The White Hat Environmental Sustainability Newsletter

Archived Newsletter - 12th Novemberl 2009

Contents

Water
The Six Types of Water
Australia exports water
Creating New Water
White Hat helps change government policy on long life light bulbs
Water supply and carbon footprint
Intelligent Water – Providers
Greenwashing
Intelligent Water – Consumers
Bottled water
Intelligent Water – the future
WSUD
Pedants’ Dating Service
Decentralized Distributed Storage
Previous Quiz
Reprivatised Water
Australian invention wins environmental award
The Policy Launch
The White Hat Quiz

Water

With the demise of Cubbie Station we thought water would be a useful topic for the current newsletter.

The Six Types of Water

Anyone who grew up on a farm in Australia knew there were six types of water. Creek water, dam water, bore water, irrigation water, tank water and town water.

• Creek water was usually good for a number of things unless your upstream neighbours were allowing dodgy stuff to get in there. Also your downstream neighbour kept an eagle eye on you to make sure you were only taking your fair share.
• Dam water was usually cloudy but suitable for livestock and cleaning the house and cleaning down the sheds.
• Bore water or well water sometimes had to be assisted to the surface with the aid of a creaky Southern Cross windmill, and if you are doing this you may as well pump it up to a tank on the windmill platform so you had some potential pressure as well. Australian farmers have been using wind power since the 19th century. Unless it was too salty, bore water was good for livestock.
• Irrigation water was for the crops and the produce and it was important to use your allocation at the right time in the right way to get the best results.
• Tank water was the most precious of all. It was good for drinking and cooking although it may have to be boiled first. It was a precious resource and if you left the tank tap dripping or, worse still running, you got a lesson you never forgot from parents who were of the conviction that a smack that left no impression left no impression. The kitchen usually had two cold water taps. One for dam or other water and one for tank water and you knew what to use each for.
• The fancy people in town used town water, had only one tap and used the water as though it would never run out.

Maybe it’s time for town people to look at having two cold water taps.

Australia exports water

Australia is the driest continent on earth, yet we export water. How come? Well, some would say it boils down to the concept of ‘embedded water’. Embedded water is the amount of water that has gone into producing a product. Now, we hasten to add that, like many simplistic mantras in vogue out there, it only tells part of the story. In fact the National Water Commission considers the concept to be of little use and generally unhelpful. What if the water would otherwise have been ‘wasted’? A fellow called Sid ended up feeding a fair chunk of the British Isles by ‘following the water’ in an area that previously supported only a few thousand Aborigines. (Was it sustainable? – that is another question) See details at 7 Moments in Australian History

What if most of the water makes its way back to replenish the natural aquifers? What if that water gets used a number of times over for different products?

The confusion is compounded by much of the published figures on embedded water being based on European data. We tend to be much more efficient with water in Australia.

However, despite all these reservations it can still be a useful concept if it helps us in thinking about what industries are appropriate for a dry continent. Aluminium production is hungry on electricity and water but governments find it electorally popular to heavily subsidise the aluminium industry.

Citrus groves in the Murray-Darling Basin require a lot of water. Would we be better growing low-water fruits like pomegranates or crops like dates which are highly tolerant of low quality water?

Growing wheat requires a lot of water. It is not there in the finished product which makes it highly compact and efficient for export. Australia is one of the world’s major food exporters and the demand for food is projected to undergo unprecedented growth in coming decades.

What is the simple solution? I’m glad you asked because recently I woke up in the middle of the night having realised the one simple thing that would solve all these problems. Unfortunately I didn’t write it down and have since forgotten it. However, should I remember that one simple solution you will be the first to know?

Creating New Water

“But senator, you can’t just create water out of thin air.”
“Yes we can Gemma. All those irrigation channels losing most of their water through leakage and evaporation so that only 10% gets used for what it’s intended. We’ll implement a program to make them more efficient and thus create more water.”
“But they only got that way through a century of mismanagement and neglect by governments and the major political parties. You’ll only be giving back what the people were entitled to in the first place.”
“No Gemma, I prefer to think of it as a visionary policy to create water where there wasn’t any before. Knock me up a draft for a press release.”
“What about ‘Senator Creates Water out of Air’.” “It has a nice ring to it. Write it up and run it past me.”

White Hat helps change government policy on long life light bulbs

In the White Hat Environment Newsletter of April 2009 we warned of the dangers of sending compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) to landfill. We wrote: "Governments of all persuasions have made a big song and dance to convince us to use long life light bulbs (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs or CFLs), but have been much quieter in telling us how to dispose of them. CFLs contain small amounts of mercury which is capable of being highly polluting if it finds its way into the wrong place. A Federal Government web page cheerfully informs us that “CFLs can generally be disposed of in regular garbage bins - where the garbage goes to landfill. . . You should NOT place CFLs in your kerbside recycling collection because they can break during transport and contaminate recyclable items.

Well, here at White Hat we are not so confident. If large numbers of CFLs start going to landfill is there a danger of the mercury leaching into the water table and into our waterways? . . White Hat has a feeling that there are very few factories capable of [removing the lead for recycling in Australia]. True, all you have to do is get your globe to a recycling centre, but then that centre may have to transport it half way across the country in ‘safe’ condition to the factory and the resultant carbon footprint may be more damaging than just sending it to landfill. . . .Fortunately LED lighting is shaping up to be a much more energy efficient and less polluting alternative. They are already being used in traffic lights – the ones where each light is actually made up of many smaller ones."

Several weeks after our newsletter went out to thousands of readers across the country we find that the advice on the relevant government web page has changed dramatically. We also find that on 22nd May, Minister Peter Garrett put out a media release stating “It is now commonly understood that the fluorescent lamps contain a small amount of mercury, and . . it is important that we look at ways to dispose of it responsibly."

The release does however leave several questions unanswered: • If a small organisation like White Hat can know that the mercury in CFLs can be a potential hazard for disposal, why is it that a large government department only “now” knows? • The minister has put aside $500,000 for a disposal pilot plan and education about recycling CFLs. Will any of that money go to those who helped educate the public about the problems in the first place or will it go to the mainstream media who simply recycled the government publicity without doing any of their own investigation? • Why has the government suddenly changed the direction of its spin? The fanfare about the introduction was that individual households could have a big impact. However the initial recycling trial is restricted to the "commercial high use sector [because] More than 90% of all lighting waste is sourced from commercial and public lighting." In other words, when it suits us “home usage makes a big impact” but when it doesn’t “home usage doesn’t account for much anyway”. Depending on the results of this trial, recycling (and remember recycling is different from safe disposal) may be made available to the households who have been forced to buy them.

Now we don't claim that White Hat was solely responsible for this change in policy, but we believe we played our part. Our subscriber list of over 10,000 contains numbers of influential people and our web page on this subject has had over a million visitors.

Water Supply & Carbon Footprint

One of the biggest greenhouse factors involved in supplying water is involved in pumping it around. If you combine that with aging underground infrastructure there is often a major problem. If you have a leaky hose the pressure that comes out the nozzle is less than the pressure at the tap. The more serious the leaks the more pressure (ie energy) you have to apply at the source to produce a reasonable pressure at the nozzle. Water suppliers use up a lot of energy just supplementing leaky and inefficient pipes.

Similarly a farmer may find the water in his irrigation pipes has dropped to such a low pressure that he/she needs to use a petrol engine to get it out into the sprinkler system. This is known as ‘double pumping’ and has become a significant problem in many parts of Australia.

Fixing underground pipes does not make for attention grabbing media bites nor does it usually producer highly visible effects within the electoral cycle. There are few mass protests with people carrying banners shouting: “What do we want? Well engineered water pipes! When do we want them? Now!”

Maybe you could start your own movement.

Intelligent Water - Providers

If a fault occurs somewhere in the state’s power grid, there is a good chance that an alert will light up on some large control panel somewhere and the appropriate action taken to fix the fault, divert the power and mange the load will be taken.

If a significant leak occurs in an underground water pipe, it could be weeks until a piece of road falls in or a resident notices there has been a pool of water on the footpath for several days and a member of the public alerts some authority who eventually alerts the appropriate water authority which sends out a team to investigate and fix the problem. In the meantime, much valuable water has been lost and extra pumping power has been required to maintain the pressure.

All of which shows that electrical engineers are much smarter than water engineers. Well, not really, but you might want to try throwing that in at your next barbecue as a conversation starter. In many cases, current water authorities have inherited aging infrastructure buried underground with very little intelligent monitoring built into it. They are doing the best they can with what they’ve got.

Greenwashing

Greenwashing is a term that is often used for a marketing ploy that implies that a product or service is more environmentally responsible than it actually is. Wander through any supermarket and you are likely to be confronted with numbers of goods with green ‘ticks’ sales pitches that don’t stand up to close scrutiny.

One practice which has caught our eye recently is the repurposing of older nondescript city buildings, It seems to work something like this:

1. Developer A purchases a multi-storey building typically built in the 1950s or 1960s and which never pretended to be anything other than utilitarian. Unfortunately, its utility has not stood the test of time so it now a major upgrade. Such buildings range form ‘ugly’ at worst to ‘bland’ at best so the heritage and nostalgia mafia are unlikely to object. In fact those who remember that embarrassing episode at the staff Christmas party in said building now hold senior positions of influence and would be quite pleased to have that visual reminder removed so planning permits are often fast-tracked.
2. Developer A brings in bobcats, cranes, jackhammers and a legion of workers to gut the building to a basic shell. For months the air is thick with dust, noise and a convoy of large trucks carting away the rubble.
3. Developer A now has a multi-storey shell. It may also have the original thin façade supported by steel girders if the planning permit said heritage values need to be retained.
4. Developer A puts up a large sign stating “Your chance to occupy a prominent city site and develop a FIVE STAR GREEN BUILDING.
5. Developer B purchases site, employs architects, designers and engineers who meticulously meet recycling, embedded energy, re-use, ongoing energy efficiency and other requirements enabling it to achieve its green rating.
6. The senator opens the building with much fanfare and many photographs (while curiously failing to mention it as a former workplace or the episode in the photocopier room which the punters would have found added considerable human interest).
7. Glossy brochures are distributed explaining the environmental credentials of the building and in particular how, since Developer B moved onto the site, there has practically nothing removed

But let’s join the hushed conversation amongst the official party.

“It’s ugly!”
“It was ugly before, Gemma. But that was old-ugly, and this will be recycled-eco-friendly-senator-opened-five-star-ugly which means the punters will love it.”
“And look at that green wall senator. It’s just trendy eco-bling. Haven’t you read how those green walls in London are dying and proving of no value?”
“As long as it lasts until after the election it will have great value. See that up there Gemma? That’s where it happened.”
“What happened?”
“Remember that rumour last year?”
“The one where you made me put out a statement saying it categorically never happened?”
“Yes. Well that window three floors up and two from the right was where the photocopy room was. That’s where it categorically never happened. Ah those were happy days.”

Intelligent Water - Consumers

Most Australian houses are fitted with water technology that has changed little since the 19th century. Even many drip watering systems still use mechanical timers which have their origins in the 18th & 19th century. For many people the only way they can tell if they have a leak on the property or ‘phantom’ water usage is to wait until the rest of the household has gone to bed then head out outside and see if you can hear the water meter ticking. And this is the 21st century where we claim to be conscious of the need to be intelligent about the way we use water.

Certain homes throughout Australia have long had unmetered water and have not been aware of their usage and are charged a flat yearly rate for it. Tasmania is about to introduce water meters to many homes in Southern Tasmania for the first time. One of the largest ongoing costs of this process is projected to be sending people out to read the meters. These meter readers travelling around the place also add to the carbon footprint of providing the water. There has to be a better way. Well, there is. Intelligent water meters that report back to base. After all, Telstra doesn’t send out someone to read your telephone meter. Such a system is already in use in Colorado and elsewhere and where the home is not already connected to a broadband network, the water company can provide a wireless broadband service subsidised by the cost savings from not having to send out a meter reader.

Australia is preparing to roll out a National Broadband Network. One assumes that the service companies supplying water, electricity, gas and the like are gearing up to add smart metering and monitoring as an add-on to this service and are preparing to optimise the environmental and greenhouse savings such an intelligent network offers.

Bottled Water

“Johnny, remember when I gave you the lowdown on selling water to the kids? Well I’ve get an even better one.”
“JB. Da water scam was brilliant. Ship water half way round da world and da No-Logo generation will buy it as long as it’s got a logo on it and drink it while preaching to their parents about food miles. Dat was a winner JB and all you had to tell ‘em was dat it had no artificial additives. Brilliant!”
“Well Johnny, I’ve got a better one! We sell them water but with artificial additives.”
“Dey’ll never buy it JB.”
“Yes they will Johnny. We’ll call it ‘water with smart stuff added’”.
“Dey’ll never buy it JB – dey are de most media savvy generation in de history of da world.”
“Trust me on this one Johnny – they’ll buy it.”

White Hat congratulates Bundanoon on its decision to ban bottled water. Details here.

Intelligent Water - The Future

The year is 2015. A light flashes on the control panel of the water authority. “The pressure sensors show there may be an underground rupture in Railway Crescent between Johnson and Boronia Streets. The pressure gradient on the home meters indicates it is probably between numbers 25 and 29. Can you get a team out there straight away?”

A small business in Launceston receives an email. The river is running a bunker through the gorge and the local hydro-electric plant can produce more electricity than it knows what to do with. For the next three days you can have electricity half price – the intelligent meter will handle so you reschedule your workflow to do all those energy-intensive maintenance tasks.

The Home Management Module in a house in Adelaide has received an electronic alert that heavy showers are forecast for tonight accompanied by strong south-east winds. The rain collectors are automatically deployed and oriented to maximize the water collection for rain diving in that direction.

A resident looks at her intelligent water meter in Sydney. It indicates that for the last couple of weeks the washing machine has been using considerably more water per wash. Time to have it looked at.

All these technologies exist and are being used now. In Australia it only takes money, political will and some foresight for us to take advantage of them.

WSUD

WSUD stands for Water Sensitive Urban Design. It is one of the subjects we discuss in our current City Design Newsletter. If you would like to receive a copy send us an email to: citydesign@whitehat.com.au

Pedants' Dating Service

Sarah and Damien were settled on the couch. Sarah was more relaxed than she had been for a long time and seemed to have her medication for OPAS (Obsessive Possessive Apostrophe Syndrome) in balance. Damien had the feeling that tonight might turn out to be a special night.

Damien’s flatmate Kyle came in. He was not staying long but he always knew how to wind Sarah up. “Here’s the electricity bill.” he said. “Nice and friendly “Dear customer, we notice you have not paid the outstanding amount on . . .” “You are not customers!” interrupted Sarah. “It upsets me when utility companies and government departments and public transport operators address me as a customer.”

“I am a user.”

“Yes Sarah, I’ve heard several of your friends saying that about you, but technically you are a customer of public transport. You pay a fare and they provide a service.” “Not really” contributed Damien. “The fare covers only a fraction of the cost of providing the service which in the end is subsidised by car drivers and farmers and others who don’t use the system. Technically it is they who are the customers because they are paying the major cost.” “That’s not true” said Sarah “because those supposed costs don’t factor in the real costs and benefits to the environment. By using public transport I am subsidising car drivers.”

Damien was aware that Sarah’s body had stiffened so attempted to change the subject. “Sarah has installed solar panels on her roof and is pumping electricity back into the grid.” he observed. “Ah. So you’re now a prosumer?” asked Kyle knowing exactly what sort of effect he would have. “What sort of invented word is that?” snapped Sarah. “Well,” explained Kyle “you use energy from the grid when you need it and pump it back in when you have surplus. You are both a producer and a consumer – you are a prosumer.”

Kate, Kyle’s date for the night had arrived. “Hi Kate,” said Kyle. “Sarah’s become a prosumer.” “Cool” said Kate. She found cool was a useful word when someone said something she didn’t really understand. She used it a lot. “You’ll be cool in that outfit tonight.” said Kate eying Kate’s flimsy outfit with disapproval. “Oh that’s fine.” said Kate. “I love to feel the wind all about my body.” “Youse two have a good night.” said Kyle as he and Kate departed.

Damien pondered the rest of the evening. Kate had never thought deeply about the environment. In fact Damien was hard pressed to find a subject about which Kate had thought deeply, but maybe an evening with Kate might turn out fun. He banished those thoughts and attempted to put his arm around Sarah. The magic from earlier in the evening had evaporated and Sarah was sitting bolt upright with her arms crossed.

“I am NOT a prosumer!”

If Sarah is not a customer, could she be a client? Will Kyle and Kate spend the evening discussing the relative benefits of solar-thermal and photovoltaic? Should Damien be more proactive or is that just a non-word. Find out in the next newsletter . . .

Decentralised Distributed Storage

In a previous newsletter based around the distribution and storage of electricity we discussed how the costs and carbon footprint of providing energy and other utilities can be reduced by rightsizing into clusters where prosumers can exchange energy over short distances. You can find a summary of this at The White Hat Guide to Electricity and the Environment.

The same applies to water. We are told that using home rainwater tanks for storage of potable water from the water grid is not yet a sensible option (although I have seen the odd garden hose in the middle of the night leading to a rainwater tank behind signs saying “this garden is maintained by tank water”). However, smaller suburban-based storages unlike large dams are capable of being covered to greatly reduce evaporation losses. Also making more intelligent use of greywater at a local level has plenty of possibilities. The main industry in a country town generates a fair amount of waste water. It’s not drinkable but it’s quite safe. The local football oval which is the social heart of the town has dried up and there is no grass. The factory and the oval are 400 metres apart. And so on.

Similarly, imagine a situation where efficient electrical storage has been built into cars. You plug you car into the charger overnight but the fleet of electric cars are also being used by intelligent meters as short term local storage. Repeat after me:

“We are all prosumers and prosumers can save the world.”

Well, maybe not, but I suspect we can make a useful contribution.

Previous Quiz

Peter was the first in with his answers to our quiz on electricity & heat so here are his answers:

1. What do batteries have to do with gorillas? – Coltan is a mineral used in the production of many mobile phone and laptop batteries. The habitat of the lowland gorilla in the Congo is being destroyed in the search for Coltan. The moral is use Coltan-free batteries or at least recycle your current Coltan-based batteries. 2. If you dragged your refrigerator into the middle of your living room, propped the door wide open and turned it up full blast would the overall temperature of the room go up or down? – According to the 2nd law of thermodynamics it would go up. 3. What Australian outback invention turns heat into cool? – The Koolgardie Safe 4. Do electric trams and trains use AC or DC power and why? – DC. Not quite sure why but DC is more efficient for transmission over a distance. It also allows for the energy efficiency of regenerative braking but I don’t think trams started using this until fairly recently. 5. Which type of battery is more efficient? A DC battery or an AC battery? – There is no such thing as an AC battery. 6. Welders on Railways and tramways sometimes carry a long pole with a hook on the end. What is this for and what sort of welding are they doing? – They hook this onto the overhead wire as a power source for arc welding. 7. What Australian expression makes reference to the companion animal of the worthy men of the welding profession? – As blind as a welders dog.

Peter”

Reprivatised Water

Much of Australia’s urban water supply started off as privatised. See for instance The White Hat Guikde to the Yan Yean Resevoir.

Later it was generally taken over by public authorities. By the 1990s some governments felt that some of these authorities had become so fat, bloated and unaccountable that the only option was to reprivatise parts of the water supply system.

This produces an interesting problem in terms of contractual arrangements. We all recognise the need to save water so how do you write a contract that rewards a service provider for providing less rather than more (or a government department for shrinking its ‘empire’)?

Things seem to be improving all the time on this front, but I’m not sure anyone will claim to have yet created the perfect contract.

Australian invention wins environmental award

White Hat congratulates the two Australians, Phil Ashworth and Dr. Graham Robertson whose invention for baiting commercial long lines underwater is expected to save many thousands of seabirds each year from becoming accidently hooked and drowned by the fishing activities of coastal tuna and swordfish vessels worldwide. The World Wildlife Fund announced in Viga, Spain, that the invention had won their 2009 award to reward innovations from a field of 71 competitors from 27 countries. The award aims to minimise ‘bycatch’ (unintended and wasted wildlife casualties of commercial fishing) by rewarding and inspiring individuals and companies who create what they adjudge to be best inventions that achieve that purpose. The next award will be made in 2011.

White Hat also congratulates the University of Queensland for its ground-breaking new internet tools for monitoring and managing the health of waterways. Details at: http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=19920

You can find a comprehensive list of Australian inventions at The White Hat Guide to Australian Inventions. And if you like to be kept abreast of new Australian inventions, you can subscribe to the White Hat Inventions Newsletter by sending an email to: inventionsnl@whitehat.com.au

The Policy Launch

“How is our water policy travelling, Gemma?”
“Quite well senator, but you will need to get the vote of the Member for O’Connor.”
“The Member for O’Connor! The country already built the most ridiculous water pipeline halfway across the desert for his constituency in Kalgoorlie. You go and tell him Gemma that if he doesn’t vote for it we’ll turn off the tap at the Perth end!”
“I’d rather you told him yourself senator.”
“Besides Gemma, I have it on good authority that the Prime Minister has plans for the Member for O’Connor. There is a vacancy in Remotistan or somewhere – I’m not sure where it is but it’s one of those countries where a single ill-chosen word can lead to years of conflict – and the Prime Minister plans to offer a diplomatic posting there to the Member for O’Connor. I also have it on good authority that there will be bipartisan support for Mr Tuckey being made Australian Ambassador to Remotistan – or anywhere. Anyway, Gemma I want you to get working on the cover photograph for the policy booklet. You know, the usual thing, happy people on the lawns by the reservoir. Someone who’s disabled but photogenic, representatives of the current ethnic groups that the polls say we need to impress. Oh, and dolphins – dolphins are always good.”
“I don’t think Australia has any dolphins that live in fresh water, senator.”
“Well go and find out Gemma. Dolphins can always create a one or two percent swing.”

The White Hat Environment Quiz

Water

1. What makes heavy water heavy? 2. Who first said “water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink”? 3. Outside many Australian homes you will notice a thick wire attached to a water pipe close to the ground. Why? 4. You have a tankstand at roof level and intend to install a tank. Which tank will produce more pressure at the back yard tap – a 100l tank or a 500l tank? 5. You fill the ice cube tray with water. The surface is perfectly flat. When you later take out the frozen ice cubes, they have peaks in the middle. Why? 6. Brown coal, which fires many of Australia’s major power stations, burns less efficiently than black coal. Why? 7. Australia ‘owns’ more water than any other nation. Explain. 8. What is your favourite water saving technique?

No prizes – just glory and a warm inner glow.