Friday, July 25, 2008

Electronics giants to create wireless HD standard

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Electronics giants to create wireless HD standard

By Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) _ Sony, Samsung and other consumer-electronics heavyweights are uniting to support a technology that could send high-definition video signals wirelessly from a single set-top box to screens around the home.

The consortium due to be announced Wednesday is an important development in the race to create a definitive way to replace tangles of video cables, but doesn't end it -- both Sony and Samsung also are supporting a competing technology.

In the new consortium, Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., along with Motorola Inc., Sharp Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., will develop an industry standard around technology from Amimon Ltd. of Israel called WHDI, for Wireless Home Digital Interface.

"If you have a TV in the home, that TV will be able to access any source in the home, whether it's a set-top box in the living room, or the PlayStation in the bedroom, or a DVD player in another bedroom. That's the message of WHDI," said Noam Geri, co-founder of Amimon.

Amimon is already selling chips that fulfill part of that promise, but the creation of a broad industry group makes it more likely that consumers will be able to buy WHDI-enabled devices from different manufacturers and have them all work together.

Geri expects TVs with Amimon's chips to reach stores next year, costing about $100 more than equivalent, non-wireless TVs.

Wireless streaming of high-definition video is a relatively tricky engineering problem that many companies are trying to tackle. It can be done with the fastest versions of Wi-Fi, a technology already in many homes, but that requires "compression," or reduction of the data rate, with picture quality degrading as a result. There's also a delay in transmission as chips on both ends of the link work to compress, then decompress the image.

That's prompted much research into radio technologies that are faster, requiring less compression. A leading contender is WirelessHD, centered on technology from SiBEAM Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. It uses an open portion of the radio band, at 60 gigahertz, for ultrafast transmission of uncompressed video, but it could be years away from commercialization. Its range is limited, meaning that it would be used for in-room links rather than whole-house networking, like WHDI.

Sony is part of the WirelessHD group as well, and is supporting WHDI to have "wider options," the company said in a statement.

Samsung, on the other hand, looks at WHDI as a stopgap technology until the higher-picture-quality WirelessHD takes over. JaeMoon Jo, Samsung's vice president of TV research, said the company believes WirelessHD will be the "ultimate solution in the long run."

Still another contending wireless technology is ultra-wideband, or UWB. It requires less compression than Wi-Fi, but its range is more limited, generally to in-room networking. Monster Cable Products Inc. plans to introduce a kit that produces a wireless video link using UWB.

WHDI is less exotic than either WirelessHD or UWB. It uses a radio band at 5 gigahertz that's used by some Wi-Fi devices, which means it can take advantage of research in that field. To get around the limitations of the limited bandwidth, Amimon uses a clever trick instead of compression.

Before transmission, Amimon's chips separate the important components of the video signal, the ones that really make a difference to the viewer, from the less important ones, like tiny variations in color over a small area. It then gives priority to the important parts, while putting less effort into getting the fine nuances to the receiver.

That means the transmission works over relatively long distances, albeit with lower image quality as the distance increases.

Motorola has looked at competing technologies, but WHDI is the only group it's joined because of Amimon's "extremely unique" approach, said Paul Moroney, a Motorola research fellow who works with WHDI.

Motorola plans to build the technology into its set-top boxes, which are used by many cable providers around the country. But the first product will likely be a pair of adapters that talk wirelessly to one another. One could be attached to a set-top box, the other to a TV set, Moroney said.

Belkin International Inc. already sells a pair of adapters based on Amimon's chips for $1,000, and Sony has announced a similar set for its TVs. Moroney said Motorola hopes to sell a kit for significantly less than Belkin's price next year, as the technology matures.

Kurt Scherf, an analyst at Parks Associates, noted that wireless video technologies have been talked up for years, but haven't lived up to their promises so far. Professional audio-video installers surveyed by his firm aren't excited about wireless, because they're afraid of reliability problems.

Still, he said, WHDI's range should give it an edge, since it allows the technology to do more than just replace a cable in the entertainment center.

___

On the Net:

http://www.amimon.com

http://www.wirelesshd.org

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Electronics giants to create wireless HD standard

By Associated Press

Studie: Schiene nicht konkurrenzfähig

Frankfurt. Ein stark angestiegenes Welthandelsvolumen, längere und komplexere Lieferketten, zunehmende Verkehrsbehinderungen im Straßenverkehr, steigende Benzinpreise, CO2-Ausstöße sowie die globale Erwärmung stellen den Logistik-Sektor vor nie da gewesene Herausforderungen. Trotzdem ist ein deutlicher Transfer der Frachtgüter von der Straße weg auf die Schiene in naher Zukunft nicht zu erwarten. Dies ist das Ergebnis einer neuen, englischsprachigen Studie von Jones Lang LaSalle mit dem Titel: „Freight Transport: Road versus Rail – Modal changes ahead“.

In Europa dominiert im Inlandsverkehr nach wie vor der Transport auf der Straße und trotz zunehmender Probleme aufgrund des rasant ansteigenden Transportvolumens, dem starken Anstieg der Kosten und der dringender werdenden Fragen des Umweltschutzes, bietet die Straße deutlichere Vorteile in Hinsicht auf einen schnellen, effizienteren und zuverlässigeren Gütertransport. „Solange der Transport auf der Straße schneller und effizienter ist und die Kosten nicht westlich höher als beim Transport auf der Schiene, wird der Großteil der Logistikunternehmer einen Wechsel nicht wirklich in Erwägung ziehen“, so Chris Staveley, bei Jones Lang LaSalle Leiter Logistics innerhalb des European Capital Markets Teams. Darüber hinaus könne nicht übersehen werden, dass sich auch beim Straßentransport einiges getan hat. Technologische Neuerungen haben zu einer steten Verbesserung des Straßentransports beigetragen und diesen auch umweltfreundlicher gemacht.

Zukünftig wird die Nutzung umweltfreundlicher LKWs eine noch größere Rolle spielen. Die Notwendigkeit, die Lieferkette noch effizienter zu gestallten, wird die Bedeutung der Technologie weiter steigern. Die optimale Ausnutzung der LKWs und damit eine Reduzierung von Leerfahrten sowie eine verbesserte Routenplanung und ein optimaler Mix zwischen verschiedenen Transportarten wird in Zukunft eine Schlüsselstellung innerhalb der Lieferkette einnehmen. Moderne GPS Systeme werden dabei eine zentrale Rolle spielen. Die Straße behauptet sich als wichtigste Verkehrsader im Gütertransport – die Schiene ist noch nicht konkurrenzfähig „Die Schiene als bedeutende Alternative ist aufgrund von weiterhin bestehenden Einschränkungen also noch nicht konkurrenzfähig“, so Chris Staveley. Handycap sind begrenzte Ladekapazitäten, längere Transportzeiten, eine unzureichende Vernetzung zwischen den einzelnen Ländern sowie unterschiedliche Transportvarianten (Straße/Schiene/Wasser) und eine weniger zuverlässige Sendeverfolgung von Frachtgut. Dazu kommen Fragen der Sicherheit sowie höhere Kosten auf kürzeren Strecken verglichen mit dem Transport auf der Straße. Auch das eingeschränkte Streckennetz, das nicht erlaubt, alle Zielorte über die Schiene zu erreichen, verhindert einen deutlichen Anstieg des Schienenfrachtverkehrs.

„Neben einem steigenden Bewusstsein für Umweltfragen werden es letztlich die Kosten sein, die einen nachhaltigen Wechsel von der Straße auf die Schiene vorantreiben“. Der Preis für Diesel ist auf seinen bisherigen Höchstwert gestiegen und hat zu einem starken Anstieg der Transportkosten geführt. Immer mehr und höhere Straßenzölle und Umweltsteuern sowie weitere Einschränkungen im
Straßentransport, wie etwa die Begrenzung der zulässigen durchgehenden Fahrzeiten der LKW-Fahrer bedeuten deutlich höhere Transportkosten im Straßenverkehr. Um dieser Kostensteigerung entgegenzuwirken, versuchen die Logistiker zum einen den Anteil ihres Frachtaufkommens auf der Straße zu reduzieren. Zusätzlich zielen viele auf den Aufbau eines regionalen an Stelle eines zentralen Verteilernetzwerks, um so die Transportrouten zu den lokalen Verbrauchermärkten zu verkürzen.

Obwohl davon auszugehen ist, dass es noch mindestens 10 bis 15 Jahre dauern wird, bis sich der Schienenverkehr als nachhaltig konkurrenzfähig etabliert hat, stellt sich nach einer Umfrage von Jones Lang LaSalle bei den wichtigsten Logistikunternehmen europaweit immerhin die Hälfte der Logistikunternehmen schon heute auf eine solche Entwicklung ein, in dem sie Logistikstandorte mit direktem Zugang zur Schiene bevorzugen, auch wenn sie ihn noch gar nicht aktiv nutzt. Einige Entwickler sehen den Gleisanschluss darüber hinaus als Marketingtool im Kampf um Mieter an.

Allerdings zeigt diese Studie auch, dass die anderen 50 % der Nutzer diesen Service gar nicht nachfragen. „Während die einen also zukünftig mit einem deutlichen Anstieg ihrer Transportaktivitäten über das Schienennetz rechnen und sich entsprechende Optionen sichern, um kurzfristig eine Verlagerung des Gütertransports von der Straße auf die Schiene realisieren zu können, reichen der anderen Hälfte Gründstücke ohne Gleisanschluss völlig aus“, so Alexandra Tornow, bei Jones Lang LaSalle Leiterin EMEA Logistics Research. Und weiter: „Beide Varianten zeigen derzeit in der Preisgestaltung keine gravierenden Unterschiede. Potential bleibt hier also weitgehend preisneutral.“ (sv)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Find a Parking Space Online

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Find a Parking Space Online

Street-embedded sensors monitor parking availability.

By Kristina Grifantini

This fall, San Francisco will implement the largest mesh network for monitoring parking to date. Around 6,000 wireless sensors from the San Francisco company Streetline will be fixed alongside as many parking spots, monitoring both parking availability and the volume and speed of passing traffic. The city hopes that displaying information from the sensors on Web maps, smart phones, and signs on the street will reduce the traffic and pollution caused by circling cars.

A mesh network differs from a typical wireless network in that there's no central transmitter: every node can transmit to every other node. Mesh networks have generally been used for environmental monitoring, or to grant wireless devices Internet access.

When sensor networks have been deployed roadside, it's usually been to monitor traffic, not parking. In urban areas, traffic-monitoring systems have been used for congestion pricing: during business hours in downtown London, for instance, the license plates of cars are photographed, and the drivers are sent a bill. Some parking garages also have signs that tell drivers where the available spaces are, but such systems generally rely on manual car counting, not sensors.

Carspotting: Part of a mesh network, this sensor node embedded in a San Francisco street can detect when a car parks in the spot beside it. It also monitors passing traffic.
Credit: Streetline

In San Francisco, however, clusters of plastic-encased, networked sensors are embedded in the surface of the street. The main sensor in the cluster, which is commonly used to detect cars, is a magnetic one, says Jim Reich, the vice president of engineering at Streetline. Magnetic sensors detect when a large metal object locally disrupts Earth's magnetic field. One challenge with magnetic sensors is avoiding false positives. "We rely on the magnet the most, but in order to fix errors, we use other types of sensors [that] give you much higher reliability," says Reich. He won't elaborate on the supporting sensors, but he says that the Streetline system has 97 to 99 percent accuracy in recognizing parked cars.

To relay information, the Streetline sensors use Dust Networks' SmartMesh system, a spinoff of the Smart Dust project at the University of California, Berkeley, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Dust Networks CEO Joy Weiss says that SmartMesh networks are more than 99.99 percent reliable. The nodes can operate for an average of 10 years on two AA batteries before needing a replacement. "We were really the first ones able to build an entire network where every node in the network is able to run on batteries for years, and at the same time deliver very high reliability," says Weiss. "In most [other networks], these are a trade-off."

Dust Networks uses several techniques to combine efficiency and reliability. The first is redundant routing: if a signal doesn't go through the first time, the sending node tries other nearby nodes, or tries the same node after a period of time. A technique called channel hopping circumvents the interference associated with channels in the Wi-Fi range by assuming that changing channels every few seconds is more efficient than trying to find a good or bad channel, says Weiss. To save power, she adds, the nodes go to sleep in between transmissions.

The sensors in Streetline's monitoring system don't have any wires, which makes installation cheaper and easier than tearing up roads to put down cables. "You can literally just stick down these speed bumps and put a system in place," says Weiss. Every four to six blocks, however, is a wired receiver--usually on a lamppost or fire hydrant--that relays the sensor data to a central server, says Reich.

Another aspect of the network is that each additional node--such as the ones that the city plans to add to parking meters to allow for remote meter paying--improves the system. "Every new application essentially strengthens the network," says Reich. "When you put sensors in parking meters, they improve the quality connection of those in the ground, so the system gets [better] quality."

Eventually, the network may include noise and air detection sensors as well. "We intend to do a nervous system for the city," says Reich.

Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, is skeptical that the parking sensors will be helpful, however. "The aim of the system is to make driving downtown easier and less time consuming," he says. "What we know from economics is, when we reduce the cost of any good, the use of that good goes up." More convenient parking will entice more cars downtown, Sheffi suggests: "I'm not sure that they'll get less pollution and less traffic. I think they'll achieve the exact opposite." He adds, "Cities should not make it easier to drive. They should make it easier to use alternative modes of transportation." He suggests that congestion pricing, like London's, might be better at reducing traffic.

Reich, on the other hand, suggests that the increased information will help people make better decisions, based on projections of "how much of their time is actually going to be wasted driving around." He says that the system could suggest transit alternatives at the same time that it displays parking availability, and that it will eventually be able to predict whether parking spots will be available in a particular location by the time you get there.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

More trading could help to alleviate water shortages

Water

A soluble problem

Jul 19th 2008
From Economist.com

More trading could help to alleviate water shortages

AFP

SO WORLD markets are short of oil, and supplies of food are running thin. The prices of all sorts of basic commodities are soaring, and now there may also be reason for many to worry about the most fundamental of necessities—water. Some experts believe so, at least, and they are spreading doom-laden warnings of a Malthusian crisis in the world’s water supply.

Goldman Sachs, an investment bank which likes to ponder the future of the world, recently suggested that a global lack of water could prove to be a bigger threat to mankind than rising food prices or the depletion of energy resources. Sir Nicholas Stern, who reviewed the economics of climate change in a big report for the British government in 2006, is worried too. He points to some big local problems, for example in the Himalayas, where melting glaciers risk disrupting supplies of usable water in the region, just as many underground aquifers are drying up. He argues that water—at least the fresh sort—is not a renewable resource, and because it is not priced properly it has been “mined” without restraint.

Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years says Goldman Sachs. According to Sir Nicholas, in many places supplies are running short as rising consumption cannot be matched by fresh rainfall. As a result, suggests Goldman Sachs, the price of water is bound to rise: bad news for the poor and thirsty, but an opportunity for investors. The excited bank even suggests that water might be considered to be the “petroleum for the next century”.

It expects profits to be made less from selling the stuff directly, and more from investments in infrastructure and new technology. The bank estimates that America alone needs to spend around $1 trillion on new pipes and waste-water plants by 2020. It estimates that the higher-tech side of the industry—for example in desalination efforts, or ultraviolet disinfection—is now worth $425 billion dollars, globally.

There could be plenty of money to be made in supplying water. However, more efficient use of the stuff depends on pricing it properly. Mark Zeitoun, a researcher at the London School of Economics, suggests that agriculture is responsible for the greatest waste of water, largely because of government subsidies. Farmers often plant water-intensive crops which slurp up supplies precisely where they are most limited. Growing potatoes, a thirsty crop, in Israel looks to be particularly wasteful, especially given desperate shortages of water in nearby Palestinian territories. Similarly Egyptian oranges, Australian cotton and Californian rice require huge amounts of water to produce crops that could in theory be cultivated more easily and cheaply in wetter climates. But when such crops produce valuable exports and create local jobs, governments have been keen to provide subsidised water.

Local conditions and needs vary so much that talk of a global water shortage is misleading. In total there is more than enough water for all, but it is often in the wrong place and is difficult and expensive to transport. And discrepancies are likely only to get worse as the effects of climate change becomes more pronounced. That Canada and Brazil have more water than they need is of little consolation to parched Yemen and northern China. Even within individual countries distribution is unequal. Cherrapunji is one of the wettest places on earth; elsewhere in India, Gopalpura receives only a few inches of rain a year. Surprisingly though, it is Cherrapunji which suffers the water shortages. Sensible water management would go a long way to redressing the balance.

Better functioning water markets would be one way to share out water more efficiently. Once governments have defined water rights clearly, farmers, and others who use water, could be encouraged to trade, first with each other and with industrial and urban users. Allotting options that can be taken up as and when required rather than handing out permanent water rights would encourage water trading and avoid accusations of water “theft”. It may be difficult to rein in the world’s extravagance with water, but Byron had it right when he wrote: “Til taught by pain, men really know not what good water is worth.”

Eat your way to a better brain

Cognition nutrition

Food for thought

Jul 17th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Eat your way to a better brain

CHILDREN have a lot to contend with these days, not least a tendency for their pushy parents to force-feed them omega-3 oils at every opportunity. These are supposed to make children brainier, so they are being added to everything from bread, milk and pasta to baby formula and vitamin tablets. But omega-3 is just the tip of the nutritional iceberg; many nutrients have proven cognitive effects, and do so throughout a person’s life, not merely when he is a child.

Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a fish-loving professor of neurosurgery and physiological science at the University of California, Los Angeles, believes that appropriate changes to a person’s diet can enhance his cognitive abilities, protect his brain from damage and counteract the effects of ageing. Dr Gómez-Pinilla has been studying the effects of food on the brain for years, and has now completed a review, just published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, that has analysed more than 160 studies of food’s effect on the brain. Some foods, he concludes, are like pharmaceutical compounds; their effects are so profound that the mental health of entire countries may be linked to them.

Last year, for example, the Lancet published research showing that folic-acid supplements—sometimes taken by pregnant women—can help those between 50 and 70 years old ward off the cognitive decline that accompanies ageing. In a study lasting three years, Jane Durga, of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and her colleagues found that people taking such supplements did better on measures of memory, information-processing speed and verbal fluency. That, plus evidence that folate deficiency is associated with clinical depression, suggests eating spinach, orange juice and Marmite, which are all rich in folic acid.

Another suggestion from Dr Gómez-Pinilla’s review is that people should eat more antioxidants. That idea is not new. Antioxidants are reckoned by many to protect against the general effects of ageing. Vitamin E, for example, which is found in vegetable oils, nuts and green leafy vegetables, has been linked (in mice) with the retention of memory into old age, and also with longer life.

Dr Gómez-Pinilla, however, gives the antioxidant story a particular twist. The brain, he observes, is peculiarly susceptible to oxidative damage. It consumes a lot of energy, and the reactions that release this energy also generate oxidising chemicals. Moreover, brain tissue contains a great deal of oxidisable material, particularly in the fatty membranes surrounding nerve cells.

That suggests, among other things, the value of a diet rich in berries. These have been shown to have strong antioxidant effects, though only a small number of their constituents have been evaluated in detail. One group that has been evaluated, the polyphenols, has been shown in rodents to reduce oxidative damage and to boost the ability to learn and retain memories. In particular, these chemicals affect changes in response to different types of stimulation in the hippocampus (a part of the brain that is crucial to the formation of long-term memories, and which is the region most affected by Alzheimer’s disease). Another polyphenol, curcumin, has also been shown to have protective effects. It reduces memory deficits in animals with brain damage. It may be no coincidence that in India, where a lot of curcumin is consumed (it is the substance that makes turmeric yellow), Alzheimer’s disease is rarer than elsewhere.

Peas of mind

Though the way antioxidants work in the brain is not well known, Dr Gómez-Pinilla says it is likely they protect the synaptic membranes. Synapses are the junctions between nerve cells, and their action is central to learning and memory. But they are also, he says, the most fragile parts of the brain. And many of the nutrients associated with brain function are known to affect transmission at the synapses.

An omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), for example, provides membranes at synaptic regions with “fluidity”—the capacity to transport signals. It also provides “plasticity”—a synapse’s capacity to change. Such changes are the basis of memory. Since 30% of the fatty constituents of nerve-cell membranes are DHA molecules, keeping your DHA levels topped up is part of having a healthy brain. Indeed, according to the studies reviewed by Dr Gómez-Pinilla, the benefits of omega-3s include improved learning and memory, and resistance to depression and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, attention-deficit disorder and dyslexia.

Omega-3s are found in oily fish such as salmon, as well as in walnuts and kiwi fruit, and there is a strong negative correlation between the extent to which a country consumes fish and its levels of clinical depression. On the Japanese island of Okinawa, for example, people have a strikingly low rate of mental disorder—and Okinawans are notable fish eaters, even by the standards of a piscivorous country like Japan. In contrast, many studies suggest that diets which are rich in trans- and saturated fatty acids, such as those containing a lot of deep-fried foods and butter, have bad effects on cognition. Rodents put on such diets show declines in cognitive performance within weeks.

In the past few years, several studies have looked at the effect of adding omega-3s to people’s diets—particularly those of children. One such, carried out in the British city of Durham, was controversial in that it was funded by a maker of children’s omega-3 supplements and did not include a control group being given a placebo. Despite the publicity this study has received, Ben Goldacre, author of a book called “Bad Science” that includes an investigation of it, says the results will not be released.

Work by other researchers, however, has suggested such supplements do improve the performance and behaviour of school-age children with specific diagnoses such as dyslexia, attention-deficit disorder and developmental co-ordination disorder. Moreover, although more work is needed to elucidate the effects of omega-3s on healthy school-age children, Dr Gómez-Pinilla says that younger children whose mothers took fish-oil supplements (which contain omega-3s) when they were pregnant and while they were breast-feeding do show better cognitive performance than their unsupplemented contemporaries.

Eating well, then, is one key to a healthy brain. But a word of warning—do not overeat. This puts oxidative stress on the brain and risks undoing all the good work those antioxidants have been up to. For those who would like a little practical guidance, The Economist has some suggestions for dinner (see menu). So why not put the Nintendo brain trainer away tonight, and eat your way to intelligence instead?

The pros and cons of an eco-friendly nightclub

Green.view

Can green be groovy?

Jul 21st 2008
From Economist.com

The pros and cons of an eco-friendly nightclub

IT IS often said that environmentalists are too dour and self-denying to convert the frivolous mass of consumers to their cause. Tell that to the owners of Surya, a new disco in London that claims to be “the world’s first ecological club”. Its founder, Andrew Charalambous, believes that “all you have to do is dance to save the world.”

That sounds like something of an over-simplification. But Surya is full of green features. For starters, it generates all its power on-site through various renewable technologies, and even has some left over to donate to neighbours. There is a wind turbine and solar panels, along with batteries to store some of their output. More strikingly, it boasts a piezoelectric dance floor, which generates power thanks to the motion of the happy patrons jumping up and down.

club4climate.com

Dr Earth revels in his power

Energy-saving measures and recycled materials also loom large. There are no power-hungry light-bulbs, needless to say. The high-tech windows help to retain heat. The bar and the wooden shelves behind it are made from scrap wood, while the sofas, stools and coffee tables are made from unwanted bathtubs, cable drums and the like. Even the décor is recycled: it consists of old postcards, newspapers, matchboxes and compact discs, whittled into imaginative shapes or arranged in psychedelic patterns.

The toilets use hardly any water and the urinals none at all. The paint is chemical-free. The curtains are made of hemp. The marble and granite flooring and the wooden balustrades are “fair-trade”. The wine is organic and the beer is “bio”.

For anyone who somehow misses the thrust of all this, Surya also communicates its concern about the state of the planet through slogans painted on signs or flashed up on screens, along with images of deserts, dolphins and Thai people in boats. “Over the past 20 years, the average distances cycled and walked have both fallen by a quarter,” reads one. “1.2 billion people earn less than $1 a day,” laments another. “77% of foodstuffs grown in 1900 have now disappeared,” declares a third.

There is lots to sniff about. For one thing, it’s not clear how many people there are who yearn at once to boogie the night away, but worry too that by doing so they will place an unbearable strain on the planet. The claim that “Clubbing is the most energy-consumptive activity on the planet and engages in some shape virtually all the youth of the planet” seems breathtakingly naïve. What about aluminium smelting, and the teenagers of rural Africa?

More pettily, a rival outfit in Rotterdam seems to have come up with the idea of a “sustainable dance club” long before Mr Charalambous. It unveiled plans for a disco with a piezoelectric dancefloor, waterless urinals and bio-beer back in 2006, although its first venue will not actually open until September. It is also hard to believe that Surya is “the first business on the planet to donate surplus electricity to neighbouring residents”, as its publicity claims.

But it is hard not to feel a flicker of admiration for Mr Charalambous. For one thing, in an apparent tribute to Dr Evil, the spoof villain of the Austin Powers films, he dresses in white suits, shaves his head and styles himself “Dr Earth”. His ten-point plan for green enlightenment features such wise aphorisms as “Clubbing is a spiritual act” and “See the world as lateral. Not linear.” According to his biography, he is a former parliamentary candidate for the Conservative party, a tantric master, a poet and a Rosicrucian. Sixty percent of his diet is fruit. And he has promised to donate all the profits from Surya to Friends of the Earth, an environmental NGO.

Dr Earth is certainly right to reject the obvious complaint: that clubbing is a wasteful, indulgent pastime that should be sacrificed on the altar of environmentalism. Finding green ways for people to do the things they enjoy seems a much better way to save the planet than discouraging them outright. And if all this trendy eco-babble converts a few impressionable clubbers to the cause, so much the better.

But there are several drawbacks to the flaky, faddish school of greenery. The first is that trends come and go, yet the planet will still need saving if Dr Earth and his ilk decide they are more interested in macramé or tae kwon do. Second, and perhaps more importantly, conflating various right-on causes does not make them any easier to achieve. Putting an end to third-world poverty, rich-world obesity, biodiversity loss, climate change and the use of chemicals in wine-making all at once is clearly impossible. Agreeing on the causes to include on the list, let alone acting on them all, would be quite a task—especially while concentrating on cutting a dash on the dancefloor.

China-Verkehre: "Erhebliche Engpässe drohen"

xChina-Verkehre: "Erhebliche Engpässe drohen"

Im Interview mit der VerkehrsRundschau, Schwesterzeitschrift von LOGISTIK inside, erklärt Markus Rodatz, Regional Head of Operations China & Taiwan bei Panalpina, wie sich die verschärften Sicherheitsvorschriften für Verkehr, Transport und Sicherheit in China auf die Logistik während der Olympischen Spiele auf die Logistik auswirken.

VerkehrsRundschau: Hat die Pekinger Führung tatsächlich die Sicherheitsvorschriften für Verkehr, Transport und Sicherheit verschärft? Wenn ja, welche Bestimmungen besonders und inwiefern?

Markus Rodatz: Ja, es gibt diverse Restriktionen und verschärfte Sicherheitsvorschriften, die von den chinesischen Behörden kommuniziert wurden. Die Restriktionen sind vorwiegend darauf ausgerichtet, die Luftverschmutzung zu reduzieren, den automobilen Straßenverkehr zu regulieren und die allgemeine Sicherheit zu gewährleisten. Die wichtigsten Maßnahmen lassen sich wie folgt zusammenfassen:
1. In einem Radius von 200 Kilometern um Peking werden Fabriken mit hoher Luftverschmutzung in dem Zeitraum von 17. Juli bis 20. September 2008 entweder geschlossen oder stark reduziert. Dies gilt auch für Kraftwerke, was wiederum zu einer eventuell reduzierten Stromversorgung führen könnte.
2. In dem Zeitraum von 1. Juli bis 20. September dürfen nur Verkehrsmittel mit einer grünen Umweltplakette im Raum Peking fahren. Diese Maßnahme reduziert die Anzahl der verfügbaren LKW um 85 bis 90 Prozent! Außerdem dürfen Warentransporte (LKW) – mit Ausnahme von speziell lizenzierten „olympischen LKW“ – nur in den Stunden 0 bis 6 Uhr innerhalb der „Sechsten Ringstrasse“ fahren. Da der Flughafen zwischen der fünften und sechsten Ringstraße liegt, werden die Warentransporte erheblich erschwert. Eine weitere Maßnahme besagt, dass im Zeitraum vom 20. Juli bis 20. September an abwechselnden Tagen jeweils nur Fahrzeuge mit geradem bzw. ungeradem Nummernschild fahren dürfen (heute = gerade, morgen = ungerade, übermorgen = gerade).
3. Diverse Restriktionen bezüglich des Transportes von Gefahrgütern sowohl für Luft, See und Straßentransport gibt es starke Beschränkungen, die sogar in den meisten anderen chinesischen Städten (insbesondere den Partner/Gastgeberstädten Schanghai und Qingdao) zum Tragen kommen. Aufgrund unterschiedlicher „Auslegungen“ und regelmäßigen Veränderungen der Restriktionen durch örtliche Behörden prüfen Luft- und Seefrachtcarrier, ob sie überhaupt Gefahrenguttransporte akzeptieren sollen. Gerade im Bereich Seefracht gibt es diverse Carrier, die sämtliche Gefahrengutbuchungen im Zeitraum der Olympischen Spiele zurückweisen.
4. Bereits Mitte April wurden die Sicherheitsverfahren am Flughafen von Peking dahingehend verschärft, dass sämtliche Waren/Güter durchleuchtet (X-Ray) werden müssen. Größere Packstücke, welche nicht durch die X-Ray-Maschine passen, müssen mindestens 48 Stunden am Flughafen gelagert werden, bevor sie verfrachtet werden dürfen.

Welche Erschwernisse kommen damit auf Industrie-, Handels- und vor allem Logistikunternehmen wie Panalpina zu? Seit wann und wie lange sollen diese gelten?

Die wahrscheinlich größten Erschwernisse sind im Bereich Straßentransport zu erwarten. Aufgrund der limitierten Anzahl LKW sowie der tageszeitlichen Beschränkungen wird es zu erheblichen Engpässen kommen. Auch aufgrund der erhöhten Sicherheitsvorkehrungen wird es daher zu verlängerten Lieferzeiten kommen. Der Transport von Gefahrgutsendungen wird ebenfalls stark beeinträchtigt und es ist davon auszugehen, dass gewisse Güter überhaupt nicht transportiert werden können (zum Beispiel DG Class 1).

Wie wirken sich die Erschwernisse auf Logistikunternehmen konkret in der Praxis aus? Welche Branchen und welche Art von Unternehmen ist besonders stark betroffen?

Im Prinzip sind sämtliche Branchen und Unternehmen betroffen, die mit Groß-, Einzel und Außenhandel zu tun haben und im Raum Peking ansässig sind. Überregional - aber natürlich auch verstärkt in Peking - werden sicherlich Unternehmen mit Gefahrgutsendungen am meisten betroffen sein.

Bitte nennen Sie uns ein konkretes Fallbeispiel, in dem Probleme bei Panalpina aufgetaucht sind. Wie hat Ihr Unternehmen diese gelöst?

Da der Flughafen in Peking zwischen der fünften und sechsten Ringstrasse liegt, dürfen die meisten LKW nur im Zeitfenster zwischen 0 Uhr (Mitternacht) und 6 Uhr morgens Waren transportieren und anliefern. Um eine weiterhin reibungslose Warenannahme und Zulieferung zum Flughafen zu gewährleisten, hat Panalpina ein zusätzliches temporäres Lagerhaus etwas außerhalb der sechsten Ringstrasse angemietet. Somit kann Panalpina Sendungen von Kunden außerhalb von Peking ganztägig (24/7) in Empfang nehmen und entsprechend nachts mit einem Sammel-LKW am Flughafen anliefern. Eine weitere Möglichkeit für den obigen Fall besteht im frühzeitigen Planen der Sendungen, um gegebenenfalls ein neues Routing zu benennen. So werden wir z.B. im Bereich Luftfracht verstärkt alternative Flughäfen wie Tianjin benutzen.

Was macht Panalpina konkret in dieser Situation? Welche Alternativen geht man nun an?

In den vergangenen Wochen hat Panalpina eine Vielzahl „potenzieller“ Problemen definiert und analysiert. Für Probleme, die nicht - wie der obige Fall - konkret sind, wurden sogenannte „Business Continuity Plans“ ausgearbeitet, die wiederum im Detail beschreiben, welche Maßnahmen vorgenommen werden müssen, falls das Problem tatsächlich eintrifft. Zusätzlich wird unser Unternehmen während den Spielen eine spezielle Task Force in Peking installieren, die sich losgelöst von den täglichen operationellen Aufgaben, um das gesamte Event-Management kümmern wird. Diese Gruppe von Mitarbeitern wird etwaige Veränderungen bei den Einschränkungen überprüfen und in Zusammenarbeit mit den Kollegen aus der Abwicklung sowie dem Management gezielte Maßnahmen ergreifen und implementieren. Das Ziel ist selbstverständlich, einen weiterhin reibungslosen Service anbieten zu können.

Was rät Panalpina Industrie- und Handels- sowie Logistikunternehmen nun angesichts dieser Situation zu tun? Welche Alternativen sollten diese insbesondere in logistischer Hinsicht jetzt treffen? Lohnt sich etwa der Umstieg von Luft- auf Seefracht-Beförderung oder aber bei extrem wichtigen Produkten auch umgekehrt?

Am wichtigsten ist es, frühzeitig zu planen und zusätzliche Zeit für sonst normale Abwicklungen einzukalkulieren. Das trifft sowohl auf Logistik-, als auch Industrie und Handelsunternehmen zu. Während Logistikunternehmen sich frühzeitig mit den jeweiligen potenziellen Restriktionen auseinandersetzen und entsprechende Lösungsmöglichkeiten ausarbeiten müssen, sollten Industrie- und Handelsunternehmen innerhalb ihrer Lieferkette gewisse Verzögerungen beziehungsweise eine verlängerte Auftragsbearbeitung einplanen. Da man nach wie vor davon ausgehen muss, dass die Behörden weitere Restriktionen herausgeben werden bzw. bestehende Sicherheitsverfahren sich eventuell wieder verändern, ist es wichtig, genügend Zeitpuffer für die Transportplanung und -abwicklung einzurechnen.
Aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Auslegung gewisser Einschränkungen (entweder bei lokalen Behörden oder bei Carriern), werden auch die administrativen Arbeitsabläufe langwieriger.

Stichwort Gefahrgut: welche Güter sind in nächster Zeit völlig verboten, nach und aus China zu befördern? Wie lange gilt dieses Verbot?

Dies ist nicht ganz einfach zu beantworten, denn man muss klar unterscheiden zwischen offiziellen Restriktionen der Behörden und internen Richtlinien/Verfahrensweisen der Luft- und Seefrachtcarrier. Vor allen Dingen bei den Reedereien (aufgrund der langen Transportwege/-zeiten), scheint eine gewisse Zurückhaltung zu bestehen. Um zu verhindern, von möglichen neuen oder sich ändernden Vorschriften überrascht zu werden, lehnen viele Seefrachtcarrier sämtliche Gefahrgutsendungen ab, selbst wenn diese derzeit laut Hafenbehörden nach wie vor möglich sind. Im Bereich Luftfracht ist die Situation momentan etwas besser geregelt, da es eine klare Regulierung von der CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) gibt. Während es für chinesische Carrier ein DG Embargo gibt (d.h. keine DG Transporte dürfen durchgeführt werden), sind ausländische Carrier nicht betroffen. Im Bereich Seefracht gibt es unterschiedliche Bestimmungen der Häfen und entsprechender Ankündigung der Hafenbehörden. Im Zeitraum vom 18 Juli bis Anfang September (und eventuell sogar Ende September) wird es voraussichtlich schwierig, Gefahrgüter (mit Ausnahme von Class 9) von und nach China zu organisieren.

Was sind überhaupt die Gründe für die genannten Blockaden, Verbote, Einschränkungen?

Die Gründe sind vor allem bei der Gewährleistung der Sicherheit und der Sorge um die Luftqualität zu suchen, aber auch, um Engpässe in den Häfen, Flughäfen und im Straßennetz zu verhindern.

Das Interview führte Eva Hassa.

Logistics Log

Friday, July 25, 2008