Renewable Energy Capacity Fuels Power Growth in January

The latest Energy Infrastructure Update released yesterday by the Office of Energy Projects at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reports that the US had 1,231 megawatts (MW) of new in-service generating capacity come online in January of 2013 ? all of it from renewable sources including wind, solar and biomass. The new capacity for January represents a three-fold increase from the 431 MW of new renewable generating capacity that came online in January of 2012.

Wind energy led the pack with six new units providing 958 MW, followed by 16 new solar units generating 267 MW of electricity and six new biomass units for 6 MW of new generation. Nuclear, hydro and all fossil fuel sources, including coal, oil, and natural gas offered no new electrical generating capacity last month.

Most generating capacity still comes from coal and natural gas, contributing 29.04 percent and 42.37 percent respectively. Generation from oil contributes only 3.54 percent and nuclear provides 9.23 percent of total capacity in the US.

But renewable sources continue to enjoy strong growth, now accounting for 15.66 percent of total installed U.S. generating capacity. Broken into their aggregate parts, hydro provides 8.50 percent of total capacity, wind 5.17 percent, biomass 1.29 percent, solar 0.38 percent, and geothermal with 0.32 percent. "Generating capacity" is not the same as actual generation. Actual net generation from all renewable sources now totals approximately 13 percent, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Assembling wind turbine image via Shutterstock.

Read more at ENN Affiliate, Global Warming is Real (http://s.tt/1A1Ck).

Source: http://www.enn.com/energy/article/45622

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Watching molecules grow into microtubes

Feb. 22, 2013 ? Sometimes the best discoveries come by accident.

A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, headed by Srikanth Singamaneni, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering & materials science, unexpectedly found the mechanism by which tiny single molecules spontaneously grow into centimeter-long microtubes by leaving a dish for a different experiment in the refrigerator.

Once Singamaneni and his research team, including Abdennour Abbas, PhD, a former postdoctoral researcher at Washington University, Andrew Brimer, a senior undergraduate majoring in mechanical engineering, and Limei Tian, a fourth-year graduate student, saw that these molecules had become microtubes, they set out to find out how.

To do so, they spent about six months investigating the process at various length scales (nano to micro) using various microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.

The results were published in the journal Small.

"What we showed was that we can actually watch the self-assembly of small molecules across multiple length scales, and for the first time, stitched these length scales to show the complete picture," Singamaneni says. "This hierarchical self-organization of molecular building blocks is unprecedented since it is initiated from a single molecular crystal and is driven by vesiclular dynamics in water."

Self-assembly, a process in which a disordered collection of components arrange themselves into an ordered structure, is of growing interest as a new paradigm in creating micro- and nanoscale structures and functional systems and subsystems. This novel approach of making nano- and microstructures and devices is expected to have numerous applications in electronics, optics and biomedical applications.

The team used small molecules p-aminothiophenol (p-ATP) or p-aminophenyl disulfide added to water with a small amount of ethanol. The molecules first assembled into nanovesicles then into microvesicles and eventually into centimeter-long microtubules. The vesicles stick onto the surface of the tube, walk along the surface and attach themselves, causing the tube to grow longer and wider. The entire process takes mere seconds, with the growth rate of 20 microns per second.

"While it was exciting to watch the self-assembly of these molecules, we are even more excited about the implications of the self-assembly of such small molecules," Singamaneni says. "This mechanism can be used to load the vesicles with the desired macromolecules, such as proteins, antibodies or antibiotics, for example, and build microtubes with a biological function."

Singamaneni says his research team collaborated with researchers in Singapore who are experts in molecular crystals, as well as with colleagues in the Department of Chemistry.

"We hope that once we can co-assemble some functional nanostructures along with these small molecules, then these molecular assemblies can have applications in biological sensors and chemical sensors," Singamaneni says.

Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Army Research Office and Army Research Laboratory.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis. The original article was written by Beth Miller.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Abdennour Abbas, Andrew Brimer, Limei Tian, D. Andr? d'Avignon, Abdulrahman Shahul Hameed, Jagadese J. Vittal, Srikanth Singamaneni. Vesicle-Mediated Growth of Tubular Branches and Centimeter-Long Microtubes from a Single Molecule. Small, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/smll.201202509

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/39eI02lWOtQ/130222120707.htm

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Australian pitcher savours baseball journey that led to the Blue Jays

Rich Thompson is easy to pick out in the Blue Jays? clubhouse.

The Aussie accent stands out, for one. Then there?s the Athens 2004 Olympic tattoo on the back of his shoulder.

The 28-year-old right-handed reliever signed a minor-league contract with the Jays in December that came with an invitation to spring training. He arrives from a brief stint with Oakland and a lengthy spell in the Angels organization.

More Related to this Story

It?s another chapter in a baseball career that has taken Thompson around the globe. He?s starting his 12th season in pro baseball.

The Aussie pitcher is not to be confused with the American outfielder Rich Thompson, whose career includes stints in the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Arizona, Boston, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay organizations.

This Thompson signed with the Angels when he was 17.

?It?s been a long road, but hopefully we can get some more time in the big leagues. And get some more Aussies in the big leagues,? he said.

When he came over to North America in 2002, he wasn?t sure what to expect. But he knew just signing a pro contract wasn?t the end of his journey.

?It was always my goals to get to the big leagues. And stay for a long time. And it?s been pretty good so far. I?m still getting a uniform,? he added with a smile.

Thompson had a good 2011, spending the entire season with the Angels. He went 1-3 with a 3.00 ERA with 56 strikeouts and 20 walks in 54 innings.

But last year, his major league experience was limited to three innings in total with the Angels and Oakland. He spent the bulk of the year with the Sacramento River Cats, the Athletics? farm team in the Pacific Coast League.

Thompson still isn?t sure what happened.

?It was kind of a funny year,? he said. ?I thought I had done OK the year before. Just the way things played out, I spent most of the year in Triple-A.?

Thompson is probably a exercise in depth for the Jays, who are hoping they get the 2011 version. There are two spots up for grabs in the bullpen and Thompson?s name has not been mentioned in the sweepstakes.

?He?s going to get some opportunities to pitch here, no doubt,? said pitching coach Pete Walker, choosing his words carefully. ?He?ll get his innings and hopefully he makes the most of it.?

Thompson, however, is nothing but positive.

?It?s really good, it?s exciting. Nice to get a new start,? he said. ?And hopefully a good new experience here with the Blue Jays.?

His goal is to just to give it his best shot. ?There?s nothing more I can do than perform my best.?

Thompson, who throws a fastball, curve, cutter and change-up, has already drawn praise at camp.

?You were getting reactions from hitters saying he?s hiding the ball well, you can?t see it,? catcher Josh Thole said after handling Thompson during a live batting practice session. ?A good mix of pitches too.?

Thompson?s baseball journey led him to his wife, who is from Arkansas. They have a two-year-old son and a home there, but spend about a month a year in Australia.

?Not long enough for me, but that?s the way it is,? he said.

A native of Hornsby, Australia, he went to high school in Sydney. He played just about every sport growing up, including T-ball from the age of five and a half.

?I really never stopped, just fell in love with the game straight away. It was just a constant in my life. Everything else came and went. And I just kept playing baseball and kept going through the ranks playing with Australian teams and state teams. And I ended up getting signed.?

It took time to get to the majors. He made his debut Sept. 1, 2007, against Texas, striking out two before giving up a double to (Ian) Kinsler. He wrapped up a scoreless inning by getting a groundout to second base.

?It?s funny how you remember your debut,? he said with a smile.

?It was a breath of fresh air for me,? he added. ?It just spurred on everything. To get that first taste of the big leagues was really amazing.?

He has appeared in the majors every year since then, although some seasons were shorter than others. His career MLB totals read 3-4 with a 4.21 ERA, 105 strikeouts and 37 walks in 82 games (104.2 innings).

In 2004, a 20-year-old Thompson won an Olympic silver medal with Australia.

The Aussie defeated Daisuke Matsuzaka and Japan 1-0 in one semifinal while Cuba defeated Canada 8-5 in the other. The Cubans went on to win the gold-medal game 6-2 while Japan downed Canada 11-2 to take the bronze.

?A tremendous experience,? said Thompson, who joked the Australians were ?favoured to come seventh.?

One of 31 Australians to play in the majors, Thompson is the first from Down Under to play for an MLB all-star team, touring Taiwan in 2011.

Thompson follows in the footsteps of Japanese-born Australian pitcher Micheal Nakamura, one of several Australians who have gone through the Toronto system.

?It?s pretty great to be here actually,? said Thompson, ?because when I first signed originally, it was between the Angels and the Blue Jays.

?It?s kind of exciting to play for a Commonwealth team. And I really love Toronto when I?ve been there as a visitor.?

More Related to this Story

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/australian-pitcher-savours-baseball-journey-that-led-to-the-blue-jays/article8952744/?cmpid=rss1

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Circumnavigating Colorado in Ford's fun and efficient C-Max hybrid

n/a

We were about to drive the new C-Max and the CADA Honda Odyssey, wrapped in a Clean the Air Foundation graphic, to Gunnison and Montrose CO, where Jackson was presenting a PowerPoint enhanced talk on the history and future of the auto industry with local Rotary Clubs there. This is how CADA promotes the Denver Auto Show and evangelizes upon the considerable benefits of owning a new car.

Having driven a multitude of hybrid vehicles over the past several years, the Ford C-Max started to stand out from the rest as soon as highway speeds kicked in and we began to ascend the Colorado Foothills.

It?s not that all hybrids make you think limp-wristed acceleration, but some of them drive sensibly even when that?s not your intention. As it turns out, the Ford C-Max is not one of those, as the 2.0-liter Atkinson-style IVCT engine combines with the electric motors to evoke serious power for a commuter car getting an EPA rating of 47-mpg.

The truly fun part of driving from Denver to Montrose comes in three separate parts. The first of these begins a few miles south of Fairplay and continues to where Highway 285 intersects Highway 24, near Buena Vista. Here the roadway twists and turns like erratically corrugated cardboard, undulating over ridge and valley with the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Princeton and Mt. Antero as a backdrop.

Driving through this area is a joy in any car with the power and handling to glibly navigate the serpentine ups and downs and the C-Max was a sheer delight.

Once turning onto highway 50, we had only a few miles to go before beginning to ascend to the 11,317-foot summit of Monarch Pass. Despite melting snow and icepack on this warm winter day, the 2013 Ford C-Max climbed the mountain undaunted, losing its footing for only a split second on one particularly slippery spot.

The front wheel drive vehicle with a continuously variable transmission performed as well on the snowy mountain pass as many all-wheel-drive vehicles we?ve driven.

One interesting part of the SYNC MyTouch hybrid info display comes whenever you brake to a stop. A message appears stating ?96 percent energy returned,? touting the efficiency of the regenerative braking.

When you first enter the hybrid, a green leaf crosses the right side of the instrument panel as if blown by the wind coming through the door. When you turn the car off with the start/stop button, a message appears stating, ?Thank you for driving a hybrid.? Isn?t that special!

Once you pass Gunnison, Highway 50 crosses through the Curecanti National Recreation Area, a long mountain reservoir the highway snakes around. Further along the highway you pass beside the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, now a National Park.

The Gunnison River is descending at a terrific rate in this area equal to 34 feet per mile, the fifth steepest mountain descent in North America. Winding through the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, the highway descends along sweeping curves at a similar if not steeper rate of decline.

Not all cars like to descend like this, but most hybrids do, soaking up the kinetic energy as they go ? driving this portion of Highway 50 in the 2014 Ford C-Max was as much fun as any roller coaster ever made.

Not everyone enjoys driving through mountains where sometimes you have a mountain on one side of you and thin air on the other. For some others, the S-curve signs on the side of the road mean Spectacular!

Racking up 600 miles in two days by crossing Kenosha, Monarch and Vail passes, plus climbing up Loveland pass to the Eisenhower Tunnel, we averaged 36-mpg in the C-Max without pampering it, generally driving at highway speeds that defeat the car?s aerodynamics.

The phone paired easily and the cruise control worked smartly, but we could have used a little more preflight time to acclimate to the newly redesigned articulated steering wheel.

The extremely raked windshield creates an open and roomy feel in the front seat and full-size adult passengers in the back seat found nothing to complain about.

The 2013 Ford C-Max SEL has a base price of $28,200, to which a technology package was added for $3,080. This provided navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, rearview camera, power liftgate, smart key and even a self parking system we didn?t get a chance to try out.

The grand total came to $32,075 with destination charges of $795 included. According to the EPA estimate of 47-mpg, if you drive 15,000 miles in a year paying $3.55 a gallon for gas, your annual fuel expenditure should be $1,150. That?s a savings of $5,850 compared to a 23-mpg vehicle with all else remaining the same.

When we divided our actual mileage by the EPA rating and multiplied that by the five-year savings, it still came out to about $4,481. So that means any extra cost the hybrid technology added will be returned within those five years if gas doesn?t go up. If the price of petrol does rise, the return will be much quicker.

In conclusion, we have driven more powerful and luxurious hybrids, but they cost more than double what the 2014 Ford C-Max does. It provides good mileage, power and safety, seating for up to five and more cargo capacity than the Prius V at a price point considerably less. Add to that, it?s actually great fun to drive.

We think Ford may have hit a homer with the C-Max. So did the sales manager at Phil Long Ford, stating everyone that takes one for a test drive comes back smiling.

We were still smiling after driving it more than 600 miles in two days.

Source: http://www.torquenews.com/397/circumnavigating-colorado-ford-fun-and-efficient-c-max-hybrid

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Police: Hotel altercation sparked Vegas shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Bullets were flying from a black Range Rover at a gray Maserati as the vehicles raced toward a red light on the Las Vegas Strip.

Beneath the neon lights, police say, the Maserati ran the red light at one of the Strip's busiest intersections and smashed into a taxi that exploded into flames early Thursday, killing the two people inside.

Three more cars and a utility truck collided at the crossroads home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally's, leaving at least six more people injured as the Range Rover sped off in the predawn darkness.

The Maserati driver was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The dramatic scene that more than one tourist compared to something out of a violent action movie set off a frantic search for the occupants of the Range Rover and marked the latest violent episode on the Strip since the beginning of the year.

Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage on Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed last Saturday in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters several hours after Thursday's attack that it was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and that the violence at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road did not reflect the values of Las Vegas residents or visitors.

"What happened will not be tolerated," Gillespie said. He promised the shooters would be "found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

On the Strip, the fiery rampage shocked tourists.

"This doesn't happen where we come from, not on this scale," said Mark Thompson, who was visiting from Manchester, England, with his wife. "We get stabbings, and gang violence, but this is like something out of a movie. Like 'Die Hard' or something."

Police said they were contacting authorities in three neighboring states about the Range Rover Sport with dark tinted windows, distinctive black custom rims and paper dealer ads in place of license plates that fled the scene about 4:20 a.m.

In Southern California, the California Highway Patrol alerted officers in at least three counties to be on the lookout for the SUV.

Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said the Range Rover was last seen near the Venetian resort as it headed north from the shooting scene on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Witnesses also told police the SUV and Maserati had come from the nearby CityCenter area, the home of Aria just south of the site of the attack.

"We have numerous witnesses to this," Sheahan said. "But what is the genesis of this? We don't know yet."

Predawn jogger Eric Lackey was on his way back to the New York-New York hotel when he snapped a cellphone photo of the blazing scene moments after the crash. Black smoke billowed from the flaming taxi, amid popping sounds from the fire.

Lackey, of Forest Hill, Md., said a security officer in a yellow shirt performed CPR on a person on the sidewalk while police officers canvassed a small crowd of perhaps 15 onlookers gathering at the scene.

"Police were asking if anyone was still in the vehicles and if they heard gunfire," Lackey told The Associated Press. "That's when I realized it wasn't just a regular accident."

Sheahan said police have video from traffic cameras at the intersection and were checking hotel surveillance systems. The video will not be made public, he said.

Police said the driver and passenger in the taxi were killed. The male driver of the Maserati also died, and his passenger was shot. Police did not release their names, citing the ongoing investigation.

The crumpled, gray sports car, which had no license plates, came to rest several feet away from the incinerated taxi.

"The people I feel sorry for are the people in the taxi," said Elvina Joyce, a tourist from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. "Seconds made all the difference in the world for them. Wrong place, wrong time."

The area near the scene has been the site of high-profile violence in the past.

Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by in 1996 about a block away under similar circumstances, as assailants opened fire on his luxury sedan from a vehicle on Flamingo Road. The killing has never been solved.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels and Hannah Dreier contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-hotel-altercation-sparked-vegas-shooting-182403826.html

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Painting with catalysts: Nano-engineered materials for detoxifying water by use of sunlight

Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek
radim.beranek@rub.de
49-234-322-9431
Ruhr-University Bochum

EU supports project '4G-PHOTOCAT' with 3.7 million Euro funding

Only light, aerial oxygen, and a catalyst are needed to remove pollutants from water. RUB researchers led by Prof. Radim Bernek collaborate with colleagues from seven different countries in order to develop a photocatalyst that is efficient enough to be profitable. For that purpose, they combine sunlight-absorbing semiconductors and nanostructured materials which they optimize for electron transfer processes. The aim is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint with which photoreactors can easily be coated. The EU supports the project within its 7th Framework Programme (FP7) with 3.7 million Euro funding for three years.

Current problems of photocatalysis

People from many countries of the world extensively use pesticides which contaminate drinking and irrigation water with toxic organic compounds. In rural areas of Vietnam, herbicides and dioxins, resistant to degradation, made their way into the water cycle during the Vietnam war. Cancer and abnormalities in newborns can be the consequence. "Photocatalysis is potentially one of the cheapest and most efficient methods for purifying water from pollutants," Radim Bernek says. Sunlight and oxygen establish oxidizing conditions under which toxins are easily degraded into non-harmful substances like water and carbon dioxide. Up to now the process, however, faces two problems: degradation rates are too low and assembly of the needed photoreactors is too expensive.

The aim: cheeper and more efficient catalysts

Within the project "4G-PHOTOCAT", the researchers aim to develop cost-efficient photocatalysts with a considerably improved degradation rate. Therefore they fabricate innovative composite materials consisting of semiconductors and nanostructured metal oxides. In order to achieve the optimal architecture for the product, they employ advanced chemical deposition techniques with a high degree of control over composition and morphology. "Our ultimate goal is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint," Radim Bernek says. "Photoreactors painted with that liquid can be used, for example, for water decontamination in remote rural areas of Vietnam."

Collaborators

"4G-PHOTOCAT "allies the expertise of seven academic and three industrial partners from five European countries and two Southeast Asian countries. At the RUB, Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek collaborates with Prof. Dr. Roland A. Fischer (Inorganic Chemistry II), Prof. Dr. Martin Muhler, and Dr. Jennifer Strunk (Industrial Chemistry). The international collaborators include scientists from the University College London, J. Heyrovsk Institute of Physical Chemistry in Prague, Jagiellonian University Krakow, University of Helsinki, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Hanoi University of Agriculture. Furthermore, industrial partners from Finland (Picosun), Czech Republic (Advanced Materials), and Vietnam (Q&A) have joined the team.

###

Figure online

A figure related to this press release can be found online at: http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2013/pm00051.html.de

Further information

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek, Photoactive Materials Group, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234-32-29431, E-mail: radim.beranek@rub.de

Editorial journalist: Dr. Julia Weiler

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek
radim.beranek@rub.de
49-234-322-9431
Ruhr-University Bochum

EU supports project '4G-PHOTOCAT' with 3.7 million Euro funding

Only light, aerial oxygen, and a catalyst are needed to remove pollutants from water. RUB researchers led by Prof. Radim Bernek collaborate with colleagues from seven different countries in order to develop a photocatalyst that is efficient enough to be profitable. For that purpose, they combine sunlight-absorbing semiconductors and nanostructured materials which they optimize for electron transfer processes. The aim is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint with which photoreactors can easily be coated. The EU supports the project within its 7th Framework Programme (FP7) with 3.7 million Euro funding for three years.

Current problems of photocatalysis

People from many countries of the world extensively use pesticides which contaminate drinking and irrigation water with toxic organic compounds. In rural areas of Vietnam, herbicides and dioxins, resistant to degradation, made their way into the water cycle during the Vietnam war. Cancer and abnormalities in newborns can be the consequence. "Photocatalysis is potentially one of the cheapest and most efficient methods for purifying water from pollutants," Radim Bernek says. Sunlight and oxygen establish oxidizing conditions under which toxins are easily degraded into non-harmful substances like water and carbon dioxide. Up to now the process, however, faces two problems: degradation rates are too low and assembly of the needed photoreactors is too expensive.

The aim: cheeper and more efficient catalysts

Within the project "4G-PHOTOCAT", the researchers aim to develop cost-efficient photocatalysts with a considerably improved degradation rate. Therefore they fabricate innovative composite materials consisting of semiconductors and nanostructured metal oxides. In order to achieve the optimal architecture for the product, they employ advanced chemical deposition techniques with a high degree of control over composition and morphology. "Our ultimate goal is to implement the newly developed photocatalysts into a liquid paint," Radim Bernek says. "Photoreactors painted with that liquid can be used, for example, for water decontamination in remote rural areas of Vietnam."

Collaborators

"4G-PHOTOCAT "allies the expertise of seven academic and three industrial partners from five European countries and two Southeast Asian countries. At the RUB, Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek collaborates with Prof. Dr. Roland A. Fischer (Inorganic Chemistry II), Prof. Dr. Martin Muhler, and Dr. Jennifer Strunk (Industrial Chemistry). The international collaborators include scientists from the University College London, J. Heyrovsk Institute of Physical Chemistry in Prague, Jagiellonian University Krakow, University of Helsinki, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Hanoi University of Agriculture. Furthermore, industrial partners from Finland (Picosun), Czech Republic (Advanced Materials), and Vietnam (Q&A) have joined the team.

###

Figure online

A figure related to this press release can be found online at: http://aktuell.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pm2013/pm00051.html.de

Further information

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Radim Bernek, Photoactive Materials Group, Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Ruhr-Universitt, 44780 Bochum, Germany, Tel. +49/234-32-29431, E-mail: radim.beranek@rub.de

Editorial journalist: Dr. Julia Weiler

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/rb-pwc022013.php

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Hiring a writer? 10 must-ask questions - Bad Language

by Matthew Stibbe on February 20, 2013

Bad writing is expensive. You can spend a lot of money building a great website and ruin it by lousy copy. Spelling mistakes alone are thought to cost?UK businesses millions each year in lost revenue.

I know how to use a paint brush but it would be a disaster if I tried to paint my house (trust me, I?ve tried). It?s the same with writing. Just because we all know how to write, it?s easy to think that we all know how to write well.

In fact, it is usually cheaper and more effective to hire a professional to do your writing, especially for copy that your customers will see.

Before you hire a writer, however, you need to ask a few key questions to make sure you are both speaking the same language.

1. Can I see some examples of your work? They do not need to have covered your industry before; a good writer will be able to research and write on any new topic. They do, however, need to impress you with the style and clarity of their previous work.
2. Do you have references? Ask for them and check them out. Always.
3. How?s the chemistry? If you want a writer to communicate your ideas and your brand in a way that makes you happy, you need to both be on the same wavelength.
4. What do you know about my company? Any good copywriter will research the company they are pitching to and will have read beyond your homepage.
5. How do you work? Writing involves more than sitting down and typing. A copywriter will need time to research, conduct interviews, write, edit and proofread. Get an idea of a writer?s working method so that you can both be happy when creating expectations and deadlines.
6. Can you provide a written quote? This benefits both of you. The quote should contain a breakdown of your brief and the work involved. This means any road bumps or changes to the brief or cost can be managed fairly.
7. What do you need from me? Give your copywriter everything they need to do their job: style guides, marketing plans, product specifications etc. This also includes a detailed brief ? the clearer you are, the more likely you are to get what you want.
8. Can you back that up? Quality copywriters will keep notes, record interviews and back up any claims with independent sources.
9. Can you send all work directly to me? Really this is an instruction for you. Copywriters work best when there is a single editor giving feedback rather than a committee pulling in lots of directions. If other people in your company need a say, gather their ideas together and then present the copywriter with a single and cohesive brief for revisions.
10. Can you tweak that? You should not have to fight with a copywriter?s ego. If you want changes, explain why and give details. If you?re being reasonable, the writer should be happy to get your feedback. (But be fair. Don?t expect free rewrites if you change your mind about something you agreed in the brief, for example.)

Tagged as: Blogging, Branding, Briefing, Business, Contracting, Freelancing, Hiring, Interviewing, Interviews, Journalism, Management, Marketing, PR, Recruitment, Writing

Source: http://www.badlanguage.net/questions-for-writers

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