Sinapse’s sheetfed offset simulator, SHOTS, will be used for the second time as an evaluation tool for the Worldskills 2011 Offset Printing Competition to be held in London, UK.

Worldskills, which will run from 5-8 October, is claimed to be the world’s largest, international skills competition where young people from across the globe compete.

To allow all contestants more printing time and to be able to assess a wider range of skills, the competition will now include five SHOTS Sheetfed Training Simulators from Sinapse Print Simulators, as well as two Heidelberg presses.

The simulator was first used at Worldskills 2009 in Calgary, Canada.

Since that date, cooperation tween Sinapse and Heidelberg will ensure that the competitors have the same user interface on both press and simulator (Heidelberg Speedmaster SM52).

Read more: PrintTalk

The government hopes its energy efficiency incentive scheme will coax lessees into improving the eco performance of their facilities, but many in print are sceptical of its fitness for purpose.

The government wants to strike a deal with you. You see, the bods in Whitehall have done some sums and come to the conclusion that the rental sector in the UK, including the hundreds of print firms in leased buildings, is not pulling its weight when it comes to helping the country hit its carbon reduction targets.
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So, to encourage this sector to play its part, tucked away in December’s Energy Bill was ‘the Green Deal’, a scheme whereby you improve your building’s energy efficiency and the government will fix it so you pay no up-front costs and the work will be paid for by cost savings generated by the efficiency measures.

Sounds good, right? Up until now, there has been little impetus for printers to improve the energy efficiency of leased premises, due to the operation of the so-called ‘split incentive’ – the landlord won’t pay for the work as it is the tenant that sees the return on investment in the form of lower bills. By removing the need for up-front payments and enabling the tenant and subsequent tenants to pay for the investment through instalments on their energy bills, that split incentive barrier is overcome and print can set about making property improvements.[...]

THE GREEN DEAL

In its December Energy Bill the government introduced ‘the Green Deal’. This is designed to bring the rental sector up to speed in helping the UK hit carbon reduction targets. Here’s how it will work:

• A company decides to install some energy efficiency measures to its
buildings

• It approaches an accredited Green Deal provider who agrees to carry out the work, for no up-front cost

• The company seeks permission of the landlord

• Permission granted, the Green Deal provider completes the work

• On the company’s next energy bill is a section for Green Deal repayment. This repayment is less than the savings made by the energy efficiency measure. For example, if insulation cuts a monthly energy bill by £20, the repayment for the work carried out has to be less than £20

• If the company stays in the building for the long term, it repays the cost of the work and enjoys the benefits of lower bills. If the company moves, the next tenant picks up the repayments through the energy bill.

Source: PrintWeek