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Industry News
WAG: An £8.3m green energy project is already helping Welsh companies turn up the heat on their rivals. Cardiff University’s SEREN project aims to help businesses in West Wales and the Valleys lead the way in developing new technologies & products, creating up to 150 jobs in the low carbon economy.
Renewable energy company WDS Environmental is one of the first to benefit from the programme which is backed with £4.6m from the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Assembly Government. It is also funded by the British Geological Survey, the private sector and Cardiff University’s own funds.
EU News: Last week, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, met with 300 leaders of the European Photonics sector at the annual Photonics21 General Assembly, which is organised by the Photonics21 European Technology Platform in close collaboration with the European Commission.
One example of the potential of this sector can be seen in the OLED100.eu project where researchers & industry have developed organic lighting technologies called Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) that are at least 5 times more efficient than conventional lighting. Furthermore, unlike current energy efficient lights, OLEDs do not contain mercury, can be tailored to produce light in any colour and, due to their long lifetime, also create less waste.
Combined with intelligent light management systems such Solid State Lighting could help to save up to 70% of the electricity consumption of today's lighting systems.
Press release and links
TfL: By the end of 2012 card readers across the whole of the Transport for London (TfL) network will have been upgraded so that a touch of a contactless bank or credit card will allow passengers to touch in & out for pay as you go travel on the bus, Tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Tram and London Overground network.
The new system will be up and running on all of London's 8,000 buses in time for the 2012 Games and discussions are also under way with the Train Operating Companies that serve London about whether contactless payment cards could be used on National Rail services where Oyster is currently accepted. Oyster will also continue to be accepted for the many millions of customers who use it every day.
