Willie Smits restores a rainforest | Video on TED.com

Willie Smits restores a rainforest | Video on TED.com

This is an amazing video of hope that reaches the very soul of Operation OASIS

PRESS RELEASE: CAN TREES MAKE IT RAIN?

NOTICE OF A PUBLIC EVENT
Hosted by Friends of the Earth
Chaired by Sheila Doyle, Co-ordinator, Friends of Earth  Hemel Hempstead and District
Date:  18 April 2011
Place:  Hemel Hempstead, Herts
Location: The Quaker Meeting House, 1 The Alleys, St.Mary’s Road, Hemel Hempstead HP2 5ZB
Time:  8pm
Cost:  FREE

Greg Peachey

Speaker: Greg Peachey, Project Director,  Operation OASIS and founder of the FREdome Visionary Trust
Planting trees in the desert to absorb carbon emissions is a radical idea – but could it become a reality?
That is the question for debate with charismatic community organiser Greg Peachey, founder of the St Albans-based FREdome Visionary Trust.
Greg will be in Hemel Hempstead next week to give a presentation on the Trust’s latest project: Operation OASIS. The project aims to reverse the build-up of atmospheric carbon dioxide by establishing forests in areas of the world that have become desert.
“Increasingly, areas of the world are becoming more arid. Action is needed urgently to prevent species loss, and reduce conflict over scarce resources like food, fuel and water,” says Greg, 52, who has given up a successful career in management consultancy to pursue his personal convictions.
The principles of Operation OASIS were debated at an open meeting of an All Party Parliamentary Group last November. Since then the idea has attracted support from cutting-edge environmental scientists around the UK and representatives of the UK shipping industry.
“Recently, Herts County Council came on board to help us bid for research funding from the EU LIFE  +  Environment programme. The idea has support from scientists in Germany and America.  With the support of networking organisations like the Executive Forum and Rotary Club we have recruited a team of highly-qualified and motivated volunteers from around St Albans and Hemel Hempstead to drive the bid. The UK Trade & Investment Environment & Water team are keen to help. This could be a tremendous opportunity for Hertfordshire to shine.”
Paul Harris, the Green Party candidate for Gadebridge local borough council elections and sitting parish councillor for Great Gaddesden, is an enthusiastic supporter of the project: he says,
 “Trees are a win – win for everyone! They are the foundation of all life. They absorb CO2, they give back oxygen, they regulate temperature and rainfall,  they bind soil together and prevent flooding. Sustainable forestry enables more food to be produced, increases bio-diversity, provides work and generates fuel.“
Anyone with an interest in environmental issues is welcome to come to the meeting to find out more about Operation OASIS, which includes radical proposals for job creation in the Hertfordshire area.         
Ends
 For more local press information contact Suzanne Watts Communications Officer for the FREdome Visionary Trust,  Operation OASIS Project             01442 398466      , email  Suzanne.watts@fredome.org.
Note to Editors
The FREdome Visionary Trust is a not-for profit voluntary organisation.
Projects include:

• Watford Celebration – an annual cultural diversity event attracting more than 2500 people annually
• Show the World and WECare – a talent-promotion and fund-raising project run by FREdome Youth Encouraging Adults (YEA) social network of under 18’s
• FREdome Ideas.org – a community ideas database sponsored by St Michaels Catholic High School,Watford  
• Carbon Cycling – the missing link in the Carbon Debate – an all-age debate at the Houses of Commons in November 2010 – winner of a Global Entrepreneurship Week High Impact Event Award 
• One Minute to Save the World – audience vote winner of the global film competition with “Stop Global WAR-ming”, shown in Copenhagen 2009, and UK Houses of Parliament.   

Providers of support to the FREdome Visionary Trust Operation OASIS project include:

• Climate Week
• Cradle to Cradle Network Europe
• East of England European Partnership
• Friends of the Earth Hemel Hempstead
• Global Entrepreneurship Week
• Green Frontier
• Hertfordshire County Council Funding Support Office

More information:  http://www.fredome.org
Blog: http://fredome.wordpress.com/

INNOVATION | Waste water can boost tanker profits, says engineer

A UK engineer is trying to convince tanker owners they can boost profits by carrying waste water as ballast on back-haul voyages.
This waste will eventually be used to irrigate arid desert coastlines and reclaim forests in countries like Egypt.
The scheme is the brainchild of Andrew Fletcher’s Oasis Solutions, which is due to present the idea at a meeting of the All Parliamentary Climate Change Group at London’s Houses of Parliament on 18 November.
Fletcher, with a background in heavy and mechanical engineering, has been trying to persuade water companies to ship waste water for 18 years.
But now he believes that recent below-break-even rates for VLCCs and ULCCs, as well as the impending scrapping of single-skinned tankers, means the time is right to hook owners up with ballast “cargoes.”
Sewage and farm waste effluent (mostly “grey water”) will be screened for plastics and all unwanted debris.
There will also be opportunities for tankers to act as storage vessels at either end of the supply chain.
Fletcher says he has no funding as yet, which is a key objective of the November meeting.
He told TradeWinds: “We do not have funding in place to move this project forward. Funding appears to be the main stumbling block and will only happen when politicians are onboard.”
He adds the advantages are clear: any crude oil residues will combine with the waste water, providing bio-digestion of tar build-up in tanks and helping clean them.
Seawater ballast would replace the partially digested cargo to finish the cleaning process en route to the next oil terminal.
There would also be a cost saving by avoiding sterilisation of ballast.
Oasis is seeking an initial £30,000 ($47,500) for Herts University to conduct a feasibility study.
“We have conducted a simple calculation that shows each chartered cargo of waste water could be paid for by the water companies and remove the need for land-based treatment, saving well over £500,000 per trip,” Fletcher added.
“This is turn would save each UK household £200 from their annual water bill.”
He adds the key now is to find out how much it would cost to pay a tanker owner who has a single-skinned ship awaiting scrapping or conversion to anchor the tanker for storage at the coast on either the recipient end or the donating end of the operation.
“We are hoping to obtain a paid anchorage cost for storing waste water in Venice, for example, and Egypt.”
Egypt already uses waste water for irrigation.
http://www.tradewinds.no/tankers/569470/from-bust-to-bloom

OASIS PROJECT:scientists to discuss during Climate Week

OASIS PROJECT:scientists to discuss during Climate Week

FREdome Visionary Trust | March 18, 2011 at 4:54 pm | Tags: carbon cycling, Climate change, climate week, deforestation, green frontier, Low CArbon Shipping, UCL Energy Insitute, waste management, waste water | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pgwuH-bc

The Carbon Cycling debate continues in London

FREdome’s global climate recovery project, OASIS Solution has selected Climate Week to call a meeting of its scientific and technical advisory board in London.
A group of individuals from the board have agreed to meet at University College London, Energy Institute on the morning of 24 March to conduct a project risk analysis to determine the feasibility of the proposal.
The OASIS solution, promoted by the FREdome Visionary Trust, is a renewable way to reduce carbon emissions. It offers radical alternative to lowered economic activity or carbon sequestration (burial).
Instead, the solution would reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide through a natural process – Carbon Cycling – whereby CO2 is absorbed by trees and vegetation. The solution aims to kick-start this process of on a grand scale by reversing deforestation in desert areas of Africa.
The project founder is engineer and lateral thinker,   Andrew Fletcher. He says

Andrew K Fletcher – Engineer, Originator of The Overseas Arid Soil Irrigation Solution ( Oasis) Solution.

“Project OASIS is and always was very ambitious, but we have nothing left to lose. Desertification is spreading like a virulent plague and must be halted now!”
Following a presentation of Andrew’s idea to a meeting in Parliament in November, a number of eminent scientists and technologists have come forward to offer their services in exploring the radical solution which would use human waste for fertilisation and irrigation of arid soils, and the cultivation of coastal tree belts to induce rainfall.
The massive project would involve water companies and the shipping industry working with climatologists and environmental scientists to stage trials.
Already, the proposal has attracted interest from the EU “Cradle To Cradle” waste-free manufacturing network. Parties as diverse as Hertfordshire County Council and the international Rotary Club are already putting efforts in researching partners in Europe.  Arab countries have also shown an interest, inviting OASIS  to present a paper at the second Arab Water Forum in Cairo in November 2011.     
FREDome founder and chairman,  Greg Peachey says,

We are grateful for the scientists and professional who are willing to give up their time to explore this solution. They recognise that time is running out for us to find an answer to the combined issues of deforestation, climate change and food shortage that pose a threat to the entire global economy.   With a positive outcome we aim to proceed to a co-financing application to the EU 267 million LIFE + fund. This could be the UK’s greatest opportunity to lead a new green industry with the potential to create thousands of jobs and redistribute global affluence.

Attendees
John Aitken, JJ Aitken Consulting Ltd
Dr Colm Bowe, Liverpool John Moores University – Natural Science and Psychology
Robin Buller, Renewable Energy Analyst
Peter Darley,  Consulting Engineer/Economist in water resources, irrigation, ports and transport
Craig Embleton, Desert Restoration Ecologist, The Green Frontier
Dr Richard Lawson MD, GreenHealth – Founder & Director (Desert Rose Project)
Dr Tristan Smith, UCL Energy Institute – Low Carbon Shipping
Andrew K Fletcher, Project Director, OASIS Solution

Villages on the Front Line - Niger Part 1 of 3

Methane gas powered VLCC oil tankers

Tanker Operator

http://www.tankeroperator.com/news/todisplaynews.asp?NewsID=2402

Gas-powered VLCC on the horizon?
(Dec 9 2010)

More than half the vessels ordered from 2020 could be powered by natural gas, a leading class society forecast.

DNV CEO Henrik Madsen said: “I am convinced that gas will become the dominant fuel for merchant ships. By 2020, the majority of owners will order ships that can operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG). As a leading class society, DNV has an important role to play in finding more environmentally friendly solutions for the shipping industry.”

He was speaking at the launch of an environmentally friendly VLCC design powered by LNG. The conceptual design project – Triality – has a hull shape that removes the need for ballast water, thus eliminating ballast water treatment systems, will almost eliminate local air pollution and will also recover hundreds of tonnes of cargo vapours (VOCs) per voyage, he claimed.

Triality has been developed through a DNV innovation project. As its name indicates, DNV said that it fulfils three main goals: It is environmentally superior to a conventional crude oil tanker; its new solutions are feasible and based on well known technology and it is financially attractive compared to conventional crude oil tankers operating on heavy fuel oil.

DNV compared its concept with a conventional VLCC. Both ships will have the same operational range and can operate in the normal spot market.

Compared to the traditional VLCC, the class society claimed that the Triality VLCC will:

- Emit 34% less CO2.

- Eliminate entirely the need for ballast water.

- Eliminate entirely the venting of VOCs.

- Use 25% less energy.

Less harm will also be caused to the health of people living close to busy shipping routes and ports as NOx emissions will be reduced by more than 80%, while emissions of SOx and particulate matter (PM) will fall by as much as 95%.

The new concept tanker has two high pressure dual fuel slow speed main engines fuelled by LNG, with marine gas oil as pilot fuel. The next phase of the Triality concept development will review the use of dual-fuel medium speed engines and pure gas engines, DNV said.

Two IMO type C pressure tanks capable of holding 13,500 cu m LNG - enough for 25,000 nautical miles of operation - are located on the deck in front of the superstructure. The generators are dual fuel (LNG and marine gas oil) while the auxiliary boilers producing steam for the cargo oil pumps operate on recovered VOCs.

A traditional tanker on a ballast voyage needs ballast water to obtain full propeller immersion and sufficient forward draft to avoid bottom slamming. The new V-shaped hull form and cargo tank arrangements completely eliminate the need for ballast water in the VLCC version. There will also be much less need for ballast water on other kinds of crude oil tankers, such as Suezmax, Aframax and smaller vessels.

The new hull shape results in a reduced wetted surface on a round trip and has a lower block coefficient and thus a more energy efficient hull, DNV claimed.

A VLCC in ballast will normally carry between 80,000 and 100,000 tonnes of seawater containing organisms that can cause damage when released into foreign ecosystems. In addition, a lot of fuel is needed just to transport this extra water. And finally, the initial coating and later maintenance of ballast tanks during operations are among a shipowner’s main concerns, DNV said.

The Triality VLCC can collect and liquefy more than 500 tonnes of VOCs during one single round trip. These liquefied petroleum gases will then be stored in deck tanks and up to 50% will be used as fuel for the boilers during cargo discharge, while the rest can be returned to the cargo tanks, or delivered to shore during oil cargo discharge.

When it comes to the additional cost of building a vessel such as the Triality and the reduced cost of operating it, Madsen’s conclusion was clear: “It is possible to develop an environmentally superior ship and be profitable at the same time. Our best estimate is an additional capital expenditure of 10-15% for a Triality VLCC newbuilding compared to a traditional VLCC. Even with this extra cost included, we estimate a reduced life cycle cost equal to 25% of the newbuilding cost for a traditional VLCC.

“Triality is a concept vessel and a shipbuilder will need to prepare a detailed design before the first Triality crude oil tanker can be constructed. The Triality concept is based on well known and proven components and systems, so in principle a Triality crude oil tanker introducing all or some of the innovative elements in the concept can be designed today. I am convinced that the Triality concept will create great interest among shipbuilders and crude oil tanker operators, so that the first Triality crude oil tanker will leave a shipyard before the end of 2014,” Madsen said.

He also said a few shipowners and at least three South Korean shipyards, plus MAN Diesel had already looked at the concept with interest.

Brazil coastline showing fog moving inland where vegetation is present and an area of desert devoid of fog.

Satellite image of Brazil coastline showing fog moving inland where vegetation is present and an area of desert devoid of fog.