WEEE non-compliance of LED lamps sold through Amazon raised in Parliamentary committee
At a hearing of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), Amazon’s worldwide Director of Environmental Affairs was challenged over the high level of non-compliant product sold through their site. The committee is currently holding an enquiry into the operation of the UK’s WEEE system, and asked Amazon to submit a representative to answer their questions. During an online hearing 16 July Caroline Lucas MP, a longstanding member of the EAC, challenged Amazon’s Robert ter Kuile over the non-compliance of LED lamps. She asked, “How do you ensure that overseas sellers using your platform are part of a producer compliance scheme for e-waste” and quoted figures from research undertaken by Recolight1 that “out of the first 120 listings for LED lightbulbs on amazon, 76% were non-compliant freeriders; which make no contribution to UK recycling costs” Responding to the question, ter Kuile advised that compliance was the responsibility of the sellers. He also noted that some of the sellers on their site would have paid WEEE fees via a third party or were registered for WEEE under a different company name. He also claimed that Amazon “takes very seriously” any non-compliant products that are brought to their attention. Commenting on the hearing, Recolight CEO Nigel Harvey said “It was particularly pleasing to hear Caroline Lucas challenging Amazon using the Recolight research. But the response from Amazon was very disappointing. Robert ter Kuile failed to admit that most products detected in the Recolight research were genuinely non-compliant, and that only a small minority had been compliant using the methods he indicated. His claim that Amazon takes non-compliance seriously will not convince the members of the Recolight scheme who regularly identify non-compliant product on their site.” For similar articles please visit our features section
Essentra Components advise on efficient PCB design with new free guide
Essentra Components know that the performance of your circuit will depend greatly on how it’s laid out on the PCB, and that poor PCB layout can cause function and reliability problems. To save time and problems they suggest therefore that designing your PCB needs to start before the actual process of ideation, definition and validation. This updated Essentra Components guide to efficient PCB design shows how you can improve the overall product by allowing electronic design engineers to ensure compatibility among the project hardware. The guide is available at www.essentracomponents.com/en-gb/news/guides/how-to-efficiently-design-your-pcb. They suggest that design and prototyping should begin with consideration of the design software, fabrication and component density, then matters of trace width calculation and a choice of SMT or Through Hole technology. The guide addresses how to avoid errors in landing patterns, deal with component fit, consider the positioning of specialist components such as decoupling capacitors, so leading on to optimising the layout of switching regulators and concerns of blind and buried vias. They offer free component samples and free download of component CAD designs as well as other related articles for free download. Three Top Tips for Selecting PCB Spacers Three trends impacting smart home security industry Plastic to play a key role in 5G phone networks Further information on Essentra Components products can be found on the Essentra Components website – www.essentracomponents.com, or contact sales@essentracomponents.com. Follow them on social media: https://facebook.com/essentracomponents/, www.linkedin.com/company/essentra https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD-2g7tiLiKxsDptdC79BNQ
Aico and EIC collaborate for digital mental health awareness sessions
Aico and the Electrical Industries Charity (EIC) are joining forces to help educate and increase understanding of mental health awareness with virtual, online training. As part of their ongoing commitment and support to the EIC, Aico are organising mental health awareness sessions online via webinar. These easily accessible sessions will be delivered alongside their award-winning Expert Installer Training scheme and provide interactive and informative training. In April, Aico revamped their CPD-accredited training and launched it digitally as a free of charge webinar. These daily webinars were in high demand and received high praise from users. Building on the momentum generated from these sessions, Aico have announced they will be facilitating the delivery of online mental health awareness sessions, in partnership with the EIC. These sessions will be run by a qualifies EIC trainer and aim to provide an understanding of what mental health is, knowledge on some common mental health issues and encourage challenging of the stigmas associated with mental health. This initiative will help educate in ways to look after your own mental health and to support someone who may be in distress. These sessions began in West Lothian College with the webinars being delivered to apprentices and Electrical Engineering students following their Expert Installer training. The webinars were limited to six students to allow for better interaction and engagement with the EIC provider and had a positive response from the students. College Principle Jackie Galbraith said, “These sessions provided an excellent resource for students to ask questions and talk to their peers”. The free of charge mental health awareness sessions offered by Aico and the EIC will be rolled out nationwide to those within the electrical industry in the coming months. The EIC are an industry charity that, for over 100 years, have recognized the importance of providing the right support and meeting the wellbeing needs of individuals to create better workplaces and industry communities. Aico are proud to be supporting the work of the EIC and have supported the charity for a number of years through charity events. Aico, an Ei Company, are the UK market leader in Fire and Carbon Monoxide protection, leading the way in home life safety by pioneering new technologies and offering high quality alarms, developed and manufactured in Ireland. All Aico alarms meet UK standards and offer a variety of sensor types to guarantee protection for every home, the cornerstone of which is delivering education, quality, service and innovation. For information on the mental health awareness sessions and to sign up, please visit contact your local Regional Specification Manager www.aico.co.uk/contact-us/ For further information on the EIC and the ways in which they can offer support, please visit www.electricalcharity.org/ Samaritans Phone: 116 123 (free 24-hour helpline) Website: www.samaritans.org.uk Mind Phone: 0300 123 3393 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm) Website: www.mind.org.uk
Aico expands Connected Home offering with leading IoT Solutions Provider Homelync
Aico’s acquisition of Homelync represents a significant milestone for social landlords looking to procure connected solutions. Bristol-based Homelync are an award-winning, innovative technology firm that specialize in smart home integration and analytics technology. With industry-leading expertise in the Internet of Things (IoT), software development and integration, the Homelync team are at the forefront of this progressive market. Aico’s acquisition of Homelync will provide a complementary technology platform to present a synergistic approach to IoT, analytics and data management across the connected home arena. Aico’s innovative SmartLINK Gateway provides real-time data insight into Fire and Carbon Monoxide alarm systems across housing stock. Social housing accounts for 20% of all UK homes and with smart technology and the connected home vastly becoming commonplace, managing data is becoming difficult with multiple, non-integrated dashboards resulting in fragmented data, loss of insight and limited scalability. Homelync’s development of an IoT Analytics and Integrate Platform provides an innovative solution to these connected home issues. The platform facilitates the seamless, end-to-end integration of IoT technologies into one user-friendly dashboard, giving landlords more effective property management. Commenting on the investment Aico Managing Director Neal Hooper said, “Aico and Homelync is a perfect partnership – Aico being the UK market leader in Fire and CO detection and Homelync complementing this with advanced data insight and analytics across associated housing environmental sensors including temperature, humidity, energy usage and gas boilers. Complementing Aico’s Gateway which provides real time data insight into connected Fire and CO alarms within a property, Homelync’s advanced machine learning and analytics of this collective data will provide our customers with state of the art data insight across their connected properties. We are extremely excited around the value this is able to bring to customers across the social housing sector and look forward to continuing innovations and progression across the Connected Home and IoT arena.” Through the partnership with Homelync, this valuable data can be integrated with analytics from associated environmental sensors providing complete, integrated, and effective asset management. Speaking following the announcement, Homelync CEO Luke Loveridge acknowledged the significance of the investment and the future strategic partnership; “Our vision is to harness new technology to make social housing smarter, safer and more efficient. The strategic investment by Ei and the future close collaboration with Aico will help us accelerate our objectives in this regard. The vendor agnostic, open sensor ecosystem we have developed is 100% complementary to what Ei offers its customers today. Add to this our team with decades of experience in software, hardware, machine learning and local government, and we believe we have the essential ingredients for a very successful partnership.” This exciting move will see Aico expand its footprint in the Connected Home Arena with the acquisition of game changing complementary technology.
Optimum data transfer: smart and structured electrical wiring from Digitus
State-of-the-art building wiring, supplied by Digitus, complies with the latest IEEE802.3bt and 3at standards, enabling both interconnection and power supply of network technology at the same time. Hirschau, Germany, July 2020. Conrad Electronic expands its comprehensive range of industrial-grade building service supplies by adding Digitus electrical wiring products. “Ever-increasing data volumes in the time of digitalisation necessitate a building infrastructure that develops continually. In this regard, structured building wiring allows for the transfer of large amounts of data at the optimum energy efficiency levels,” explains Sven Prang, product manager at Conrad Electronic. “The flexibility, scalability and durability of the solutions, provided by Digitus, enables us to supply our customers with a future-proof package.” All Digitus wiring products are state-of-the-art and conform with the new Power over Ethernet (PoE) IEEE802.3at/3bt standards. Structured wiring constitutes an approach to non-specific electrical wiring within and across buildings. Covering everything from server rooms, intra- and inter-building cable and wiring needs to sub-distribution, Digitus supplies a comprehensive range of all-in-one solutions that ensure a neat high-performance infrastructure. One of the key advantages of structured wiring is the PoE supply of IT equipment, using Ethernet data cables to power devices which renders additional power feeds unnecessary. PoE comprises two different supply types: namely, mid-span and end-span power. End-span power involves switches that also serve as power sourcing equipment (PSE), supplying downstream devices. On the other hand, applications centred around non-PoE switches normally rely on mid-span power provided by PoE injectors placed between switches and destination devices, supplying power via Ethernet cable. Server rooms, their small-scale equivalents, and switchboard cabinets form the backbone of any IT infrastructure and, hence, of structured building wiring. Conrad stocks all required Digitus components including 24-port patch panels, Mini GBIC (SFP) modules, fans, OM4 patch cables, and LC OM4 splice boxes. Electrical wiring needs to meet a wide range of requirements that, among others, includes fast transfer of large data volumes and high reliability. Using both fibre optic (FO) and copper wiring is highly recommended, particularly when it comes to cables that run vertically. Whilst FOs are the preferred option for covering the distance between server rooms and the distributors on each floor, copper cables are still considered the top choice for connecting end devices. In this context, Conrad supplies PoE-enabled CAT.7 S/FTP simplex cables with AWG/23/1 copper cores from the Digitus portfolio. Sub-distribution concerns the splitting of the main wiring into feeds for individual workplace equipment. This is achieved by so-called consolidation points in the form of GHMT-certified keystone modules housed within junction boxes fitted to office desks or placed in ceiling cavities, underfloor and under raised floors. These modules directly connect to the switches, making traditional distribution boards on each floor a thing of the past. Digitus products are entirely centred around structured electrical wiring of buildings, covering server rooms, individual workplaces, desk equipment and everything else. The components themselves are highly versatile, enabling straightforward modification both within buildings and at the system level, with the whole infrastructure being able to be adapted as needed in the process. More information about Digitus and Conrad’s industrial-grade building service supplies is available at: https://www.conrad.com/search?brand_any=Digitus&brand_any=Digitus&search=Digitus
CICV Forum welcomes new member and creates consultant sub-group as important work continues
The Construction Industry Coronavirus (CICV) Forum has welcomed a new member to its ranks and also set up a specialist sub-group to gather and share expertise from some of Scotland’s leading consultants. Trade association DHF has become the latest organisation to become a full-time member, while the creation of a new Consultants sub-group has seen 12 professional bodies swell the collective’s ever-growing roster of experts. Their arrival means the Forum now has 25 full member bodies from across Scotland and beyond – including Government agencies, private companies and professional services – plus eight sub-groups receiving input from more than 40 separate organisations. Forum Chair and SELECT Managing Director Alan Wilson, said: “We are delighted to welcome both DHF as our latest full member and the 12 bodies who make up the new Consultants sub-group. “Now that restart is under way in earnest, cooperation and collaboration is more vital than ever, so we appreciate the knowledge and expertise that these new Forum contributors bring. “Each new member brings new strengths and we greatly appreciate the knowledge and insight we know they will deliver as part of our ongoing efforts.” As a not-for-profit trade association, DHF represents companies associated with locks and building hardware, doorsets, industrial doors and shutters, domestic garage doors and automated gates. Patricia Sowsbery-Stevens, Head of Commercial Operations at DHF, said: “The Forum gives the industry an invaluable opportunity to discuss the issues we all face and decide how restart can be managed safely for both contractors and consumers. “We are proud to contribute our voice to and help make our contribution to a remarkable joint initiative that has already made such a positive mark on the construction sector.” The new Consultants sub-group is made up of representatives from leading industry bodies Atelier Ten, Currie & Brown, David Narro Associates, Gardiner & Theobald, Hardies, JM Architects, Keppie Design, Page\Park, Reiach & Hall, Turner & Townsend, Will Rudd Davidson, and Woolgar Hunter. The sub-group is chaired by David Logue, Partner and Board Member of Gardiner & Theobald, who said: “We are grateful to have been given this opportunity to listen and offer assistance where it is needed to help reshape the sector during restart and recovery. “The Forum has been the perfect example of how the industry can come together and work towards a common goal, and we look forward to contributing to its ongoing success.” The latest developments follow the arrival of Association for Project Safety (APS) and Single Ply Roofing Association (SPRA), who both joined the Forum as full members in June. Since its creation in mid-March, the Forum has been at the vanguard of the battle to save the construction sector in Scotland, distributing information and becoming the first port of call for clarity of advice. Its latest initiatives include the release of an animation about returning to work safely and a free downloadable restart pack containing posters, checklists and fact sheets advising how to manage the restart while keeping staff safe. It also recently provided health and safety underpinning guidance, furloughing information for employers, a consultation about the future of the industry in Scotland and vital advice for apprentices and staff preparing to return to college. The Forum has also carried out a series of surveys, hosted popular webinars on health and safety, financial and employment issues, and maintained regular dialogue with the Scottish Government to help ensure a safe return to work across the sector.
Reducing the hassle for trades with online learning
There is no question the coronavirus pandemic has been tough for the trade, with many suffering delays and cancellations to jobs. As the focus shifts to how the country recovers, national builder’s merchant Jewson is launching a series of FREE online learning sessions to help people get back on track. Covering everything from how to win more business, to understanding building regulations and even promoting your company online and on social media, the six-part series is designed to reduce hassle for tradespeople and get them back on the tools. Andrew Cushing, Jewson Customer Director, said: “We want to do all we can to support our customers and the wider construction industry. We’ve been working hard to make sure they can get the materials and supplies they need, but we know that’s not always enough. Our Toolkit Talks are a brilliant source of information to help people get ahead. We’re tapping into experts from across the trade to bring people the best advice possible that will make a real difference to their day-to-day lives.” The Toolkit Talks are based 100% online. All tradespeople have to do is register on the Jewson website and they’ll be sent a link to watch the sessions. No paperwork, no trick questions, just a direct link to the experts – it couldn’t be easier. The first session will be broadcast live on Friday the 10th July and will be delivered in partnership with the team at Build Aviator. Hosted by Andrew Ellis, Design Estimator Director and Tim Myatt, Regional Sales Manager, it will cover everything from the benefits of using Build Aviator’s estimating software, to how tradespeople can make a positive impression on site to bring in more work. Andrew Ellis said: “We are delighted to collaborate with Jewson on the first Toolkit Talks session and are looking forward to sharing some of our expertise. Build Aviator can not only help tradespeople generate precise material lists and quotes for their clients, but also proves invaluable when it comes to retaining work and generating new leads – all of which will be discussed during the session.” Subsequent talks will explain everything tradespeople need to know to pass building regulations every time, how to tackle the “sensible stuff” including tax returns, accounts and expenses, setting up a new business, promoting your company, and there will be a special panel discussion focusing on putting brain and body first. Anyone interested in joining the sessions live can sign up here to receive a link, or they will be made available on demand here.
The Lighting Designer Software – Design Any Lighting Project in Minutes
Introducing The Lighting Designer (TLD), a new cloud-based design and specification tool that is set to revolutionise the electrical industry and increase business profitability by producing technically correct and compliant designs in a matter of minutes. Created by the team behind the multi award-winning software, The CEDIA Designer (formerly known as The Cinema Designer), TLD is the only software in existence to bring together electrical design, lighting control systems and lighting fixture specification. This allows professionals from different fields to create detailed technical designs and ensure a smooth collaborative approach on projects. “The industry is seeing that end users are putting great emphasis on lighting design, meaning that this segment of the market provides a great opportunity for electrical contractors,” said TLD inventor, Guy Singleton. “Knowing how long it takes to design a lighting scheme inspired me to develop TLD. I’ve been working on the software for three years and am now excited to launch it and see it change the way in which electrical contractors work.” Lighting design tends to require input from designers, electrical contractors, M&E engineers and technology integrators. While lighting designers focus on fixtures, colour temperature and colour rendering indexes, electrical contractors and M&E engineers understand the mathematics and the requirements for electrically correct and safe electrical systems. Meanwhile, technology integrators deal with lighting control systems, installation and specific lighting control systems. TLD has been created to pull these three disciplines together, making it the only software available that covers every element of a lighting design. To start a new project, users have the option of importing their lighting system programmes or manually inputting the information into the software. From here, the user works through an easy step-by-step process of selecting fixtures, drivers and cable lengths. TLD has developed a large catalogue of fixtures, however, there is the opportunity for users to build their own library of fixtures by adding new additions to the software. Once all information has been entered, TLD works out how many modules are required and the panel locations, and automatically designs CAD drawings. TLD’s PDF output includes everything from load schedules to photometric data, specification cut sheets to CAD drawings, a bill of materials and much more. It pulls in the manufacturer information of the panels, drivers, ballasts, interfaces and modules – creating a presentable document that’s full of data and panel diagrams in only a few seconds. The pdf can be shared with the lighting designer, technology integrator and M&E engineer so that everyone working on the project has access to the same information. Interoperability and compatibility issues are also taken care of. TLD eliminates the possibility of lighting design mistakes by specifying incompatible drivers and fixtures, incorrect IP ratings and inaccurate load calculations. Using TLD will ensure that professionals know exactly what is required of them when designing, installing, testing and inspecting any project and provides confidence that the system is both electrically correct and compliant. The TLD team is hosting regular demo webinars. To register for a session, email marketing@thelightingdesigner.com. For more information and to create a TLD account, visit www.thelightingdesigner.com and www.youtube.com/watch?v=OedKpy6Oeiw
Andy Johnson joins CLC’s Insurance and Surety Working Group
For many companies in the electrotechnical sector, Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) is an essential ingredient in their dealings with suppliers. It gives much-needed confidence to enter into contracts. But due to COVID-19 and increasing cashflow difficulties, businesses have faced the risk of credit insurance withdrawn, or premiums increasing to unaffordable levels. In early June, the Government announced that Trade Credit Insurance will receive up to £10 billion of government guarantees. This Trade Credit Reinsurance Scheme, which has been agreed following extensive discussions with the insurance sector, will see the majority of TCI coverage maintained across the UK. The EDA welcomes the Scheme and is delighted that EDA Board Member and MD of LEW Electrical Distributors, Andy Johnson, has joined the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) Insurance and Surety Working Group, that will help to shape the package to shore up the TCI sector. The Working Group has issued a new guidance document for businesses, which is available to download via the EDA’s COVID-19 Hub at www.eda.org.uk “Many construction and maintenance supply chain businesses, including electrical wholesalers, builder’s merchants, manufacturers and suppliers, use TCI” explains Andy. “It gives them the confidence to trade with one another, providing protection when customers do not pay their debts owed for products or services. “This new guidance aims to provide practical advice and considerations for discussions with brokers and insurers when seeking TCI. It also provides an outline of the TCI Reinsurance Scheme between Government and insurers. “I am delighted to be a part of the new Working Group to bring our sector’s voice to the table.”
