Changing my coal-enabling ways

As I work in an engineering firm in the illawarra, our main clients are the surrounding coal mines, cement and steel works. We're growing and stretching our area so I've recently helped a company build plant that services a mine in Tasmania, and another one is coming in WA. 

I console myself that the plant in Tas stops the 40+ tonnes per day of product which is a large part just water being transported from the middle of NSW.

But I'm now using the expectation on my position of developing new clients to see if we can get work with the nascent geo-thermal and solar thermal power industry. Here's hoping!

Although in the meantime I'll be taking advantage of a trip to Dubai to do some business development as well. Most of which will be petroleum, but I'm hoping to see what other power industries they have going and, at the very minimum, develop some skills to position us to do some work with bio-fuel plants. (Such as the Soy-bio-diesel plant being built in Pt Kembla shortly.) 

I'm also trying to work out if I can justify a trip to San Francisco to check out the algae bio-diesel technology under development and all of the other technologies that have been bought and corralled there. The fact that I have friends I'd like to visit there is a bonus of course :)

And while I feel guilty about the air miles, I don't have the time or stomach to sail so I assuage my guilt by buying carbon offsets, and hoping they're real.

Sadly, our business strategists are firm believers that "the black stuff" will still be getting pulled out of the ground for decades to come. At least they're capitalist enough to not discriminate where the money comes from, so they accommodate my pursuit of green industry.