These four words, uttered in the original Star Trek series in the mid-sixties, continue to inspire the American dream of space exploration which began with the ‘space race’ between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Triggered by the 1957 launch of satellite Sputnik 1 and soon followed by Soviet air forces pilot Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person to fly in space in 1961, pressure was on the U.S.

President John F. Kennedy famously told Congress, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

Although Kennedy would not live to see his dream realized, America ultimately won the Cold War geopolitical battle when Apollo 11 became the first lunar-landing mission and Neil Armstrong went on to be the first human being to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

Decades in the making
Over 50 years later, the moon landing remains one of the most important events in history. For the U.S., the costly, dangerous mission was about not only being the first to reach the moon, 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) distant from Earth, but to gather valuable data. Over the course of three hours, Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walked the surface, collecting samples of rocks and dirt, while Mike Collins remained in orbit, taking photos and conducting experiments.

Apollo 11, the moon landing, and the dream of spaceflight would not have been possible without the vision of Robert Goddard. A pioneering rocket engineer, physics teacher, and author, the visionary Goddard published his book A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes in 1919 about a rocket making its way to the moon.

Testing the first rocket engines powered by liquid fuel in 1923 (previously only solid fuel was used), in 1926 Goddard successfully launched the first liquid-fueled rocket, propelled by gasoline and liquid oxygen. Over the coming decades, he equipped rockets with cameras, thermometers and barometers, took out over 200 rocket-related patents, and became the director of research for the U.S. Department of the Navy at the Bureau of Aeronautics, before dying in 1945.

During his lifetime, Goddard oversaw the construction of rockets able to reach speeds of 550 mph (885 km/h), and soar to heights of 1.5 miles, about 2 kilometers. His pioneering work – along with that of Russian counterpart, rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) – not only led to the development of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs, but the possibility of setting up colonies on other planets and mining asteroids.

Mars within reach
Today, Earth’s resources are running out, pressuring governments, entrepreneurs and visionaries to explore the possibility of mining other planets.

Tremendous advances in technology mean that asteroid mining and long-distance space exploration are no longer the preserve of science fiction writers and filmmakers, but a prospect steadily looming closer. The nearest habitable planet in our solar system is Mars, with a surface area close to that of dry land on Earth.

Factors including favorable temperatures, a slightly longer day with sunlight to power solar panels, a thin but protective atmosphere, and a gravity that’s 38 percent of that on Earth combine to make Mars a strong contender for terraforming – a literal transformation of the Red Planet – making it able to host human life and support experimentation.

Gaining momentum in recent years, the vision of furthering space exploration and settlement goes back a long way, with the Soviet Union sending satellites into orbit in the early Sixties and attempting to reach Mars. They were defeated by the U.S. and Mariner 4, which flew by Mars on July 14, 1965, sending back 21 blurry photos.

On January 14, 2004, then-President George W. Bush reaffirmed America’s desire to further uncover the mysteries of space. Praising the dedicated men and women at NASA, Bush spoke of “a new focus and vision for future exploration.” He mentioned the space shuttle – which had flown over 100 times at that point – and various dramatic discoveries, including evidence of water, “a key ingredient for life on Mars and on the moons of Jupiter.”

Reinforcing the importance of returning to the Moon, Bush noted that a longer presence on the surface would lower the cost of future space exploration.

“Lifting heavy spacecraft and fuel out of the Earth’s gravity is expensive,” he said. “Spacecraft assembled and provisioned on the moon could escape its far-lower gravity using far less energy and thus far less cost. Also the moon is home to abundant resources. Its soil contains raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket fuel or breathable air… With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.”

Lowdown on logistics
The logistics involved in lengthy space missions such as Earth to Mars are, in a word, formidable.

At a minimum distance of 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers) it would take about seven months to get to Mars. Although that’s a shorter spell than the almost 438 consecutive days Russian astronaut Valery Polyakov spent aboard the Mir Space Station, it would take a special breed of person to endure over 200 days on a one-way trip to Mars.

While scientists continue to make discoveries via Mars exploration rovers, minerals useful to future colonists are already known to exist on Mars. These are the same sort of deposits found on Earth, consisting of iron, aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and nickel-iron meteorites.

Among the most useful metals are niobium – similar to titanium, and used in steel and superconductors – and europium, used in television sets, the manufacturing of laser glass and fluorescent glass, and LED light bulbs. These and other metallic elements would be extremely useful in helping future colonists to sustain a presence on Mars.

One option is to have humans mining the surface of Mars. Another is to group them into colonies orbiting Mars, remotely controlling robots on the planet that perform all mining tasks. Considering the many recent advances in remote control and teleoperated mining equipment here on Earth – where a remote operator uses cameras, sensors and GPS to direct operations – this concept isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem.

Like any space endeavor, colonizing Mars will take money – a lot of it. Aspirant space pioneers so far include Tesla’s Elon Musk, whose passion for exploration led him to create SpaceX, which designs, builds and launches spacecraft. In 2018, the eccentric Musk outlined the excitement and dangers of travel to Mars.

Others who proposed travel to Mars included Mars One. A private Dutch company, it was active from 2012 until it went bankrupt in 2019. The founders of Mars One proposed the readying of a human crew to fly to the Red Planet in 2024 and in 2026. With a lack of research into the necessary aspects of medicine, electricity and life support, and widely criticized by scientists, the scheme was dismissed as a suicide mission by many.

Mapping a million-mile leap
In late 2018, researchers from the Switzerland-based École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) university created a guide for a sustainable research facility on Mars. Unlike Mars One, the university’s step-by-step plan included the best place to colonize – near Mars’s ice-filled poles, which would supply water – and ways to utilize the planet’s natural resources like iron, sulfur, and aluminum to make glass and other products.

They also stipulated that, prior to any mining, a dome for human habitation would have to be constructed, and that the first crew would be expected to remain on Mars for about nine months. Supplementary flights carrying supplies and further equipment such as cranes would have to be scheduled.

Others, including NASA, are actively pursuing asteroid operations, notably with the OSIRIS-REx mission. Having already captured the first images of the Asteroid Bennu (on August 17, 2018, from 1.4 million miles – 2.2 million kilometers), OSIRIS-Rex will fly close to the asteroid, “and will ultimately touch the surface for five seconds to gather a sample of the asteroid,” according to NASA. The final stage, the sampling, will be conducted through TAGSAM, a Touch-and-Go-Sample-Acquisition-Mechanism instrument using a blast of nitrogen gas to gather regolith – loose surface deposits. Once it’s determined that a sample has been successfully collected, the spacecraft will make its way back to Earth.

Although former President Bush’s goals of returning to the moon and of astronauts landing on Mars this year will not happen as he anticipated, these and other outer space explorations should eventuate fairly soon. Although most of the constraints on timing have less to do with the thrills of discovery than with finance, governments and private companies alike recognize that there should be incredible wealth to be had in mining other planets.

In 2017, U.S. Senator for Texas, Ted Cruz – who also represents Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center – famously said, “The first trillionaire will be made in space; will be the entrepreneur who invests and makes discoveries in space that we cannot even envision. Right now we have billionaires, the prediction I’m making: the first trillionaire will be in the space exploration world.”

Considering that asteroids like Psyche 16 – located in the orbits between Mars and Jupiter – contain platinum and gold, he may very well be right.

The post Tapping the Universe<p class="company">Asteroid and Space Mining</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Representing a significant investment for the mining industry, buckets, ground engaging tools, and their associated wear products come at a considerable expense to each property.

With Ross and Paul Woodward’s founding of The Bucket Shop (TBS) in 1994, their mission was simple: bring extended lifecycle and reduce the overall cost of ownership through innovative proprietary designs and a lifetime of experience in the earthmoving and manufacturing sectors.

Over the years The Bucket Shop has evolved from its humble beginnings of two employees in a small Quonset hut to the development of its new state-of-the-art 85,000 square foot manufacturing facility. The new facility was designed with material handling in mind, equipped with nine cranes ranging from 15 to 70 Tons and automated electric carts to carry parts to their associated manufacturing bays. Material handling comes at a great cost; therefore, the development of this assembly line ensures the utmost efficiency.

In addition to their material handling improvements, the Woodward family made significant investments in tooling. The new plant boasts both a New Machitech 100’ CNC Plasma Cutter and a Metfab 770 Ton press brake. With the full intention of serving their mining partners, the team needed to tool up to meet demand, and these two equipment assets were necessary investments when dealing with the large iron required to efficiently mine the area.

The 100’ Plasma Cutter was specifically designed to handle custom sized steel sheets to support the local mines. This tool works 18 hours a day and has an appetite of roughly 80 tonnes of steel plate per month. All work begins at the CNC controlled pattern cutter.

“It’s an amazing piece of technology that allows us to do a lot of amazing things, and it keeps us very productive,” comments Jamie Pouw, Market Development Manager. “It’s the start of basically every single project that comes in.”

Bucket Shop benefits
There are significant benefits for all companies to be doing business with The Bucket Shop.

Along with manufacturing new attachments, the company is known for its innovative ability to extend the lifecycle of attachments. This leads to much lower replacement costs, improved safety, reduced energy consumption, increased productivity, and other benefits.

The team at TBS has introduced unique ways to prolong the lifespan of buckets and other costly purchases. These include such engineered solutions as a lip system and heel shrouds.

Designed to work with different scoop-tram, loaders and excavator bucket configurations, the lip system – mounted on the existing lip of the bucket – combines “425 brinell castings coupled with strategically placed 700 brinell specialty alloy inserts,” Extremely durable, the lip is easy to install, boosts production, reduces downtime, and extends lifecycle by two to three times.

Value-added services
TBS offers a full suite of Fleet Management services. TBS sends assessment technicians to mine sites monthly, to measure wear percentage and check product performance. Its trained technicians provide full reports on every aspect of your bucket. These reports contain complete repair recommendations and alert customers to take worn assets out of service for overhaul and eliminate emergency downtime.

“The physical audit gives us the evidence we need to report back to the company that they are on track,” says Pouw. “What that does for the mining company is give them information [about] when the machine is scheduled to be taken out of service for maintenance and determine the lifecycle on its wear components. The audit service we provide helps the mine in its maintenance forecasting, not only for production impact, but for financial impact.”

In addition to serving its mining clients, TBS uses the audit data collected at various mining properties to further improve and innovate its castings and buckets line. All data and wear attributes are gathered and studied to continually improve the product offering. The company prides itself on its ability to meet its customers’ needs through the development of their line.

“Our Fleet Management services become a win/win situation for both TBS and our clients. All data collected is used to further improve our products to ensure we supply the better built bucket,” says Curtis Westcott, General Manager.

Community leaders
To better serve its mining customers, The Bucket Shop’s manufacturing facility includes the massive CNC pattern cutter, 27 welding stations, 10 cranes, and a fully equipped machine shop, and the company is presently involved in a 20,000 square foot expansion including a maintenance facility, warehouse, abrasive blasting and two paint booths.

TBS’s expansion was endorsed by Timmins Mayor George Pirie. “The Bucket Shop is a great example of the quality partners we have in the City of Timmins,” the Mayor said in a statement, praising the 100 employee-strong business.

“They’re a local firm, obviously, that has decided to grow in Timmins and build their new expanded facilities in Timmins. They have got a great business there and we want to ensure they continue to grow… they are a great corporate citizen. It’s a pleasure to have them in the community.”

Working for people and impacting the skilled labour shortage
With staff ranging from welders and millwrights to office workers, TBS faces the challenges of many similar industries, namely constrained supply of skilled personnel in the trades.

This is especially problematic in Northern Ontario, which is seeing a declining population and an aging workforce, with many young people choosing to migrate to bigger cities. To address this, TBS is taking steps to spur new interest in the skilled trades and is partnering with the local Indigenous people.

Working, as it does, with the reserves and First Nations of Northern Ontario, The Bucket Shop was approached last year by Aboriginal Women in Mining (now Keepers of the Circle), which works with companies in the mining sector to generate training initiatives. A partnership was created between the two groups to build a training centre for Aboriginal women to expose them to the industry. This July heralded the fourth group of women to graduate from a welding curriculum provided by the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB).

Pouw is proud of the program he was charged to oversee. “We proved the success of that pilot project, and I think it’s a great way to take an underrepresented group, build a skilled trade ability, and keep them in the mining sector to help with today’s labour challenge,” he says.

With a focus on both products and people, The Bucket Shop continues to expand, and looks forward to developing a new, highly skilled workforce in Timmins to complement its successful line of wear products and services. According to Westcott, “Our recent expansion, continued product development and investment into training opportunities are all part of our overall strategy to ensure sustainability in an extremely competitive marketplace.”

The post Growing to Meet Global Demand<p class="company">The Bucket Shop</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Over the years, Harris has evolved into making balers for myriad purposes including the handling of ferrous (containing iron) and non-ferrous metals, fiber based commodities, plastics, garbage, and more. Today, it is best known for producing large shears, ferrous and non-ferrous balers, shredders, and generally, for producing machines of high quality with longevity better measured in decades rather than years.

Even after such a long time as an active business, the company is still undergoing change. In 2014, Harris was acquired by Avis Industrial Corporation, an Indiana-based business with a long track record of buying manufacturers and investing significantly in them. Before this, Harris had spent a good three decades being owned by private equity groups. Later that same year, Avis purchased one of Harris’ competitors, IPS (International Press & Shear), bringing the companies together and investing in the infrastructure, processes, and equipment of both.

Harris has also grown greatly in recent decades with sales and support to over 40 countries around the globe. The company provides sales, service, and support to the UK and Europe through its offices just outside of London in Tewkesbury.

When it comes to the company’s continued accomplishments, King is quick to credit the transparent relationship that Harris management has with its production employees. Both groups spend much time openly discussing performance, challenges, and the workers’ role in the company’s success, with special attention paid to providing feedback to the production labor force to improve development and facilitate cross-training between skills.

The company is dedicated to investing heavily in its employees because, as King describes, those people are the heart of Harris. During the economic downturn caused by global COVID-19 measures, Harris operated as an essential business and did its part to embrace proper screening and sanitation procedures which helped to bolster the company’s strong relationship with its labor force, one that continues today amid less-than-ideal circumstances.

Similarly, King stresses that communication is top at the list of what goes into positive lasting relationships with both the company’s people and suppliers. It is always important to communicate expectations to a supplier and to hold them accountable while, in turn, demonstrating loyalty to them through difficult times.

As a global supplier, Harris manufactures all its hydraulic components as well as doing all its machining and milling without relying on international suppliers for such things. He is quick to tout that the company does not outsource its components and “pretend to be a manufacturer,” unlike some of its competitors which he describes as more akin to distributors or “assemblers.” And Harris proudly stands behind its products.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on cost structure,” King admits, “but [the company] has aligned [itself] with key suppliers that can weather a lot of cycles and step up for us as we step up for them.”

The year 2020 started positively for Harris with opportunities and activity supported by a strong backlog of work. But the company began to see its customers changing patterns of maintenance and upkeep or altogether pausing on capital programs, signifying a big change coming.

After this point, 2020 became significantly more difficult worldwide, but King is confident that Harris remains the strongest manufacturer in the space, with far more resilience than its competition; in fact, Harris has not furloughed any of its employees nor has it shortened its production schedules, ably working through the challenges of the year, well prepared to continue delivering the level of commitment its customers expect.

Aside from these challenges, King notes an ongoing shift in the recycled commodities market, with exports already having changed dramatically domestically in the past year due to trade wars and capacity rationalization in the metal, plastics, and paper industries.

Aside from the unique challenges brought on this year, Harris often sees itself with a lot of competition in its market. King cites “a dozen or so,” participants currently in the two-ram baler market that produce a lighter and lower-cost products than Harris but do not boast the same lifecycle or reliability, as a properly maintained Harris machine should last multiple years longer than its competition. He admits that the company is constantly fighting the fact that it provides higher value over low cost. He is also aware that it is providing an engineered solution to a customer’s opportunity, meaning that instead of offering “an inferior product with pretty colors.”

When looking at the rest of the year and beyond, Harris’s foremost plan is to ensure that its customers can operate effectively with its equipment regardless of what their specific challenges may be. King sees Harris as breaking the mold of the traditional manufacturer model and giving customers a very strong after-sales support matrix. In certain cases, the company has even sent Harris employees to customer locations to operate the equipment personally if the customer lacked manpower due to quarantine measures. The company will also maintain its ability to respond quickly to needs in the market as they arise, spending time pre-building machinery to shorten lead times so that months can be shortened to weeks or even days.

Harris believes in building long-term relationships with its clients, investing heavily in them before and after the sale to “be everything to every customer to keep them operating,” according to King. This approach has paid off in spades for the company which sees high repeat business from customers who continue to choose Harris annually, with some companies having buying from Harris for three to four generations and counting.

Having been around for over 130 years, Harris has gamely adapted to countless tough situations in the market. King recalls how during World War II, Harris manufactured munitions and machine gun components; during the recession of the 1970s, the company pivoted to building structures for outfits like NASA.

King is firm on the company’s approach: “We love strong competition, customers, and suppliers…we are continuously working to have the strongest team in the industry, [and] we’re committed to producing the highest value product in the marketplace.” Competition in the industry will come and go, but based on its longevity and continued approach, Harris is here to stay.

The post Celebrating Over a Century of Dedicated Service<p class="company">Harris </p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Discovered in the spectrum of the Sun’s corona by French astronomer Pierre Janssen in 1868, helium was later named after helios – the Greek word for sun – by British chemist Edward Frankland and British astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer.

The second element on the periodic table, helium (He) is one of seven ‘noble’ gases on the table. The lightest of all gases except for hydrogen, helium shares many other of hydrogen’s properties (it’s odourless, colorless, and tasteless) with one enormous exception: helium is completely non-flammable.

The notorious flammability of hydrogen tragically brought the Depression-era dream of luxury dirigible air travel to a halt with the explosion and fiery crash of the Hindenburg in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. While there are many theories about the cause of the fire, one thing is certain: if the Hindenburg had been using helium, it would not have burnt.

A gas of many uses
Chemically inert, helium is the hardest gas to liquefy, which makes it ideal for many applications, including as a refrigerant. When it is cooled to just below its boiling point of -452 degrees Fahrenheit (-269 degrees Celsius), liquid helium becomes helium II.

Also known as a superfluid, it takes on a jaw-dropping ability to flow without friction. In other words, if you spin it around in a cup it will keep spinning… and spinning… and spinning, and can literally climb up and over the edge of containers. With no freezing point and zero viscosity, it can seep through the tiniest cracks.

Given its many unique properties, helium is in growing demand, and governments and research laboratories are among the biggest consumers of the noble gas.

Along with liquid nitrogen, one of helium’s biggest applications – in liquid form – is in cryogenics. Defined by Merriam-Webster as “a branch of physics that deals with the production and effects of very low temperatures,” cryogenics has many uses: In the food industry, it helps keep food fresher longer without the addition of preservatives or chemicals. In the space industry, cryoelectronics are used to make rocket fuel, and for electrons to move more freely. In medicine, cryosurgery is used to freeze and destroy skin tumours, while cryobiology can preserve organs, cells, and embryos.

From rocketry to welding
With about 92 percent of the lifting power of hydrogen and none of the risks of explosion, helium is found in high-risk industries such as the space sector and welding.

Regularly used to stiffen rockets, helium has been used for autogenous pressurization on the Space Shuttle, where it pressurizes liquid propellants. Being stable and non-reactive, it is ideal for arc-welding light metals, including magnesium and aluminum.

After hydrogen, helium is the second-most abundant element in the universe. Despite this, it is rare here on Earth, with much of it extracted, along with natural gas, from the Hugoton Gas Field which extends across Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Compressed and shipped in small quantities in steel cylinders, helium can also be transported in insulated containers in liquid form.

Despite its many uses in science, medicine, industry and the space sector, America’s private natural gas companies were not required to recover helium freed as a by-product of their activities between 1973 and 1980, nor did the U.S. government store it during that period, with billions of cubic feet lost every year. This was surprising, considering the Helium Act of 1925, “An Act Authorizing the conservation, production, and exploitation of helium gas, a mineral resource pertaining to the national defense, and to the development of commercial aeronautics, and for other purposes.”

Amended several times over the years, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 was controversial, ordering the American government to sell a good part of the National Helium Reserve – a reserve of over 1 billion cubic meters of helium gas. Critics called it a fiasco, with the sale price far lower than the gas’s market price. Despite the criticism, the bill wasn’t amended until 2013.

Increasingly rare on Earth
The world is running out of its supplies of helium, and the situation will affect much more than just birthday balloons. (Although last year, with helium in short supply, many party-supply stores ran out of the gas, while others increased prices up to 135 percent.)

This shortage is not good news for the planet’s medical, scientific, and space sectors, since helium is vital to cooling Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) superconducting magnets used in making solar cells, in supersonic wind tunnels, rocket engines, and many other applications.

This shortage has led to the genuine possibility of looking to outer space for Earth’s helium supply. Over 30 years ago, it was estimated that the surface regolith (loose soil, dust and rocks) on the moon contains a million tons of helium-3. As challenging and costly as mining the moon would be, scientists from the University of Wisconsin’s Institute of Fusion Technology have been investigating pros and cons.

With the potential of being used as a nuclear fusion fuel source, it was determined that “mining it would be a profitable undertaking: the energy produced by the helium-3 would be 250 times greater than that needed to extract this resource from the Moon and transport it to Earth, where the lunar reserves of helium-3 could supply human needs for centuries,” according to a March 2019 article by OpenMind.

Discovered in 1939, helium-3 has been eyed as a source of energy for years, particularly in nuclear fusion. Although requiring extremely high temperatures, helium-3 atoms can release significant energy without making other materials radioactive.

One of the reasons for the scarcity of helium-3 on Earth is, ironically, what protects us, namely our atmosphere. Absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, the Earth’s atmosphere is approximately 300 miles (480 kilometers) thick, becoming much thinner the higher we go, and eventually disappearing. The moon does not possess a similar shielding atmosphere, and throughout its existence has absorbed tremendous amounts of helium-3.

As with all proposals of mining in space, harvesting helium-3 from the moon presents many challenges, and will require plenty of expertise – and money.

Taking mining to the Moon
The European Space Agency (ESA) – an intergovernmental body consisting of 22 member states – and ArianeGroup, “as prime contractor of a consortium of ArianeGroup, Space Application Services and PTScientists,” signed an agreement to study and make ready ESA’s planned in-space, in-situ resource-use (ISRU) mission.

While focused on the moon’s regolith, the mission will gather, process, store, and use “materials found or produced on other celestial bodies (Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) to replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth,” according to privately-held Berlin-based Planetary Transportation Systems GmbH (PTS).

Describing itself as a new-space company, PTS’s “aim is to bring down the cost of space exploration and democratize access to the Moon.” To achieve its goal, the company is dedicated to developing dependable systems that will get payloads to the right locations, and has created a spacecraft that can deliver two rovers (up to 300 kg or 661 lbs. of payload) to the moon’s barren surface.

Like other space mining proposals which see minerals used on planets to sustain human life (iron, titanium, aluminum and others on Mars, for example), helium-3 would be transported to Earth, and used on the moon to support people and mining machinery.

As well as Europe, other countries, including India, have expressed an interest in mining the moon. And as our supply of helium dwindles, the greater the likelihood becomes that the harvesting of other planets for helium will become a reality in the very near future.

The post Harnessing Helium<p class="company">Challenges, Opportunities, and Moon Shots</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

With most electric utilities across North America switching from flat rate to time-based energy provision – also called off-peak or time-of-use (TOU) – customer charges vary dramatically. Priciest during the day and less expensive on weekends and holidays, power usage can be challenging to manage. No matter how frugal or environmentally aware we are, many of us still need to use our ovens, and run the dishwasher during daylight hours.

The avoidance of paying exorbitant prices for power is no longer only the goal of survivalists and environmentalists who dream of leaving big cities for a life in the wilderness, but has come within reach of all of us thanks to technological improvements, and lower equipment and supply costs.

Growing energy independence
Compared to just a few decades ago, our energy needs have gone from merely greedy to insatiable.

From power-hungry appliances like clothes dryers and ovens to smartphones, massive flat-screen TVs, video game consoles, laptop computers and tablets, our dependence on a reliable supply of electricity is enormous. And even after years of renewable-energy initiatives and investment, much of our power still comes from fossil fuels.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), utility-scale generators were behind the net generation of approximately 4.1 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2019, the latest available year for data. Leading the energy source pack at 38 percent was natural gas, followed by coal, 23 percent, nuclear, 20 percent, renewables at 17 percent (total), then non-hydroelectric renewables, hydroelectric, and petroleum (plus remaining minor sources) at ten, seven, and one percent.

Together with increasing electrical usage comes the need for a stable supply of power, which is far from guaranteed today. It isn’t unusual to experience brownouts in peak summer months, when central and portable air conditioners and ceiling fans are running constantly.

Brownouts, whether deliberate or unintentional, are drops in voltage levels, and usually last just a few minutes compared to dreaded blackouts, which can affect small towns or major cities for hours, days, or even longer. Caused by mechanical failure, human error or weather, some of the largest – and longest – include the Northeast Blackout (2003), Hurricane Sandy (2012), and the Ice Storm of 2013, which left many across North America without power for weeks.

These and similar power outages resulted in some homeowners – frustrated by freezing and bursting water pipes – investing in diesel generators, from small models costing a few hundred dollars, to large outdoor units priced well into the thousands.

About the size of a central air conditioner, these advanced home backup generators are powered by natural gas or liquid propane (LP). Comfortable in the security of being able to generate electricity as long as fuel is flowing, savvy homeowners can remotely monitor the operating status and maintenance of these backup generators from anywhere in the world via smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Get the lead out
While backup generators are an option, they represent just one step toward getting off the grid for good, along with solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal. Although our forerunners have harnessed the rays of the sun for thousands of years through mirrors and magnification, lighting torches and cooking food, it wasn’t until the early 1800s that scientists began investigating methods of collecting and storing solar power.

In 1883, American inventor Charles Fritts created the first true solar cells. Fritts installed solar panels, from a combination of thin layers of gold and selenium, on the roof of a New York City building. While functioning at a low energy conversion rate, his invention paved the way for greater solar energy developments, such as those used on satellites launched in the late 1950s.

Coinciding with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil crisis of 1973 and a 400 percent increase in the price of a barrel of oil, the University of Delaware created the world’s first photovoltaic (PV) powered residence. The storage option for off-grid solar energy was lead acid batteries. Large, expensive, cumbersome and needing to be stored upright, these batteries were comprised of lead and sulphuric acid. Highly corrosive and prone to leaking, lead acid batteries must be properly recycled, and never discarded in landfill where they can affect ground water.

Providing about 1,000 to 3,000 cycles (at a 60 percent discharge rate), lead batteries are still used for solar, but are being replaced by safer lithium batteries. Smaller than the lead version, lithium batteries are more expensive up-front but have a long lifespan, making them well-suited to off-the-grid solar-powered homes.

All batteries retain a certain charge, but the discharge rate of lithium is 80 percent or greater, compared to about 50 percent for lead-based batteries.

In 2015, famed electric-vehicle manufacturer Tesla incorporated lithium-ion battery technology into the Powerwall. One of the first commercially-available all-in-one units, the Powerwall was designed to store TOU energy, to be combined with solar panels, to serve as backup power, and to be suitable for homeowners going off the grid.

In just five years, many other companies leapt aboard with their own home-battery backups, including Germany’s Sonnen and South Korea’s LG.

Beyond solar
For homeowners wanting to unshackle themselves from utility companies, solar is just one option.

Another fast gaining popularity is geothermal. Taking advantage of Mother Nature, geothermal uses the energy stored below ground to heat our homes in winter, and cool them during the summer. Since the ground absorbs solar energy, geothermal taps into this energy through an underground pipe system. Filled with water, pipes are configured into a loop below the ground’s frost line.

Meanwhile, an indoor geothermal heat pump works with a system of ducts or radiators. Water continually circulates. During warm months, this water is transferred outdoors to cooler earth, and the heat pump takes this cold water, and returns it to the home; in the winter, warm water is circulated through houses.

While geothermal energy from natural hot springs has been used for thousands of years for bathing and cooking, it wasn’t until the early 1890s that it was used in the United States. Requiring drilling, trenching, pipe loops and the purchase and installation of a heat pump, ductwork, and various electrical components, the installation of geothermal systems varies widely in price. For smaller off the grid homes, it can typically cost US$12,000; for larger houses, geothermal systems can run to US$30,000 or more, depending on complexity.

Although this may seem a hefty initial expense, geothermal systems are effective. Compared to traditional furnaces and air conditioning – which usually last 10 to 15 years – geothermal systems have a lifespan of 20 to 25 years.

The power of renewables
As more companies enter the market, the price of renewable sources of energy continues to drop, including that of wind and hydro power.

Once the domain of large cities and municipalities with wind farms, home wind turbines are now affordable and readily available. Depending on energy needs and size of the property, wind generation models come in the 500, 600, 1500 and 2000 Watt ranges, and with different wind-speed ratings.

Widely available online from Amazon and other retailers, kits from companies like Eco-Worthy include not only a wind turbine, but also solar panels which can be used for both off-grid homes and boats. Called hybrids, these wind/solar systems take advantage of both forms of renewable energy – often when the sun is out there is little wind, and when winds are strong, it is overcast.

For those off the grid, these hybrid systems are efficient, highly scalable, and relatively affordable. If additional solar panels or another wind turbine is needed, these can be easily added to meet energy needs.

Going with the flow
Although water power was used for thousands of years to turn paddle wheels and grind wheat into flour, the first true hydroelectric generation only started in 1880, when a water turbine was connected to a dynamo in Grand Rapids, Michigan to produce light.

This led to the development of large-scale hydroelectric generation sites across the U.S. and Canada, notably the Hoover Dam – which generates approximately four billion kilowatt hours of power annually – and multiple hydroelectric generating stations near Niagara Falls.

For those living off the grid near sources of running water, hydroelectric power is another renewable option. Depending on location (sometimes turbines are not permitted to disrupt waterways), there are two options: tapping-into dammed water flowing into a turbine, or a turbine directly located in a river, lake, creek or stream.

Harnessing hydro
To be successful, a certain elevation or ‘head’ and adequate water flow – measured in gallons per minute – is required. Since little equipment other than a turbine and generator is necessary, this makes hydroelectric among the least expensive off-the-grid solutions. Even micro hydro-generators fitting inside pipes to capture small amounts of power (10W), are available.

Compared to solar and wind power, which vary depending on the weather, hydroelectric power is relatively constant. Unless there is a drought, water flows, but the amount varies depending on the season. Like wind turbine/solar systems, complete hydroelectric packages are available from companies like Scott Hydroelectric Generators. Rated at 1500 Watts and able to produce 200W, these generators are sufficient for most off the grid homeowners, and come with options like batteries and inverters.

Some homeowners go off the grid and harness renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro and geothermal to reduce their carbon footprint, yet the majority seek energy self-sufficiency because they want to pay as little as possible for energy in the future.

While sources like solar and wind work well, they are dependent on nature, and a combination of different renewables is probably best for anyone wanting to put the power back into their own hands.

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Innovation in the renewable energy technology field is truly non-stop. Whether through solar, wind, hydro, wave, heat-exchange, tidal, wave or bioenergy, renewable energy technologies allow the creation of heat, fuel and electricity from renewable sources. As exciting new energy technologies continue to emerge, with advances in areas including lithium-ion battery storage and energy blockchains, the future in this field continues to shine bright.

The energy sector is changing rapidly, with governments around the world embracing new and ground-breaking technologies that will benefit both the planet and people. From passing important legislation to incorporating sustainable energy sources into the practices of manufacturing companies, advancements are continually being made that will make a positive difference.

Energy industry trends can be categorized into three concepts:
1. Decarbonization – a transition toward a clean, carbon-free economy through the integration and increased shares of renewable energy sources.
2. Decentralization – electricity with a large number of multi-level producers and consumers distributed geographically, allowing lower energy intensity while providing prospects for developing renewable sources of energy.
3. Digitization – indicates the widespread use of digital machines and devices at all levels of the power system, from production and infrastructure to end-user devices.

Something new under the sun
It’s impossible to talk about renewable energy without considering environmental issues and how they affect our daily lives. Discovering and then embracing renewable clean energy sources remains a goal for all involved in the industry in an effort to embrace innovations that not only meet the world’s unending need for power, but also conserve the planet and our future in the process.

Solar power, for instance, has been around and utilized in various technologies for years – everyone has a neighbour with solar panels installed on their roof, for instance – but now that technology is reaching more impressive heights. A solar-powered train in Australia can complete a three-kilometer trip with 100 passengers on board in 10 minutes. It boasts zero emissions and is housed in its own powered shed for cloudy days.

As an ultimate source of clean energy, photosynthesis, with its by-product of hydrogen, remains a clear leader. Emulating the process plants use to generate energy, this energy source boasts zero emissions, but is difficult to replicate artificially. Now scientists from the University of Cambridge and Ruhr University Bochum have successfully found a way to split water molecules into individual hydrogen and oxygen atoms, opening the path to a future free of fossil fuels.

The power of water
Sunlight and the world’s water supply provide the most stable sources of energy. The unrealized energy potential of our oceans is a vital area of study for scientists learning how best to harness the tidal energy in massive bodies of water. The process of utilizing tidal stream generators to power turbines and harvest this invaluable resource will only continue to grow.

Along with water, solar power remains a great source of renewable energy. There is enough sunlight falling on the Sahara Desert every day to power the entire planet, but the challenge is considerable: at present, in practical terms, solar power can only be captured as a charge in a battery and not as a fuel. A new liquid, however, has been developed that is able to store solar power for up to 18 years and could soon make its indelible mark on the world.

We’re all familiar by now with the concept of 3D printing, but you may not yet have heard of 3D-printed solar-energy trees. This incredible innovation, which is exactly what it sounds like, can harness solar power through tiny synthetic leaves made of flexible organic solar cells.

Each leaf sports its own power converter and can also collect both heat and kinetic power (from temperature changes and wind movement) when used in the open air. The “tree” trunks are made of wood-based biocomposites and don’t resemble the traditional solar panels found on rooftops — in fact, they look a lot like real trees.

Other amazing innovations include electric tires that harness power from the heat generated by road friction to pass electricity to your car, and carbon nanotube electricity. These are tiny structures made of carbon that link together in a honeycomb pattern to create tubes of amazing tensile strength with the potential to generate surprising amounts of electricity under certain conditions of twisting and stretching. Down the road these tubes could possibly power small electrical appliances.

All of these innovations are geared toward achieving the same goal: providing clean energy to help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and stop global warming, a worldwide concern that continues to escalate as demands for energy grow.

Other technological innovations can be found in marine solar with floating solar arrays, in floating offshore wind harnessing, and in molten salt reactors which could provide carbon-free electricity in the future with fewer radiation risks than nuclear. Green hydrogen is described as renewably-produced hydrogen with extremely low emissions that could potentially overtake the traditional oil and gas industries.

Equitable access
Along with all of these amazing advances, we should remember that huge parts of the world still lack access to very basic energy services at all, in which case renewable energy should be considered in a very different way: as an energy source that can be made more accessible and available to remote or disadvantaged populations. In order to slow and eventually halt global warming, more countries need to embrace the shift from fossil fuel usage to renewable energy sources. This requires large-scale accessibility in all countries, not just in the developed parts of the world. Unfortunately, clean energy technologies like wind, solar, electric vehicles, smart grids, and energy storage are generally still more costly than conventional sources, so making them available around the world is a challenge, particularly in developing counties.

Wind and solar power are expensive due to the additional cost of the batteries required to store generated energy, and thus, innovative means of energy storage are expected to be at the forefront of emerging technologies and efforts to make power more accessible and affordable. Energy storage innovation includes, for instance, using old electric car batteries to provide grid energy storage, as seen on Barbados, while community-based microgrids can save energy while providing energy independence, efficiency and protection against failure.

Blockchain technology, meanwhile, offers an incorruptible peer-to-peer network that eliminates the need for middlemen for electricity suppliers. Blockchain technology aims to unite all energy stakeholders under a single decentralized network. Electricity producers, distribution network operators, metering operators, providers of financial services, and traders will benefit from utilizing ‘smart contracts’.

These contracts ensure that all energy-related transactions pass through a secure, fixed network, eliminating potential losses. Blockchain also can potentially achieve a level of equality between energy producers and consumers by making electricity affordable for a larger population.

As these technologies continue to grow and develop, they’ll help make renewable energy more affordable and desirable around the world.

Facing the future
The demand for energy on our planet is not going to decrease any time soon. It will continue to rise with improving standards of living, so developing innovative technology for clean renewable energy is imperative.

Political and industrial leaders need to work more closely and intensively with scientific and technological innovators and developers to not only facilitate the generation of more (and more sustainable) energy, but to make it accessible around the world. Manufacturers and leaders can make the difference in reducing emissions and safeguarding the health of the planet through a host of exciting choices and pioneering possibilities. By embracing renewable technology and making the switch to a greener lifestyle, we’ll save the environment, and ultimately save ourselves.

The post The Limit Does Not Exist<p class="company">The Bright Future of Renewable Technology</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

“People often ask, how long before we go back? But the only answer is, longer than I thought,” spokesman for the air-system manufacturer Bruce Wendel says. “But the U.S. was a big growth area; it was so good to reach that goal, then [the pandemic] happened and we got locked out.”

Allied Blower has been providing services in the areas of dust control, industrial ventilation, and pneumatic conveyance since 1974. The company also supplies filter bags and parts, gas cleaning and volatile organic compound (VOC) control. The company deals in combustible dust removal, wood pellets and biomass and spark detection and arrest.

It’s an impressive list of services and features. As well, Wendel says, Allied’s management have done everything that could be done to minimize economic effects of the coronavirus. The result is that Allied was in the fortunate position to do more for employees than some other companies.

“When the pandemic was becoming an issue in March, we were proactive about it,” Wendel says. “We had people tracking themselves, we quickly downsized, had people working at home – some on reduced salary – rather than put them on layoff. Our goal was to balance Allied’s financial viability with people’s needs as individuals – we didn’t want to lay everyone off, but it was tough.”

And, several months later?

“We’re hanging on. Business isn’t really coming back fully yet and the business that is coming back is being run in a way that you can tell – people aren’t really certain about how COVID will impact it.”

Help by strategic partnership
“You have to assume there’s going to be some type of pent-up demand, or a surge, but it is difficult to tell,” Wendel says. “We’re in a position that no one has been in, so it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen. When there’s a vaccine, it’ll come back to normal, and I think that’s what has to happen, but normal won’t be normal for a long time!”

When industry does open up some more, Allied Blower intends to follow the success formula it created through strategic partnerships, which have been an important part of operations. The company is partnered with other companies, such as Air Cure Incorporated, to complement its own products and services.

Air Cure is a baghouse filter technology company that supplies proprietary parts for baghouses. Then there are others, such as Albarrie, which manufactures non-woven filter fabrics and bags used in baghouse filters, and Fargus GreCon, which supplies spark detection and extinguishing systems used to prevent silo dust explosions and fires.

Strategic partnerships are very important to Allied, according to Wendel. “We wanted to make it better for us and for our clients, and some things you can’t do in-house,” he says. “We found quality, reliable partners, and we developed relationships with those partners.”

Steadying the revenue stream
These partnerships go a long way toward providing a steady and more substantial revenue stream, as well as ensuring the success of the other companies.

In deciding which ones to partner with, Allied looks at which companies it already works with in some capacity, whether in providing services or purchasing products. Wendel says that if Allied only deals with a company once a year, there’s no point.

“But if we use them more frequently, or a vendor’s goods are mission critical we recognize the opportunity and we’ll approach them,” he says. “There are actually one or two we’re looking at now, but we haven’t really made a decision. I don’t think we’ll get there soon – because right now everyone is hunkered down – but we have hope for the future.”

Allied also operates a number of service centres, which Wendel says are an important aspect of business.

“The idea is to be close to our customers and to support those service centres with a larger manufacturing centre,” he says. “The centres provide a high level of customer service and they can support larger projects with manpower and manufacturing resources.”

Building on training
A big part of looking to the future is the training and facilitation of the workforce. Allied outsources a lot of its training – whether for apprenticeships or management positions – to local educational facilities. To encourage personal growth, the company shoulders the cost of training when employees want to further their careers.

Wendel and the rest of the Allied Blower team are noticeably proud that a would-be tradesperson can join the staff as a 20-year-old apprentice and work up to a management position in his or her 30s or 40s, with company-provided help along the way.

“It’s important to us to make sure there are career paths for our people,” he says. “We want people to find a way to stay within the organization and fulfill their career goals. Some end up being a foreman, some might move into the office, but with different training programs.”

Wendel explains the different training paths and programs for different positions. This is a direct result of the company developing specific training programs for each specific skill, tool, software, or estimating technique. And employees who are ear-marked for management positions are sent to a university for leadership courses and project management training.

It’s all about attracting and keeping good people who will guide Allied Blower into the future.

Super safety
And of course, safety is paramount. Allied Blower trains all employees in the relevant safety protocols and environments, like working underground, at height, or working with chemicals. It keeps track of safety statistics and near misses. Wendel said it’s more than just dropping a book of safe practices in front of a worker and expecting him or her to read it.

“We all need to have the same mindset. No one is in too big a hurry, or no job is too skinny on margin, to be safe. It effects how we view owning this business, no one in management wants to send someone home with injuries.”

Situated in British Columbia, Allied is well able to attract workers in the field. Gone are the days when education meant university-only to young people just starting out. Thanks to a fair proportion of the economy in Western Canada relying on resource extraction, Western Canadian governments have developed the education systems for those who wish to become skilled tradespersons – it hasn’t been uncool to seek work in the trades for a number of years, and companies like Allied are able to reap the benefits.

Wendel said operations relating to pneumatic conveyance are probably busiest because so many industries make use pneumatic conveyance. As a result of that, dust control gets busy as well.

“Those two go together like toast and butter. What happens is a company’s process will generate dust or residual material, it is collected and pneumatically conveyed to a dust collector – and then have to convey it somewhere else,” Wendel says. “Filter bags support dust collection; each thing we do makes the next thing we do busier. It works well.”

To the future
But that’s when times are normal. And just as when times are normal, Allied has some long-term goals.

“I think we’ll double our size by replicating our Canadian footprint in the U.S.,” he says.

But moving forward with everyone healthy, physically and financially, is the ultimate goal given what’s happening right now, Wendel says in conclusion.

For more information, visit Allied Blower at its web page, Alliedblower.com.

The post Looking Boldly Beyond<p class="company">Allied Blower</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

For the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA) — organizers of the popular annual event The Energy Summit — the pandemic compelled them to react decisively and turn a potential crisis into an opportunity, with the popular event going virtual for the first time in history.

Kicking off with an in-person golf tournament on August 17, this year’s online conference runs from August 18 to 19 and will replicate the Summit experience in an online forum. Featuring informative panel discussions with industry experts and stakeholders, live discussions, networking opportunities, a unique sponsor area and much more, COGA representatives are excited about the upcoming event.

“It’s a real opportunity for us to showcase that we are responding to the times and still meeting the needs of our members by providing this great experience and doing so in a very unconventional way,” says Sara Reynolds of the positive attention surrounding this year’s Summit. As COGA’s Vice President of Operations and Conference Director, Reynolds is responsible for the daily operations of COGA and other areas including programs and events, membership development, and financial management.

Reaching a wide audience
Formed in 1984, COGA started off small as the Denver Julesburg Petroleum Association. With an initial focus on oil and gas issues in Greeley and Weld counties, the organization soon grew its staff numbers and membership. A statewide trade association, COGA’s membership – which has reached about 300 member companies – represents many players in Colorado’s oil and natural gas sector, including upstream producers, big multinational corporations, smaller Colorado-based companies, midstream, downstream, related service providers through the production process, and professional services including the lending, investment and private equity community, legal services, regulatory specialists, and professional services groups.

“COGA is not only a full-service trade association, but we also represent the entire value chain of oil and gas in Colorado,” says President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Haley, who leads the industry on matters ranging from regulatory issues to public relations and Colorado legislature, supporting members though advocacy, education, stakeholder engagement and other initiatives.

The organization was founded on the vision of individuals including Fred Julander, one of the first to recognize the abundant supply of dry, clean-burning natural gas in Colorado and the need for greater exploration. Four years after COGA was created, the Association launched the Gas Conference. Changing its name over time to the Rocky Mountain Energy Summit and known today as The Energy Summit, the event is highly diversified, attended not only by industry professional, but also policy- and decision-makers, elected leaders, agriculture representatives, homebuilders, and a host of other individuals.

“We want all these people in the room, because this is where we are discussing the important issues of our time, namely what our members are doing in Colorado and how we are trying to move forward,” comments Haley. “We want to make sure all those people are hearing these messages and are part of the discussion. Our goal is to be an advocate for our members and to be a voice for them, through public relations and media relations or working with our state’s regulatory body on rulemakings… being an important arm of outreach and education in our community. This is what the conference really does so well – that outreach and education component.”

32^nd Summit
Although this year’s Summit will be different because of the pandemic, event organizers are optimistic, hoping to capture 30 to 40 percent of attendees from past in-person events. However, they are hearing from other organizations that virtual attendance is actually rivaling in-person conferences. “People want to receive professional development this year and for the foreseeable future, and virtual events are really the only option,” says Reynolds.

Keeping a pulse on the pandemic, Reynolds, Haley and the team at COGA realized by mid-March that with schools closing in Colorado and nationwide, COVID-19 would not be over by the time of the Summit in August. Soon, COGA was renegotiating contracts with its conference venues and vendors, and reimagining the 2020 Summit as an online event.

“Before we even made the decision, we felt we needed to be in touch with all of our stakeholders and sponsors,” says Haley, “and some were already committed to sponsor the conference. This is a large event; we get upwards of a thousand people attending, and there are a lot of stakeholders who come for different reasons, and before we made any decision, we really needed to evaluate what our stakeholders had to say.” Using its time to make advance preparations to pivot to the virtual platform, COGA announced in early June that the Summit would be online.

Unique forum
Featuring topics such as “Oil & Gas Employment Trends – Riding Through Market Disruptions,” “Turning Conflict Into Opportunity – Resolving Oil and Gas Conflicts Between Local, State and Federal Governments,” and “Impacts of the Crude Price War and COVID-19 –Who Survives in an Oversupplied, Low Commodity Price Environment?”, this year’s Summit will see speakers record panel discussions close to the August 18 start date. The format will simulate an in-person event familiar for speakers and attendees alike, replicating the experience of being in the audience and watching panelists on stage.

Providing the opportunity for facilitated conversations, moderators will be on hand during sessions to keep discussion flowing and focused. Following discussions, there will be a 15-minute window with real-time live Q&A. “It was our solution to really replicate that conference experience for the attendees, that what they were viewing was similar to what they would see on stage, but they would also have that dynamic and live interaction piece as well,” explains Reynolds. “For sponsors this is also a really unique opportunity because they can have a live interaction with attendees but don’t have to make the time commitment, incur expenses, travel, and all those aspects that make traditional tradeshows more of a burden for exhibitors.”

With sponsorship a key component of all such large events, The Energy Summit will feature a sponsor hall, an interactive version of the platform where sponsors have their own customizable and brandable exhibition booths where they can feature PowerPoint presentations, air informational videos, or perform live interactions with attendees via chat or video conferencing. Sponsors can also sponsor specific general sessions, showcase their logos, and do a brief 30-second introduction if they choose. “It’s different, but we’ve done our best to replicate those opportunities that you would typically have at an in-person conference, but in a virtual platform,” says Reynolds.

Facing the future
A tremendous platform for information and education about oil and gas in the state, The Energy Summit provides attendees the opportunity to learn about key issues affecting the industry not only in Colorado, but across America, such as regulatory processes. As technology continues advancing, there have been shifts in the regulatory process referring to specific technologies, and the Summit will provide opportunities to have meaningful conversations about technology, innovation, and ways operators can innovate to achieve positive outcomes. And with 2020 being an election year, Colorado is one of the few states with a citizen initiative process, where voters can propose initiatives and petition their way onto the statewide ballot. These political factors and others will influence the oil and gas sector, and the Colorado Oil & Gas Association will be there on behalf of its members.

“We will have political strategists from both sides of the aisle talking about what they see happening this November,” says Haley, “the trends that are out there among the electorate on the left and the right, bring it back into Colorado and see how they will impact important industries like oil and gas.”

The fifth largest natural gas producer in the country and the sixth largest producer of crude oil, Colorado is key to the future of oil and gas. “This conference really represents what so many of us are having to do, which is adapt,” says Reynolds. “We are all part of a larger community and impacted by things in a rapidly changing world that come at us that we can’t always anticipate, but we need to respond to. Rather than spending our time wishing for things to be different or hoping for the good old days, we need to embrace it. Change is inevitable, and we need to be able to pivot and accept things in a different way. We are able to offer things in a way we haven’t been able to offer in the past, and it’s a really great lesson for all of us – to be adaptable, embrace change and seek opportunities when that change comes.”

The post Going Virtual<p class="company">The 32nd Energy Summit</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

Throughout the ages, oil has played an important role in everything from heating homes to embalming – an agent used by Ancient Egyptians. Vital to our everyday lives, crude oil is refined and transformed into gasoline, jet fuel, paints, medicines, asphalt and other roofing materials, fibres for clothing, insecticides, detergents and more. One of its unique purposes is synthetic fertilizer.

Used by farmers for thousands of years to fortify soil, fertilizers were commonly a combination of manure mixed with minerals. Remaining largely unchanged for centuries, fertilizer research grew thanks to Baron Justus von Liebig. Known as the ‘father of the fertilizer industry’ and agricultural chemistry, the German scientist made great strides in the field of organic chemistry, particularly in the 1840s. Among Liebeg’s many discoveries was that adding sulphuric acid to soil boosted the amount of soil phosphorous to plants, which led to an increase in the production and quality of sulphuric acid manufacturing.

In the decades since Liebeg’s pioneering work, the composition of fertilizers continues to evolve. Do-it-yourself gardeners regularly add everyday items like crushed egg shells and used coffee grounds to their soil, providing additional calcium and nitrogen, regulating soil acidity (pH), attracting earthworms, and improving drainage to help plants grow and thrive. On a large scale, oil industry by-products are used as a component to make commercial fertilizer, which helps improve crop yields.

According to the Washington D.C.-based Fertilizer Institute – which serves as a source of information and advocates on behalf of the industry – 17 elements are essential for plants to grow, and the “Big 3” primary nutrients found in commercial products are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous. Both primary petroleum products and by-products are critical to the manufacture of fertilizer, one of them being natural gas. When natural gas is mixed with atmospheric nitrogen, it results in ammonia, and is also needed to generate heat for conversion. And since fertilizer is transported by ships to trucks, petroleum is needed as fuel.

Another petroleum-based product used in the manufacture of fertilizer is coke. Operating in Kansas, Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers became the first and only fertilizer company in North America to use petroleum coke – considerably cheaper than natural gas – in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers back in 2007. Creating a technologically advanced compression station in 2013, Coffeyville began capturing excess carbon dioxide. Rather than releasing the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, the company began selling over 600,000 tons (annually) to a local oil producer, “which uses the gas to enhance its crude oil production,” according to The Fertilizer Institute.

Interestingly enough, the relationship between the fertilizer plant and the oil refinery doesn’t stop there. One of the by-products of oil refining is petroleum coke, also known as ‘coke’ or ‘petcoke.’ With over 80 percent carbon, petroleum coke is essential to manufacturing fertilizer, where it undergoes a gasification process to create ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate. This is then used to create nitrogen fertilizers.

Another important addition to fertilizers is coal fly ash. Essentially the tiny particles left over from burning pulverized coal in coal-fired boilers, coal fly ash is an ingredient in concrete, road materials, and fertilizer, where it helps stabilize soils. While some are cautious about toxic metals in the product, coal fly ash is used across the American Midwest and in China as a slow-release fertilizer.

With the disposal of fly ash considered an environmental issue, its use as an ingredient to boost soil fertility makes it a practical, eco-friendly and useful addition to fertilizer. “Ammonia is manufactured using atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen derived from natural gas or petroleum refinery by-products,” states the EPA on its website, epa.gov/eg/fertilizer-manufacturing-effluent-guidelines. “Ammonia is sold as a straight ferilizer [sic], and is used to manufacture urea, ammonium nitrate and nitric acid products.”

Depending on who you ask, there are both benefits and downfalls to natural or “organic” fertilizers as well as mass-manufactured synthetic products made with petroleum by-products including Potassium Sulfate, Ammonium Phosphate, Ammonium Nitrate, and Superphosphate. Although controversy remains over the potential impacts of synthetics on soil and human health – some environmentalists object to any form of petroleum-derived by-products in fertilizer – plants cannot tell the difference between what is natural and what is synthetic, since the chemicals are identical. This has led to myths that fertilizers made with petroleum by-products are inherently “bad” or harmful.

In its purest forms, fertilizer marketed and sold as organic comes from all-natural sources, such as plant matter, manure, peat moss, seaweed, and bone meal made of cleaned, dried animal bones ground into powder, a source of phosphorus. By comparison, inorganic fertilizer contains mined minerals like magnesium sulfate and potassium chloride, synthetic chemicals, and inorganic nitrogen derived from petroleum.

To grow, plants require specific mineral nutrients including nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, and micro-nutrients including manganese and zinc. While these minerals are less abundant in organic fertilizers, some people prefer to use them over chemical fertilizers because of concerns about non-renewable sources (petroleum) and potential chemical toxicity leaching into the soil and groundwater, impacting ecosystems. Synthetic fertilizers also do not add organic content or support microbiological soil life. Improper or excessive use of synthetic fertilizers can also add too much nitrate content to soil, change the soil pH over time, and potentially contribute to greenhouse gases. If improperly used, chemical-based fertilizers create a crust on the soil, and can even burn plant roots.

For backyard gardeners, the choice of fertilizer comes down to preference and how much time homeowners want to devote to their green thumb. Natural, organic fertilizers are effective yet require more time to break down. Releasing nutrients into the soil at different rates depending on the season and soil temperature, they need to be regularly replenished. By the sheer fact they are created from natural materials like sheep manure, organic fertilizers have an odour, and are messy to handle. They are also more expensive compared to chemical fertilizers, making them less suited for large farms.

Inorganic fertilizers containing synthetics are more suited to large-scale farming. With a guaranteed minimum analysis of total nitrogen, phosphate, iron, zinc, boron and more, their chemical and filler composition is more exact than that found in organic fertilizers.

It is estimated the world’s population will reach 10.9 billion by 2100, making the issue of food scarcity even worse than it is today. A combination of farmland fast disappearing and being replaced by housing along with crop failure, pests and drought will likely see the planet rely more on synthetic fertilizers in the future.

The post The Future of Fertilizer<p class="company">Putting Oil Industry By-products to Work</p> appeared first on Resource In Focus.

The fourth generation family company is celebrating its 110^th anniversary this year. “It started in 1910 with my great grandfather, one horse and a wagon, and we’re still here,” said Domenic Monopoli, President and CEO at Filco Carting. He attributes the company’s longstanding history of success to its capacity to adapt as the industry evolved for over a century. “Really, it’s being able to reinvent yourself every 10 to 12 years and being able to change with the environment: the business environment, the climate, the demands of the customers, and all the different types of technology,” he explained.

“That is why we formed a strategic partnership with Recycle Track Systems, Inc. (RTS),” said Monopoli. “We use their geo-tracking technology in all of our trucks. RTS’s system informs customers when our truck is near their location via SMS and email notifications. This allows the customer’s operations team to prepare their loading area and ensure security is alerted. The real-time notifications limit waiting times and eliminate the possibility of missed pick-ups, making collection much more efficient.”

Each generation of ownership at Filco had the good business sense to make new investments in modern equipment and technology that would allow the company to stay relevant and grow at a steady pace. “Generation to generation, it’s just about changing with the times, and being able to recognize what’s on the horizon to stay in front of it,” explained Monopoli.

Under the current leadership, Filco is focused on new technology and sustainability. The goal is to run the collection trucks as efficiently as possible using GPS guidance software and live cameras with audio for clear communication between employees. Several years ago, the company made the investment to replace its fleet with the safest, most modern equipment that can be found in New York City’s waste collection industry.

Safety is paramount
In the United States, solid waste collection workers have the fifth highest fatality rate of any occupation, with a higher workplace fatality rate than firefighters or police officers. Understandably, safety is a central concern for waste collection companies in any city, but operating a waste collection vehicle in a metropolitan center as populated as New York City can be extremely dangerous – particularly now, as smartphones seem to find new ways to distract us every day. Screens are designed to monopolize our attention and the number of things people use them for while driving is always growing. We use them to make phone calls, to play music, to tell us where we’re going, to order food, and so much more. The number of accidents related to distracted driving in New York has increased a staggering 86 percent since 2009 according to an article published in PR NewsWire. In order to operate safely, a thorough and well understood safety policy is absolutely required.

To alleviate some of the safety concerns and reduce the number of incidents, Filco provides extensive training to its employees in house and holds regular safety meetings throughout each month. The company uses the Smith System, a well-known set of defensive driving rules in the industry for commercial drivers. “We have our own safety school and no one goes out on a truck solo without finishing a two-week course. Then once a week, every Thursday, we do pop-up meetings or what we call tailgate meetings, and at least twice a month we have full-blown safety meetings where we bring in outside guests and speakers,” explained Monopoli. Once a year, the company also rents convention space to host a large-scale safety seminar with all of its employees, repeat customers, and a number of qualified guest speakers. “We go quite in-depth because safety, as far as I’m concerned, is extraordinarily important in our industry.”

Evolving through uncertain times
Filco has been consistently growing at a steady pace, between 10 to 15 percent a year – significant for a large company. It prioritizes smart, organic growth over rapid expansion, although the events of this year have halted many of the company’s growth plans for 2020.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Filco employed approximately 145 employees and it hopes to be operating with that number again by early next year. Some of its office staff are working from home and the others work on odd or even days, allowing only half the staff in at one time to enable social distancing.

The pandemic has created new challenges for every business, and even essential operations such as waste collection companies have had to rearrange the way they move. Luckily for Filco, the company has already proved itself capable of quickly restructuring the business when times change.

To this end, Filco immediately provided its employees with personal protective equipment to keep them safe and to decrease the chance of viruses spreading through waste disposal. Employees wear masks, gloves and outer protective garments, and the trucks are sanitized professionally in between each shift. Filco has put forward a major effort to support its employees as they put themselves on the front lines to continue to collect waste in an unpredictable environment. It is easy to become accustomed to the routine of garbage pickup and forget that these services are a necessity and the waste collection workers are truly essential frontline workers.

Another area of the business that has required temporary reorganization is Filco’s commercial office customers. As people have been forced to work from home, the garbage collection for office towers has become very minimal. “We lost probably 40 percent of our business and we’re climbing back slowly,” said Monopoli. “The office towers that we service –well over 100 – are at maybe 20 percent capacity. Restaurants are not open yet, and some hotels are functioning normally but most are not. So once again, it was just about reinventing ourselves – going from a fleet of 40 trucks down to 10 or 12, and then starting to rebuild from there.”

The challenge for Filco today is the unknown. It is unclear when or if its customers will be able to return to full capacity. There are many questions in the air and Filco is prepared to find new solutions as the industry moves forward.

It’s all about relationships
Filco Carting has always been highly customer service-oriented. Prior to the pandemic, it was servicing over 5,000 customers per day, the majority of whom were repeat customers. The company has also established close relationships with the utility companies in New York. The utilities represent the largest customers in the city, and Filco has maintained these coveted contracts with over 300 locations since 2002 because of its exceptional customer service. “It’s all about customer service; it’s responding when the customer calls and having a pleasant person answering the phone. We never have an automated recorder answer the phone during regular business hours; it’s a live person, and that was a decision that was made on purpose,” said Monopoli. Supervisors can be reached at the Filco Carting office 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and many of the larger accounts have Monopoli’s personal cell phone number.

As Filco has grown and developed, it has always strived to maintain its family-owned, friendly environment. “I have an open door policy, and every single employee has my cell phone number,” said Monopoli. “We try to grow and grow but also keep the same culture that we were brought up with.”

As proud members of the Laborers Local Union 108, Filco pays its people the highest wage in the industry and the average employee has a tenure of over 20 years. Monopoli has been a trustee of the union for the past six years and strongly believes the union is essential to represent the value of waste collection workers. “A lot of companies don’t unionize and they don’t take care of their people the right way. We are proud of the fact that we pay our people the highest wage in the industry and in the end, it pays back.”

The unpredictability of the future based on how COVID-19 will continue to affect the United States has put many businesses on hold this year. Filco has pushed back some of its plans for growth but will continue to focus on the strengths that have led to its 110 years of success.

“We’re here to stay,” concluded Monopoli. “We’re going to maintain the customer base that we have the best we can, we’re going to continue to give the best possible service at the best possible price, we’re going to run the safest fleet in the industry, we’re hiring the most capable people, and we’re very proud to be unionized.”

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