news20090922gdn

[Environment] from [scientificamerican.com]

[Environment]
September 21, 2009
Better Materials Could Build a Green Construction Industry
Construction material entrepreneurs discussed efforts to create more environmentally friendly cement and other building products at a conference in California.
By Mark Fischetti

The construction industry consumes truckloads of basic materials, the manufacture of which consumes massive quantities of energy, producing prodigious emissions of greenhouse gases. If materials scientists and entrepreneurs can devise materials that can be fabricated with less energy, climate change could be slowed and many new manufacturing jobs could be created, fulfilling a much-anticipated promise of clean-tech innovation.

The U.S., which lost millions of manufacturing jobs in recent decades, is in a strong position to capitalize on greener construction materials if research and funding are focused soon, according to panelists who spoke Wednesday at the GoingGreen conference in Sausalito, Calif. "We have such terrific materials science in this country," said Marianne Wu, partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. "But for years it's all been applied to infotech and biotech. We simply have not been looking at building materials. There is pent-up expertise that can create all sorts of innovations."

Many basic building products can be improved so significantly that everything is up for reinvention, said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. "We're beginning to make less energy-intensive cement," he noted, "but maybe we can make better bricks, too. My company's new drywall is the first real change in decades. Double-pane windows were invented in the 1800s. The world just has not cared about working on this."

The success of new cement from Calera Corp. shows how large gains can be. "The production of Portland cement globally creates two and a half billion tons of carbon dioxide annually," Calera CEO Brent Constantz said. Instead, new processes Calera is scaling up can actually sequester half a ton of the greenhouse gas for each ton of cement produced. And fresh water is created as a by-product. Furthermore, if the cement factories were installed next to coal-fired power plants, they could absorb the plants' carbon emissions as raw material.

Because the construction industry is so extensive, and because of the U.S.'s embedded materials expertise, Surace maintained that a transformation to cleaner technologies could bring basic manufacturing back to the country. "We can get back to making things, which was the foundation of American industry for a century," he said.

To make that transition happen, "we need to build new Silicon Valleys of construction materials entrepreneurs, and we need universities to develop programs that can churn out people with the right expertise," Surace said. Mohr Davidow's Wu noted that millions of jobs could realistically be created, adding: "These materials are big, and heavy, so it makes economic sense to manufacture them locally, instead of shipping them thousands of miles." She said that labor for this sort of manufacturing is low tech and therefore not expensive, making it harder for overseas competitors to undercut domestic producers. "A clean-tech building materials industry really could bring lots of jobs back to the U.S.," Wu said, "in many local regions."


[60-Second Science]
Sep 21, 2009 10:25 AM in Environment
Better Materials Could Build a Green Construction Industry
By Mark Fischetti in 60-Second Science Blog

The construction industry consumes truckloads of basic materials, the manufacture of which consumes massive quantities of energy, producing prodigious emissions of greenhouse gases. If materials scientists and entrepreneurs can devise materials that can be fabricated with less energy, climate change could be slowed and many new manufacturing jobs could be created, fulfilling a much-anticipated promise of clean-tech innovation.

The U.S., which lost millions of manufacturing jobs in recent decades, is in a strong position to capitalize on greener construction materials if research and funding are focused soon, according to panelists who spoke Wednesday at the GoingGreen conference in Sausalito, Calif. "We have such terrific materials science in this country," said Marianne Wu, partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. "But for years it's all been applied to infotech and biotech. We simply have not been looking at building materials. There is pent-up expertise that can create all sorts of innovations."

Many basic building products can be improved so significantly that everything is up for reinvention, said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. "We're beginning to make less energy-intensive cement," he noted, "but maybe we can make better bricks, too. My company's new drywall is the first real change in decades. Double-pane windows were invented in the 1800s. The world just has not cared about working on this."

The success of new cement from Calera Corp. shows how large gains can be. "The production of Portland cement globally creates two and a half billion tons of carbon dioxide annually," Calera CEO Brent Constantz said. Instead, new processes Calera is scaling up can actually sequester half a ton of the greenhouse gas for each ton of cement produced. And fresh water is created as a by-product. Furthermore, if the cement factories were installed next to coal-fired power plants, they could absorb the plants' carbon emissions as raw material.

Because the construction industry is so extensive, and because of the U.S.'s embedded materials expertise, Surace maintained that a transformation to cleaner technologies could bring basic manufacturing back to the country. "We can get back to making things, which was the foundation of American industry for a century," he said.

To make that transition happen, "we need to build new Silicon Valleys of construction materials entrepreneurs, and we need universities to develop programs that can churn out people with the right expertise," Surace said. Mohr Davidow's Wu noted that millions of jobs could realistically be created, adding: "These materials are big, and heavy, so it makes economic sense to manufacture them locally, instead of shipping them thousands of miles." She said that labor for this sort of manufacturing is low tech and therefore not expensive, making it harder for overseas competitors to undercut domestic producers. "A clean-tech building materials industry really could bring lots of jobs back to the U.S.," Wu said, "in many local regions."

news20090922nn

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 21 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.929
News: Q&A
The once-quiet scientist
A former animal researcher decides to speak out.
By Richard Monastersky

In 2006, concern over the welfare of his family caused Dario Ringach to stop using animals in his research. A neuroscientist at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), Ringach had been receiving threats from animal-rights extremists over his experiments involving primates. Then, an undetonated firebomb was left next door to the house of a colleague, apparently because the activists had the wrong address.

After three years of keeping a low profile, Ringach is now trying to raise public support for the use of animals in research. This month, he published a commentary on the subject in the Journal of Neuroscience¹ and a letter to the editor in the Journal of Neurophysiology² in which he calls on scientists to publicly support such research. His coauthor on both was David Jentsch, a neuropsychopharmacologist at UCLA whose work involves primates and whose car was firebombed earlier this year. Nature spoke with Ringach about his concerns.

You say that animal-rights extremists are winning. Why?

You can see this in a recent Pew research survey on public opinion on science. Only 52% of the broad public supports biomedical research involving animals. And over the years, this has consistently declined.

What is behind this trend?

A lot of organizations at different levels have had a tremendous impact — from work that the Humane Society of the United States [based in Washington DC] has been doing in exposing failures in the food industry, to work that PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in London] is doing in trying to reach out to children very early.

Hollywood and many celebrities support their causes, at the same time as they support biomedical research. But they do not appear in public saying we need to support biomedical research and the use of animals.

What can scientists do to combat this trend?

They should explain to the public why their work is important, what kind of procedures we take to minimize the suffering of animals in the lab, and what the consequence is of stopping the use of animals in research.

I think it is a good idea to invite the public into the lab to show what's going on. Over the years, universities have been reluctant to open their labs, but that has created a lot of suspicion. I think that's wrong.

Universities and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been criticized for not doing enough to protect researchers. What should they be doing?

They should offer the protection that investigators and their families need to do their research. The NIH should probably demand that institutions that accept their grants must be aware of this situation and that they might need to provide security for particular types of researchers.

Both institutions and the NIH should also engage with the public and not just leave it to the investigators.

After being quiet for so long, what made you speak up?

What's changed is I think we're getting awfully close to the situation where somebody may be killed. There is a general trend toward polarization in our society, from the debates on health care to abortion; we had an abortion doctor killed not too long ago. I think all these events are catalysing the possibility that a scientist might be killed.

The situation has changed a lot since my decision. At the time, it was me and a handful of investigators facing these groups alone. Things have changed, and universities such as UCLA are doing more to make sure these investigators are safe.

The take-home message from my own personal experience is: don't leave people alone to confront these issues. They need the support of their institutions and their colleagues. I hope that nobody else will have to face this decision. That's why I have decided to speak up.

I thought I had to start speaking up in the hope that first, these attacks will stop, and second, that the public will understand we are open to dialogue but we can only do so in an environment where we know that we will not be attacked when we go back home.

References
1. Ringach, D. L. & Jentsch, J. D. J. Neurosci. 29, 11417-11418 (202. 09).
Ringach, D. L. & Jentsch, J. D. J. Neurophysiol. 102, 2007 (2009).


[naturenews]
Published online 21 September 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.932
News
Nuclear test ban back on the table
United States delegation to international summit reignites hope.
By Geoff Brumfiel

For the first time in a decade, a worldwide ban on nuclear testing could be within reach. The combination of a strong commitment from US President Barack Obama, along with new data on nuclear materials and the successful completion of a global nuclear-monitoring network, means that momentum is once again swinging in favour of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) that would ban all nuclear explosions for military or civilian purposes.

At the end of this week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lead a delegation to the United Nations in New York City to discuss the treaty. The delegation will be the first from the United States in a decade, and scientists and other non-proliferation advocates hope that it will reinvigorate the negotiation process. "This will be a different kind of event with the [United States] back at the table," says Oliver Meier, a Berlin-based representative of the Arms Control Association, a non-profit group that provides analysis of arms-control measures. "I think we're as close to entry into force as we've ever been."

Described by former US president Bill Clinton as the "the longest sought, hardest fought prize in the history of arms control", the CTBT is seen as the next major step in reducing the threat from nuclear weapons. Proponents argue that a global ban on nuclear testing will prevent nations from obtaining nuclear capabilities and halt the further development of warheads in those countries that have them. A total of 149 nations have already ratified the treaty, but several countries — including China, Israel, Iran, North Korea and the United States — are holding out. Until these and other key states ratify the pact, it is not binding.

Key tests

The United States is seen as a linchpin in the process, according to Meier; if it ratifies the CTBT, then other nations such as China, India and Pakistan may feel more pressure to do so. Clinton signed the treaty in 1996, but three years later, it fell well short of the 67 votes needed to ratify it in the Senate. The failure was in large part political, according to Jenifer Mackby, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington DC. Clinton was embroiled in a scandal with Monica Lewinsky, and opponents including Senators Jon Kyl (Republican, Arizona) and Trent Lott (Republican, Mississippi) spread doubt about whether the treaty would work.

{“I think we're as close to entry into force as we've ever been.”
Oliver Meier
Arms Control Association}

Politics may have felled the treaty, but the arguments of opponents were technical. Doubters warned that the United States might need to return to nuclear testing in order to verify its ageing stockpile of weapons. They also claimed that it would be possible for nations to cheat by hiding the seismic signatures of a nuclear blast from a global monitoring network. At the time, scientists had little more than calculations to rebut these criticisms: a voluntary moratorium on US nuclear testing was only seven years old, and a global monitoring network had not yet been built.

"The process of monitoring has notably improved in the past ten years," says Paul G. Richards, a seismologist at Columbia University in New York, who helped carry out a review of the CTBT monitoring network for the US National Academy of Sciences in 2002. Perhaps most importantly, this network successfully detected two small nuclear tests from North Korea that occurred in October 2006 and in May of this year. In both cases, the seismic network picked up evidence of the explosion within minutes.

Ageing bombs

The scientific understanding of the US nuclear stockpile has also improved dramatically. Studies of ageing nuclear materials and computer simulations have shown that the stockpile is reliable and can remain so for decades to come without testing, according to Sidney Drell, a physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center of the National Accelerator Laboratory in California.

That doesn't mean that technical objections won't be raised this time around. Some US weapons scientists are already objecting to the treaty, warning that it could hurt the country's nuclear readiness in the long term. "Scientists are going to do what scientists do, they're going to raise their own individual concerns, and I welcome that," says Thomas D'Agostino, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the independent agency that oversees the US nuclear stockpile.

D'Agostino says that the Obama administration recently asked the National Academy of Sciences to update its largely positive 2002 assessment of the CTBT (see 'Test-ban treaty 'scientifically sound''). That assessment should be ready early next year, when the Senate debate on the treaty is expected to heat up.

news20090922cnn

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[Technology]
Tiny technologies could produce big energy solutions
Story Highlights
> Device could allow people to self-power a blood pressure or glucose monitor
> Materials for an efficient battery, waste-free battery were made by viruses
> Spray-on and stampable batteries are being tested at MIT
> Energy and environment applications are a tiny portion of nano revenues now
By Elizabeth Landau
CNN　2009/09/22

CNN) -- Forgot to charge your cell phone last night? Imagine that you could power it by walking. Weirder still, you might be able to just spray a new battery on.

These concepts are been developed by two leading nanotechnology researchers who are developing cleaner, more efficient ways of delivering electrical power. In working toward making these ideas realities, they are making use of structures that are 100 nanometers or smaller, where one nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

"[The nanoscale] can make the components small, sensitive and high-performance," said Zhong Lin "Z.L." Wang, distinguished professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Engineering. "The toughness and the flexibility increase by orders of magnitude."

Barely lifting a finger

Wang and colleagues are working on harnessing the energy of the body's natural movements to power small devices. Even the simple act of moving your fingers while typing creates energy that could power a small device, and these researchers are showing that nanotechnology can enable this transformation.

Here's the hard science: To take advantage of animal movement for energy, Wang's team makes use of the piezoelectric effect, which refers to the ability of certain materials to generate an electric potential when a stress is applied to them. For instance, if you compress a crystal, it temporarily changes shape, causing the ions inside the crystal to polarize and produce a voltage drop.

That potential can drive a transient flow of external electrons to function as an energy output.

{ENERGY YOUR BODY PRODUCES
MECHANICAL ENERGY
Blood flow: 0.93 watts
Exhaling: 1.00 watts
Inhaling: 0.83 watts
Walking: 67.0 watts
ELECTRICAL ENERGY AVAILABLE
Blood flow: 0.16 watts
Exhaling: 0.17 watts
Inhaling: 0.14 watts
Walking: 11.4 watts
Source: Z.L. Wang }

Zinc oxide nanowires, which are environmentally friendly, have this property. Wang and colleagues are using these materials in making solar cells, which would have less potentially harmful impact on the environment than the traditionally-used silicon. They also use them make nanogenerators that can potentially harvest the energy from any mechanical movement.

The group had success in animal models -- for instance, in harvesting energy from a hamster running on a wheel that wears a nanodevice on its back. They have also implanted a nanogenerator on the heart of a mouse, and are able to capture energy from just the heart beat -- albeit only some picowatts (one million millionth of a watt).

The eventual goal is to create a way for people to self-power a blood pressure or glucose monitor -- for instance, by implanting a small device in the arm. Read about nanotechnology and cancer research

"Within three years, the power generated should be enough to power these kinds of devices," Wang said.

Wang also demonstrated how one of these tiny devices on a wire attached to a person's finger can harvest energy from stretching and bending the finger.

'Next-next generation' batteries

Scientists want to develop energy sources based on inexpensive, abundant, eco-friendly materials that generate higher power. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers are doing that by engineering viruses that build materials for batteries.

"We're letting biology help us work on solving those problems, solving what the next-next generation batteries are going to be," said Angela Belcher, professor of materials science and engineering at MIT and winner of a 2004 MacArthur Foundation genius grant.

Here's how it works: Belcher and colleagues synthesize a virus called M13 bacteriophage, which is wire-shaped and only about 9 nanometers thin. This virus is common -- "you have bacteriophage all over you," Belcher said -- and is harmless to humans.

A traditional battery has a negatively charged "anode" and a positively charged "cathode," and charged particles called ions flow between them.

As they demonstrated in a paper in the journal Science in April, a cathode can be made when engineered viruses coat themselves with iron phosphate, then bind to carbon nanotubes, which are cylindrical carbon molecules. The result is an extremely conductive network of these nanotubes.

Ten grams of their cathode materials can power one portable media player for about 40 hours, which is equivalent to three normal portable media batteries in the same device, Belcher said.

In 2006, the team showed that the anode could also be built by viruses -- this time, coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold. The viruses essentially become small wires.

Given that the battery grows itself, there's basically no manufacturing waste. No toxic materials are involved either, Belcher said.

During the assembly process, the viruses are not alive, Belcher said.

"They're just a protein scaffold to be able to grab ions out of solution or build materials exactly the way we need them to grow," she said.

Once the battery is made, the virus can no longer make copies of itself, she said.

While the current prototypes are powerful, they won't come to market because researchers want to make them out of even better materials. In five or 10 years, though, they could be available for specialty applications, Belcher said.

She and colleagues are also working on spray-on batteries -- just spray on the components, including the viruses, like spray paint -- and batteries that attach like rubber stamps. The stampable batteries could be used for cards on which information is stored, such as IDs and credit cards, she said.

The business of nanotech

Some of the nanotech energy devices sold today include nano-enhanced lithium ion batteries that perform better and are safer than their predecessors, he said. Several companies also are working on flexible solar cells -- meaning one day "you could even have something like an awning or a backpack made out of a material that produces solar electricity," said Michael Holman, research director at Lux Research, an independent research and advisory firm providing advice about emerging technologies.

But "there's still a big disconnect between the hype and the reality," of nanotechnology in the energy sector, he said.

Only 0.6 percent of nanotech revenues in 2007 came from energy and environment applications, according to a report from Lux, and they predict only 1.8 percent in 2015.

Holman cautioned that many of the technologies that have come to the market, such as the lithium ion batteries, are incremental advances rather than breakthroughs.

Still, the studies that Wang and Belcher are doing are important, he said. It may be decades before human motion could translate into more than a small fraction of general energy use, but in the nearer term it could hold promise in small sensor applications such as environmental monitoring, Holman said.

Belcher's work on batteries is "exactly the kind of research we need to keep doing" as scientists progress toward goals such as powering electric cars, for example, he said.

news20090922reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Global businesses demand ambitious new climate deal
Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:12pm EDT
By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - A coalition of more than 500 international companies on Tuesday urged rich countries to commit to "immediate and deep" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions at U.N. climate talks to help combat global warming.

The group of some of the world's biggest energy companies, retailers and manufacturers said a failure to agree a strong new climate deal at U.N. talks in Copenhagen in December would erode confidence and cut investment in low-carbon technology.

In a statement issued as nations met for a climate summit at the United Nations in New York, the coalition said economic development will be impossible without a stable climate.

"These are difficult and challenging times for the international business community and a poor outcome from...Copenhagen will only make them more so," it said.

"If a sufficiently ambitious, effective and globally equitable deal can be agreed, it will...deliver the economic signals that companies need if they are to invest billions of dollars in low carbon products, services, technologies and infrastructure."

The statement was issued by companies who back a campaign by Britain's Prince Charles, heir to the throne and environmental campaigner, to press for new government policies on climate change and "to grasp the business opportunities created by moving to a low climate-risk economy."

Members of the prince's Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change include Britain's largest retailer Tesco, German insurer Allianz and Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company by market value. Launched in 2005, it is managed for the prince by the University of Cambridge.

Disagreements between rich and poor countries over emissions caps and how much money emerging economies should receive to cope with climate change have hampered preliminary talks before the U.N. negotiations in the Danish capital.

The business group urged nations to set aside their differences and confront climate change with the same urgent, joint approach they took during the economic crisis.

"Developed countries need to take on immediate and deep emission reduction commitments that are much higher than the global average," the statement added.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)


[Green Business]
CO2 emissions tumble; leaders to meet on climate
Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:43pm EDT

By Gerard Wynn and Timothy Gardner

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Recession has set the stage for the sharpest fall in world greenhouse gas emissions in 40 years, an estimate Monday showed, as world leaders gathered in New York to seek a way forward on a new climate change treaty.

The International Energy Agency said global output of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas produced by burning fossil fuels, would fall by about 2.6 percent this year amid a tumble in industrial activity.

It expressed hope that the world would seize on the decline to shift to lower-carbon growth despite worries that governments might take it as an excuse for inaction.

"This fall in emissions and in investment in fossil fuels will only have meaning with agreement in Copenhagen which provides a low-carbon signal to investors," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told Reuters.

World leaders are to meet at U.N. headquarters Tuesday for a one-day climate summit to try to unlock 190-nation negotiations on a new deal to combat global warming due to be hammered out in Copenhagen in December.

China will be key to those talks.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to unveil on Tuesday new measures his country intends to take to tackle global warming, although experts say this may focus on goals for curbing "carbon intensity" -- the amount of emissions per unit of economic output -- rather than absolute cuts in emissions.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said the Chinese leader's speech would thrust his country into a new leadership role.

"This suite of policies will take China to be a world leader on addressing climate change, and it will be quite ironic to hear that tomorrow expressed in a country (the United States) that is firmly convinced that China is doing nothing to address climate change," he told reporters.

Negotiations among 190 nations are stalled over how to share the burden of curbs on gas emissions through 2020 between rich and poor nations and how to raise perhaps $100 billion a year to help the poor combat warming and adapt to changes such as rising seas or desertification.

EYES ON CHINA, UNITED STATES

Some experts expressed doubts that recession and falling industrial output could be a springboard to greener growth.

"When politicians talk about the financial crisis everything is about returning to growth, which means higher emissions," said Paal Prestrud, director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.

"We have to reduce emissions in a planned way to avoid social problems, not through recession," he said.

Aside from China, eyes at the summit will be on the United States. Environmentalists hope the pair, the top emitters which account for more than 40 percent of the world total, will find common ground to help spur the Copenhagen talks.

President Barack Obama will have to persuade the rest of the world that Washington is serious about cutting its emissions when it looks unlikely the U.S. Senate will pass climate legislation in time for Copenhagen.

The U.N. talks are "dangerously close to deadlock," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in New York, challenging developing nations to do more in order to secure financial support from industrialized nations.

"This may not be a simple negotiating stand-off that we can fix next year," according to notes from his speech. "It risks being an acrimonious collapse, delaying action against climate change perhaps for years."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown opened the possibility of turning the December 7-18 Copenhagen talks -- due to be a meeting of environment ministers -- into a summit of world leaders.

"If it is necessary to clinch the deal, I will personally go to Copenhagen to achieve it -- and I will be urging my fellow leaders to do so too," Brown wrote in an article in Newsweek magazine.

On September 24-25, leaders of the G20 will meet in Pittsburgh but Washington said it would not include a major discussion of how developed nations should provide financial support to developing nations to cope with climate change.

news20090922reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Solexant to take on First Solar on cost: CEO
Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:07pm EDT
By Laura Isensee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Solar cell developer Solexant Corp is starting a new financing round that it hopes will bring its thin-film solar panels to market and take on low-cost leader First Solar Inc, company Chief Executive and President Damoder Reddy told Reuters on Monday.

San Jose, California-based Solexant is looking to raise $50 million by the first quarter of 2010, Reddy said in a phone interview from Germany. That will finance a 100-megawatt production line planned to come online in 2011.

The company already had raised $22.5 million from two rounds of financing from its investors -- X/Seed Company, Trident Capital, Medley Partners and Firelake Capital.

Solexant, founded in 2006, has developed nanocrystal technology for thin-film solar panels that will undercut industry leaders.

U.S.-based First Solar is the world's lowest-cost producer of photovoltaic modules, which turn sunlight into electricity. Its cadmium telluride-based panels cost about 87 cents per kilowatt to manufacture, although they are less efficient than silicon-based panels.

TAKING ON FIRST SOLAR

Reddy said Solexant's technology goes beyond Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar's ability to reduce cost.

"The critical factor for any of the solar technologies is the cost per watt generating solar energy. I think if we can cut the manufacturing cost to 50 cents per watt, which will allow us to sell modules as low as $1 per watt, which would then make the total installation cost somewhere between $2 and $2.50 (per watt)," Reddy said.

"We believe that actually will open up significant new markets," he added.

The executive said that Solexant expects to accomplish that at "a fairly small-sized production plant" of 100 megawatts and doesn't need a gigawatt plant to reach that cost structure.

Overall Solexant plans to compete with First Solar on three related fronts: lower production cost, being more capital efficient with its manufacturing facilities, and undercut First Solar on total system cost, including installation, by about 25 percent, Reddy said.

"With those we think we can compete with First Solar very well in spite of the fact they are much bigger with much higher capacity than what we will have," Reddy said.

TECHNOLOGY UNDER WRAPS

Reddy said Solexant is keeping its thin-film technology confidential before its product is on the market. He said, however, that the technology uses nanocrystals and makes an ink "so that we can actually print this using roll-to-roll manufacturing."

The efficiency of the panels is expected to be "comparable" with that of First Solar.

If financing goes as planned, Solexant plans to ramp up production in 2011 and to see significant sales in 2012.

Over the next three to five years, the company expects to target its panels in Europe and the United States for mid-sized solar projects -- not those in the range of hundreds of megawatts but projects in the tens of megawatts, Reddy said.

The company also has received $900,000 in funds from the Department of Energy to develop a long-range technology that is still in the early research stage and is looking to achieve solar cell technology with efficiencies of 30 or 40 percent.

Reddy said it is still too early to talk of an IPO for the company, but that is Solexant's long-term plan.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Richard Chang)


[Green Business]
U.N. seeks momentum in climate talks as Obama, Hu speak
Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:52am EDT
By Jeff Mason

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China and the United States, the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, will try to ignite efforts on Tuesday to secure a U.N. global warming pact as worries grow of a "dangerously close" deadlock in talks.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao address a special U.N. summit just 2-1/2 months before representatives from 190 nations gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a deal to combat climate change.

Talks leading to the December meeting have not gone well.

Developed and developing countries are at odds over how to distribute emissions curbs while poorer nations press richer ones to contribute huge sums of money to help them cope with rising temperatures.

Obama and Hu, who are scheduled to meet one-on-one after the summit, could help break the climate impasse.

The Chinese leader, whose country is the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other climate-warming gases, is expected to lay out new proposals that may include a "carbon intensity" target -- a pledge to cut the amount of greenhouse gasses produced for each dollar of national income.

"This suite of policies will take China to be the world leader on addressing climate change," said Yvo de Boer, the U.N. climate chief, on Monday, anticipating the announcement.

An aggressive move by China to tackle its emissions -- even if short of an absolute cap -- could blunt criticism by leaders in Washington, many of whom are reluctant to commit to U.S. emission cuts without evidence that Beijing is doing the same.

Obama, whose legislative initiatives to reduce U.S. emissions have been overshadowed by his push for healthcare reform, will try to fulfill his promise of showing leadership toward getting a global deal, even as chances that the U.S. Senate will pass a climate bill by December dim.

Martin Kaiser, climate policy director for environmental group Greenpeace International, said the president had allowed "vested interests" to undermine his promises so far.

"This is Obama's opportunity to be a global leader and signal to the rest of the world that the US will take on its fair share of the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years," Kaiser said in a statement.

IN NEED OF MOMENTUM

Tuesday's meeting, called by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will gather nearly 100 heads of state and government to focus on climate. Though it is not a negotiating session, activists hope momentum from the meeting will trickle down to the actual talks.

"I hope world leaders will leave the Summit ready to give their negotiating teams the green light and specific guidance needed to accelerate progress on the road to Copenhagen," Ban said in a statement.

"The clock is ticking. I hope they will publicly commit to sealing a deal in Copenhagen," he said.

The European Union, which welcomed Obama's more aggressive stance on climate policy compared to his predecessor George W. Bush, has become increasingly frustrated with the U.S. administration's lack of progress.

"If we don't move this week, there is a real risk that we will miss the opportunity in Copenhagen," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters after a speech in which he described U.N. talks as being "dangerously close to deadlock."

Europe wants rich countries among the Group of 20 to find some $10 billion annually for the developing world as an advance payment toward reaching a climate deal this year.

G20 leaders are expected to discuss the issue in Pittsburgh later this week, but, barring a breakthrough in the U.N. summit, little progress is expected.

(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Eric Beech)

news20090922cbs1

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 10:35 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 11:35 UK
Bid to jump-start climate talks
About 100 world leaders are due to gather at the UN in New York to try to revitalise talks on climate change.

Attention is likely to focus on Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is expected to unveil new measures to tackle global warming.

The meeting comes two months ahead of a summit in Copenhagan aimed at approving a global climate change treaty.

Negotiators are trying to agree on a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol to limit carbon emissions.

Chinese targets

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Tuesday's meeting an attempt to inject momentum into the deadlocked climate talks.

{ We saw China being absolutely in the lead in terms of putting together an economic recovery package which had green economic growth at absolutely the heart of it
Yvo de Boer, UN climate chief}

According to the BBC's UN correspondent, Barbara Plett, discussions have stalled because rich nations are not pledging to cut enough carbon to take the world out of danger, while poorer countries are refusing to commit to binding caps, saying this would prevent them from developing their economies.

China's role is crucial, because it is both an emerging economy and a big polluter, our correspondent says.

The UN's chief climate change negotiator, Yvo de Boer, says he expects an important announcement from Beijing during the meeting.

"China domestic policy is already very ambitious but yes I do expect something dramatic," he said.

{ UN MEETINGS
> TUESDAY (all times GMT)
> Climate change:
> 1300 - UN chief Ban Ki-moon's addresses open session
> 1315 - US President Barack Obama's address, followed by China's leader Hu Jintao
> Middle East:
> 1430 - Obama talks with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
> 1500 - Obama meets Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
> 1530 - trilateral talks
> WEDNESDAY
> 1300 - General debate begins
> 1330 - Obama's speech
> THURSDAY
> Nuclear non-proliferation:
> 1200 - Obama chairs UN Security Council meeting}

President Hu Jintao is expected to announce "carbon intensity targets" aimed at making Chinese industry more efficient, so that less carbon is produced per unit of energy generated.

China has already leapfrogged the United States to become the world's biggest wind power market, and is a growing force in solar power - and analysts say President Hu may advance the country's renewable energy targets even further.

But the BBC correspondent in Beijing, Quentin Sommerville, says it is unlikely that the Chinese will agree to a cap on their carbon emissions.

Despite all its advances in green technology, China still gets 70% of its energy from coal - and as its economy increases, this means yet more growth in greenhouse gases, our correspondent says.

Pressure on US

There is also concern about the world's other big polluter, the United States.

President Barack Obama has recognised climate change as a pressing issue, unlike the previous administration, our UN correspondent says.

He has already announced a target of returning to 1990 levels of greenhouse emissions by 2020, but critics say Washington is moving too slowly on legislation which does not go far enough.

President Obama is currently dogged by domestic issues such as the economy and healthcare reforms, but his speech to the UN meeting will still be watched for signs he is willing to fulfil his pledge to take the lead in reaching a global carbon deal.

A demonstration of political will by both China and the US will be important in breaking the deadlock in negotiations, correspondents say.

China and the US each account for about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas pollution from coal, natural gas and oil.

The European Union is responsible for 14%, followed by Russia and India with 5% each.


[Americas]
Page last updated at 09:40 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 10:40 UK
Honduras urged to avoid violence
The European Union has added its voice to appeals for calm in Honduras after the dramatic return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya raised fears of violence.

An EU statement called on Mr Zelaya and the interim government to negotiate an end to the three-month crisis.

Thousands of people defied a curfew to demonstrate their support for Mr Zelaya outside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa where he has taken refuge.

Interim leader Roberto Micheletti insisted Mr Zelaya should face trial.

The daring return of Mr Zelaya took officials by surprise, with Mr Micheletti at first denying the deposed leader was in the country.

A round-the-clock curfew until Tuesday evening was imposed, airports shut and police and soldiers put on standby.


{ TIMELINE: ZELAYA OUSTED
> 28 June: Zelaya forced out of country at gunpoint
> 5 July: A dramatic bid by Zelaya to return home by plane fails after the runway at Tegucigalpa airport is blocked
> 25-26 July: Zelaya briefly crosses into the country at the land border with Nicaragua on two consecutive days, in a symbolic move to demand he be allowed to return
> 21 Sept: Zelaya appears in the Brazilian embassy in Tegulcigalpa}

Mr Micheletti said Brazil would be held responsible for any violence and demanded that the deposed leader be handed over.

"A call to the government of Brazil: respect the judicial order against Mr Zelaya and turn him in to Honduran authorities," he said.

But Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim warned that any threat to Mr Zelaya or the Brazilian embassy would be a grave breach of international law.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Mr Zelaya's return must not lead to violence.

"It's imperative that dialogue begin... [that] there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras," she said.

Mrs Clinton spoke in New York after talks on Monday with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has brokered failed peace talks between the two Honduran parties.

'Obstacles'

In a statement on Tuesday, the EU presidency stressed the importance of a negotiated settlement.

"The European Union urges all concerned to refrain from any action that might increase tension and violence," the statement said.

In images broadcast on national television, a smiling Mr Zelaya wearing his trademark white cowboy hat appeared on the balcony of the Brazilian embassy waving to a crowd of supporters.

{ ANALYSIS
Charles Scanlon, BBC Americas analyst
It looks like the nightmare scenario for the coup leaders. They've done everything in their power to prevent Manuel Zelaya's return - sending soldiers to prevent his plane landing in the days after the coup, and later to the border to stop him crossing from Nicaragua.
The confirmation that Mr Zelaya is back will have come as a humiliation for Roberto Micheletti and damaged his authority inside the country.
The interim government has been condemned around the world for the coup, but has consolidated its control. Mr Zelaya's return now brings the crisis back to the boil.
The interim government has been playing for time - hoping to cling to power until new elections set for November. It is no longer in control of events and looks more vulnerable than at any time since the coup.}

Mr Zelaya has been living in exile in Nicaragua since 28 June when he was taken from the presidential place at gunpoint and flown out of Honduras.

The crisis erupted after Mr Zelaya tried to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution, a vote ruled illegal by the Supreme Court and the National Congress.

The US has backed Mr Zelaya during his exile and criticised the interim leaders for failing to restore "democratic, constitutional rule".

The Organization of American States (OAS) has demanded Mr Zelaya's reinstatement.

Speaking to the BBC from inside the Brazilian embassy, Mr Zelaya said he had received support from various quarters in order to return.

"[We travelled] for more than 15 hours... through rivers and mountains until we reached the capital of Honduras," he said.

"We overcame military and police obstacles, all those on the highways here, because this country has been kidnapped by the military forces."

He said he was consulting sectors of Honduran society and the international community in order "to start the dialogue for the reconstruction of the Honduran democracy".

Elections

The interim government has repeatedly threatened to arrest Mr Zelaya, should he return, and charge him with corruption.

The OAS, meeting in emergency session, called for calm.

In a statement, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told Honduran authorities they were responsible for the security of Mr Zelaya and the Brazilian embassy.

Mr Insulza said that he was ready to travel to Honduras as soon as possible.

Mr Micheletti has has vowed to step aside after presidential elections are held on 29 November. But he has refused to allow Mr Zelaya to return to office in the interim.

news20090922cbs2

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Health]
Page last updated at 23:35 GMT, Monday, 21 September 2009 00:35 UK
Smoking bans 'cut heart attacks'
Bans on smoking in public places have had a bigger impact on preventing heart attacks than ever expected, data shows.

Smoking bans cut the number of heart attacks in Europe and North America by up to a third, two studies report.

This "heart gain" is far greater than both originally anticipated and the 10% figure recently quoted by England's Department of Health.

The studies appear in two leading journals - Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Heart attacks in the UK alone affect an estimated 275,000 people and kill 146,000 each year.

Big impact

Earlier this month it was announced that heart attack rates fell by about 10% in England in the year after the ban on smoking in public places was introduced in July 2007 - which is more than originally anticipated.

But the latest work, based on the results of numerous different studies collectively involving millions of people, indicated that smoking bans have reduced heart attack rates by as much as 26% per year.

{ If you are a smoker, the single biggest thing you can do to avoid a heart attack is to give up, which could also protect the heart health of friends and family
Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation }

Second-hand smoke is thought to increase the chances of a heart attack by making the blood more prone to clotting, reducing levels of beneficial "good" cholesterol, and raising the risk of dangerous heart rhythms.

Dr James Lightwood, of the University of California at San Francisco, led the Circulation study that pooled together 13 separate analyses.

His team found that heart attack rates across Europe and North America started to drop immediately following implementation of anti-smoking laws, reaching 17% after one year, then continuing to decline over time, with a 36% drop three years after enacting the restrictions.

Dr Lightwood said: "While we obviously won't bring heart attack rates to zero, these findings give us evidence that in the short-to-medium-term, smoking bans will prevent a lot of heart attacks.

"This study adds to the already strong evidence that second-hand smoke causes heart attacks, and that passing 100% smoke-free laws in all workplaces and public places is something we can do to protect the public."

Ellen Mason, of the British Heart Foundation, said: "These studies add to the growing evidence that a ban on smoking in public places seems to have a positive impact on heart attack rates, which is clearly good news for our nation's heart health.

"The statistics also show how quickly the benefits can be felt after a smoking ban is implemented and indicate how dangerous second-hand smoke can be to the heart.

"If you are a smoker, the single biggest thing you can do to avoid a heart attack is to give up, which could also protect the heart health of friends and family."

Latest figures show at least 70,000 lives have been saved by NHS Stop Smoking Services in the 10 years since they were established in England.


[Business]
Page last updated at 09:27 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 10:27 UK
Forecasts for Asian growth raised
The economies of China and India are set to grow by more than previously thought in 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said.

Government spending in developing Asian economies had enhanced the region's growth prospects, it said.

It now expects China to grow by 8.2% in 2009, up from an earlier forecast of 7%. India's forecast has been raised to 6% from 5%.

But it also warned governments not to withdraw stimulus policies too soon.

"Expansionary fiscal and monetary policies have softened the blow of the global slump on the economy," the ADB said in its updated annual outlook.

"A surge in bank lending and vigorous fixed-asset investment has maintained growth at a higher pace than was expected in March."

But it added: "This is not the time for an exit from expansionary policies - the recovery remains fragile and subject to serious downside risks."

The ADB raised its growth forecasts for the region to 3.9% in 2009, from its previous forecast of 3.4%. It also raised its 2010 forecasts to 6.4% from its previous estimate of 6%.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 08:23 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 09:23 UK
Leading Asian magazine to close
One of Asia's leading print publications, the Far Eastern Economic Review, is to be closed in December.
By Vaudine England
BBC News, Hong Kong

Dow Jones, now owned by News Corporation, had made the once cult-like news weekly into a monthly opinion magazine.

But the company said the continued loss of readers and advertising revenues made its existence unsustainable.

The closure of the magazine, founded in 1946, marks the end of an era for challenging journalism in Asia.

The Far Eastern Economic Review grew from a few black and white pages in the 1940s, into a bulky, weekly, must-read across Asia by the 1980s.

The region's many authoritarian governments took to blacking out pages or banning the magazine outright.

But the Review insisted on independent reporting and chose content over revenue on many occasions.

It prided itself on original journalism, challenging the powers that be, asking the questions many living in Asia either would not or could not ask, and had correspondents in almost every Asian capital.
But by the 1990s it faced new competition, and when Dow Jones took control of the magazine, efforts to introduce more lifestyle features sparked protests from Review loyalists - as did its decision to make it into a monthly rather than a weekly title.

Now the company says it will close completely so it can focus on core markets, expand online content in several languages and strengthen the Wall Street Journal in Asia.

Many of the region's greatest names in reporting made their mark in the pages of the Review - from the legendary Richard Hughes of Korean War fame, to Nate Thayer, the journalist who found Cambodia's Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:39 GMT, Monday, 21 September 2009 12:39 UK
One-in-four Japan women 'elderly'
One-quarter of Japanese women are aged 65 or over, official figures indicate, highlighting fears of a looming demographic crisis in the country.

According to government estimates, more than 16 million Japanese women have reached 65, the highest number since records began in 1950.

Nearly one-fifth of men are 65 or older, meaning elderly people account for 22.7% of the population.

Japan now has 28.98m elderly (those 65 or older according to the World Health Organization) out of its population of 127m - 800,000 more than a year ago.

With one of the world's oldest populations, many young people have put off having families because of the costs.

The shrinking ratio of workers in the population will also face a higher tax burden as healthcare and pension costs rise.

The new government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has promised allowances for couples who have children.

But Japan has traditionally resisted immigration in order to bring more working age people into the country.

news20090922cbs3

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 08:23 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 09:23 UK
Leading Asian magazine to close
One of Asia's leading print publications, the Far Eastern Economic Review, is to be closed in December.
By Vaudine England
BBC News, Hong Kong

Dow Jones, now owned by News Corporation, had made the once cult-like news weekly into a monthly opinion magazine.

But the company said the continued loss of readers and advertising revenues made its existence unsustainable.

The closure of the magazine, founded in 1946, marks the end of an era for challenging journalism in Asia.

The Far Eastern Economic Review grew from a few black and white pages in the 1940s, into a bulky, weekly, must-read across Asia by the 1980s.

The region's many authoritarian governments took to blacking out pages or banning the magazine outright.

But the Review insisted on independent reporting and chose content over revenue on many occasions.

It prided itself on original journalism, challenging the powers that be, asking the questions many living in Asia either would not or could not ask, and had correspondents in almost every Asian capital.
But by the 1990s it faced new competition, and when Dow Jones took control of the magazine, efforts to introduce more lifestyle features sparked protests from Review loyalists - as did its decision to make it into a monthly rather than a weekly title.

Now the company says it will close completely so it can focus on core markets, expand online content in several languages and strengthen the Wall Street Journal in Asia.

Many of the region's greatest names in reporting made their mark in the pages of the Review - from the legendary Richard Hughes of Korean War fame, to Nate Thayer, the journalist who found Cambodia's Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 11:39 GMT, Monday, 21 September 2009 12:39 UK
One-in-four Japan women 'elderly'
One-quarter of Japanese women are aged 65 or over, official figures indicate, highlighting fears of a looming demographic crisis in the country.

According to government estimates, more than 16 million Japanese women have reached 65, the highest number since records began in 1950.

Nearly one-fifth of men are 65 or older, meaning elderly people account for 22.7% of the population.

Japan now has 28.98m elderly (those 65 or older according to the World Health Organization) out of its population of 127m - 800,000 more than a year ago.

With one of the world's oldest populations, many young people have put off having families because of the costs.

The shrinking ratio of workers in the population will also face a higher tax burden as healthcare and pension costs rise.

The new government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has promised allowances for couples who have children.

But Japan has traditionally resisted immigration in order to bring more working age people into the country.


[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 06:10 GMT, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 07:10 UK
S Korea 'grand bargain' for North
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has offered North Korea a "grand bargain" - giving up its nuclear plans for aid and security guarantees.

"This is the only way for North Korea to ensure its own survival," Mr Lee said.