news20091104gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Copenhagen Climate change conference 2009]
UN secretary general calls for increase in pledged funding for climate change
$100bn on offer is 'good start' but not enough, says Ban Ki-moon
Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 13.18 GMT Article history

Money paid by rich countries to fight global warming will have to "be scaled up" from the $100bn a year on offer, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said today.

Finance is the key, said Ban, to successful negotations on a global treaty to fight climate change, due to conclude at UN talks next month in Copenhagen.

Ban also revealed that he will next week meet all the US Senators involved in deliberations over the energy and climate bill. Passage of that bill is seen as vital to negotiations, as without it the US team in Copenhagen will have little domestic mandate to agree a deal. The announcement of the personal intervention of the secretary general is a clear sign of the importance of the matter on the same day that Republicans threaten to boycott a Senate committee debate on the climate bill.

Gordon Brown was praised by Ban as having originated the $100bn figure for the total global public and private funding needed each year by 2020 to tackle climate change. It would be spent on cutting emissions by providing green technologies, and on enabling countries to adapt to more frequent fierce storms and rising sea levels. The figure was adopted last week by the European Union as its official negotiating position for Copenhagen and is the only offer on the table so far.

"I think it can be a good start but it needs to be scaled up," said Ban.

Development groups have estimated the money needed at up to $400bn a year. But the amount by which it would need to increase was uncertain, he said: "We have to see how measures are effective. As time goes by we may need to change arrangements."

Ban's senior climate adviser, Janos Pasztor, added: "The needs are obviously much larger and it needs to be scaled up."

Developing nations are demanding significant new funding at the climate negotiations, which are continuing this week in Barcelona, and deep cuts in rich country emissions in exchange for pledges to curb their own fast growing carbon emissions.

Ban said last week that the negotiations were "gridlocked" but today said that "significant" progress was being made. A critical issue, he said, was a lack of trust between developed and developing nations, which a suitably large financial settlement would help to bridge.

"Too many countries have domestic problems," he added, without naming the US and the difficulty President Obama faces getting his climate bill through the Senate. Ban also revealed that he had met all the committee members of the House of Representatives both individually and collectively, before the it passed its climate bill.

Ban confirmed that there is now no chance that the Copenhagen summit will produce a legally binding agreement, as there is too little time to work through all the complex details. "Copenhagen will not be the final word." Instead a "politically binding" agreement must be reached, he said, with strong consensus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, helping nations adapt to a warmer world and finance and technology funds. Ban joins the UN's top climate official, Yvo de Boer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the UK government in conceding that a legally enforceable treaty is now unreachable at Copenhagen.

But he said: "We don't have a plan B and we are not lowering the bar. We still [retain] the highest possible targets."


[Environment > Carbon emissions]
African nations make a stand at UN climate talks
John Vidal in Barcelona
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 23.26 GMT Article history

African countries have said they are prepared to provoke a major UN crisis if the US and other rich countries do not start to urgently commit themselves to deeper and faster greenhouse gas emission cuts.

In a dramatic day in Barcelona, UN officials were forced to step in after 55 African countries, in an unprecedented show of unity, called for a suspension of all further negotiations on the Kyoto protocol until substantial progress was made by rich countries on emission cuts.

Earlier, the UN chair had been forced to abandon two working groups after the Africa group refused to take part.

The African countries were supported by all other developing country blocks at the talks. In a series of statements, the G77 plus China group of 130 nations, the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, as well as Bolivia and several Latin America countries, all broadly backed the African action.

The move by developing countries reflects their deep and growing frustration over the slow progress that industrialised countries are making towards agreeing cuts. With less than three days full negotiating time left between now and the opening of the final talks at Copenhagen, the split between rich and poor countries threatens to blow the talks fatally off course.

Bruno Sekoli, chair of the LDC group, said: "Africa and Africans are dying now while those who are historically responsible are not taking actions."

Algeria, which chairs the Africa group, backed by representatives from Gambia and Kenya, said rich countries were "more concerned with political and economic feasibility" while the poorest were "struggling to survive" with climate change.

In a press conference, the poorest countries demanded that the rich adopt the science-backed target of a 40% overall cut on emissions on 1990 levels. So far, rich countries have pledged an aggregate of less than 10%. The US, the world's second biggest polluter, has pledged to cut around 4% on 1990 levels, or 17% on 2005 levels.

In some of the most frantic diplomacy seen in the talks so far, delegates to hurriedly agreed to dedicate six of the 10 remaining negotiating sessions to discussions on mid-term emissions reductions. The decision received widespread support from all developing countries who stressed the importance of delivering real progress.

"African countries have shown they are not going to sit back and accept a bad deal in Copenhagen," said a spokeswomen for Oxfam international.

"The poorest countries say they are dying now and the rich are just sitting back doing nothing. Hopefully they will take action now," said Asad Rehman, head of international climate with Friends of the Earth.

"The world's largest historical emitter, the US, is missing in action during the climate negotiations, on its targets, on its finance – and the developing world is rightfully calling them out on it," said Greenpeace USA climate campaign director Damon Moglen.

"It is clear that for many countries, enough is enough. The fact that this has come today from countries including Kenya, President Obama's ancestral home, should be his wake-up call. Obama can no longer hide behind failed congressional legislation. He must provide ambitious, science-based emissions reductions targets and come to table in Copenhagen."

The talks, which are some of the most complex ever conducted, depend on all countries eventually agreeing to everything. They would be seriously jeopardised to the point of certain failure in Copenhagen next month if the African countries walk out again.

news20091104gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[News > World news ? Al Gore]
Al Gore's green investments prompt conflict of interest row
One company in which Al Gore invested has contracts with utilities that received a combined subsidy of $560m (£340m) from the US energy department
Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 22.15 GMT Article history

The launch of Al Gore's new book this week has prompted questions about whether the former US vice-president's investments in green technology amount to a conflict of interest.

Gore's latest call to action over climate change, Our Choice: a Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, has prompted a debate about his involvement in firms investing in the new green economy that he promotes.

The New York Times points out that one company in which Gore invested, Silver Spring Networks, has contracts with utilities that last week received a combined subsidy of $560m (£340m) from the US energy department. The payments, part of a total $3.4bn handed out by the federal government to encourage the distribution of environmentally-friendly power, are likely to be handsomely recouped by Gore and his associates.

The accusation that Gore is trapped in a conflict of interest has been raised periodically over the past few years. It is a barb popular among climate change sceptics and rightwing bloggers, as well as Republican politicians. Marsha Blackburn, a congressional representative from Gore's home state of Tennessee, tackled him over the issue in April during a subcommittee debate in Congress on the Obama administration's proposed cap-in-trade system for curbing emissions.

She referred to Gore's partnership of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, a Californian venture capital firm that has put about $1bn into about 40 companies that will be bidding for contracts under the new system. "Is the legislation we are discussing here today something you are going to benefit personally from?" she asked.

Gore, audibly riled, replied that every penny he made from his investments was put back into his non-profit foundation to spread knowledge about the climate challenge. "If you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don't know me," he said, adding: "Do you think there's something wrong with being active in business in this country? I am proud of it."

One of Gore's partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers is John Doerr, who advises Barack Obama on dealing with the economic downturn.

Gore is also a founder of Generation Investment Management, based in London, which has substantial interests in green technology.


[Environment > Carbon emissions]
CO2 from forest destruction overestimated – study
David Adam, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 19.49 GMT Article history

The carbon dioxide emissions caused by the destruction of tropical forests have been significantly overestimated, according to a new study. The work could undermine attempts to pay poor countries to protect forests as a cost-effective way to tackle global warming.

The loss of forests in countries such as Brazil and Indonesia is widely assumed to account for about 20% of all carbon dioxide produced by human activity – more than the world's transport system. The 20% figure was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 and was widely quoted after being highlighted by the Stern review on the economics of the problem. It is repeatedly used by Prince Charles and others as an incentive to push efforts to include forests in carbon trading.

Curbing emissions from deforestation is one of the main issues being discussed at a UN climate meeting in Barcelona this week, before crucial talks in Copenhagen next month.

But researchers led by Guido van der Werf, an earth scientist at VU University in Amsterdam, say that figure is an overestimate and that the true figure is closer to 12%. Publishing their analysis in the journal Nature Geoscience, they say the 20% figure was based on inaccurate and out-of-date information. "It's a tough message because everybody would like to see forests better protected and it is difficult to tell them that carbon dioxide emissions are less important than assumed. Still, the good news of lower emissions is no bad news for the forests," said Van der Werf.

The lower figure could make it harder to agree ways to reward forest protection, he said. "If you want to put a price on carbon [in forests] then you would get less carbon for your money now."

The study showed previous assessments exaggerated the rate of tropical deforestation. It also took into account soaring emissions from fossil fuel burning since 2000, which reduces the relative role of deforestation. The scientists say 12% is an estimate, and the figure could be between 6% and 17%, but that the original 20% figure was equally uncertain.

Van der Werf said an important finding of the research was the previously unquantified emissions from tropical peatlands, which they say could be as high as 3% of global CO2 – more than the aviation industry. "The total contribution of deforestation and peatlands is about 15% and is still a substantial contribution to global CO2 emissions, and therefore remains a significant opportunity for global CO2 reduction," he said.


[News > Politics > Boris Johnson]
Boris Johnson saves filmmaker Franny Armstrong from attack
Age of Stupid director rescued by 'knight on shining bicycle'
Hélène Mulholland and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 17.37 GMT Article history

Boris Johnson came to the rescue of a high profile climate change activist and filmmaker who was being attacked by a group of young girls brandishing an iron bar, it was revealed today.

Franny Armstrong, the director of The Age of Stupid, described the mayor of London as her "knight in a shining bicycle" after he came to her defence as she was walking home in Camden, north London, last night.

She called out for help to a passing cyclist after being surrounded by a group of hoodie-wearing young girls who pushed her against a car, one holding an iron bar.

The cyclist turned out to be none other than Johnson, who has made tackling youth crime a key mayoral priority.

He stopped and chased the girls down the street, calling them "oiks", according to Armstrong, who praised the mayor's intervention.

Johnson returned and insisted on walking her home.

Armstrong is the founder of the 10:10 campaign, which aims to cut 10% of carbon emissions in 2010 and has attracted support from leading firms – including the Guardian – and personalities.

"I was texting on my phone so didn't notice the girls until they pushed me against the car, quite hard," she said.

"I noticed that one had an iron bar in her hand. It was very frightening. At that moment a man cycled past and I called out for help.

"He said to the girls: 'What do you think you are doing?' He picked up the iron bar, called after the girls and cycled after them. He returned a few minutes later and walked me home.

"He was my knight on a shining bicycle."

Johnson's office confirmed the story but declined to comment on the mayor's actions.

Armstrong admitted she did not agree with Johnson's politics, and had voted for his rival Ken Livingstone in the mayoral elections, but added: "If you find yourself down a dark alleyway and in trouble I think Boris would be of more use than Ken."

news20091104gdn3

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
Kilimanjaro ice could vanish within 20 years, study suggests
Global warming not local weather variations to blame for loss of up to 17 feet of ice, say scientists
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 November 2009 12.05 GMT Article history

The famous Snows of Kilimanjaro that cap Africa's highest mountain are melting so fast they could be gone within two decades, according to a study of the mountain's ice fields that used data going back nearly a century.

Scientists believe global warming rather than local weather changes is chiefly to blame for the rapid loss of ice from the Tanzanian peak.

A study comparing new measurements with those taken in 2000 show that a layer of ice between six and 17 feet thick has vanished from the summit since that time.

Not only are the mountain's glaciers retreating at an unprecedented rate, but its remaining ice is thinning.

The researchers predict that if current conditions persist, the mountain could be ice-free as early as 2022.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro will then exist only as a memory — and the title of a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

Scientists made their forecast after combining data from aerial photographs and ground measurements of ice thickness.

They found that the total area of Kilimanjaro's ice fields had shrunk by nearly 85% between 1912 and 2007. More than a quarter of the ice present in 2000 was now gone.

The team, led by Professor Lonnie Thompson, from Ohio State University in the US, pointed out that the snows had survived intact for 11,700 years.

Even a 300-year-long drought around 4,200 years ago made little impact on the mountain's ice fields.

The chief cause of the current trend was likely to be a fundamental shift in climate, although local changes in cloud cover and snowfall may also be having an effect.

Similar patterns had been seen elsewhere in Africa on Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains, as well as in the South American Andes and the Himalayas.

"The fact that so many glaciers throughout the tropics and subtropics are showing similar responses suggests an underlying common cause," said Thompson.

"The increase of Earth's near-surface temperatures, coupled with even greater increases in the mid-to-upper tropical troposphere (lower atmosphere), as documented in recent decades, would at least partially explain the observed widespread similarity in glacier behaviour."

One marker of ice loss on Kilimanjaro was the radioactive signature of fall-out from atomic tests carried out in the early 1950s.

In 2000 the signal was detected 5.25 feet below the surface of the ice. Today, it is no longer there, showing that this depth of ice has been lost.

The northern and southern ice fields on the summit of Kilimanjaro had thinned by 6.2 feet and 16.7 feet respectively, said the scientists.

One of the mountain's glaciers, the Furtwangler glacier, had lost half its thickness between 2000 and 2009.

"In the future there will be a year when Furtwangler is present and by the next year it will have disappeared," said Thompson, whose research appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The whole thing will be gone."

news20091104nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 3 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1060
News: Q&A
Aftermath of a tsunami
A natural-hazards expert talks about surveying the destruction in Samoa.
By Quirin Schiermeier

On 29 September, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude-8.3 earthquake hit Samoa, killing more than 100 people. Dale Dominey-Howes, of the Australian Tsunami Research Centre in Sydney, led a survey team commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's International Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC). He talks to Nature about what they saw.

Who was involved in the expedition to Samoa?

Our international survey team comprised more than 80 scientists from Samoa and from 16 institutions abroad. Field research on the two main islands of Samoa, Upolu and Savai'i, was undertaken between 14 and 21 October, and a post-event interim report was presented to the government of Samoa on 26 October.

What was the purpose of the survey?

This is the first time a post-tsunami survey has been undertaken in Samoa because it's the first time such an event has affected the country in modern times.

The main purpose was to explore the nature of the tsunami and its impacts in order to help the national government enhance its tsunami disaster risk management strategies. For the first time ever in a UNESCO-IOC assessment, we have attempted to explore the nature and linkages — if any — between the physical, social, economic and environmental systems to provide a more sophisticated understanding of the tsunami and its impacts — one that goes beyond a simple description of 'maximum run-up' or 'total number of lives lost'.

What did you find?

We recorded substantial inundation from the coast and surprisingly high maximum run-up of a little less than 15 metres above normal mean sea level. Flow depths of the tsunami (the depth of water flowing over the land surface) in some locations were extremely high. The tsunami had widespread impacts on the natural environment including erosion and deposition of sediments. Many coastal plants and trees were destroyed. Worse, damage to agricultural gardens has affected food supply for many families.

We have been able to identify the factors that influenced extensive damage to buildings. We have also spoken with local people who are experiencing severe trauma. Fear is a strong element of how people are feeling.

Was there anything particularly unusual about this tsunami?

In spite of historical accounts of 40 or so tsunamis since 1837, there is no social or cultural memory of tsunamis in Samoa. We find this very puzzling. It presents huge challenges to the disaster management office in convincing the people of Samoa that tsunamis are a real threat to coastal communities. A tsunami in 1917 seems to have been as large and probably as destructive as the 2009 event. But there is a clear need for undertaking palaeo-tsunami studies in the region, to address the issues of frequency and magnitude.

{{Tsunami survey team members work with community in heavily impacted coastal communities of Samoa.}
UNESCO-IOC ITST Samoa Team}

How is awareness in the region?

The Samoan Disaster Management Office has worked hard in recent years to partner with communities to raise awareness of tsunamis and to develop — and practise — evacuation procedures. These efforts have saved many lives. Many Samoans reacted appropriately when the earthquake occurred: they moved inland without waiting for an official warning. Sadly, however, more than 100 people did lose their lives. This reminds us that scientists and governments alike must continue to work to improve disaster risk reduction efforts.

Could a more effective warning system have saved more lives?

In my opinion, no. The detection, monitoring and warning systems worked well and could not have done anything different. The earthquake that caused the tsunami occurred so close to the coast of Samoa that there was simply not enough time to process the seismic data and issue a warning (although the government did issue a warning as soon as it had clear information about a tsunami event). The take-home message is: if you feel an earthquake in the coastal zone, run to higher ground.

Are the survey results useful for improving preparedness?

Absolutely. We have been able to offer suggestions for improved building design and ecosystem management to reduce the damage of any future tsunami. Further, the socially oriented research undertaken has pointed to where, and how, enhanced disaster risk reduction activities should be focused. We have made many suggestions; it is now up to the Samoan authorities to decide how to use the information.


[naturenews]
Published online 3 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/462024a
News
Science favoured by German coalition
Budgets set to double as new government backs previous spending commitments.
By Alison Abbott

German scientists have little to worry about in the recent coalition agreement of their government, which is planning few changes in research strategy and a lot more money. Budgets in education and research are set to almost double over the four-year legislative period.

The major coalition partner is the centre-right alliance between the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Party; the junior partner is the business-friendly Free Democratic Party. Annette Schavan (Christian Democrats) remains in charge of the ministry of research and education, and Thomas Rachel is likely to remain her deputy for research.

The generous funding agreements for universities and research agreed by the previous government last June will be maintained. So the budgets of major research organizations, including the Max Planck Society and the DFG, Germany's main research granting agency, will rise by 5% a year until 2015. Universities will receive a €5-billion (US$7.4-billion) supplement between 2011 and 2015 to improve teaching and research.

The Excellence Initiative, a competition between universities to win 'elite' status, keeps the €2.7 billion promised for the period 2012–17. The four-year, €14.6-billion 'high-tech' programme that promoted applications in areas such as energy, climate, health and security — and that would have expired this year — will be extended and expanded.

The agreement also promises special attention to materials research, and new legislation to give research institutions more control over their budgets.

There is less clarity in two sensitive research areas. The agreement stresses that green biotechnology is valuable for the national economy, but dodges specific mention of field trials of genetically modified crops which, although legal, have become nearly impossible to carry out owing to public resistance.

The agreement similarly acknowledges the 'opportunities for health' of stem-cell research, but does not tackle the thorny issue of the restrictive German laws on human embryonic stem-cell research. Instead, it says it will consider establishing a national 'dialogue platform' for more public discussions. The Free Democrats have withdrawn from their pre-election lobbying to further relax rules limiting the cell lines that German researchers may use.

"Relaxing rules to match those of some other big players in Europe, such as Switzerland, would make things a lot easier for us because we collaborate so much with European partners," says Oliver Brüstle, a stem-cell researcher at the University of Bonn.

"We are mostly satisfied, particularly by the increases in budget," says Jörg Hacker, head of the Berlin-based Robert Koch Institute and president-elect of the Leopoldina, Germany's national academy. "We hope that it will all work out as the coalition agreement plans."

news20091104nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 3 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1061
News
US habitat rule threatens species
Conservationists call for change to Bush-era definition of 'endangered'.
By Daniel Cressey

{{The Northern Rocky Mountain grey wolf may have less protection than it needs as a result of a 2007 memo.}
Tim Fitzharris}

Conservation researchers in America are urging President Barack Obama's administration to rescind a legal ruling on endangered species, as a scientific analysis reveals the impact of the rule.

At issue is a 2007 memorandum from the US Department of the Interior's solicitor regarding the meaning of the words "significant portion of its range" in the country's Endangered Species Act.

The memorandum stated that only the current range of a species — the area that a species inhabits — was relevant, and not, as many conservationists would have preferred, the range it historically occupied.

"The memorandum places species at greater risk of extinction and if left in place it will harm species. If your goal is to protect species and to recover them, focusing only on their current range doesn't make any sense," says Noah Greenwald, director of the Endangered Species Program at the Center for Biological Diversity in Portland, Oregon.

"I think it was consistent with other Bush administration policies with the primary intent of limiting the Endangered Species Act," he adds.

Environmental groups issued a number of legal challenges to President George Bush during his time in office in an attempt to add or keep species on the endangered list.

Trout: out

Greenwald last week published the first analysis of how the 2007 memorandum has been applied1. He found five rulings that "substantively relied" on it.

In one case, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) declined to list the Colorado River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus) as endangered, based on its population in its current range. This range represents 13% of the fish's historic range.

For four other species, the memorandum was used to "sharply limit protection" (see box left).

Greenwald has been gathering signatures for a letter demanding that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar rescind the memorandum.

So far, he told Nature, over 100 researchers have given their support.

Range wars

Earlier this year, Jeremy Bruskotter, an environmental scientist at Ohio State University in Columbus co-authored two papers on the memo.

The papers noted that the memorandum "could significantly reduce the number of species that qualify for protections"2 and that it might result in "an increased risk of extinction"3 for some species.

"We were very surprised that the Obama administration didn't just throw this out straight away," says Bruskotter. "We really can't figure out why they kept this on the books."

Robin Waples, a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, has also studied the memorandum.

"Part of the confusing thing about the memorandum is that it focuses on current range but admits that historical range can be considered to some extent. I think the memorandum used a very narrow piece of logic to come up with that construction, which leads to problems," he says.

But he adds, the document's impact depends on how it is implemented. "The memorandum by itself does not reduce protections. I know some colleagues in the USFWS who think that they have the flexibility under the memorandum to achieve important conservation goals."

The issue is also playing out in the courts, as wildlife groups challenge decisions made by the Department of the Interior regarding protection afforded to Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei) and the Northern Rocky Mountains grey wolf (Canis lupus irremotus).

The department declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

References
1. Greenwald, N. Conserv. Biol. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.200901353.x.
2. Bruskotter, J. & Enzler, S. Hum. Dimensions Wildlife 14, 73-88 (2009).
3. Enzler, S. & Bruskotter, J. Virginia Environ. Law J. 27, 1-65 (2009).

news20091104nn3

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 3 November 2009 | Nature 462, 19 (2009) | doi:10.1038/462017a
News
Initiative targets malaria eradication
Focus shifts to blocking parasite transmission.
By Declan Butler

Next-generation vaccines are intended to move beyond the initial infection phase.D. Poland/PATH Malaria Vaccine InitiativeThe PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), the main public–private partnership for developing vaccines against the disease, this week announced a major overhaul of the sorts of vaccine candidates it will support in the future, as well as the ways in which it will select them.

The move follows a 2007 call by Bill and Melinda Gates — major funders of malaria research — for researchers to not just control the disease, but aim to eradicate the parasite. "Whether you believe that eradication is attainable or not, it has prompted substantial discussion in the malaria community as to what tools would be needed to reach it," says Robert Sinden, a malaria biologist at Imperial College London.

Until now, clinical efforts towards a vaccine have focused on on the individual level by reducing cases and deaths. But the MVI, based in Bethesda, Maryland, will now also invest heavily in vaccines that block transmission of the malaria parasite. These vaccines provide no direct benefit to individuals but might fight the disease at the population level.

Transmission-blocking vaccines generate antibodies to the stage of the parasite that replicates sexually in the mosquito gut. So when a mosquito takes blood from an infected person who has been vaccinated, it will also suck up antibodies and immune cells that destroy the parasites as they replicate. Laboratory tests and pilot studies in humans have shown that such vaccinations drastically lower the numbers of infected mosquitoes.

"I'm delighted that the MVI is finally plugging this gap in its portfolio," says Adrian Hill, a malaria-vaccine researcher at the University of Oxford, UK.

Another type of vaccine targeted for increased support is live-attenuated vaccines of the Plasmodium sporozoite — the stage of the parasite that initially infects the liver. For decades, the logistics of making a working vaccine using sporozoites have been considered insurmountable; among other things it requires manually dissecting billions of sporozoites in mosquito farms.

Sanaria, a company in Rockville, Maryland, run by veteran malaria researcher Stephen Hoffman, took up the sporozoite challenge six years ago, and in April it began a phase I clinical trial of its radiation-attenuated vaccine. "A lot of people were sceptical about that, and I think a lot of credit should go to Hoffman and his people at Sanaria [because] they have overcome that," says Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The trial will end next June.

{“Nothing should be taken forward into Africa without knowing it does something.”}

Even if the trial is a success, however, the obstacles to scaling-up and delivering the vaccines remain formidable. Nonetheless, Sanaria's progress has spurred the MVI to take the approach seriously. It also intends to support several labs that are developing sporozoites attenuated by knocking out genes. Although still at the research stage, this technique might be a more reliable way to attenuate the parasite than radiation, says Ashley Birkett, the MVI's director of preclinical development.

By 2025, the MVI aims to have next-generation vaccines that are more than 80% effective and that last for at least four years. The most effective first-generation effort in its portfolio, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals' RTS,S vaccine — which targets the initial infection phase in humans — falls far short of that. Phase II trials have suggested that it cuts infections and severe disease by around 50%, enough to save many lives, although the duration of the protective effect remains uncertain. A phase III trial is under way at 11 sites in Africa.

Combining RTS,S with vaccines targeted at other stages of the malaria parasite's life cycle could produce much stronger effects. Animal studies suggest that combined vaccines show a substantial multiplier effect, says Hill, whose T-cell vaccines are a current favourite for the first trials with RTS,S. The MVI intends to pursue only combined vaccine trials in future.

Moreover, the RTS,S results have set a higher bar for contenders, says Birkett. In the future, he says, vaccine candidates will need to pass much more extensive preclinical testing, and initial testing in a few human volunteers, with only the highly effective ones being taken forward. Such early testing systems have been chronically underfunded.

One approach that is proving powerful is human challenge experiments, in which a few volunteers are vaccinated and their immune responses closely studied. Such studies should be the rule, says Hill. "Nothing should be taken forward into Africa without knowing it does something." Birkett says that the MVI is supporting a dedicated Human Challenge Center at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute in Washington, one of only four such centres worldwide, that will open next year.

As well as weeding out potential vaccine candidates, the MVI intends to look at funding partnerships beyond the malaria-vaccine community to find feedstock for its pipeline. "Of course the malaria community will remain our core community," says Birkett, "but there's a lot of untapped expertise out there, including experts in HIV, influenza, cancer and biotechs who have different vaccine strategies."

news20091104nn4

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 3 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/462023a
News
Dark-matter test faces obstacles
Access to crystals may hamper bid to repeat experiment.
By Geoff Brumfiel

{{The Borexino experiment may start looking for dark matter as well as solar neutrinos.}
Virginia Tech/INFN}

A group of scientists is hoping to replicate a controversial Italian experiment that claims to have detected dark matter. But they might have to do so without the help, or the equipment, of the original group.

Dark matter is thought to make up around 85% of the matter in the Universe, but it rarely interacts with regular matter except through the force of gravity. Researchers working on the DAMA experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory near L'Aquila, Italy, claim they have spotted direct signs of it.

The detector used by the DAMA team consists of 250 kilograms of ultrapure sodium iodide crystals placed 1,400 metres beneath Gran Sasso mountain. Over the past decade, the researchers have collected data showing that nuclei in the crystals periodically release flashes of light, which could be caused by interactions with dark matter. Crucially, the number of flashes varies with the seasons, which would be consistent with Earth's motion through a galactic dark-matter stream (R. Bernabei et al. Eur. Phys. J. C 56, 333–355; 2008).

But other detectors have so far failed to see an effect, leading some to conclude that DAMA's signal is the result of radioactive contamination inside the sodium iodide crystals. "There are very good reasons to disbelieve the signal," says Adam Falkowski, a theoretical physicist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Still, Frank Calaprice at Princeton University in New Jersey says that the signal is significant enough to be followed up. "It could be right — they're careful people," he says of the DAMA team. "I think it deserves to be checked."

{“Borexino cannot ensure the fulfilment of all the stringent requirements necessary.”}

Calaprice and some of his colleagues believe that building a similar detector out of sodium iodide is the only way to verify DAMA's claim definitively. They want to place those crystals inside another Gran Sasso experiment, called Borexino, which uses 300 tonnes of a liquid organic compound to detect solar neutrinos — nearly massless particles that stream from the Sun. Detecting neutrinos requires careful control of background signals, which makes Borexino the perfect place for checking whether DAMA's crystals really are seeing dark matter, says Calaprice, a Borexino team member.

DAMA's principal investigator disagrees. The proposal "is not good for many scientific reasons", says Rita Bernabei, a physicist at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Rome. "Borexino cannot ensure the fulfilment of all the stringent requirements necessary for a reliable measurement in this field," she says.

Bernabei adds that no one at Borexino has formally asked DAMA for help in setting up another sodium iodide crystal detector, and declined to say whether such help would be provided if asked.

Reproducing DAMA's experiment without its cooperation is difficult because an intellectual-property agreement between the group and its supplier, Saint-Gobain in Paris, prevents the sale of the ultrapure sodium iodide crystals to other groups. A Spanish experiment known as ANAIS, located at the Canfranc underground laboratory near Zaragoza, Spain, has already been prevented from buying the crystals. "We have had to spend time and extra money to search for an alternative," says José-Angel Villar of the University of Zaragoza, who is leading the collaboration. With the help of an American supplier, he says the group hopes to begin checking DAMA's findings soon.

Calaprice says he is hopeful that his team's test can go ahead, and is investigating the possibility of growing his own crystals. The group's proposal will have to be submitted to the full Borexino collaboration, which will decide whether to take it forward.


[naturenews]
Published online 4 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1056
News: Q&A
Science at the Smithsonian
The institution's new science chief talks about how to increase its reach, breadth and visibility.
By Lizzie Buchen

Eva Pell.Smithsonian InstitutionIn January, Eva Pell will become undersecretary for science at the Smithsonian Institution, where she will oversee the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Zoo and a number of smaller research institutes. She comes as the venerable institution revamps itself, with new leadership and a new strategic plan.

Nature caught up with Pell, a plant biologist and current senior vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, when she stopped in Washington to tour the museums.

What are some of the new initiatives at the Smithsonian?

Our new strategic plan calls for the development of four interdisciplinary centres: understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, understanding the American experience, and valuing world cultures.

Biodiversity and the mysteries of the universe seem pretty science-focused. How do you envision interacting with the history, art and culture division?

This is what's really exciting — figuring out how these things all fit together. Take the topic of understanding and sustaining a biodiverse planet. One objective is to document every species. But there's also the question of how cultural evolution is changing biodiversity. We're cutting down rainforests, and seeing cultural changes there. What impact is that going to have?

How will you increase the visibility of Smithsonian research?

I want to encourage our scientists to get out and talk about their science more. There's amazing science that goes on at this institution. The Smithsonian is famous for its collections and its museums, but sometimes it obscures the other bright light, which is the research.

There was some controversy a couple years ago when the American Petroleum Institute wanted to donate money to the ocean exhibit. How would you approach a situation when donations might come from companies that scientists disapprove of?

You must look at where the prime resources are. You can always run into issues here and there, but the prime source of funding for the kinds of research that's done at the Smithsonian are through federal government sources and foundations. So I think it's better to focus on where the prime sources are than to worry about an occasional challenge.

What are your plans for incorporating new technologies?

With regard to the collections, everything is being digitized. The Museum of Natural History is in the process of digitizing the entire herbarium collection. A traditional herbarium has pressed plant material with a little information card, and if, God forbid, there's a fire, the material is lost forever. The goal is to have a backup for everything.

And of course it will be on the web, where anyone can access it. If you put an exhibit together, that exhibit cannot only be here in the museums, because a very small fraction of American society has access to Washington.

What are some of the similarities and differences between the university world you're coming from and the museum world?

Where I work at the moment, we say we have a tripartite mission: research, education, and outreach. When I looked at the Smithsonian job, I told the search committee that the missions are the same. The shape of the triangle may be different, but the missions are very similar.

What distinguishes the two environments is that universities don't usually do long-term studies. They're driven by faculty members that have to get grants, and those are usually three years long. If you're lucky you can get in a groove, but if a funding agency changes its interest you have no option but to move that way.

For the Smithsonian, it's really part of the mandate to have long-term databases. Some of the long-term field studies can go on for decades. That continuity is one of the distinguishing features to me.

news20091104reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Full climate deal unlikely by Copenhagen: Barroso
Tue Nov 3, 2009 12:49pm EST
Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A full-fledged international climate deal to fight global warming will not be reached next month in Copenhagen but a framework pact is still possible, the head of the European Commission said Tuesday.

"Of course, we are not going to have a full-fledged binding treaty - Kyoto type - by Copenhagen," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters before meeting with President Barack Obama. "There is no time for that."

But Barroso said he believed it was still possible to develop a framework agreement with clear commitments from developed and developing countries.

Such a framework would include firm timetables for lower emissions from richer countries and an agreement on what actions developing countries will take, Barroso said.

Developed countries like the United States and EU members need to put "numbers on the table" for emission cuts and funding to help developing countries," he said.

The EU has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and to go as high as 30 percent depending on what others do, Barroso said.

But a month before the Copenhagen meeting, work in the U.S. Senate on legislation to address climate change has barely begun and is not expected to finish this year.

The Senate plan, which already faces stiff opposition, calls for a 20-percent cut in U.S. emissions from 2005 levels.

BETTER MOOD

Barroso credited Obama with improving the international mood surrounding climate negotiations by placing much more importance on the issue than his predecessor, George W. Bush.

"We really welcome his efforts, but let's see what the United States is ready to present at Copenhagen," he said.

The European Commission estimates that developing countries will need about $150 billion in public and private funding annually by 2020 to adapt to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

EU members states agreed last week to provide a "fair share" of that funding, Barroso said, saying he planned to raise the issue with Obama.

He said such financing would be linked to developing countries implementing national plans to cut emissions.

Officials from around the world will be meeting on December 7 to hash out an global agreement to lower the greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.

Currently rich and poor nations are deadlocked about how to share the burden of curbing emissions and aid to fund a deal.

"It's quite obvious Copenhagen will not be the end of the road -- but it can be a very, very important moment to signal at the highest level this kind of global agreement," Barroso said.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe, editing by Alan Elsner)


[Green Business]
Q+A: How will U.S. climate negotiators approach Copenhagen?
Tue Nov 3, 2009 2:54pm EST
By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When U.S. negotiators show up in Copenhagen next month to work on a deal to tackle global warming, they probably won't have in their pockets what they most wanted: a law enacted by Washington committing the country to carbon pollution reductions.

With legislation hung up in the Senate, developed and developing countries alike might be skeptical of the United States' commitment to addressing climate change problems.

Here are some of the questions facing U.S. negotiators as they approach Copenhagen and attempt to allay those concerns:

* CAN THE U.S. PUT ON A BRAVE FACE?

The world's second biggest polluter of carbon dioxide will be in the difficult position of trying to cajole China, India and other major polluters to promise to cut their emissions. Nevertheless, the United States will likely try to downplay its own shortcomings and accentuate the positive.

After eight years of relatively few accomplishments on the climate front during the Bush administration, President Barack Obama's negotiators can argue there's been a major shift.

In less than a year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a climate bill; a similar one is pending in the Senate and the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring domestic automakers to significantly reduce tailpipe carbon emissions.

Furthermore, the EPA has taken steps toward regulating smokestack emissions of carbon for the first time.

* WHAT ELSE CAN THE U.S. PROMISE?

Even if Congress can't pass legislation next year, U.S. negotiators can tell Copenhagen the EPA is waiting in the wings. By March or so, the agency could produce initial regulations for limiting carbon emissions.

The regulatory route is not Obama's desired path; he wants more comprehensive legislation. But the EPA has made clear it would proceed without Congress if need be.

Negotiators also could stress that there's still hope for Congress to pass a comprehensive bill. If "cap and trade" won't work for U.S. lawmakers, they might try an alternative.

They also could point out that the United States has a long history of approving major environmental laws in an election year, which 2010 is.

* CAN THE U.S. BUY ITS WAY OUT OF TROUBLE?

Experts think Washington could go a long way toward building confidence for a global deal if the United States put forth a specific proposal on how much money it would throw into an international pot.

The funds would be dedicated to helping poor countries develop alternative energies and deal with the fallout from global warming. Tens of billions of dollars could be required annually.

A problem: In tough economic times and with astounding domestic budget deficits, many members of the U.S. Congress would be nervous about promising money for others.

* IS THERE A FALLBACK OPTION?

The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Tuesday a full-fledged climate deal would not be reached at Copenhagen but it was still possible to develop a framework agreement.

Many U.S. environmental group agree, and are already asking their government's negotiators to push for a substantive interim deal.

Last July, major economic powers, including the United States, agreed to work toward limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, and this could provide a useful backdrop to an interim deal.

Experts say the best that can realistically be hoped for from the meeting is an agreement that has the 190 nations accepting the 2 degree goal, a new specific date for wrapping up a final deal and progress on how a new global carbon-reduction scheme would be enforced.

* WHAT IS THE WORST CASE SCENARIO?

The Pew Center on Climate Change sees the worst case scenario coming out of Copenhagen as one in which countries blame any summit failure entirely on the United States.

If the talks fall into disarray, a "blame the U.S." plot line would likely deepen opposition in the U.S. Congress to comprehensive climate control legislation and deliver an additional setback to international talks -- one that some fear could take a decade or so to recover from.

Todd Stern, the lead U.S. negotiator, would have to employ all his diplomatic skills if he sees the world ganging up on Washington.

(Editing by Simon Denyer and Vicki Allen)

news20091104reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Angela Merkel presses U.S. on climate in speech to Congress
Tue Nov 3, 2009 3:26pm EST
By Noah Barkin and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the United States Tuesday to agree to binding climate goals, telling U.S. lawmakers in a speech to Congress there was "no time to lose" in the fight against global warming.

Speaking to a joint session of Congress days before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, Merkel said it was time for the United States and Europe to unite to confront new barriers, from the economic crisis, to security and the environment.

"We have no time to lose," Merkel said, referring to a U.N. climate conference next month in Copenhagen, where countries will be trying to forge a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

"We need an agreement on one objective -- global warming must not exceed two degrees Celsius," she said. "To achieve this, we need the readiness of all countries to accept internationally binding obligations."

U.S. climate legislation narrowly passed in the House of Representatives in June, but opposition largely from Republicans has held up a separate bill in the Senate and chances of a breakthrough before the end of the year are slim.

This is likely to prevent the Obama administration, which has taken a strong public stance on the climate issue, from agreeing concrete targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the December 7-18 Copenhagen summit.

Merkel, who began her second term in office last week, met with President Barack Obama at the White House before giving the first address to the U.S. Congress by a German leader since Konrad Adenauer in 1957.

Speaking to reporters during a picture-taking session in the Oval Office, Obama praised Merkel's leadership on climate change and warned of a "potential catastrophe" if countries allowed global warming to continue unabated.

In addition to the climate issue, the two leaders discussed Afghanistan, non-proliferation and the global economic crisis, according to U.S. and German officials.

CHILDHOOD BEHIND IRON CURTAIN

Merkel, the first German leader to have grown up in communist East Germany, touched on her childhood behind the Iron Curtain and said she would have never dared to dream back then she would get the opportunity to speak to Congress.

She thanked the United States for standing up against communism during the Cold War, drawing stand-up applause when she mentioned former President Ronald Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in 1987.

"I know, we Germans know how much we owe to you, our American friends. And we shall never, I personally shall never, ever forget this," she said.

She acknowledged that the allies have had differences, saying Americans sometimes viewed Europeans as "hesitant and fearful," while Europeans saw Americans as overly "headstrong and pushy."

But she said the West must work together to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and to stabilize Afghanistan so that security responsibilities could be handed over to the government in Kabul.

Merkel also touched on the economic crisis, saying a new "global order" of rules and financial supervision was necessary.

"In a way, this is a second wall that needs to fall," she said of resistance to global financial regulations.

The invitation to address Congress, which was made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has cooled speculation about a lack of rapport between the low-key Merkel and the charismatic U.S. president.

U.S. and German officials say the two have developed a solid working relationship after getting off to a rocky start last year when Merkel refused to let Obama speak at the Brandenburg Gate when he was a presidential candidate.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, editing by Vicki Allen)


[Green Business]
Senate climate bill boosts natural gas outlook
Tue Nov 3, 2009 3:46pm EST
By Tom Doggett - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The natural gas industry looks to be a big winner in U.S. Senate legislation to tackle climate change on expectations it would lead to more gas demand and a new wave of gas-fired power plants.

After getting few breaks in the House of Representatives climate bill earlier this year, the industry stepped up lobbying as the Senate wrote its version.

The industry won the support of lawmakers as it trumpeted gas as abundant, cleaner than coal and more reliable than wind and solar as a constant energy source to cut greenhouse gases.

The Senate bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to help subsidize coal-fired power plants switching to fuels that emit much fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States, which was recently overtaken by China as the top greenhouse gas emitter, will meet in Copenhagen in December with world leaders from 190 nations to try to hammer out an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol on fighting climate change.

However, hopes of a binding global agreement are fading with the Senate bill still stuck in committee and Congress not expected to finalize legislation until next year.

In the Senate measure, the replacement fuel would have to result in at least 25 percent fewer emissions from 2007 levels through 2020. The reductions would rise to 40 percent and then 65 percent during the subsequent 10 years.

The bill does not mandate a specific fuel, but as the legislation is written, the energy source that would be able to meet the emission-reduction targets and also be the easiest for coal-fired power plants to switch to, especially in the early years, would be natural gas, analysts say.

"Clearly it was directed at natural gas, and natural gas would be the principal beneficiary of these subsidies," said Mary Anne Sullivan, an attorney specializing in climate change and energy at the Washington law firm of Hogan and Hartson.

The gas industry has acknowledged it was asleep at the switch as the House crafted its legislation to tackle global warming. There were incentives to help coal and renewable energy companies prepare for a clean energy economy but precious little for gas.

Sullivan said the Senate bill does not actually provide money for the EPA program, which would have to be approved by lawmakers under separate legislation.

Nonetheless, the industry could still claim a big win.

"That is a very important step forward, because it provides an economic incentive to switch from coal to gas," said Dan Weiss, energy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

If the funding comes through, it could result in about 140 new 500-megawatt power plants running on gas, said William Durbin with the Wood Mackenzie energy consulting firm.

"It will add about 5 to 6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas demand. That's a big number," he said. The Energy Department forecasts U.S. gas demand will average about 62 billion cubic feet a day next year.

KING COAL

Still, the industry has a tough sell as coal accounts for half of U.S. power generation.

"Electric generators have shown a preference for coal," said Roger Cooper, executive vice president of the American Gas Association.

Coal has generally been cheaper than natural gas to run power plants. Any financial incentive to use natural gas in the climate change bill could cause power generators to switch to gas.

The industry argues natural gas is more reliable than solar and wind for electricity generation as these sources can be slowed by weather-related factors, such as cloudy skies or when there is little breeze.

Supporters also point to rising supplies of natural gas in the United States, which has increased its natural gas reserves by 40 percent over the last few years from gas trapped in shale rock thanks to advanced drilling techniques.

The industry also argues gas is a good fuel for national security. While America must import about 65 percent of its oil supply, nearly 90 percent of its gas is drilled domestically.

While environmental groups see natural gas as a better alternative to coal, they prefer using more renewables for future electricity generation. Green groups also oppose the gas industry efforts to expand offshore drilling.

"We do believe natural gas will be the winner in any reasonable carbon-constrained legislation," said Cooper of the American Gas Association.

(Editing by Jeffrey Jones and Lisa Shumaker)

news20091104reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Solar companies focus on nuts and bolts to cut costs
Tue Nov 3, 2009 3:46pm EST
By Laura Isensee - Analysis

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) - Even as solar companies cook up high tech ways to cut costs, the next push to make the renewable energy source more economical could come from workers who bolt panels onto rooftops and mount them across empty fields.

So far, panels -- a system's most expensive piece -- account for the biggest drop in the total cost, falling more than 50 percent from about $4.20 a watt in 2008.

Most U.S. and European makers are now selling panels near $2 per watt, while some low-cost Chinese players sell panels at about $1.85, said J.P. Morgan research analyst Christopher Blansett, while thin film maker First Solar Inc is the cost leader at about $1.50 or $1.55 per watt.

That decline has put a spotlight on installation, which now makes up a greater share of the total cost, and has prompted installers, developers and even panel makers to look for low-tech tricks, like quick fasteners and predrilled holes.

"There's no rocket science. It's literally doing things better and more efficiently," Blansett said.

After the shiny blue and black solar panels leave the factory, technicians have to bolt the panels into steel or aluminum frames, mount them to rooftops or across fields, connect them to inverters and string the wiring to feed electricity to homes, businesses or a power grid.

The big challenge for installers is that "there is no single item that moves the needle," said Lyndon Rive, chief executive at SolarCity. The privately held company designs, installs and finances systems for homes and businesses in California, Arizona and Oregon.

"It's doing one thousand little things better," Rive said, such as managing inventory so crews don't make extra trips to a hardware store.

INSTALL COSTS TO DROP

The U.S. solar market is on track to grow 35 to 45 percent in 2009 and reach about 460 to 500 megawatts, said Alfonso Velosa, a research director at Gartner.

Residential systems are expected to remain about a third of the total U.S. market this year, Velosa added.

While companies like SunPower Corp and Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd are working on cutting-edge technology to make more efficient solar cells, Velosa said they are "starting to hit the limits of what the materials can do."

The solar sector leans on government incentives to compete with traditional power sources, but industry experts believe it will be economically viable in the near future.

Toward that goal, installation costs could drop 5 to 15 percent next year, executives from Suntech, Solon and other companies said at the Solar Power International conference last week in Anaheim, California.

Akeena Solar Inc sees even more promise, with its roadmap to cut installation costs by more than half in 2010.

Akeena's new Andalay branded panels have built-in micro-inverters to convert the direct current electricity produced by solar panels into alternating current rather than requiring a separate unit, as most systems do.

Heavyweight panel makers have also gone back to the drawing board to design products so more work that used to happen at the construction site is done in the factory.

Solon and Suntech both recently launched new systems for the U.S. utility market that the companies say shave time and money off the installation costs.

U.S. based SunPower Corp and Energy Conversion Devices have also introduced new products to make rooftop work easier.

"If you have to have to weld something or construct something (in the field), it's quite expensive," said Olaf Koester, chief executive at Solon's U.S. unit.

Koester cited Solon's new Velocity system, which uses built-in rails instead of a frame, as an example of a design that streamlines the installation work.

Companies that install solar systems are also moving to more standard systems instead of customizing each site, which takes time and money and can create new problems every time.

"We almost used to pride ourselves on all the custom work we did. But it's too expensive. We need to be able to compete with the retail price of electricity," said Mike Hall, chief executive at privately held Borrego Solar Systems Inc.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Gary Hill)


[Green Business]
Forest protection hinges on 10-word phrase
Tue Nov 3, 2009 4:40pm EST
By SolveClimate
By Stacy Feldman

BARCELONA, Spain, Nov 3 (SolveClimate) - Developing nations could end up being paid billions of dollars to raze rainforests and build palm oil plantations in their place if the current text of the Copenhagen climate treaty sticks, a group of advocates warned at the United Nations climate talks on Tuesday.

It's not set in stone. Negotiators could still reinsert a 10-word phrase that was sliced from the treaty language, but that would have to happen by Friday, the last day of the U.N. talks in Barcelona.

Barcelona is the last stop for global warming delegates before the Copenhagen summit starts on December 7. After that, negotiators must whittle down the bloated text, not add to it, as instructed by the U.N. Secretariat.

"There is enormous pressure to reduce down," Andrea Johnson of the non-governmental Environmental Investigation Agency told SolveClimate. "And safeguards have been discussed already more than anything else since August."

The 10-word provision — "safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations" — was part of the proposal on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, known as REDD. The words were enclosed in brackets. Meaning, they were still up for negotiation.

The phrase vanished completely on the last day of UN climate talks in Bangkok in October.

The cut came from the European Union, with support from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other Congo Basin countries.

Afterwards, the European Commission's chief negotiator called the word change "an unfortunate mishap." Twenty countries are said to be in favor of restoring the phrase. Two days into talks in Barcelona, however, that hasn't happened.

Many developing nations, including the United States, have remained silent on the issue.

"The protection of intact natural forests should be a core element of REDD, but so far it is still not in any text proposals," said Peg Putt of The Wilderness Society. "Barcelona may be the last chance for forests, and we need Parties to step up and say so."

Hope remains. Before Barcelona, reports surfaced that the UK would push to undo the so-called Bangkok mistake. Brazil's climate negotiator Thelma Krug told SolveClimate, "I am 100 percent confident it is going to be there" by Friday.

If it isn't, the implications could be huge.

Forests are carbon sinks, sucking up carbon from the atmosphere and using it to grow. Deforestation has the opposite effect, releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere.

Today, more than 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation.

A study by the World Agroforestry Center, in collaboration with the Indonesian Palm Oil Commission, found that palm oil plantations store an average of 40 tons of carbon per hectare. That compares with untouched "temperate moist forests," which store an average of 377 tons of carbon per hectare, according to a study published in July in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Tropical rainforests store 171 tons of carbon per hectare.

REDD is seen as a relatively cheap way to stop the practice and cut CO2 emissions quickly. Its underlying premise is to reward developing countries with billions of dollars in "carbon credits" for conserving their tropical forests. But for REDD to be successful, primary forests must be protected over vested palm oil interests.

"Maintaining primary forests must be REDD's top priority, as these forests store the most carbon and improve permanence through greater resiliency than degraded forests," a new report by British-based Global Witness explains.

Palm oil plantations have very little carbon-storage capacity and bring severe biodiversity loss. Without the safeguard provision, REDD would create a perverse economic incentive to clear forests to plant a polluting cash crop, environmentalists warn.

In recent years, there's been a palm oil explosion. The growth stems from increasing demand in cooking oil, but an increasing chunk of new plantations are being used to meet biofuel mandates in wealthy nations.

Indonesia and Malaysia have the most existing plantations. Large swathes of forests in both countries have been cleared to fuel the boom. Newer markets in Latin America are beginning to balloon, with signs of massive growth on the horizon.

With out the safeguards in the Copenhagen text, REDD dollars could end up funding the expansion.

news20091104reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
UK energy regulator lifts grid spend cap
Tue Nov 3, 2009 4:42pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - British electricity network operators should push ahead with extra investments of up to 1 billion pounds ($1.63 billion) to connect renewable energy sources to the grid by 2012, UK energy regulator Ofgem said on Tuesday.

Britain's three electricity transmission companies, including National Grid, expect to invest 5 billion pounds in transmission projects over the next 10 years.

But Ofgem is worried the companies might hold back on investing in infrastructure needed to connect wind farms and other clean energy projects until current controls on their investment spending run out in 2012.

So the regulator plans to let them spend up to an extra 1 billion on key new project over the next two years.

"This is needed urgently to handle the growth in wind power and other renewable generation that is arising from Britain's drive to curb climate changing emissions," Ofgem chief executive Alistair Buchanan said in a statement.

About 90 percent of the investment is earmarked for Scotland where most wind projects are.

The announcement means Scottish & Southern, which operates the transmission network in northern Scotland, could invest 200 million pounds in three upgrade projects from next year, the company said in a statement.

Ofgem is close to concluding it review of the 20-year-old incentive scheme that ties expenditure to inflation under a regime designed to limit the cost to consumers.

The remaining 80 percent of the expected decade-long investment program will fall under new regulatory controls which come into effect from 2012.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan, additional reporting by Daniel Fineren)


[Green Business]
Distiller's grain set to ride ethanol coattails
Tue Nov 3, 2009 4:48pm EST
By Michael Hirtzer - Analysis

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Demand for distiller's grain, a byproduct of distilling corn into ethanol, will continue to grow domestically and abroad as livestock producers turn to the feed as a cheaper alternative to corn, analysts said.

And with the ethanol industry gearing up for a better year in 2010 after the financial crisis of 2008 triggered by corn prices hitting record highs, more distiller's grain should be making its way into the U.S. livestock sector.

"If we are going to ramp up (ethanol production), we have to find a home for DDGS (dried distiller's grain with soluables)," said Darrel Good, extension economist at the University of Illinois.

"We will export some of those but domestic feeding will have to absorb a big chunk of that," Good added.

The U.S. Agriculture Department forecast ethanol production to rise by 13.5 percent in the 2009 crop year that began September 1, while corn prices could continue to rise as fuel blenders compete for a larger share of a likely record U.S. corn crop.

A third of the corn used in ethanol production comes out as (DDGS), while the feed costs roughly 22 percent less than corn.

The average price for distiller's grain last week in Iowa was $116.25 per ton, compared with $126.25 a year ago, USDA said.

Demand for distiller's grain is growing as domestic cattle and hog producers, seeking to cut feed costs amid shrinking profits, boost the amount of DDGS in feed formulations.

The slowest corn harvest in more than two decades has also reduced the amount of corn on the market and pushed prices on the Chicago Board of Trade toward the $4 level, or about $143 per ton.

Some hog producers have increased the amount of distiller's grain in feed formulations to as much as 20 percent from about 10 percent, said Darrell Mark, extension livestock marketing specialist at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"The demand has maybe been a little better from the hog producer because their losses have been so huge," Mark said.

Hog producers have lost upward of $5 billion during the past two years, according to an industry group, due to high feed costs and pork import bans after the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Exports of distiller's grain are expected to increase to 6 million tonnes from 5 million tonnes this crop year, said Dan Keefe, manager of international operations for DDGS at the U.S. Grains Council.

"DDGS has protein, fat and fiber, and it's a good substitute for soy protein, canola protein, fish-meal, even bone-meal," Keefe said. Distiller's grain exports may continue to increase in the coming years as more importing countries learn of its benefits, he said.

The top three importers so far this year, respectively, are Canada, Mexico and Turkey, USDA said.

"For most of the foreign markets, up until 2004 it was an unknown feed ingredient," Keefe said.

'WET CORN' MAY LIMIT UPSIDE

Distiller's grain still makes up only a small portion of overall feed, with DDGS production expected to increase this crop year to 28-30 million tonnes, up from about 24-25 million tonnes in the 2008/09 crop year, according to analysts.

Meanwhile, 5.4 billion bushels of corn of the total 13.025 billion bushel crop estimated for this year is expected to be utilized as feed, USDA said.

Demand for distiller's grain has increased the past month due to a delay in harvesting corn, but interest could be set back when more corn enters the supply pipeline.

Only 25 percent of the total corn crop was harvested as of Sunday, compared with the average pace of 71 percent, USDA said.

Grain elevators may not be able to store lesser quality corn long term. Livestock producers could then buy at a discount the poorer quality corn they can immediately feed to their animals.

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

news20091104reut5

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Senate panel tries to advance climate bill
Tue Nov 3, 2009 6:28pm EST
By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on a key committee kicked off a debate on reducing U.S. carbon dioxide pollution on Tuesday despite a boycott by Republicans who want to delay climate change legislation.

In a day that saw political maneuvering by both political parties, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer ended the first work session telling reporters she sensed a "fundamental shift" in the debate because of a letter she received from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The business group, which has long opposed climate change legislation, said it wanted to engage in a "new conversation" on the issue.

It called proposals by Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham a "positive, practical and realistic framework for legislation".

But it did not embrace the central approach of the legislation before Boxer's committee: government mandating carbon dioxide emission reductions on industry.

Republicans on the environment committee boycotted Tuesday's sessions, saying Congress needed more information about the impact of the legislation before moving ahead.

But most of them have long opposed the carbon-reduction bill and instead want to expand nuclear power in the United States, along with encouraging more oil drilling, which would do nothing to attack global warming problems.

SENATE VOTE UNLIKELY BEFORE COPENHAGEN

Democrats countered that the Environmental Protection Agency had issued hundreds of thousands of pages of analysis underpinning climate bills, which would force utilities, oil refineries and factories to cut carbon emissions 20 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.

Kerry acknowledged many changes were in store for the bill, but told reporters there was no need to "waste time" on further analysis.

Boxer said her committee would try to resume work on the legislation -- with the ultimate goal of putting it to a vote -- at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

She declined to say whether she would delay action if Republicans continued their boycott.

She has been aiming to win committee approval this month, before an international global warming summit in Copenhagen that begins on December 7. Officials are meeting in Barcelona this week in one of the final work sessions before Copenhagen.

This kind of bickering is not unusual in Congress and Democrats in the past have waged their own boycotts before allowing measures to advance.

But the climate change legislation faces particularly tough odds in the Senate, where several moderate Democrats, many from coal states, have also complained.

One of those Democrats, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania who is running for re-election next year, told Boxer's panel he wanted to see "a number of modifications" to the bill, which he said he would outline in the future.

Kerry, who worked with Boxer to write the pending bill, told reporters he would meet on Wednesday with top aides of President Barack Obama to work out a "framework" for a compromise bill that would include incentives for more U.S. nuclear power production and oil drilling.

He said it would be possible to stitch together such a bill by the end of the year. Nevertheless, the full Senate is not expected to pass a climate change bill this year.

The lone Republican to attend Tuesday's work session was Senator George Voinovich, who told the panel: "This is not a stalling tactic ... this is not a ruse."

Republicans, he insisted, were making "a genuine attempt" to ensure members have the best information available.

The House of Representatives in June narrowly approved a climate change bill similar to the one Boxer's committee is reviewing.

In recent days, Obama and others have begun to play down expectations for the Copenhagen talks, saying that while some sort of deal could be reached, it likely would lay the groundwork "for further progress in the future."

Many environmentalists expect the Copenhagen summit to result in setting a new date, possibly in mid-2010, for wrapping up the negotiations.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

news20091104reut6

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Israeli firms aim to plug world's water leaks
Tue Nov 3, 2009 7:13pm EST
By Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Outside a small town near Tel Aviv, a pilotless drone aircraft with a three-foot (1-meter) wingspan collects data from hundreds of gauges.

A single technician with a laptop monitors the flight from the ground and receives an instant picture of the town's system, including, he says, a house with a leaky toilet.

That may seem petty, but the plane that reads water meters -- as well as a tiny turbine that can generate electricity from within water pipes -- are among technologies Israeli companies are developing to help save billions of dollars in water lost from leaky pipes.

The systems are part of a drive for export orders as rising populations and massive urbanization boost demand for fresh water, and experts say pipe leakage is one of the biggest problems facing the world today.

A World Bank study in 2006 showed water lost in the system before it reaches the customer -- known as "non-revenue water" -- costs utilities at least $14 billion worldwide every year, largely from leaky pipes and poor maintenance.

Most of the loss is in developing countries: 12 billion gallons (45 million cubic meters) of water are lost daily, enough to serve nearly 200 million people, the study said.

The problem is also endemic in industrialized countries. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates losses from the U.S. water distribution system cost the country $2.6 billion a year.

"Israel is one of the leading countries in initiative ideas to reduce non-revenue water and losses," said Stuart Hamilton, a task force member of the International Water Association (IWA). His group measures performance at the world's utilities.

Israel is two-thirds desert, and water concerns affect decision-making at the highest levels. For decades, companies here have developed water technologies more for domestic use than for foreign markets.

But seeing an opportunity to penetrate markets abroad, it set a goal of exporting $2.5 billion annually in water technology by 2011, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

FLY-BY SYSTEM

Several firms globally offer complete leak detection services, from telephone hotlines to teams that walk the street at night with acoustic leakage detection devices, said Philippe Marin, the World Bank's senior water and sanitation specialist.

Companies such as France's Suez Environnement and Veolia Environnement run through such routines when taking over utilities.

Companies do not always need to replace large tracts of piping if they can pinpoint leaks, said Dewi Rogers, who runs Italian water-loss management consultancy firm DEWI Srl.

One key to detecting and then plugging leaks is getting real-time data from water meters in the field. For years, monitoring was done by a person stopping by each meter and jotting down the information. This can take months.

Many meters are now equipped with transmitters, and a car driving in the vicinity can receive the data. But hours pass between the readings, so the information is not accurate.

The fly-by system that spotted the leaky toilet near Tel Aviv was developed by Israel's Arad Group: a listed company majority-owned by two Kibbutzim -- Israeli agricultural communes, with an interest in water conservation for crops.

Its drone weighs about 2 lb (1 kg) and flies on auto-pilot 900 feet above ground, receiving signals from up to a mile away.

The company has market capitalization of 300 million shekel ($80 million), sold more than $100 million in water meters last year and just contracted to supply meters to the city of Mumbai by 2012.

It competes in the automatic meter-reading market with U.S.-based Badger Meter Inc, Itron Inc and Neptune, a business of Roper Industries Inc.

The fly-by system including three drones and software costs about $100,000 and first ships to Mansfield, Texas later this month, said Dan Winter, CEO of Arad Technologies, a subsidiary of Arad Group.

HYDROELECTRIC PIPING

The in-pipe hydroelectric turbine -- developed by Leviathan Energy, a three-year old Israeli start-up with some $2 million in private equity funding -- works like a tiny water wheel to generate power and reduce leakage by regulating water pressure within pipes.

Israel's national water company, Mekorot, installed a test system at a station in a forest outside Jerusalem.

Far from the energy grid, the station controlling the water tower that supplies the village of Neve Shalom was until recently powered by solar panels. Now, the water that flows through the 4-inch (10-cm) pipes drives the turbine to provide the 1 kilowatt of electricity needed to maintain operations.

The IWA's Hamilton said such in-pipe turbines would be "absolutely beneficial to the water industries" and Gideon Alkan, an engineer at Mekorot, said the turbine could power off-grid locations as well as selling electricity to the grid.

But Hamilton said the turbines had yet to be introduced to the market because companies in the past were unable to successly store the electricity generated, and Alkan said Mekorot has not yet decided whether to install the Leviathan turbine in other stations.

Leviathan has yet to mass-manufacture its turbine, but company COO Gadi Hareli said it had received its first order for a few units to be installed in Africa through an unnamed European company, with a letter of intent to buy 200 more.

The system, which varies in size depending on the pipes and customer needs, costs about $2,000 per kilowatt of installed power, Hareli said. He added that it could also be used in large factories with vast piping.

Mini-hydro on existing pond or weirs costs may be in the region of $6,500 per kW installed up to about 10kW, according to data from the British government.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Fineren; Editing by Sara Ledwith)