology in exciting new ways to help address the biggest problems.
In emissions reduction, for example, much of the Project Green report focuses on heavy emitters—companies that produce the lion’s share of greenhouse gases because of the industry they work in, such as oil and gas, or power generation. But relatively light polluters can still use technology as a tool to help reduce their environmental footprint and set an example for others.
While some companies focus on reducing pollution, others are making a business out of cleaning up industry’s historical excesses. Deploying new technologies to remove harmful pollutants from the environment makes industry cleaner while reclaiming contaminated land and such initiatives are succeeding as commercial ventures.
In an industry predicated on growth, and which often struggles to make its own products obsolete through innovation, it is sometimes easy to focus on the technology at the expense of larger, more important goals. This supplement on green technologies showcases some of the more forward-thinking companies in areas such as emissions reduction and pollution cleanup, and shows that technological development can yield more than just tools for more efficient business.
Sonic shakes up PCB disposal process
A young company from Vancouver is applying new technology to solve a decades-old problem.
It’s not often that a new technology can be used to completely eradicate a decadesold problem, but a dynamic young Vancouver company has already started doing exactly that. Sonic Environmental Solutions’ approach is being heralded as the world’s solution to PCB contamination — a pollution problem that has plagued communities since the dangers were first discovered in the 1960s.
The threat from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) lies in their stability. These organic compounds, which were manufactured extensively from the 1930s to the 1970s, do not degrade easily. Instead, they remain in the environment. PCBs were used as additives in everything from pesticides and paints to plastic. The carcinogenic contaminants work their way up through the food chain, causing reproductive and other health problems and leaving large areas of land unusable.
Traditionally, PCB cleanup operations have involved incineration, an expensive process that creates more problems than it solves. Sonic Environmental Solutions’ Sonoprocess™ technology breaks down PCBs inexpensively and cleanly, using a low-frequency generator to agitate contaminated soil. The generator causes a 2.8 tonne metal bar to vibrate at its natural resonance, creating a level of agitation that would break apart conventional mechanical equipment.
The vibration within the specially configured equipment causes the dangerous chlorine within the PCBs to adhere to solvent mixed with the soil. When the
solvent and soil are separated, the only byproducts from the process are salt and the solvent itself, which can be used as a low-grade fuel. The result, as demonstrated by the company at its annual general meeting in early June, is the reduction of PCBs within soil from 910 parts per million to 0.2.
Unlike incinerator plants, Sonic’s solution is portable, enabling it to process contaminated soil on site. This represents a huge gain for customers who would otherwise have to transport soil to an incinerator plant at immense cost, causing concern among residents en route. It also presents Sonic with an international opportunity, and it is already exploring the Japanese market, which currently has no solution for PCB disposal.
“It’s a growing market, because land value is a key driver,” said Adam Sumel, CEO of Sonic Environmental Solutions.
“Some of the older sites that were not feasible to remediate are becoming more feasible every year.”
These opportunities are refl ected in Sonic’s share price, which has risen steadily on the TSX Venture Exchange since it began trading in December 2002.
Having accumulated several million dollars in funding since then, the company has consolidated its position with smart business moves including the acquisition of Contech, a company with a decade of experience in handling PCBs and remediating electrical ballast.
Contech also had insurance coverage in this area, which enabled Sonic to achieve blanket insurance coverage for the whole group—a diffi cult task in the environmental remediation business. Now, with $3 million cash in hand, it is well-placed to embrace PCB remediation challenges across the globe.
It is beginning by tackling the process on its home ground. In March, it successfully deployed its Sonoprocess™ plant as part of an initial $1.5 million contract to clean up 3,000 tonnes of contaminated soil for Juker Holdings in B.C. As its fi rst commercial plant begins cleaning up the area, Sonic is already eyeing eastern Canada for the creation of another remediation plant.
“Now that we have our first contract in B.C., we want our fi rst contract in Eastern Canada,” Sumel said. “We will make a pricing concession for the next client to sign up with us, because we are motivated to secure additional contracts.”
A shortage of work is unlikely to be a problem for the company. The 2004 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants has mandated the complete phase-out of PCBs by 2025, which will lead to an increased demand for cleanup. In the meantime, Sonic is already planning other uses for the Sonoprocess™ technology, which lends itself to everything from liquefying gases to grinding ore for mining companies. This is clearly one environmentally friendly technology that is set to shake things up in more ways than one.
For more information call 604-736-2552 or visit http://www.sesi.ca
Bell acts on climate change
The best way for Bell Canada to communicate the benefits of green technology is to lead by example.
Canada’s one tonne challenge, designed to help people reduce their ecological footprints by cutting down on the amount of energy they use, isn’t just for individuals.
If companies participate by educating employees and introducing internal effi ciencies, they too can have a dramatic effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Bell Canada is using its innovative telecommunications technologies to demonstrate how all Canadians can make a difference.
Information communication technology (ICT) can be a powerful tool in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, said Marc Duchesne, Director of Environmental Services at Bell Canada.
Bell as had a Climate Protection Program in place for several years. One example of acting responsibly is teleconferencing — as an alternative to travel it can drastically reduce a company’s ecological footprint, said Benoit Sicotte, Bell’s Associate Director in charge of the program. Bell has led by example, using teleconferencing internally to save 142,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
The advantage of using telecommunications technologies to help achieve environmental goals is that they also increase employee productivity. For example, fl exible working techniques can be used to make employees more effi cient while reducing fossil fuel emissions. Allowing more than 15,000 employees to work from home at appropriate times has saved 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year at Bell. The company has also saved 140 tonnes of emissions per annum with its FlexSpace program, in which employees can use vacant desks within a closer local offi ce to their homes rather than having to travel longer distances to work. Although Bell only emits 0.02 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gases and is not classed as a heavy polluter, it is nevertheless eager to introduce environmental effi ciencies throughout its entire operation. Fleet management is particularly important to the company, and it has started to introduce hybrid fuel vehicles.
Its anti-idling campaign, which persuades field services employees not to leave vehicles running when on a job, is a good example of the employee awareness program called “Everyday Kyoto” that Bell introduced last year on Earth Day, to help educate employees on environmentally friendly practices.
The anti-idling campaign has been particularly productive. “In the telecommunications business, technicians can be parked for three or four hours while on the job,” Sicotte said. The company uses technology to reinforce employee education, installing devices called Telepod™ in 4,300 of its vehicles. The
Telepod™ transmits information about the vehicle in real-time to a central computer.
In addition to raising the alert about idling engines, its built-in GPS system enables central controllers to make more efficient routing decisions, meaning that fi eld services employees burn less fuel in transit. “Coupled with the education campaign, the technology can save as much as 10 per cent of combustibles.”
Sicotte said this amounts to at least 3,800 tonnes of pollution.
It represents a significant cost saving for the company alongside its environmental benefits.
Bell's energy reduction strategy also extends to its buildings and equipment. Energy conservation of lights, heating, and air-conditioning saves nearly 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, while the use of wind turbines to power remote telecommunications devices in areas such as Northern Québec and Labrador saves around 50 tonnes annually.
Having proved that even light polluters can make signifi cant savings through the use of information and communications technologies, Bell is committed to promoting these technologies to other businesses, and to the government, which published its climate change strategy in April. Canada is already enjoying the wider benefi ts of Bell’s services. Its customers held 2.73 million teleconferences in 2004.
“We represent a solution for Canadian society as a whole,” Marc Duchesne said. “We are working with governments to explain how ICT services must be an important part of a national strategy that aims at reducing climate change.” Bell is also the main sponsor of the forthcoming Canadian Youth Climate Change Conference in Victoria, B.C. “We know that climate change will particularly affect young people, so it is important for us to participate in this event,” Duchesne said.
Which means that, in today’s world where climate change is of particular concern, Bell is working hard at demonstrating the positive contributions it can make.
For more information call 1-888-932-6666 or visit http://www.bce.ca/en/responsibility
Dow’s forward thinking eliminates worst-case scenario
By Hope Maurice
You grab your keys, your bags, do the kid-count and you’re ready to head out on an excursion. That’s when you hear the weather report. “Conditions call for heavy rain, fl ood watches are in effect.
Avoid non-essential travel.” You know the chance of an accident is slim. Maybe if you were the only one going you’d leave anyway, but you’re not—you’ve got your family to consider.
So, what do you do? You stay home.
You make this decision by weighing consequences and looking for safe alternatives.
Dow Chemical Canada strives to do the same.
As a member of the Canadian Chemical Producers Association, Dow is committed to Responsible Care®, a set of Canadian-made initiatives designed to safeguard communities and preserve the environment. In upholding its commitment, Dow’s Fort Saskatchewan site has eliminated its worst-case scenario by removing sulfur dioxide (SO2) from its production process.
Sulfur dioxide is a colourless, corrosive gas with an unpleasant odour. At the site’s Chlor-Alkali production facility it was mixed with other chemical compounds and turned into a liquid solution used to prevent bleach corrosion in process pipes during the production of chlorine, caustic soda and hydrochloric acid. If released in large enough quantities and vaporized in the atmosphere, liquid SO2 could have a toxic effect and impact a range of up to 20 kilometres downwind. The potential for fatalities was the site’s worst-case scenario.
“The chances of an incident involving the release of large quantities of SO2 were extremely slight,” said Don Boonstra, Fort Global Improvement Leader.
“Since we began our project five years ago, zero SO2 has been released from the Fort Saskatchewan site. Still, we recognized the only way to eliminate the risk was to eliminate the use of this chemical in our process.”
After intense testing and the development of new processes, the team working on the project found a way to use sodium bisulfate, a similar but safer chemical.
“We are governed by a philosophy to continually minimize our inventory of potentially hazardous chemicals,” Boonstra said. “Instead of doing things the same way, we explored different options, being sensitive to potential risks. In the end, we adopted a process that is inherently safer and, as it turns out, more effective.”
Dow is a leader of innovation and environmental stewardship. “At Dow we consider the protection of people and the environment to be our number one priority, and the investment of time and resources in the project was well worth the result,” said Robert Lacroix, Fort Saskatchewan Site Leader.
For more information call 1-800-661-3283 or visit http://www.dowcanada.com
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