Iran to reduce dependence on fossil fuels

Iran, historically a nation highly dependent on crude-based fuels is looking to alter the countries regulations in a bid to attract foreign investment into renewable energies. Recent years have seen Iran really look to renewable energies as the path for a prosperous future but they have no intention of slowing down. According to Elham Aminzadeh, adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, the nation is looking to solar, wind and hydropower, so they can diversify their source of energy.
Currently, the country has stringent laws which are often seen as a repellent to potential investors from overseas. These laws are in the process of being reviewed so they can be altered accordingly and become as attractive to overseas investors as they are for those domestically.

According to Mohammad Reza Rezazadeh, managing director of state-owned Iran Water & Energy Resources Development Co, Iran has the potential to produce 30’000 megawatts of hydroelectric power, for the country to get another 15’000 megawatts, it’s estimated $12 billion of investment will be required. 11,700 megawatts of hydro-power is already operating, and the Ministry of Petroleum is working to add 5,000 megawatts in the next three years, he said in an interview at the conference.

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Hotel developments to lead the way for growth in African tourism

A number of the world’s largest hotel chains are betting on Africa being their next big investment opportunity. Africa’s tourism sector is already on a momentous upwards slope and this is the obvious trend that has caught the attention of some of the world’s most renowned hotel names, such as, The Hilton, Fairmont and the Jumeirah group. Starwood, Marriot and the Four Seasons have also publically stated they intend on investing heavily across North, South and Central Africa in the five-years between now and 2021 that experts predict will be one of the largest periods of hotel growth in the continent’s history.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa is currently rising at an astronomical rate; last year, the global growth rate of FDI was 1%, whereas in Africa they experienced a 7% growth. Paul Frimpong, Investor Analyst at international business facilitation experts Naseba, said: “The enormous potential of the African continent cannot be emphasized enough. Africa is the fastest growing region for FDIs in the world. Aggregate household consumption will reach $1.4 trillion with collective GDP hitting $2.6 trillion in 2020 alone. These facts show that with the understanding of the growth momentum, combined with the right strategies, presents handsome rewards for current and prospective investors in the region.”

Not only does the hotel boom in Africa provide more opportunity for the tourism industry but it also presents an abundance of opportunity for the continents architects, interior designers, real estate developers, buyers and engineers working on not only hospitality, but retail, commercial and residential developments.

 

Is Germany cutting back on renewable energies?

The world continues to look for more efficient uses of renewable energies, as it becomes a genuine reality that global warming is very much a thing as indeed the fact that we will one day run out of fossil fuels. So, why is it that Germany are doing the opposite and actually looking to curb it’s incredibly successful wind farming sector?
Don’t fear, Germany have not suddenly become a suicidal nation whom are opposed to renewable energies. In fact, their decision to do such just highlights how sensational their fight for renewable energies has been. According to leaked plans from the German federal network agency, published on Tuesday in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the government has had to halve its original target for expanding its wind farms in the gale-beaten northern flatlands because it cannot extend its power grid quickly enough to the energy-hungry south.
In 2011, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel announced that the country will look to phase out the use of nuclear reactors by 2022 in favour of renewable energies, with many critics saying it highly ambitious and likely to be unattainable due to not being able to expandsolar and wind energies quick enough. However, five years later and renewable energies have given critics a big slap in the face with the capacity of the power grid not being able to handle the vast supply of northern wind farms. Rather humorously, the state is actually being forced to pay energy companies to turn their turbines off in order to prevent the congestion of the power grid.
Lengthy protests about the construction of large pylons led to Germany eventually signing off an agreement to construct the more expensive alternative of underground cabling from North to South, a decision which has caused initial plans for the vast project to be delayed by one and a half years.
As expected, the state’s decision to reduce their renewable energy plans has been met by a number of critics and controversy. Many believe that the state’s decision to take what is deemed by many as a negative step in their renewable energies surge, will hinder the countries standing as a global pioneer for renewable energies.
Whereas, others who agree that it was a responsible decision to tackle power grid congestion claim there were a number of other much more logical decisions that could have been taken and would have been equally effective. “A more forward-looking way to meet the current challenge would have been to shut down old power stations, extend the grid faster or invest more in innovative methods to use excess energy to heat homes,” said Arne Jungjohann, the author ofEnergy Democracy – Germany’s Energiewende to Renewables.

Great work on the renewable energies front Germany, no one can argue your commitment to the cause in recent years. However, perhaps listen to Arne Jungjohann in future, he makes a good point.

 

The world’s most remote inhabited island is set for a re-design

Tristan da Cunha is a British overseas territory and is the name given to the world’s most remote inhabited island. Saint Helena is the closest form of inhabited land, located 2000km away, South Africa is 2400km away and South America is 3360km away… you get the point? It’s quite isolated. The population of this 98 sq km island is 265 people; these 265 peoples can only be accessed by boat for 60 days a year, due to the conditions of the sea and the limited facilities of the harbour. Therefore, it is quite important that the people of these islands utilise the space as efficiently as possible and have the means to be self-sufficient, step up UK firm Brock Carmichael Architects who have won a competition to re-design the island.
The competition sought ideas to create a more self-sustainable future for Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the main settlement on the islands. The outlined brief of the competition was to generally improve the living standards of residents, through the use of advanced residential properties and systems in which to improve the grazing of animals and the quality of crops.
The team was selected from a shortlist that included international participants:
• Lateral Office (Toronto)
• John Puttick Associates (New York)
• Scott Brownrigg (Cardiff)
• Javier Terrados and Fernando Suárez (Seville).
The project is going to see the architects sail 10 days from Cape Town on their adventure to improve the lives of the world’s most remote inhabitants.
Martin Watson, partner at Brock Carmichael, said: “We’re delighted and honoured to have been chosen as the winners of this unique competition and would like to pass on our thanks to the people of Tristan for selecting our team.
“We’re very much looking forward to forging a long-term partnership with the community to deliver practical solutions for the benefit of future generations to come.”
It’s good to see that in 2016; even the most unlikely of sources get to experience the advances in technology andconstruction to improve their own level of efficiencies.

RIDE WITH STYLE WITH RETRO BICYCLES !

DITCH THE CAR AND TAKE A BICYCLE WITH YOU INSTEAD !

Bicycles are a BIG MUST if you live in a big city. Why ? Well first of all, riding a bicycle allows you to have a physical exercise while doing your normal routine ; going to work, run some errands, visit friends, etc. WHICH is good for your health and body !

Second reason is that bicycles reduce pollution. Preserving our planet is one of our top priorities ! So again, invest on buying good bicycle then on other vehicles like bikes or cars. Plus nowadays, there are a lots of types of bicycle that would suit your own needs and your own aesthetics.

For those who are striving for sexy retro bicycles, check out our list :

• TOKYO BIKE: 

Approximate price : 400$

• BRILLIANT BICYCLE CO.

  

  Approximate price : 399$ 

• LEKKER SPORTIEF.

Approximate price: 598$

• SIDDHARTE.

Approximate price: 299$

• ERENPREISS ORIGINAL.

Approximate price: 800$

• BIANCHI PISTA.

Approximate price: 1000$

The thing about retro bikes is that they fascinate many people with their stylish and classical style. Some of these bicycles brands know how to capture your nostalgia self reminiscing the old days or the present itself. Retro bikes are timeless and that is what gives them their eternal charm. Once you have one of these bikes, you don’t need to pretend to be someone else because these bikes alone give you automatically an original and fresh look of your whole being.

Bicycles are made of special elements like metal. It’s amazing how a common material like metal can contribute to create wonders like these ! That is what Shanghai Metal Corporation can provide you !

As representatives of the metal industry, Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in the manufacturing of metal quality products in the global field. As a major producer of stainless steel, copper, aluminium, shipping containers and other metal products and service, we essentially are committed to the universal use that metal can offer by delivering overseas and promoting environmental sustainability.

To know more about our company please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

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#AddingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Maria // SMC Editor

VERTICAL FARMS: ECO SOLUTION FOR URBAN CONSOMMATION

As the world population continues to expand everyday, one of the main question of today’s researchers is to find new ecological and sustainable solutions to feed everyone.

In big cities, most of the food come generally from the outskirts of their territory. Having little space or even none at all, urban zones cannot produce their own food and rely their food stock on productions outside of their active territory. Therefore, the system is mostly based on peripheral to central relation that consists mainly on feeding the large number of population concentrated in the central or in the city itself.

DICKSON DESPOMMIER, an american professor of microbiology and public health, has proposed a solution concerning this matter : THE VERTICAL FARM CONCEPT.

 

So what exactly is it ? 

The Vertical Farm consists of cultivating plants mainly for human consumption such as vegetables within a skyscraper or on a vertically inclined surface, hence the name. The concept is almost similar to glass houses which captures the optimal natural sunlight. The use of artificial lightning is also possible to accelerate the growth of the plants and to modify their properties according to different dietary preferences.

The idea of this concept is a possible answer to some of the urban issues we mention before :

1. Vertical surfaces are more suited for the lack of space in urban cities.

2. Producing food IN the urban zone reduces pollution related to transportation, food waste, etc.

3. Vertical Farms permit to produce various types of food in a small surface and therefore can satisfy different needs of the population.

Various models of Vertical Farms :

Singapore’s and world’s first commercial vertical farm

Spanish architect Javier Ponce reveals his plans for a vertical farm in Tai Po

Completely constructed from glass and steel, this model is just one of Despommier’s designs of a vertical farm

Tell us your opinion about this farm of the future ! Brilliant ideas like this one is important in times like ours where the main goal is keeping up with the population growth by maintaining a good environmental level. Shanghai Metal Corporation shares this vision and wants you to spread innovations like Vertical farming and sustainability.

As representatives of the metal industry, Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in the manufacturing of metal quality products in the global field. As a major producer of metal related products and reliable services, our most important value is to promote environmental sustainability.

To know more about our company please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Follow us on these social media platforms:

    

Maria // SMC Editor

#AddingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Maria // SMC Editor

HARD ART: MASTERPIECES MADE OF STAINLESS STEEL

Art is a universal form of way to express your feelings and your thoughts. One of the million ways to manifest it is this:

Dramatic Stainless Steel Wire Fairies by Robin Wight

Robin Wight made this masterpiece from STAINLESS STEEL. The thing is how could such delicate subjects like a young woman or a dandelion can be exposed by an element that usually represents the opposite of them.

Stainless Steel symbolize generally our industrial society with it’s labor class, alienation, coal, hardworking and sweaty men. You know…

BUT artist Robin Wight is one that surpasses this image. Stainless Steel doesn’t represent any of those symbols but these more feminine and natural forms. His technique and his imagination provides a sort of paradoxe that we live everyday and that’s why it is a masterpiece.

Check out his other works:

As representatives of the metal industry, Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of the leading businesses in the manufacturing of stainless steel in the global field. As a major producer of stainless steel, copper, aluminium, steel and other metal products and service, we essentially are committed to the universal use that metal can offer by delivering overseas and promoting environmental sustainability.

To know more about our company please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Follow us on these social media platforms:

    

Maria // SMC Editor

#AddingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Maria // SMC Editor

Iron-air batteries: a cheap and eco-friendly solution for energy storage

After more than 40 after preparing the first prototype of a cheap , rechargeable, high energy density iron-air battery, researchers at the University of Southern California are now finishing the job of the patent-pending design of the battery.

The technical characteristics of the batteries look particularly well-suited to the kind of large-scale energy storage that could accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources.

Back in the 70’s, researchers were already working on environmentally friendly rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and only recent advances in materials technology have made this technology into one of the most common, high-performing solutions for today’s portable electronics.

Iron compared to other materials has a few advantages: it’s durable, it has a great capacity to pack energy (per unit of mass), it’s recyclable but most importantly it’s cheap with costs around US$1/kg (2.2 lb).

Iron-air batteries were first expected to be used for electric vehicles and military applications after the 1973 oil crisis. However, research stopped abruptly only years later, when scientists realized that iron-air batteries presented a serious  limitation: whenever the battery was being charged, a wasteful process of hydrolysis drained away about half of the battery’s energy.

With today’s technology and advanced research, University of Southern California found a solution to this  problem. They learned that adding a small amount of bismuth sulfide into the battery shut down the harmful reaction and reduced the waste of energy more than tenfold, from 50 down to just 4% .

The other good characteristic cost-effective design of its iron electrode. The researchers combined iron powder with a polyethylene binder, heating the mix to obtain a “pressed-plate” electrode that is simple to make and has high specific energy.

The iron-air battery is exhibiting very promising durability, with a target life of 5,000 charge-discharge cycles. Even more importantly, the batteries seem to retain good performance when they are being drained quickly: at a two-hour rate of discharge, the batteries are showing a twenty-fold increase in capacity compared to commercially available electrodes.

Shanghai Metal Corporation encourages the development and innovation of new technologies. You can visit the company’s website , contact us and follow us on twitter and facebook for more information and news on metal.

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Houria // SMC Editor

Solar-Powered Water Wheel in Baltimore cleans 50,000 Pounds of Trash per Day

source: http://www.nbcnews.com

If you go to Baltimore this summer,you might see a strange looking machine strolling slowly in the Harbor. This machine is called the Inner Harbor Water Wheel and its main task is to clean up the trash that gets thrown into the water.Powered by 30 solar panels and the water current, the wheel is able to remove approximately 50,000 pounds of trash per day. It’s estimated that the wheel will stay in use for at least 15 years and by 2020 the harbor will become clean enough to be used for recreational purposes.

Baltimore solar powered wheel – source: healthyharborbaltimore.org

The wheel was invented by John Kellett and it works as follow: two orange booms help funnel debris towards the Wheel, where  trash is intercepted and pushed it onto a moving conveyer belt which empties out into a 16 yard dumpster, located on top of a floating dock. Once the dumpster is full, the dock is detached, hooked up to a boat, and then taken to a RESCO waste-to-energy plant, where the trash is incinerated and turned into electrical energy. The incredible machine has also a secondary use which is to put more oxygen into the water through the rotation of the waterwheel. It helps to attract more fish and improve habitat conditions and water quality. . As a project of the Healthy Harbor Living Laboratory, the Water Wheel also serves to educate people about storm-water management and the Inner Harbor.

source: blog.savatree.com

source: nbcnews.com

The important element about the wheel is the material used. In fact Galvanizing was chosen as a coating because of its sustainability and its reaction to a constant contact with water. Galvanized steel has a very high resistance to humidity but also doeasn’t require costly maintenance over the next 15 years.  Another factor was keeping down maintenance costs to a project that already cost over $800,000 to put together.

source: inhabitat.com, galvanizeit.org

Shanghai Metal Corporation understand the importance of a green environment and is a manufacturer of Galvanized steel and many other products used for sustainable projects all over the world. For more information, you can visit the company’s website or contact us for any inquiry.

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Houria // SMC Editor

Distribution Poles: From Wood to Hot Dip Galvanized Steel

With the increasing demand of eco-friendly ans sustainable products from both the public and private sector, the main sector to improve is the energy sector itself.
Distribution pole are the main vectors of electricity and have become over the century a common view of our roads and fields. 

wood distribution pole

Steel poles are becoming increasingly popular among utility companies for building  distribution lines or for replacing the traditional wood poles. Many reasons push these companies to use steel ans invest in the new distribution poles. In this article we will try to summarize the benefit of hot dip galvanized steel mainly reported from linemen who have worked with both wood and steel

distribution pole – source: wikipedia.org

Wood pole VS Steel pole

Lighter: 

For similar strengh, a steel pole is 30 to 60% lighter than a wood pole. This makes them easier to lift, load, install and  handle in general.

Cheaper: Thanks to continuous improvement of quality and manufacturing process of steel poles the cost of steel poles come down to a point where they became competitive with wood. 

Flexible:  

Unlike wood poles which can only have a certain maximum size determined by the size of the tree taken from,  the size of wood poles can be determined freely according to the need. Steel poles can be made to handle virtually any load and in any length and can also be made as single piece poles or in sections if that would help handling them in the field.

More Sustainable: 

Galvanized steel poles were a response deforestation issues steel is one of the most recyclable materials around so there is never any environmental concern over disposing steel. an old pole will be recycled to make a multitude of other products. Also , the protective system that is required to cover steel poles is made of zinc which is also an environmentally friendly material and virtually 100 percent recyclable. In addition. The coating systems have been improved so much over the years that it has reduced  the maintenance needed and improved their life expectancy of the poles.

Safer:  

The steel structures do not require a full-length copper grounding wire. They are already self conducting for grounding purposes. As a result, no installation of a ground wire is required.

lineman on distribution pole source: wikipedia.org

source: steel.org,  smdisteel.org

Shanghai Metal Corporation manufactures hot dip galvanized steel products because it believes in its potential and encourages its use for a more sustainable industry and a clean environment.
For more information, you can visit the company’s website or contact us for any inquiry.

Scan the QR code below and stay informed about our latest updates:

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Houria // SMC Editor