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On 15 April the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) Programme is supposed to come into effect. What this silly government programme will do is introduce a 2.5% requirement of biofuels at the pumps, a figure that will rise to 5.75% by 2010 and 10% by 2020. The government has set up a commission to review Continue Reading →
KHARTOUM, SUDAN — For 15 years, he’s been a "grocer" for Africa’s destitute. But he’s never seen anything like this.
Pascal Joannes’ job is to find grains, beans and oils to fill a food basket for Sudan’s neediest people, from Darfur refugees to schoolchildren in the barren south. Lately Joannes has spent less time shopping and more time poring over commodity price lists, usually in disbelief.
"White beans at $1,160," the white-haired Belgian, 52, cries in despair over the price of a metric ton. "Complete madness! I bought them two years ago in Ethiopia for $235."
Joannes is head of procurement in Sudan for the World Food Program, the United Nations agency in charge of alleviating world hunger.
Meteoric food and fuel prices, a slumping dollar, the demand for biofuels and a string of poor harvests have combined to abruptly multiply WFP’s operating costs, even as needs increase. In other words, if the number of needy people stayed constant, it would take much more money to feed them. But the number of people needing help is surging dramatically. It is what WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran calls "a perfect storm" hitting the world’s hungry.
* * * * * Japanese designers and engineers have earned a reputation for improving products invented by others, allowing them to become saleable, desirable and popular. Consider the videotape recorder, for example. Invented by AMPEX in the mid-1950s, the concept was taken to its logical extension by Japanese electronics giant JVC and introduced Continue Reading →
From The Age A GLOBAL agreement binding all significant countries, rich and poor, offers the best hope for tackling climate change, and could halve the cost of countries trying to tackle it alone, the International Monetary Fund advises. In its latest World Economic Outlook, to be released today, the IMF calls on national leaders to Continue Reading →
by Michael Hoexter, Ph.D. On a rainy January day in Sacramento, I attended a plenary meeting of California’s Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative. At one point, a smartly dressed man from one of the largest rooftop solar finance companies got up to tout the benefits of distributed energy, harping on the drawbacks of high-voltage transmission. Given Continue Reading →
By Michael Szabo
LONDON (Reuters) – European Union industry emissions were roughly flat in 2007, preliminary EU executive Commission data showed on Wednesday, with low gas prices and a mild winter slowing growth.
As expected, emissions were less than industry’s quotas of permits to emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) under an EU climate change scheme meant to drive emissions cuts through permit shortages.
Brussels has addressed that flaw and a resulting carbon price collapse by cutting permit quotas in the second phase of its emissions trading scheme from 2008.
The carbon market is supposed to put a price on carbon emissions, and therefore energy use, and so force businesses and individuals to trim their contribution to climate change for example by being more energy efficient.