The Green Journey

MH Green Office

Posted by JLow on Jun 25, 2010

Did you know that for 1 tonne of computer waste (for eg, obsolete hardware that is thrown out), it took 20 tonnes of raw resources to manufacture them?

That was one of the facts that was shared by our partner Wild Asia.

Yesterday they assisted in conducting a workshop for staff from various Malaysia Airlines departments. The turnout was rather good- there was a good spread of participation from cargo, commercial, IT, the training academy staff; just to name a few. We covered the effects of not being green or practising conservation or looking at the 3R’s.

We also looked at the simple ways that individuals can contribute, even in small ways. One such example was the Head of Group IT’s Business Solutions Group.

She had indeed made a pledge at the Townhall session, where she would stop using styrofoam products (I still have that pledge in the office!) True to her word, at her office she has since “mandated” that there would be no styrofoam cups for use in the pantry; where instead, she had replaced them with porcelain cups. If disposal cups are needed, it would have to be paper cups.

Good on you Suhana!

We also talked about how to get the rest of the department and company in on the conservation action. Ideas included staff incentives, competition, having conveniently located recycling bins, etc.

Not surprisingly though, the paramount concern shared by the participants is that there may not be (enough) support from management, particularly from HR and Property departments. I shared that, rightly so, management at the moment is more concerned with the EU ETS and the whole carbon (hedging) market. Such initiatives are on management’s radar, but just maybe not top priority.

Not saying that they would not participate, rather it is more of an issue of instilling and installing the proper policies and processes to support such activities. It has to come from the top.

It is therefore our task to bring this up to management’s attention. If we are serious in our journey towards sustainability, then this is the first of many steps.

At the end of the workshop, everyone was given a 3-month long “assignment”: To measure and monitor our water and electricity use, as well as the amount of garbage that is disposed.

It will be interesting to see what the figures are like, and also, how many will still be as keen on this journey as they were yesterday.

The sum of all parts

Posted by JLow on Jun 23, 2010

One of the visits on our recent IVLP trips was to find out and learn about what the top brains are researching into, with regards to aviation and the impact on the climate- MIT.

One of the presenters was Dr. Philippe Bonnefoy, who gave us both the scientific research findings as well as the business implications, or justifications of why the aviation industry has been doing all these decades.

I just wanted to show you some of the grabbing facts and figures that are quite daunting.

I would like to draw your attention to the second slide above.

After being blown away at first glance of that formula, but taking the time to examine each part of the formula it started to make sense to us- it was a summation of all parts of the aviation industry.

If you cannot see it properly, what is written in blue, from left to right, are:
“Demand (passenger traffic)”;
“1/average load factor”;
“1/aircraft size (fleet mix)”;
“Empty mass”;
“Payload mass”;
“Flight range and speed”;
“Propulsion (spec. fuel consumption)”;
“Aerodynamics (drag/lift)”;
“Fuel properties (alternative fuels)”.

We were amazed and glad that such research measures and efforts are being undertaken by this most-developed country; in looking for ways of mitigating the impact of all of aviation’s activities.

* Note the reference to ICAT; which are MIT International Center for Air Transportation:

Logan Airport- wind and solar

Posted by JLow on Jun 13, 2010

Continuing the IVLP series, another highlight for me was the visit to Boston’s Logan Airport- particularly, their experiments with wind and solar energy for the airport’s use.

On the way there in the bus I did note these fans…

After the introductory presentations and meetings with the Massport officials on airport management, we were treated to a guided tour of their airport and the new terminal and facilities.

One of the highlights of the tour was their eagerness to experiment with alternative sources of electricity.

It was noted that they had also tried to harness wind energy for electricity, but somehow had stalled it whilst concentrating on harnessing that of solar. The joke was that those 6 fans from the above photo, had (only) managed to power a few PC’s!

And so with their focus on solar, this was what they had done, and done successfully insofar as achieving the power levels desired.

They call these the “solar trees”, and rightly so.

On the top deck of their multi-storey carpark, were these solar trees, all 3 rows of them, spanning the whole length of the building.

In our tropical Malaysia with year-round sunny days, with the right investments and attitudes towards conservation and alternative energy I believe this is an example that we ought to follow, for all types of buildings and administration. And I don’t mean small panels for token’s sake. To really harness solar energy for real use in buildings, dedicated budgets and physical space must be allocated for real returns- not just enough for powering a few PC’s!

If serious considerations are given, I believe we too can emulate such an initiative and set examples for other locals to follow.

Greening our buildings, one at a time

Posted by JLow on Jun 9, 2010

Taking a quick break from the series on the IVLP visits, here’s a quick update on our internal efforts on greening the organisation.

I had posted before that we had begun engaging our internal folks on green efforts. In the meantime we had also started a program of encouraging and showcasing departments and/or buildings that are practising green activities. We thought to target departments whose building(s) are isolated or “stand-alone” enough- one that has its own, not-shared utility bills for easy monitoring and measuring.

We thought of the Malaysia Airlines Academy, at Kelana Jaya. It fits the above loose-criteria, and there are already departments which are practising some efforts in being responsible.

We held a quick meeting with them to introduce this effort and to get their participation- it wasn’t too hard to get them on board, they were already very keen and were already doing some conservation activities. After the meeting I had a quick tour and spotted this already along their corridor.

Good to see.

Yesterday we had a follow up meeting with them, to finalise the program, and to discuss officially launching it complete with means of measuring the efforts over the following 3 months.

After the meeting I went “spying” again, and spotted this.

GOOD TO SEE GOOD TO SEE

We will naturally share the progress of this program, and look into expanding it to include other departments and building / facilities.

Is your department as responsible?

IVLP – Airports and de-icing

Posted by JLow on Jun 7, 2010

In my last post I shared about the Malaysian delegation’s visit to the US, under the IVLP / US State Department.

As the topic was skewed towards aviation (and the environment), one of the agenda of the program was the environmental aspects of airports and its management.

So, since we were already in town ….

Danielle on hand to assist with the visits around the airport and meeting the officials

Massport, the officials who brought us around Boston's Logan Airport

Delegates being shown around the Logan Airport

As a non-pilot and not in the airports business, one of the things I learned during the Q&A during the privileged tour of the airport and runways, is- “What do you do with your de-icing fluids?”

De-icing: the process of removing frozen contaminant, snow, ice, slush, from a surface.

An American Airlines MD-80 aircraft being de-iced at Syracuse Hancock International Airport.

Definition and photo source from Wikipedia.org

As you know, Malaysia is a tropical country, and naturally residents like me, wouldn’t have thought to ask about this function, let alone what happens to the run-offs of such liquid wastes. But since among us there was a Malaysia Airlines pilot and an airport official, they were keenly asking questions related to this, and all I could do was try and learn about this operation as much as I could.

As we were told by the respective airport officials- Washington DC’s Dulles Airport does not collect the fluid run-offs, but Boston’s Logan Airport does.

In fact, from my personal observation Logan Airport seems to be more active in adopting green activities and efforts in their part in being green. One of the initiatives that they had trialled was wind energy. There was a joke about the array producing only enough electricity to power a few desktop PC’s only! But if that were true, their “solar trees” would have easily overcome this- they have a huge array of solar panels on the top floor of their open-aired car parking building.

* More about de-icing from wikipedia.org.

Other interesting points regarding this aspect of flying I had overheard was that even if a runway was de-iced ready for a take-off, if for whatever reason the plane was delayed for up to 45 minutes, that runway would have to undergo another de-icing exercise.

More highlights to come, especially the wind and solar energy use at Logan Airport..

Aviation and the impact on the Environment

Posted by JLow on Jun 2, 2010

As mentioned in the previous post, Malaysia Airlines was part of a delegation to visit, or rather, invited by the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

The program is under the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, US Dept of State.

Under the US’s foreign policy, the program’s basic intention is to foster mutual understanding between the US and other countries, through educational, professional and cultural exchanges. The visa under which the Malaysian delegation was issued is a “J1” type, specific for exchange programs. In this case its duration is only 30 days (unlike a tourist’s that is typically of 10 years’ duration).

The topic of Aviation and the Impact on the Environment is a new one for the organisers, and Malaysia was the first country the above authorities have identified and invited for this exchange and topic. The organizers had researched current initiatives and relevant topics related to the aviation industry, and had contacted and organized the respective authorities to meet with the delegation for sharing presentations, practices, and discussions; and also for tours of relevant facilities, such as engine manufacturers, airports, and environment-related research facilities. The Malaysian delegation is very pleased and honoured by this face-giving gesture and time accommodated by these high level officials. The hospitality showed by these officials was akin to that accorded to their best customers, even though we were only visitors.

Along with the above meetings the program had also factored in cultural experiences, such as dinner with host families, allowance for (where possible) events, museums and tours, as well as for the practice of tipping porters and taxi drivers during our various journeys.

Photo was taken at our visit to the VOLPE centre in Boston.

Incidentally, following very closely a few days behind ours is the delegation from Thailand, also under this same arrangement and topic.

More articles to recap this trip and the environmental topics, in coming days…

Aviation and the environment

Posted by JLow on May 30, 2010

Recently we were selected and invited by the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, to participate in their Aviation and the Impact on the Environment theme.

They have designed a range of new engines called PurePower, which saves fuel by being lighter, more fuel efficient, quieter, and cleaner emissions.

More details to follow; just wanted to share some of the photos from our visit to Pratt and Whitney the engine manufacturer; as one of the people and places on the program’s agenda.