Oct 14 2010
by Robin Turner, Western Mail
WELSH steelworkers could soon be turning out solar energy roofs which will turn buildings into power stations generating over one third of the UK’s requirement for renewable energy by 2020.
In the UK there are more than four billion square metres of roofs and facades that can take solar panels.
Tata Steel working with Swansea University, Pilkington Glass and other partners hopes this vast area can be used for harvesting solar energy.
Working with photovoltaic specialists Dyesol, Tata Steel’s Corus Colors subsidiary aims to produce sheet steel used in roofing for warehouses, offices and other buildings treated with a sensitive coating.
Solar cells would be “sprayed” onto the surface of the steel.
It will allow buildings using the steel sheets for cladding or roofing to trap the energy of the sun that for decades has merely bounced off back into space unused.
It is thought large buildings could produce 50 times the energy of a wind farm because the energy production would be more consistent.
The buildings can use the energy for all internal needs and excess can be sold off to the national grid.
And the steel will do its vital energy production work unseen as the roof facades cover less than 1.8 % of the UK land area.
If the material was sprayed onto car and lorry roofs they could eventually use solar power to split hydrogen from water.
That would allow vehicles to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells at no cost to the environment.
Unlike conventional solar cells, the materials being developed at Swansea University are more efficient at capturing low light radiation, meaning they are better suited to the British climate.
Dr Dave Worsley, a reader in the materials research centre at Swansea University’s School of Engineering said: “We have been collaborating with the steel industry for decades. But we have tended to focus our attention on improving the long-term durability and corrosion-resistance of steel.
“Until now we haven’t really paid much attention to how we can make the outside of the steel capable of doing something other than looking good. One of our engineering doctorate students was researching how sunlight interacts with paint and degrades it, which led to us developing a new photovoltaic method of capturing solar energy.”
Following the announcement yesterday by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of a £9.5m award to an academic and industrial consortium led by Swansea University, Tata Steel has stressed the significance of the announcement for its development of hi-tech sustainable coated products.
The project is called Specific (the Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings) and Tata Steel Europe is the lead industrial partner in the initiative.
Uday Chaturvedi, the newly appointed chief technology officer for Tata Steel Europe, said: “Renewable energy represents a significant growth area for the company and one where Tata Steel can lead the industry.
“At the same time it can deliver significant benefits to society in terms of energy generation and CO2 reduction. The project is a major step forward for steel and sustainable development.”
Thanks to the £9.5m grant, Swansea University will become one of Britain’s Innovation Knowledge Centres (IKCs) joining others like Bath and Cambridge.
Corus Colours, at its plant in Shotton, Flintshire, is building a roll-to-roll line that will make the integrated photovoltaic cells on flexible steel strips.
Because Corus Colours has plenty of roof space at its site, it is constructing a demonstrator there several hundred square metres in size.
Tata Steel Europe is the lead industrial partner in the consortium led by Swansea University, which also includes Imperial College London and the universities of Bath, Strathclyde, Glyndr, Bangor and Cardiff.
Dyesol and Corus started working together in 2007 to complete the feasibility of coating steel with solar cells. Since then, several of Dyesol’s engineers and scientists have been seconded to Shotton to work with the Corus Colours team on the project.
Corus currently applies paint to certain steel products when they are passed through rollers during the manufacturing process so the paint is ingrained into the steel. The same approach is being used to build up solar cell layers within steel sheets.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/10/14/swansea-university-and-tata-aim-to-develop-steel-solar-photovoltaic-panels-91466-27467518/#ixzz12PXvqxup
Friday, 15 October 2010
Wind could provide 20 pct of world power by 2030: study
AFP
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Wind power could meet about a fifth of the world's electricity demand within 20 years, an industry group and environmental watchdog Greenpeace predicted in a new report released Tuesday.
The global market for wind power grew 41.7 percent on year in 2009, beating average annual growth of 28.6 percent over the past 13 years, said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, or GWEC.
China ranked second in the world in installed wind generating capacity in 2009 and was the largest buyer of wind technology, Sawyer told reporters at the launch of GWEC and Greenpeace's Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010 report.
"We would expect China to continue to be the largest market and perhaps even be the (overall) largest market in the world by the end of this year," he said.
The report's "advanced scenario" - its most optimistic outlook - projects the world's combined installed wind turbines would produce 2,600 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity by 2020 - equal to 11.5 to 12.3 percent of power demand.
By 2030, wind energy would produce 5,400 TWh - 18.8 to 21.8 percent of the world's power supply, the report said.
The more conservative "reference" scenario based on figures from the UN's International Energy Agency saw wind power triple in the next decade to cover up to 4.8 percent of electricity - equal to Europe's current total production.
The "moderate" scenario based on current industry figures would see wind power meet up to 9.5 percent of the world's power demand by 2020, the report said.
"For more than the last 10 years, the actual performance of the wind industry has exceeded our advanced scenario every time," said Sawyer.
Under the advanced forecast, 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be saved each year, the report said.
This would increase to 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 saved each year by 2030.
The cumulative amounts of CO2 saved would be 10 billion tonnes by 2020 and 34 billion tonnes by 2030, the report said.
When asked to compare China's wind power industry to the US, Sawyer said Beijing was showing more leadership than Washington in alternative energy.
"At the moment, the Chinese market has most of the advantages in the sense that there's a clear and supportive policy framework and very clear government support for developing a domestic industry," Sawyer said.
"Neither of those have really been the case in the United States."
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Wind power could meet about a fifth of the world's electricity demand within 20 years, an industry group and environmental watchdog Greenpeace predicted in a new report released Tuesday.
The global market for wind power grew 41.7 percent on year in 2009, beating average annual growth of 28.6 percent over the past 13 years, said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, or GWEC.
China ranked second in the world in installed wind generating capacity in 2009 and was the largest buyer of wind technology, Sawyer told reporters at the launch of GWEC and Greenpeace's Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010 report.
"We would expect China to continue to be the largest market and perhaps even be the (overall) largest market in the world by the end of this year," he said.
The report's "advanced scenario" - its most optimistic outlook - projects the world's combined installed wind turbines would produce 2,600 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity by 2020 - equal to 11.5 to 12.3 percent of power demand.
By 2030, wind energy would produce 5,400 TWh - 18.8 to 21.8 percent of the world's power supply, the report said.
The more conservative "reference" scenario based on figures from the UN's International Energy Agency saw wind power triple in the next decade to cover up to 4.8 percent of electricity - equal to Europe's current total production.
The "moderate" scenario based on current industry figures would see wind power meet up to 9.5 percent of the world's power demand by 2020, the report said.
"For more than the last 10 years, the actual performance of the wind industry has exceeded our advanced scenario every time," said Sawyer.
Under the advanced forecast, 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions would be saved each year, the report said.
This would increase to 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 saved each year by 2030.
The cumulative amounts of CO2 saved would be 10 billion tonnes by 2020 and 34 billion tonnes by 2030, the report said.
When asked to compare China's wind power industry to the US, Sawyer said Beijing was showing more leadership than Washington in alternative energy.
"At the moment, the Chinese market has most of the advantages in the sense that there's a clear and supportive policy framework and very clear government support for developing a domestic industry," Sawyer said.
"Neither of those have really been the case in the United States."
'Slash-and-burn': Green quangos hit by cuts
Environmental and green bodies have been hit hard – but the biggest cuts may still be to come
James Randerson and Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 October 2010 15.51 BST
The government's "bonfire of the quangos" must look more like a towering inferno today to the thousands of people affected directly. As expected, bodies on the periphery of government that advise on environmental issues or perform important green functions have been hit hard. But some of the biggest changes may be yet to come.
The Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, said the changes looked "ill-thought through" and the implications were still "very vague".
"This whole thing has raised more questions than it has answered," she said. "It just looks like there has been an incredible slash-and-burn approach."
First, the uncertainty. There has been speculation that the Carbon Trust (which advises businesses and public sector organisations on how to cut their carbon emissions) and the Energy Saving Trust (which provides information to consumers) would be for the chop. They still might be, but they don't appear on the list produced by the Cabinet Office today because they are not-for-profit companies owned by the government and so not technically quangos. The same applies to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) which promotes waste reduction.
Among those who will be breathing a sigh of relief will be the Climate Change Committee (the independent body that advises the government on its carbon budgets) and the Technology Strategy Board (which supports new technology such as wave power). But the losers are many.
The following are being abolished or reconstituted as expert committees:
• The Infrastructure Planning Commission;
• Renewables advisory board;
• British Nuclear Fuels Limited;
• Advisory committee on carbon abatement technologies;
• Advisory committee on organic standards;
• Advisory committee on packaging;
• Advisory committee on pesticides;
• Expert panel on air quality standards;
• Royal commission on environmental pollution;
• Renewable Fuels Agency;
• Cycling England
• The Commission for Integrated Transport.
The climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, has made great play of the previous government's failure to sufficiently grow renewable energy capacity such as windfarms, so the loss of the renewables advisory board (RAB) will raise eyebrows. Matthew Spencer, an RAB board member for the last five years and director of the Green Alliance thinktank, said: "The question is how government is now going to get advice for policy making. There has to be some way of people on the ground giving advice to ministers. Policy will be poorer if they don't get external advice.
"The biggest fear of ministers is making policy and then having nothing happen. The key to good policy is that it has been tested with the people who will have to deliver it."
But others argue the board is no longer required. Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy and a RAB board member has said that the board has "done some excellent work historically but going forward its existence is neither here nor there." Another green campaigner who wished to remain anonymous said: "It had been fairly quiet. I don't think it is a massive loss."
Rachel Cary of Green Alliance said that it was a mistake to transfer the functions of the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) to the secretary of state for transport. "The RFA was doing a good job, while very under-resourced, of managing to bring forward sustainability standards for biofuels. With the RFA it means the already floundering renewable fuel industry in the UK will struggle."
Cycling campaigners are concerned about the loss of five-year-old Cycling England and the variety of functions it performs (with a £140m budget over the past three years) to promote cycling. The Bikability scheme, which replaced the old cycling proficiency test and trians 300,000 people in safe cycling annually, will be taken over by the department for transport. A new local sustainable transport fund announced last month is meant to support some of Cycle England's bike schemes on a local level, but its level of funding will not be confirmed until the spending review on 20 October. "There are still a lot of questions that haven't been answered," said Victoria Hazael of CTC, the UK national cycling organisation.
Other major organisations face significant changes. The Environment Agency and Natural England are to be retained but substantially reformed. "They have been scaled back and asked by government to focus on delivery, which is code for 'stop nagging us [ie government]'," said Martin Harper from the RSPB. "We welcome the fact that they still exist but we worry if they will have enough money to perform their essential functions. If they are to focus on delivery, then there needs to be more room for others to speak out."
Another that is slated for reform is the Forestry Commission. Harper said he expected to see a sell-off of forested land later in the year, a move the Guardian predicted in August. "Any sell-off must make sure that the benefits of forests, in terms of providing clean air and water and more, are protected."
British Waterways, which maintains the 2,000 miles of inland waterways such as canals and rivers, will be converted into a charity. This change had been heavily signalled and was welcomed by the organisation's chairman, Tony Hales. "This is excellent news and something we have been urging all political parties to support since last year ... Moving the waterways from public ownership into a charitable body recognises the need to build on that enthusiasm and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their 250-year history."
Some of the quangos to be axed have hardly had a chance to get going. The advisory committee on packaging, for example, was set up in early 2010 and has only had two meetings. The Infrastructure Planning Commission was set up last October by the last government to fast-track planning decisions on nationally important projects such as windfarms and nuclear power stations. It cost £5m to set up, and costs £9.3m a year to run (including a chairman's salary of £200,000 a year), but by April it had yet to receive a single application and both the Tories and Lib Dems had pledged to shut it down.
The government had announced in July that its sustainbility watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), would be axed. But the announcement today makes clear that it may yet survive in some form. The SDC is a company limited by guarantee that is owned jointly by the UK government and the three devolved administrations, so if the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments decide they want to retain its functions then it may yet live on.
Even so, Lucas said that losing the functions it performs for England would be disastrous. She said it had saved the government £300m over 10 years against a running cost of £4m a year. The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, has suggested that some of its functions could be performed by MPs on the environmental audit committee, but Lucas said this was completely impractical. "There is no way that a parliamentary committee can absorb the work that the SDC with its 40 staff is doing," she said.
An SDC spokesperson said it had repeatedly suggested many of the efficiency savings put forward by Philip Green, the retail magnate brought in to advise on government waste. "For the past five years, the SDC has presented ministers with many of the points about efficiency; quality and transparency of data; and lack of co-ordination which were welcomed in Philip Green's report this week. As we face closure on the grounds of efficiency, it is hard to understand the need to commission fresh advice on subject on which the government's appointed watchdog has built up a great deal of expertise."
James Randerson and Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, Thursday 14 October 2010 15.51 BST
The government's "bonfire of the quangos" must look more like a towering inferno today to the thousands of people affected directly. As expected, bodies on the periphery of government that advise on environmental issues or perform important green functions have been hit hard. But some of the biggest changes may be yet to come.
The Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, said the changes looked "ill-thought through" and the implications were still "very vague".
"This whole thing has raised more questions than it has answered," she said. "It just looks like there has been an incredible slash-and-burn approach."
First, the uncertainty. There has been speculation that the Carbon Trust (which advises businesses and public sector organisations on how to cut their carbon emissions) and the Energy Saving Trust (which provides information to consumers) would be for the chop. They still might be, but they don't appear on the list produced by the Cabinet Office today because they are not-for-profit companies owned by the government and so not technically quangos. The same applies to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) which promotes waste reduction.
Among those who will be breathing a sigh of relief will be the Climate Change Committee (the independent body that advises the government on its carbon budgets) and the Technology Strategy Board (which supports new technology such as wave power). But the losers are many.
The following are being abolished or reconstituted as expert committees:
• The Infrastructure Planning Commission;
• Renewables advisory board;
• British Nuclear Fuels Limited;
• Advisory committee on carbon abatement technologies;
• Advisory committee on organic standards;
• Advisory committee on packaging;
• Advisory committee on pesticides;
• Expert panel on air quality standards;
• Royal commission on environmental pollution;
• Renewable Fuels Agency;
• Cycling England
• The Commission for Integrated Transport.
The climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, has made great play of the previous government's failure to sufficiently grow renewable energy capacity such as windfarms, so the loss of the renewables advisory board (RAB) will raise eyebrows. Matthew Spencer, an RAB board member for the last five years and director of the Green Alliance thinktank, said: "The question is how government is now going to get advice for policy making. There has to be some way of people on the ground giving advice to ministers. Policy will be poorer if they don't get external advice.
"The biggest fear of ministers is making policy and then having nothing happen. The key to good policy is that it has been tested with the people who will have to deliver it."
But others argue the board is no longer required. Juliet Davenport, chief executive of Good Energy and a RAB board member has said that the board has "done some excellent work historically but going forward its existence is neither here nor there." Another green campaigner who wished to remain anonymous said: "It had been fairly quiet. I don't think it is a massive loss."
Rachel Cary of Green Alliance said that it was a mistake to transfer the functions of the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) to the secretary of state for transport. "The RFA was doing a good job, while very under-resourced, of managing to bring forward sustainability standards for biofuels. With the RFA it means the already floundering renewable fuel industry in the UK will struggle."
Cycling campaigners are concerned about the loss of five-year-old Cycling England and the variety of functions it performs (with a £140m budget over the past three years) to promote cycling. The Bikability scheme, which replaced the old cycling proficiency test and trians 300,000 people in safe cycling annually, will be taken over by the department for transport. A new local sustainable transport fund announced last month is meant to support some of Cycle England's bike schemes on a local level, but its level of funding will not be confirmed until the spending review on 20 October. "There are still a lot of questions that haven't been answered," said Victoria Hazael of CTC, the UK national cycling organisation.
Other major organisations face significant changes. The Environment Agency and Natural England are to be retained but substantially reformed. "They have been scaled back and asked by government to focus on delivery, which is code for 'stop nagging us [ie government]'," said Martin Harper from the RSPB. "We welcome the fact that they still exist but we worry if they will have enough money to perform their essential functions. If they are to focus on delivery, then there needs to be more room for others to speak out."
Another that is slated for reform is the Forestry Commission. Harper said he expected to see a sell-off of forested land later in the year, a move the Guardian predicted in August. "Any sell-off must make sure that the benefits of forests, in terms of providing clean air and water and more, are protected."
British Waterways, which maintains the 2,000 miles of inland waterways such as canals and rivers, will be converted into a charity. This change had been heavily signalled and was welcomed by the organisation's chairman, Tony Hales. "This is excellent news and something we have been urging all political parties to support since last year ... Moving the waterways from public ownership into a charitable body recognises the need to build on that enthusiasm and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in their 250-year history."
Some of the quangos to be axed have hardly had a chance to get going. The advisory committee on packaging, for example, was set up in early 2010 and has only had two meetings. The Infrastructure Planning Commission was set up last October by the last government to fast-track planning decisions on nationally important projects such as windfarms and nuclear power stations. It cost £5m to set up, and costs £9.3m a year to run (including a chairman's salary of £200,000 a year), but by April it had yet to receive a single application and both the Tories and Lib Dems had pledged to shut it down.
The government had announced in July that its sustainbility watchdog, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), would be axed. But the announcement today makes clear that it may yet survive in some form. The SDC is a company limited by guarantee that is owned jointly by the UK government and the three devolved administrations, so if the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments decide they want to retain its functions then it may yet live on.
Even so, Lucas said that losing the functions it performs for England would be disastrous. She said it had saved the government £300m over 10 years against a running cost of £4m a year. The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, has suggested that some of its functions could be performed by MPs on the environmental audit committee, but Lucas said this was completely impractical. "There is no way that a parliamentary committee can absorb the work that the SDC with its 40 staff is doing," she said.
An SDC spokesperson said it had repeatedly suggested many of the efficiency savings put forward by Philip Green, the retail magnate brought in to advise on government waste. "For the past five years, the SDC has presented ministers with many of the points about efficiency; quality and transparency of data; and lack of co-ordination which were welcomed in Philip Green's report this week. As we face closure on the grounds of efficiency, it is hard to understand the need to commission fresh advice on subject on which the government's appointed watchdog has built up a great deal of expertise."
Innovation award for 'bubble-maker' that boosts algae growth
Royal Society gives £250,000 prize to fluidic oscillator that transforms the cost and effectiveness of growing algae for biofuels
Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 October 2010 06.00 BST
A bubble-maker that looks like the flux capacitor from the Back to the Future films last night won a £250,000 prize from the Royal Society for its ability to transform the cost and effectiveness of growing algae for biofuel, treating sewage and cooling computers.
The Y-shaped device delivers tiny but perfectly formed bubbles by mimicking the way children blow bubbles. Its inventor, Prof Will Zimmerman, a chemical engineer at the University of Sheffield, explained: "If you blow slowly and steadily, you blow a big bubble, but we use our fluidic oscillator to blow short puffs and make small bubbles."
The device has been used in field trials to produce algae from the exhaust gas from chimneys at the steel maker Corus. Zimmerman said that as well as efficiently delivering carbon dioxide bubbles to feed the algae, the small bubbles crucially - unlike larger ones - carry away waste oxygen and allow 100% of the algae to survive.
"If you sit in your own waste products, it's not good for your health, it stunts your growth and leads to death," he said. The bubble-maker also stirs the algae, meaning each cell is better exposed to the light it needs to grow. "I call it a five star hotel for algae."
Ben Graziano, Carbon Trust manager of its algae biofuels challenge, said: "There has been a lot of hype in this area and we think algal biofuels are 10 years from being commercialised, as most of the expertise is in the laboratory at the moment. But biofuel from algae can reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly better than many existing biofuels, and can be sustainable as they don't need arable land."
The oil giant ExxonMobil is making a $600m (£376m) investment in algae biofuels, working with the human genome decoder Craig Venter to engineer algae to produce more oil. Shell has also invested in the technology.
Overall, the system devised by Zimmerman requires 80% less energy than existing methods of creating bubbles for chemical processes. This advantage, and the lower cost of the equipment, has led Yorkshire Water and Anglian Water to work with Zimmerman to improve their treatment of sewage, which is broken down by bacteria in ponds.
Martin Tillotson, from Yorkshire Water, said: "Given the huge volumes, treating wastewater is very costly in electricity and carbon terms. This technology offers the potential to produce a step-change in energy performance."
Zimmerman was presented with the Royal Society's Brian Mercer award for innovation last night and receives £250,000 of prize money to help commercialise the technology. But he said money was not his main motivation. "If I was chasing money I would have gone into industry where they pay more for my skills."
He holds two patents and will be chief technology officer for a company being spun out of the university. "If the company does well, then I will [get rich], if not I will lose my stake."
He could not name the Californian technology company that he is working with to convert solar heated water into a cooling device for computers.
ExxonMobil and Shell had not been in touch yet. Zimmerman added: "Elephants don't gallop."
Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 October 2010 06.00 BST
A bubble-maker that looks like the flux capacitor from the Back to the Future films last night won a £250,000 prize from the Royal Society for its ability to transform the cost and effectiveness of growing algae for biofuel, treating sewage and cooling computers.
The Y-shaped device delivers tiny but perfectly formed bubbles by mimicking the way children blow bubbles. Its inventor, Prof Will Zimmerman, a chemical engineer at the University of Sheffield, explained: "If you blow slowly and steadily, you blow a big bubble, but we use our fluidic oscillator to blow short puffs and make small bubbles."
The device has been used in field trials to produce algae from the exhaust gas from chimneys at the steel maker Corus. Zimmerman said that as well as efficiently delivering carbon dioxide bubbles to feed the algae, the small bubbles crucially - unlike larger ones - carry away waste oxygen and allow 100% of the algae to survive.
"If you sit in your own waste products, it's not good for your health, it stunts your growth and leads to death," he said. The bubble-maker also stirs the algae, meaning each cell is better exposed to the light it needs to grow. "I call it a five star hotel for algae."
Ben Graziano, Carbon Trust manager of its algae biofuels challenge, said: "There has been a lot of hype in this area and we think algal biofuels are 10 years from being commercialised, as most of the expertise is in the laboratory at the moment. But biofuel from algae can reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly better than many existing biofuels, and can be sustainable as they don't need arable land."
The oil giant ExxonMobil is making a $600m (£376m) investment in algae biofuels, working with the human genome decoder Craig Venter to engineer algae to produce more oil. Shell has also invested in the technology.
Overall, the system devised by Zimmerman requires 80% less energy than existing methods of creating bubbles for chemical processes. This advantage, and the lower cost of the equipment, has led Yorkshire Water and Anglian Water to work with Zimmerman to improve their treatment of sewage, which is broken down by bacteria in ponds.
Martin Tillotson, from Yorkshire Water, said: "Given the huge volumes, treating wastewater is very costly in electricity and carbon terms. This technology offers the potential to produce a step-change in energy performance."
Zimmerman was presented with the Royal Society's Brian Mercer award for innovation last night and receives £250,000 of prize money to help commercialise the technology. But he said money was not his main motivation. "If I was chasing money I would have gone into industry where they pay more for my skills."
He holds two patents and will be chief technology officer for a company being spun out of the university. "If the company does well, then I will [get rich], if not I will lose my stake."
He could not name the Californian technology company that he is working with to convert solar heated water into a cooling device for computers.
ExxonMobil and Shell had not been in touch yet. Zimmerman added: "Elephants don't gallop."
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