news20100127jt1

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
S&P lowers Japan credit rating outlook
Huge deficits, lack of plan cited
Bloomberg

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday lowered Japan's sovereign credit rating outlook because of diminishing "flexibility" to cope with a swelling debt load and concern about the lack of a plan to rein in budget deficits.

The policies of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government "point to a slower pace of fiscal consolidation than we had previously expected," S&P said in a statement. Japan's rating could be lowered from the current AA, the third highest, if economic data "remain weak" and measures to buttress growth "are not forthcoming," the company said.

Any cut to Japan's local-currency rating would be the first since 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Finance Minister Naoto Kan told a news conference he will work to uphold fiscal discipline and maintain the trust of bond investors.

S&P's move highlights concerns that the shrinking population and contracting gross domestic product will erode the pool of savings that has kept yields on its benchmark 10-year notes more than 2 percentage points lower than U.S. Treasuries.

"Should the change in outlook spur people to start seriously doubting Japan's fiscal health, yields on long-term government bonds will climb," said Hiroshi Morikawa, a senior strategist at MU Investments Co. "That will not only limit the government's fiscal-stimulus measures but will also boost borrowing costs, deterring companies from investment."

S&P reduced the outlook to "negative" from "stable," while reaffirming the AA long-term debt rating.

Bond yields rose Monday after the government said the nation's debt will probably swell to ¥973 trillion by the end of fiscal 2010, 8 percent more than the estimated ¥900 trillion for the year ending March 31.

Japanese bond risk rose after S&P's warning, according to traders of credit-default swaps.

The outlook cut is the latest blow to a prime minister whose ratings have fallen since the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the Liberal Democratic Party in September. Hatoyama had to replace his first finance minister, Hirohisa Fujii, due to illness, while Ichiro Ozawa, the No. 2 DPJ official, is being investigated for a land deal by his campaign finance organization that led to three arrests.

Hatoyama is planning to sell ¥44.3 trillion in bonds to fund his record budget proposal, an amount that could increase if the nation's recovery slows or tax receipts slide. He won elections in August pledging to bolster households' purchasing power.

S&P said it will monitor the government's medium-term fiscal plan due to be released in the first half of 2010. Further steps may also be unveiled after elections in July for the Upper House, the company said. Should the commitments "moderate the government's debt trajectory, the ratings could stabilize at the current levels," it said.

Because of Japan's international assets, including about $1 trillion of foreign exchange holdings, the yen's status as a "reserve currency" and the economy's "diversification," S&P said it expects the rating to remain in the AA category even if the grade is lowered a notch.

Moody's Investor Service rates Japan's debt at Aa2, also the third-highest investment grade, with a stable outlook. Fitch Ratings's outlook is one step lower, at AA-. An S&P cut to AA- would put Japan on par with Taiwan and Kuwait.

The replacement of the finance minister four months into the government increased concern about the commitment to contain the debt, Thomas Byrne, senior vice president of Moody's in Singapore, said this month.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
Akihabara gets bank of security cameras
By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer

A year and a half after a vicious attack left seven people dead in Tokyo's Akihabara district, a neighborhood association activated 16 outdoor surveillance cameras Tuesday in an effort to restore the neighborhood's reputation.

{{Keeping watch: A new security camera is activated Tuesday in the Akihabara district of Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.}
KYODO PHOTO}

"Akiba," as the district is known to its fans, is a mecca of electronic gadgets and "otaku" (geek) culture.

"We hope the cameras will deter crimes. And we want to assure the public that Akihabara has become a safe place," Chiyoda Ward spokesman Kazuhisa Yamaguchi said.

The Kanda Suehiro association held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Shohei Elementary School. Some of the cameras are installed on street lights around the school.

The video feeds will be monitored by members of the neighborhood association.

None of the 16 cameras covers the site of the rampage, which took place on one of Akihabara's main streets. Other neighborhood associations are planning to set up an additional 34 surveillance cameras by the end of March to monitor major streets, Yamaguchi said.

Tomohiro Kato, 25, stands accused of running down pedestrians with a truck on June 8, 2008, before getting out of the vehicle and stabbing people at a busy intersection, killing seven in total.

At the time of the attack, the streets were closed to vehicles to allow pedestrians free access. Since then, the streets have not been blocked off.

Kato's trial at the Tokyo District Court starts Thursday.

Chiyoda Ward and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will share the cost ┄ about \30 million ┄ of the 50 surveillance cameras with neighborhood associations, Yamaguchi said.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
Suicides top 30,000 for 12th year
Kyodo News

Suicides increased again in 2009 amid the economic doldrums, staying above 30,000 for the 12th straight year, the National Police Agency said Tuesday in a preliminary report.

The total came to 32,753, the fifth most on record and up 504 from 2008, when the number fell by 844 from the year before. It has remained above 30,000 since 1998.

Men accounted for 23,406 of the total and women 9,347.

The rise apparently reflected the economic slump as the number of monthly suicides topped 3,000 from March to May in line with the tendency of people with economic problems to commit suicide around the time the business year ends. Most companies close their books March 31.

The monthly breakdown has stayed high since a double-digit surge to above 3,000 in October 2008, following the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that September and the subsequent global economic meltdown.

Last year, the monthly figure increased on a year-on-year basis until August but fell somewhat from September after the Aug. 30 election brought the Democratic Party of Japan to power for the first time.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government has set up an emergency task force to address the high suicide rate. One of its measures has been to staff some of the Hello Work public job-placement offices with mental health professionals since November.

By prefecture, the annual total rose by more than 100 in Saitama and Chiba but dropped by that much in Osaka and Hokkaido, the NPA said.

news20100127jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[EDUCATION AND BILINGUAL]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
BILINGUAL
Spouse hunting, politics had us all abuzz in '09
By MARK SCHREIBER
By Special to The Japan Times

The 2010 edition of the "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words" was recently put on sale by publisher?Jiyukokuminsha. The bulky paperback's English title doesn't really do justice to the Japanese name, which is "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki." Broken down by its individual components, it becomes 現代 (gendai, present era or current); 用語 (yōgo, words or terms in use), 基礎 (kiso, basic); and 知識 (chishiki, knowledge). A more idiomatically translated title would be "Fundamental Knowledge of Terms in Current Use."

This annual compendium, now in its 61st year, contains a whopping 1,734 pages of topics on just about everything under the sun, making it well worth the outlay of ,000.

While the book incorporates the latest terms in business, science, technology, entertainment, sports and other fields — plus foreign-word adoptions and new acronyms — the part I always head for first is the section devoted to the latest teen slang.

This year's selections included such neologisms as メガる (megaru), created by taking the Greek root "mega" for large and adding ru, the infinitive form of many Japanese verbs, to create a word that means "to get fat." Another new hybrid takes high and low levels of the English word "tension," as in tenshon takai (テンション高い, something feels good), as opposed to tenshon hikui (テンション低い, doesn't do anything for me).

A popular term was 婚活 (konkatsu, hunting for a spouse), formed by combining 婚 (kon) from kekkon (結婚, marriage) and 活 (katsu) from katsudo￣ (活動, activity).

Language scholars also pointed out the tendency of more young people to use 若干 (jakkan, a slight amount) instead of 少し (sukoshi, a little bit).

While 全然 (zenzen) is perfectly good Japanese for "utterly" or "completely," some youngsters now use multiple repetition for added emphasis, saying, "zen-zen-zen-zen-zen." (absolutely no way!), or to stress something negative, "nai-nai-nai-nai-nai."

Another trend linguists spotted is the habit of asking a question in the negative to elicit agreement, as in "~shinai? (shall we do ~?)" For example: "Makudo de tabetakunai? (Shall we eat at McDonald's?)"

On Dec. 1, as it has for 25 years, Jiyukokuminsha and its corporate sponsor U-Can, a publisher of educational materials, announced the results of its annual Ryukogo Taisho (流行語大賞, grand prix of popular expressions) poll, which names the 10 most popular terms of the year. In the latest batch are plenty of references to politics and the economy, which dominated the news during most of 2009.

Top prize went to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for 政権交代 (seiken kōtai, changeover in political power). In a landslide election victory on Aug. 30, Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan swept the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition members from power.

Second place went to 8-year-old child actor Seishiro Kato, who played kodomo tenchō (こども店長, child store manager) in a series of popular commercials for Toyota Motor Corp.

Rounding out the top five spots were: 事業仕分け (jigyō shiwake, sorting out operations) [a euphemism for government budget trimming]; 新型インフルエンザ (shingata infuruenza, H1N1 influenza, aka swine flu); and 草食男子 (sōshoku danshi, herbivorous men).

Credited to writer Maki Fukasawa in a 2006 magazine article about marketing, the last term caught on as a reference to the growing number of passive males who defy typical notions of masculinity.

Another word continuing to appear in the media is 派遣切り (haken-giri, temp-worker cutbacks). From the end of the 2008 fiscal year (March 31, 2009), many workers from 人材派遣会社 (jinzai haken gaisha, human resource dispatch firms) were laid off due to budget-cutting measures. Several hundred of these unfortunates congregated in Hibiya Park in the center of Tokyo, forming a "hobo camp" that the media named 派遣村 (haken-mura, temp-workers village).

Meanwhile, on Dec. 12, the annual poll conducted since 1995 by Nihon Kanji Noryoku Kentei Kyokai (日本漢字能力検定協会, the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society) chose 新 (shin or atarashii, new), as its Kanji of the Year for 2009 — following on from 変 (hen, change) for 2008.

"New" is formed from the phonetic component 斤(kin, ono, a hatchet) and a mnemonic composed of 立 (tatsu, to stand) and 木 (ki, tree). So to prepare a field for "new" cultivation, one uses a "hatchet" to fell the "trees" that "stand."

Of course, 新 is also a part of the compound 新年 (shinnen, new year). And on that note, I hereby belatedly wish everybody a happy and meaningful 2010.


[COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY NEWS]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
IGADGET
Toshiba Blu-ray recorders, mCube90 make life more compact
By PETER CROOKES

Blu-ray recording: If you can't beat them, don't join them — just copy their ideas and improve them. Toshiba is endeavoring to do just that having abandoned its HD-DVD format and instead opted to craft versions of Sony's brainchild, Blu-ray. Nobody can accuse Toshiba of not doing a wholehearted about face, what with three new Vardia- branded Blu-ray recorders to hit the market next month. The best of the bunch is the D-B1005K, which sports a prodigious 1-terabyte hard disk for recording up to 500 hours of high- definition TV footage. The smaller D-B305K comes with a still spacious 320-gigabyte hard disk, while the bulky D-BW1005K is in essence a D-B1005K with a VHS video recorder mixed in for good measure. All three of them are intended to make it easy to record from DVDs to Blu-ray discs, using the hard disk as temporary storage while the footage is moved from one type of disc to the other. They also come with the AVCREC format for recording high-definition content on regular DVDs. No doubt this is useful, but if the device already has Blu-ray why use such a compression format to keep using an inferior recording method? Unless it is to save cash on the pricey Blu-ray discs?

Interestingly, the new Vardias come with a remarkable seven TV tuners (a pair of terrestrial digital tuners, a pair of BS tuners, a pair of CS tuners and one analog TV tuner). The trio of paired tuners allow users to record one program in that format while watching a second. The three recorders also each have an HDMI interface, a USB port, LAN connectivity and an SD memory-card slot for playing video off a memory card. All three cope with the full variety of DVD and Blu-ray discs. The two straight Blu-ray recorders measure 430 × 61 × 318 mm, with the VHS credentials pushing the lines out to 435 × 100 × 399 mm. The D-B305K is the lightweight of the bunch, in more than just capacity, as it weighs 4.3 kg, with the D-B1005K coming in at 4.5 kg. Again, the D-BW1005K bulks up, to 7.2 kg. Despite their different sizes, all three have the same dark look, which shows that digital-recorder makers put as much thought into appearances as most PC makers do.

Toshiba's products are heavy on the features, a fact reflected in their price tags. The D-B305K quite naturally is cheapest at ¥99,800, with its big brother costing ¥129,800. The D-BW1005K carries the highest price tag of ¥139,800. If you want devices with less credential there are plenty of cheaper choices, although Toshiba has certainly not lost out by being late to the market. The D-BW1005K is good for those of us who are still clinging to our VHS collections. www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2010_01/pr_j1401.htm

Go anywhere: Air passengers could find relief from having to lug around all those rechargers for their electronic devices, something that will be welcomed at airport luggage scales.

Innovative electronics-maker Innergie has teamed up with tech firm Green Plug to develop the new mCube90, a stylish gadget that fits in your palm and serves as both a universal power adapter (for laptops and USB-powered devices) and surge protector. The mCube90 is connected to mains power, or by using the included adapter and cables it becomes a power source in a car or aircraft. The device to be recharged is then connected via USB allowing it to be recharged on the go.

Just about any device that can be recharged via USB can be used with the mCube90. The adapter works on 100-240 volts, measures 128.8 × 70 × 23.6 mm and weighs 263 grams without the cables. It also has four types of surge protection built into it. The mCube90 costs $99.99 (¥9,000) from the Innergie Web site. If you travel with a lot of devices then the mCube90 makes sense. But first check out the Innergie Web site as to whether your gadgets will work with the mCube90. www.myinnergie.com/Mcube/default.aspx

news20100127jt3

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY NEWS]
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
TECHNOLOGY
Japan's techies strive to bridge culture gap
By RICK MARTIN
Special to The Japan Times

In November, more than 100 people met in Yokohama for a daylong "unconference" on technology and the Internet. Attendees addressed each other on topics of their choosing — the roster of speakers determined solely by whoever signed up fastest for time slots on a whiteboard.

{People gather at Tokyo Startup Weekend.}

This was Yokohama Barcamp, the latest incarnation in Japan of the international Barcamp phenomenon, a network of user-generated meetups that began in California in 2005 and have since been held in 350 cities worldwide.

It is also representative of a number of technology-centered networking groups in Japan that form the hub of a growing tech community starting to span different areas of knowledge and expertise and move past linguistic and cultural barriers.

The free event, held at Yokohama International School, was attended by expatriates and local Japanese, and both groups were encouraged not only to network with each other but also to discuss and to cooperate together on presentations and projects.

It is not easy to coordinate events attended by both Japanese and non-Japanese speakers, but by encouraging attendees to work together, rather than just talk with one another, a bridge between the two groups has begun to form.

But building this bridge has been daunting.

"I think most of the communities are completely separated between Japanese speakers and English speakers," says Japanese blogger Fumi Yamazaki, who is fluent in English. "The language barrier is the biggest issue, but I think there is a cultural barrier, too. It is not easy or comfortable for foreigners to join Japanese-only events, and vice versa."

{Tokyo Hackerspace participants work on a project.}

One event, Tokyo Startup Weekend, has already moved to eliminate the language barrier by cutting the talk.

The event last month gave participants (ranging from managers and marketers to developers and designers) one weekend to start a business, Web site or computer-based service.

Organizer Jonny Li points out: "A lot of the events are focused on talking. . . . What I want to do is hopefully get people to be active and do something. . . . A lot of the tech events that we have here, we've got events where Japanese people and Western people are very separate, and most Japanese people feel like a Western- organized event is too difficult to get into. I want to eliminate that barrier."

When Tokyo Barcamp began in May 2009, it was a daylong event rich in brainstorming sessions and tech lectures. Japanese participation was not as high as organizers had hoped, but the event spawned a Tokyo-based version of an another global initiative, HackerSpace. The group is quick to clarify that hacking is about do-it-yourself projects and solving problems in unexpected ways, rather than engaging in nefarious coding or malicious attacks. They emphasize making use of others' expertise and sharing your own knowhow when possible. Since Barcamp, Tokyo HackerSpace has grown to number more than 25 members (though so far only a handful are Japanese), and they've also acquired a work space. The monthly cost is shared among members.

{Where the action is
Tokyo's tech community is spreading faster than a YouTube clip of a kid high on dental anesthesia. Here are some groups that are booting up across town:
Barcamp
Mobile Monday Tokyo
Tokyo Startup Weekend
Tokyo HackerSpace
Tokyo 2.0
Tokyo Linux Users Group
Tokyo PC Users Group
Tokyo English Language Mac Users
Hacker's Cafe
4nchor5 la6
Open Solaris User Group
Tokyo Girl Geek Dinners
Tokyo Drupal User Group}

Tokyo has seen more than a few technology-related events over the years, but these newer groups show some real progress. In the past year, they have started attracting more participants from outside close-knit communities. As technology becomes increasingly accessible for the average user, the number of people who count themselves as tech enthusiasts has naturally grown.

One long-standing tech event in Tokyo is Mobile Monday, an organization that brings together people who are either involved in or interested in the mobile industry in Japan. The initiative was first launched in Helsinki in 2000, but Momo Tokyo, as it is often referred to, was the first chapter to launch outside of Finland. It now has more than 80 chapters around the globe. A typical Mobile Monday event includes some tech presentations followed by casual networking, where participants can rub elbows with like-minded individuals who share their love of mobile technology. Speakers usually give talks in English, unless doing so in Japanese would make them more comfortable. The event's organizer, Lawrence Cosh-Ishii, acknowledges that one of his goals is to make Japanese tech better understood by observers beyond Japan's borders.

"Realistically, it's a global community," says Cosh-Ishii, "so if everything happens in Japan in Japanese, how do people in Boston or Vienna have any clue what's going on? "Bridging the gap between Japan and the rest of the world has always been a challenge, but it's something that's required. I think Mobile Monday, as a community site, as a community effort, has done a lot. There needs to be a warm, central fuzzy kind of place, in that hyperlocal sort of way, where birds of a feather can get together."

Tech enthusiasts are also flocking to the popular Tokyo 2.0 event. Group organizer Andrew Shuttleworth saw the emergence of Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr as an opportunity to launch a community focused around a common interest in the Internet.

Shuttleworth says that bringing Japanese and non-Japanese together is a core focus of the group, but he readily admits that it is a challenge, especially when preparing for bilingual events.

"Organizing an event can be complex and time consuming, and when you add another language to that, it almost doubles the effort," he says. "You've got announcements to think about; a Web site to think about; you've got to make sure you've got a translator. It really does add quite a lot of complexity."

Shuttleworth also points out that it is important to be "integrated with Japan and have a good exchange of information, because with a limited foreign audience, you often end up with the same people and it's hard to keep things fresh."

The extent of success these groups have in their attempts to connect with Japan's tech community is still uncertain. No single group is likely to build the bridge on its own, but the important thing is that more and more people are trying. Their efforts have already create a kind of "scene" in Tokyo that goes beyond the stereotype of bespectacled gamers meeting up in Akihabara, Tokyo's technology hub. Despite linguistic and cultural barriers, it is encouraging to see more niche groups forming. Now people in search of such a niche have a much better chance of finding a place they can really call home.

news20100127gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Marine life]
Conservationists urge Gordon Brown to create 'Britain's Great Barrier Reef'
This week the 10,000th person joined a campaign to create the Earth's biggest marine protected area in the Chagos archipelago
Jessica Aldred
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 January 2010 00.05 GMT Article history

A coalition of conservationists is calling on the British public to urge Gordon Brown to create "Britain's Great Barrier Reef" by designating its territory in the Indian Ocean as the biggest protected marine area on Earth.

The Chagos archipelago (map here), part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, is a group of 55 tropical islands over half a million square kilometres of Indian Ocean that have belonged to Britain since they were captured from France in 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars. The islands include Diego Garcia, the site of a controversial joint British-American military base.

The archipelago boasts the world's largest coral atoll and the world's cleanest, most pristine waters, that are home to at least 220 coral species and more than 1,000 species of fish. The underwater landscape of 6,000m deep trenches, oceanic ridges and sea mounts, is also a refuge and breeding ground for large and important populations of sharks, dolphins, marine turtles, rare crabs, birds and other vulnerable species. It is Britain's greatest area of marine biodiversity.

Nine conservation and scientific organisations including the Marine Conservation Society, the RSPB, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew have formed the Chagos Environment Network (CEN), which is campaigning to protect the biodiversity of the Chagos islands and surrounding waters alongside a three-month public consultation (pdf) launched by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in November 2009. This week the 10,000th person signed up in support of the campaign. With 554,000 sq km of reef, the territory would become the largest protected marine area on Earth.

Rachel Jones, the deputy team leader of ZSL London zoo's aquarium, said: "If Gordon Brown declares the Chagos archipelago a marine protected area it will be one of the biggest conservation breakthroughs for 100 years.

"This underwater Garden of Eden could be a legacy that Gordon Brown will really be proud of."

"If done in the right way, the Chagos protected area could be as important as the reserves which protect the Galapagos islands and Great Barrier Reef. Indeed, it would protect one of the world's most resilient coral reefs and some of the finest coral habitats remaining in the Indian Ocean," said Tony Juniper, green party candidate and campaigner.

Pollutant levels in Chagos waters are exceptionally low because of minimal human influence. Since the 1960s the islands have been set aside for defence purposes, with no inhabitants except for the military personnel and civilian contractors at the US military base on Diego Garcia.

As a result, the ecosystems of the Chagos have so far proven resilient to climate change and have been lagely immune from threats to other reefs worldwide.

But the Chagos Conservation Trust, a member of the CEN, says legal and illegal fishing has impacted the area despite regulations, with sharks, sea cucumbers, turtles and fish known to have declined. "An increased level of environmental protection and enforcement is now urgently required," said William Marsden, the chairman of the trust. "A protected area in Chagos would contribute to a richer Indian Oceans and would benefit people living in and around it."

The consultation, which ends on 12th February, is examining three options for protection. One is to declare a full "no-take" marine reserve for the entire territory; a second is the creation of a marine reserve of the same size but one that would allow some deep-sea fishing in certain zones at certain times of the year, and a third, to establish no-take reserves to protect only the vulnerable reef systems.

However the creation of a protected area could be complicated by the ongoing court case brought by relocated Chagossians at the European Court of Human Rights, which is expected to be decided later this year.

Between 1967 and 1971 an estimated 2,000 Chagossians were evicted from the archipelago to make way for the Diego Garcia military base. The islanders were taken to Mauritius and the Seychelles, more than 1,000 miles away, where many have lived in poverty ever since.

In 2008 the islanders lost a long-running battle when the House of Lords, as the final court of appeal in the UK, ruled in favour of the British government by overturning the lower court rulings and finding no right of return on the part of the Chagossians.

Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group for the Chagos islands, said he was "concerned" that the marine protection consultation had not sought the views of exiled islanders. "The FCO is completely at variance with UK marine conservation policy that seeks to involve the local community," he said.

Corbyn also said there was concern among Chagos island groups over media reports that portrayed their return as a negative for the environment, that would mean the construction of an airport and town and increasing tourism.

"You will get a small number of people living [in the Chagos] who will support sustainable fishing and ecotourism. If the 'ultras' in the marine reserve brigade get their way they will have to have people there to protect the environment. It's extraordinary that islanders are not trusted but the marine community is. Wealthy people land there in yachts and stay on the islands all time. They are trusted but the islanders are not. I find it patronising and extraordinary."


[Environment > Climate change]
UK's top scientist urges care in presenting results of climate change
> Be frank on degree of uncertainty, but as such it is no excuse for inaction
> John Beddington responds to scepticism after melting glaciers mistake
Haroon Siddique
The Guardian, Wednesday 27 January 2010 Article history

A failure by some scientists to be candid on the uncertainty of predicting the rate of climate change is to blame for fuelling scepticism about such predictions, according the ­government's chief scientific adviser.

John Beddington's comments come in the wake of an admission by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that a claim in its 2007 report that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 was unfounded. The admission has been used as ammunition by climate change sceptics, who say the public is being misled.

Beddington said scientists should give a caveat to their predictions where there was uncertainty, and release source data "wherever possible" – but added that uncertainty was no excuse for inaction. "I don't think it's healthy to dismiss proper scepticism," he tells the Times newspaper today. "Science grows and improves in the light of criticism. There is a fundamental uncertainty about climate change prediction that can't be changed."

He said the false claim in the IPCC's report was symptomatic of a wider problem with the way evidence was presented in the field of climate science. "Certain unqualified statements have been unfortunate," he said. "We have a problem in communicating uncertainty. There's definitely an issue there. If there wasn't, there wouldn't be the level of scepticism. All of these predictions have to be caveated by saying, 'There's a level of uncertainty about that'."

He explained that large-scale climate modelling using computers meant "quite substantial uncertainties" which needed to be communicated. While it was unchallengeable that burning fossil fuels released CO2 that warms the Earth, "where you can get challenges is on the speed of change".

He acknowledged that where source data was released there was a danger it could be manipulated, "but the benefits from being open far outweigh that danger".

The head of the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit, Professor Phil Jones, stepped down last year while an investigation was conducted into emails leaked from the unit and seized upon by climate change deniers as alleged evidence that scientists had been hiding and manipulating data to support the view that the world is warming up. Shortly after the row, the Met Office released data which showed a rise in the global temperature.

Beddington said the fact that scientists were not 100% certain about every aspect of climate science did not make ignoring the phenomenon a risk worth running.

The IPCC and its head, Rajendra Pachauri, have also come under fire for another claim in its 2007 report – that the cost of natural disasters had risen gradually since 1970 due to climate change. But the IPCC released a statement yesterday saying that the Sunday Times report which carried the allegation was incorrect, insisting that the IPCC had provided a "balanced treatment of a complicated and important issue". While the IPCC admitted that it was wrong about the Himalayan glaciers, scientists maintain that glaciers are melting at historically high rates.

news20100127gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]


[Environment > Electric, hybrid and low\emission cars]
Car makers 'failing consumers' on emission data
Consumers are finding it hard to buy fuel-efficient vehicles because car makers are burying CO2 figures for their models online, report claims
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 January 2010 00.05 GMT Article history

Car makers are making the process of searching for a fuel-efficient car "like looking for a needle in a haystack" by burying CO2 figures for their models online, experts and campaigners claimed today.

A report from the government's Energy Saving Trust, Friends of the Earth Europe and We are Futureproof, said car companies are failing consumers with "confusing" websites.

The online survey involving members of the public found that only half (52% of attempts by consumers to find CO2 figures for specific UK cars were successful. Less than 5% of the 363 people who took part came across the widely recognised A-G energy efficiency label while attempting to look up emissions data.

Mini, Kia, Lexus and Honda were lauded for the ease of use and accessibility of finding CO2 data on their sites, while the worst - ranked by user experience criteria - were Alfa Romeo, Nissan, Smart, and Mercedes-Benz.

The consultancy Ecolane, which carried out the survey, rated the websites on five "design principles" including site navigation; providing CO2 data alongside core data such as performance; how clearly individual models and different "trims" are described; whether comparative emissions information was provided (such as the A-G label); and whether the sites relied on large downloads of PDF files. The report also evaluated how long it took survey respondents to find the data.

{Manufacturer league table：see guardian.co.uk}

The average time taken to find CO2 figures for cars ranged from 74 seconds for Lexus to nearly eight minutes for Alfa Romeo, whose site came bottom of the overall usability table. Other sites coming in for criticism included the low ranking Smart site - "very slow and difficult to find correct model. CO2 not given high importance compared to other car features such as equipment and style" and the Seat site which received the ultimate condemnation "about as easy as dealing with the civil service". At the opposite end of the spectrum was Peugeot. One tester said: "Very easy to find the emissions data, all sites should be like this."

Car makers must display a car's fuel consumption and CO2 data in their showrooms but are not legally required to do so on their sites. Marian Spain, the director of strategy at the Energy Saving Trust, said: "Nowadays most people do initial online research when looking into buying a new car. Our research shows that in many cases, finding out the running costs of cars and their impact on the environment from the car manufacturer website is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Blake Ludwig, managing director for the We Are Futureproof group, said: "More and more people want to choose greener, more efficient cars, but our study shows that some car makers expect them to spend time hunting around confusing websites for information. Other car markers have got it right, putting the data upfront and easy to find, and we think all companies should have to follow this model."

A spokesperson for the Society of Motor Industry Manufacturers and Traders said: "Vehicle manufacturers are highly aware of the important role driver information can play in reducing road transport emissions and the significant influence this data has on a person's purchasing decision."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said the government recognised that people wanted "clear information on the environmental credentials of new cars" and pointed to the requirements to show figures for new cars in showrooms and government's voluntary scheme for used cars. But they said the government was not looking to mandate car makers to improve CO2 data on their own websites.

Consumers can also find CO2 figures elsewhere online, such as on the government's Act On CO2 site and the VCA website.

news20100127nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 January 2010 | Nature 463, 414 (2010) | doi:10.1038/463414a
News
What will the next solar cycle bring?
Orbiting mission will probe the Sun's activity.
Lizzie Buchen

Solar activity is on the rise.NASA/lMSALThe Sun is rousing from an unusually heavy slumber. On 19 January, the otherwise calm and quiet Sun erupted in a violent blast of light and energy — an M-class solar flare, the largest observed in nearly two years. Over the next 24 hours, four more M-class flares erupted from the same sunspot, each more powerful than the one before.

It was a welcome bit of excitement for solar physicists, who have been languishing during the quietest period of solar activity in nearly a century. Sunspots, flares and the plasma-spewing eruptions known as coronal mass ejections typically wax and wane on an 11-year cycle, but the most recent solar cycle has lasted for 12.5 years. "A number of my colleagues were wondering if there would even be a new cycle," says solar physicist David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

On 9 February, NASA plans to launch its Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), just in time to watch the Sun's activity. Using a suite of imaging instruments, the SDO will probe the inner workings of the Sun, including how material flowing within it helps to generate its magnetic field and how that energy is released. The findings could help researchers to improve their understanding of the fluctuations in solar activity that can, at their peak, scramble electricity grids and throw Global-Positioning-System devices off by dozens of metres.

"The Sun is getting much more interesting to look at," says Frank Eparvier, a solar physicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "We really want to get the SDO up there to watch the rise to the next maximum."

Eparvier is one of 13 scientists charged with combing through dozens of predictions and issuing the official prediction of the timing and strength of the upcoming solar cycle, cycle 24. In April 2009, the group reached a consensus that the solar maximum would arrive relatively late, in May 2013, and be less intense than average, with only 90 sunspots per day at its peak (see graphic). But there was a notable dissenter: Mausumi Dikpati at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder thinks that cycle 24 will have at least 150 sunspots at its maximum. The last solar cycle peaked at around 120 sunspots.

Strength to strength

The difference for cycle 24 boils down to the different methods used to predict solar activity. Historically, the most reliable prediction methods have been 'precursor' techniques that rely on the strength of the magnetic field during the previous minimum. A number of precursor models all suggest that the peak for solar cycle 24 will be small.

But Dikpati uses a different method, a solar-dynamo model that incorporates theories of how material within the Sun travels from its poles toward the equator. She argues that the material can take decades, not a few years, to make this journey — meaning that the last maximum doesn't say much, if anything, about what the next one will be like.

Dikpati says that her model has retrospectively predicted the past eight cycles with 96% accuracy. Those earlier cycles, however, were also used to calibrate the model, and the model has not been used yet to predict future activity. "The true test we want to see is to make a prediction before [the cycle] has actually happened," says Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado. The predictions of other solar-dynamo models have differed from Dikpati's.

The SDO may help to clear up the confusion by giving the deepest look yet at the flow fields inside the Sun. It will also measure the magnetic field at the surface, take high-resolution images of the corona and measure the Sun's extreme ultraviolet output.

From an orbit offset from Earth's equator, the observatory will take images every 10 seconds for 5 years, giving astronomers their first near-continuous look at the Sun's activity. Currently astronomers only take one to two images a day, and they can only see the part of the Sun that faces Earth.


[naturenews]
Published online 26 January 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.34
News
Head of German drug agency to leave post
Board calls time on embattled director of pharmaceutical evaluation institute.
Quirin Schiermeier

{{Peter Sawicki, chief of Germany's Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.}
Horst Galuschka/DPA – Report}

The German agency that judges the effectiveness of medicines is to lose its controversial director later this year.

Peter Sawicki has had a tumultuous tenure as the founding director of the Cologne-based Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG). He has drawn fire from pharmaceutical companies, who say that the institute has been too strict in determining which medicines can be prescribed by physicians under the nation's mandatory health-insurance scheme.

But supporters say that his work at IQWiG has been a vital part of efforts to counter sharply rising costs in Germany's public-health system. Since the institute was set up in 2004, it has issued reports and recommendations on the efficacy of 66 drugs and treatments available under the national health-insurance system. And earlier this month, 600 physicians, medical professors and health experts signed a letter supporting Sawicki, which was sent to federal health minister Philipp Rösler.

On 22 January, IQWiG's board announced that Sawicki will not have his contract renewed when it expires at the end of August. In November 2009, he was investigated by an independent auditing firm for leasing company cars without proper clearance, but investigators found that he had tacit approval to do so. However, the board last week criticized Sawicki for minor irregularities in the institute's administration. Sawicki rejects the accusations.

Cheaper or better?

The pressure on Sawicki has been growing since Germany's coalition government, elected last year, ordered a review of IQWiG.

Critics have claimed that the institute's methods of assessing the effectiveness of new drugs are flawed. Examples include its negative verdict in 2006 on clopidogrel, a drug developed by Sanofi-Aventis for treating arterial diseases.

Together with his colleagues from the institute, Sawicki also co-authored a report¹ last year warning of possible increased cancer risks from an insulin analogue made by Sanofi-Aventis, which led to a sharp fall in the company's share price. An independent study later argued that the warning was unwarranted, due to "serious errors" in methodology². Sawicki maintains that an increased cancer risk does exist³.

The institute has also been slammed for a lack of clarity in its verdicts. "Industry, patients' organizations and physicians fail to understand many of the IQWiG's assessments," says Cornelia Yzer, chief executive of the VFA, the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies.

When evaluating the cost-effectiveness of drugs, IQWiG uses a different methodology to that of the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, a leading European centre in the field. Some say that IQWiG's approach is biased against new drugs that offer incremental benefits over existing, cheaper therapies.

"Effectiveness and cost–benefit studies carried out by IQWiG have not been up to international standards," says Joerg Hasford, a medical statistician at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. "I can't help feeling that the institute's hidden agenda has been to restrict access to expensive drugs on pseudo-scientific grounds, when what would really be required is an honest political debate about rising costs in health care."

Sawicki counters that Hasford, who has served as an adviser to Sanofi-Aventis, has a potential conflict of interest in the matter. He adds that it is "very difficult" to develop new drugs that have enough added medical value to justify the extra costs. "Reports to that effect are a confounded nuisance to the pharmaceutical industry," he acknowledges. "Logically so, since they will reduce company profits."

References
1. Hemkens, L. G. et al. Diabetologia 52, 1732-1744 (2009). | Article | PubMed
2. Pocock, S. J. & Smeeth, L. Lancet 374, 511-513 (2009). | Article
3. Hemkens, L. G., Bender, R., Grouven, U. & Sawicki, P. T. Lancet 374, 1743-1744 (2009). | Article

news20100127nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 January 2010 | Nature 463, 413 (2010) | doi:10.1038/463413a
News
Lawsuit rekindles gene-patent debate
Criticism of exclusive licences puts university policies in the spotlight.
Brendan Borrell

{{Myriad Genetics is the sole source of US tests for BRCA genes that are linked to breast-cancer risk.}
D. C. Pizac/AP Photo}

A court case in New York next week could have widespread implications for gene patenting. The judge will consider a lawsuit over a discovery that was made in university labs and ended as a lucrative test monopoly for a diagnostics company. Although universities in the United States are expected to bring federally funded discoveries to the public by partnering with industry, the practice of granting exclusive licences to test for disease-related genes has faced mounting criticism.

The legal battle is the latest revolving around Myriad Genetics of Salt Lake City, Utah, and seven patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are linked to most of the inherited cases of breast cancer. Myriad is co-owner of some of the patents with the University of Utah in Salt Lake City — where part of the research took place with federal money — and has exclusive rights to conduct diagnostic tests on the genes.

Many people are intently watching the outcome, because thousands of genes have been patented in the United States. "The potential impact goes beyond breast-cancer testing," says Hans Sauer, a patent lawyer with the Biotechnology Industry Organization in Washington DC.

Myriad charges about US$3,000 to sequence a patient's BRCA genes in search of cancer-related mutations. The company has actively enforced its patents, including shutting down BRCA research at university laboratories.

In May 2009, the Public Patent Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit charging that it is unconstitutional to patent a natural gene, and that Myriad's monopoly has limited clinicians from offering alternative tests. Myriad's head general counsel, Richard Marsh, disputes all points. "We think their legal argument is misplaced and erroneous," he says.

After the hearing, scheduled for 2 February, a federal judge will decide whether to move the case to trial. The alternative is to issue a summary judgement in favour of one side, but such an outcome would no doubt be appealed to the Supreme Court.

{“There isn’t a technology-transfer office that isn’t aware of the Myriad case.”}

Myriad's broad patents are outliers — today, patents are usually issued instead for specific gene mutations. Indeed, in 2008 the company was forced to narrow its patent claims in Europe to three mutations that are prevalent in Ashkenazi Jewish families.

But diagnostic monopolies have continued to proliferate. Some blame university technology-transfer offices, which own most gene patents and often grant exclusive licences to private companies.

In October 2009, for instance, Myriad purchased an exclusive licence for the PALB2 gene, which can be used to detect the hereditary risk of developing pancreatic cancer, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Marsh says that Myriad would not have accepted a non-exclusive licence because it is expensive to run clinical studies, sign deals with insurers and "convince medical societies to change their guidelines to test for a genetic predisposition to a disease".

But there is little evidence that exclusive licences are needed to develop diagnostics, says Robert Cook-Deegan of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In a review of genetic tests for ten medical conditions, Cook-Deegan has found that the exclusive rights holder was the last one on the market and used its position to shut down small labs that had developed their own tests without any expectation of exclusivity.

Equally to blame, some say, are investigators who fail to take an active role in the technology-transfer process. For instance, Michael Goggins, a gastroenterologist at Johns Hopkins, was one of the discoverers of PALB2 but didn't play a part in the licensing strategy for the gene. "We just left that to our university representatives," he says. "We're too busy as scientists." Wesley Blakeslee, head of technology transfer at Johns Hopkins, says that the university did the best it could to get its invention to the marketplace.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Association of University Technology Managers encourage the use of non-exclusive licences for gene diagnostics, which are currently standard for NIH employees licensing such technology and could soon become so for those receiving NIH grants at other institutions. At a meeting that starts on 4 February, the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society at the US Department of Health and Human Services will discuss whether grantees should be required to issue non-exclusive licences for gene-based diagnostics, except if they can demonstrate the high cost of test development.

Robin Rasor, director of licensing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, says that requiring non-exclusive licenses would be a mistake. Exclusive licences can come with development milestones or mandatory sub-licensing requirements, and incentives may be needed for developing tests for rare gene disorders. "There isn't a tech-transfer office that isn't aware of the Myriad case," she says, "but licensing people and inventors would like the flexibility to treat each case appropriately."

news20100127nn3

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 26 January 2010 | Nature 463, 415 (2010) | doi:10.1038/463415a
News
Aid fund faces cash crunch
Fight against tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS under threat from success.
Declan Butler

Does the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria risk becoming a victim of its own success? With demand for its programmes outstripping donor contributions, the fund will convene an informal retreat of board members next week to address a potential cash crisis.

Unless sufficient extra money can be raised, the eight-year-old fund may be forced for the first time to reject otherwise-solid new proposals from recipient countries, and trim others.

The fund, based in Geneva, Switzerland, accounts for a quarter of all international financing to fight AIDS, two-thirds of that for tuberculosis, and three-quarters of that for malaria. It estimates that it has saved some 4.9 million lives through the US$18.7 billion it has spent on supporting health in 140 countries ┄ including putting 2.5 million HIV-infected people on antiretroviral drugs, treating 6 million people with drugs against tuberculosis, and distributing 104 million bednets to prevent malaria.

{“Projects might have to be prioritized on the basis of the wealth and degree of disease burden in recipient countries.”}

In part, the fund has spurred the very demand that now threatens to drain it. Five years ago, many countries lacked the expertise to design and implement multimillion-dollar health projects, says Bernard Rivers, head of Aidspan, a watchdog group in Nairobi, Kenya, that monitors the Global Fund. Now, he says, "the fund has more sound, solid and implementable proposals coming in, which is very good news".

Donations have also grown steadily: funding rounds for 2008 and 2009 were the largest ever, with $3.3 billion pledged in 2009, double that in 2005. Still, the agency has had problems meeting existing commitments and funding new rounds of programmes. At its last board meeting, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2009, the fund was forced to cut spending on all new projects approved there.

The upcoming retreat, to be held in Marseille, France, on 1–3 February, will not yield any formal decisions. But it will set the tone for two crucial 'replenishment' meetings this year, in March and October, at which donors will announce their new commitments to the fund.

Christoph Benn, director of the fund's external relations and partnerships, says he is optimistic that donors will keep up their support despite the global economic crisis. He points out that the United States, the fund's top donor, announced in December that it intends to slightly increase its contribution.

Rivers agrees, saying that, at worst, donors will be "flatlining" budgets. But even that might mean an end to the fund's tradition of financing all projects judged as technically and organizationally sound by its Technical Review Panel, he says.

Sharonann Lynch, an HIV/AIDS policy adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières in New York City, says that some donors, including several European countries, may press to scale back the fund and refocus it on the poorest countries with the highest burden of disease. She says that that would be "a large backward step" for HIV programmes. Moreover, the other global powerhouse spender in the area — the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — is experiencing flat spending.

Benn agrees that projects might have to be prioritized on the basis of the wealth and degree of disease burden in recipient countries. "What you will see is a discussion where some board members might say that in the future we need to rethink whether we can fund every possible proposal coming to the board, but there will also be many board members defending exactly that," he says. "What the outcome will be is not very clear." Only one-third of board votes belong to donors; recipient countries and civil-society members also have voting power.

The financial crisis should not be used as an excuse for tightening belts, says Benn, arguing that it is the poorer countries that bear the brunt of the recession.

news20100127reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
AMSTERDAM
Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:41pm EST
Dutch firm quits ethanol plan, eyes liquid biogas

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch firm Bioethanol Rotterdam expects to secure financing in the next two months for a liquefied biogas plant it wants to build in the Netherlands, after scrapping plans for a wheat-based bioethanol plant.

Managing Director Peter van der Gaag said on Monday the 90 million euro ($127.3 million) project would be funded partly by government subsidies but the company is also in talks with other firms and investors to secure additional funds.

Van der Gaag is applying for permits to build the plant in the northeastern Dutch town Delfzijl, where he sees more concentrated investment in energy projects compared with other cities such as Rotterdam.

He said the plant, which the firm hopes to bring online in 2011, would produce about 35,000 tonnes of liquefied biomethane annually, from feedstocks ranging from agricultural waste to sewage sludge and switch grass.

"Biomethane will be the cheapest, cleanest biofuel made from waste in the future," Van der Gaag said, adding that he would target Britain and Sweden as export markets and also expected liquefied biogas to become an important fuel for shipping.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; editing by Sue Thomas)


[Green Business]
ROME
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:23am EST
Italy to unveil new solar incentives

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's government will unveil a much-awaited plan for new incentives for a rapidly growing solar energy sector on Feb. 11, Economic Development Undersecretary Stefano Saglia said on Tuesday.

Italian and international investors who piled into Italian solar industry lured by the current generous scheme have been on tiptoes to find out details of the new plan which would reduce incentives as the government aims to ease the budget burden.

The new incentives plan would be presented at a meeting of a government body for relations between the state and regions on Fe. 11, Saglia told reporters, adding that new gas distribution system proposals would also be presented at the meeting.

The new plan presentation has previously been expected on January 27.

Saglia said last week solar power generating capacity would be capped at 8,000 megawatts until 2020 under the new plan, with at least 100 MW of the new cap to be earmarked for concentrated solar power generation.

The existing incentive scheme launched in 2007 expires after total installed photovoltaic capacity -- which turns sunlight into power -- hits 1,200 MW. The cap is expected to be hit in July, the state energy management agency GSE has said. (Reporting by Alberto Sisto, writing by Svetlana Kovalyova)


[Green Business]
Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:26am EST
Wind power capacity up in 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. wind power capacity soared 39 percent last year but job growth stalled as uncertainty about renewable energy policies and the recession slowed manufacturing, an industry group said.

The combined power generating capacity of new U.S. wind turbines installed last year hit more than 9,900 megawatts, up from a gain of over 8,400 MW in the previous year. Total capacity hit more than 35,000 MW, or about enough to power 9.7 million homes, the American Wind Energy Association said.

Total U.S. jobs associated with wind energy, stalled at 85,000, about flat from the previous year as the recession took a toll on manufacturing. In 2008, job growth surged as the sector added 35,000 positions.

Denise Bode, chief executive of AWEA, said jobs stalled because of tight financing and uncertainty about wind power incentives, including long-term tax credits and a national mandate for renewable energy.

She said President Barack Obama's recovery act that set aside billions of dollars for renewable energy helped prevent job losses. Some 1,500 to 2,000 jobs were lost in wind power manufacturing, but those jobs were made up for with gains in construction and maintenance at wind power farms, she said.

AWEA wants Congress to pass national mandates for generating renewable power, which are expected to be included in a compromise climate bill to be considered by the Senate this year.

"We are trying to convince European wind manufacturers to invest in the United States but first they want to know what policies will be in place," said Bode.

The United States overtook Germany in 2008 as the world's top wind power generator. But China, which unlike the United States, has set national clean energy targets, may take the top spot for 2009 when the results are finalized.

"We are in a foot race with the Chinese who are providing more and more incentives and mandates for the industry," said Bode.

Texas led the country in added wind capacity last year with nearly 2,300 MW, followed by Indiana with 905 MW and Iowa with 879 MW. The gains came despite billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Picken's announcement last summer that he would postpone construction of a huge wind farm in Texas.

Wind accounted for about 6 percent of the electricity produced last year in Texas, according to the state.

Wind power generated only about 1 percent of power supply for the entire country last year.

Bode said if the country adopted a national renewable electricity mandates investors would put more money into building transmission lines to carry more wind from the gusty center of the country to cities with high power demand.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)


[Green Business]
Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:36am EST
Hungary expects ethanol output to surge in 2011

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary expects three new ethanol plants to come on stream in 2011 which would greatly increase capacity and absorb over one million tonnes of maize per year from the market, an agriculture ministry official said.

Hungary, a major grain producer in central Europe, harvested 7.5 million tonnes of maize in 2009 and with domestic demand of about 3 million tonnes, it has 5-6 million tonnes of surplus maize per year to export.

At one stage there were dozens of new ethanol plants on the drawing board but a surge in feed prices halted investments and the only major plant in Hungary is a refinery in Szabadegyhaza with annual capacity of about 150,000 tonnes.

"There are three plants in the preparatory phase, which at this stage are expected to be constructed," Agriculture Ministry State Secretary Zoltan Gogos told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

The new plants, in the towns of Dunafoldvar, Kaba and Dunaalmas, are in the process of obtaining permits and may come on stream in 2011, boosting Hungary's ethanol output by about 500,000 tonnes, Gogos said.

A draft government decree issued last month would make the refinery in Dunafoldvar -- planned by the Hungarian unit of Ireland-based Ethanol Europe -- a priority project, speeding up the process of obtaining the necessary documentation.

Gogos said he expected the two other projects in Kaba and Dunaalmas -- which are nearly through the licensing phase but were shelved earlier due to a spike in feed prices -- to receive the same priority status in the next one or two weeks.

That means the three new plants combined could absorb about 1.2-1.3 million tonnes of maize, starting with the 2011 crop, which Gogos said could ease some of the strain on the market caused by the excess of supply.

"I expect that with construction starting late in the spring, these (plants) will surely be buyers of the 2011 crop," Gogos said, adding that ethanol exports from the new plants could also begin that year.

He said apart from these three big projects, 10-15 smaller refineries were in the planning phase, which could add another 100,000-150,000 tonnes to Hungary's annual ethanol output.

"If we can build up 600,000 tonnes of new ethanol capacity in Hungary, which assumes input of about 2 million tonnes of maize, we could face much smaller market problems," Gogos said.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs, editing by Anthony Barker)

news20100127reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
MADRID
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:37am EST
Spanish hydropower, agric water reserves rise again

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's capacity to generate hydroelectricity and irrigate crops, and so cut its hefty dependence on gas and grain, rose again last week, official data showed on Tuesday.

Hydropower reservoirs held enough water to produce 12,906 gigawatt-hours, or 231 GWh more than last week, the latest bulletin from the Ministry for the Environment and Rural Affairs said.

With annual electricity demand running at 256,000 GWh, reserves by themselves would be enough to supply Spain's power needs for 18.4 days.

Reservoirs are now 22.8 percent above average and have allowed hydropower to take a greater share of the generating mix in recent weeks and cut back on the use of gas-fired generators.

Booming supplies of hydropower and wind power, coupled with low demand, temporarily drove wholesale power prices down to zero during the recent festive season.

Spain needs to import more than 99 percent of its gas, most of it in the form of liquefied natural gas, of which it is the world's third-largest importer.

RAIN EASES

After weeks of heavy downpours, the Ministry tallied 8.8 millimeters of rainfall in the week to January 24, or 60 percent of the historical average.

Farm unions estimate flood damage in the southern Andalusia region at 930 million euros ($1.31 billion), but say it has largely spared the winter wheat and barley crop.

Reservoirs for consumption, including agricultural use, are now at 63.1 percent of capacity, from 61.6 percent last week.

Irrigation is vital for growing maize in Spain and cutting into a structural deficit and grain imports of some 10 million tonnes a year from suppliers ranging from Argentina to Ukraine.

Farmers have said they will likely plant 10 percent less maize this spring because farm-gate prices are low.

Rice, cotton and alfalfa -- which is used in animal feed -- also need irrigation in Spain.

(Reporting by Martin Roberts)


[Green Business]
Muklis Ali
JAKARTA
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:38am EST
Indonesia cuts capacity of planned geothermal plants

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia has cut the planned capacity of geothermal power plants it will start building this year by 18 percent to 3,900 megawatts (MW), an official at the mines and energy ministry said on Tuesday.

Indonesia has established two programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 MW in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.

One of these "crash programmes" originally had nearly half or 4,733 MW of its power slated to come from geothermal sources across Indonesia.

"After we examined it carefully, we can only build 3,900 MW of the geothermal projects for the second crash programme. We expect those projects to be concluded in 2014," J. Purwono, director general of electricity at the ministry, told reporters.

He said state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is expected to build a combined total of 880 MW of geothermal power plants in the second crash programme and the rest are expected to be built by the private sector.

"PLN will build the geothermal power plants and it will buy the steam from geothermal operated by state oil firm Pertamina's unit," he said.

He also said the government may allow PLN to amend an agreement it made with Sarulla geothermal developer on electricity prices from the project.

PLN awarded a contract in 2006 to a consortium of PT Medco Energi Internasional, Ormat Technologies, and Itochu Corp to build a 330-megawatt geothermal power plant in Sarulla, North Sumatra province.

The Sarulla developer asked for an electricity price revision but the talks have stalled in recent years, holding up the project.

"The government has allowed PLN to settle the Sarulla project. But PLN has to ask state audit agency opinion first. If the audit agency say the project is okay then PLN can amend its contract and revise the price," Purwono said.

Indonesia is tapping alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.

It also has rising greenhouse gas emissions, but the clean energy source projects are not expected to generate carbon credits. Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 percent from business as usual levels by 2020.

The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.

However, that potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.

PLN has 25,000 MW of generating capacity but daily output is far less because most of its plants are old and inefficient.

(Editing by Neil Chatterjee)


[Green Business]
Nicola Leske and Christian Kraemer
MUNICH
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:39am EST
Solar project Desertec wants political support

MUNICH (Reuters) - Desertec, the world's most ambitious 400 billion euro ($563.6 billion) solar power project, needs political support more than financial backing to reach its formidable goals, one of its initiators said.

The project would use concentrated solar power (CSP), a technology that uses mirrors to harness the sun's rays to produce steam and drive turbines to produce electricity, from the Sahara to supply power to local markets and to Europe.

"The most important thing now is to establish the political framework," Nikolaus von Bomhard, chief executive of reinsurer Munich Re, told Reuters in an interview at the Ditigal Life Design conference.

"That is even more important than technology and financing," von Bomhard said, adding that soon a so-called political chief executive officer (CEO) for the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) will be named to garner support from governments.

"The person would have to be well-connected internationally," he said.

Industry observers expect a political CEO to be named in February.

Twelve member companies -- mostly German ones including Siemens, E.ON, RWE and Deutsche Bank -- support the initiative which was launched at Munich Re headquarters in July and aims to supply 15 percent of Europe's power needs by 2050.

In a panel discussion, von Bomhard said the project should involve a broader representation of countries.

"Right now, it is too much of a German exercise," he said.

Hany El Nokraschy, vice chairman of the Desertec Foundation, said last month that the goal is to increase the number of members to 30 or even 50.

FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

In addition to gathering political support, the project also needs long-term investment, which is not unusual in the energy sector, Von Bomhard said.

"It is doable... I am confident about Desertec," von Bomhard said, adding that international coordination was sometimes difficult. "However, as soon as economic interests of companies, countries are at stake, I believe it will be easier to make decisions."

The world's biggest reinsurer has been a longtime champion of measures to fight climate change because it is becoming increasingly difficult to insure against damages caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes or floods.

Von Bomhard said he was disappointed with the Copenhagen climate change accord for not securing more binding targets.

The costs arising from trying to contain the effects of climate change are rising exponentially, he said.

"With every month that one waits, it will become harder to contain them," von Bomhard said.

"I am not sure if in the future the insurance industry's capacities will suffice," von Bomhard said.

According to Munich Re, weather-related damages such as storms, floods and droughts have increased on average annually by 11 percent since 1980. Climate change is seen as one of the causes.

A low double-digit billion euro sum of damage claims on average are estimated to stem from climate change and that amount is expected to rise.

(Editing by Sharon Lindores)

($1 = 0.7072 euro)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Thorsten Severin
BERLIN
Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:14pm EST
German CSU wants delays in solar incentive cuts

BERLIN (Reuters) - The Christian Social Union, Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, wants to delay cuts in incentives for solar power planned for April 1.

Hans-Peter Friedrich, CSU leader in parliament, said the proposal by Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen to cut the feed-in tariff should be pushed back by three months to July 1 for rooftop systems and September 1 for open field systems.

So-called feed-in tariffs -- prices utilities are obliged to pay to generators of renewable energy -- are the sector's lifeline as long as grid-parity, the point at which renewables cost the same as fossil fuel-based power, has not been reached. The CSU is one of three parties in Merkel's center-right coalition with the CDU and the Free Democrats. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to pass a law without CSU support. Merkel's cabinet will discuss Roettgen's proposal on February 3.

"We consider these cut-off dates to be inappropriate," Friedrich told journalists in Berlin on Tuesday. He said the CSU in principle backs cutting incentives to "a reasonable level" in the face of rapidly falling prices for photovoltaic equipment.

A CDU leader signaled a willingness to be flexible. Volker Kauder, CDU parliamentary floor leader, told Reuters that the status quo will be preserved for all those who already have made concrete investment plans before the law is changed.

"There needs to be a right of continuance for those who started planning for investments or completed concrete planning with faith that the existing rules would apply," Kauder said.

Last week Roettgen said he wants a 15-percent cut in feed-in tariffs for new roof-mounted solar power from April even though they already fell 10 percent in January.

That would mean the guaranteed price per kilowatt hour for newly installed systems would fall from 39 cents to about 33 cents from April 1 after it fell from 43 cents on January 1.

Roettgen said the incentives for solar energy generated from open field and farmland sites would also be cut from July, by 15 percent and 25 percent respectively.

His proposals led to protest from the industry. Several companies warned jobs would be at risk in the sector, which has recorded strong growth in the last decade. About half of the world's solar electricity is produced in Germany.

There has also been criticism of the proposed cuts from some conservative leaders in several eastern German states, where many solar companies have substantial production sites. Saxony's state premier Stanislaw Tillich warned against steep cuts.

But consumer groups and pro-business leaders in the center-right coalition want the incentives cut even further. Consumers pay an extra three percent for power each month on their bills because of the incentives for solar power.

Cuts in public support will weigh on companies like Q-Cells, Phoenix Solar and SolarWorld, which depend on demand from Germany, the world's biggest market for solar energy as measured by installed capacity.

(Reporting by Thorsten Severin, writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Louise Heavens and Elaine Hardcastle)


[Green Business]
LONDON
Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:16pm EST
EU carbon rises on higher energy prices

LONDON (Reuters) - European carbon emissions futures rose to their highest since January 20 on Tuesday on higher British natural gas and power prices, but were likely to continue trading between 13 and 14 euros in the short-term, traders said. The benchmark contract for EU Allowances rose 13 cents or 0.97 percent to 13.58 euros a tonne at 1603 GMT. Prices last traded at these levels on January 20. Volume was heavy at 5.461 lots.

Some traders said EUAs were holding above 13 euros because of firmer British natural gas and European power prices due to another expected cold weather front and falling coal prices.

British gas prices edged up on Tuesday as cold weather across Europe was forecast to stay for another two weeks, which stoked existing worries over dwindling fuel stocks.

A German EUA auction on the European Energy Exchange cleared at 13.27 euros a tonne on Tuesday.

EUAs have been trading in a fairly limited range around 13 and 14 euros for the past month.

This is likely to continue for the next week and beyond, as traders play with technical levels, market participants said.

Traders are selling EUAs when resistance is hit at 14 euros and buy when prices fall below 13 euros, according to Societe Generale/orbeo analyst Emmanuel Fages.

A widely anticipated sell-off by industrial companies with excess EUAs has not materialized, while other participants are not taking strong positions.

"Most industrials are in a wait-and-see mode, that much is clear now. Utilities do not have huge needs - some are buyers but they are netted by some which actually enjoy EUA excess over 2009 and sell limited volumes," Fages said in a research note.

From the middle to end of February, 2010 EUAs will be distributed to market participants. Some may sell these new EUAs if they do not need them to cover their emissions.

"But even limited selling interests would cap prices if demand is not there to match them. So barring important, unexpected news, the market could remain in a lull for the coming 3 to 5 weeks," he added.

German Calendar 2010 baseload power was up 80 cents or 1.64 percent at 49.70 euros per megawatt hour.

U.N.-backed certified emissions reductions were up 5 cents or 0.42 percent at 11.85 euros a tonne. The EUA-CER spread was at 1.73 euros.

The European Commission stressed that the multiple use of CERs or Emissions Reduction Units for compliance in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme is prohibited on the Community transaction log website on Tuesday. (www.ec.europa.eu/environment/ets/)

"This is just a kind of health warning. If somebody tried to do it, the system would recognize that it is not allowed," an EU official told Reuters.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by xxx)


[Green Business]
MILAN
Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:30pm EST
Enel, Marcegaglia to build 4 MW solar roof

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest renewable energy group Enel Green Power and steel maker Marcegaglia group will install 4 megawatt of photovolaic panels turning sunlight into power on a Marcegalia plant's roof, they said on Tuesday.

The roof-top installation, one of the biggest in Italy, would use mostly thin-film technology and is expected to start up in 2010 at a plant of the family owned Marcegaglia group in the southern port of Taranto.

The installation will be able to produce 5 million kilowatt hours of power a year which is enough to meet needs of about 1,900 families and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by about 4,000 tonnes.

"This agreement allows us to strengthen our presence on the national (solar) market ... which we see constantly growing," said Francesco Starace, chairman of Enel Green Power, renewable energy arm of Italy's biggest utility Enel.

The installation will be 51-percent owned by Enel Green Power and 49-percent owned by the Marcegaglia group.

The Taranto plant will produce a major part of the photovoltaic panels to be placed on its roof, the group's chief executive Antonio Marcegaglia said.

Photovoltaic installations have mushroomed in Italy since 2007 when the government introduced new incentives considered by analysts among the most generous in Europe. The government is expected to present a fresh plan in mid-February.

(Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova)


[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:28am EST
Target says eliminating farmed salmon

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Target Corp said on Tuesday that it is no longer selling fresh, frozen or smoke farm-raised salmon in its stores nationwide.

The No. 2 U.S. discount retailer said that all salmon sold under its own brands will now be wild-caught Alaskan salmon. Sushi that includes farm-raised salmon will be changed over to wild-caught salmon by the end of the year, it said.

Target said it made the switch "to ensure that its salmon offerings are sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn't harm local habitats."

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
MADRID
Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:49pm EST
Spain renewables group probes possible IPO: source

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish renewable energy group Eolia is revisiting the possibility of a stock market listing, nearly three years after it scrapped a planned IPO due to market conditions, a source close to the process said on Tuesday.

Eolia, which builds and operates wind and solar parks in Europe and Mexico, has hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate potential demand for its shares from investors, the source told Reuters.

"They are sounding out the market for a possible listing ... more to give the company visibility than for financing projects, which they have no problems with," the source said.

The wind and solar group's owners are considering restricting potential bidders for its shares to qualified institutional investors, the source said.

Eolia, which is controlled by risk capital group Nmas1 but partly owned by several Spanish banks, reported core earnings of 63 million euros on sales of 82 million in the first nine months of 2009.

It won permission from Spain in 2009 to build 631 megawatts of wind farms in Spain to 2013 and receive tariffs for the power it generates from them under the country's previous attractive subsidy regime for renewable energy.

(Reporting by Carlos Ruano; writing by Jonathan Gleave, editing by Will Waterman)


[Green Business]
Anna Driver
HOUSTON
Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:25pm EST
Investors target Marcellus Shale drillers

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A group of shareholders who focus on the environment said on Tuesday they are targeting companies operating in the Marcellus Shale to ensure development of natural gas does not pollute or endanger human health.

The shareholder proposal campaign, aimed at 12 companies including Chesapeake Energy Corp, EOG Resources Inc and Exxon Mobil Corp, was sparked by mounting worry about chemicals used in a process to extract gas from rock called hydraulic fracturing, the groups said.

"There is real business risk here," said Larisa Ruoff, an official with the $100 million Green Century Funds. "Companies and regulators must ensure this development is done in a way that protects the environment and drinking water."

Hydraulic fracturing -- where water, sand and chemicals are pumped into formations at pressures high enough to crack the rock and allow gas to escape -- has helped fuel a drilling boom in the United States.

That technology and others have allowed companies to tap vast supplies of natural gas locked in big formations like the Marcellus Shale, which spans parts of New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

But environmentalists and critics say the drilling chemicals have polluted aquifers in Pennsylvania and Colorado and can cause cancer and other serious illnesses.

The shareholder proposals sponsored by Green Century Funds and the Investor Environment Health Network ask companies to increase transparency about the effect of their drilling on the environment and encourage companies to switch to less-toxic hydraulic fracturing fluids.

The oil and gas industry says the process is safe, and there has never been a documented case of ground water contamination because of hydraulic fracturing.

"Ultimately the facts are going to bear out," said Tom Price, a spokesman for Chesapeake Energy. "I think that is all we can do, is to continue to point to the facts."

Chesapeake holds the largest number of drilling leases in the Marcellus along with its partner Statoil ASA.

Still, opponents are becoming more vocal. On Monday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he opposed natural gas drilling in the city's upstate watershed, saying it posed too many risks.

Ruoff said she has heard back from several of the companies about the proposals, but she declined to name them.

(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston, editing by Matthew Lewis)


[Green Business]
Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:04am EST
Climate control supporters focus on job creation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The four-letter word that will dominate President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday -- jobs -- could be the savior for faltering climate control legislation, or at least that's environmentalists' latest hope.

Supporters of a global warming bill have failed to captivate the country with warnings of drought, disappearing polar ice caps, refugees fleeing floods and worsening disease. So, they are ramping up a more positive-sounding argument.

Forget environmental benefits and saving the planet. Clean energy, they say, could create millions of new jobs, a potentially powerful argument amid a 10 percent U.S. unemployment rate, the worst in more than a quarter-century.

There are opposing opinions, however, on whether jobs would blossom by requiring factories and utilities to use less oil and coal, or whether the rise of more expensive solar, wind and other "green" energy would kill jobs.

"We know that clean energy is a proven job creator," Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer recently told reporters.

She cited a 2009 study by researchers at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois and Yale University that concluded between 918,000 and 1.9 million jobs would be created over 10 years by the climate bill passed last year by the House of Representatives.

Those added jobs would ripple through the economy, giving it a $39 billion to $111 billion boost, the researchers said.

BILLIONS FOR ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Similarly, a study by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts economics department looked at the combined effects of the House-passed climate control bill and last year's economic stimulus law. The latter included tens of billions to encourage alternative energy investment.

Around 2.5 million new jobs would be created, this study concluded. But with a projected 800,000 jobs lost in connection with the declining use of fossil fuels, there would be a net 1.7 million new jobs, it said.

Neither study included the possibility of a significant expansion of construction jobs if a climate control bill is coupled with new incentives to build additional nuclear power plants, as many Senate Republicans demand.

Currently, there are about 130 million jobs in the United States. A 1-2 million jump in jobs "is not insignificant," said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. It would help recoup some of the 7.7 million jobs lost over the past two years.

But Hufbauer, who has written extensively about global warming and economics, is no fan of pegging climate control legislation to job creation.

"To me, selling climate change as a job-creating measure is the modern equivalent of selling building the pyramids as a job creating measure in Egypt," Hufbauer said.

While jobs were created, he said the "actual increase in the amount of employment is questionable," as workers in Egypt could have been engaged in a variety of other activities, such as "growing more food."

Part of the problem in projecting job creation, according to some economists, is that there are many unknown factors that could intercede over the next decade.

The University of California study, for example, noted that efficiencies encouraged by climate legislation would reduce energy and transportation costs, saving families and businesses money "they can spend on domestic goods and services, which will create jobs for Americans."

That does not address the possible increase in consumer and business costs from using alternative energies, which are still much more expensive than coal or oil. Republicans, who mostly oppose climate legislation mandating lower carbon emissions, argue that manufacturing jobs will flee to countries that haven't imposed stringent global warming laws.

'REINVENTING POWER GENERATION'

China will build green factories and create jobs for windmills and solar power if the United States doesn't, green advocates say. In fact, China is expected to have pulled ahead of the United States in installed wind power in 2009.

Also unknown is whether the Federal Reserve, during a period of accelerated consumer spending the UC study envisions, might have to use monetary policy to put the brakes on spending to stave off inflation.

As politicians, economists and environmentalists battle it out, the climate-jobs debate has not been bolstered by firm government statistics.

At the international climate meeting in Copenhagen last month, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke touted the prospects of "millions of blue- green- and white-collar jobs" by "reinventing" power generation, transportation and manufacturing with alternative energy.

But Locke told Reuters his agency had not done any detailed analysis of job creation and instead was relying on estimates from industry and foreign countries.

Hufbauer said that to be "really intellectually honest," legislation controlling carbon emissions should be framed as a way of buying an insurance policy against possible climate-related disasters.

In a closely watched State of the Union speech, that's unlikely to score the applause line of a jobs pitch though.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Martin Roberts
MADRID
Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:22am EST
Spain town bids for atomic waste dump amid protest

MADRID (Reuters) - A small Spanish town voted on Tuesday to build a new dump for all the country's high-level nuclear waste in the face of stiff opposition from the regional government and street protesters.

Spain's parliament first voted in 2004 to build a centralized site for storing spent nuclear fuel, but the project is not popular and the central government did not call for bids to house the dump until last month.

The council of Asco in the northeastern Catalonia region voted by seven votes to two to bid for the site, which the central government estimates will cost 700 million euros ($986.3 million) to build and create 300 jobs for five years.

"We have the opportunity to build an Asco...which will spur controversy but doubtless bring important revenues to the local economy," Mayor Rafael Vidal said in comments broadcast on television channel CNN+.

Protesters opposed to the ATC, as the waste dump is known in Spanish, packed the streets of Asco on Sunday and Monday.

Jose Montilla, the president of the Catalan regional government, said on Monday he was against building a dump in Catalonia, which is home to three of Spain's eight nuclear power stations as well as many wind farms and hydroelectric plants.

"Catalan power stations produce 40 percent of all of Spain's power. We've done our bit," he said.

PLANTS NEARLY FULL

Spent nuclear fuel in Spain is currently stored on site in power stations, but the government predicts they will begin to fill up in 2013. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has urged Spain to begin work on a purpose-built site.

With the deadline for bids falling on January 31, the only other town to throw its hat into the ring so far is Yebra in the central-southern Castilla-La Mancha region -- whose president strongly opposes the move.

"I am willing to take every political, social and legal measure, whatever it takes, to stop the nuclear dump being built in Castilla-La Mancha," Castilla-La Mancha President Jose Maria Barreda said.

Environmentalist group Greenpeace said the government had failed to achieve widespread public support for the ATC.

"If the government wants to solve the nuclear waste problem and close the nuclear debate once and for all, it will have to table a good plan for closing nuclear plants," a Greenpeace statement said.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero's Socialist government has vowed to build no new nuclear plants, but is prepared to let most existing plants run until at least the 2020s.

(Additional reporting by Blanca Rodriguez; Editing by Charles Dick)


[Green Business]
TOKYO
Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:11am EST
Japan sticks to 25 percent carbon cut target

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has stuck to its offer to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 for a U.N. accord on condition major emitters agree on an ambitious climate deal, a statement from the foreign ministry showed on Tuesday.

The target, based on 1990 levels, was submitted on Tuesday to the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat under a climate accord worked out by major emitters led by China and the United States last month in Copenhagen.

The accord said rich nations should submit by January 31 targets for cuts in emissions by 2020 and for developing nations to outline actions for slowing the rise of emissions to help avert heatwaves, sandstorms, floods and rising sea levels.

"I hope that all countries will submit (a target), but ... what's important in order to cut CO2 and to stop global warming is for the United States and China, the greatest emitters, to submit this," environment minister Sakihito Ozawa was quoted by a ministry official as saying in a news conference.

Japan had hoped to play a big negotiating role at the climate talks in December with its target, so big emitters such as the United States, China and India join a new pact that goes beyond 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends.

But the Copenhagen talks ended with a weak deal. The meeting failed to adopt the Copenhagen Accord to curb climate change after opposition from Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Sudan, meaning the conference merely "took note" of the plan.

China, India, Brazil and South Africa promised on Sunday to submit their own climate action plans to the United Nations by January 31.

Experts say the total cuts offered by rich countries at the talks amounted to no more than 18 percent and fall far short of the 25-40 percent U.N. scientists consider necessary to avert dangerous climate change.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Jerry Norton)


[Green Business]
BANGKOK
Tue Jan 26, 2010 2:22pm EST
Indochinese tigers on brink of extinction: WWF

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tigers in the Greater Mekong region are facing extinction, their numbers down more than 70 percent in slightly more than a decade due to poachers and habitat destruction, conservationists say.

A new report by wildlife group WWF says tiger populations in the region that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have fallen to 350 from an estimated 1,200 in 1998.

Globally, tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 some 12 years ago.

"Decisive action must be taken to ensure this iconic sub-species does not reach the point of no return," said Nick Cox, coordinator of the WWF Greater Mekong Tiger Programme.

"There is a potential for tiger populations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to become locally extinct by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022, if we don't step up actions to protect them," he added in a statement.

Tigers are being killed illegally to satisfy increasing demand for their body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Destruction of their forest homes has also fueled the decline, said the report, released ahead of the Chinese lunar Year of the Tiger which beings next month.

Asian countries are a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.

Tiger skins sell as rugs and cloaks on the black market, and can fetch up to $20,000 in countries like China.

The WWF said Indochinese tigers were once found in abundance across the Greater Mekong region, but today there are no more than 30 tigers in each of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The remaining animals are predominantly found in the Kayah Karen Tenasserim mountain border between Thailand and Myanmar.

Ministers from Asian "tiger-range" countries are meeting in Thailand on Tuesday to discuss tiger conservation. The WWF's Cox said the group would ask these officials to ramp up conservation efforts, mainly through protecting tiger habitats.

The Greater Mekong region contains the largest combined tiger habitat in the world, the group said.

"This region has huge potential to increase tiger numbers, but only if there are bold and coordinated efforts across the region and of an unprecedented scale that can protect existing tigers, tiger prey and their habitat," said Cox.

Tiger range states include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The first Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, which runs from January 27-30, precedes a Tiger Summit which will be held in Russia this September.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Paul Tait)


[Green Business]
HOUSTON
Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:26pm EST
Texas waterway still closed due to oil spill

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Sabine-Neches Waterway remained closed Tuesday as crews prepared to clear the main channel for limited traffic and workers continued picking up oil spilled in a tanker-barge collision last weekend.

Plans called for moving the tanker Eagle Otome to the side of the main channel Wednesday and to reopen the waterway to limited traffic on Thursday, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

The Eagle Otome, carrying crude to a refinery, was struck by a barge tow traveling in the opposite direction Saturday, spilling an estimated 11,000 barrels (462,000 gallons) of sour Mexican oil into the water.

The Coast Guard closed the channel to all traffic and began containment and cleanup operations, which so far have picked up 71,400 gallons of oil and 180,600 gallons of oil-water mix, the spokeswoman said.

An investigation is underway. Officials said neither vessel lost power prior to the accident, despite early reports to the contrary.

It was the worst Texas spill since 1994, but much smaller than the 258,000 barrels spilled by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

The waterway supplies oil to four Texas refineries - Motiva Enterprises, Exxon Mobil Corp, Total and Valero - with capability of refining 1.15 million barrels per day, which is about 6.5 percent of total U.S. capacity.

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[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
David Fogarty and Rob Taylor
Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:36am EST
Australia opposition eyeing voluntary CO2 cuts plan

SINGAPORE/CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's main opposition coalition, which has repeatedly blocked attempts to pass carbon trading laws, is eyeing a voluntary scheme based on buying up cheap offsets as a way to break the deadlock.

According to documents obtained by Reuters, the scheme, funded with public money, would buy carbon offsets from energy efficiency and forestry projects, among others.

The idea, crafted ahead of elections this year in which climate shift will be a big issue for voters, has sparked concern it will not drive deep emissions cuts by industry and risks putting too much pressure on the public purse as sole buyer.

The government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who made a 2007 election promise to push for emissions trading to fight climate change, plans to reintroduce its package of carbon trading laws into the Senate after parliament resumes next week.

The package was agreed with the coalition of conservatives before a change of its leadership in December which hardened opposition to Rudd's preferred emissions system.

"We believe it's necessary for the parliament to consider this integrated proposal that we agreed ... with more than half the coalition last year," Rudd told local radio on Wednesday.

While his government has turned up the pressure on the opposition to deliver a viable alternative, the chances of Rudd's carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) laws passing look slim after two rejections last year. The conservative opposition, Greens and two independents hold a majority in the Senate.

Analysts say much hinges on the content of a plan by new opposition leader Tony Abbott, to be announced before parliament resumes, and industry's reaction to gauge whether the government will win the bruising carbon trade debate.

"The real determinate as to what will happen to the CPRS policy comes down to how effective the government are in the next few months in their efforts to promote the CPRS," said Martijn Wilder, a leading climate change lawyer from Baker & McKenzie.

Also crucial was containing Abbott and his election-fighting mantra of "a great big new tax," he said.

The opposition says Rudd's mandatory trading scheme, which aims to put a price on every tonne of carbon emitted from 1,000 of Australia's top emitting companies and operations, is an unfair burden on industry and a costly tax for consumers.

The Greens, who control five key swing votes, say it won't lead to deep emissions cuts. They announced their own scheme last week based on a two-year fixed price of around A$20 a tonne of carbon from July 2010.

LIMITED ACCESS

The opposition has been testing a number of ideas and soliciting feedback, with the offset fund seemingly a key focus.

According to confidential correspondence to the office of Greg Hunt, the shadow minister for climate change, some organizations have called for clarity on how the carbon fund scheme could be ramped up to force greater industry efficiency.

Feedback to Hunt's office also lays out worries about limited access to the international carbon market, and how to set a stronger price signal if Australia decides to take on a tougher emissions reduction target for 2020 and beyond.

"Nothing...I repeat nothing has been determined and there were hundreds of ideas considered and submitted and numerous requests for comments on possible ideas," Hunt told Reuters in response to emailed questions.

Wilder said the idea seemed similar to the previous Howard government's A$400 million Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program, which was criticized as ineffective in a 2008 government report because it failed to create sufficient offset projects.

"Hunt is reported to have been advocating setting up a large fund backed by government money to in effect buy voluntary emissions reductions from business," said Wilder.

"The idea is that you would start off buying reductions from the least cost areas," he said, such as energy efficiency and forestry and predicted a carbon price of A$10 to A$14 a tonne.

"It sounds very much like central planning," said Connell Burke, head of power trading for Westpac, adding it would be a wider tax on the economy because the government would have to pay for it somehow.

"I think the only advantage this scheme has is that the wider electricity prices are not increased and therefore it isn't a tax on the pricing of all power generators," he said.

(Editing by David Fox)