Crucible Carbon announced Secretariat for the Australian Battery Recycling Initiative

Sydney, 12 December 2008

The Australian Battery Recycling Initiative Inc (ABRI), announced the official structure of their newly-incorporated organisation. Wayne Richardson, ABRI President and CEO of Renewed Metal Technologies confirmed the role of Crucible Carbon Pty Ltd as ABRI’s Secretariat services provider and welcomed Matthew Warnken as the organisation’s first pro-tem CEO.

On behalf of the members of ABRI Mr Richardson also paid tribute to Dr Joe Herbertson, who served as the founding chairperson of ABRI - establishing it as an active industry organisation with the firm agenda of ‘no batteries to landfill.’

ABRI is a not-for-profit industry organisation promoting effective stewardship for end-of-life batteries. It seeks to decrease the amount of batteries ending up in landfill and promote higher rates of recycling and resource recovery. ABRI is made up of members from all sectors of the battery industry – ranging from manufacturers and distributors, through to retailers, recyclers and re-processors.

For information on becoming a member of ABRI, please email ABRI or visit www.batteryrecycling.org.au

Matthew Warnken completes Masters Programme

Matthew Warnken, Managing Director of Crucible Carbon, has recently completed his Masters in Entrepreneurship, with a focus on business start-up, from the University of Adelaide.  These studies are particularly applicable to consulting around new technology and ventures in a carbon constrained economy. 

In conjunction with his other qualifications, a Masters in Engineering Research and having a Degree in resource and environmental management and statistical analysis, Matthew is able to bring a unique perspective to sustainability challenges.

Crucible Carbon launches its new Research and Development Centre in Newcastle

Crucible Carbon has recently opened the doors of its new Research and Development Centre at the Steel River industrial estate, Newcastle.

The new facility will focus its research on value added carbon based goods and services in a carbon constrained world.  Current research initiatives include next generation pyrolysis, algae biomass production, bio-oil refining, carbon fuel cells and regenerative land practices.

Crucible Carbon Director Dr Joe Herbertson elected to the Bioenergy Australia Management Committee

Bioenergy Australia was established in 1997 as a government-industry forum to foster and facilitate the development of biomass for energy, liquid fuels, and other value added bio-based products. Dr Joe Herbertson of Crucible Carbon was elected by Bioenergy Australia in December 2007. See www.bioenergyaustralia.org for more information on Bioenergy Australia. Dr Joe Herbertson presents to APEC at a Workshop in China.

Crucible Carbon receives Commercial Ready Plus Grant

The Research and Development arm of Crucible Carbon (The Crucible) was awarded a Commercial Ready Plus Grant to develop  The Crucible Carbon Pyrolysis Process.

The Crucible Carbon Pyrolysis Process demonstrates in practice a new concept fundamentally designed to produce oil and char with highly competitive capital costs and energy efficiency from undervalues coal and biomass resources.

The Crucible would like to extend their gratitude to AusIndustry for their financial support.

Crucible Carbon Directors present at inaugural Energy from Waste Conference

The inaugural National Energy from Waste Conference 2007, was held in Sydney and was hosted by the Energy from Waste Division of the Waste Management Association of Australia. Matthew Warnken presented a key note address entitled 'Sustainable Energy from Waste Need not be an Oxymoron', and Dr Joe Herbertson presented The NSW "Carbon Pump" Project. See http://www.wmaa.com.au/efw/index.html for more information.

Submission to the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading

Crucible Carbon submitted an overview of the ‘Mega Tonnage Carbon Capture & Sequestration’ provided through biochar to the Task Group on Emissions Trading Secretariat within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

New Corporate Headquarters in Sydney

Crucible Carbon has opened its new Corporate Headquarters on Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont, only a short stroll from Darling Harbour in downtown Sydney. This space provides Crucible Carbon with a CBD presence to faciliate contact with clients, partners and investors. Research activities continue to be located in Newcastle, where the research lab is currently being renovated in response to additional research activity.

Oil - the crisis we have to have for a sustainable future

Much of the current political stoush over the rising price of oil centres around the impacts on ‘mums and dads’ struggling to put petrol into the car each week.  However, the reality is that fuel is still under-priced and the core problem is one of sustainability not oil supply.  The debate about fuel watch or tax relief to make fuel 5¢ cheaper masks the need for real solutions such as making public transport work, mandatory fuel efficiency, and support for non-food liquid biofuels. Full story

A carbon stewardship plan for the waste

With the Draft Garnaut Review out and the Government’s Green Paper expected later this week, the waste sector finds itself in the middle of a brewing storm around its position under an emissions trading scheme.  First and foremost the united message should be a preparedness to pay for greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.  The question then becomes one of practicalities and of accelerating abatement.  And here coverage under ETS may not be the answer, at least in the short term writes Matthew Warnken.

The purpose of an emissions trading scheme for Australia is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The critical question for the waste sector is whether inclusion of waste into ETS will deliver this outcome.  In my view the answer is no, and particularly not in the early years of operation.  In fact coverage could lead to an explosion of landfill sites that are small enough to fit under a cut off level for inclusion and drive an increase in emissions from waste management.
There is a range of other valid claims as to why waste should not be a covered sector including more…

Can we face the challenge at Enviro 08?

The title of Enviro 08 is ‘Facing the Challenge’.  However, to delegates who have attended the previous four biannual Enviro events since its year 2000 inception, a cynical read of the programme could prompt a counter title ‘Circling the Challenge’.  Matthew Warnken reflects on the rate of change facing the industry and questions whether we are the environment sector is ready for any, let alone ‘The’ challenge.
Lets face it, apart from the networking (read damaging liver and brain cells), the real advantage of an Australian national biannual conference event that covers the gamut of the environment/sustainability field is the ability to mark progress (or lack thereof) at a macro level.  This immediately begs the question as to whether anything has changed or whether we as an industry are merely going round in circles.  In other words, are the same issues being discussed amongst the ‘chatocracy’, with the only difference being slight changes in the supporting cast?  Full story...

Garnaut pushes up the ante

Last week Professor Garnaut released his interim report to the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments.  His report provides a clear articulation of the greenhouse challenge for Australia and highlights the need for faster action and greater intensity.  The likely end game for business means that any strategic position less than carbon neutral could ultimately reduce competitiveness. 

Professor Garnaut’s interim report gives a clear indication of the content and approach that will be contained in the final report.   While there is significant econo-speak, there are also twelve key points that present the imperative for action from both a risk and opportunity perspective. Full story...

Why turn prime agricultural land into landfill?

A recent ruling by Chief Judge Preston of the NSW Land and Environment Court on the nonsense of turning prime agricultural land into landfill confirmed the basics of sustainability and the need to institutionalise and implement these principles: a function requiring good governance.  The implications for local government are clear – more action and less aspirational ‘grand strategies’.

Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are a clear manifestation of an unsustainable economy that is not balanced with the ecology of the planet.  The simple rule of thumb is that two thirds of the problem is energy use (stationary and transport) and the other third of the problem is directly linked to our choices of land use.  The issue of land use takes greater importance in light of adaptation scenarios, particularly amongst predictions of large losses of prime agricultural land as temperatures increase. Full story...

The biofuel imperative: Wood is not Food

The current food versus fuel debate is generating significant controversy and creating opposition to the use of biofuels.  However, biofuels must by necessity become the liquid fuel of a sustainable society.  The debate highlights the importance of a systems approach to decarbonising the economy, especially when it comes to policy settings and guiding technology development.

Renewable energy is one of the key critical success factors for a sustainable future.  However, an analysis of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro etc.) shows that they all produce primarily electrons, with one exception.  Biomass is the only renewable energy source that has the capacity to produce energy in a gas, liquid and solid form.  No other renewable energy has this potential.
Society has a genuine need for energy in a liquid form, in addition to a need for materials that can be manufactured from liquid hydrocarbons, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  This translates into a need for liquid fuels from biomass – biofuels. So why the angst surrounding biofuels? Full story...

Re-imagining cost-benefit

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying ‘we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them’.  Applying this to the sustainability challenge for Australia in 2008 would read ‘we are not going to rebalance the economy with the ecology of the planet using economic decision support tools like cost benefit analysis (CBA), regardless of how ‘rigorous’ or ‘scientific’ they purport to be.’

All environmental problems stem from a single cause – our systems of production and consumption are out of sync with the ecology of the planet.  As a result major ecosystems are in decline and we are undermining our own ability to thrive, let alone the untold damage inflicted on other species.  Putting aside the consequences of human action on the biosphere, the solution is relatively simple.  Rebalance the economy with the planet’s ecology.  Any unit of the economy that is not ‘biomimetic’ in operation is thus part of the underlying problem of our unsustainable state.  But what about the cost? Full story ...

Re-Examining Energy from Waste

Recovering energy from waste immediately raises the spectre of dirty polluting mass burn incinerators, however, by disposing materials into ‘mass-dump’ landfill in Australia we are losing the opportunity to recover approximately 10 million tonnes of black coal equivalent energy and directly save 26.2 million tonnes of CO2e in greenhouse gas emissions, prompting a rethink of the value proposition of energy from waste.
How to Recover Energy from Waste - There are two key opportunities to recover energy from waste.  Firstly through use as a fuel where the calorific content is accessed through direct burning, combustion, or thermal oxidation depending on your predilection for terminology.  It is also possible to anaerobically digest food waste and soft garden organics for biogas that can also be used as an energy source.  The second option is to recover embodied energy.  Full story...

2008: the alternative agenda

Last week Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol and established a new Minister for Climate Change and Water.  While carbon and water issues are now at the top of the sustainability castle (and justifiably so), this does not mean that other issues will take back seat.  In fact 2008 is likely to be the comeback year for environmental issues that have arguably languished under 11 years of non-interventionist government.
While the decision to separate out Climate Change and Water from Environment as ministry portfolio, and to give the former to Penny Wong, and the latter to Peter Garret (albeit with an additional focus on Heritage and Arts) provides political aficionados with much room to speculate on the consequences of off-the-cuff remarks to radio jocks, it has nevertheless removed two of the biggest task centres from a department that has struggled for relevance under a non-interventionist government the past eleven years.  Rather than being sidelined, this could provide the political space for action on a number of fronts.  Full story...

Commonwealth plays hard on waste policy

The Commonwealth recently officially responded to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry Report ‘Waste Management’.  As might be expected, the response provides much qualified agreement and sidestepping around the Commission’s recommendations.  However, a close reading between the lines of the Commonwealth’s response delivers a stinging rebuke to the Productivity Commission’s anti-resource efficiency framework.  
The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report was the culmination of a process that began in October 2005, with two rounds of stakeholder consultation encompassing 273 written submissions and 17 public hearings.  The key points of ‘Waste Management’ begins with harsh criticism of current resource recovery policy describing ‘inappropriate and inconsistent objectives’ that lead state and territories to adopt ‘unrealistic and potentially very costly, waste minimisation targets’ with ‘unsound interventions’.
According to the Commission, issues such as resource efficiency, resource conservation and upstream environmental protection are beyond the scope of waste management policy, which should focus solely on reducing the impacts of landfill to an acceptable risk.  Or in other words, policy should concentrate on the delivery of cheap landfill as an end-of-pipe disposal solution to the challenges of waste generation, even though these are created throughout the entire value chain. Full story...

The Impact Matrix to improving business sustainability

With all of the attention that global warming is gaining in the media, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that climate change is not the greatest challenge facing civilisation – it is a symptom.  The biggest sustainability challenge is realigning our systems of production and consumption with the ecology of the planet.  We need to change to a ‘biomimetic economy’, using nature as a model, measure and mentor.  Businesses operating in a biomimetic economy would satisfy human wants and needs by using the 'interest' provided by natural capital.  For example renewable energy, cyclical flows of water, and sustainable harvesting of plants and animals, all delivered at a net neutral societal impact.  The issue for businesses seeking to operationalise sustainability is how to benchmark current performance and then what strategic direction should be taken to improve performance.
One useful conceptual model is to apply quadrant theory to sustainability by plotting value on the y-axis and environmental impact on the x-axis (here positive environmental impact is ecological restoration).  Most businesses operate in quadrant two (upper left) where value is created but at varying levels of negative environmental impact.  The primary cause of the status quo is that environmental costs are not internalised into commercial operations.  Full story...

Food Shock Caused by Market Failure

Increasing global populations combined with severe drought are likely to combine in a global ‘food shock’ where countries are unable to feed themselves.  Market reform is needed – not to pay farmers to walk away from land made unproductive after years of abuse and neglect, but ongoing payment to restore ecosystem services so that we as a society can continue to feed ourselves.
The link between the current farming crisis in Australia and cost cutting (or supply chain ‘management’) may not be immediately obvious.  However the strategy of cutting the costs of goods sold is unsustainable in the long term, a fact highlighted by the ecological realities of food production – or lack of food production in times of severe drought.  Cost cutting is unsustainable. Full story...