Category: News
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admin /26 January, 2008
Read it at IOP
The European Union (EU) announced major changes to its Emissions Trading System (ETS) on January 23 as well as individual country targets for renewable energy and for greenhouse gas emissions not covered by the system. The moves are part of the strategy agreed to in March last year of reducing emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and for 20% of energy consumption across the EU to come from renewable sources by 2020. At that time, the EU also offered to commit to a 30% reduction in greenhouse emissions if other developed countries agreed to join in.
The announcement of the individual country targets follow intense lobbying by national, environmental and industry interest groups. Individual targets for renewables range from 10% for Malta to 49% for Sweden. Today, renewable energy makes up 8.5% of the EU’s final energy consumption. Individual targets for greenhouse gases not covered by the ETS – mainly those resulting from buildings, transport, agriculture and waste – range from –20% for Denmark to +20% for Bulgaria. The aim is to reduce these emissions across the EU to 10% below 2005 levels by 2020.
admin /19 January, 2008
As global and domestic concern over landfill and waste management increases, Australian organic retailers and producers lead the charge in exploring innovative new methods of packaging, according to Australian biodegradable packaging suppliers.
Richard Fine is the CEO of BioPak, a company that sells biodegradable film for the storage of fast-moving-consumer-goods.
Packaging is primarily derived from natural corn or potato starch and allows for immediate breakdown when treated in a composting system.
Mr. Fine says interest in biodegradable products has increased due to burgeoning environmental awareness from consumers, and a rise in the cost of crude oil in petrochemical-based plastics, but that interest from some conventional business has lagged.
“The market wants to protect the environment, but not at any cost,” says Mr. Fine.
admin /19 January, 2008
From the Times of India
PARIS: Global warming has caused annual ice loss from the Antarctic ice sheet to surge by 75 per cent in a decade, according to the most detailed survey ever made of the white continent’s coastal glaciers.
In 2006, accelerating glaciers spewed an estimated 192 billion tonnes of Antarctic ice into the sea, scientists calculate.
The West Antarctica ice sheet lost some 132 billion tonnes, while the Antarctic Peninsula, the tongue of land that juts up towards South America, lost around 60 million tonnes.
But there was a "near-zero" loss in East Antarctica, the world’s biggest icesheet, the paper says.
admin /17 January, 2008
Engineers at Sony are developing a set of wireless headphones that use a person’s skin to transmit a signal between the headpiece and music source.
The current system uses two electrodes encased in fabric to send an electrical signal through the human body between 500 KHz and 3 MHz. According to the patent the electrode doesn’t have to be touching the body, but must be very close to it, such as in a pocket or on a belt clip. A signal travels through the user’s skin and is transmitted to another electrode on the headset, which then plays the audio signal as any pair of wired headphones would. The patent describes the device as:
A transmitter for generating [an] electric field by transmitting a potential difference signal corresponding to transmission data from a transmitting electrode; and a receiver for receiving the data by reading the potential difference signal in [an] electric field by a receiving electrode.
admin /17 January, 2008
Italian researchers are developing a wind-powered generator called KiteGen that uses kites instead of propellers, theoretically producing as much energy as a nuclear power plant
Developed by Sequoia Automation, the KiteGen deploys kites from metal poles when a sizable wind approaches. After deployment each kite, similar to those used in Kite surfing, uses a pair of high-tension cables to adjust height and angle for maximum wind resistance. After the Kites set the KiteGen in motion an alternator at the core of the device harnesses current in a very efficient manner.
It’s been called revolutionary, but I see it as part of a new energy future, said Massimo Ippolito, head of R&D for Sequoia. With the right mix of photovoltaic, solar thermal power, plus wind power from KiteGen, we can try to meet the needs for rising global electricity consumption.
admin /12 January, 2008
The Oregon Wave Energy Trust, or OWET, has received the first part of its $4.2 million budget approved by the 2007 state legislature, and is moving ahead with plans and activities to make Oregon a global leader in this emerging industry.
