The companies competing for awards in concentrated solar power at CSP Today USA 2012 next month have now been announced.

On June 27 in Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, the CSP Today USA 2012 awards dinner will recognize the achievements of companies in five categories, with only one of them taking the prestigious title and award for 2012. CSP Today has announced the following finalists:

CSP Technology and Supplier Award Finalists:
Schott
FosterWheeler
Flowserve

Paul Hollick, sales and marketing director of fleet management company Alphabet, looks at how businesses can get more from their company fleets.

For many businesses, environmental policy poses something of a dilemma. Promoting sustainability is clearly important from the perspective of corporate social responsibility; and customers increasingly want to see evidence of their suppliers’ green credentials.

Karsten Horn, director of International Sales at INFORM’s Inventory and Supply Chain division, discusses why crowd sourcing will shake up business processes in 2012—and why the supply chain must be prepared to become more ‘social’.

Crowding round a business

Dave Abraham, CEO of Signify, looks at two-factor authentication and examines why it is not used by everyone.

Whether breaking into your offices or your computer system, criminals always seek out the weakest link. So it doesn’t matter how good the rest of your security is if you cannot be sure of the identity of those who actually gain access. If the credentials of users logging on to your network can be compromised, you are potentially allowing unauthorised, malicious access and putting data at risk. 

Drinks giant Diageo has agreed to acquire the Brazilian cachaça brand, Ypióca, for approximately £300 million in cash.

Diageo will purchase the brand from Brazil’s Ypióca Agroindustrial Limitada, along with certain production assets, including a distillery in Paraipaba, Ceará, a bottling plant in Fortaleza, Ceará, and a warehouse in Guarulhos, São Paulo.

With a shortage of skilled labour in its booming mining sector, Australia has for the first time passed measures to allow migrant workers to come in and fill the gap.

The Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) announced last Friday allows companies with projects worth more than $2-billion (Australian) to recruit skilled workers from overseas on fixed contracts.

With a population of 22 million, Australia is struggling to find enough skilled workers at home to satisfy demand from China and other major markets for its abundant natural resources.

American readers will today be looking forward to grilling out over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

This coming weekend will see the start of the great seasonal migration to decks, balconies and backyards to fire up gas or charcoal grills.

May is not only National Barbecue Month, but also National Hamburger Month. While cooking food outside has occurred throughout world history, grilling became a popular recreation in the US in the 1920s. The first charcoal briquets were produced by Henry Ford, using scrap wood left over from making Model Ts.