TÜV SÜD
JOURNAL EST #18 TO THE T w many problems do Food intolerance: Ho e like cause? gluten, lactose and th OVE #24 ON THE M c waste: A real Gasoline from organi fuels? alternative to fossil OINT #28 TO THE P eters: How does Turn in 150 m ork? satellite navigation w
# 03 2014
GY ON HAND WIND AND SOLAR ENER
Electricity storagee units to the rescu
Editorial
DEAR READERS, Sunday, May 11, 2014, was a day that will pleasantly linger in the memories of people who produce »green electricity« in Central Europe. Powered by gusty winds and a cloudless sky in many areas, German wind and photovoltaic units churned out approximately 500,000 MWh of electricity on that day – 50 percent the total amount produced. But, on the very next Sunday, only about 170,000 MWh of solar and wind power were coursing their way through the grid. All the while, demand for electricity remained roughly the same. The production levels achieved on these two Sundays underscore one point: The »energy revolution« – that is, the increasing shift to renewable energies to produce a country’s electricity – boils down to something more than simply expanding the capacities of power plants. Rather, it requires the entire electricity grid to be overhauled in a number of different ways. After all, sun and wind are just too fickle in their roles as power sources: Sometimes, the wind will vanish at the or batteries? The TÜV SÜD Journal app provides background information about individual technologies. very time when demand for energy is peaking.
Pumped storage plant
The QR code will take you directly to the latest TÜV SÜD Journal app.
To ensure the availability of supplies and to take the edge off peaks produced on particularly stormy days, we will need high-performance energy storage systems. A wide variety of solutions has been developed – and TÜV SÜD is involved in several development projects. We are serious about our mission to provide systematic support to the development of new technologies and their introduction to the market. After all, nobody wants any blackouts! Best regards,
Dr-Ing Axel Stepken Chairman of the Board of Management of TÜV SÜD AG 2 TÜV SÜD Journal
Table of contents
#06
COVER STORY
If you plan to count on the wind and sun as sources of energy, you will need reliable storage systems. And there is no secret about why: Electricity must continue to flow even if the wind dies down or clouds blanket the sun.
To the
On the
To the
What‘s on people‘s minds around the world? We take a closer look at technical and social trends.
A look at the world of tomorrow: These innovations could soon be indispensable parts of our daily lives.
Get to the bottom of it! Our »add value« pages make complex issues understand able.
#16 Knock on wood! Renewable resources, produced in an environmentally conscious manner: For more than 20 years now, the FSC label has shown whether wood was sustainably produced.
#22 Is smart also safe? Lights, air conditioners, washing machines and door openers: More and more devices can be linked to the Internet and remotely operated as part of smart homes. Practical – for burglars, too.
#28 Please send, please send! Galileo, the European alternative to the U.S. navigation system GPS, is about to go into operation. But just how does satellite-driven positioning work?
#18 Can I eat that? Hardly healthful: Foods containing lactose, gluten and fructose can make people sick. Every third person believes he or she suffers from a food intolerance.
#24 Tanks, not trashcans From refuse to resource! In these days of dwindling raw materials, the waste we produce each day has been a valuable resource for some time now. But can we really turn trash into fuel? .
#30 Consumer adviser: roof boxes When the trunk is brimming full, roof boxes offer some handy extra storage space. Five tips for loading the boxes and then driving with them.
#4 TÜV SÜD in focus #14 5 minutes with TÜV SÜD
#21 On location #31 Dates/imprint
#32 5 minutes with TÜV SÜD #34 The final say
TEST
MOVE
POINT
TÜV SÜD Journal 3
TÜV SÜD im in focus Bild
Powerful emotions
UNDER THE STARS In July and August, when the heat of a summer day begins to grudgingly give way to the approach of night, many people begin to head outdoors. To places like the approximately 500 open-air movie theaters found in Germany. One of the most captivating venues is a lakeside setting located in Munich‘s West Park, the home of »Movies, Moon & Stars.« Here, under the nighttime sky and amid stands of venerable linden and beech trees, hit movies have an especially mesmerizing effect. By the time films like the »Lord of the Rings« trilogy are captivating audiences, the experts at TÜV SÜD‘s Department of Amusement Parks, Rides and Structures have long since completed their work: Every three years, they go to the open-air facility in the West Park along with many other such theaters and inspect the steel frame to which the projection screen is attached. They also check on the stability and the condition of all building components and determine whether all regulations were followed when the facility was erected. The reason for such inspections is clear: The screen needs to remain standing when thunderstorms turn these fascinating evenings of make-believe into real-world onslaughts of nature. More information: www.tuv-sud.com/industry/sports-leisure-entertainment
4 TÜV SÜD Journal
TÜV TÜV SÜD SÜD in imfocus Bild
TÜV SÜD Journal 5
Titelstory Cover story
VALUEPACK POWER
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6 TÜV SÜD Journal
Titelstory Cover story
Calm winds + night sky = blackout? To ensure that such an event never occurs, the energy revolution must be able to draw on dependable storage systems that can deliver power for those times when the wind dies down or rain clouds move in. After all, power must always be available when it is needed. Text: Timour Chafik
Illustrations: Mareikje Kersting
TĂœV SĂœD Journal 7
Cover story
I
t is something that the more than 10,000 residents of El Hierro, a tiny member of the Canary Islands, probably never could have dreamed of: That their island in the Atlantic, locat ed more than 1,400 kilometers from the Spanish mainland and hardly 270 square kilometers in size, would produce such big headlines. That newspapers of renown would write stories about the first island that »can meet its electricity needs completely from re newable energies.« That some people would view them as role models for the production of green power. That the New York Times would praise the smallest member of the Canary Islands and predict that it would play »a major role in the future.« And that all of this would be caused by a longextinct volcano crater located 700 meters above the deepblue sea. The crater is really something to behold: Sealed with layers of black plastic, it can hold up to 380,000 cubic meters of water. These dimensions make it more than your every day reservoir for this precious resource. The dormant volcano has become a pumped storage system. It is the island’s battery.
»Hydrogen
will be the central storage medium of the future.« – Dr Christoph Stiller, Linde AG from the skies.« This imagery illustrates the principle driving El Hierro’s production system of green power: Five 70metertall wind power units with an output of up to 11.5 megawatts produce electricity for the island’s population. During peak periods, the electricity powers a dualpipe system that pumps water from a basin located near the coast into the reservoir. During times of little wind, the water in the reservoir is un leashed. Plunging downhill through a net work of pipes, it drives turbines that then produce power. Or as Juan Manuel Quin tero would say: Wind turns into electricity, electricity turns into water, and water turns back into electricity.
But the new world of power is not always so clearcut as it is on El Hierro. A grand total of 10,000 people have to be supplied, and the wind yield is much higher in the At lantic than it is in the continental interior. The green island lacks the industry and the concentrated masses of people who are ac customed to electricity that is available on a continuous, shortnotice and reliable basis. In the morning, when a major city awak ens from its slumbers and its lights go on, the load profile shoots upward. At such times, it needs a reliable supply system that is ca pable of offsetting fluctuations within mil liseconds and of dealing with days or even weeks when wind turbines come to a stand
Wind becomes water
Juan Manuel Quintero, the head of the hy drowind power plant Gorona del Viento and, thus, the operator of the unit, has been quoted as describing the process this way: »We are using wind power to comb water
Traditional long-term storage Mechanical storage units have been used for centuries as a way of collecting energy and sys tematically accessing it. Pumped storage units like those on El Hierro use this ageold principle to generate electricity. Please hold your breath! Compressed air can also serve as a mechanical storage option. For instance, it can be compressed in salt domes and released in a controlled manner through turbines when demand rises.
8 TÜV SÜD Journal
Cover story
still or photovoltaic units are unable to catch any rays. Highperformance storage systems will be needed to create this load balance. A pickmeup when the doldrums set in. Reserves for balancing energy
In countries like Germany, conventional gas, coal and oilfired power plants have provided energy security. But: The greater the amount of power produced from renew able sources, the greater the need for more reserves of »balancing energy.« The fluctuat ing supply of power must be brought in line with the fluctuating level of demand. Fur thermore, the energy revolution is increasing momentum in the grid in both directions: Every individual can become a producer of electricity and feed power into the system. When an armada of photovoltaic units is feeding green power into the grid at the height of summer, stateoftheart storage systems must be able to deal with it and pro vide the necessary stability. In theory, a large number of technologies could be used for this job: pumped storage
Energy for tomorrow A mix of systems in which energy can be stored for weeks, days or even seconds at a time will be employed to ensure that electricity flows reliably and stably once the energy revolution fully takes hold. Numerous projects are currently working to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of these storage systems. One example of these systems is ADELE.ING, a 360 MWh compressed-air storage unit in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. As a way of boosting the efficiency of this technology, researchers are testing a process in which the thermal energy produced by the air-compression process itself is also stored and used. TÜV SÜD is working on this project, which will run through the end of 2016. The primary focus of the company’s work includes system safety and risk assessment. Will a box produce a breakthrough in the effort to use hydrogen as a medium for energy storage? This is what the initiators of the »flow box« think. The process unit is able to convert electricity into hydrogen, to store it and then release it once again. The EU-funded project is on the cusp of market readiness. TÜV SÜD is responsible for preparing the safety assessment. TÜV SÜD’s battery-testing labs are focusing on safety and performance. In state-of-the-art facilities, research is being conducted around the world to determine, among other things, how the life span of storage units can be extended and how these units will react during such emergencies as fires and floods. TÜV SÜD is also certifying subsystems like inverters, which will play a tremendous role in energy storage, in accordance with international standards.
The deep freeze Superconducting coils in which a magnetic field was previously produced are kept on ice at minus 269 degrees Celsius. This jolt of brutal cold enables the voltage to be main tained for a long period.
Not a blockhead It is only a vision today – but it has potential: Hollow concrete spheres placed on the sea floor could be pumped empty when excessive sup plies of power are available. They would then be refilled with water that passed through turbines. TÜV SÜD Journal 9
Cover story
and compressedair storage systems. Low temperature superconducting coils that use a magnetic field to maintain voltage. Electro lysis systems in which water is split into oxy gen and hydrogen, which is then collected in pressure tanks for later use in electricity generating fuel cells. Some batteries can also store energy through chemical conversion. One of the latest ideas is: Hollow concrete spheres could be installed on the sea floor and could be filled or pumped out depending on the demand for power. »There will not be just one ideal stor age system for the energy revolution,« says Dr Uwe Albrecht, Managing Director of LudwigBölkowSystemtechnik GmbH. No matter whether the job is to serve as a short term storage system or a huge storage unit for lulls that could last for exceptionally long periods of time: »In the discussion, the ques tion about the particular storage type always depends on the particular usage scenario under consideration because every storage system has a completely different job to do.« Batteries that may not have major storage capacities but do have a high level of efficien
Spirited Sometimes it only takes a few seconds of storage to offset electricity peaks – for instance, with the help of a flywheel.
Simply charge Everybody is acquainted with house hold batteries. There are all sorts of these electrochemical storage units, including lead and lithiumion based ones. 10 TÜV SÜD Journal
cy can be used in an economically sensible manner if they are charged and discharged relatively often. »By frequently charging and discharging small amounts of energy at high levels of efficiency and through fast reaction times, stationary batteries do make sense when it comes to offsetting shortterm fluctuations,« Albrecht says. On the other hand, converting and storing electricity with an electrolyzer is better suited for longterm storage of large amounts of energy. These kinds of systems would generally not be em ployed for jobs in which power produced by small photovoltaic units is frequently stored for just a few hours.
Dynamic solutions
The range of storage options is wide. Ev ery technology has its own characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Questions that must be weighed regarding their use include: Are the reaction time, discharge time, per formance and number of cycles adequate? Are the space requirements, weight, life span, efficiency and costs appropriate for the particular usage? Added together, it all sounds selfevident. But in an industry that will have to be largely reinvented, from elec tricity generation and distribution to load management, it is only one variable. »At the end of the day, storage units are just one part
»In the discussion, the question about the particular storage type always depends on the particular storage scenario.« – Dr Uwe Albrecht, Ludwig BölkowSystemtechnik GmbH
Cover story
of the solution. But which part – no one can say today. It depends, among other things, on the balance of all elements in the entire system,« Albrecht says. But there is no doubt about one issue: Storage systems will be a major factor in the energy revolution’s success. To offset the fluctuations between the supply of and the demand for electricity, reserves that can absorb several terawatt hours of power will be needed in Germany. By comparison: The total capacity of all German pumped stor age plants is about 40 gigawatt hours. This is roughly the average amount that Germany uses in a halfhour. For this reason, the grid will not collapse tomorrow. And not because the capacity for building pumped storage units is exhausted in Germany. »But before we start thinking about major storage solutions, we have to address the more pressing issue of storing oversupplies on a shortterm basis,« says Dr Christoph Stiller, Innovation Manager and Head of Energy Pro duction & Storage at Linde AG. Stiller says hydrogen, in particular, is likely to play a key role in the future as a
result of its scalability: »Because hydrogen electrolysis can be used flexibly and modu larly – it ranges from a small electrolyzer at a filling station and a midsized concept near a wind farm to a 100 megawatt unit at a large grid node.« Given that chemical energy can be stored better and more cheaply than the mechanical form, hydrogen becomes the best option particularly in terms of long range storage: »Electricity in, hydrogen out – this is always the simplest formula with the highest level of efficiency,« Stiller says. Long way to a hydrogen economy
Hydrogen does not necessarily have to be converted back into electricity. It can be used as a fuel or synthetic gas. Stiller says he thinks that many filling stations will be built and many vehicles will be introduced to the market, even if the hydrogen economy forecast by U.S. economist Jeremy Rifkin 10 years ago remains far off in the future. »We don’t need the major capacities yet,« he adds. »But it is likely that the conditions and de mand will have fundamentally changed by 2020.«
This is already the case on the small island of El Hierro: In the past, 6,000 tons of diesel fuel were used to generate electricity each year. Cost: €1.8 million. The process pro duced 18,700 tons of carbon dioxide, 100 tons of sulfur dioxide and 400 tons of nitric oxide. All of this became a thing of the past thanks to wind power and the pumped stor age unit. As a result – despite all of the discussions about grid expansion, sophisticated load management and new storage technologies – the overarching goal of the energy revolu tion has already been reached on El Hierro: a reliable, 24/7 supply of green energy. By the way, the old diesel unit remains in place. Just in case.
More information on this topic: www.tuv-sud.com/industry/power-energy/ renewable-energy
Produce power! Electrolysis can split water into oxygen and hydro gen. The latter is stored in tanks. Fuel cells can then reconvert it back into electricity – in cars as well. TÜV SÜD Journal 11
Points of view
Points Sven Kirrmann, Project Director of the Agentur für Erneuerbare Energien e.V.
»There is enough time to develop the right components.«
Y
es, the energy revolution lacks storage systems – but only over the medium term. Right now, renewable energies are covering about 25 percent of Germany’s electricity needs. This amount has been easy to integrate into the supply system using previous storage systems, primarily pumped storage units, and the current grid. But the electrical system is dynamic, not static. When the share rises to a level of 35 percent to 40 percent, the need for flexibility options in the system becomes significantly bigger. The situation looks somewhat different in a system with renewable energy shares of 80 percent to 100 percent. Long-term storage units would become particularly essential if all energy were to stem from renewable sources since they would need to provide large amounts of energy in periods of little wind and sunshine. This need is reflected in detailed scenario calculations like those conducted in the research project combined power plant 2 (www.kombikraftwerk.de). For this purpose, new technologies must be developed. From today's perspective, the focus should be placed on converting electricity into gas – hydrogen or methane. These are forms of storage that are really just getting started. Pilot projects have been set up in Stuttgart or in the eastern German cities of Prenzlau and Falkenhagen. Even though we currently lack storage systems for the long term, this will be the case only to a limited extent in the near future. There is enough time to develop the right components for a system based primarily on renewable energies.«
TIME FRAME How pressing is the energy storage issue? 12 TÜV SÜD Journal
Points of view
I
n terms of technol ogy? It’s already there. The job now is to test these prototypes during pilot projects and field trials. This will not happen overnight. Promising solutions have to grow with the new market and adapt to conditions. But: To economically and rapidly design the storage business, these conditions should be defined from the very beginning. In the end, a tremendous amount of storage potential, both in industry and among consumers, can be found not only in technical solutions, but also in load management. The key words are: smart homes and smart consumers, that is, those places where every consumer can become an independent energy producer. People who decide to use the energy that their own photovoltaic units produce and who use it in a manner that is suited to their own production levels will kill two birds with one stone: They are providing themselves with larger amounts of green energy and are simultaneously removing fluctuation from the system. But flexible load management will only be one pillar in the stable, but adaptive electrical grid of the future. In addition, large and small storage units, as well as backup power plants, will continue to play a role. The specific type of role and the balance within this trio will depend in large part on which solution proves to be the better option for each specific situation. In addition to technical advances, energy policy will be critical.«
of view Dr Uwe Albrecht, Managing Director of Ludwig-Bölkow Systemtechnik GmbH
»The issue of load management has some storage potential.«
For the energy revolution to succeed, it will need a stable grid made up of various types of storage units to offset the differences in power supply and demand. But how quickly do we need this cushion? Is the clock about to strike midnight on the sundial?
TÜV SÜD Journal 13
5 minutes
Vietnam: Collaboration for more wind power
Real-estate consulting services
Healthcare partnership
The Binh Thuan region of southeastern Vietnam has the largest number of wind power turbines in the eastern Asian country. As a way of enhancing renewable energy production, the Binh Thuan Wind Energy Association recently established a partnership with TÜV SÜD. The arrangement includes comprehensive assistance with technical issues.
TÜV SÜD has acquired the cgmunich group in an agreement that further expands the company’s real-estate services. With nearly 50 employees, the cgmunich group is one of the leading specialty providers of consulting services related to real estate and its management. Support is provided on challenging projects in the area of commercial and administrative property.
TÜV SÜD and ias-Gruppe have formed a strategic partnership in the areas of occupational medicine, safety and psychology. Among the areas of cooperation, the partners plan to refer customer requests they cannot cover themselves to the other partner. This should enable them to guarantee consistent qual ity across a broad range of services.
s.sathishkumar@tuv-sud.vn
ulrich.klotz@tuev-sued.de
monika.niedermeier@tuev-sued.de
5
Quality inspections for system gastronomy
The fast-food chain BURGER KING Germany has hired TÜV SÜD to inspect all of its restaurants in the country. The TÜV SÜD audits begun at the end of May 2014 include hygienic inspections conducted in accordance with the international HACCP standard and a check of kitchen areas and equipment. The audits also include lab test ing of food samples. Such tests enable food safety to be checked and compliance with hygienic standards monitored. Only those restaurants that pass the audit will receive a certificate of conformity. By working with TÜV SÜD, BURGER KING has committed itself to an independent review of its qual ity standards and called on a highly skilled expert to conduct inspections that complement its own internal audits. A guarantee of neutrality: Each inspection is not announced in advance. BURGER KING operates about 700 restaurants in Germany, and these restaurants serve about 400,000 people a day. frank.altmann@tuev-sued.de
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Support for an energy revolution in Romania
At the end of 2013, photovoltaic units with total output of 138 gigawatts were part of the grid worldwide – an increase of 13 percent, according to the European trade association EPIA. The systems are being erected especially in Asia. But they are being built in Europe as well. Here is just one current example: the power plant Green Vision Seven SRL in Ucea de Sus, Romania. With a capacity of up to 55 MW, the power unit located approximately 50 kilometers east of In Europe, photovoltaic systems Sibiu is one of Romania‘s largest sysare being built particularly in tems. TÜV SÜD has recently certified Greece, Romania and Great Britain. the facility on the basis of several international standards. In addition, the performance evaluation applied criteria that are also used in the new service PV Performance Guard. The PV Performance Guard developed by TÜV SÜD uses the ratio of the theoretical and actual yield. The result: The photovoltaic unit in Ucea de Sus meets all of the criteria laid down by international standards for a safely operating system and performs at a high level.
SOLAR BOOM:
ondrej.vaculin@tuv-sud.cz
5 minutes
A focus on teacher training The TÜV SÜD Foundation assisted projects designed to improve public school education last year, according to a report issued by the foundation at the beginning of May 2014. The project Lehramt MINToring, funded in conjunction with the Foundation of GerThe annual report of the TÜV SÜD Foundation man Business, is designed to encourage graduates from college-preparatory high schools to major in education. The qualification of teachers was also widely promoted in order to spark interest in www.tuev-sued-stiftung.de natural sciences and appropriate approaches. The TÜV SÜD Foundation was created in 2009. It promotes science and technology, education and child rearing as well as natural sciences.
Efficiency and durability of lights
ONLINE:
christa.burmeister@tuev-sued-stiftung.de
minutes
with TÜV SÜD
Heat damages aluminum rims
As one of the very first certification centers TÜV SÜD can issue the certification mark ENEC+ for lamps and lights. The label demonstrates that a product can do the job the manufactur er says it can do and rates lamps and lights in terms of service life and durability. The ENEC+ can also be applied to more important, state-ofthe-art energy-conservation technologies such as LED lights and modules. With the new certification mark, TÜV SÜD is providing lamp and lighting manufacturers with all relevant services from a single source. This speeds up the entire certification process and lowers costs. Thanks to the combination of testing and certification services – including for the CE marking, the GS seal or the CB certification, testing services in the areas of energy efficiency and RoHS as well as certifications for the U.S. market – manufacturers need only one testing and certification service provider to meet the requirement for access to international markets. asli.solmaz-kaiser@tuev-sued.de
Be careful with the cloud! Aluminum rim scratched? No problem! A number of new service providers around the world have a solution. Normally, rims are heat ed to more than 200 degrees Celsius over a period of hours – to strip away the coating and apply new granulate. It is a dangerous process, as TÜV SÜD tests revealed: The heat reduces stability by up to 40 percent, and service life drops by up to 90 percent. Under some circumstances, minimum legal requirements are also not met. The testers‘ conclusion: definitely avoid heat when it comes to aluminum rims!
The »cloud« is on a roll: Increasing numbers of providers on the Internet are now making free online storage capacity available to their customers. It is practical for users because they can go online and access their documents and pictures from anywhere in the world. But it is an option that also has a dark side, warns Rainer Seidlitz, General Manager of TÜV SÜD Sec IT GmbH. »Consumers need to pay careful attention and consider to whom they are en trusting which data under which conditions. After all, they are paying for the ›free‹ services with their personal data.« Particularly in terms of cloud services, data protection requirements in other countries are frequently less stringent than those in Germany. Other issues to consider when deciding to store data in the cloud include how the provider will ensure that its computing centers are secure, how the operation is monitored and what types of plans regarding fire and other emergencies have been made.
stefan.dittmar@tuev-sued.de rainer.seidlitz@tuev-sued.de
TÜV SÜD Journal 15
To the test
TO T H E TE S T
D FOR #16 GOO TIMBER EA D #18 IS BR OUS? DANGER
KNOCK ON WOOD! 16 TÜV SÜD Journal
To the test
Furniture, floorboards, paper ... Wood is everywhere in our lives. The great thing about this resource: It keeps on growing. In principle, it can last forever – at least, if it comes from sustainably managed forests.
F
orests are the world’s green lung! They are essential for the surviv al of humans and animals. They store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, regulate water supplies and influ ence the climate. They also serve as oases of rest and relaxation. Strolling under the trees, collecting berries and mushrooms and watching animals – forests are places where we can recharge our batteries. Forests are also our treasure chest! Serv ing as a source of energy and a building ma terial for houses, furniture and many other products, wood is one of the oldest resources used by the human race – and one of the most important renewable ones as well. To ensure that future generations have ample supplies of spruces, larches and beeches to work with, a simple rule of for est management was developed centuries ago: You should never cut more wood than can grow back in the same period. Sustain ability – a principle that is just as simple as it is effective. At least, that is the theory: Since the 1980s, the vast clear-cutting of tropical rain forests has repeatedly gener ated dismal headlines. At times, an area the size of Bangladesh was being wiped out each year. The German Association for the Protection of Forests and Woodlands estimates that an average of 83 million hectares were lost annually between 1990 and 2000 and that 52 million were cut an nually between 2000 and 2010. In the face of this ruthless exploitation of forests, a large number of national and internation al organizations have been set up over the
years to protect them. One of the most suc cessful is the Forest Stewardship Council. From the forest to the living room
With the aim of protecting forests and en couraging environmentally conscious and socially acceptable management, the group established in 1993 developed a system for certifying sustainably managed forests. The idea: Consumers around the world should be able to immediately see whether a prod uct came from a responsible source. Ever since then, the FSC label has been placed on everything from deck chairs and garden furniture to floorboards and even newsprint – if they meet the FSC standards. These stan dards are listed in a 10-point catalogue. They involve such questions as sustainable man agement, minimum standards on working conditions, protection of indigenous people and general impacts on the environment. Because wood products go through a large number of production and processing stages on their journey from the forest to the end consumer, the FSC issues a separate certificate covering the entire production and supply chain. This FSC CoC certificate is designed to provide extra assurance to con sumers. Experts estimate that more than 180 million hectares of forest are now FSC-certi fied around the world. More than half of this area is coniferous woodlands primarily found in Russia, Scandinavia and Canada. Only about 10 percent of certified forests are located in the tropics. There is thus a lot of work for the FSC to do – to ensure that the green lung can continue to breathe in the future.
The certification process
TÜV SÜD is one of approximately 30 companies in the world that issue FSC certifications. Experts evaluate the supply and production chains of wood-processing companies, including sawmills, planing mills, cabinetmakers, carpenters, printe rs, publishing houses and bookbinders. One focal point of the audits is a review of the labels on logs, lumber and inventories. Other areas include an inspection of facilities and an examination of work and administrative procedures. If these conform with the FSC guidelines, a company will receive a FSC CoC certificate that is valid for five years and is internationally recognized.
More about FSC certification: www.tuv-sud.com/fsc-chain-of-custody-certification TÜV SÜD Journal 17
To the test
CAN I EAT
THAT? Hardly healthful: Foods containing lactose, gluten and fructose can make people sick. Every third person believes he or she suffers from a food intolerance. Nutritional scientist and professor Petra Rust explains why alternative products are still often more of a trend than a necessity.
18 TĂœV SĂœD Journal
To the test
Bread, cream cheese and mozzarella: Many food products contain gluten or lactose – two substances that can trigger adverse reactions.
Professor Rust, is food intolerance really as prevalent as we read and hear about it? There are certainly differences: Around 15 percent to 25 percent of adults in Europe cannot digest milk sugar and suffer from lactose intolerance. Intolerance to gluten, the protein found in many types of grain, is significantly more rare. Only around one percent of the population suffers from it. By contrast, you hardly ever hear about fruc tose intolerance. However, studies conduct ed in various countries prove that around one-third of the population has problems with fructose. If you feel unwell after eating dairy products, bread or fruits, does this mean you suffer from a food intol erance? That is not enough for a diagnosis. To be sure, you need to keep a food diary and undergo a medical examination. What kind of medical examination? Lactose and fructose intolerance can be diagnosed with a relatively simple breath test. The concentration of hydrogen in the patient‘s breath is measured before and after consuming a beverage containing lactose or fructose. If this exceeds a certain value,
then the result is abnormal. To find out if someone suffers from a gluten intolerance, their blood is tested for the presence of spe cific antibodies. In most cases, a gastroscopy and colonoscopy are also performed. People should not maintain a gluten-free diet before taking these tests because the results won’t be accurate. Why is it that some people have an adverse reaction to these otherwise healthy foods? People with lactose intolerance lack a spe cific enzyme that is necessary for the diges tion of milk sugar. The undigested lactose moves into the large intestine, which results in stomach pain and diarrhea. With celiac disease, the chronic disease responsible for gluten intolerance, eating gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. It results in diarrhea and prevents the absorption of important nutrients. How is food intolerance different from a food allergy? An allergy is an overreaction of the immune system to specific food proteins that make their way into the blood through the in testine. The body produces antibodies and often reacts with skin rashes and itchiness. Only around three percent of adults and eight percent of children suffer from food allergies, for instance to cow’s milk, wheat or eggs. An intolerance, on the other hand, is an adverse reaction that is the result of defective enzymes or an enzyme deficiency. What do you think of this nutritional strategy: the more foods I cut out of my diet, the less there is to make me sick? A healthful diet requires variety and diver sity. The only way to get all necessary nutri ents, like vitamins and minerals, is through
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a balanced diet of regional and seasonal foods. Nevertheless, this approach to eat ing seems to be very popular at the moment. Zeitgeist certainly has something to do with this. After all, people have become more mindful of their bodies. People often steer clear of gluten-rich products like bread, piz za and cake because they have a lot of cal ories. The fact that you lose weight while
Professor Petra Rust The researcher teaches at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna. She is a involved in numerous associations and institutions, including her work as Vice President of the Austrian Nutrition Society and as a member of Austria‘s National Nutrition Commission. Her research focuses on energy intake and nutrients absorption as well as the role of antioxidants in the prevention and therapeutic treatment of individuals with diet-related diseases. As an instructor, Rust addresses the topic of nutrition from a biochemical and physiological standpoint and with regard to different lifestyles.
TÜV SÜD Journal 19
To the test
Grapes are full of fructose. Some people even have trouble digesting them.
»It’s important to make sure you are getting
a wide variety of foods in your diet.« – Professor Petra Rust
avoiding these foods has nothing to do with gluten. It’s the result of being more con scious about what you eat. What role does the food industry play in all this? The industry has discovered a growing market for many uncertain and a few ill consumers. Gluten and lactosefree products were previously only available in healthfood stores. Now you can find them in every supermarket. The food in dustry has responded to this trend and is increasingly offering these products. And because these products are easily available, people are more likely to buy them – even when they don’t need them. How good are these alternative products? In terms of nutritional value, they are ab solutely comparable, but they are consider ably more expensive than conventional products. It’s important to make sure you are getting a wide variety of foods in your diet. Rice, potatoes, corn, millet, buck wheat, quinoa, amaranth and soy are nat urally glutenfree. Diary products that contain lactose can be replaced with soy products. You can get enough calcium from dried fruits, legumes, seeds, green vegetables and calciumenriched mineral water without drinking milk. 20 TÜV SÜD Journal
What to do if food makes you sick? Lactose, fructose and gluten: When people suffer from food intolerances, one of these substances is usually to blame. But no one needs to starve. There are tons of alternative products to reach for instead. • Milk, cream cheese or cream: Lactose-free versions of most milk products are no longer just available in health-food stores – now they can also be found in most supermarkets. The good news: While many people with lactose intolerance have problems digesting soft cheeses, they rarely have issues with hard cheeses. The aging process makes them easier to digest. All clear for Appenzeller, Gruyère and friends. • Give up fruit? No, even those who have a fructose intolerance don‘t have to avoid eating fruit altogether. Nutrition experts advise limiting consumption of foods high in fructose, like apples, grapes and honey. Bananas and apricots also contain fructose, but have almost just as much glucose, which makes the fruits easier to digest. • Celiac disease – affects those who have a gluten intolerance. The protein is found in many type of grains, like wheat, rye, barley and oats. Individuals with this disease have to avoid a range of food, including bread, baked goods, noodles and beer. Luckily, there are now many gluten-free versions of these products available. And products containing rice or corn don‘t cause any problems.
More on the topic of food and nutrition: www.tuv-sud.com/foodsafety
On location
People:
Cards? He welcomes them!
F
ood from the corner grocery store, on line concert tickets, dinner at a restau rant: More and more people are going cashless these days. In North America and Europe, two of three purchases are now made with credit or debit cards, according to a study by the Capgemini consulting company. The number of such payments is also rising rapidly in South Amer ica, Africa and Asia. Takaya Osaki is excited about such growth rates. And that’s understandable: They ensure that the TÜV SÜD employee won’t run out of work any time soon. His job: to make sure that no one will end up at the checkout counter with a cart full of groceries and a card that fails to work. As part of his job, Osaki works in a specially designed lab in the Japanese capital of Tokyo and tests the functionality of the equipment used to write all important data on the cards’ chips and magnetic strips. The readers that retrieve these data when a payment is made are also tested according to a precisely defined scenario. The time and volume of data transmission are based on international standards. Osaki notes that termi nals used to create a contactless connection with the cards are quite technically sophisticated. »The trick here is to eliminate disruptive electromagnetic forces,« the electrical engineer says. »This technol ogy is also used in smartphones equipped with an integrated payment function.« A green light for your next shopping spree! At least from a technical perspective. After all, there is one area over which Takaya Osaki has no control: »The money has to be in the account. And that’s up to you.« Cash, a dinosaur? Takaya Osaki of TÜV SÜD in Japan ensures that credit and debit cards work smoothly.
More information on this topic: www.tuv-sud-zacta.jp TÜV SÜD Journal 21
Titelstory On the move
ON THE MOVE
RT #22 SMA HOMES #24 FUEL AS H FROM TR
or openers: o d d n a s e ly chin and remote washing ma t , e s n r r e te n In io it e d h on to t o! Lights, air c an be linked c s e burglars, to ic r v fo e d – l re a o c ti m rac More and rt homes. P a m s f o t r a p operated as
T R A M S S I ? E F A S O S L A Tall fence and guard dog: Are these things still enough to protect a building nowadays?
22 TÜV SÜD Journal
On Titelstory the move
I
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t seemed as if a sci-fi movie had come to life: In 1985, the company Unity Systems in Redwood City, California, introduced the »Home Manager« – the first system in the world that could regulate all important devices and functions in a building from a central control unit. Each room could have, for example, a set temperature for a certain time and day of the week. You could control the lighting, the garage door and even the sprinkler system outdoors. All of this was done using a touchscreen – an impressive feat in a time when home computers still saved data on disks and monitors were heavy cathode-ray screens that displayed acid-green blocks of type and lines. Does the automation technology of today offer much more? Turning your house into a »smart home« still means addressing the same three aspects it did back then: less energy consumption, more comfort and more security. The last goal comes in the form of devices like smoke detectors and surveillance cameras that can be integrated into the system. The really new aspect is that all of the devices, controls and interfaces have gone wireless and are no longer tied down by cable connections. They can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world over the Internet using a tablet PC or smartphone. From an intelligent home to a safe one
Outsmarting the burglar What does it take to build reliable, safe smart home systems? How can you protect your home against unauthorized entries and dig ital espionage? »The best defense is to put together a good battle plan at an early stage and to have these systems analyzed and tested by a qualified professional,« says Dr Thomas Störtkuhl from TÜV SÜD. The testing services company assists with the professional plan ning and installation of intelligent home tech nology. It helps homeowners decide which individual components and corresponding IT security systems they should use. On top of that, TÜV SÜD conducts functionality tests and various safety tests. It also offers workshops on these topics.
Of course, there are also other opportunities that weren’t available in 1985. The interplay with smart grids and smart meters means home automation can, for example, shift energy usage from times when prices are high to lowerpriced periods or tap self-generated energy when available. But smart home systems have not yet reached the end of the development stage. »It’s only a matter of time until we will need to develop digital firewalls for our own houses in addition to the security software for PCs, laptops and cell phones that already exists,« says Eugene Kaspersky, head of the well-known IT security company that bears his name. He says criminals can still easily break into smart homes’ systems and even penetrate the physical walls. The »safe home« is the next phase of development, he says. And Kaspersky has some advice for this journey: »For private households, and for companies, it will become increasingly important to install modern security systems and have them regularly tested and upgraded by companies that specialize in that field.« Even setting up secure passwords for all connected devices would at least be a good start. »We do that for e-mail accounts as well.«
More information: www.tuv-sud.com/smart-home
TÜV SÜD Journal 23
On the move
BIO
TANKS, NOT TRASHCANS 24 TÜV SÜD Journal
On the move
From refuse to resource! In these days of dwindling raw materials, the waste we produce each day has been a valuable resource for some time now. But can we really turn trash into fuel? Text: Leo Pesch
W
orthless trash? Not in Ed monton, Canada! The city, located 300 kilometers north of Calgary, turns trash into »gold.« For years now, the capital of the province of Alberta has been known for its special approach to waste. The heart of this operation is North America’s largest compost facility that processes 180,000 tons of household trash each year. Edmonton now wants to take the next step. A new facility will be designed to turn the things that res idents throw away into a coveted source of energy: ethanol, a fuel additive that can pow er internal combustion engines. Under the city’s plan, up to 38 million liters of the col orless liquid are to be produced from waste every year. The plant’s operator, Enerkem, also expects that the city’s waste diversion rate will climb from 60 percent to 90 percent with the help of the new facility. The result: Only 10 percent of the city’s garbage will end up in a landfill. Too good to be true?
It certainly sounds like a fairy tale. Some experts actually think that people would be just as well off if they believed in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus as they would to think that this facility can actually be operated successfully and efficiently. »The concept at Enerkem involves producing synthesis
gas and then converting it first into metha nol and then later into ethanol. But this is difficult to do with trash,« says Dr Thomas Willner, a Professor of Process Engineering at the Hamburg University of Applied Sci ences. His special area of expertise: produc ing fuel from waste. The problem of the Canadian facility is not a technical matter, he says. In theory, it would work amazingly well, the Hamburg professor notes. The principle has been suc cessfully applied for decades – using coal as the source material. »But as soon as the raw materials are not 100 percent homo geneous – and this is never the case with trash unless you do all sorts of sorting and cleaning – things get tricky,« Willner says. Several major companies have already tried the process and failed, he adds. Are there other ways to the goal?
Does this mean that fuel will never be pro duced from an assortment of materials like household trash? Experts from all parts of the world are conducting research and experiments to make the fairy tale come true. And they have come up with some promising methods that have worked on a laboratory scale: Gasoline can be produced from such things as plastic and wood scraps as well as from straw, stale bread rolls and used cooki ng oil. Slaughterhouse
waste – blood, hides and bones – can be used to produce fuel. »Many things will work on a large scale,« Willner says. Together with the Swiss com pany Nexxoil, his research group at the uni versity has developed a process that he calls »RADi.« In this process, the raw material is liquefied by taking it to its thermal limit. This is the most complicated step in the pro cess: »Because waste is very heterogeneous, the melting point cannot be precisely deter mined. As a rule, it is somewhere between 350 degrees and 500 degrees Celsius,« he says. Because this point varies significant ly in accordance with the source material, this process has worked only on a laboratory scale. Once the melting point has been reached and the solid material liquefied, the goal of producing fuel has still not been achieved. Initially, the waste produces a mixture of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. »This is where you run into the next hurdle: You have to get rid of the oxygen,« Willner says. The reason is clear: The desired product – biodiesel or biogasoline – must not contain any oxygen. This is where researchers have run into a roadblock, he says. This problem has prompted several sci entific institutes to team up with companies to set up the »Working Group for Alterna tive Combustibles and Fuels.« This group is TÜV SÜD Journal 25
On the move
»New biofuel facilities must not be too large if they are to be
operated in an environmentally and economically sensible manner.« – Leopold Katzmayer
working under the umbrella of the Process Net Initiative. It is within this framework that the Association of German Engineers and the German Society for Chemical En gineering and Biotechnology have brought together competing companies in an effort to jointly develop various solutions. »The working atmosphere of this group is unbe lievably creative,« says Willner, who serves as its chairman. »After all, each of us knows that he or she will be unable to move forward without the help of the other members.« Three possibilities, one chance
In the push to produce fuel from mixed forms of waste, interdisciplinary teams are working on three different approaches. In a process called flash pyrolysis, the source ma terial is heated as quickly as possible, lique fied and then cooled. The product is liquid, but can still be mixed with water, a fact that speaks against oil-like properties. »In addi tion, the heating value falls from 18 mega joules per kilogram to 17. In chemical terms, the result is heading in the wrong direction. But should the team succeed in removing the oxygen from the liquid, the result could be revolutionary,« he says. The second team is not letting oxygen get anywhere near the raw material: In a special chamber, water is brought to a boil under 200 bar pressure. The steam cannot escape, and the introduced raw material is »cracked.« The result is a tar-like substance, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon with just a little bit of oxygen. Heating value: 30 me gajoules per kilogram if the raw material is 26 TÜV SÜD Journal
trash based on straw or wood. But the goal is a pure oil made of hydrocarbons with a heating value of 43 megajoules per kilogram. The third technique is a combination of both of the previous processes: Heavy oil is used as a carrier medium in place of water. The waste is added. The mixture is then heat ed under pressure, and the solid materials are solvolytically dissolved, or liquefied. But what comes out? Chemically, the end product can be described as crude oil. The problem, though, is the widely fluctuating heating value. The reason for these fluctua tions can be found in the different amounts of heavy oil contained in each batch of waste. The coordination work needed to pre vent undesired reactions is very complicated. No matter which approach proves to be the best one: The job right now is to perfect the lab processes and then scale them up for use in an industrial-scale facility. The work ing group thinks that it will be five more years before the first facility goes into regular operation. Another key factor will be the size of the facilities: as a mega-plant like the one in Ed monton or as a small kind of lab. »The source material, the mixed waste, must be available regionally on a long-term basis,« Leopold Katzmayer says. For more than 40 years now, the Austrian has been advising companies about the ways they can recycle waste in an environmentally and economically sensi ble manner. He is certain of one thing: »If a company has to get its waste from a place too far away, the facility can be operated on a cost-effective basis only for a short peri
od because of the costs,« Katzmayer says. An ideal facility has an annual flow rate of 4,000 to 10,000 tons of waste, he says. The untapped resource
»The most important message is: A sub stance that is similar to crude oil can be produced from waste. This substance can be refined using conventional processes and converted into biofuels,« Willner says. And the scientist predicts one thing: Soon, the end product will not just be added to normal gasoline. It will almost replace it in several years. Is trash our new crude oil? Yes, accord ing to a study called »Wasted« that was initiated by energy companies and envi ronmental organizations. It calls trash the »untapped resource« and offers a formu la for success: About 900 million tons of waste are created each year in the European Union – by private households, industry, farming and forestry. In 2030, this waste could be used to produce enough energy to replace 16 per cent of fuel needed across Europe. A fairy tale come true.
More on the topic: www.tuv-sud.com/bioenergy
On the move
Be it fish bones or straw: Unlike earlier processes that used potential foods, new biofuel production methods do not rely on edible waste and residual materials.
TĂœV SĂœD Journal 27
To the point
#2
TO THE P O INT
INS #28 THE S AND OUT ATION OF NAVIG FOR #30 TIPS XE S ROOF BO
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29 : 8 1 :14
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20 :22 2
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#1
In orbit When the Galileo system is complete, 30 satellites will circle the Earth at an altitude of about 23,000 kilometers. They will hurtle through space at a speed of 3.67 kilometers per second. Each satellite will transmit a time signal and its coordinates to Earth. Its solar panels will produce the necessary electricity.
Signal check Receivers on Earth will collect all available satellite signals. To establish a position, at least two signals must be compared with each other. With the help of a third signal, altitude can be determined. The air traffic control system, among others, will profit from the additional data.
SEND, PLEASE! SEND, PLEASE! At the end of August 2014 a launch vehicle is scheduled to propel two Galileo satellites into outer space. The first services offered by the European alternative to the U.S. navigation system GPS could be ready to go into operation by the end of the year. But just how do satellites in space determine the position and route of a car on Earth?
More on the topic of cars and transportation: www.tuv-sud.com/automotive 28 TÜV SÜD Journal
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To the point
#3 Fine-tuning With the help of a fourth satellite signal, inaccurate location coordinates created by the imprecise synchronization of satellite clocks can be eliminated. The precise sending and receipt time is needed to determine a position.
H2
#4
m .2 28
Playing it safe If one of the two super-precise maser clocks on board of the satellite fails, it can rely on two atomic clocks instead. Three complete reserve satellites are also available. Of the 30 satellites available, only 27 are needed to operate the Galileo system worldwide.
#5
Route planning No matter whether the navigation system is in a car or a smartphone: It continuously receives the satellite signals and constantly establishes its position. The device determines speed and direction from the changes in position. It then compares all data with a digital map and offers directions. TĂœV SĂœD Journal 29
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To the point
Guide:
Up on the roof! When the trunk is brimming full, rooftop cargo boxes offer some handy extra storage space, a fact that makes them a particularly popular vacation accessory. Here are five tips for loading the boxes and driving with them.
1
Boxes for the right weight class
The product‘s directions provide information about how much weight may be transported in a particular rooftop cargo box. Maximum weights are typically between 75 and 100 kilograms. One important note: Check the owner‘s manual of the vehicle to find information about the maximum load that the roof can bear. The weight of the box (between 15 and 30 kilograms) and the mounting hardware (four to eight kilograms) should be subtracted from this total. The remaining amount is available for the transported items.
3 Under wraps
The cover of the rooftop cargo box is securely closed only if it shuts effortlessly. Instead of forcing it to close, you should rearrange or lessen the load. If you are unable to remove the key, this is also a sign that the box has been improperly closed. One other thing: Don’t leave the second key at home.
2
Tied down
Virtually all rooftop cargo boxes have eye holes and straps that can be used to secure the load. This can prevent the load from shifting dangerously. Cords and elastic bands will not get the job done. They should not be used to lash down loads.
Time travel: Up until the mid-1970s, transporting loads on top of cars was anything but safe. Then, the first rooftop cargo boxes appeared in the market, protecting loads from the weather as well as losses.
4
WEIGHTY CONCERNS The rooftop cargo box changes the center of a vehicle’s gravity. For this reason, drivers must be particularly careful, especially when they are sitting behind the wheel of vans, buses or SUVs. This is especially the case with curves. The increased weight also extends a vehicle‘s stopping distance. As a result, some manufacturers recommend that vehicles equipped with rooftop cargo boxes should not be driven faster than 130 km/h.
More information about cars: www.tuv-sud.com/private-car-owners 30 TÜV SÜD Journal
5
High safety Rooftop cargo boxes increase the height of vehicles. For this reason, drivers must pay special attention when they travel through tunnels or under bridges. You should measure the vehicle‘s height before a trip begins and attach a note containing this information to the dashboard.
Academy | dates
08/09/10 cALENDAR
You can experience TÜV SÜD in person at the following trade fairs, congresses and events. Our team of experts is looking forward to meeting you. More information on the dates: www.tuv-sud.com/corporate-events
August Saxony Classic, Zwickau, August 21–23, 2014 A 610 kilometers long car rally with 180 historical vehicles.
september The Battery Show, Novi, Michigan, USA, September 16–18, 2014 About 350 exhibitors will present new battery technologies. The LED Show, Los Angeles, September 16–18, 2014 An LED convention will be held in conjunction with this trade fair.
Training tips TÜV SÜD Academy
Development with a plan Qualified employees are a key success factor at every company. For this reason, the topic of initial and further training becomes a high priority. Five rules will help you ensure that your training management gets the job done: Always have a goal: Do not haphazardly arrange the broadest range of seminars and training courses! Training management must always be based on the company’s strategy. This is the only way to ensure that all efforts effectively contribute to reaching the company‘s goals. For this reason, Human Resources, the Strategy Department and top managers must be linked! Keep your cool: Do not mimic every trend! Training programs must fit your company. This can definitely include new formats like »mobile learning.« But, occasionally, less »cool« solutions – like a standard classroom seminar – may be better suited for your purposes. Get IT support: Do you have everything in mind and under control? Hardly! Manual processes are usually more time consuming than those conducted with IT tools. These tools can streamline processes and facilitate sensible distribution of resources. In addition, employees can be integrated into the planning of training courses. Gain the support of management: The greatest ideas in the world are worth nothing if no one hears about them. Managers are key agenda setters and the central source of information for employees. For this reason, you should actively bring managers into the planning process and regularly inform them in advance.
WindEnergy, Hamburg, September 23–26, 2014 The international exhibition of the on- and offshore wind industry.
Take a look back: Training costs a lot of time, money and energy. Of course, you want to know whether all of the hard work paid off in the end. For this reason, efficient training controlling is a key element of every training management system – and it needs to start playing a role during the planning phase.
IAA Commercial Vehicles, Hannover, September 25–October 2, 2014 The world‘s leading trade fair for mobility, transport and logistics.
More information: www.tuv-sud.com/academy
TechnoPharm, Stuttgart, September 30–October 2, 2014 Everything about processes for the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industry.
october Expo Real 2014, Munich, October 6–8, 2014 Europe‘s largest commercial real estate exhibition. Chillventa, Nuremberg, October 14–16, 2014 The trade fair focuses on energy efficiency, heat pumps and refrigeration. eCarTec, Munich, October 21–23, 2014 The leading international exhibition for electric and hybrid mobility.
Imprint Publisher: TÜV SÜD AG, Westend Street 199, 80686 Munich Owners: TÜV SÜD e.V. (74.9 %), TÜV SÜD Foundation (25.1 %), Westend Street 199, 80686 Munich Head of Corporate Communications: Matthias Andreesen Viegas Project Manager and Editor in Chief: Jörg Riedle Contact: +49 (0)89 5791-0, info@tuev-sued.de Realization: Medienfabrik Gütersloh GmbH, Neumarkter Street 63, 81673 Munich Printing: Eberl Print GmbH, Kirchplatz 6, 87509 Immenstadt Photo credits: Burger King (14), corbis (2, 3, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 30), fotolia (20, 28, 29), FSC (17), Kino, Mond & Sterne (4, 5), Renault (33), TÜV SÜD (21, 32); Illustrations: Mareikje Kersting (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) , LULU* (34, 35) TÜV SÜD Journal appears quarterly. Articles in the magazine are copyrighted. TÜV SÜD Journal is printed in a climate-neutral manner on paper from sustainable forestry.
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5 minutes
New materials for solar power systems
BCP Award for TÜV SÜD
Effective help for young people
TÜV SÜD has checked a number of materials for boosting efficiency at the Ain Beni Mathar solar thermal power sta tion in Morocco. The reason: The operator is planning to use salt instead of oil as the heat-transfer medium. That would make it possible to achieve temperatures of 550 de grees Celsius (instead of the previous level of 400 degrees). The plant can now be retrofitted with a high-alloy steel.
The Best of Corporate Publishing Award is Europe’s largest and most prestigious competi tion for corporate publishing. TÜV SÜD is among this year’s winners: The international jury gave a silver award to the Group’s annual report for the previous year. Other winners included Adidas, BMW and Audi.
Fighting youth unemployment together – this is the ob jective of the JOBLINGE initiative that celebrated its fifth anniversary this year in Munich. As a charter member of the initiative, TÜV SÜD is providing support that includes free job-application training. The objective: enabling young people who have no chance of finding a job to gain quali fications.
klaus.rieger@tuev-sued.de
joerg.riedle@tuev-sued.de
kerstin.spreer@tuev-sued.de
5
Award for exceptional training opportunities
Which companies have exemplary train ing and talent management systems? How are the skills and creativity of employees developed? Answering these questions is the aim of the Deutsche Bildungspreis (German training award), which was pre sented in May 2014 for the second time. The winners of the award presented by TÜV SÜD Academy and the consulting firm EuPD Research Sustainable Manage ment have recognized one thing: Training and talent promotion are essential ele ments of a company's success. In six cat egories, ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, IBM Deutschland, VR Bank Südpfalz and the small and mid-sized enterprises LOESCHE, Heiligenfeld and conplement were re cognized. Since 2012, more than 250 companies have submitted nominations for the coveted award. The motto of this year’s award was: »Learn from the best.« anne.dreyer@tuev-sued.de
32 TÜV SÜD Journal
Religious standards for food and beverages
Food should be more than just safe to eat – many people also ex pect that their food and beverages should meet other standards as well. One example of this is the growing demand for religious certification, including halal. In global demand: About This term is applied to things and behaviors that are permissible for Muslims under the rules of the Koran. Together with the Islamic Muslims around the world cultural organization Zayd Ibn Thabit, the consume »halal« foods. TÜV SÜD national subsidiary in Italy issues the corresponding certification mark. »The religious certification comes from Zayd Ibn Thabit, and TÜV SÜD en sures that foods comply with valid laws and international standards like HACCP,« says Roberto Passariello of TÜV SÜD. In addition to an Italian coffee producer and a pharmacy in Rome, meals served to air travelers are being checked: An airline has hired the TÜV SÜD subsidiary Starfood LSG to inspect the catering for travelers to Arab countries.
2 BILLION
roberto.passariello@tuv.it
5 minutes
Broad support for driving assessment The medical psychological assessment (MPA) has a very good reputation among Germans, according to a representative survey commissioned by the Verband der TÜV e.V. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they thought the MPA was worthwhile, and 73 percent stated that it promoted traffic safety. Women, in particular, ex pressed support for the system. As the MPA turns 60, of Germans support the the German system enjoys broad support: Since 1954, MPA for DUI cases. the MPA has been a key part of Germany’s effort to make its highways and roads safer. It also provides drivers with an opportunity to regain their suspended licenses. Before the license is reissued, traffic psychologists will determine whether the driver has really changed his or her behavior.
Return of leased vehicles
97 PERCENT
gerhard.laub@tuev-sued.de
minutes
About 2,500 trucks, buses and heavy equipment made by Volvo and Renault are returned to the Volvo Group each year af ter leasing agreements expire. TÜV SÜD is now providing comprehensive support to the time-consuming return process involving these vehicles: The company handles the return inspections and writes assessments about the vehicles’ condition, among other things. Damage is also checked, repair orders are placed, and the dealer purchase value is determined. The payoff for the customer: The entire return process is handled by a single source. andreas.lahne@tuev-sued.de
with TÜV SÜD Electric cars on the Hockenheimring
Formula Student is the name of an international design competition in which teams of college students from around the world develop single-seat race cars and drive them on For mula One tracks. The winner is not automatically the fastest and most technically sophisticated car. Rather, the trophy is presented to the group that is able to put together the most convincing package that fulfills diverse evaluation criteria. For five years now, students have been able to enter a special category for electric cars. As a pioneer in electromobility, TÜV SÜD supports the e-racing team of the Technical Univer sity of Landshut – by providing training about high-voltage technology and offering sponsoring support. The students have put about 60,000 work hours into their latest race car, which is made of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer and pro duces 85 kilowatts of power on the road. The team proved itself at the end of July 2014 during the German competition at the Hockenheimring racetrack.
Bundled skills for metals and plastics With the consolidation of two labs in the German state of Hessen, TÜV SÜD has bundled its skills in the area of materials testing: In April 2014, the testing facilities of the company's chemical division that was previously based in Non-destructive and the Frankfurt-Höchst in destructive processes dustrial park began using office space that belongs to the TÜV SÜD affiliated materials testing. company TÜV Hessen. The focal areas of the new testing center located in the Frankfurt district of Kalbach are: testing metals, plastics and other materials with the aim of determining their durability against chemicals for production operations and damage assessments. Corrosion and storage assessments are also offered by the new location.
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TÜV SÜD Journal 33
The final say
LAB-RAT COMPUTER CHIPS Could animal testing soon be a thing of the past? A group of U.S. researchers thinks so at least. Simulated miniature people could make it all possible.
34 TĂœV SĂœD Journal
The final say
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ill computers soon have more in common with people than apes do? Researchers are trying to make this a reality. Because they have grown disappointed: In recent years, several medications developed at tremendous expense have turned out to be ineffective on humans, even though they were successfully tested on apes, rodents or pigs. One of these was a new active ingredient to treat Alzheimer’s. So now it’s time for a new kind of guinea pig: computer chips. Right now, 20 research groups are working in the United States to develop a »human on a chip« in a project funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. They expect to be able to grow tissue from stem cells on electronic components by 2017. As if this were not enough of a challenge, the tissue‘s nerve cells still need to be connected to a computer over tiny circuit board paths. The goal is for the medication to be tested by dropping it on the human chip and then analyzing the cells’ reactions with the help of computers. Is the particular medication effective or not? This question can’t be answered by a single fingernailsized tissue chip. The imitation cell has to be attached to an organ and, ultimately, to an entire organism. »The human body is more than just the sum of its individual tissues and organs. Only complex systems can tell us how this all comes together,« explains Thomas Hartung, a pharmacol ogist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Hartung says it will still take many years before we have a tissue chip that can be connected in such a way that, for example, an artificial stomach can take a sleeping pill and can be monitored to determine how the active ingredients travel through an artificial blood stream to a min iature brain or liver or what effect the metabolism of these substances will have on the kidneys, skin or other cells of the body. Once the sleeping pill has performed its job without side effects, the »human on a chip« can surely take a snooze.
TÜV SÜD Journal 35
THE GOOD LIFE
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hat are the most important criteria for a better life? A good education, clean air, a nice home, money? Does progress mean the same thing to everyone and in all countries? The answers to these questions can be found in the »Better Life Index« (www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org) made available by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Based on eleven »soft« criteria, such as housing, education, safety and the environment, the index compares well-being in the 34 OECD member countries as well as in Brazil and Russia. The surprising finding of the ongoing online survey: In most countries, material items have little bearing on people‘s satisfaction with life. The state of the environment, work-life balance and their professional situation are more important. MORE ON THIS TOPIC
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What is most important to people? Is it satisfaction with life, health or education? The answer varies from country to country.
Canada
R ussia Satisfaction with life
Germany
United States
Health care
M exico
M arocco
Education
The larger the dots on the map, the more important a particular aspect is relative to the others.
B razil
7.1
8.0
10.0
8.9
8.9
Satisfaction with life
Health care
Education
Income
7.9
8.8
Germany
5.3
United States
Germany
United States
Germany
United States
Germany
United States
6.3
7.9
Safety
Work-life balance
Germany
7.2
United States
8.5
Germany
7.3
Germany
The United States and Germany score well in the seven most important indicators for quality of life (maximum value of 10.0 for each). They rank among the countries with the most content people.
7.5
United States
Germany and the United States in comparison
A ustralia
S outh Africa
United States
C hile
Environment