Heavy penalty for F-Gas regulation breach Published:  15 April, 2016 Schneider Electric has been prosecuted for breaching the F-Gas Regulations, after environmentally-harmful sulphur hexaflouride (SF6) gas was released to the air in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex in 2013. The company was fined £3,000 and also ordered to pay £18,368 in costs by Basildon Magistrates Court. The case concerned 15kg of SF6 gas, which was released to the air from high-voltage switchgear being installed at the London Gateway Port. Following the installation, busbars were found to be faulty and needed to be removed from within the circuit breaker. The gas was released when this part of the system was being removed. SF6 has the highest global warming potential of any gas being targeted under climate change legislation. The emission of 1 kg of SF6 is equivalent to an emission of 22,800 kg of CO2. Rooma Horeesorun from the Environment Agency, who led the prosecution, described SF6 as a “highly potent” fluorinated greenhouse gas that would remain in the atmosphere for generations. She added that the environmental damage caused was equivalent of flying a 737 jet airliner from Heathrow to Sydney, Australia, and back three times over. Schneider Electric was subcontracted by the project’s principal contractor to install the switching gear. Schneider used its own subcontractor to remove the busbars, but that company – Metricab Power Engineering Ltd – was not informed and did not realise that the switchgear had been filled with SF6 gas. Schneider Electric reported the gas’ release to the EA and the Health & Safety Executive.  “It is always disappointing to hear of any incidence of environmentally harmful gas being released to atmosphere,” commented Tim Rook, technical director of the Building Engineering Services Association (the BESA). “Our industry has made real progress in managing recovery and reclamation of f-gases in recent years, thanks to initiatives such as Refcom, the mandatory refrigerant handling certification scheme,” he said. “This episode reminds us of the importance of remaining vigilant, and it is reassuring to see that the government agency charged with enforcing the F-Gas Regulations is able to follow up reports of wrongdoing with punitive action.” Mr Rook believes that the policing of the F-Gas Regulations is under-resourced, and that government cannot depend on companies to do the right thing and report any errors themselves. “There can be little dispute that there are all too many unreported f-gas venting episodes going on out there, and that the EA needs much greater investment to step up its monitoring work,” he added. It has been a legal requirement since July 2009 for all businesses that install, maintain or service stationary equipment containing or designed to contain f-gas refrigerants to obtain an F-Gas Company Certificate. Refcom, which was set up by the BESA in 1994, was appointed by the government to provide this mandatory service for the refrigeration and air conditioning sectors. It works with the EA to ensure that the regulations are properly enforced and that satisfactory reclamation is carried out – and now accounts for more than 80% of the total UK refrigerant handling market. Pictured: BESA technical director Tim Rook Source link

Lanes Group’s Reline Division has carried out its first project to rehabilitate a pipe using a chemically-resistant UV liner. Above: The relined pipe A team from Lanes installed three UV liners, with a combined length of 200 metres, at a plant run by Solutia UK, part of Eastman Chemicals, in Newport, South Wales. It was also the first time that Lanes Group’s supplier, Reline Europe – one of the world’s leading pipe relining technology companies – had supplied a UV liner to provide chemical resistance in the UK. Solutia UK engineering manager David Davies said: “The lining solution identified by Lanes Group was ideal for us, given our production schedule and the limited window of opportunity we had to complete the project.” Chemically-resistant pipe liners are usually installed using the hot cure in place pipe (CIPP) technique, where pressurised water is heated to nearly 100 degrees centigrade to harden the resin-impregnated liner. But there was not time for this method here. Damian Tranter, business development manager for the Lanes Group Reline Division, worked with Reline Europe to develop a technically robust proposal for using UV relining technology, which would have a shorter installation time – and also be cheaper. Solutia UK agreed to the proposal and also commissioned Lanes Group to rehabilitate and spray-line 10 manholes that service the pipeline. Damian Tranter said: “The fact that this is a first for us and for our supplier reflects the rarity of using UV lining to rehabilitate pipes to provide chemical resilience. “However, our success, and the benefits UV lining delivers, demonstrates how this is a viable pipe rehabilitation option for our other clients in the chemical processing industries.” The 600mm diameter pipe being refurbished takes surface water from the site to a surface water holding tank before being pump to the onsite effluent treatment plant. The refurbishment was commissioned to ensure the structural integrity of the drainage system was sound and to eliminate the potential for any infiltration or exfiltration of contaminated water. Lanes Group provided Solutia UK with detailed data, supplied by Reline Europe, to show the chemical resistance of the fibre glass liners and the specialist vinyl ester (VE) resin selected for the project. Three liners impregnated with the resin were inserted end-to-end, one 104 metres long, the second 28 metres long and the other 97 metres. A UV light array was then sent through the pipe to cure the resin. Damian Tranter said: “The UV light array was taken through the pipe at less than half normal speed, because the properties of the VE resin mean it takes longer for the light to penetrate the liner and cause the exothermic reaction needed for the curing process. “Even with the extra time taken, each UV liner was installed during one 12-hour shift, whereas a hot cure liner would have taken at least 20 hours to install.” A system of over-pumping, with 14 pumps, was needed to control water flows during the lining and manhole rehabilitation process, which was completed in 14 days, including weekend working. With conventional hot cure lining, the water used to cure the liner becomes contaminated with styrene, and must be disposed of at an authorised waste site.     This article was published on 5 Feb 2016 (last updated on 5 Feb 2016). Source link

Scottish Water has handed an Aberdeenshire community group more than £4,000 funding as a result of its green energy use. The water firm paid £4,206 to Mearns Community Council as a share of the revenues raised from a recently installed wind turbine at its Laurencekirk wastewater treatment works. The payment is front-ended for the community – the sum they would be expected to earn from the turbine at the plant over the next 20 years. The 80kW turbine was installed by Scottish Water Horizons, a subsidiary of Scottish Water which aims to drive forward the company’s green agenda. It generates 160,000kWh per year and has the potential to offset around 60 per cent of the treatment works’ electricity consumption per annum. Scottish Water Horizons head Andrew Macdonald said: “We are pleased that we have been able to share the benefits of this renewable scheme to improve facilities and wellbeing for the local community. “Investing in renewables supports economic growth, helps Scottish Water to become a low-carbon business and delivers tangible benefits for local communities over the longer term. “The turbine at Laurencekirk is one of several renewable technologies now operating on our assets, with several treatment works now generating at least all, and in some cases more, of the energy they need to operate.” Scottish Water’s general manager of energy Chris Toop said: “Scottish Water really tries to put the community at the heart of everything we do, both in terms of the early stages of consultation, in terms of whether it’s appropriate to put these technologies on our sites, and as we work through planning and implementation of the scheme and its great there is now the benefit to the local community at the end of that to be able to invest as they so wish.” Scottish Water is one of Scotland’s largest single users of electricity. It requires approximately 445GWh per year. In the last two years, the company has doubled the amount of renewable energy which can be generated at treatment works and in water mains to more than 50GWh. Source link

London First, which speaks for businesses in the capital, said Mr Khan’s proposed Homes for Londoners (HfL) body should be interventionist rather than merely strategic. It would both buy land and use its compulsory purchase powers to assemble sites for housebuilding. In a report published with law firm Dentons, London First said HfL’s primary role should be getting public land ready for development. Where practical, it would set acceptable density levels and clear requirements about the mix of tenures and affordable homes sought for sites it owns or has assembled. HfL would try to increase the value of sites it owned by buying adjacent privately-owned land where this would enable it to create scale for development. Securing a pipeline of developable land in this way would give Mr Khan direct influence over housebuilding and increase the speed of delivery, the report argued. Achiveing a significnat increase in housebuilding output would need ”a muscular approach to delivery and strong political will”, the report noted. It pointed to the urgency of building more homes in a city where the average price is now some £530,000 and where only 27,819 homes were built in 2014-15 – against a target of 49,000 a year – with demand set to increase with London’s population projected to hit 10m in the 2030s. London First housing director Jonathan Seager said: “London must double its rate of housebuilding if it is to adequately house a growing population and keep the city competitive. “The mayor has both the convening legitimacy and a set of powers and resources, which complement those of the boroughs, to help get more homes built.” In his election campaign, Mr Khan said he would “deliver more affordable homes, ‘first dibs’ on those homes for Londoners, and action on rents”, with HfL created to fast-track the building of affordable homes to rent and buy. He also set a target for 50% of all new homes in London to be affordable, but has since said this would be only a long term goal. London’s deputy mayor for housing James Murray, said: “The Mayor has been clear that fixing London’s housing crisis and getting to grips with the mess that has been left behind by his predecessor will be a marathon, not a sprint. “We have started to work with local authorities, developers, housing associations and others to get building the new homes that Londoners so desperately need – including those on public land within the Mayor’s control. He added: “We are working closely with London First, and very much welcome the suggestions in their report about setting up ‘Homes for Londoners’. ”Many of the ideas in the report are in line with plans we have been taking forward since the election, and we will continue to work with London First as we take our proposals forward.”   Source link