Plumbers urged to fight global water crisis…

Health professionals are calling on plumbers to take a more active role in tackling the humanitarian disaster caused by poor water supplies, which is gripping many parts of the developing world.

Over two million people die from water borne diseases every year and 80% of the four billion cases of diarrhoea are caused by poor sanitation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has appealed to the plumbing industry to export its expertise to areas most at risk.

Speaking at last month’s World Plumbing Conference in Edinburgh, the WHO’s Bruce Gordon said that health practitioners had identified sanitation as the top medical milestone since 1840 – more important than the discovery of penicillin – but that it remained a relatively low priority for most governments and aid providers.

“Diarrhoea is the biggest single thing that the plumbing industry can do something about,” he told the conference, which attracted 360 delegates from all over the world. “Reacting to big outbreaks is incredibly expensive and difficult, so prevention is the key. Plumbers are on the front line of public health action.”

He said the WHO was in close dialogue with the World Plumbing Council (WPC) that organised the Edinburgh conference, which was hosted by the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF).

Contamination

“Unsafe plumbing is responsible for thousands of outbreaks of life threatening diseases,” said Bruce. “Cross-connections and backflow; as well as contamination of piped water from sewerage have been identified by the WHO as technical issues that can be rectified by skilled plumbers.”

Source: hpnmag.co.uk

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The Green Deal Finance Company is formed

 An industry-led consortium has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop the business plan for a not-for-profit organisation,
The Green Deal Finance Company (TGDFC), to finance the best value Green Deal option for consumers.

The MOU signatories include British Gas, Carillion, Clifford Chance, E.ON, EDF Energy, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Insta Group, Kingfisher, Linklaters, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, Mark Group, npower, PwC, RBC Capital Markets and SSE.

The consortium is already working closely with Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the European Investment Bank and local authorities, with a view to maximising its assistance to the Green Deal market. Over the next few months many more new associate members are expected to join the consortium, including suppliers, installers, providers, local authorities, and industry and consumer representative bodies.

The GDFC will be a national aggregator that can provide finance to all Green Deal providers on an equal and open basis. By operating at a national level, it will minimise the operating and administration costs of Green Deals and will quickly be able to access the cheapest sources of finance in the market at the highest possible credit rating.

Source: hpnmag.com

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Scottish Minister commits to cutting renewables red tape

Robert Burgon: Looking to reform the Microgeneration Certification SchemeScotland will reduce bureaucracy to speed up the adoption of renewables, according to one of the country’s most prominent politicians.

Fergus Ewing, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, told the World Plumbing Conference in Edinburgh that he was committed to reducing red tape and its associated costs to speed up growth in the renewables market.

Scotland has set a target of producing 100 % of its electricity and 11% of its heat from renewables by 2020. This means up to 200,000 homes will have to be retrofitted at the rate of 20,000 a year. It is estimated that 65% of the workload will be taken up by the plumbing industry.

However, the current adoption rate of renewable technologies is too slow to meet these targets, according to David McKenzie of Scotland’s Micro-renewables Working Group.

“We have a massive challenge on our hands, but nobody seems to know how to make it happen,” Mr McKenzie told the conference. “Plumbers need to move from being product installers to trusted service providers and advisers – consumers have a menu of options, but most of the time they just give up and stick with what they have got.”

Source: hpnmag.com

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SCL Elements Raises $2 Million in First Round..

Montreal – SCL Elements, a provider of building energy efficiency automation technology for commercial buildings, has raised $2 million in its first round of venture capital, which was led by The Westly Group.

Founded in 2009, SCL Elements offers integrated wired and wireless technology for HVAC, lighting & metering applications. These include controllers, gateways and web building management system that allow facility managers, contractors and OEM manufacturers to deploy building automation systems.

SCL Elements products are IP-compatible and support multiple wireless protocols, as well as the Modbus and CANbus wired protocols.

Its systems are installed in retail stores, offices, schools, universities, factories, warehouses, heritage buildings, laboratories and government buildings in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Source:smartenergy.net



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