I have been browsing TED.com again the last few days and came across these two highly interesting talks. This time about sea life.

“Growth in the wind energy sector is attributable to a huge range of factors, including financial confidence, technological advancements, legislative support from local governments and increased public support and awareness” writes David Blake, Recruitment Manager for Allen & York.

The UK has reached 8 GW of installed wind power capacity at the start of 2012, according to trade association RenewableUK. However, with the government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap calling for 31 GW of onshore and offshore wind combined by 2020, more investment is required.

The Crown Estate has already committed over £100 million in order to help develop offshore wind projects and 2012 is expected to be a significant year for the offshore wind industry, with potentially 5 farms becoming operational with over 1.3 GW of generating capability.

This article by Renewable Energy Recruitment Specialists, Allen & York, takes a look at the developing careers within the UK Offshore wind industry, specifically exploring the impact and progress of Round 3 on the jobs market and the growing need for investment in training the renewable energy workforce of the future.

Last year, global investment in renewable energy rose by 32% to $211 billion. And $142 billion of that was new financial investment, which excludes government and corporate R&D.
The UK is currently the world leader in the generation of offshore wind energy; this is thanks to the first two rounds of site allocations for offshore wind farms which together comprise 8GW of generation capacity. As offshore wind generation is a key component in the UK’s renewable energy strategy going forward, the UK government is relying upon plans to extend this success through and beyond Round 3.
In 2008, the allocations for Round 3 were launched, with high hopes of producing an additional 25GW of offshore wind energy. The successful bidders were announced in early 2010 bringing with them a large number of job opportunities for the UK offshore wind industry.
“Taking the Bain & Company reports into account, it has been suggested that 45,000 British jobs will be created due to Round 3 adding another 20GW of offshore wind capacity”. This is a significant increase from rounds 1&2 (8GW); and there will be a growing demand for skilled and experienced workers. The majority of wind energy career opportunities will fall specifically within the areas of Design, Manufacturing, Construction and Installation. As leading renewable energy recruiters who specialise and understand the technical demands within the wind energy sector, our role at Allen & York is to identify talented professionals with experience, as well as those with transferable skills. Currently there simply aren’t enough skilled professionals to fill the potential demand within the Offshore market and industry needs to attract professionals with qualifications in Science & Engineering, as well as increasing the number of training courses to reduce the barriers of entry into this market.” Alex Hume, Wind Energy Recruitment Consultant, Allen & York.

Wind energy companies are increasingly willing to recognise the value of transferable skills and are investing in their own training schemes to support this. The obvious sector with a transferable skill set is the Oil & Gas market. However, companies will need to offer competitive salary and benefits packages to compete and attract professionals at the levels they require.

The business opportunities are being recognised around the UK, with companies such as Scottish Enterprise announcing an investment of £900,000 in January this year, to support the growth of the Wind Energy industry in Scotland. Chief Executive, Lena Wilson comments; “Many of our existing strong industry sectors such as oil and gas, engineering, aerospace and construction have transferable skills and expertise for the offshore wind market. With construction of offshore wind farms around the UK imminent, we want Scottish businesses to maximise the economic opportunity.”

There are exciting opportunities for individuals and companies looking to enter this new and innovative industry. Round 3 will undoubtedly provide huge scope for employment and the consultants at Allen & York will act quickly to source the right people for the increasing number of renewable energy job opportunities. Raising awareness of offshore job opportunities and providing the right incentives and training schemes to encourage cross skilling are vital for the success of the UK renewable energy industry and Allen & York are at the centre of this recruitment drive.

For the latest roles and specialist Renewable Energy Recruitment solutions, please visit www.allen-york.com

Historically, the most well-known ethical code is the Ten Commandments in the Bible. I could compare it to five plus five fingers on two hands. Its force is faith, which is educated as the Apostles’ Creed among Christians, and I could compare the Apostles’ Creed to five plus five toes on two feet. This is a very sophisticated design, but I like my own ethical code more, so I created 20 good advice instead. My ethics is based on utility to me or to the environment I am part of, so my ethical code is about rational advice, and not about commandments of faith. Here I suggest that you follow my ethical code or use another.

In short, my ethical code focuses on the survival and happiness, or in other words, on the health and power of both the human and Nature. If I have power, then my will happens more times, thus I am more happy, and if I am more happy, I think I can live longer. So here’s my list, with two extra arguments for each advice:

1. Try to be independent and free

- living creatures are more free than robots

- independent economy is more environmental than the modern

2. Do rest enough, but don’t be lazy

- due resting is beneficial to the health and mental state

- “evil could win if good people don’t do anything”

3. Learn from Nature

- if you learn from Nature, you will respect it more

- Nature is a fountain of original knowledge

4. Only believe that which you consider proven based on your own experience

- if you learn from only books, the words don’t get strong root in you

- there are misleading teachings around the world

5. Don’t give up the hope in wonders

- no one has proven that wonders do not exist

- sometimes the only hope is in a wonder

6. Gather allies, but don’t trust in them blindly

- one human is weak alone, but strong in a group

- both Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ were killed because of former allies

7. Don’t speak too much about yourself

- it is harder to defeat an unknown enemy

- it is easier to make peace with more people if you are unknown

8. Protect Nature

- Nature is good for the education of the next generations

- Nature is the source of life, we cannot substitute it with anything else

9. Try not to be poor

- poor people should work for their living, they have not much time for anything else

- sometimes poor people get only such a work which is illegal or immoral

10. Consume only minimally

- some environmental problems are caused by overconsumption

- not using much electricity makes us more independent

11. Regulate population size

- natural areas were less and less because of overpopulation

- environmental problems are scaled by the rate of overpopulation

12. If it is not against your survival, take revenge for what is done against you

- if they know that you follow this policy, they will do less wrong to you or to your allies

- revenge is a Natural Law which does not need administrators

13. If it is not against your survival, return what is done for you

- if they know that you follow this policy, they will do more good to you or to your allies

- returning good deeds is a Natural Law which does not need administrators

14. Don’t block the spreading of common good knowledge by legal means

- if information is legally protected, people will research it for the money, and not because it’s good (also consider the video and music world)

- if information is legally protected, good people will have less chance to spread their good knowledge for free (e.g. in journals)

15. Move your body regularly

- this may be one of the secrets of good health

- physical strength may be needed to achieve our goals

16. Eat healthy: don’t be too fat and eat only organic food if you can

- this may be one of the secrets of good health

- it supports the environment as well, because it is more secure

17. Take part in some ceremonies of environmentalism (like Earth’s day)

- ceremonies may live stronger than their actual origins (e.g. Christmas)

- you can hear new ideas, you can meet new people there

18. Do good to those who return it

- alliances make you stronger

- it is wise to be the ally of the wise

19. Be extremely careful against the new technological advancements

- you don’t know who else can access your private data there

- technology could be like a Trojan Horse against you

20. Try to make favourable peace

- some say that happy peace is a secret to long life

- in a war there is a risk of losing

This ethical code or something similar could be an educational basis for some of the respected people of the 21st century if a community preserves it. Those who have mastered these advice and want to do more, should be wise and popular to be able to change politics.

Written by Arpad Fekete, this article is in the public domain.

From time to time we also share presentations we find interesting. This is the case with this global study and research project. Please let us know what you think if you have the chance.

We, TheEnvironmentSite.org, are looking for more guest bloggers. Our site is ever-growing and we also want to grow our number of guest bloggers writing about environmental or sustainability-related topics as well. Currently we have around 10 on-and-off guest bloggers. But we want more people to have the possibility to publish their blog posts on one of the most respected environmental sites on the web.

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All you need to do is to send me an email to networks (at) theenvironmentsite (dot)org and what you would like to write about.

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Option 2: I will sign you up on our Content Management System as a “Contributor” and you will be able to write your posts on our site. Once you are finished writing, send me an email and I will publish it with full credit to you as the author of course as well. The same as in Option 1.

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I have started a poll on my personal blog with the aim of identifying your favourite Social Media Channel for Sustainability / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) topics. The results will be published and some conclusions drawn once the poll has closed by the end of next week. It would be great if I could have your favourite Social Media channel if you have one. Or have I missed any?

This is the poll. Just tick the box or boxes and hit the vote button. That is it. Thanks for your help.

Our community is growing all the time. A lot of our growth is actually now driven my our membership is Social Media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and most recently Google+. Today we wanted to provide you with the list of Social Media sites we are part of.
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• Twitter
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Please take a moment to have a look around on our Social Media sites and connect with us!

Global leaders have until 2017 to devise a legally binding agreement to limit climate change warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
Responses to the deal reached by 195 countries at the climate change talks in Durban last week range from praising the compromise as a “historic agreement” to accusing it of giving in to polluters at the expense of the planet. However, the deal has all countries agreeing to work towards a legally binding emissions reduction scheme by 2015, to be implemented by 2020. It was forged in the last hours of the Conference of the Parties (COP).
Peter Hoskin, Senior Carbon and Climate Change Consultant at International Sustainability Recruitment Consultants, Allen & York has interviewed a number of leading professionals within the Carbon and Climate Change industry; gaining an insight into thought leaders opinions of the results achieved at COP17.

Who Peter Hoskin interviewed:
• Dan Staniaszek, Managing Director, Sustainability Consulting Ltd
• Cedric Bleuez, Managing Director, Carbon Market Data
• Lisa Zenter, Chief Sustainability Officer in Montreal, Quebec

1) China and the United States, ended their long time coalition of the unwilling and joined a historic UN climate deal in Durban on the final day of COP 17. How important do you think it is that the US and China have agreed to reach a legally binding agreement on pollution by 2015, to take effect in 2020?
Dan Staniaszek: This is a necessary, but not a sufficient response by the US and China. Clearly, without the world’s worst two emitters with one a developed country and the other a developing one, there would be no hope of a meaningful agreement. However, leaving it until 2020 to take effect is, according to most climate scientists, leaving it too late.
Cedric Bleuez: In the last few years, China has been much more pro-active than the US on the climate change mitigation front.
Lisa Zenter: As 2 of the 3 largest emitters of carbon in the world, the US in particular had to come to the table after not having ratified Kyoto. It would have been disastrous otherwise. As important as their agreement is however, 2020 is unfortunately very far away.

2) Many developing countries that are at risk of being swamped by rising ocean levels and extreme weather have said the deal marked the lowest common denominator possible and lacked the ambition needed to ensure their survival. What are your thoughts on this?
Cedric Bleuez: The world is currently losing some precious time before taking seriously the threat of climate change and deciding some real action on a global scale.
Lisa Zenter: When a conversation ensues involving such a wide scope of possibilities and an even wider number of players, the decisions reached are always going to lack punch. Every developing and industrialized country must individually implement legislation to help reduce emissions. The developing countries are at the highest risk, but all countries will suffer the effects of climate change.

3) South Africa insist that COP17 was a success, do you agree?
Dan Staniaszek: I read one report that diplomats cannot accept failure so any event must be couched in the language of success. I guess there is something to be said for keeping Kyoto alive, as it’s the only game in town.
Lisa Zenter: I think whenever you get the world’s leaders to agree to come to the table to discuss such critical issues, it’s a Win.
Cedric Bleuez: Let’s say it is not a failure. It will be possible to answer this question only when in 2015, if a legally binding agreement on pollution is signed by then, including the major polluters of the planet (i.e. China and US).

4) Is this a step forward for the world or backwards?
Lisa Zenter: The media attention and public opinion that surrounds these COP meetings bring much needed focus to the policy that our countries must quickly develop to reduce and reward appropriate fossil-fuel use and behavior.
Dan Staniaszek: Compared to a year ago, a pigeon step forward. Compared to 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was initially adopted, it’s a big step backwards.
5) What do you predict would be the effect on businesses?
Cedric Bleuez: Businesses will have to take the Durban deal into account when designing their business strategies beyond 2020 (which is quite a long distance businesswise). By 2020, oil price will probably be much higher than today. This will represent a big driver of business strategies, but also a driver of strong energy efficiency and clean energy policies for governments. It’s already the case today but this trend will increase dramatically.
Lisa Zenter: To comment specifically on the poor performance of Canada at these talks: as a result, we have seen and will continue to see the emergence of provincial and municipal governments and their communities rise up to have a voice above the federal government by implementing plans to reduce emissions and encourage the growth of the green economy.
Article written by Vicky Kendrick from Allen & York. Allen & York are a leading International Sustainability Recruitment Consultancy, specialising across the Energy, Environmental and Carbon and Climate Change sectors, for more information please visit www.allen-york.com

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See you around.

The TES team

This is a great video in my view. It makes so much sense in my view in order to make everyone realize that what we take for granted is not to be thrown away so easily.

What do you think?