#namibia water design institute

[annakasterova-malkina]

Anna Katerova in Podcast for NHL.com Russia (final part)

Blitz poll

1 Who would you most like to interview as a journalist?

With Irina Khakamada (famous Russian economist, journalist and presidential candidate in 2004).

2. What would you ask her?

How does she manage to store knowledge, to possess such wisdom? Where did she nourish herself with such, in my opinion, the right attitude to life?

3. What aspects of Russian life do you miss when you are abroad??

"doctor's" sausage, some restaurants and, of course, brother, mother, grandparents.

4. What aspects of American life do you miss when you are in Russia?

I always take a huge amount of dietary supplements away from here. I really miss the quality water, I miss the very friendly people who meet in different institutions

5. A city or country that impressed you the most?

Los Angeles, Santa Monica. I was there recently. I celebrated my birthday there with my closest friends. I really liked this place, it seemed to me incredibly atmospheric. And although it does not differ much in terms of infrastructure from Miami, it struck me to the very heart.

6. Where do you dream to travel with your family?

I want to go on a safari and see the natural habitat of wild animals. I like animals a lot. This is Kenya, Namibia.

7. What is the most romantic gift Geno has made for you?

He himself chose and designed a wrist bracelet with the initials of N.M.'s son. It turned out to be so beautiful and extraordinary. And the most pleasant thing about this gift is that it is completely his idea, his project. Do you understand yes? A man and piece of jewelry - its are incredible. He thought it over and did everything himself!

It's very cute that you chose not a trip somewhere, not an expensive gift, but such a romantic thing as this.

There are actually many of them. The second one was even sweeter and more touching. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. He impressed me so much, when we returned to Russia in the summer of 2016, we were met by Zhenya's close friend and Nikita's godfather. Zhenya said that he needed to leave for a while and returned after a couple of hours. He showed me his new tattoo. I saw that under the ribs he made himself an image of our son's hand, the real size of his hand, when Nikita was just born, and our initials with Nikita. This is such a powerful moment. I am still impressed.

8. Where in Pittsburgh can you go so that no one will recognize you and Zhenya?

Nowhere. There are no such places.

9. What is your favorite Russian film?

Now there is such a big wave of serials. Can I name the TV show that impressed me? I liked the series "An Ordinary Woman". And on the recommendation of friends, I watched the series "House Arrest".

10. What career would you prefer for Nikita as a hockey player or sports journalist?

Only of these two? This is a dangerous question !!! I have other options, but if you choose from these two, then of course a professional hockey player. I actually have very big educational ambitions for Nikita. At the age of three, it is already clear that he is a very smart boy. I would rather like him to get the best possible education than to be engaged in professional hockey. Zhenya and I have different views on this matter. And it is too early to predict anything. Again, this is a very dangerous question. Nevertheless, I have my own clear position on this issue. While I think so. I know that it will be almost impossible to combine education and hockey. We will be actively monitoring him shortly. I understand that he can now start skate and start showing super results. Even now, without skating, he shows excellent results for his age. But what will happen in 10 years? Maybe his interest in sports will disappear or, on the contrary, he will not be interested in studying. I will never hinder his desires. And I think it's impossible with such a father (laughs).

Thank you very much Anna for such a frank and interesting interview. It was wonderful. «Overboard» podcast No 3 / Подкаст “За бортом». Dec 2019 Interviewer - Pavel Strizhenov, for NHL Russia

[italianclothing1]

Made-in-Pakistan: Improving Global Perceptions

The ‘Made-in-Pakistan’ label has the potential to become a symbol of repute, but this aspiration must be vigorously pursued. If we are to consider the increased digitization of markets in the wake of COVID-19 as an opportunity, with advanced tools and greater access to buyers, these tools must be used to address the international branding of our products, so that a label bearing our country’s name not only becomes a marker of great quality, but also a motivation to buy by choice. This would require an environment that facilitates exporting industries to focus on quality improvement through new processes, thereby developing new products and entering fresh markets.

Despite having low-tariff access to textile and apparel markets of the European Union, USA, Japan and China, Pakistan’s market share is low, which shows an inability to fully leverage our position as a textile-dominated economy, losing critical expansion opportunities to regional competitors. In addition, the EU and USA are now largely considered to be shrinking markets, and by continuing to focus on these rather than on expanding markets, our policies contradict global trends. Asian competitors have gained significant market shares from 2011-18 while Pakistan’s share decreased by 2.17%. It is not as if they possess something we don’t; rather their development of supporting policies, intelligent branding, market forecasting and diversification has helped them to excel.

Market Shares

China (33%) is the leading exporter of textiles in World followed by India (4.7%) & Bangladesh (4.6%). Pakistan’s share is only 1.7%.

When considering emerging textile markets, our best bet is to target those segments which have less market saturation by competitors. According to a report by the AfDB, Africa currently accounts for 1.9% of global trade, and trends have showcased it to be a major textile player in the near future. As stated by Hans Rosling, the African market is by far the largest potential market of the future. In order to preemptively capture this opportunity, we must enhance trade with Africa in order to secure a foothold in the fastest rising market in the world. Given that imports from China are restricted, South Africa is one country that offers ample opportunities for Pakistan to leverage. Furthermore, trade data for 2019 from Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa has shown that despite growing demand, textile related exports from Pakistan to these countries added up to a mere $114 million. The demand for textile continues to rise in these countries, so to capture market share, the industry must focus on trade and connectivity and the Ministry of Commerce must facilitate it. Reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers by both sides would serve as a catalyst for accelerated growth in bilateral trade.

While it is often assumed that manufacturing inputs in Pakistan come cheap, this disregards the poor productivity and very real hindrances in power and logistics that raise costs of doing business. With numerous policy setbacks, and energy and infrastructural impediments at each level, exporters have been so caught up in trying to manage day-to-day affairs and onerous bureaucratic hurdles that there is little revenue left to be competitive, let alone consider a marketing plan. There is also a shortage of skilled labor in textiles, chemicals and hosiery/bed linen. Firms regard inadequate institutional training and the low quality of education as the most important reasons for the lack of labor skills, thereby hindering competitiveness.

Pakistan’s textile industry comprises an entire value chain from cotton production to prêt-à-porter and export, although it is more concentrated in the lower value-added end of the chain. The fragmentation of the supply chain falls into two main sectors: the formal sector, which involves spinning units/textile mills, and the informal sector, where sewing, knitting, as well as clothing and towel production fall under the scope of SMEs and small cottage units. In a fast-paced global market, the primary reliance on traditional goods in Pakistan is becoming a burden rather than worth maintaining. Textiles and clothing have accounted for nearly 60 percent of Pakistan’s export basket for more than a decade, and while this allows for a significant advantage in this sector, that advantage is not being leveraged as well as it could be. Other South Asian economies have diversified their export baskets to not only capture an abundance of untapped markets, but to increasingly tap into high-value-added products that utilize advanced technologies in their production. Pakistan must mitigate its reliance on primary and traditional goods and machinery and shift towards the export of value added, nontraditional goods. Only then can the country market itself effectively as a textile supplier that meets the greatest number of needs of global consumers.

With a myopic focus on short staple fiber raw cotton, we are essentially relying on a shrinking market while neglecting the rapidly expanding market for MMF. The MMF tariff regime effectively prevents Pakistan from aligning its products in tandem with the rest of the world. More than 60% of world textile trade is in MMF materials, the demand for which has grown exponentially owing to the convenience it affords as a cheap material used in the production of the ever-relevant active-wear trend. However, the duty protection given to obsolete plants in Pakistan is denying the Pakistani industry any chance to compete in this booming market, internationally or domestically. This brings us to the issue of polyester staple fiber, a raw material of the industry upon which it would be unreasonable to apply any duties. Alarmingly, at present there is a 7% customs duty on the import of polyester staple fiber. This racks up the total import duties, which subsequently fall in the range of 20% including antidumping duty. Despite the antidumping duty on cheap Chinese materials having expired, the duty has been extended for a further year.

This highlights the need for a policy environment and a tariff structure which favors global market needs, which are likely to be linked to synthetic fibers for the foreseeable future. The goals of the industry must remain aligned with the demands of the market, and this requires the industry to equip labor with new technologies and train them in the latest skills, thus shifting them from primary to secondary and tertiary activities. Agriculture must diversify into high value-added products, reduce the loss of fertile land to real estate speculations, improve domestic marketing systems, improve water management and set up centers for agro-genomics. In addition to investment in increased capacity and technology, there is a need to improve local design capacity through new clusters for training, design and testing and better managerial practices. Furthermore, the quality of these products should not be compromised at any level, as creating more processed products that rank later in the value-chain is no objective if quality is not simultaneously improved.

When it comes to apparel and ready-made garments, brands that have made it global have some pre-existing structures that have been instrumental in their success. Firstly, they largely benefit from being rooted in a more globally appealing culture, i.e. Zara specializes in Western fast fashion and streetwear, which is largely adaptable and worn across the globe. After all, fashion is an off-shoot of culture and its transferability depends on the culture of the origin country. In comparison, our signature shalwar kurta does not have an international appeal, save for our diaspora. If Pakistani brands aim to go global they need to introduce product ranges that cater to a wider and more diverse audience. Secondly, success stories in the global space relied on the existing clusters of the origin country’s textile industries. To mimic this, siloed efforts within the private sector in Pakistan need to join hands and work towards mutual success. Thirdly, once a Pakistani brand decides to go global it will have to reconsider its existing linkages. A common theme among global success stories is the disruption or specialization of supply chain models. Apart from aiming to supply to these internationally acclaimed fashion brands, if Pakistani brands can realistically emulate their business model, it could be the impetus for a booming industry.

Pakistani brands that have adopted a similar business model and targeted international consumer include Khaadi and Rastah. Behind efforts to export more and provide the country with valuable jobs and foreign exchange, there is a lot of effort and craftsmanship that goes into creating textile products, representing local talent and skills that should be showcased to the world via effective marketing. Khaadi was launched back in 1998 by introducing hand-woven kurtas. With its launch, it gained recognition for its distinctive embroidery designs, which reflected our traditional wear with a modern look. Khaadi soon expanded to create Western cuts without compromising on the traditional patterns of Pakistani culture. Intricate embroidery and block printing represent our rich South Asian heritage in a globally appealing way, and Rastah is a brand that has managed to achieve a blend of traditional Pakistani patterns and designs with Western streetwear cuts and styles.

Product planning is a crucial marketing activity in the garments industry. However, it is contingent upon ensuring product quality, developing attractive packaging, constantly innovating, distributing through the best middlemen, and maintaining an efficient inventory management system. Pricing lower than other countries and providing discounts to buyers is essential for competitiveness. At the same time, quality certification and adherence to health, labor, and environment standards is of utmost importance for exporters. However, awareness of these standards remains limited, thereby hindering quality assurance, and the procedures to avail the facilities provided in this regard are unnecessarily complicated. Measures must be taken to raise awareness and simplify procedures so that the maximum number of products can be brought up to an international standard. Given that a number of Pakistani textile firms are domestically owned and vertically integrated, activities like designing and branding can play an instrumental role in bringing the textile sector greater acclaim. As another measure to ensure vertical integration and a more diversified product mix, international buying houses should be incentivized to open outlets in Pakistan, with supporting policies such as tax exemption and free office and warehousing space. This would enable a larger geographical spread and allow for the goal of new products, processes and markets to be streamlined.

The Textile Policy for 2020-2025 proposes certain marketing strategies that go hand-in-hand with changing consumer behavior and technological upgradation. The strategies are outlined below:

Showcasing Products: an exhibition plan is to be developed in consultation with textile stakeholders and support from the Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce has already initiated process of holding virtual exhibitions. In addition, Pakistan’s first virtual fashion show took place in June 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, following a global trend of continuing the tradition safely. The plan also suggests holding the dedicated textile exhibition ‘TEXPO’ every year rather than alternate years, and expanding it to other countries.

Digital Marketing: this has already played a vital role in showcasing textile products and attracting new business. The Textile Wing, Ministry of Commerce has created a one stop E-Portal for this purpose. However, SMEs do not have ease of access to this portal, so measures are needed to make it more SME-friendly.

Market Access: The Ministry of Commerce is already in negotiation with developed and developing economies for market access. Competitor countries have taken bold steps by opening their markets, thereby securing access to major markets. Following this strategy, we must formulate a road map to increase market access, while remaining cognizant of the fact that this would be on a reciprocal basis and our market openness would also have to increase.

E-Commerce: Our first-ever e-commerce Policy is in the implementation phase, with the objective of giving open access to textile manufacturers/exporters to tap into business opportunities across the globe. Amazon has started registering Pakistan manufacturers and exporters including textiles. Ease of access must be granted to SMEs as well.

Exporters are presently allowed to retain / utilize 10% of export proceeds for marketing without requiring permission from SBP. Steps must be taken to extend this facility, allowing the establishment of development centers, design & marketing offices, near shore manufacturing, warehousing etc.

Moving forward, we must enable our textile industry to climb further up the value chain into original brand manufacturing (OBM) and original design manufacturing (ODM) categories. This will require support in development of skills eco-system around design and branding to capture higher value, and the development of fast-fashion design districts in Karachi and Lahore with strong academic linkages e.g., NCA and IVS. Furthermore, the industry must focus on the collection of relevant data. Hiring skilled graduates who can gauge emerging trends would make data collection more reliable and thereby significantly improve international marketing and branding. Finally, measures must be taken to promote private investment in the industry, contingent upon interest rate support and a reputation for never compromising on quality.

Some opportunities to attract investment and achieve expansion include the regional Textile Production-Consumption Hub, FTA 2nd phase with China, EU GSP+ until 2023 and a growing domestic market. CPEC in particular will allow the industry to leverage Chinese technology, efficiency and discipline to enhance its existing potential as well as to initiate new projects for higher value. CPEC’s improvements in infrastructure have improved trade routes, mitigated constraints to growth, and led to the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to enable smooth supply chains, enhanced innovation and economies of scale. Remaining on this track, CPEC has the potential to significantly boost industrialization and double Pakistan’s exports in four years, while also generating around 2.3 million new jobs in the country.

It is essential to promote foreign collaborations and joint ventures to improve technology, marketing and manufacturing processes, to introduce new technology and build brands. Pakistan's export-oriented industries are 25 percent more productive than non-exporting firms, and their productivity increases as exports increase. However, inefficiencies cannot be exported, so these must be mitigated from all input materials before results can be seen. Since exports in Pakistan are labor-intensive, expansion in this industry is a way to ensure large-scale job-creation, and an increase in foreign currency to pay for required imports. With the right policies in place, a diversified set of high quality exports will provide a crucial uplift to economic activity and lead to a cycle of development and improvement in perception.

[pridegree]

Nawadein

Nawadein, Namibia Water Design Institute on water design.

For the past few weeks I have been tirelessly working on Nawadein an acronym for Namibia Water Design Institute. Following the Water Design Workshop that was held at Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater), PriDegree Design Studio decided to launch Nawadein. Similar to Future Water, Nawadein will aim to provide a platform for Namibian water-related institutes to connect, research, communicate and…

[annualsurveyresults]

2017 Year End Survey Results

2017 Year End Survey!!!

Hi Friends…

Happy Valentine’s Day, we hope you’re all well and that love is in the air. 

This email is going out to the awesome ones who responded to the poll (51 out of approximately 150 recipients). It turns out it hit a lot of people’s spam folders, so next year we will do a better job of clarifying the subject, etc.

As the survey has grown, there are now too many answers for us to add comments and include links, so this year the answers are coming as filtered lists (we cut where necessary, to try to be useful and concise).

Thank you so much for your answers!

Section 1: What is Tickling Your Brain

Meaningful Books

Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman

Sapiens

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

American Eclipse

Cryptocurrency

Seven Mysteries of Life

Owned: Property, Privacy, and the New Digital Serfdom

Tiffany Haddish The Last Black Unicorn.

Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

Fourth State of Matter (New Yorker piece)

The President’s Devotional

Born a Crime

Creativity, Inc.

A Little Life

Hillbilly Elegy

Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu

Don Quixote

Oryx and Crake

All the Rivers

The Fifth Season

The Nix

Persepolis Rising

The Female Brain

The Undoing Project

Moonglow by Michael Chabon

The Girls on The Train

Underground Railroad

When Breath Becomes Air

Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

The Innovators

Caine Mutiny

Pachinko

Beyond the Sky and the Earth

Saints for All Occasions

We Were 8 Years in Power

The Odyssey: A Father a Son & an Epic

Achilles in Vietnam

Zero to One

The Taste of Empire

May We Be Forgiven

Homegoing

Being Mortal

Born to Run

The Smartest Kids in the World

Groovy Song or Band (well known artists/songs were filtered out, focusing on discovery)

James Booker

“Sound of Silence” - Disturbed

Electrocutioner – Soraia

Flamingo

I’m The One

Sharkmuffin

Chicano Batman

Lord Echo

Jason Isbell

Hank 3

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

Zodiac by Dave Douglas and friends

Static and Ben El Tavori

Ben Franklin’s Song (the Decembrists)

Kevin Morby

CHVRCHES

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Secret Weapons

Squirrel Nut Zippers, Metropolitan Klezmer

Dr. Dog’s Abandoned Mansion

Old Crow Medicine Show

De La Soul

Despair

The XX

Favorite Apps or Websites (well known apps/sites were filtered out, focusing on discovery)

Autodesk Graphic, Robinhood

Kaggle

ParkNYC

Hades Star - game

Weather.gov - everyday weather

Strictly Dumpling Mike Chen Food Reviews on Youtube

overcast

TheRawStory.com

ThinkorSwim, Kerbal Space Program

Nextdoor

Design Home game, Monument Valley, Redbubble

childmind.org

Ars Technica

Duolingo, NPROne, Feedly.com

Remodelista

Verify (OCR receipts - expense tracking); Day One (journal)

Strava, belfastcommunityradio.org, All Trails app

Wirecutter

The RealReal, Pickett of London

Citymapper

cupofjo.com

.alltop.com/photography

goodguide.com

blinkist, farnamstreetblog, bothsidesofthetable

Podcasts (well known podcasts retained, focusing on reinforcing quality)

Chapo Trap House, Intercepted, Archaeological Fantasies

Fresh Air, RadioLab, Terrible -Thanks for Asking

The Daily, On Being, Radiolab

Planet Money, Pod Save America, Radiolab

Real Vision, The Moth

99% Invisible

S-Town

Kalaidocast

The Daily, Pod Save America, Lovitt or Leave It

Imaginary Worlds, Jay + Miles X-Plain the X-Men, Blank Check with Griffin and David

Slow Burn; Pod Save America; RadioLab More Perfect

Slate’s The Gist; MSNBC Rachel Maddow; Week in the Knees

Wow in the World, Deadpod, Dope Queens

The Daily, S*Town, How I Built This

Splendid Table, Pod Save America

Busy Phillips podcast

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me; It’s Been a Minute; This American Life

NPR 1 (for Terry Gross), Global Politico, Preet Bharara’s new podcast

HBR Idea Cast, a16z, Tim Ferris Show

Adventures in Finance, Bloomberg Surveillance, The Moth Radio Hour

In Our Time, This American Life, Fresh Air

S-town, Revisionist History, Rachel Maddow

Section 2:  Soul - Feeling Better

What Makes You Happy (answers filtered based on broad applicability and usefulness)

Silence

drawing

Puzzle Mania 😀

Beer and wine

The possibility of reducing work to three days a week

family time / family vacation

Salty food and walking the local golf course with my dog off leash

Tennis

My SodaStream

My dogs

Exercise

Los Angeles

Sleep

Freedom

Skiing

Jogging

Civic Engagement

Reconnecting

Reading

Learning about self-compassion

Robert Mueller

yoga and Bulgarian yogurt

Stress Relief (answers filtered based on broad applicability and usefulness)

Drawing cartoons on my iPad.

Crossfit & Krav

Table Tennis

Quiet Places

luna & larry’s coconut bliss dark chocolate ice cream

Running

Hot shower on the weekends

Building Stuff

Citibike

Tennis

Swimming/hot tub

Mindless computer games like solitaire

Long Walks

Making Art

yoga and Tango Dancing

Reading and Writing Poetry

Transcendental Meditation

Kickboxing

Skiing

Needlepoint

Stop Taking Things So Seriously.

Being organized to that I actually get the piles of papers/bills/etc off my “To Do List”

SLT (strengthen lengthen tone) UWS

Mindfulness practices & class (meditation, writing prompts)

Biking

Cooking

vodka or tequila mixed with club soda with a squeeze of lime

Meaningful Not-For-Profit Organization (no filtering, if you named it, it’s in here…)

Sleeping Giants

Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

misophonia research causes

Yvote

Israeli Venture Network

Humane Society of NY

International Refugee Assistance Project

Courageous Parents Network, helping families parent children with serious illness

The Bronx Freedom Fund

Goddard Riverside

IBD Support Foundation

Village Health Works

I just discovered the store BoxLunch, Badass Brooklyn Dog rescue is cool, also Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary is an amazing Group.

Hadassah hospital.

Jewish Funders Network

Child Mind Institute

CASA - court appointed special advocates for foster care children

EFF

The Trevor Project

Run For Something

Apex for Youth

Hazon

Indivisible, Hadassah

Child Mind Institute, Planned Parenthood

Mercy Corps

Harlem Children’s Zone

Indivisible

Second Harvest

City Step

Center for Justice and Democracy

Karuna Foundation

Speak Up Africa - helping mothers and newborns stay healthy

God’s Love We Deliver

Amani Global Works

Biblioburro

Gabby Giffords antigun PAC (giffords PAC) is fighting the right fight

AGW & WEACT (We Act for Environmental Justice)

ADL

Coney Island Prep

Polaris Project

American Cancer Society

Charity Water

Climate Reality Project

Inspiring Politician (no filtering, if you wrote it, it’s in here…)

No One/LOL (8)

Elizabeth Warren (5)

Donald Trump (“he inspired me to be active”) (3)

Tarana Burke (2) (#MeToo)

Kirsten Gillibrand (2)

Danica Roem (2)

Bernie Sanders (2)

Sally Yates (2)

John McCain

Jimmy Kimmel

Angela Merkel - her face says what I feel about American politics.

Adam Schiff

Samantha Bee

John McCain

Scott Stringer

Jeff Flake

Chris Murphy

Joe Kahn

Cory Booker

Michelle Obama

Jon Ossoff

Hillary Clinton

Bob Ferguson - Washington State Attorney General

Best Restaurant Experience This Year (no filtering, if you wrote it, it’s in here…)

PABU Izakaya in SF

Blanca

Berns Steakhouse in Tampa, FL

Breakfast Burrito from Frank’s on Fairfax

Sushi Nakazawa

Los Angeles Tatsu Ramen, Pork Bao on Melrose.

Asiate

Boulud Sud

Tomahawk steak at Gelso & Grand has changed me as a person

Park Avenue Summer

Pokeworks at lunch

Azurmendi ½ hour outside Bilbao Spain

The Modern (2)

Atlantic Grill

Candle Cafe

Barbuzzo (Philadelphia)

ABC Kitchen

Here’s Looking at You (LA)

Excellent Dumpling House in Chelsea

Burma Superstar

Blue Ribbon Brasserie, SoHo

Eataly

Quality Italian

Sate Kampar, Philadelphia

Shalom Y'all

Nix

Azurmende (in Bilbao)

Breakfast at Hyatt Kathmandu

Vietnam on First Avenue NYC

Maison Pickle

Jeni’s Ice Cream (ATL)

Sushi Takeshima in Kanazawa, Japan

Mastros

Picco Larkspur, CA

The Old Rose in the Jane Hotel

Souley Vegan - Oakland

Four Seasons Jackson Hole

Chris Aerni’s is the chef/owner of the Rosemont Inn in New Brunswick, Canada

Bite Into Maine - Lobster Roll

Sushi Inoue

Best Purchase Under $500 (answers filtered based on broad applicability and usefulness)

Allbirds runners

Samsung 4K HDR Monitor

Adidas Ultra Boost running shoes

Netgear orbi

Airpods (4)

5 nights of babysitting

SodaStream

InstantPot!

Deluxe Ninja blender

Salomon hiking boots

Brookes walking shoes

Western Mountaineering Sleeping Bag

Amope Electronic Foot File

Contigo hot cup for on-the-go. Really does keep my tea warm for 4hrs!

Madewell Jeans

Wrinkle-free shirts from LL Bean

Amazon Echo

Bombas socks (honeycomb support structure rocks)

We designed a glass vase and had it blown for us by Lexington Glassworks in Asheville, NC

Smart Light Bulbs

F2C Indoor Exercise Bike Stand trainer W/ 8 Levels of Resistance

Dream “Off The Beaten Path” Vacation (filtered to focus on discovery)

Northern India

Hill Tribes of India

The Color wars in India

Jacmel, Haiti

Rocky Mountain National Park

Lake Louise

Azores (3)

Portugal (4)

Mississippi

Namibia, Africa

Morocco

Aran Islands, Ireland

Northern Scandinavia

Lamu, Kenya

Palau

Iceland - Fire and Ice experiences

Cuba

Health Products or Insights (not filtered - you were all very interesting on this one)

Sleep more

ClassPass - yoga once a week

Pull-up bar that pops in above door

Stretches learned during physical therapy, amazing. Better posture while standing. Using a standing desk that can move up and down.

Switched from Eucerin face cream to Rose Hip and Hibiscus Moisturizer, skin feels much better.

One big meal a day

Citibike

under desk bike, apple watch

Yoga

I have begun Pilates this year and it really seems to work with my body. I am hoping I can join a studio to work with the machines next year. Also the foam roller will change your life ! I roll my back daily and it helps soooo much!

Not eating 5 or more hours before going to bed

Started tai-chi

Drink water

Cycling

doing at least a little bit of yoga or stretching every single day

intermittent fasting

alkali water

Flotation

TM

Mindfulness in every-day moments

You can do a lot in one day rather than spread it out over 5-6 days

More mindful breathing.

Hiking with walking sticks really helps the knees.

Still searching for something that I will stick with

SLT and retinol nightly

Yoga. And stretching.

I had some imaging done on my heart. Does that count?

Feldenkrais

hot yoga (I know, it’s so 10 years ago)

Stretching!

Marula facial oil and MCT oil in coffee aka bulletproof coffee

Float tanks

Eating low carb

Insight: Dry Fasting as implemented by Dr. Sergei Filonov in Siberia – cured my friend’s debilitating Lyme disease with six weeks of treatment.

Magnesium Taurate (back pain)

Milk thistle

How often do you meditate?

3+ times per week:             6.1%

1 or 2 times per week:     18.4%

1 or 2 times per month:   12.2%

rarely:                               22.4%

never:                              40.8%

Prediction: Bitcoin price at the end of 2018

>$25,000                                        22.0%

Between $25,000 and $2,500       63.4%

<$2,500                                         14.6%

Prediction: Senate after 2018 Elections

Republicans gain seats (>51 seats):        6.4%

51 Rep / 49 Dem (stays the same):         4.3%

50 / 50:                                                  23.4%

Democrats gain control:                       66.0%

Prediction: Who will win the World Cup

“I don’t care”:           53.1%

Germany:                 14.3%

Brazil:                       10.2%

Spain:                        6.1%

Argentina:                  6.1%

All other choices too low to bother with…

Favorite Life Hack (light filtering for usefulness)

Always be kind to your wife

Make a daily list of three things each day for which you are grateful.

Rely on the experts. They’re generally right

Better to “get over it” quickly

Using binder clips to hold loose wires to back of desk

Gowanus is as cool of a neighborhood as it is ugly.

Seek out comedy and laugh as much as possible. Recent interests Tiffany Haddish and Judd Apatow has a few good laughs on his special.

You don’t control your circumstances, you can control how you deal with them

Ink + Volt Planner

shave only once a week

Practice patience…

This is probably common knowledge to everyone, but it turns out there’s an arrow near the gas display that tells you which side of the car has the gas tank.

I learned about living an aloha life and while it is not super easy in NYC it is always a conscious decision that has not failed to make me feel better

“Books make my bed dirty, and alas, I ain’t got no transcendental eyeglasses”

Technology is not my friend

I should’ve spent more time with the Gottliebs in 2017. Will not make that mistake again.

Less social media. Facebook / twitter / insta can be bad for you.

overnight steel cut oats

Voters need to show up

Gmail allows variations to your address that include inserting a “.” anywhere or adding +“whatever you want” before the “@”. Generally logins require both you’re email address and your password. Half of that equation (your email address) is publicly available. For painless added security, when creating logins to sites, consider adding “+whatever you want” to the email address. A hacker would require both your password and this variation on your email address, which no one but you would have knowledge of. Incoming messages can also be filtered into folders by variations of this kind if you like (so “+secure”; “+junk”; “+temp”; “+important”).

Stop watching the news.

TM

It’s not as bad as it appears

To help kids be independent, we need to trust them.

Most damage can be repaired.

Be kind as often as you can because it will come back to you in spades

Book called subtle art of not giving a bleep….very good life advice

Take chances and try to be happy. Life is too short not to do so.

We need to regain a more equal distribution of income and the belief that we should take care of each other.

bidet

Getting old sucks

Growing old is good and becoming invisible has distinct advantages.

It’s not a new one, but work/life balance is CRUCIAL

Life is short.

When I say “yes” to something, what I am saying “no” to?

Electric power consumption will increase steadily over time notwithstanding efficiency gains in products that consume electricity

[spaceexp]

Cassini Prepares to Say Goodbye to a True Titan & Cloudy Waves

NASA & ESA - Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn & Titan patch. Aug. 14, 2017

A World Unveiled: Cassini at Titan

Video above: Saturn’s giant, hazy moon Titan has been essential to NASA’s Cassini mission during its 13 thrilling years of exploration there. Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Mere weeks away from its dramatic, mission-ending plunge into Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has a hectic schedule, orbiting the planet every week in its Grand Finale. On a few orbits, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been near enough to tweak Cassini's orbit, causing the spacecraft to approach Saturn a bit closer or a bit farther away. A couple of those distant passes even pushed Cassini into the inner fringes of Saturn's rings. Titan will be waiting once again when the road runs out in September. A last, distant encounter with the moon on Sept. 11 will usher Cassini to its fate, with the spacecraft sending back precious science data until it loses contact with Earth. But this gravitational pushing and shoving isn't a new behavior for Titan. It's been doing that all along, by design. The True Engine of the Mission Repeated flybys of Titan were envisioned, from the mission's beginning, as a way to explore the mysterious planet-size moon and to fling Cassini toward its adventures in the Saturn system. Scientists had been eager for a return to Titan since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past in 1980 and was unable to see through the dense, golden haze that shrouds its surface.

Image above: These two views of Saturn's moon Titan exemplify how NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed the surface of this fascinating world. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Titan is just a bit larger than the planet Mercury. Given its size, the moon has significant gravity, which is used for bending Cassini's course as it orbits Saturn. A single close flyby of Titan could provide more of a change in velocity than the entire 90-minute engine burn the spacecraft needed to slow down and be captured by Saturn's gravity upon its arrival in 2004. The mission's tour designers -- engineers tasked with plotting the spacecraft's course, years in advance -- used Titan as their linchpin. Frequent passes by the moon provided the equivalent of huge amounts of rocket propellant. Using Titan, Cassini's orbit could be stretched out, farther from Saturn -- for example, to send the spacecraft toward the distant moon Iapetus. With this technique, engineers used Titan flybys to change the orientation of Cassini's orbit many times during the mission; for example, lifting the spacecraft out of the plane of the rings to view them from high above, along with high northern and southern latitudes on Saturn and its moons. What We've Learned Over the course of its 13-year mission at Saturn, Cassini has made 127 close flybys of Titan, with many more-distant observations. Cassini also dropped off the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which descended through Titan's atmosphere to land on the surface in January 2005. Successes for Cassini during its mission include the revelation that, as researchers had theorized, there were indeed bodies of open liquid hydrocarbons on Titan's surface. Surprisingly, it turned out Titan's lakes and seas are confined to the poles, with almost all of the liquid being at northern latitudes in the present epoch. Cassini found that most of Titan has no lakes, with vast stretches of linear dunes closer to the equator similar to those in places like Namibia on Earth. The spacecraft observed giant hydrocarbon clouds hovering over Titan's poles and bright, feathery ones that drifted across the landscape, dropping methane rain that darkened the surface. There were also indications of an ocean of water beneath the moon's icy surface.

Image above: Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn's moon Titan in a view that highlights the extended, hazy nature of the moon's atmosphere. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Early on, Cassini's picture of Titan was spotty, but every encounter built upon the previous one. Over the course of the entire mission, Cassini's radar investigation imaged approximately 67 percent of Titan's surface, using the spacecraft's large, saucer-shaped antenna to bounce signals off the moon's surface. Views from Cassini's imaging cameras, infrared spectrometer, and radar slowly and methodically added details, building up a more complete, high-resolution picture of Titan. "Now that we've completed Cassini’s investigation of Titan, we have enough detail to really see what Titan is like as a world, globally," said Steve Wall, deputy lead of Cassini's radar team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Scientists now have enough data to understand the distribution of Titan's surface features (like mountains, dunes and seas) and the behavior of its atmosphere over time, and they have been able to begin piecing together how surface liquids might migrate from pole to pole. Among the things that remain uncertain is exactly how the methane in Titan's atmosphere is being replenished, since it's broken down over time by sunlight. Scientists see some evidence of volcanism, with methane-laden water as the "lava," but a definitive detection remains elusive. Cassini's long-term observations could still provide clues. Researchers have been watching for summer rain clouds to appear at the north pole, as their models predicted. Cassini observed rain clouds at the south pole in southern summer in 2004. But so far, clouds at high northern latitudes have been sparse.

Image above: During its final targeted flyby of Titan on April 22, 2017, Cassini's radar mapper got the mission’s last close look at the moon's surface. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI. "The atmosphere seems to have more inertia than most models have assumed. Basically, it takes longer than we thought for the weather to change with the seasons," said Elizabeth Turtle, a Cassini imaging team associate at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland. The sluggish arrival of northern summer clouds may match better with models that predict a global reservoir of methane, Turtle said. "There isn't a global reservoir at the surface, so if one exists in the subsurface that would be a major revelation about Titan." This points to the value of Cassini's long-term monitoring of Titan's atmosphere, she said, as the monitoring provides data that can be used to test models and ideas. Results from the Last Close Pass Cassini made its last close flyby of Titan on April 22. That flyby gave the spacecraft the push it needed to leap over Saturn's rings and begin its final series of orbits, which pass between the rings and the planet. During that flyby, Cassini's radar was in the driver's seat -- its observation requirements determining how the spacecraft would be oriented as it passed low over the surface one last time at an altitude of 608 miles (979 kilometers). One of the priorities was to have one last look for the mysterious features the team dubbed "magic islands," which had appeared and then vanished in separate observations taken years apart. On the final pass there were no magic islands to be seen. The radar team is still working to understand what the features might have been, with leading candidates being bubbles or waves. Most interesting to the radar team was a set of observations that was both the first and last of its kind, in which the instrument was used to sound the depths of several of the small lakes that dot Titan's north polar region. Going forward, the researchers will be working to tease out information from these data about the lakes' composition, in terms of methane versus ethane. As Cassini zoomed past on its last close brush with Titan, headed toward its Grand Finale, the radar imaged a long swath of the surface that included terrain seen on the very first Titan flyby in 2004. "It's pretty remarkable that we ended up close to where we started," said Wall. "The difference is how richly our understanding has grown, and how the questions we're asking about Titan have evolved." Cloudy Waves (False Color)

Image above: Clouds on Saturn take on the appearance of strokes from a cosmic brush thanks to the wavy way that fluids interact in Saturn's atmosphere. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute. Neighboring bands of clouds move at different speeds and directions depending on their latitudes. This generates turbulence where bands meet and leads to the wavy structure along the interfaces. Saturn’s upper atmosphere generates the faint haze seen along the limb of the planet in this image. This false color view is centered on 46 degrees north latitude on Saturn. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 18, 2017 using a combination of spectral filters which preferentially admit wavelengths of near-infrared light. The image filter centered at 727 nanometers was used for red in this image; the filter centered at 750 nanometers was used for blue. (The green color channel was simulated using an average of the two filters.) The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is about 4 miles (7 kilometers) per pixel. The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. Grand Finale: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org and ESA's website: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Martin Perez/Tony Greicius/JPL/Preston Dyches. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

[inerginc]

Ethiopia’s former State Minister in the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Mr Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Ghana Grid Co, Lilongwe Water Board and several renewable energy generation projects were amongst the winners at the annual African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards that returned to Cape Town this week, honouring the leading utilities, projects and people in the energy and water industries on the continent.

Their achievements during 2018/2019 were celebrated during the prestigious gala dinner on Wednesday 15 May, and formed part of the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition in Cape Town.

The winners and finalists in the respective categories for the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 are:

• Lifetime Achievement Award

WINNER: Wondimu Tekle Sigo, Former State Minister, Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia

Mr Sigo said he was “grateful for being chosen”. According to the former minister he was fortunate to have been involved in many interesting projects in his career, in both water and energy: “especially the 6000MW hydropower Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction, on the Blue Nile. This project has already reached almost 60 percent, so this will help Ethiopia as well as the neighbouring countries through integration. This was one of the big projects that I was leading when I was at the ministry. This award is not just for me, but also for all the colleagues who have worked on so many projects with me, from the time when I was a site manager until I became a minister, and the team work we achieved.”  

For seven years, Wondimu Tekle Sigo served as Ethiopia’s Minister of State for the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy. He is well respected for the design and construction of various infrastructure projects, including the expansion of a rural electrification programme for more than 6000 towns and villages in the region. Furthermore, he tackled water shortages by increasing the water supply of the city around the Dire water reservoir dam from 240,000m³ to 400 000 m³ per day.

Amongst his many achievements, Sigo upgraded eight cities’ electric distribution systems including that of Addis Ababa. ESI Africa included Sigo in their 60 most influential figures in the power sector from East and West Africa. Now as a PhD candidate for Economics at the Peking University in China, Sigo has been conducting research since 2017 around achieving Ethiopia’s economic growth and development.

The other finalists were (in no particular order):

Abderrahim Jamrani, Technical Director, Masen

Wim Jonker Klunne, Programme Director, Energy and Environment Partnership, Southern and East Africa (EEP)

Dale Robertson, President, Enerscan Engineering

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Power

WINNER: Jasandra Nyker, Chief Executive Officer, BioTherm Energy, South Africa “I am very proud of this achievement” an elated Ms Nyker said on Wednesday evening, “it has been eight years since we started building biotherm energy into a renewable energy investment and development platform. I dedicate this award to my team because it is very much a team effort. We’ve built an amazing business and we have expanded into the rest of Africa. For us this is just a great achievement.”

Ms Nyker is the Chief Executive Officer of BioTherm Energy, who led the business to grow from 4 MW in PPAs to over 450 MWs of secured PPAs. BioTherm has expanded its development activities to build a pan African business by winning projects in Zambia, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Iviore and Ghana, and has also won large scale projects with some of the leading global mining companies.

She has previously managed the direct investment portfolio on behalf of the PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund as well as Booz Allen Hamilton in London. Ms. Nyker holds an MBA from the London Business School, where she was a Merrill Lynch Scholar, and a Business Science degree in Finance from the University of Cape Town. She was nominated as a 2012 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and was part of the Inaugural Global Agenda Council on New Energy Architecture for the World Economic Forum. The other finalists were:

Ricardo Amansure, Community Operations Manager, Umoya

Jonathan Amoako-Baah, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo)

Joel Nana Kontchou, Chief Executive Officer, Eneo Cameroon SA

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Water

WINNER: Prof. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, President of the Governing Board of the Sustainable, Development Studies Institute National University of Public Service, Hungary

Unable to be in Cape Town this week, a pre-recorded acceptance speech on video by Prof Szöllösi-Nagy was played to the hundreds of high-level power and water professionals who had gathered at the gala dinner to honour him. “Africa needs capacity in water resources,” he said. “Although rich in water, it will have major problems to make water use sustainable for generations to come, particularly in the light of climate change. Perhaps there is no other continent that will be so deeply impacted by climate variability and change because as the hydrological cycle is accelerating the probability of having extreme flaws, either floods or drought, will likely increase. And it is now that we have to work together with politicians and policy makers to find out what the appropriate measures are to deal with this danger.” Andras was instrumental in implementing the establishment of several UNESCO Water Centers across Africa. These centers play a pivotal role in advancing sustainable water management in Africa as well as contributing to capacity development and training activities. They also play a pivotal role in implementing IHP. There are six African UNESCO water centers established to date, including the Regional Center for Training and Water Studies of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones (RCTWS) in Egypt. The Regional Centre for Shared Aquifer Resources Management (RCSARM) in Libya. The Regional Centre on Groundwater Resources Education, Training and Research in East Africa (RCGRE)in Kenya. The Regional Centre for Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM) located in Nigeria. The Regional Centre on Capacity Development and Research in Water Harvesting (RCWH) in Sudan and the African Regional Centre for Eco hydrology in Ethiopia.

Prof. Szöllösi-Nagy was appointed by the Director General of UNESCO to serve as Rector of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The Institute was an integral part of UNESCO Category 1 Institute. During his tenure he has reformed the Institute where approximately 40% of the graduate students were from Africa. In that period Africa was a priority of both the research and capacity development activities of the Institute. The African alumni are in lead positions today all over Africa serving various water related organizations.

The other finalists were:

Andre Kruger, Head Africa Investment and Integration Desk (AVID), Nepad Business Foundation

Alfonso Chikuni, Chief Executive Officer, Lilongwe Water Board

Damas Alfred Mashauri, Professor: Civil Engineering, University of Namibia: Engineering & IT

• Outstanding Contribution Award: Young Leader

WINNER: Astria Fataki, Energy Generation, Founder and President

After receiving the award a very excited Astria said that: “about ten years ago I fell in love with the energy sector because I realised that energy was a very strong factor and tool for development. But as I was implementing projects I came across a lot of human resources challenges, so I started wondering how we can contribute to the electrification of the continent but with local resources, both technical and human resources. So that is how the idea came to first develop the human capital to provide solutions to the challenge of access to energy and also innovative technology that is tailored for Africa.”   Astria Fataki, who is originally from Togo, is an entrepreneur passionate about project development in Africa. Astria truly believes that energy is at the center of socio-economic development, and fully dedicates herself to tackle this challenge both at the micro and the macro level in Africa. At a macro level, she coordinated, from 2013 to 2015, the contractual and legal construction of two Public-Private Partnership projects for the construction and operation of photovoltaic solar power plants in Mali (40MW) and Chad (60MW). At the micro level, in 2016, she founded the pan-African organisation Energy Generation, with the objective to develop young Africans’ entrepreneurial initiatives in the energy sector.

Astria holds a Master’s degree in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris. The other finalists were:

Lois Gicheru, Solafrique, Founder and CEO

Boitumelo Sehlake, Sehlake Energy Solutions, Founder

Pule Segale, Rina Consulting Ltd, Civil Engineer (Site Manager)

• Power Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Ghana Grid Company Ltd, Ghana

Daniel Mathe is a Divisional Director at GRIDCo and accepted the award on behalf of the organisation: “the award means a lot and means that the good work we are doing has been seen and recognised in Africa and we are working very hard to support other countries within Africa. This year we have been able to supply power to Burkina Faso, our neighbours, so it means that the efforts that we are putting in, are being seen in the industry. We want to do even better. We also supply power to Togo and Benin and are doing a lot as far as the West Africa Power Pool is concerned.” GRIDCo operates the Ghana Wholesale Electricity Market and provides electricity transmission services and in Ghana and West African. Since its inception GRIDCo has continuously ensured reliable supply of affordable electricity to households by continuously upgrading and extending the grid and the introduction of modern systems in compliance with IEC 61850. As a result, access to electricity in Ghana has increased from 66.7% (2009) to 82.5% (2016). The increase in electricity access has resulted in increased income, improve trade balance, provided local solutions, contributed to industrial development and creation of new job opportunities.

In West Africa GRIDCo has established inter and intra connections with other West African countries to the North, East and West of its boundaries, as part of the West African Power Pool System and has positioned Ghana as a Net-Exporter within the Sub-region. For instance, GRIDCo currently supplies about a third of the Electricity required for Burkina through its Transmission System. These power exports have brought socio-economic benefits and continues to enhanced energy supply security. Additionally, over the last four (4) years GRIDCo has commercialized its telecommunication assets and now provides the most reliable form of fiber communication for telecommunication services and IT support systems nationwide.

The other finalists were:

Umeme Limited

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company

Energy Utility Corporation Limited – EUCL

• Water Service Provider of the Year WINNER: Lilongwe Water Board, Malawi

The company’s Corporate Planning Manager, Gustav Sikasima, responded as follows after the announcement: “this award means a lot, it means we have been making strides towards the social impact of the people of Lilongwe City and the efforts we have been making to make sure that the City has potable water.”

Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) is a statutory organization created in 1947 by the government of Malawi and mandated by the Water Works Act (Cap 72) to supply water to the residents of Lilongwe. There are about 83,000 metered customers and more than 1000 water Kiosks (communal water selling points) within the City. The total pipe network for LWB is estimated at 1,900 Km. The Board abstracts raw water from Lilongwe River which originates from Dzalanyama Ranges. The Kamuzu Dam I and Kamuzu Dam II upstream of the intake works act as storage for the dry season during which the flow from Lilongwe River cannot sustain production. These two dams collectively were designed to provide a total storage volume of 24.3 million cubic meters. However, due to sedimentation and the continuous severe drought faced by the country for a decade, this capacity is reducing on an annual basis at a rate of approximately 66,760m3 per year for the past five years. The company has two main Treatment Plants, TW I and TW II which are situated within the Water Works Campus. The combined capacity of the two plants is 125,000 cubic meters per day.

The other finalists were:

Hessequa Municipality

Umgeni Water

Ontec Systems (Pty) Ltd

• Grid-Tied Renewable Energy Project (10MW +) WINNER: Kathu Solar Thermal Power Plant, South Africa

“What is very unique about this type of project is firstly the clean technology" Siyabonga Mbanjwa, Regional Managing Director Southern Africa for SENER, one of the construction partners in Kathu said on Wednesday evening, "and also that it offers production during peak periods: so we are using molten salts as a storage mechanism and that allows us to continue to produce electricity, even when the sun has set. But what is also very exciting about Kathu Solar Park is the manner in which we have worked with the community, we have kept very, very close ties with the community.” Kathu Solar Park is a 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Construction on the project commenced in May 2016. The solar power park achieved commercial operation in January 2019 and has an operational life of 30 years. Kathu solar project is part of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Program (IRP) 2010, which aims to increase the country’s power generation capacity to 86.8GW by 2030.

It is a parabolic trough plant consisting of a number of solar collector assemblies, including parabolic reflectors (curved mirror), a tracking system, a support structure, and a receiver tube. The storage system reduces the effects of irregular sunlight and enables the plant to produce electricity even during low levels of sunlight. It is also installed with 57 three-phase, cast resin-type transformers rated at 1,500kVA.

It will also create 500 jobs during the construction phase and 81 permanent jobs during the operational phase. The project is expected to drive the economic revival of the Northern Cape Province and was constructed as an EPC project by SENER and ACCIONA. The other finalists were:

Greenmillenia

Jinko Solar

• Small-Scale Sustainable Energy Project (under 5MW)      WINNER: Rubagabaga Hydropower Limited, Rwanda

Dan Klinck, MD of East Africa Power/Rubagabaga Hydro Power Limited said after receiving the award: “We’re very pleased with the award, this is very prestigious, and we are thrilled that Rubagabaga came to fruition. It’s been a lot of hard work, we’ve had 1500 workers on this project, so this award is really for everybody who participated.”

He added: “what’s unique about this project is that it is a public-private-community partnership. It is one thing to build a project that just hooks up the line and adds it to the utility. For us we really focused in on what it would do to the community and its productive use equipment, its industrial park, its community library, its agricultural centre of excellence – it wasn’t just power to line up the grid, it was something that really could bring the community together and make a difference and we’re very happy about that.”    Rubagabaga Hydropower Project is a 445 kW grid-connected, run-of-the-river project located in the Northern Province of Rwanda. It has made a very large impact on the local and regional communities by bringing renewable energy, jobs, and improved livelihood to thousands of households. The project is the first hydropower project to implement a containerised turbine and generator in East Africa.

Built almost entirely using simple man-power with little mechanical intervention, this project gives credit to the innovative and resourceful nature of the Rwandan people In addition to the 455 kW delivered to the national grid, this project has created more than 1000 jobs over the span of its life thus far.

The ongoing introduction of energy linked directly to innovative, locally-initiated industries creates a dynamic and diverse economy and a sustainably healthy community with the power to impact Rwanda on a national scale. It is the developer’s policy to establish such community-serving projects wherever a successful hydropower plant has been developed.

The other finalists were:

BBOX

Ecomandate Foundation

African Sustainable Energies

Eaton Electric South Africa

Industry support The sponsors of the African Power, Energy & Water Industry Awards 2019 were Eaton, Aberdare Cables, SBS Tanks, Mazars, Standard Bank, ESI Africa, Smart Energy International and Clarion Energy.

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

[meloles368665-blog]

Microsoft’s $399 Surface area Go Is Its Own Smallest Tablet However.

Jeffrey Polnaja, petualang dunia asal Indonesia yang telah mencatat perjalanan bermotor seorang diri di 97 negara, kembali menjadi inisiator wadah pertemuan bergengsi bagi para petualang tersebut. I suspect it coincides feeling of understanding as well as responsibility that urges primarily nonreligious folks to visit their corresponding places of worship on the primary holiday seasons. Occasionally, the many things that people require is right in front of your skin, or even younger twentysomething Crystalyn Costa's reflection, as it were actually. Angka ini sekaligus membuktikan produk skutik costs Honda dapat diterima sangat baik oleh konsumen di Jakarta dan Tangerang. We may think of that many times Jack was told "Look out for your brother." As the hrs ticked through on that particular fateful Wednesday Port should possess pondered only what had actually happened to Bobby. According to Woolery-Lloyd, long, scorching showers strip the skin of its own all-natural oils and can easily create popular troubles like chronic eczema much worse "They can additionally enhance generalized irritating also in people who do not possess eczema," she says.

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[marketresearchinsight-blog]

Premium Insights On Solar Pumps Market During Forecast Period

A study by Grand View Research, Inc. indicates that the global solar pumps market is projected to rise to a valuation of USD 3,639.0 million by the end of 2022. Solar pumps are widely used for drinking and agricultural applications. They have emerged as a boon for remote areas where there is limited electricity supply. Use of solar energy, in place of diesel, reduce the operating cost and provide a clean source of energy. The market is anticipated to post a phenomenal CAGR of 38.1% between 2015 and 2022 (forecast period).

Paradigm shift from diesel and electric pumps in order to cut down dependence on traditional energy is poised to provide an up thrust to the market. Solar pumps are gaining popularity owing to the numerous benefits they have over diesel pumps. Users do not encounter issues such as feeder damage, price fluctuations, and shortage of fuel while operating solar pumps. Besides this, these pumps offer a sustainable and clean energy solution.

Access Full Research Report on Solar Pumps Market: www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/solar-pumps-market

Governments of developing countries such as India, Kenya, China, Bangladesh, Namibia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Morocco are targeting to reduce fossil fuel imports and capitalize on clean energy sources. In addition, these countries receive abundant solar energy throughout the year. All these factors are likely to augur well for the market. Rising agricultural activities coupled with growing reliance on renewable energy sources can propel the market. Demand for solar pumps in the agricultural sector is estimated to rise at a 38.5% CAGR during the forecast period.

Introduction of subsidiaries and rebates from governments in several parts of the world to install solar pumps is expected to allow the market to gain tremendous traction. Strict government regulations to curb hazardous emissions can also stoke the growth of the solar pumps market. On the other hand, high initial cost in comparison with diesel pumps and other electric pumps can limit the market from realizing its utmost potential.

Nevertheless, constant efforts by manufacturers and research institutes to introduce cost-effective products can unfold tremendous growth opportunities for the market. For instance, in July 2017, a team of researchers from IIT Delhi announced their project to design solar pumps and inventors that save energy and cost. The project is poised to improve the productivity of farmers and decrease the energy cost. The solar pumps will incur battery maintenance cost approximately every two years and one-time cost required for installation.

The global solar pumps market has been classified on the basis of application, product, and geography. Based on product, the market has been segmented into DC submersible, AC submersible, AC floating, and DC suction. The AC submersible segment will exhibit the highest CAGR of 38.5% during the same period. In terms of application, the market has been bifurcated into drinking water and agriculture.

From a geographical segmentation, the key segments reviewed in the report are Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific will command a sizeable share in the market through 2022. Increasing efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels coupled with abundant availability of solar energy are augmenting the regional market. Presence of several agriculture-based economies such as India and Bangladesh and growing financial support from governments through subsidies are likely to drive the market in the region. The Middle East and Africa market is estimated to experience noteworthy growth over the forecast horizon. Rising focus on reducing imports of fossil fuels is one of the primary factors escalating the growth of the region.

The solar pumps market is characterized by the presence of both large multinational organizations and small regional players. Some of the prominent players in the market are TATA Power Solar Systems Ltd., Lorentz, Bright Solar, CRI Pumps, and SunEdison.

Browse Press Release of this Report: www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/solar-pumps-market

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

For More Information: www.grandviewresearch.com

[djgblogger-blog]

Open soil science: technology is helping us discover the mysteries under our feet

http://bit.ly/2vP6PZj

Soil has many secrets: technology can help reveal its mysteries. Martin Bridgen, CC BY-SA

Have you ever taken the time to stop and consider the dirt under your feet? Leonardo da Vinci said: “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” Yet, our very survival as humans - and life on this planet - is intimately linked with the health of a thin layer of soil enveloping the earth.

Soil provides society with essential food, feed, fibre and raw materials, as well as being home to a quarter of the earth’s biodiversity. Soils are also the largest organic carbon reservoir on Earth and although highly dynamic, are very fragile. Chop a forest down and it might grow back in 50 years, but lose 10 cm of soil and get ready to wait 1000 years to get it back. Without soil, our planet would be unrecognisable to us, and more like the barren and inhospitable surface of the Moon or Mars.

Until recently, we did not even know how deep the soil is below our feet. Like the best mysteries, a bit of digging is required for soils to be fully understood and for their history to be laid bare.

When they are visible, a range of questions arise. What does the variation in colour with depth mean? How much carbon is stored? Is the soil dense or light, damaged or healthy? Answering these questions is important, but presents a significant challenge and may require years of training.

Online soil resources

A group of researchers working on Open Soil Science data and technology met recently in the Netherlands to discuss current and future developments in citizen soil science. By developing electronic resources and making them freely available, we hope to share the secrets of the soil with a wider community and improve the distribution and availability of soil observations and our knowledge of soil properties across the globe. This will help us develop targeted strategies to conserve this fragile resource.

Soil Explorer landscape technology makes it possible to better understand soil properties. Darrell Schulze, Purdue University, Author provided

If you want to know more about the soil around you, the SoilGrids system provides open access to a diversity of soil properties and soil types. The online World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) and the Virtual World Soil Museum provide information about a diverse array of soil profiles worldwide, with high resolution images of soil profiles accompanied by detailed explanations of the individual soil horizons.

These portals (and there are many more) are a great starting point to get to know soil, so that farmers and land-users can understand the processes leading to soil development and how this affects soil health and ecosystem functioning such as carbon storage.

Apps for the ground

Different users may have different expectations for soil apps. Farmers and gardeners in the field are frequently interested in soil fertility, whereas teachers in the classroom may wish to explain soil diversity and soil function within the large natural variation in landscapes across the globe.

Regardless of user expectations, the use of smartphone apps and online resources can help people discover and understand various aspects and potential uses of soil, helping to highlight the beauty, diversity and importance of this underappreciated natural resource.

The mySoil app, developed by the British Geological Survey in 2012, is aimed at raising awareness of the diversity of soil properties across Europe and also has the capability to crowdsource photos and data on the soils around you. Designed for the non-expert, more than 50,000 people are exploring soils around them and have provided more than 4000 observations globally.

Soil Explorer designed by ISEE network from 2015-2017, shows how soils vary at different scales and why this matters. This app provides a framework of knowledge, in particular for users wishing to understand how soilscapes vary within the context of different landscapes and climates (why is the soil here red, but grey over there?, is my soil particularly wet compared with other soils?). For example, you can zoom into the areas recently flooded by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, and identify many of the flooded soils as “recent alluvium” (soil materials deposited by water), showing the strong link between soil properties and flooding. This can be used for decision-making, such as where to build houses when local area planning is inadequate or maps are not easily available. Maps of soil properties are based on the detailed soil survey data available in the US, with seven states online and more to be added soon.

Farmers and scientists in Kenya use LandPKS, an app to explore the ground. Adam Beh, Author provided

In Scotland, Soil Organic Carbon Information Technology (SOCIT), developed by the James Hutton Institute in 2015 uses the user’s location and the colour of the soil to estimate the concentration of organic matter in the topsoil. This app (available for Android and Apple) should soon extend its range to the UK and Europe. Soil organic carbon is the single most important indicator of soil fertility, and soils contain more carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere combined so that soil carbon storage - and understanding how to protect it - is vital to the the health of the global ecosystem, and therefore everyone on earth.

LandPKS (Land Potential Knowledge System) aims to improve the information available to land managers when making decisions related to productivity and sustainability. It guides the user through open soil and climate data to provide free, easy to use, locally appropriate information to optimize land management decisions. It was developed in Kenya and Namibia and is being tested in Tanzania as well as the United States.

So what’s the point of all the data?

All this soil data begs the question: what is it good for? One immediate use for globally accessible soil data is to identify which crops can be grown where. CropBASE (https://cropbase.org) aims to do just that, by combining soil, climate and crowd-sourced data to answer the `what, where and when’ questions that we will need to ask for future agriculture.

These are just a handful of apps and portals available to delve into the treasures of soil. We hope that by highlighting the complexity and importance of soils with modern technology we can raise awareness about the importance of healthy soils across the globe. This will help to reveal the rich diversity of soils between places and impart some basic knowledge for assessing soil properties.

Thanks to modern technology, unlocking the vital secrets of soils is becoming easier.

Eleanor Hobley receives funding from The Technical University of Munich and The German Ministry for Education and Research.

Darrell G. Schulze receives funding from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

David A. Robinson receives funding from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, part of NERC.

Ebrahim Jahanshiri isemployed by Crops For the Future Research Centre a research institute that receives funding from the Ministry of Agriculture Malaysia and guaranteed by both Malaysian government and Nottingham University.

Matt Aitkenhead receives funding from the Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS), and from Innovate UK.

Niels H. Batjes receives funding from the Netherlands Government; ISRIC is an independent foundation by Dutch law.

Tomislav Hengl does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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