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Dear All, I would like to take the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012. I hope you can enjoy some peaceful and relaxing days and look forward to a 3rd year of open-minded and well-founded sustainability debates on Sustainable | Water | Management. Thank you very much for your kind attention. Cordially yours,   Wolfram Scharnhorst, Ph.D., M.Sc. Founder Sustainable | Water | Management Sustainable | Water | Management Olten Switzerland ☎+41 (0)76 336 12 55 | ✉swm.group@gmx.net | www: http://swm-group.blogspot.com

Today, there are a number of beverage packaging materials available. Aluminum, steel, glass, PET, so name some of them. However, it is not still not clear which one stands for truly sustainable beverage packaging material. The metals can be recycled (almost) indefinitely, glass can be reused, PET can be recycled and - if not - it can be used as direct fuel substitute. Does the sustainability of the material depend on the beverage? Or on the supply chain? Is it useful/healthy to re-use PET-bottles? Is steel can recycling truly sustainable? What happens with the aluminium lid and plate? A number of questions/issues that is addressed in a recent debate launched by S ustainable | W ater | M anagement. The results may assist in creating ideas for sustainable packaging alternatives also with regard to bottled water.

NEW: a number of sources consistently report that also Russia and Japan are about to resign from the Kyoto Protocol. This morning it became true that Canada is the first signatory state to resign from the Kyoto Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The quoted reason is that, according to Canada, the Kyoto Protocol does not work and has failed its goals. The key motivation however might be that the major greenhouse gas emitters (the USA and China) never signed the Kyoto Protocol and, secondly, that Canada would have to pay a fine about of several billions dollar due to unmatched reduction goals.  As Canada is a major industrialized country and, in contrast to other industry nations, seems to be much less affected by the current finance and state debt crisis, it is assumed to be most likely that a number of other countries will follow this step. Accordingly, a follow-up greenhouse gas protocol will have to be either very different from the Kyoto Protocol or it will rarely be signed by any stat...

Presentation download here... ( alt server ) | File Format: .ppsx | File Size: 2.21 MB Zurich/Olten In an opening talk at the 46 LCA Discussion Forum, Wolfram Scharnhorst presented his view on sustainability reflecting about the situation in two different industry sectors: the (mobile) telecommunication sector and the building and construction sector. More than 10 years of practical experience in both sectors provided the theoretical basis for this speech. In the first part, Mr. Scharnhorst gave a brief review of the past technological evolution of GSM and UMTS mobile phone technology along with a short overview about the technological development of End-of-Life (EoL) processing solutions. The presentation was further sustained by economic considerations addressing the most likely influence of the stock market on the EoL-issue. Concentrating on the situation today in particular four aspects were addressed: technological aspects environmental aspects economic aspects...

As of today the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2011 are released and available from http://swm-group.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html If you encounter any problems accessing the Notes please request a free copy of the Notes from: swm.group@gmx.net . You are also invited to share the download link with other interested stakeholders and/or inform concerned parties about the platform S ustainable | W ater | M anagement . As in the previous releases, the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management are intended to provide interested stakeholders with up-to-date information about ongoing developments related to water and its management, also addressing closely related issues like climate change. The present release of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management comes with contributions from key stakeholders in the field of sustainability: > Key Note (Frost&Sullivan) > Technology (Molson Coors) > Research > Poli...

With the increasing awareness of the sensitive and essential resource 'water', initiatives to strengthen legislative measures have been put forward. A key issue in agriculture e.g. is the use of pesticides and their consideration for example in the Clean-Water-Act (CWA) [1]. Also in this context the CWA seems to be considered important to broaden the scope of US EPA [2]. Another top-issue, focusing on the same subject, is addressed in a recent report about the further development of CWA [3]. It is to be expected that the 30th Annual Water Law Conference [4] is addressing this issue as well. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ]

With the rapidly increasing awareness for the limits of natural resources so far not considered to be of 'high importance', e.g. water, appropriate water saving appliances have experienced a major push forward. No new building, especially such predestined to be labelled, without a high-tech and outstandingly water saving equipment (often designed in an excellent way). However, is this really helpful? Do such appliances indeed contribute and sustain to an increased overall sustainability? The reflection about these questions requires a more comprehensive perspective, in this particular case about the natural water cycle on the one hand and about the artificial water cycle on the other hand.  Firstly, lowering the water consumption is in general a promising step ahead. (Over)consumption results in a lowering of the available (drinking) water, it affects the natural water cycle (deprivation of water for plants, etc.). The border exists once the resource water turns into a consume...

Unsustainable water use in India is threatening agricultural production and raising the spectre of a major water crisis. Matthew Rodell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and colleagues used data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites — operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) — to determine how groundwater levels are changing in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana, which includes the national capital of New Delhi. Their research, published online in Nature this week ( M. Rodell et al . Nature doi:10.1038/nature08238; 2009) , found gravity anomalies suggesting a net loss of 109 cubic kilometres of water — equivalent to a mass of 109 billion tonnes — from August 2002 to October 2008. The amount lost is double the capacity of India's largest surface-water reservoir, the Upper Wainganga, and almost three times the capacity of Lake Mead in Nevada, the largest reservoir in the ...

A recently initiated debate about the sustainability effects of labels and certificates [1] - which is still ongoing [2] - currently shows a clear trend the concerned stakeholders doubt that such certificates really help in terms of sustainability. Often labels and certificates are considered just diverting from real issues, i.e. are considered as just (only) a marketing instrument. There are many other opinions provided as well and there still exists the opportunity to join this vivid and partly polarising debate and to share perspectives, views and opinions. Reference: [ 1 ], [ 2 ]

The fourth issue of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management (Q04/2011) will be released early December this year. As in the previous issues the Notes will contain the following sections > Key Note > Technology > Research   > Politics & Society  As earlier, contributions from concerned stakeholders are warmly welcome.Topics may range from pure scientific hydrological issues to practical water management solutions - focussing on sustainability - and may not be limited to industrial or municpal subjects. Contributions may, for instance, cover reviews of technical achievements, short presentation of water management concepts, announcements of conferences related to water/water management, etc. You are invited to contribute with outstanding, brief and concise inputs (e.g. in the form of abstracts of white papers, papers, and any other communication form). The contributions may consist of 200-300 words (approx.), well written English and might...

Following thorough and carefully performed major revisions the next version of the Interactive Data Management (concept) v2.11 will be finalised soon. In particular modifications have been made with regard to the structure of the technical document, the detailed consideration of life cycle inventory data with regard to different software platforms and life cycle modelling environments. The most prominent modification however represents the incorporation of an individual chapter addressing the issue of geographical data, i.e. GIS-Data in context with sustainability analyses/life cycle inventories. The concept now is able to provide guidelines to efficiently link quantitative and qualitative life cycle data (of e.g. products and services) with GIS-Data and thus may sustainably assist in considering regional sustainability aspects of products and/or services. Further readings: [ 1 ]

In continuation of the most recent and successful controversy about sustainability ( Sustainability. What is it? view the results here , [1]) a new debate focusing on the blooming variety of sustainability labels and certificates - Labels + Certificates = Sustainability. Yes. No. Or? -  has been launched. share your view, get your insights   - a research service hosted by S ustainable | W ater | M anagement  Today, such labels and certificates exist for almost every kind of product or service - be it a building, be it packaging, be it a flight service, etc., etc. More or less each week at least one new label enters the market and most often the recipient of the label, i.e. the consumer, is confronted with a sheer endless amount of conditions, influence factors, application opportunities, aspects, etc. to be considered with regard to the application of a particular label or certificate.  The present situation does not provide for an unbiased, objective and transp...

The server problems that prevented from properly viewing the web-site and all related documents (download area) have been solved. The recent issue of Sustainable Water Management - Quarterly Notes Q03/2011 can now be accessed. If the link still should not work, an alternative server location can be contacted (click alt server ). Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ]

Sustainable and secure (drinking) water supply without exhausting the source of it, i.e. providing enough capacity for healthy renewal, is one of the major challenges. This in particular taking the climate change effects, e.g. rising temperatures, changes in vegetation, increasing evaporation, etc. into account. A number of regions, especially countries located closer to the equator like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya, but also China are facing tremendous challenges with regard to water supply. A debate is going on whether to exploit so-called 'fossil' water. This source of fresh-water was accumulated over a very long time in the past, and renewal is almost impossible. On the other hand, this water source could stimulate economic development in regions that, until now, lack a proper economic and thus social prosperity. The questions, however, remains: is it useful to use such resources or do there exist other opportunities? Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ...

GEO-NEWS : Myanmar (Burma, Birma) has stopped one of the most controversial water dam projects in Asia. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ]

  A series of comprehensive market overviews performed in the most recent months provide detailed in-sights into a obviously robustly growing market segment: smart (water) metering. Accordingly, growth rates of > 10% per year are possible for water utilities in the very next years. Other reports consider longer periods up to the year 2020 suggesting a stable growth rate above benchmark. What is currently lacking seems to be well-developed network infrastructure/utilities/facilities; in this context mobile phone networks could play a key role when it comes to information transmission between end-user and individual equipment items. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ] , [ 5 ]

As of today the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q03/2011 are released and available from http://swm-group.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html   (1) If you encounter any problems accessing the Notes please request a free copy of the Notes from: swm.group@gmx.net . You are also invited to share the download link with other interested stakeholders and/or inform concerned parties about the platform S ustainable | W ater | M anagement . As in the previous releases, the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management are intended to provide interested stakeholders with up-to-date information about ongoing developments related to water and its management, also addressing closely related issues like climate change. The present release of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management comes with contributions from key stakeholders in the field of sustainability: > 2 Key Notes (Frost & Sullivan, IBM) > Technology (ITU) > Research (Itron, e...

The platform S ustainable | W ater | M anagement is listed on page 1 of the Google-Search engine. By typing in the phrase "Sustainable Water Management" the home page of the platform is the 7th hit out of more than 12'300'000 entries. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ]

Increasingly it seems to be recognised that modern telecommunication/IT systems may be able to universally help facilitate sustainable water management. Various sectors, be it the building sector, the agricultural sector [1, 2], or other production businesses (e.g. car manufacturing, chemical industry, etc.) have shown the urgent need for intelligent and economic resource (here: water) management systems [3]. A number of stakeholders are preparing solutions that may provide a robust technical and technological basis in order to meet this particular near future demand [4]. In order to prove the profitability of the various approaches, a number of business cases have been studied and reports already have been issued [5] or will be released quite soon [6]. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ] QR:

Announcement: the next issue of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q03/2011 will be released Friday, 30th September 2011 at 02:00 p.m. (CEST). Key topic of this issue will be smart technologies, smart grids, smart metering - in particular but not solely concentrating in water. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ]  QR:

As addressed previously, mobile phone networks (the backbone) seem to represent a valuable alternative when installing smart (water) metering services. Accordingly, the big players Veolia and Orange have teamed-up and established a unique smart (water) metering operator: m2o city. It can seriously be assumed that other resource service providers and mobile phone network operators but also mobile phone hardware component manufacturers will entire this market segment in the very near future. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ] new Article QR-Code:

Silver Spring Networks and Freestyle Technology have agreed to integrate the Freestyle Zigbee-based smart water meter module with the Silver Spring Smart Energy Platform. The Zigbee-enabled smart water meter is designed to help water utilities gain visibility in water usage, so they can better manage consumption and accurately identify leaks, while optimizing water flow and distribution to customers.  The open application and distributed platform of the technology will link communications, metering and other sensory systems across transmission, distribution, retail and consumer networks. At the same time, Silver Spring’s secure IPv6-based Smart Energy Platform will enable two-way connectivity between utilities and their customers to provide better distributed monitoring and management of critical networks, including water. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ]

World Water Week is the annual meeting place for the planet’s most urgent water-related issues. Organized by Stockholm International Water Institute, it brings together the world’s experts, practitioners, decision makers and leaders to exchange ideas, foster new thinking and develop solutions. World Water Week opened in Stockholm on Monday August 22nd with calls for better urban water management to ensure food and water security. Around 2,500 experts from some 130 countries are attending the 21st edition of World Water Week in Stockholm. They are working on preparations for the United Nation’s conference on sustainable development set to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. The group expects to publish a declaration at the end of this week (August 26). Despite the U.N.’s adoption of a resolution recognizing access to clean water and sanitation as a human right, 1.6 billion people continue to live in areas affected by drought, and that the number could easily rise to tw...

The third issue of th e Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management (Q03/2011) will be released early October 2011. Focus of that issue will be directed towards a technical/technological issue that more and more becomes important - also for water services: smart grids/smart metering . Most recent findings from research and development will be compiled in the sections: Key Note Technology Research Politics and Society The challenge is that infrastructure elements - be it at local levels (private households) or at levels larger than regional (resources supply networks) - need to be modified from more or less static and often technically outdated systems towards intelligent systems being able to react more sensitively and precisely on varying demands and situations. As earlier, contributions from concerned stakeholders are warmly welcome.Topics may range from pure scientific issues to practical management solutions - focussing on sustainability - and may not be limited ...

A series of reports document the environmental relevance of beer production. Due to the current situation, attention is primarily paid to climate change and water demand issues. Accordingly, brewing beer seems to have a significant effect on local water resources. However, as with many other reports the results of the analyses are quite often different (depending upon the scope of the individual studies). One thing appears to be clear: the process of brewing beer has some potential to be improved with regard to water consumption and after brewing water treatment. In addition, the container alternatives (glass bottle, metal can, etc.) need not be forgotten in a comprehensive sustainability analyses of any beverages. Further readings: [ 0 ], [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ]

In the past few years a series of incidents happened that demonstrated unambiguously the vulnerability of our society with regard to its economic, social and environmental stability and prosperity: the dot com boom and bust right at the beginning of this century followed by the bank and, nowadays, the state debt crisis; ever shorter life cycles of products and services; a huge tsunami hit the shores of Indonesia and many other pacific countries (2004), severe earth quakes shook Italy (2009) and Japan (2011) - the latter one leading to another gigantic and destructive tsunami resulting in a nuclear disaster classified to be comparable with the Chernobyl accident in 1986; finally, we are facing a proven severe climate change (incl. desertification), we are confronted with decreasing amounts of natural resources (precious metals, rare earths, energy carriers, etc. to mention a few prominent ones) and we realise a challenging water supply issue (exploration, supply, treatment, etc.). I...

Laos intends to become the hydroelectric battery of a power-hungry Southeast Asia. With regional growth at around 6% annually over the next decade, the requirement for energy is huge.Laos’ power ambitions are laid out in its Seventh National Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2011-15. In the document, the government outlines its plans to build 10 hydropower plants, generating some 5015MW of electricity. “In 2006, the country had 10 hydropower plants producing 700 MW. Today it has over 16 plants producing north of 2,540 MW,” Xavier de Nazelle of Aloe Private Equity, an investment company that focuses on clean energy and eco-processes, told CNBC. And foreign investors are keen to enjoy a slice of the return. According to data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, between 2001 and 2009, US$4 billion worth of foreign direct investment went into electricity generation or 34% of all FDI into the country. “The amount of foreign investment coming into the country is almost...

The recent turbulences at the world's stock exchange centers again have risen the question of 'How well-funded are the public/private resource supply systems?'. Already in the past, various analyses have been performed [1], [2], [3] to investigate aspects like financing, manageability, etc. of private efforts in historically public domains. With the largely unstable economic systems today, the question is repeatedly addressed if and in how far private efforts in sensitive public domains are of benefit for the broad public [4], [5]. Examples exist where obviously improper management has resulted in financially disastrous situations [6]. There exists also a resource management issue: what is the right and appropriate tool to govern water consumption? Various sources promote a sustainable water regulation via the price of water supply [7], [8]. In this context more dedicated studies have been performed for Western-Europe [9], [10] and the emerging countries [11]. Further Read...

In order to modernise outdated water (and any other resource) supply systems developments have been initiated to implement smart grid/smart meter technology into the water sector. On a national level Italy (gas) and New Zealand (water) can be seen as forerunners in this case. Accordingly South-East Queensland has a comprehensive smart water grid that increasingly attracts international attention [1]. Other regions are closely observing the technical development and discussions are going on if and how to implement smart grid/smart meter technology in other regions/sectors [2], [3], [4]. Recent reports inform about a significantly growing application of smart meters in private households [5] whereas criticizers point at the missing use case of smart meters for e.g. water in private households [6], [7]. References: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ]

The first quick poll "Do you save water? How and why?" has been closed. You may find the detailed results and comments here . The debate continues online , further details are given in the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q02/2011 . If you encounter any technical problems, don't hesitate the office of Sustainable | Water | Management: swm.group@gmx.net .

As of today the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q02/2011 are released and available from http://swm-group.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html   (1) If you encounter any problems accessing the Notes please request a free copy of the Notes from: swm.group@gmx.net . You are also invited to share the download link with other interested stakeholders and/or inform others about the platform S ustainable | W ater | M anagement. As in the previous releases, the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management are intended to provide concerned stakeholders with up-to-date information about ongoing developments related to water and its management, also addressing closely related issues like climate change. The present release of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management comes with contributions from key stakeholders in the field of sustainability: > 2 Key Notes (IBM, Feldschlösschen) > Technology (ETH Zurich Foundation, etc.) > Research (Nex Mexico...

China is running out of water and can no longer afford to irrigate its northern plains, an expert has warned. China needs to reduce food production on its dry northern plains or aquifers will diminish to a "dire" level in 30 years, one the country's leading groundwater experts has warned. Zheng Chunmiao, director of the Water Research Centre at Peking University, said the world's most populous country will have to focus more on demand-side restraint because it is becoming more expensive and difficult to tap finite supplies below the surface. "The government must adopt a new policy to reduce water consumption," Zheng told the Guardian. "The main thing is to reduce demand. We have relied too much on engineering projects, but the government realises this is not a long-term solution." Read more... and participate in the ongoing discussion by joining the LinkedIN-Presence of S ustainable | W ater | M anagement: http://www.linkedin.com/...

Hydropower is clean energy, renewable, non-polluting, low cost, easy to power peaking, will help improve resource utilization and overall efficiency of the economy and society. Traditional energy sources in the Earth's increasingly tense situation, give priority to developing countries in the world electricity, water, efforts to use water resources. Whether China has proven reserves of hydropower resources, water resources may be developed or are first in the world. Power industry in the hydropower industry as the most important clean energy and renewable energy types, occupies a very important position, the development of space is very huge. In the new century, especially in the power system to promote, mobilize the whole society to participate in the construction of hydropower development initiative, accelerated development of hydropower into the period. In 2004, Gongboxia operation of Unit 1 as a symbol of China exceeded 100 million kilowatts installed capa...