In this day and age of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), Carbon Footprint, the “Green” movement, Human Rights; a quick look around us still shows major signs of sticking to the “old ways”.
Only yesterday I had a sort of interview with a UK based company who is looking at expanding their business internationally. What is scary is that they don’t have a mission statement, driving factors or beliefs that are pushing them forward – only that they see dollar signs and Euro symbols and are interested in getting a piece of the cake. Unfortunately, these people are in the energy management business, and yet don’t seem to have environmental concerns. Sadly, this is nothing new to me, as it is the same as with the company that I have been working for for a couple years.
Although I have not been following what has been going on in Dubai over the past week (I was on vacation in Tunisia), I must say that their future has been clear to me since I was there about a year ago. The growth and the exuberance that is being built in Dubai goes against sustainable practices. (more…)
One interesting thing about my job is that I frequently know where I will be in the coming weeks. This also gets tiresome, and becomes frustrating. Just over a week ago, I found myself in Glasgow, spending some time with my boss, doing some meeting preparation, and visiting a couple of potential clients. It was in his home office that we first got wind of the latest opportunity.This opportunity was in the U.A.E, and a partner of ours had already submitted an initial request to bid. They had been short-listed, were bringing us in, and wanted us down there in a matter of days. The project is for the first phase of what will be a sustainable city, specifically for the beginnings of the university campus for this city. Imagine a place with zero emissions, zero waste. These are VERY steep conservation goals. In order to do so, the consumption of energies and of waste needs to be closely tracked and managed. Also, many renewable energy sources do not have controllable supply in relation to overall demand. If there is wind and sun, that is a start, but what do you do when it’s nighttime, and there is no wind? Things need to be closely managed. Without getting into detail, we will need to manage every piece of data possibly imaginable. From there, it will be used to better understand human behavior, usage patterns, etc., all in an effort to best streamline the operations of the university/city. It is an extremely interesting project, although somewhat overwhelming in other senses, and I am excited and grateful to have the chance to work on it.