BSEE Safety Alert No. 459. Lack of Training Leads to Fatality.
March 8, 2023
This post has moved to Safety Alert No. 459 — Lack of training with Hydraulic Torque Wrench contributes to fatality aboard drill ship.
Russian Gas and the Forcing Function
Earlier this month we published the post A Forcing Function. In that post we compared the potential for cuts in Russian gas supply to the principles of lean management. We said,
A principle of lean management is to reduce intermediate inventories of goods and spare equipment. Companies do this, not because inventory is a bad thing in and of itself. They do it because the lack of intermediate…
Enter the Engineers
The full version of this blog is available at the post Enter the Engineers.
Scientists study the world as it is, engineers create the world that has never been.
Theodore von Karman
Listen to the Scientists
We often hear the phrase “Listen to the scientists”. What is meant by this is that we should read the analyses and reports that they publish in order to understand climate change. We…
Green Hydrogen: A Reality Check
This blog is taken from the post Green Hydrogen: A Reality Check.
The previous four posts in this series have provided background information to do with the use of hydrogen as source of “green” energy.
The posts were:
Hydrogen HSE (Health, Safety and Environmental);
Energy Properties of Hydrogen;
Colors of Hydrogen; and
Manufacture and Use of Hydrogen.
Hydrogen is…
Who's the (Climate Change) Expert?
This blog is based on the post Who's the (Climate Change) Expert?
One of the problems to do with climate change is that everyone has an opinion, regardless of whether they have done the necessary research and analysis. In this post we consider some of the attributes that make someone qualified to speak on the topic.
One of the many challenges that we face when talking about climate…
The 300-Year Party: The Church of Progress
This blog is based on the post The 300-Year Party: The Church of Progress.
The Parable of the Inheritance
A lady had a low-paying job and not much in the way of savings. Nevertheless, she kept her expenses under control and was able to live contentedly within her income.
Then one day she received a large inheritance. It was party time — she bought a large home, a late model car and took…
A Clunky Sentence
The term ‘Net Zero by 2050’ has been adopted by organizations all over the world. It is also the theme of the posts at this site. Therefore, it is worth spending a few moments examining where the phrase came from and what it means.
The IPCC
The Net Zero story starts with the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the year 1988. The IPCC is a United Nations body…
It Takes Time: Steam to Diesel
A theme of the posts at this site is that we cannot switch from one source of energy to another overnight, or even in just a few years. The time it took the American railroad industry to switch from steam to diesel power illustrates this point. The original post is here.
One of the foundations of the industrial revolution was the steam-powered railway locomotive. Yet, by the start of the 20th…
The Coffee Shop
This blog is taken from the post The Coffee Shop.
In February 2022 the IPCC published its Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability report. The report makes for scary reading — it tells us that, if we do not take immediate and urgent action, we face catastrophic consequences.
Just a few days after the report’s publication I visited friends at a local coffee shop. Given that the report’s warnings…
The Process Safety Professional. Part 1: Constant Reading
The original post is at The Process Safety Professional. Part 1: Constant Reading.
There are many books, articles and web sites that describe process safety management techniques and systems. There are fewer publications that describe the skills needed to become an effective process safety professional. With that thought in mind, we are working on the manuscript of a book entitled The Process…
The Process Safety Professional. Part 3: That Would Be Telling
The original post for this blog is here.
Trevor Kletz
The Kletz Legacy
Time flies — we are coming up to the tenth anniversary of the passing of Trevor Kletz. He made immense contributions to the discipline of process safety. He is particularly remembered for his contributions to do with hazards analysis, incident analysis and inherent safety. But maybe his biggest contribution was the…
Synthesis
Georg Hegel (1770-1831) was an 18th century German philosopher whose writings are notoriously obscure. He discussed the development of an “absolute idea” or “universal truth” that is obtained by reconciling contradictions and tensions within systems. This way of thinking is frequently referred to as an ‘Hegelian Synthesis’, even though he himself never actually used the term. The basic idea can…
Hydrogen HSE
This blog is based on the post Hydrogen HSE: Health, Safety and Environmental.
This post summarizes some of the HSE (Health, Safety and Environmental) issues that need to be considered when manufacturing, transporting, storing and using hydrogen.
Safety Diamond
The safety diamond for hydrogen is shown below.
Hydrogen Safety Diamond
The numbers and colors have the following meaning…
SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 4
This post is taken from SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 4.
The post is the fourth in a series to do with scenario analysis and the proposed SEC Climate-disclosure rule. The background to the series is explained in the first post: SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 1.
Scenario Analysis
We started the series of posts with an evaluation of the relevant sections of the proposed…
Climate Scientists: Ready to Strike
This blog is based on the post Climate Scientists: Ready to Strike.
A recent article in the New York Times discussed the frustration that many climate scientists feel when it comes to communicating their findings. The subtitle for the article reads,
Evidence on global warming is piling up. Nations aren’t acting. Some researchers are asking what difference more reports will make.
An…
A Forcing Function
The material in this post is taken from the blog A Forcing Function.
The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the dependence of western Europe on the oil and gas supplied by the Russian Federation. The European countries have imposed harsh commercial and financial restrictions on Russia, but they are reluctant to stop the energy flows. Their hesitancy is understandable. As The World Economic…
Selling Net Zero
This blog is taken from the post Selling Net Zero.
A theme of recent posts has been that climate scientists have failed to persuade people to take action, even though the climate situation is dire. The scientists at the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and other research organizations can respond to this criticism by saying that it is not their job to generate action — their…
That Lonely Feeling
This post is based on the blog That Lonely Feeling.
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The post When the History Books Are Written started with the following statements.
When historians in future generations look back on the early twenty-first century they are likely to summarize the events of our time as follows.
Theirs was a time of extraordinary communications technology. Anyone with…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 4: Safer Technologies
This is the fourth post in our series in which we review the proposed updates to the EPA’s (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Risk Management Program (RMP). This series complements the similar series for OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The update process for the EPA rule is described in the post The EPA RMP Updates. As time permits, we will review and analyze each of their…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 1: Natural Hazards
We have completed our review of the 24 proposed updates to the OSHA process safety management standard. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is going through a similar update process with regard to their Risk Management Program rule. The OSHA and EPA updates are similar in many respects, but there are also significant differences.
The first post in this series is to do with Natural…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 2: Loss Power
This is our second post in a series in which we review the proposed updates to the EPA’s (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Risk Management Program (RMP). This series complements the similar series that we have just completed for OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The update process is described in the post The EPA RMP Updates. As time permits, we will review and analyze each of…
The Process Safety Professional. Part 1: Constant Reading
The original post for this blog is here.
There are many books, articles and web sites that describe process safety management techniques and systems. There are fewer publications that describe the skills needed to become an effective process safety professional. With that thought in mind, we are working on the manuscript of a book entitled The Process Safety Professional. As time permits, we…
The Process Safety Professional. Part 2: Attributes
The original post for this blog is here.
We are working on a book with the working title The Process Safety Professional. In it we consider the skills, knowledge and experience that someone needs to be successful in this business.
The following quotation is taken from a draft of the manuscript.
The skills that a process safety professional needs can be divided into the following four…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 5: Root Cause Analysis
The original post for this topic is located here.
This is the fifth post in our series in which we review the proposed updates to the EPA’s (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Risk Management Program (RMP). This series complements the similar series for OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The update process for the EPA rule is described in the post The EPA RMP Updates. As time…
Climate Change COPs
A theme of this site is that climate change leadership will be provided by businesses, not necessarily because they want to “do the right thing”, but because they want to be commercially successful and because they want to avoid their own “Kodak Moment”.
With this thought in mind, we have started a series of subscription-based posts on the ‘Net Zero by 2050’ theme. Our aim is to describe both…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 6: Root Cause Analysis
The original post for this topic is located here.
We continue with our reviews of the EPA’s proposed updates to its Risk Management Program. This is the sixth post in this series. Earlier posts are indexed here. The proposed change discussed in this post is to do with audits. (All comments refer to Scope 3 requirements.)
Prevention Program (Subparts C and D) Third-Party Audits
Third-party…
Blah, Blah, Blah
This blog is based on the post Blah, Blah, Blah — Losing the Name of Action.
An earlier post The Name of Action (and the matching video) take its title from Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. A theme of Shakespeare’s play is that Hamlet knows that he needs to take action, but he fails to do so (until the very end). He talks and talks, but does not act. The same theme applies to the…
Who Will Respond?
This blog is taken from the post Who Will Respond?
There are many publications that describe the predicaments in which we find ourselves. But few of these publications provide credible, realistic suggestions as to how to respond. Climate reports often make suggestions that sound good but that would be difficult to implement. For example, one activist group calls for making public transport…
Update to the EPA RMP Rule. Part 3: Siting
This is the third post in our series in which we review the proposed updates to the EPA’s (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Risk Management Program (RMP). The original post is located here.
This series complements the similar series for OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. The update process for the EPA rule is described in the post The EPA RMP Updates. As time permits, we will…
SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 3
SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 3
This post is the third in a series to do with scenario analysis and the proposed SEC Climate-disclosure rule. The background to the series is explained in the first post: SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 1.
Scenario Analysis
We started the series of posts with an evaluation of the relevant sections of the proposed rule. We quote the…
SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 2
The complete post is available at SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 2.
This post is the second in a series to do with scenario analysis and the proposed SEC Climate-disclosure rule. The background to the series is explained in the first post: SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 1.
Scenario Analysis
We started this series of posts with an evaluation of the relevant sections of…
SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 1
The complete post is available at SEC Climate Rule: Scenario Analysis - Part 1.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has published a proposed rule: The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors. An important section (page 83) is entitled ‘Disclosure of Scenario Analysis, if Used’. It starts as follows,
We are proposing to require a registrant…
SEC Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a proposed rule to do with climate change. Its title is ‘The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors’.
The text and video summarize the press release to do with the rule. The SEC’s role is limited to the provision of accurate and timely information. The SEC is not a climate enforcement…
SEC Extends Comment Period
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the comment period for the proposed rule on Climate-Related Disclosures. Commissioner Gary Gensler said the SEC extended the deadline in response to "significant interest" from a wide range of investors, issuers, market participants and other stakeholders.
The original deadline was May 29, 2022. The new deadline is June 17, 2022. The…
The 300-Year Party: Peak Forests
This blog is based on the post The 300-Year Party: Peak Forests.
In order to understand the nature of our current dilemma, including climate change, it is useful to consider how the development of our society that is based on the use of fossil fuels came about.
Like all living creatures, humans take in energy in order to live, grow and reproduce. For virtually all of human history we humans…
Words, Words, Words
This blog is taken from the post Words, Words, Words.
Yesterday’s post — “The Name of Action” — took its title from Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. The title of today’s post comes from the same play. Hamlet knows that he needs to take action but fails to do so (until the very end). He talks and talks and talks, but does not act. So, when Polonius asks Hamlet, “What do you read…
Hydrogen from Methane Pyrolysis
This blog is taken from the post Hydrogen from Methane Pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis is a well-established process in which an organic material is heated to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. Depending on the source materials used, the products from the reaction consist of organic materials and solid carbon in the form of char/charcoal/carbon black.
Charcoal Burners
Credit:…
The Name of Action
The text version of this presentation is available at https://iansutton.com/downloads/Name-of-Action.pdf.
An Energy Evaluation System
This blog is based on the post An Energy Evaluation System: Technology for a Changing Climate.
At the heart of any Net Zero program lies the decision as to which alternative energy sources to adopt. We cannot continue to rely on hydrocarbon fuels — coal, natural gas and crude oil — because they generate greenhouse gases, and because they are being irreversibly depleted.
The internet is awash…
Need for Action
The material in this blog is taken from the post Need for Action and from the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity.
Fine words butter no parsnips.
Talk doesn’t cook the rice.
When it comes to climate change, there is no shortage of reports, books, web sites, social media and blogs that describe the dilemmas we face. These publications typically explain what climate change is, its causes and…
Transition Steps
The content of this blog is taken from the post Transition Steps and the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity.
Green Hydrogen
One of the decisions that companies will have to make as they move toward Net Zero is whether to invest in transition technology, i.e., technology that moves the organization partway toward the final goal in two or more steps.
The development of hydrogen manufacturing…
Net Zero by 2050: Three Questions
The material in this post is taken from the post Net Zero by 2050: Three Questions and the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity.
The ebook starts with a quotation from one of Jordan Peterson’s talks. He tells us that those writing a book should have a “real question that you don’t know the answer to”. With regard to climate change, I suggest that there are three “real questions” that books such as…
Another Clunky Sentence
This blog is based on the post Another Clunky Sentence.
The phrase ‘Net Zero by 2050’ comes from an IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2018 report. The pertinent paragraph reads as follows,
In model pathways with no or limited overshoot of 1.5°C, global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions decline by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 (40–60% interquartile range), reaching net…
Business Imagination
This blog is based on the post Business Imagination.and on the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity.
Organizations that succeed in this radically changing world will not only have to adopt and sponsor new types of technology, they will also need a new management structure, a new way of interacting with suppliers, customers, and government agencies. There will also be new types of corporate…
Problems of Scale
The material in this blog is taken from the post Problems of Scale.
The material in this post is taken from the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity.
A focus of the materials at this site is on the use of technology to slow down the rate at which the climate is changing and to mitigate the effects of such changes. As has already been stressed, technology is not a solution, we cannot return to our…
Colors of Ammonia
This blog is taken from the post Colors of Ammonia. Additional information to do with ‘colors’ is provided in the post Colors of Hydrogen.
Ammonia Molecule: NH3
Most discussions to do with climate change focus on the emissions from the fossil fuels in transportation. Yet there are many other sources of CO2 emissions, including those from the chemicals industry. For example, the Haber-Bosch (…
Energy Properties of Hydrogen
This blog is based on the post Energy Properties of Hydrogen.
This is the third post in a series to do with hydrogen in a Net Zero economy. The post Manufacture and Use of Hydrogen provided an overview to do with the production and use of hydrogen. Colors of Hydrogen described the color terms that are used to describe the different ways in which hydrogen is manufactured.
The following Table…
Colors of Hydrogen
Credit: Unsplash
This blog is based on the post Colors of Hydrogen.
Hydrogen is an odorless, colorless gas that is imperceptible to the human senses. Hydrogen is not available naturally; its low density means that any hydrogen in the atmosphere immediately escapes to space. This means that it has to be produced using an external source of energy. (This is an important point — hydrogen is…
Manufacture and Use of Hydrogen
This blog is based on the post Manufacture and Use of Hydrogen.
Credit: Ian Sutton
Hydrogen is often seen as being an important, even vital, part of our response to the climate change dilemma. When hydrogen is burned it creates water vapor (and a few nitrogen oxides, which are greenhouse gases).
Needless to say, it is not that simple. Although hydrogen will undoubtedly play an important…
Marketing Net Zero
This post is taken from the blog Marketing Net Zero.
Failed Communication
Why have the scientists failed to communicate? And why have the car companies been so successful? I suggest that there are two basic reasons.
The first reason is to do with motivation. The scientists publish bad news and then say that, if we do not take action, our lives will get worse. Their message is one of fear. The…
Small Potatoes
This blog is taken from the post Small Potatoes.
Three climate activists met at the local coffee shop to discuss the latest IPCC report, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. The three of them had different opinions on most topics. But, regarding this report, they will in full agreement: it was almost unreadable. For example, with regard to food supplies, the report says,
There is high…