Can Waste-to-Energy Solutions Solve Two Problems at Once?

World

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

Can Waste-to-Energy Solutions Solve Two Problems at Once?

The world is in the midst of a waste crisis. Tonnes and tonnes of waste is being produced and dumped at landfill. At the same time there is the worry of fuel shortages. Can the two issues be solved together?

Countries such as the UK, and USA have already been using waste-to-energy solutions to address these problems. In recent years the amount of waste collected by local authorities in England for the purpose of waste-to-energy incineration peaked at 11.03 million tons But, what developments can be made in the industry? There are various new methods of dealing with waste that will offer benefits to society. However, are all waste-to-energy methods viable or are some less environmentally friendly?

In this article we will investigate the status of waste-to-energy solutions and how waste could provide energy in the place of fossil fuels.

More can be done to stop the crisis

In the past decade there have been many improvements made in the fight to combat waste. The 5p plastic bag levy for one, and the introduction of a doorstep recycling collection in the UK just to name a couple. But what happens after we pop our rinsed-out food containers in our blue bins? Well, it might not always be recycled: in the wake of China’s plastic waste import ban in 2017, it was revealed that much of the waste marked for “recycling” had been sent to the country and was contaminated by general waste or food residue. Therefore, it unfortunately ended up as landfill and incorrectly counted towards the UK’s recycling target.

Landfills are a major problem. Not only are they an eyesore, but according to Prescouter, as waste breaks down on a landfill, gases such as methane and dioxins are released, along with a toxic liquid known as leachate. Leachate has the potential to contaminate soil, water, plants, and food.

What methods of waste-to-energy are being used

These are the current methods of waste-to-energy solutions outlined by Prescouter:

Thermal – this includes direct combustion which is known as incineration. The waste is directly burned, and thermal energy collected.
Mechanical and Thermal – this method sees waste being dried and pulverised before becoming solid fuel. That solid fuel can then be burned for thermal energy.
Thermo-chemical – thiscovers torrefaction, plasma technology, gasification, pyrolysis, and liquefaction.
- Torrefaction changes biomass into a substance akin to coal for better fuel properties.
- Plasma technology uses plasma to turn organic material into syngas. This syngas can then be used as fuel.
- Gasification is like plasma technology. It transforms organic or fossil fuel materials into gases like carbon dioxide for fuel.
- Pyrolysis uses decomposed materials to thermally to produce liquid fuel.
- Liquefaction is a process where liquid fuel is made from solid waste.
Biochemical – this uses fermentation and anaerobic digestion. Fermentation produced ethanol, and anaerobic digestion involved microorganisms breaking down waste and producing biogas.

What are the problems with waste-to-energy methods?

The main issue with thermal methods of waste-to-energy solutions such as incineration is that it produces harmful ashes and emissions when long form carbons such as plastic is burned, therefore harming the environment.

Waste-to-energy solutions have their advantages

There are several benefits to using energy from waste. Such perks include landfill reduction, avoidance of landfill tax and charges, and of course, renewable energy. Unlike fossil fuels, waste is not going to drop in availability. Bioenergy consult points out that, while more than 50 per cent of waste is burnt for energy, it is a “short carbon cycle” that means the original matter doesn’t contribute to climate change originally. In contrast, long carbon cycles like plastic have already contributed to climate change in their creation and burning them for energy would offset some of that carbon cost.

If produced and monitored correctly, waste-to-energy could offer a renewable source of energy with a low carbon emission rate. Using waste as the catalyst for creating fuel isn’t the issue as much as the process in which the fuel is obtained. As discussed, incinerating fossil fuels or waste for energy is problematic, but other methods such as biochemical processes could see waste provide energy while simultaneous reducing the volume of rubbish.

What will the future look like for waste-to-energy?

To help combat our waste issue, waste-to-energy is a viable solution to stop using fossil fuels and reduce our waste volume at the same time? The challenge now is to make sure that the emissions from these energy processes are monitored and reduced as much as possible. Dubai is already in the final stages of financing the world’s biggest waste-to-energy plant.

Companies like Reconomy who provide services such as hazard waste management are educating themselves by partnering with the Supply Chain Sustainability School to educate themselves on the new processes being developed to create a more sustainable future within the Construction and Infrastructure sectors.

Sources:

https://cnim.com/en/businesses/treatment-and-recovery-waste

What are some of the latest waste-to-energy technologies available?

Importance of Waste-to-Energy in Solid Waste Management

10 Benefits of Waste as a Source of Energy

http://theconversation.com/explainer-why-we-should-be-turning-waste-into-fuel-77463

http://www.iic.org/en/projects/project-disclosure/12105-01/project-termo-mexico-city-waste-energy-ppp

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/about-us/recycling-bill-success-how-we-got-uk-recycling

http://www.btgworld.com/en/rtd/technologies/torrefaction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrolysis

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/negative-impacts-waste-to-energy/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/322254/la-collected-efw-incinerated-waste-in-england-united-kingdom-uk/#:~:text=The%20amount%20of%20waste%20collected,been%20collected%20for%20such%20purpose.

About

In the Deep Sea, No-One Can Hear Diving Accidents

Holidays

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

0

In the Deep Sea, No-One Can Hear Diving Accidents

Deep-sea diving is high-risk — have you ever wondered why it’s such a high paid job? Although it is exciting to explore new areas, deep sea diving can be dangerous, with hundreds of people estimated to die each year from things going wrong. Not only claustrophobic, divers are at risk of a range of medical conditions and even death.

Here, we’ll take a look at fatal and non-fatal deep-sea diving accidents, how they occurred, and important things to note to stay safe and survive. As well as following careful regulations like checking your diving equipment and piston rings are secure, it’s important to learn from past mistakes to make sure we can enjoy such a thrilling activity and stay safe as saturation divers.

Bushman’s Cave, South Africa

In 2004, diving friends Don Shirley and Dave Shaw went diving in Bushman’s Cave, South Africa, almost 1,000 feet underwater and one of the world’s deepest submerged freshwater caves. They came across the remains of Deon Dreyer who had died in a cave ten years prior, and as the body had never been recovered after several search teams and miniature submarine were sent to look for it, they decided to bring the body back. To put into perspective, more people have walked on the moon than have descended to such perilous depths.

After nine hours of decompression, the divers returned to the surface and undertook months planning to recover the body. Shaw set off first, following a precise plan, and 13 minutes later, Shirley followed him. Unfortunately, by the time Shirley had descended 50m, Shaw had already died after he struggled with the body and the body bag far below, causing him to lose his footing and his torch line attached to his dry suit to become tangled with his guide line. Shaw’s breathing became faster, causing a build-up of carbon dioxide, resulting in narcosis.

There are many medical conditions that can result from deep sea diving, and in this case carbon dioxide toxicity occurred — causing shortness of breath and sedation. It’s important to maintain a steady breathing rate and although it is easier said than done, avoid panicking and hyperventilating.

RAID, a scuba training agency, explained that common emergencies for cave diving is small equipment issues and reels tangling, the risk of which can be managed to an extent with proper training, remaining calm, and the emphasis of diving with a buddy. Caves are a unique environment, particularly being enclosed with no chance of ascending. Air supply is finite and natural light is limited, especially during sudden movement when sediment is stirred and blocks vision.

The Blue Hole, Egypt

In April 2000, 24-year-old Russian diver Yuri Lipski dived in one of the world’s most beautiful spots, the 394-foot-deep Blue Hole located near Egypt in the Red Sea. Lipski planned to get footage of the arch, a challenge to deep sea divers comparable of Kilimanjaro to hikers, which looks like an underwater cathedral.

Lipski ended up suffering from nitrogen narcosis due to descending too fast, likely due to his buoyancy device being too heavy, which prevented premature ascension. Lipski removed his regulator when delirious and passed away. Nitrogen can also induce feelings of delusion resulting in poor judgement as if you’ve been drinking — symptoms include physical and mental impairment, hallucinations, a sense of euphoria, and disorientation.

Since then, safety precautions have been introduced, forbidding unqualified divers from entering the Blue Hole at all. Lipski didn’t train in the cave before attempting it, so if you’re considering exploring a new area, make sure you seek training if it is available, and if it isn’t, don’t attempt it. There have been too many cases of deep-sea diving fatalities when divers have pushed themselves out of their comfort zones. Remember, even seasoned divers might not feel comfortable tackling certain areas. It isn’t a competition, so enjoy it for the fun that it can be.

North Sea, Scotland

Chris Lemons cheated death in 2012, after being lowered 300 feet under the surface in a diving bell to fix a pope on the seabed east of Aberdeenshire, in the North Sea. When repairing, he heard an alarm through his earpiece and tried to get into the diving bell quickly.

Unfortunately, due to computer failure, the ship began to move away, and his oxygen supply cut off. Lemons survived 300 feet under the surface, making six minutes of air lasting for 35 minutes. Luckily, after his colleagues’ extraordinary efforts to save him, the saturation diver was rescued and avoided brain damage.

Chris said: “I assumed it was the extreme cold of the water that slowed my functions down. But the gas we breathe has a high concentration of oxygen which saturated my tissues and cells to allow me to survive.”

Although unavoidable, it’s important to keep your wits about you and try to maintain your oxygen level if things like this occur rather than panic and using it up quickly.

Kinsale, Ireland

Last year, Kim Martin was deep sea diving in Ireland to see the ruins of the Lusitania shipwreck, where the British ocean liner was sunk by German submarine in the First World War. After thirty years of diving, this was the last on his list of famous shipwrecks. His diving achievements and expertise were well-known — Martin had even won a medal of bravery from the Canadian government in 1996 after rescuing a fellow diver.

However, Martin’s buoyancy weights weren’t weighted appropriately for the dive, causing him to ascend too fast, and he was left paralysed from the chest down. In these unprecedented conditions, the pressure created by the heavy weight of water can have many effects on your body. Decompression sickness occurs if you ascend too fast, causing nitrogen bubbles to form in your body, causing damage to your nerves and tissue, or even death. When compression diving, you must spend a certain amount of time at different heights to allow the nitrogen to leave your body and reduce risk of injury or fatality.

Check, double check, and triple check your diving equipment. One of the most common problems for divers is overweighting, with many misunderstanding the reason for weighting. The added weight is to account for the increased buoyancy of the suit and buoyancy control device, not to prevent divers floating to the surface. As we descend, the water pressure causes the equipment to lose its buoyancy, so we add small amounts of air to our suits to balance out the system and make it neutral, adding more as we get deeper as the air continues to compress. And as we ascend, we need to let out some of the so it’s easier to ascend slowly and for the nitrogen to escape our bodies.

It’s important to remain alert when diving, and never do it alone. Stay safe and don’t push yourself diving in areas you aren’t comfortable.

Sources

UK diver death-toll rose in 2018

https://www.healthline.com/health/nitrogen-narcosis#symptoms

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3671705/Ghosts-of-the-abyss-the-story-of-Don-Shirley-and-Dave-Shaw.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-47826802

https://www.neatorama.com/2013/12/18/Jacobs-Well/

How to Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly

Business

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

0

How to Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly

As we continue to work towards the government’s net zero emissions by 2050 commitment, businesses are naturally becoming increasingly aware of the need to be more eco-friendly. Other strategies, such as the Clean Growth Strategy, which aims to promote economic growth at the same time as decreasing emissions, mean that the focus on having a positive effect on the environment is now higher than ever.

While businesses may have plans in place to ‘do their bit’, many could still do more. So, what could that mean? Let’s take a look:

Work from home

Working from home is often seen as a luxury. However, due to lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies have found that it is indeed possible for their employees to work from home. In May, bosses at Twitter decided their staff would be entitled to work from home ‘forever’. This ‘era defining’ decision followed similar announcements from large companies such as Google, who had extended their working from home policies until the end of the year.

Allowing your staff to work from home eliminates the commute. Globally, transport accounts for a quarter of our CO₂ emissions. On average, a car fuelled by petrol in the UK produces the equivalent of 180g of CO₂ every kilometre. Diesel cars produce 173g of CO₂/km on average. While using public transport for your commute may help lower the amount of vehicles on the road, allowing your staff to work from home can obviously eliminate this all together.

It’s not just helping the world we live in either. In the past 12 months, ‘work from home’ has increased in search volume on Google. While there was a spike during the initial lockdown period, there were still a larger number of searches for this term in May 2020 compared to May 2019. This indicates that more people are looking for the opportunity to stay home to carry out their role. Offering such a ‘luxury’ could help keep your staff happy while also allowing your company to be more eco-friendly.

Energy

Of course, not every industry is suited to having the option to work from home. The manufacturing industry, for example, requires staff to operate heavy machinery to complete their roles. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make changes to the way you operate to help you become more eco-friendly.

Cleveland Bridge, a steel fabricator and constructor of bridges and complex structures, set out to reduce its carbon footprint and made simple changes in its offices. Chris Droogan, Managing Director of the company, said: “Our maintenance team started to recycle all grey water. This significantly improved our water utilisation.

“Another example was our plan to prevent lights being left on unnecessarily. We installed zonal, passive infra-red and sound sensitive switching as well as LED lighting throughout our offices. Within operations we installed LED lighting, providing significant carbon reduction when multiplied over our operational area of 30,000m². We also upgraded our heating system to enable greater zonal control and improved efficiency.”

Another way is to switch your portable generators. Switching to LPG (liquid petroleum gas) generators can help many industries. Tom’s Kitchen, a portable food van, is a great example of this. Its owner, Metin Sonmez, expressed the benefits of switching to LPG from diesel: “I opted for an LPG model because it just made better business sense. Within just a matter of weeks, I was making fuel cost savings of around 60% — on a weekly basis that’s a saving of £116.00. The cost of the generator paid for itself within five weeks and the best bit is, the generator just keeps on going for days on end, so I never have to worry about running out of power when I need it the most.”

Such generators have the same power and performance as petrol generators, with the added benefit of up to 40 per cent fuel savings.

Changing your methods

Training your staff to work smarter can help you lower your carbon footprint. While you may choose to change to energy-saving lights, leaving them on at all times is still going to have a detrimental effect. Make sure you bring in certain methods and ensure your business is efficient.

It could be as simple as implementing a recycling system — if you don’t have one already — and ensuring your staff follow it. Are your waste bins clearly labelled? Do your staff know that their takeaway pizza boxes at lunch time, for example, can’t be recycled?

Another simple fix is to turn your office ‘paperless’. In the last four decades, the use of paper worldwide has risen by 400 per cent. This has led to rapid deforestation, so turning paperless can help save our trees and allow them to continue playing their critical role in absorbing CO₂ from our atmosphere.

Each of these points can help your business become more eco-friendly and improve the environment we live in. It’s a distinct possibility that, as the years go by, there will be more stringent laws put in place for businesses, so get ahead of the curve and ensure you’re doing all you can in the present to avoid a possible issue in the future.

Smart Construction: What Does the Future Hold?

Technology

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

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Smart Construction: What Does the Future Hold?

As the world of technology and construction develops, we are edging closer to the future science fiction envisioned. We may not be gliding around on hoverboards quite yet, but if the construction industry is anything to go by, there are some breath-taking innovations on the horizon.

Smart technology, or “Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology”, is currently transforming the construction industry and informing how we will live our lives for years to come. Built around connectivity and analytics, smart tech allows devices to link up with one another and share information, whether this is about the wearer, the location, or pretty much anything else. We’ve all become accustomed to smart technology in our day-to-day lives — where would we be without our mobile phones, our tablets, and our smartwatches? But as our cities and infrastructures grow, the construction industry is building smart technology into all walks of life.

There are new and smarter technologies that make the construction site safer, too. Diamond Cut Concrete cited the importance of adding concrete scanning as it adds a layer of protection to the property and the workers by knowing the right area to drill and prevent further damage.

From smart fridges to smart metropolises, let’s take a look at how smart technology is set to keep transforming our world and how the construction industry is utilising it. Have a look at lakeside-hire.co.uk.

Smart buildings

Imagine a building that could react to its residents, slightly alter itself to suit your every need, and do all this without even the flick of a switch. Smart technology has already made this possible. Within smart buildings, a specifically designed wearable device can transmit information to and from the building and make adjustments according to your needs.

Smart buildings are designed around the ideas of comfort and wellbeing, with a focus on peoples’ contentment. If, for example, you started to feel a little too hot, your wearable would transmit this message to the air conditioning system, and it would adjust the temperature for you.

However, there are complications to this design of course. For instance, how can one building react to the needs of each and every person within it? One option is to take an average reading for each inhabitant and create a reactive ‘average’ atmosphere. Or alternatively, highly accurate sensors could be installed that are able to locate and react to specific individuals accurately.

Drones and AI

Drones and artificial intelligence are also set to play an integral part in the future of the construction industry. Drones are already being created to map construction sites, plan work, and guide autonomous vehicles such as cherry pickers around the worksite. In fact, it only takes drones around 15 minutes to scan a site and maps its terrain. In comparison, this job normally takes humans several days.

Smart technology works to share data collected by drones, from their bird’s eye view perspective, with the autonomous vehicles on the ground — which then allows the vehicles to act on their own, without the need for human intervention.

Smart cities

It doesn’t stop at buildings and certain construction sites — smart technology is set to transform entire cities, creating incredible webs of information and analytics everywhere. In a similar way to smart buildings, smart cities are designed to monitor systems and citizens while trying the improve the flow of the city, thereby improving general wellbeing.

Many cities across the globe are already turning to smart technology and experimenting with ways that they can improve traffic systems, energy usage, and public safety. Amsterdam, Boston, and Baltimore are three of the forerunners in smart infrastructure, which has so far proved helpful for many things, including ‘smart trashcans’ which can determine the most efficient route for sanitation workers.

These smart technology methods are also being tested on a smaller scale. University campuses, for example, often function as a micro-city would, and are therefore the perfect testing locations for smart city technology. Within a ‘smart campus’, each student’s smartwatch could alert them to their next class, make them aware of library books that need returning, keep you up to date with assignments, and much more.

The future for the construction industry is certainly bright and beginning to mirror everything sci-fi envisioned. Smart technology will allow our infrastructure to reach dizzying new heights, as we embrace a whole new ‘smart’ way of living.

Sources

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/The_future_of_smart_buildings

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/05/19/smart-cities-the-future-of-urban-development/#24a2917b2f90

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/03/15/144645/ai-and-drones-are-being-used-to-control-construction-projects/

How Sustainability is Shaping Bridge Construction

Economics

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

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How Sustainability is Shaping Bridge Construction

Concern over sustainability has never been greater, and many are looking to construction and engineering to ensure structures from here on out are greener and more sustainable than structures of the past.

When it comes to discussing sustainability in construction, the conversation inevitably turns green – that is, environmental factors are often pulled into the foreground. But there are many more sustainable elements that are shaping construction, and in particular, bridge construction.

True sustainability

True sustainability revolves around three “pillars”, each of which contribute towards creating a process that is workable on all fronts. These include social, environment, and economic measures.

A quick look online for sustainable bridge construction shows the heavy-handed environmental approach as posed “solutions” to this conundrum. But while green materials and habitat protection are vitally important in bridge construction, greener moves alone will not achieve true sustainability. The build must consider the environment, but it must also balance or improve the economy it is built within, and balance or improve the social situation of the area it is built in.

Bridge construction will inevitably consume resources through raw material and manpower. This, says Man-Chung Tang, a bridge engineer who writes extensively on sustainability, must be balanced in order to develop sustainable construction processes. Tang illustrates this with a simple equation: Balance = Supply – Demand. So long as the “Balance” remains neutral or positive, sustainability has been achieved. This varies, of course, depending on unique factors city to city, country to country, and bridge to bridge.

Social, environment, and economic pillars

Social

Every bridge project needs to be designed for the society is it serving. Though it seems like a basic concept, in terms of sustainability, taking into account all the factors of the areas the bridge is connecting is a complex task. Once, it may have been enough to simply be of use – now, bridge construction does not only serve the current population, but aims to be built in such a way that it can serve future generations and meet their needs too.

Environmental

This pillar has been spotlighted heavily in recent years, and for good reason. Every industry has been guilty of using more resources than they produce, though the construction sector has been making huge strides in correcting and improving its environmental processes.

But as Tang points out: “The term ‘greening’ represents reducing consumption and encouraging the replacement of conventional fuels with renewable energy. Even though greening may help us to be more environmentally responsible, it cannot solve the fundamental problem of sustainability. As long as the Balance B [in the equation] is negative, we cannot achieve sustainability.”

It is important, therefore, that we do not simply equate environmental practices with true sustainability.

Economical

In terms of a bridge or structure’s economic “pillar”, the outcome of the project must be equal or higher in value than the cost it took to make it. Of course, a structure’s value versus its raw material costs is certainly addressed in the early stages of developments – few companies would agree to build a structure that could not be sold for profit!

Sustainable bridges

In truth, the bridge fabrication sector has already adopted as many sustainable processes as it can in terms of its supply chain, raw materials, and social impacts. Experts suggest that the best way for bridge fabrication and construction to further itself in sustainability is through extending the life span of bridges. As Tang points out in his research paper: “A bridge that lasts 300 years instead of 100 years is equivalent to a reduction in environmental impacts by 66%.”

There are over 50,000 bridges on the UK’s local highway network, and they are covered by a limited maintenance budget of £6 billion for six years (up until 2021).

Bridge maintenance is definitely in the foreground for the future of sustainable bridge construction. No longer will a 50-year life span be considered adequate for a bridge’s duration of service – with improved rehabilitation and repair, bridges will be expected to keep on providing a safe and valuable service socially, environmentally, and economically, for many more years.

But there is one area that Paul Gauvreau, professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, suggests has been overlooked by the three-pillar method – particularly when it comes to bridge construction. That hidden, fourth pillar is education.

Gauvreau posits that sustainability in bridge construction must be shaped by improving education for engineers. In doing so, future engineers will be better equipped to come up with new ideas that will push bridge design and construction away from “copies of standard designs”; standard designs of the past which have, perhaps, not been as sustainable as we might have hoped.

“Because these works incorporate no new ideas, they do not create value,” the professor said in his study on sustainable education for bridge engineers. In terms of educating bridge engineers in such a way to help new ideas flourish, Gauvreau says: “The primary benefit that society can reasonably expect from the education of future bridge engineers are bridges that create value through new ideas. These bridges will be capable of performing their practical function for less money than currently available solutions”

By balancing the three pillars of social, environment, and economic value, construction can certainly achieve a new level of sustainability. However, by also acknowledging the fourth, hidden pillar of improved education, bridge construction in particular can benefit from new ideas, new value, and as a result, a new understanding of sustainability.

Sources:

Tang, Man-Chung. (2015). ‘Sustainability – A bridge engineer’s viewpoint’. 18-24. 10.14264/uql.2016.931.

Balogun, Teslim & Tomor, Adrienn & Lamond, Jessica & Gouda, Hazem & Booth, Colin. (2018). ‘Sustainability of Bridge Maintenance. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Bridge Engineering’. 172. 1-27. 10.1680/jbren.15.00027.

Gauvreau, Paul. (2018). ‘Sustainable education for bridge engineers’. 510–519. Vol 5. Issue 6.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Three-pillars-of-sustainability-Adams-2006_fig1_275886183#:~:text=Indicators%20have%20been%20grouped%20into,basis%20for%20the%20equations%20definition

How to Make a Bridge Sustainable: 5 Incredible Designs for Your Next Project

70% of Workers Are Considering Shifting Careers Due to Covid-19

Health

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

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70% of Workers Are Considering Shifting Careers Due to Covid-19

The current situation has led many of to assess our futures and the potential risks our careers could be facing, with pandemics and automation causing some of us to lose our jobs. This begs the question: how can I future-proof my profession? 612,000 UK workers lost their jobs during lockdown over the last two months, as well as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting that 1.5 million people are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation.

A loophole in the government’s Job Retention scheme is allowing employers to pay their furloughed staff reduced wages during their notice period if they are made redundant, with almost nine million workers being furloughed and most having to accept at least a 20 per cent pay cut. Employment tribunals may be sympathetic, however there’s no guarantee that disputes will be processed.

Here, we’ll discuss how you can look after yourself in the event of another crisis in the future and panic-proof your profession.

Important things to consider

Firstly, try to avoid zero-hour contracts. Of course, for some, decisions like these may not be possible with limited choice or needing a job immediately to foot the bills. According to the latest figures from ONS, there were 974,000 Britons on zero-hour contracts in December 2019 — the highest figure yet. However, many of us on these contracts don’t earn enough money to be eligible for sick pay, putting us at risk of being abandoned and penniless in times of crises or illness.

Try to get a job with contracted hours to protect yourself in the face of another crisis.

Resilient industries

According to research by Totaljobs, 70 per cent of workers are considering working in a different sector that has proved resilient in light of Covid-19. Although a sector in particular that sustained and even took on more employees — supermarket store assistants — this role has a high 72 per cent risk of automation in the future due to the routine and repetitive nature that can be automated through algorithms.

So, what jobs will be safe? In a digital age, we must understand and accept that a change is happening in order to protect our futures. Although automation will also create new kinds of jobs, that will require a global shift in training.

Human experience

Doctors and nurses remained vital in the pandemic to look after sick people and will likely be safe from artificial intelligence in the future. Although technology will likely be used alongside workers to enhance treatment, diagnosis accuracy, delivery, and general support, machinery won’t ever be able to provide a service that requires connecting with humans and understanding them on an empathetic level. Helping people heal and being emotionally supportive can only be given by someone based on social intelligence and shared experience, rather than data and algorithms.

Teachers also survived lockdown, albeit transitioning to an unconventional and new way of work by delivering lessons online. Even though schools are shut for the time being, there have been no major job losses reported so far, as education will always be required and children will eventually return. Software for meetings and productivity such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have facilitated digital learning for schools and universities as a one-stop shop for all communication, including messaging, voice and video calls with large groups of people, file storage, and document sharing. Is this the future of education?

Teachers are given important roles with high responsibility — nurturing the growth of children and helping those who are vulnerable requires emotional intelligence similar to health professionals which robots cannot mimic or replicate effectively enough to entirely replace humans. Like caretakers, people likely wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting children and vulnerable individuals to be looked after by robots.

Rage against the machine

What is one thing Covid-19 proved? That technology prevails — so think digital. As mentioned previously, education is delivered online as well as certain jobs that can be done remotely. Meetings are happening on Zoom and so on, making many digital jobs possible when you have the right technology in place. Although there will likely be some element of automation expected in sectors like digital marketing, the human knack for creative flair will always be required, something which robots aren’t capable of.

STEM sells

Similarly, a 2019 report by McKinsey forecasts that STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers could show strong growth despite automation. Highly skilled jobs will likely be the most protected. Tesla CEO Elon Musk agrees that automation will need humans to oversee and manage them — skilled scientists, mathematics, and engineers will be required to make sure things are running smoothly and to help keep technology developing. Advanced jobs that will be created by technology in the future will need like-minded individuals.

Likewise, in crises such as pandemics, STEM industries will be essential in keeping the world moving forward and progressing to combat challenges such as creating vaccines and developing technological solutions. For example, new solutions will be needed in the future to facilitate social distancing and resilience to disease.

Catherine Noakes, professor of environmental engineering at University of Leeds, said: “From an engineering perspective the need to make buildings resilient to future pandemics must be combined with meeting environmental resilience.

“The current response is focused on the here and now, but we need to look at the future and consider how to prevent disruption during future pandemics.”

While it is hard to predict what the future holds for the global workforce, the best advice is to keep on developing transferable skills and research which industries are doing well.

Sources

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/11088710/zero-hours-workers-sick-pay-coronavirus/

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-8301899/Pandemic-proof-jobs-Six-sectors-proving-resilient-crisis.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47691078#:~:text=Some%201.5%20million%20people%20in,the%20next%20most%20at%20risk.

Approval for US- based company to deliver Coronavirus testing technology throughout Nigeria.

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8 October 2020

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Approval for US- based company to deliver Coronavirus testing technology throughout Nigeria.

Nigeria will be receiving an approved multi-functional Coronavirus testing technology due to a new partnership between United States based company Black Glove Holdings and manufacturers Natuurs Direct. The testing kits will be dispersed throughout the federation after being given the all clear by the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization and the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration).

Dr. Pritesh Kumar has been selected by Natuurs to administer advice and upholding qualities regarding the approved service. The business will be able to grow due to Kumar’s extensive experience and connections within the industry as well as his consultation background.

Dr Kumar states: “I’m happy to be the support source for this organization. My scientific background will assist in aiding clarification of the system as well as financial benefits.”

Both companies have ability in providing a current and relevant strategy within this manner of services. As a whole they have a wide range of expertise throughout their team in sectors such as; pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and manufacturing.

Jörgen Van Dijk, Chief Corporate Office for the company says: ‘Our objective is to support and manage the training and development of deploying these COVID-19 testing technologies. We are aware that there is a very high demand due to the current crisis so will use our scientific expertise to achieve this deployment as safely and efficiently as possible.”

Black Glove Holdings are aware of the urgency surrounding their services and are working closely with the Government to ensure a successful delivery. The first deployments will be: Niger and Lagos. This will closely be followed by Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun and Nassarawa.

Jörgen Van Dijk, Chief Corporate Officer, +1.347.371.1058

6 Best Drop Servicing Niches for Beginners (2020) – By Dylan Sigley

News

ABC Staff

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8 October 2020

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6 Best Drop Servicing Niches for Beginners (2020) – By Dylan Sigley

You’re excited to start your drop servicing business, but you just can’t seem to choose which drop servicing niche you’re going to go with? If you’re a drop servicing beginner, it can be tough to choose a niche.

What makes a drop servicing niche good?

People often ask me, “Dylan Sigley, what makes a good drop servicing niche”, well kind reader, a good niche is one that’s simple, easy to explain, easy to sell, and, of course, highly profitable.

In this article, I’m going to outline 6 of the best drop servicing niches to start with.

If you’re short on time, here they are:

YouTube ads for e-commerce
Animated sales videos
Facebook advertising
Graphic design
Web development for Shopify
Blog and article writing

I highly recommend reading the entire article, so you can best figure out which niche to start with and remember to check out all of the Dylan Sigley social media accounts to learn more drop servicing strategies and tactics.

Where to start according to Dylan Sigley?

You’ve made it this far, and you’re all set to start your drop-servicing business.

But, where do you even start? What’s the perfect niche for a drop servicing business? Ideally, you want to choose a niche that is highly profitable, easy to understand, and easy to sell. The more simple your business is, the more understandable your offer will be, and the easier it will be to operate your business as it grows, and inevitably gets more complicated.

Choosing your niche isn’t like choosing who you’re going to marry. If you start with animated videos for Saas companies, you don’t have to continue with Saas animated videos for the next three years. That’s the beauty of drop-servicing, and running your own business.

You can start with a particular niche, focus on it, make it work, build systems around it, and then switch to another offer later. The most important thing is that you’re putting your offer in front of decision-makers that have an online presence, and have the budget for your digital services at the price you’re marketing them for.

The 6 Best Drop Servicing Niches According To Dylan Sigley

Let’s get started with the six best drop servicing niches. Just a warning, these aren’t the only six you should choose. There are plenty of other niches that can work well, and if you’re well-versed in a different service, then maybe it’s a better idea to go with that, to begin with. But, if you’re stuck for ideas to get going, these 6 niches are a winning starting point as they’re in demand, simple and easy to sell.

1) YouTube ads for e-commerce.

YouTube currently doesn’t have many advertisers, or at least advertisers that know what they’re doing. This means YouTube ads are relatively cheap and low competition compared to other advertising methods.

E-commerce itself as an industry is blowing up more than ever and it’s moving to YouTube. YouTube agencies, in general, are getting clients easy because there are so few agencies that specifically specialize in YouTube. There are so many writing agencies, SEO agencies, and design agencies, but how often do you hear of a company that’s specifically focused on YouTube advertising? Exactly.

What I recommend you do is target e-commerce companies using Facebook ads, and if you set up the Facebook ads right, you should get some interest from companies willing to invest in video ads to help promote their products on YouTube.

2) Animated sales videos

First of all what are animated sales videos?

Animated videos are a great niche as it’s a simple product, with a simple proposition. Generally, the goal with an animated sales video is for a business to have a short 60-second video that explains what their business or product does. For example, you could choose to target Saas companies because technology products usually need some explaining to sell well.

3) Facebook advertising

A Facebook ad agency is a great idea as many companies could benefit from Facebook advertising. This is true whether they are e-commerce companies or a local bricks and mortar business like gyms, chiropractic clinics, or coffee shops. They all need more exposure to stay relevant in their markets. If you can brand your Facebook ad agency as an authority, and you present yourself as knowing what you’re doing, Facebook ads are easily sold. This works even better when you target a business that has little experience with paid advertising platforms. The value you can add is huge, and it’s win-win.

One way to do this is to target businesses that have Facebook business pages, but haven’t put much effort into promoting their business on Facebook. It’s easy, low cost, and a simple offer to make. You could get going with this right now with targeted email campaigns.

4) Graphic Design

Graphic design is an incredibly broad and generic niche, but if you can focus your offer on a specific part of graphic design that’s highly profitable and easy to systematize, graphic design can be a highly profitable niche.

Perhaps, your graphic design offer is specifically focused on logo designs, ad designs to maximize a company’s click-through rates, or power-point presentation decks.

You can go on websites like Upwork to find the most successful graphic designers and see what services they are offering. What are they specializing in? Who’s charging the most and who’s getting the most jobs?

Once you’ve done this research, have a look at other service companies offering the same services to get an idea of what you could be charging and how to present your offer.

5) Web Development for Shopify

As mentioned before, e-commerce is exploding online and isn’t slowing down. Shopify is an incredibly popular platform where people can build online stores for their products, whether they make their own, or utilize a dropshipping business model.

Shopify provides a super easy framework to start a store and even has decent paid options enabling customization and coding. The more professional store owners are going to want that custom look and feel and may not have the expertise to execute it. This is your drop-servicing business opportunity.

If you can create a drop-servicing business model around custom Shopify stores, you’re giving yourself a big advantage against a generic web developer who also happens to do Shopify ecommerce web development.

Why? Because store owners just want it done. They don’t know or want to get involved in the technical negotiations that go with hiring a generic software developer. Your drop-servicing business is selling convenience, and ‘done for you’ execution. It’s a perfect business in a high growth industry.

6) Blog and article writing

Great writing is valuable to a business. Every business needs some level of writing whether that’s product descriptions, white-papers, email copy, landing page copy, technical writing, the list goes on!

Blog and article writing. though. is a very common form of writing with many businesses wanting regular content to engage and motivate their target audience, while not having the in-house writing expertise to execute it. This is where your drop-servicing business comes to the rescue.

The issue is that there’s a ton of competition, and when starting it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd if you’re offering to write blogs on any and every topic under the sun.

The best thing to do in this case is to specialize. Create an article writing business around for example CBD, dentistry, coffee, tech, or Saas start-up topics. Any specific niche, that you can get market share and be a specialty drop-servicing company for that industry.

Think about it for a second, as a founder of a Saas company, would you rather pay a generic article writer or pay a little more for a company that focuses specifically on writing for Saas companies. The specialty company would be the obvious choice.

To wrap this up, it’s about picking a niche that’s been proven to work, focus in on a specialty and niche, to begin with, and stay consistent with it.

You’ll be able to make sales, and over time you can expand your offers, make them more general, expand into other niches. To begin with, though, keep it simple.

Get started. Today. Choose one from the list above or something similar and just stick with it until you start seeing results. What a lot of beginners do is spend weeks or months, trying to decide on the best option. Remember, guys, if there’s a demand for it, you can make sales happen with drop servicing. Just remember to focus on the client. How can you provide value to them? How can you make your offer irresistible and more desirable than your competitors?

It’s all about creating an affordable “done for you” offer where all the clients need to do is pay money, and have everything done for them. To help you on your journey be sure to check out all of the free step by step tutorials on drop servicing you can find on the Dylan Sigley Pinterest.

Dylan Sigley

Dylan Sigley has been running drop servicing businesses since 2015. At this point he has made over a million dollars across his businesses and now focuses on his education business the Drop Servicing Blueprint. Dylan

How has COVID-19 affected used car prices? Two experts give their opinion

Automotive

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

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How has COVID-19 affected used car prices? Two experts give their opinion

Used car prices have risen steadily since the pandemic started all the way back in March. Despite early reports of a lack of demand as millions were locked down at home, many car dealers are now reporting a surge of interest.

Luckily, if you’re over 55 and looking to purchase a second-hand car, you could use your property wealth to do so. Excellent financial products, like equity release, are helping older homeowners access money to purchase necessities in these tough economic times. As such, the equity release industry rapidly grew in 2021, reaching a staggering £4.8bn, and 80% of experts predict further growth for 2022.

The used car market in the UK is a traditional case of “supply versus demand”: there are fewer new cars being sold, and many customers are looking for a cheaper, used car rather than an expensive new one.

A car history check helps and protects you from buying a vehicle with a hidden history. Carrying out a registration check on fullcarchecks.co.uk helps verify if a car is written off, scrapped, stolen or has outstanding car finance.

Coupled with the rumoured difficulties in obtaining credit, it is not surprising that demand for second-hand vehicles is rocketing. According to James Bidwell of FreeCarCheck.co.uk, many dealers have seen “unprecedented demand not experienced for many years”.

High demand nearly always equates to prices going up and the UK used car market is no exception. Many customers find it hard to believe but, according to Cap HPI, in some cases used car prices have gone up by as much as 12%. In a world where used car asking prices nearly always drop with the passage of time, this is almost unprecedented.

Before lockdown started, the prices of used cars across the UK continued to drop slowly month-on-month. But as soon as lockdown began in March, analysts could see that demand was surging. Quite simply there was not enough stock to fulfil all orders.

Now that volume is returning to the market and car makers such as Honda and Toyota are ramping up production once again, most dealers expert the price rises to peter out soon, and for value to return to the used car market.

Data & Insights Director at Auto Trader, Richard Walker, believes that used car prices will “fall gradually from now on”. However he is clear that it’s extremely unlikely that there will be a cliff-edge plunge:

With the government’s furlough scheme ending in October, coupled with weakened consumer confidence and unemployment rumoured to hit 4 million, it’s unlikely that prices will continue to rise.

As people’s financial situations darken, the number of PCP-financed cars on the market is also likely to decrease. Obtaining credit becomes more difficult as jobs are rendered less secure, and there is likely to be a steep increase of worried customers trying to voluntarily terminate their PCP contracts. In other words, “handing back” their rented vehicles, which will increase used volumes further.

Another expert, James Bush of Motorway.co.uk, says: “We don’t expect to see a softening in demand for used cars when furlough ends. It’s the new car market that’s likely to suffer.”

Even with furlough ending many people will still purchase used cars but might look for alternative age and models that are either more economical or cheaper in overall value. It however still remains to be seen if the Government will come up with any further props or schemes to increase volumes.

Sources: https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/exclusive-will-happen-used-car-prices-furlough-ends-experts-give-us-opinion/200194

Important Things to Consider Before Taking Out Equity Release

Sam Allcock

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8 October 2020

0

Important Things to Consider Before Taking Out Equity Release

Taking out an equity release plan is a big financial commitment, similar to taking out a mortgage, so it’s important that you do some thorough research to find out all the details before you apply.

Talking to an experienced and reputable equity release broker or advisor is often the best way of finding the most suitable product for your personal needs and circumstances.

This article will outline some of the important things that you will need to consider before taking out equity release.

How much you can borrow and how you’re going to use it

Equity release is a very good way of releasing any money that you’ve got tied up in your property, but it should only be taken out if you have a specific need or use for it; not if you just want some money sat in the bank.

Common uses for equity release include:

Clearing other debts like mortgages, secured loans or large credit card balances.
Boosting retirement income so you can have a higher standard of living.
Making improvements to your home, like an extension, new kitchen/bathroom, or anything that makes your home more suitable for when you get older.
Providing financial support to family instead of them having to wait to receive an inheritance.
Funding holidays and other once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Inheritance tax planning.

It’s also important to figure out exactly how much you need so you don’t borrow any more than necessary. Borrowing more than you need will just cost you more in the long run because of the interest charged. The best way to find out how much money you can release from your property is by using an equity release calculator.

How it will affect your family’s inheritance

With the majority of equity release plans, no monthly repayments are required throughout the term of the loan as the capital and interest are repaid from the sale of your property when you pass away or move into a permanent care facility.

This means that it will affect what you’ll have left in your estate as an inheritance for your beneficiaries.

If you’re not planning to use the money released to give your family an early inheritance or to help them out financially, then you may want to consider having a conversation with them so everyone understands what the implications are. Most people should be supportive of their parents using the money to improve the quality of their own lives first, but having the conversation now will save any potential family rifts later down the line. You may feel uncomfortable yourself about leaving less of an inheritance to your children, so talking to them should make you feel more at ease with the decision too.

Whether you can afford to make monthly repayments

When you’re looking at the different equity release options, something to consider will be whether you can afford to make any monthly repayments towards the interest.

Most plans don’t require any monthly repayments, but some do allow for this. If you can afford to make payments, then this will substantially reduce the amount that you’ll owe at the end of the term.

With equity release, the interest charged is compounded. This means that you’ll pay interest on top of interest. So, if you can pay this off on a monthly basis then it will stop it from building up so substantially.

How it will affect your entitlement to certain benefits

As equity release technically provides an income, it can affect your entitlement to certain means-tested benefits. This could have an immediate effect, or it could be in the future, so it’s something that you need to take into consideration.

Before you take out an equity release product, your advisor or broker will be able to do a full benefits assessment and let you know how you’ll be affected.

Whether you’ll want to move house in the future

If you think that you may want to move house after taking out an equity release plan, this is something that you should discuss with your advisor. As long as your lender is a member of the Equity Release Council, you will still be able to move house as long as your new property is suitable security for the loan.

More can be done to stop the crisis

What methods of waste-to-energy are being used

What are the problems with waste-to-energy methods?

Waste-to-energy solutions have their advantages

What will the future look like for waste-to-energy?

Sources:

Bushman’s Cave, South Africa

The Blue Hole, Egypt

North Sea, Scotland

Kinsale, Ireland

Sources

Work from home

Energy

Changing your methods

Smart buildings

Drones and AI

Smart cities

Sources

True sustainability

Social, environment, and economic pillars

Social

Environmental

Economical

Sustainable bridges

Sources:

Important things to consider

Resilient industries

Human experience

STEM sells

Sources

How much you can borrow and how you’re going to use it

How it will affect your family’s inheritance

Whether you can afford to make monthly repayments

How it will affect your entitlement to certain benefits

Whether you’ll want to move house in the future

ABC Money 2025 - 1st Edition

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