24 environmental focus The ways we are going green . . .
Whether it’s controversy about fracking, concern over variable and unseasonal weather, or politicians vowing to freeze energy prices, environmental concerns and opinions factor into businesses’ plans. The following pages touch on some positive initiatives from companies and organisations in the Solent region
Tidal energy device nominated for award
North Sea Systems, based in Poole, has been shortlisted in the South West Green Energy Awards Best Business Innovation category, for its data collection and survey device, the Datafish.
Organised by Regen SW, the South West Green Energy Awards recognise the increasing importance that renewable energy and energy efficiency play in providing solutions to the threat of climate change. The awards are now in their 10th year, and at the time of going to press the winners will have been announced.
North Sea Systems was established in 2012 and developed the Datafish to provide a robust and flexible method of collecting tidal data. There is an increasing demand within the marine energy industry for survey data, to aid the design of subsea infrastructure such as turbines. The Datafish enables real-time collection of this data and can operate in very high tidal-flow conditions.
Dave Rigg, director of North Sea Systems, is delighted with the nomination: “This means a great deal to the team at North Sea Systems, and is recognition for the hard work and commitment shown over the past 12 months in developing the Datafish.“
Merlin Hyman, chief executive of Regen SW, said: “This year has been our most competitive ever, with more than 100 entries from across
the South West. North Sea Systems has demonstrated that it is among the leaders in its sector and I congratulate them on their achievement. They are a prime example of the ground-breaking progress in renewable energy that we are currently witnessing – the commitment to renewables set out in our Renewable Energy Manifesto earlier this year, backed by MPs and local enterprise partnerships, is already showing results.“
North Sea Systems was established to provide high-quality survey systems for extreme
marine environments. In addition to designing, fabricating, and operating the survey systems, the business offers data analysis services to provide customers with an end-to-end service that satisfies their specific requirements.
The Datafish has been designed to operate in highly kinetic and hostile marine environments. Some of the benefits of the Datafish include its live data feed, its inbuilt power generation that allows it to operate for six months and its light weight that enables safe, low-risk deployment and recovery.
100-year study to help manage sea-level change
A team of scientists, led by the University of Southampton, has developed a new method to help the world’s coasts adapt to global sea-level rises during the next 100 years.
Future sea-level rise seems inevitable, although the rates and geographical patterns of change remain uncertain. Given the large and growing populations and economic activity in coastal zones, as well as the importance of coastal ecosystems, the potential impacts of sea-level change are far-reaching.
Current methods to assess the potential impact of sea-level rise have varied significantly and hindered the development of useful scenarios and in turn, suitable adaption policies and planning.
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A new study led by professor Robert Nicholls from the University of Southampton, has combined the available data on a number of different climate and non-climate mechanisms (such as uplift, subsidence and natural phenomena – earthquakes for example), which contribute to sea-level change, to create appropriate scenarios of sea-level rise at any location.
Nicholls commented: “The goal here is not to scare people but rather to encourage policy makers to think across the full range of possibilities. This will enable sea-level rise to be fully prepared for without over-adapting.
“Given that the uncertainties of sea-level rise are global, this approach will probably be
widely applicable around the world’s coasts, especially in major coastal cities with high values and growing flood risk.“
To help develop the scenarios, the scientists from the universities of Southampton, Durham, Reading and Curtin University in Australia, along with the United Nations Development Programme, considered a wide range of situations, from cases of little data and few or no previous studies, to those where significant data and experience of earlier studies are available.
The timescale for the study is between 30 and 100 years into the future as this corresponds to the most relevant timescales considered for most developments in coastal zones.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – DECEMBER 13/JANUARY 14
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