news20100107reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
JORF LASFAR, Morocco
Wed Jan 6, 2010 3:03pm EST
Morocco to invite bids for solar station in Feb

JORF LASFAR, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco will invite bids for construction of its first solar power station at the end of next month as part of a $9 billion solar energy project, its energy minister said on Wednesday.

The 500-megawatt plant will be in the southern town of Ouarzazate, the site where Morocco's ruler, King Mohammed, announced the launch of the nationwide solar project last year.

"We are advancing smoothly in our plan to implement this grand project. We will tender for the Ourzazate station at the end of February," Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra told Reuters at the inauguration of a gas storage facility at the port of Jorf Lasfar, outside Casablanca.

Morocco's solar plan involves building five stations which will account for 38 percent of its installed power generation by 2020, Rabat government officials.

"We will start first with the tender for Ourzazate power station and the tenders for the others will follow successively," Benkhadra added. But she gave no more details.

Morocco, which is the only North African state with no oil of its own, wants to play a leading role in an European plan to draw solar power from the Sahara.

The European solar scheme, which is worth up to 400 billion euros ($564 billion), could allow Europe to source 15 percent of its power from mirrors that gather sunlight in the vast southern desert by 2050.

The mirrors would concentrate the sun's rays to boil water and power turbines, generating electricity without emitting the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Morocco is the poorest of the European Union's southern neighbors but one of its closest allies in the region. It has a history of political stability and reforms to improve its business environment have led to steady rises of foreign investment flow in the past 10 years.

Benkhadra said Morocco is open for cooperation with various foreign governments and firms.

"We had received expressions of interest from several foreign states and from big foreign companies which want to take part in our solar project," she added.

Asked whether Morocco is looking for firms from its main trade partners in Europe, Benkhadra said:

"Morocco is open for all forms of partnership as long as the foreign firms have the capabilities to bring expertise, technology and know-how. We are looking for public-private partnerships as well as national-and-foreign partnerships."

(Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi, editing by Marguerita Choy)


[Green Business]
WASHINGTON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 2:19pm EST
Half of money managers ignore climate risks: survey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly half of global money managers are making investment decisions without factoring in risks or opportunities associated with climate change, according to a survey released on Wednesday by a coalition of environmentalists and investors.

A related report recommended that money managers and institutional investors do climate risk assessments on all investments and encourage the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to encourage full disclosure of climate risks.

"This is about significant business issues that affect our portfolios," Jack Ehnes, chief executive of the California State Teachers' Retirement System told reporters in a teleconference about the survey. "Certainly leaving the most recent economic crisis with a deeper understanding of risk, I would think it would be incumbent on everyone to embrace (climate) issues."

The survey of the world's 500 largest asset managers by Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of environmentalists and investors, found 44 percent of the respondents did not consider climate risks in their investment decisions. They did not see risks as financially material.

Industries that face the most financial risk from climate change and current and future limits on greenhouse gas emissions include electricity generators, automobile manufacturers and insurance companies, it found.

Asset owners, such as pension funds and other institutional investors, were not asking their asset managers to analyze the risks, or were only just beginning to raise the subject, the survey found.

Alexis Krajeski, a sustainable investment expert in London at global asset management company F&C Management Ltd, said money managers could stand to lose if they do not analyze opportunities and risks linked to climate change.

Opportunities could include investments in companies that are responding to greenhouse gas regulations by helping heavy industry to reduce emissions.

"In order to capitalize on climate-related opportunities and avoid losses linked to climate risk, we need to identify the winners and losers," she said.

Pension funds and other investors led by Ceres and holding more than $1 trillion in assets, have been pressing the SEC to require companies to disclose climate-related risks.

SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter, one of five members who makes decisions on federal securities rules, has said she believes it is time for the regulators to issue so-called interpretive guidance on climate risks.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)


[Green Business]
Rob Taylor
CANBERRA
Wed Jan 6, 2010 5:24pm EST
Japan whaler "spy flights" rile Australia

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government came under pressure from lawmakers on Wednesday to block "spy flights" launched by Japanese whalers from Australian airports to foil hardline anti-whaling activists in the Southern Ocean.

Green Business | Japan

As activists near Antarctica unveiled a third "secret" boat to help them pursue and block the Japanese fleet, influential Australian lawmakers said regular reconnaissance flights were helping Tokyo breach international anti-whaling conventions.

"What we have here is spy flights, which are helping to breach international law, being conducted from Australian airports under the guise and under the nose of the Australian government," conservative opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt told state radio.

Japan's government-backed whaling fleet aims to harpoon up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, classified as endangered, in the Southern Ocean during the current Southern Hemisphere summer.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 treaty. But the Japanese have continued to cull whales on grounds that this is for research purposes and to monitor their impact on fish stocks, deflecting criticism from anti-whaling nations like Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society have promised to disrupt the hunt and on Wednesday revealed a 1,200-tonne former Norwegian harpoon ship refitted in secret in Mauritius to harass the Japanese.

NEW ACTIVIST BOAT TAKES WHALERS BY SURPRISE

The ice-strengthened ship - the third in the Sea Shepherd fleet - surprised the whalers near Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay.

A public relations company based in New Zealand and linked to Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research chartered aircraft in Hobart and in Western Australia state last month to track the Sea Shepherd flagship Steve Irwin, The Age newspaper said.

"Instead of Australia sending a surveillance vessel to watch the whalers, the Japanese are using Australian soil to watch the whale defenders," said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown, whose party wields five key swing votes needed by the government.

Environmentalists accuse center-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of backpedalling on threats of an International Court of Justice whaling challenge to avoid damaging Australia's trade ties with Japan and slow-moving talks on a free trade pact.

Some legal experts believe the Japanese cull is in breach of several international laws and treaties, including the Antarctic Treaty System and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

A court challenge would lead to so-called provisional orders for Japan to immediately halt whaling ahead of a full hearing.

Sea ShepherdCaptain and founder Paul Watson said the surveillance flights were aiding whaling in Antarctic waters claimed by Australia, but not recognized by Japan.

"There's no difference between these Japanese whalers and elephant poachers in east Africa, except in east Africa they shoot the poachers," Watson said.

Japan was Australia's top export destination in 2008, with two-way trade worth $58 billion. Canberra also maintained a $25 billion trade surplus on the back of coal and iron ore exports.

Japan maintains whaling is a cultural tradition and while most Japanese do not eat whale meat on a regular basis, many are indifferent to accusations that hunting the creatures is cruel.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

news20100107reut5

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Rob Taylor
CANBERRA
Thu Jan 7, 2010 7:01am EST
Australia, NZ, investigate whale hunt clash

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia joined New Zealand on Thursday in investigating a clash between an anti-whaling protesters and Japanese whalers, but refused to send a patrol ship to Antarctic waters as activists promised a "whale war".

Green Business | Japan

Canberra called for calm on all sides after the hardline Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's futuristic powerboat Ady Gil had its bow sliced off in a collision with the Japanese ship Shonan Maru No. 2 on Wednesday and was left foundering in frigid seas.

"It concerns me deeply. It's clear that emotions are running high and that lives are at risk," Australia's Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters. "It seems miraculous to me, having seen the video, that lives were not lost."

New Zealand, where the Agy Gil was registered, has already launched an investigation into the clash and Gillard said Australia's maritime safety body would undertake a second probe that could lead to court if either side were found at fault.

In Tokyo, a Japanese government spokesman said an official protest had been lodged with New Zealand's government.

"The Japanese government sees this as extremely regrettable," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano.

Confrontations between whalers and opponents have become an annual feature of the hunt in Antarctic waters claimed by Australia but not recognized as Australian by Japan. Gillard said the incident occurred just outside Australia's economic zone.

Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, who Japan has previously called an "eco-terrorist", said he wanted protection from Australia's navy for his protest fleet, now reduced to two ships.

"We now have a real whale war on our hands and we have no intention of retreating," Watson said.

Environmentalists accuse Australia of going soft on threats of an International Court of Justice whaling challenge to avoid damaging Canberra's $58 billion trade relationship with Japan.

Australian opposition and green lawmakers demanded the government send a customs ship to the area to ease tensions.

"These are Australian waters. Australia has not only a right but an obligation to be policing them," said Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown.

Canberra sent a customs icebreaker to Antarctic waters in early 2008 to monitor the Japanese whaling fleet and gather photographic and video evidence for a legal case.

But Gillard said Australia would not be sending a patrol ship again, saying the 2008 moved had failed to "influence behavior".

Both countries have in the past agreed to quarantine their differences over whaling from wider diplomatic relations to avoid damaging close security ties and long-running free trade talks.

Australia has managed to protect its major trade ties in Asia from periodic bilateral tensions, most notably the detention of an Australian mining executive in China in 2009.

JAPAN SAYS COLLISION UNAVOIDABLE

Japan's Fisheries Agency said the collision took place when Ady Gil suddenly slowed down as it crossed in front of Shonan Maru, which had warned the boat of impending danger.

All six crew were rescued from the Ady Gil, but the clash left one activist with two broken ribs and the A$1.5 million ($1.37 million) carbon-fiber trimaran foundered. Sea Shepherd expected the powerboat to be unsalvageable.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said sending an Australian patrol ship would not lead to automatic restraint.

"People are going to behave badly down there. There's not much we can do about it," McCully told Australian radio.

Law expert Don Rothwell said if the Japanese captain was found at fault, legal proceedings would likely occur in New Zealand.

Concerns could also be raised by the London-based International Maritime Organization following reports the Japanese vessel fled after the collision, said Rothwell, from the Australian National University.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan continues to cull whales, saying it is for research purposes, deflecting criticism from anti-whaling nations.

Japan says whaling is a cultural tradition and while most Japanese do not eat whale meat regularly, many are indifferent to accusations that the hunting is cruel.

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO; Editing by Alex Richardson)


[Green Business]
Daniel Fineren
LONDON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 5:04pm EST
Energy use surges as cold shocks northern hemisphere

LONDON (Reuters) - Icy conditions have driven a surge in energy demand in heavily populated parts of the northern hemisphere but some countries are enjoying a relatively mild winter, data shows.

Severe weather, partly due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, has frozen parts of northwest Europe that usually escape the coldest winter temperatures, driving gas demand to records in Britain [ID:nWLA2033] and straining French power systems. In China there are energy rations.

"I think the impression is that because north Asia is cold, and parts of North America and Europe are cold people have tended to get the impression that the whole of the northern hemisphere is cold," said Robin Thwaytes, a forecaster at the Met Office, Britain's official weather center.

"But that isn't the case. Generally it evens itself out in that for every area that is cold there are some areas that are very warm."

The Met Office's latest chart of global temperature anomalies indicates that Alaska and much of Canada are warmer than the long-term average for the time of year.

Freezing temperatures and heavy snow at the start of January is a shock for those parts of northwest Europe -- France and Britain -- that are usually shielded from the coldest weather that typically affects central and eastern Europe in midwinter.

HARDEST HIT

Britain, which uses gas to heat two thirds of its homes, and France which relies on electric heating are the hardest hit as the relatively mild south-westerly winds that usually blow in from the Atlantic are nudged out by Arctic winds from the north.

The weather, which has driven UK gas prices up sharply this week, is expected to last for another two weeks, draining European gas supplies.

Britain endured one of the coldest Decembers on record, with gas demand hovering near record highs this week, while average heating demand in the United States rose above the 40-year average.

French reliance on electric heating has raised the risk of power cuts in regions with longstanding supply problems, although the grid operator said there was not a threat of nationwide disruption.

French grid operator RTE said on Tuesday it had put Brittany on alert for power cuts.

But in Germany, the national weather office DWD said current temperatures were not unusual.

"Such winters are normal in our latitude, although European and other northern hemisphere countries can differ a lot from each other," a DWD spokesman said.

European gas stocks are brimming because of lower drawdowns last year when the finance crisis hit industrial demand.

Private forecasters WSI warned late last year that the combination of the El Nino weather phenomenon, a cold north Pacific and cold mid-latitude North Atlantic sea surface temperatures would likely lead to cold weather in northern Europe and the United States.

Blistering cold forced cities across eastern and central China to ration power for industry -- impacting base metals production and helping to drive up copper and aluminum prices -- while residents were urged to curb gas use due to surging demand for heating.

Soaring demand, transport problems and brinkmanship over prices has also strained coal supplies, which could force more power cuts and upset production if conditions worsen.

But the climate change skeptics should not conclude that the globe is not warming.

World Meteorological Organization said last month that 2000-2009 was the hottest decade since records began in 1850, and that 2009 would likely be the fifth warmest year on record. WMO data show that eight out of the 10 hottest years on record have all been since 2000.

(Additional reporting by Vera Eckert, Gerard Wynn, Barbara Lewis, Gus Trompiz, Mohd Ramthan Hussain; editing by Sue Thomas)

news20100107reut6

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Jon Hurdle
PERKIOMENVILLE, Pa
Wed Jan 6, 2010 10:08am EST
Grassroots activist brings clean water to Afghanistan

PERKIOMENVILLE, Pa (Reuters) - Aldo Magazzeni leans across the table in his farmhouse kitchen and explains why, when it comes to supplying clean water to thousands of impoverished Afghanis, small really is beautiful.

Green Business | Lifestyle

During the last five years, the 60-year-old co-owner of a New Jersey manufacturing firm has arranged for some 75,000 people in remote areas of Afghanistan to be connected to community water systems.

His efforts helped to end the toil of fetching water and to reduce water-borne diseases, particularly among children.

The key to his success, he says, is not large sums of money or the involvement of international aid organizations, but his willingness to cultivate relationships with communities and to persuade them to donate the labor that has reduced costs to a fraction of what a commercial contractor would charge.

Magazzeni estimates the total cost of 12 water systems built so far at $80,000, in contrast to at least $500,000 that he says would have been charged commercially.

"With less money, and keeping things small, I have accomplished more than I would have done if I had a ton of money," Italian-born Magazzeni said.

His work started after a solo mountaineering trip to Afghanistan in 2004 when he stayed in the remote village of Kwalkoo in the Panjsher Valley, an area rarely visited by outsiders. Villagers had to walk a mile or more to a spring for clean water.

Sensitized to the needs of poor communities after working in Haiti, Kenya and Mexico since the late 1990s, Magazzeni struck up relationships with village elders, who told him they wanted a water system. He found water engineers to help install a system, and won the backing of the local governor.

He sold his BMW back home in Pennsylvania to pay the $7,000, the average cost of his projects, for piping, pumps and engineering advice for the first system. He financed other projects with his personal savings -- he once withdrew $30,000 from his retirement fund -- while travel expenses were paid by his company, Champion Fasteners, of Lumberton, New Jersey.

Now he has a nonprofit, Traveling Mercies, and his costs are met with funds raised from individual donations, local schools, and Rotary clubs. The nonprofit's budget is set at $100,000 for 2010, up from $60,000 in 2009.

He works full-time for the non-profit but takes no salary, living off income from his company, and his savings. In any spare time, he helps his wife Anna run their 80-acre farm some 40 miles north of Philadelphia.

Much of the fundraising and promotion of Traveling Mercies is done by Magazzeni, in keeping with his belief that there is no substitute for strong personal relationships.

Suraya Pakzad, an Afghan women's activist who was among Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2009, has worked with Magazzeni and said his insistence on working at a grassroots level explains his success.

"He sits on the floor. He has no bodyguards. He has no black-window cars," she said in an interview from Afghanistan. "He trusts people and his trust protects him."

With a long beard and a tousled mass of shoulder-length gray hair making him look like an Old Testament prophet, Magazzeni stresses the spiritual nature of his work.

Underpinning the benefits of providing clean water is the link that his projects create between people, he said.

"What they are eventually going to see is that it's all about human beings seeing their common divinity," he said.

Magazzeni acknowledges his similarities with Greg Mortenson, another former mountaineer who has built more than 100 schools in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan since the mid-1990s, described in his best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea."

Like Mortenson, Magazzeni sees his efforts in Afghanistan as complementary to the U.S. war effort in helping to win the hearts and minds of local people through peaceful means.

But unlike Mortenson's Montana-based Central Asia Institute, Magazzeni has no employees.

By keeping it simple, Traveling Mercies shows that helping to alleviate suffering in the developing world need not be the preserve of governments, corporations, or international aid organizations, but should be focused on individuals.

"It's not going to get solved by institutions," he said. "I want to be a story that can be read by anybody who could say 'I could do that.'"