Towards a Greener Future: How Denmark’s Energy Island Project Leads the Way for Organizations to Develop Sound Sustainable Practices

Denmark's Energy Island

Denmark’s “energy island” will mark the first of its kind. Funded by both the government as well as the private sector, this project is designed to supply electricity for three million households in Denmark and may also extend its reach to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. There are even plans to use green hydrogen for shipping and transportation.

The island will be located 50 miles off the eastern coast, its total size will be anywhere from 120,000 to 360,000 square meters and it will house 200 offshore wind turbines. From a cost perspective, it will be the largest construction project the country has undertaken, with an estimated total cost of $34 billion (€28 billion).

Under Denmark’s Climate Act, the country has committed to an ambitious 70% reduction in 1990 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and to becoming CO2 neutral by 2050. On top of that, leaders recently … Read more...

EHS This Week: Emission Trends in Canada, Massachusetts brings Solar Power to Public Housing and More!

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • Emission Trends in Canada
  • Massachusetts brings solar power to public housing
  • NIOSH warns of prolonged standing at work

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. Until next week, enjoy the program!

EHS This Week Resources

For more information on the stories and resources mentioned in this week’s podcast, check out the links below.

  • Canada’s Emission Trends Report 2014.Click here

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Tips for slips, trips and falls, OSHA renewed alliance, 10 sustainable energy trends that changed business in 2013, and more on EHS This Week.

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • Tips for slips, trips and falls
  • OSHA renewed alliance
  • 10 sustainable energy trends that changed business in 2013, and more.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you.

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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The post-election regulation landscape, chaos in Fresno and more on EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • What the U.S. regulatory landscape might look like over the next four years.
  • Progress in reducing incidents in the meat industry.
  • Worker violence in Fresno and more.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program! Sign up for the I2P2 webinar we mention here.

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Benefits of mobile on the rise for energy and utilities companies

More and more, here in the Intelex Energy and Utilities team, we’re seeing a strong need for mobile access in all areas of the Energy-Utilities community. Energy is generated and delivered in a variety of ways throughout the world and reaches out far from centralized stations and hubs. Therefore, the need to have mobile access on a residential, commercial and/or corporate level is becoming much more of a ‘must-have’.  

Whether it’s through downloaded apps or web-based access, residential and commercial customers can quickly report an outage and check on restoration status or have at-a-glance visibility into outages within their communities.  They can easily access their account summary and history, make payments or submit a meter reading.  Utility companies themselves are able to relay information throughout the organization very quickly, 24 hours a day.

Outside of the direct impact on customers, these companies can leverage the right web-based mobile solutions … Read more...

Think wind power can’t meet our needs? The EU is getting closer to proving you wrong.

While climate talk has by no means been centre stage in this year’s presidential election, it’s quite a different story across the pond. In recent years, the comparatively progressive European Union member states have been turning up the dial on climate concern, and it’s not all hot air. They’ve undertaken a number of initiatives recently, particularly on the wind front, and the numbers are in…and they’re impressive, to say the least.

Though wind power is rarely taken seriously in North America, it’s practically a religion across many parts of Europe. That could be fueled in part by a 2009 European Environment Agency report that confirmed that the continent’s onshore and offshore wind energy potential, harnessed, could meet the EU’s overall energy needs many times over.

A significant milestone was announced last week when the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) reported that more than 100 GW of wind power have … Read more...

Make sure you aren’t overlooking safety observations….

In the world of Power Utilities, the idea of recordable incidents, corrective actions, refresher training, etc. often comes up. What is becoming more and more apparent with an increase in overall Safety Awareness is a move towards safety observations and exchanges.

Employees are now, more than ever, being encouraged to record an observation around safety to be more proactive and prevent future incidents from taking place. Always looking for and recognizing potential hazards doesn’t mean there’s a need for more training or a “process” to be launched, it can just be something for other employees should be made aware of; either by recording it in a system or just a discussion over the water cooler or during a monthly evaluation with management.

Safety exchanges are shared at the start of meetings, or again during employee evaluations to further promote safety awareness company-wide. As a result of this proactive behavior, we’re … Read more...

Roller Coaster mishap, India’s power crisis, workers’ compensation costs drop in 2010 and more on EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we take a look at the top stories in environment, health and safety news, including:

  • Cal-OSHA’s investigation of a scary roller coaster mishap.
  • A downward trend in workers’ compensation costs across the U.S.
  • Great news on wind power trajectories and a whole lot more.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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OSHA partnership with FRA, Halle Berry’s on-set injury, Denmark’s wind power ambitions and more on EHS This Week

On this week’s edition of EHS This Week:

  • OSHA’s new alliance with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) tackles whistleblower protection.
  • The EPA puts some serious cash towards water quality.
  • Denmark lives up to its reputation for excellence in renewable energy with some staggering numbers.

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments at paul@ehsthisweek.com. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. 

Until next week, enjoy the program!

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Tons of OSHA news, energy and climate initiatives out of Scotland and Australia, and more on EHS This Week Podcast

This week Kristy and I discuss revised rules on hazardous dust explosions, Scotland’s Climate Justice initiative (the first of its kind in the world), energy investments in Australia, all sorts of OSHA news and a whole lot more. 

Got an idea for an EHS story? Care to come on our program? Just write us at paul@ehsthisweek.com and we’ll make it happen.

Enjoy the show!

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