Moving and Storage Business News

The News Review:

- The climate-change challenges
- On the Other Side of Fine Art, Among the Crates and Barrels
- Forever Interiors’ attitude: Reuse, recycle, rejoice
- Y-12 complex reaches milestone
- Germany’s Cinematic Legacy Fills Federal Archives

The climate-change challenges
Economic Times – Dec 22, 2007
Energy from renewable resources, such aswind and solar, is expected to contribute a small but growing fraction to totalenergy sources. Even if climate-change concerns did not in any case warrant amove to low- or no-carbon technologies, the laws of supply and demand wouldstill drive the search for non-fossilalternatives. Big andintegrated oil & gas companies across the world are strategically investingin a variety of alternative energy portfolio. For instance, BP is planning toinvest $8 billion in low carbon power and alternative energy business over thenext decade and aims at $1 billion of operating profit by 2015 from thisbusiness only. Shell has been working towards carbon capture and storage (CCS)projects in Australia and Norway. Schlumberger is also takingactive steps to reduce its environmental footprint by developing technologieslike CCS, where CO2 is captured from concentrated sources, such as powerstations and stored in underground geological formations. ExxonMobil hadinvested quite significantly in the R&D activities of alternative energy andnow on the verge of commercialising On-Vehicle Hydrogen Fuel System…
Big andintegrated oil & gas companies across the world are strategically investingin a variety of alternative energy portfolio. For instance, BP is planning toinvest $8 billion in low carbon power and alternative energy business over thenext decade and aims at $1 billion of operating profit by 2015 from thisbusiness only. Shell has been working towards carbon capture and storage (CCS)projects in Australia and Norway. Schlumberger is also takingactive steps to reduce its environmental footprint by developing technologieslike CCS, where CO2 is captured from concentrated sources, such as powerstations and stored in underground geological formations. ExxonMobil hadinvested quite significantly in the R&D activities of alternative energy andnow on the verge of commercialising On-Vehicle Hydrogen Fuel System. Due to proactive initiativesof the government of India, we had the advantage of moving very fast in the CDMspace, which in turn positioned India as one of the most vibrant market placesin carbon business with a significant share in registered CDM projects andissued CER. Private sector industries in India have already leveraged the firstmoverâs advantage in the CDM space.

On the Other Side of Fine Art, Among the Crates and Barrels
Washington Post – Dec 23, 2007
In 12 years, “I’ve had close calls — and I’ll leave it at that. “His job involves physical labor, pushing crated paintings onto trucks or pulling them out of storage. At least once a week, he hauls a truckload from storage in Largo to the museum downtown. Installing a new exhibit can be especially demanding. The current show about the role of Spain in the Revolutionary War has 100 paintings. Hanging them took the Portrait Gallery’s three art handlers and 10 contractors a week. A graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Planisek was a commercial illustrator for 17 years…
“I wanted to experience the other side of art, the fine art side,” he said. He paints and shoots photos on the side, and feels his Smithsonian job “frees me up to express myself the way I want to. “In 1995, he joined a contract art moving and installation company Artex, where he learned the ropes. (The work pays $20 to $40 an hour, depending on experience and venue. ) After a stint at another museum, he joined the Portrait Gallery in 1999. He likes working with curators, art historians and artists. Recently, he was putting out an array of old movie posters for the curator to review.

Forever Interiors’ attitude: Reuse, recycle, rejoice
Toronto Star – Dec 22, 2007
He spends 12 hours every day on a bike and supplies me and other people. " Scott took a huge old door and made it into a hallway bench on which to sit while taking off your shoes. It’s all found wood, with the door on one side, floorboards on the other and storage underneath. He’ll take old five-foot-high mirrors that are refuse from apartment buildings or renos, attach them to old floor boards from century homes and price them at $195 to $395. Scott sells church pews from the neighbouring Victorian Presbyterian church for $350…
"The church was converted (no pun intended) into lofts," he says. There is a magnificent armoire with a "sold" sticker marked at $4,900. "A moving company called me up (offering it)," Scott says. "It’s not old â only 15 years old â but it costs $17,245 regularly. "What is totally gob-smacking is a coffee table top made from a bowling alley floor that Scott obtained in collaboration with The Post and Beam Reclamation Ltd. , several stores down at 2869 Dundas W. The Post and Beamers deal in reclaimed architectural materials and have been known to go all the way to Argentina to buy a church door, but the door is such a work of art, it’s almost a religious experience.

Y-12 complex reaches milestone
Knoxville News Sentinel (subscription) – Dec 23, 2007
DSW works in conjunction with production support, which maintains necessary equipment and processes. The removal of this volume of dismantled components has also made a significant contribution to site footprint reduction goals, which are one element of Y-12′s modernization program. Dismantlements also reduce security and storage costs for the complex. Y-12 also made progress in the relocation of the quality evaluation function and consolidation of the stockpile surveillance functions at Y-12. Stockpile surveillance assesses the reliability and functionality of weapons components, beginning with preproduction and continuing throughout each weapon’s stockpile life. The consolidation of surveillance functions and relocation of the quality evaluation functions will improve these operations and allow for moving out of an old building. We are happy to celebrate the remarkable achievements of 2007 and look forward to the challenges of the new year, where we will continue to be dedicated to achieving national security goals…
Y-12 also made progress in the relocation of the quality evaluation function and consolidation of the stockpile surveillance functions at Y-12. Stockpile surveillance assesses the reliability and functionality of weapons components, beginning with preproduction and continuing throughout each weapon’s stockpile life. The consolidation of surveillance functions and relocation of the quality evaluation functions will improve these operations and allow for moving out of an old building. We are happy to celebrate the remarkable achievements of 2007 and look forward to the challenges of the new year, where we will continue to be dedicated to achieving national security goals. NNSA is planning to transform the nuclear weapons complex to be smaller, more efficient and more cost effective. Because of this important effort, we will see changes at Y-12 over the next several years. Many of our buildings are old, and the cost of maintaining them continues to rise.

Germany’s Cinematic Legacy Fills Federal Archives
Deutsche Welle – Dec 23, 2007
After all, Max Skladanowsky presented the first “living pictures” in Berlin on Nov. 1, 1895, beating France’s Lumiere brothers to the honor by a month. As a result of Germany’s long association with the moving image, the country today possesses a huge number of archived film rolls, a heritage lovingly cared for by the Federal Film Archives, which operates out of Berlin and six other cities. All in all, Germany has in storage around 150,000 movies on 1 million rolls of film. The Berlin department is the home of the original Skladanowsky film, which is stored along with many other historical works in what is one of the most comprehensive film archives in the world, documenting more than 100 years of movie history. Reflecting German cultural tastes…
“This means our collection is comprehensive and reflects the society, fashion and cultural tastes of Germany at different periods, from the silent movie era onwards, through the Weimar and Nazi periods to the present time,” he said. One of the most prestigious periods in German film is catalogued at the Berlin facility. When a production company called Ufa (later DEFA) in 1921 gained control of the Babelsberg studios, south of Berlin, a legendary era in film-making and film history began in Germany. A collection of classicsAmong films made there were “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” “Nosferatu,” the Fritz Lang classic “Testament to Dr. Mabuse” and the 1930-made “Blue Angel,” starring Marlene Dietrich. All these are stored with pride by the Federal Archives.