While many of our sectors are targeted specifically at the reduction of Carbon Dioxide emissions, the Environmental Sector has a wider aim, and is concerned to bring about better waste management, biological remedies to pollution from industrial effluent and sewage, and with developing and using better methods to monitor environmental contamination. Our monitoring systems include access to satellite data relating to forestry and atmospheric pollution. Certain of our operations such as landfill management and coal mine methane capture can make a difference to the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to the environment, most particularly methane, which is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2

‘The market for environmental services is already very substantial and will soon be a global trillion dollar a year industry.’

By using biological technologies to clean up contaminated sites we hope to obtain significant revenues, and to be able to utilise these in further measures to contain Global Warming. Correcting the pollution on these mostly former industrial sites also has the effect of bringing them back into circulation as construction sites, so reducing the tendency to move on to greenfield sites for new development. In the mining sector, certain of our technologies, particularly algae, have the potential to capture heavy metals in their cell walls; this has the beneficial effect that for valuable metals, you not only clean up water leaving the mine site, you also can extract a previously inaccessible supply of the valuable metal by processing the algae used in the cleanup.

Environmental Technical Overview
The idea of an Environmental Sector in a business like C-Questor is a little strange, as the purpose of C-Questor as a whole is to protect and enhance the environment. Specifically however, the Environmental Sector within C-Questor is concentrated around Global Warming Solutions, Decontamination, and Safe Waste Disposal. In particular we have expertise in carrying out and interpreting Environmental Impact Assessments, in bio-remediation of landfill liquors using algae, bacteria and fungi, in decontaminating land using similar methods, and in formulating plans for Carbon Neutral Electricity and Energy Generation.

‘The first step in any form of environmental protection is to monitor the existing situation to know what you are dealing with.’

Each plan is tailored to the local environment, and takes into account both the technical resource i.e. Wind, Solar, Hydro, Biomass, or Geothermal heat, as well as opportunities for sequestering carbon, then considers the most appropriate technologies for the chosen application taking into account environmental impact, cost, availability of necessary local labour and resources, and the consistency or otherwise of the available resource.

Cleaning Up
At C-Questor, we are very keen to undo or to mitigate the mistakes of the past. In the environmental field, such mistakes and badly directed investments are ubiquitous. Examples include landfill without adequate containment and treatment resulting in leachate with a high organic oxygen demand entering and destroying river ecosystems. Our systems are able to treat leachate, sewage, and other organic pollutants to the point where water is clean enough to pass into watercourses without harm. This in turn, increases the amount of water available for irrigation and other uses as well as preserving the river ecosystem.

It is our intention with the assistance of our franchisees, and the expertise of our consulting section to spread this best practice as widely as possible.

For C-Questor, the very idea of refuse is something we wish to consign to history, as in nearly every case, what is refuse in one situation is a resource in another. In the few cases where this is not so, we would ideally like to see products phased out of the market. By taking this attitude, C-Questor will be able to participate effectively in the growing global market for recycling.