No 159: The Meryl Streep/Brad Pitt of the Water Industry

‘A list’ actors are those who are so successful that simply having their name associated with a film guarantees a box office hit. Think Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt. B-list actors are those who seldom headline, or only headline when they have notable supporting stars. Wikipedia tells me that Pierce Brosnan and Nicholas Cage are now both B listers, which seems wrong but the internet never lies. C-listers are those actors you recognise but can’t immediately name. D-listers are those that appear on game shows. Z-listers go on Big Brother.

This week I have been at the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit. Isle has been running a series of Innovation Competitions throughout the week. These Innovation competitions showcase the best of the best in the world of water technology. Three separate competitions over three separate days, covering Municipal, Industrial and Real Estate innovations respectively. I like to think of it as a smorgasbord of ‘A list’ technologies, with possibly the odd B-lister included (to make the A listers look even better).

It would be impossible to do justice to all the technologies here, suffice to say that I spent my days bouncing in wonderment from one mind-blower to another. There was the aeration process that ‘super oxygenates’ water, enabling not only a step change in wastewater treatment but also, somewhat bizarrely, a 15% saving in carbon when the super-oxygenated water is used to cure concrete (www.oxifiniti.com). Or the low-water-usage shower developed out of the NASA ‘Mission to Mars’ space programme (www.orbital-systems.com).  Or how about the holistic microcosm treatment process that wraps a whole ecosystem into a space not much bigger than a stamp (slight exaggeration on my part) (www.carexofsweden.com). Or the water conditioner that has no moving parts and uses no chemicals and has a payback of months. The amount of energy this simple device could save is truly ground breaking (www.halcyanwater.com).

These technologies, along with all the others too numerous to mention here, are all of course winners in their own right, in their own fields. Yet our guest judges had to select our metaphorical Streeps and Pitts. The Municipal award was taken by New Sky Energy (www.newskyenergy.com) for their gas sweetening technology that will revolutionise the treatment of hydrogen sulphide (a gas that smells so bad even my teenage student sons would complain if exposed to it). The Industrial winner was Saltech B.V (www.salttech.nl), a Dutch technology that can treat high salinity water in a low energy, single step process (ok…to a layman that might not sound like a big thing, but trust me it is). And the Real Estate winner was the WaterBlade, an astonishingly simple water saving device that uses 10% of the water from a conventional tap yet gives a gloriously luxurious handwashing experience (think Airblade hand dryers but with water) (www.waterblade.co.uk). Well done all.

Other highlights from this week include the intimate evening I spent at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence, schmoozing with innovators whose blood still pumps with Viking passion. Over my career I have been lucky enough to work with innovation ‘hubs’ from around the world but it was at this event that I met my first Arctic Innovation Hub. It must surely be the only one in the Arctic Circle. Apparently its popular with car manufacturers as a testing zone. They take cars to the point of destruction, testing their physical robustness and speed. Bearing in mind my recent driving challenges perhaps, just perhaps, a move to North Sweden is on the cards for the Clark family.

Final thought, the Abu Dhabi International Water Summit was opened by a spray of global world leaders and local dignitaries. These included the Presidents from Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and Montenegro. I guess somewhere there is an ‘A – Z List of World Leaders’ and they must all be acutely aware of where they sit on this list, jostling for position at each international pow-wow.

Following Theresa May’s recent comments re the UKs ‘hard Brexit’ I assume she is now awaiting the call to join the Big Brother house. 

For previous editions of these Notes please visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/

No 158: When it comes to court appearances, how often is too often?

My first appearance in court was back in the late 1980s. I had been driving for about a year and was involved in a car accident. The case was dismissed within minutes, not because I was wholly innocent (it had been one of those situations where neither party was paying enough attention), but because the other party started making statements that were patently untrue. My then girlfriend (who is now my wife) appeared in court beside me, partly as moral support, partly as a character reference, and partly because she had witnessed the event in question. I went into the courtroom fearing I would be banned, I walked out acquitted.

My second appearance was about 10 years later. Speeding cameras were still a relatively new phenomenon and following a spate of poor choices on my part I had accumulated more points on my license than is wise. I pleaded guilty. My time in court was mercifully brief. I went into the courtroom expecting to be banned, I walked out with a hefty fine and a slap on the wrists, but with my license still valid.  

My third appearance was earlier today. It may have been over 15 years since my last visit but little had changed. Except this time my wife was not with me to provide character support/shoulder to cry on (sensibly she had better things to do). I was charged with speeding, having been caught on camera driving at 69mph on the motorway in a 50mph zone. I pleaded guilty. I went into the courtroom knowing I would be banned. I walked out not at all surprised.

The judge was rather nice about it all, and we had a little to-and-fro banter about the challenges of modern driving. Don’t press so hard on the accelerator might be the obvious advice to someone like me. Or perhaps: pay more attention to the variable speed signs. Either way, as the judge said with a little conciliatory shrug, ‘speeding is speeding’. When invited to give a statement I wisely chose to reject the pearls of wisdom that friends have encouraged me to use. I did not, for example, say that I was sorry….Sorry that the police were not spending more time chasing real criminals.  Neither did I point out that the speed awareness courses clearly don’t work, otherwise I would not have been appearing in court today. In particular I chose to reject my loving brothers advice that I base my appeal on the fact that I pay so much in parking fines that local authorities across the UK would be harshly hit without my regular contributions. No, I simply said I was sorry and I took my punishment (a 6 month ban). Clearly I have not yet learnt my lesson.

On the plus side this will help with one of my New Year Resolutions. I vowed to tread more softly on the planet and this will help. Now all I have to do is find a way to get banned from flying too and I will be able to really reduce my carbon footprint.

For previous versions of this blog visit http://notesfrompiers.blogspot.co.uk/