news20100130nn

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 29 January 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/463600a
News
Mars rover Spirit (2003–10)
NASA commits robot explorer to her final resting place.
Katharine Sanderson

Spirit was born in 2003 to mission manager Mark Adler and Steven Squyres, a planetary scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She was delivered at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and it was there that she spent her formative months being schooled in rovering. Later, she moved to a finishing school at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Her graduation was epic: a 490-million-kilometre flight to Mars, where she and her twin Opportunity would pursue their destinies as roving geologists.

Her adult life began in January 2004, with an airbag-cushioned landing in the Gusev crater in January 2004 on the opposite side of the planet from her twin. The aim: to find evidence of water, and of environments that might once have been conducive to life.

With three spectrometers, an abrasion tool and panoramic and close-up cameras on board, the young rover quickly gained confidence. Her geological mettle was proved when just 32 days into her Martian voyage she picked out a rock, named Adirondack, swept it clean and drilled into it, confirming that it was the volcanic rock basalt.

Before long, she got her driving licence. She began controlling her own movements using her hazard-avoidance camera, rather than only following instructions from her large team of Earth-based mentors.

She went on to use her wire brush to uncover different-coloured layers in a rock in the Gusev crater that suggested multiple exposures to water — leading one Earthly scientist to declare the find a "miracle".

By the time the initial mission of 90 sols (Martian days) was complete, Spirit had driven 600 metres, but that was only the beginning. Well beyond her appointed days, she continued to gather valuable scientific information about Mars, sometimes with unexpected help, often against all odds. Dust was a constant nuisance, covering her life-giving solar panels. But in 2005, a dust devil happened to sweep the panels clean, giving her an energy boost.

In March 2006, Spirit's right front wheel stopped working. But she struggled on over soft ground towards McCool Hill, in the Columbia Hills region, dragging the broken wheel — and had another lucky stroke. The broken wheel churned up the soft soil, exposing dirt that Spirit analysed to show was unexpectedly rich in silicates, which need water to form.

Each winter, Spirit had to bed down on a north-facing slope to make the most of the low winter sun to charge her solar panels. A favourite spot was Home Plate, a sunny plateau that provided her with not only a winter home, but also a place to explore. While wintering here in 2006, Spirit discovered a pair of iron-rich meteorites using her thermal-emission spectrometer. That same winter, in October, Spirit reached a milestone 1,000 sols on Mars and survived a technical hitch that support teams on Earth worried might be a Martian version of the millennium bug.

News reports back on Earth suggested that the rover's days were numbered, yet she constantly confounded any prophets of doom. But in late January 2009, Spirit's lucidity deteriorated. She had trouble moving around, couldn't identify the position of the Sun correctly, and her family on Earth had trouble understanding her. Cosmic rays were blamed.

In April 2009, the ailing rover chose to reboot her computer twice. Worried controllers on Earth encouraged Spirit to press on, but more trouble lay ahead.

In a location called Troy, Spirit unwittingly crunched through the surface of a sandpit, and became entrapped. In November 2009 engineers on Earth, who had been testing a replica rover in a sand pit, tried to help her get out of her sticky situation — but to no avail. Even though the rover, by now suffering another broken wheel, did manage to climb up a few centimetres, Spirit finally gave up trying on 26 January 2010.

Her odometer read 7,730 metres. She will continue to radio back observations — of the atmosphere, of the planet's rotation — from her stationary position for as long as possible.

Spirit leaves behind her sister Opportunity — who is still active and is on her way to peer into a crater called Concepcion — and an extended family at NASA.


[naturenews]
Published online 29 January 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.44
News
Ten billion dollars pledged for 'decade of vaccines'
Gates Foundation cash could save nearly nine million children.
Heidi Ledford

{{The Gates Foundation hopes to boost vaccine development and distribution.}
Bananastock}

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today promised to put $10 billion towards a 10-year effort to boost vaccination against infectious disease in developing countries. It is the foundation's largest commitment yet to the discovery, development and distribution of vaccines.

The announcement, made at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, comes as the GAVI alliance — another vaccine initiative supported in part by the Gates Foundation — celebrates its ten-year anniversary. GAVI has been credited with distributing vaccines to 257 million children and preventing 5 million deaths. The alliance has also been instrumental in bringing the world vaccination rate against hepatitis B up from about 15% in 1999 to nearly 70%, says Adel Mahmoud, a global health researcher at Princeton University in New Jersey. "This is very serious stuff," says Mahmoud. "GAVI's success with hepatitis B was tremendous."

According to a model developed at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, the new $10 billion commitment could save up to 7.6 million children by targeting viruses that cause diarrhoea and pneumonia. If the RTS,S vaccine against malaria, currently in clinical trials (see 'Malaria vaccine enters phase III clinical trials'), is introduced by 2014, 1.1 million other children could be saved.

The Gates Foundation has already dedicated $4.5 billion to vaccines but says that much more would be needed to immunize 90% of the world's children. "Part of this is a call to action," says Joe Cerrell, director of the foundation's Europe office in London. "We are trying to make sure that governments and others are doing all that they can to support more immunization coverage."

Improving vaccination against rotavirus — the leading cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and children — is one area that could benefit, notes Mahmoud. The rotavirus vaccine was shown to reduce disease by over 60% when introduced in South Africa and Malawi¹. But the vaccines, first licensed in 2006, are still relatively new. "The general feeling is: who is going to champion their introduction in the developing world?" says Mahmoud. "To this date there is no clear-cut plan. So if the Gates Foundation comes up with something very robust in this area, it will really make a difference."

References
1. Madhi, S. A. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 362, 289– 298 (2010).

news20100130gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Climate change]
US pledges to cut federal government emissions by 28% by 2020
Barack Obama will also propose a tripling of government funding for new nuclear reactors to more than $54bn
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 January 2010 17.57 GMT Article history

Barack Obama used his presidential authority to help advance his climate change agenda today, announcing that the US federal government and agencies would cut their giant carbon footprints by 28% by 2020.

The announcement was held up by administration officials as evidence of Obama's commitment to his climate and energy agenda, which has run into opposition in Congress and from coal, oil and manufacturing groups.

The White House said the targets – which are set against 2008 emissions levels – would reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions by 80m metric tons by 2020, and save the government between $8bn (£5bn) and $11bn in energy costs.

Obama will also propose a tripling of government loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors to more than $54bn, an administration official said, a move sure to win over some Republican lawmakers who want more nuclear power to be part of climate change legislation.

The loan guarantees, which follow Obama's pledge in his State of the Union address to work to expand nuclear power production, will be announced as part of his budget proposal on Monday, the official said.

The federal goverment is the largest single user of fuel and electricity in the country and is responsible for emissions to match. Including the department of defence, it owns nearly 500,000 buildings, more than 600,000 vehicles, and it purchases $500bn in goods and services every year.

"As the largest energy consumer in the US, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient," said President Obama. "Our goal is to lower costs, reduce pollution, and shift Federal energy expenses away from oil and towards local, clean energy."

The White House ordered federal government departments last October to begin measuring their use of electricity and fuel, and make energy savings.

Nancy Sutley, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the effort was an important show of leadership. "It shows the commitment of federal government to lead by example and to take on its responsibility to reduce pollution and help stimulate clean energy economy," she said.

The cuts will come from across 35 government agencies and departments. The Treasury department pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33%. The department of Defence – which operates 300,000 of those government buildings – pledged to cut its emissions by 34%. However, that effort excludes combat operations, and would cover just 40% of DoD greenhouse gas emissions.

Sutley said government departments across the country were already taking action, installing solar panels and wind turbines. The National Renewable Energy Labs in Denver was aiming to reduce energy use of its data centre by 65%.

Today's announcement covers only direct emissions from electricity in government office buildings and military installations, and petrol for government cars. Departments are to report back in 2010 about other potential areas of energy savings, including workers' commutes. The order also does not cover government contractors, officials said.

The initiative comes at a time when the Obama administration is determined to demonstrate its commitment to action on climate change. Obama in his State of the Union address pledged to work to help build Republican support for climate change proposals now under discussion in the Senate. But most observers think getting a climate bill through Congress in 2010 still remains a long shot.


[Environment > Climate change]
Cost of UK flood protection doubles to £1bn a year
Latest data from the Environment Agency shows that more than half a million UK homes are at 'significant' risk of flooding
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 January 2010 17.30 GMT Article history

More than half a million homes are at "significant" risk of flooding and the cost of protecting them will double to £1bn a year by 2035, according to the latest data from the Environment Agency (EA).

The rising costs will be incurred from the impacts of climate change that will take effect in the coming decades, meaning the risks to homes and communities will increase unless defences are improved.

The costs of dealing with floods can run into the billions - the devastating floods of summer 2007 cost a total of £3.2bn according to the EA, including more than £2bn in costs to homeowners and businesses as well as 400,000 of lost school days. The EA estimates that 5 million people live and work in the 2.4m properties in England that are at some risk of flooding and, at present, around £570m is spent every year building and maintaining the defences required for them. Half a million of those properties are in highest risk band, which means they are at risk of flooding due to extreme weather expected once every 75 years.

Climate scientists predict that, by the 2080s, sea levels could be around 70cm higher around the southern parts of the UK, making serious storm surges and floods more frequent. Using predictions from the UK Climate Impacts Programme, the EA estimates that keeping all 2.4m at-risk homes at the existing level of flood risk for the next 25 years will cost £1bn per year by 2035. "Assuming that no new properties are adding to that risk, then that investment is to maintain the existing infrastructure and to invest to make sure it isn't worsened, taking into account the uncertainties of climate change," said Robert Runcie, the EA's director of flood and coastal risk management.

"What we know from the science of climate change is that weather patterns are going to become more extreme. The risk is going to get greater and we need to up our game in response to that," said Chris Smith, the EA chairman, in an evidence session to the House of Commons environmental audit committee (EAC) last week.

"The case for flood defence is very strong. The cost benefit of any flood defence work that we do, the benefit is at least five times the cost. The average cost to a home of being flooded is £20,000 to £30,000. The average cost to a home of being burgled is about £1000. So the damage that flooding does in terms of its impact on people's livelihoods is huge."

But getting this money out of government has proved difficult. "The Treasury have crawled all over our figures and have agreed that our working is absolutely in order and have agreed with the conclusions that we have reached," said Smith. "What they have not done, of course, is commit the actual figures and that is unlikely to happen this side of an election or, I suspect, the other."

An Treasury spokeswoman said:"The government will make decisions about the allocation of expenditure, including the allocation for flood risk management, at the next spending review." She pointed out that spending on on flood and coastal erosion risk management had increased in recent years, from £394m in 2002-03 to £564m in 2005-06.

Not spending the money could have even bigger consequences. The EA estimates that the annual cost of damage to residential and commercial property from flooding in England could rise from £2.5bn to £4bn by 2035 without the extra cash for flood defences. Investing the money would save England some £180bn over the next 100 years.

"Even at a time of unprecedented financial pressure, this is something that has to be given a priority," said EAC chair and Conservative MP Tim Yeo. "We could be more creative about getting private sector investment in as well. Where you've got new developments taking place, it's quite legitimate in my view for the planning authority to say, look, although what we're going to ask for [in flood defences] is not directly related to the houses or supermarket you're putting up there, it is of concern to this community and we do need to accelerate investment in flood-prevention measures so we want to supplement what the taxpayer is being asked for with developer contributions."

Runcie said that flood management in future would depend on careful planning and preventing the construction of new buildings on flood plains. "One of the things that's made a huge difference on that is a change to the planning laws where, only last year, we became a formal consultee. In the last 12 months, of the thousands of applications for major developments that have been proposed, only 4% went against our recommendations."

news20100130gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Travel > Andalucia]
Andalucía, Spain's virgin territory
If you want to dip into the 'real' Spain, head to the olive groves of Andalucía's hidden Sierras Subbéticas
Isabel Choat
The Guardian, Saturday 30 January 2010 Article history

Custodio pulled out a roll of white paper cloth, cut it to fit the table and plonked four tumblers, a pile of cutlery and bread and olives on top. "The food's coming," he told us, before disappearing back into the kitchen. Seconds later, his wife Dolores arrived bearing platters of salad and local cheese. Next up a chicken broth – the sort of warming soup you crave when poorly – followed by a pork feast: chorizo, morcilla (Spanish black pudding) and chuletas (pork chops) with a side order of fried potatoes. We'd told Tim, the owner of our guesthouse, that we wanted to eat somewhere authentic. And we got it at Dolores' Place.

The husband and wife team run a pig farm in the tiny Andalucian village of Fuente Alhama, rearing and butchering the animals themselves. Everything on our plate was made by them. Their "restaurant" – a few tables in their front room, the "menu" whatever Dolores rustles up that day – generates extra cash, mostly from local labourers grateful for a home-cooked meal at lunchtime, and the occasional tourist blown-in.

As we tackled the sausage mountain, Custodio entertained us with tales of his bullfighting days – his moment of triumph, taking part in a fight in Madrid. He insisted on fetching the original poster to prove it. It looked suspiciously new for a 30-year-old advert, but it seemed rude to question his story.

Custodio held court while Dolores sat by the open fire preparing a giant bowl of olives for marinading. Far more than pork products, this inland enclave of Andalucía, the Sierras Subbéticas, is known for its olive oil. Within the local denominación de origen of Priego de Córdoba there are 30,000 hectares of olive groves, 7,000 farms, nine mills, 14 commercial plants and four co-operatives, producing some of the finest olive oil, not just in Spain, but in the world. Never heard of it? That's because Priego de Córdoba has the product, but not necessarily the marketing nous needed to promote it.

It's a situation that British hotelier, Tim Murray-Walker, hopes will change over time; he sees potential in the area, not just for its oil, but for its undiscovered mountain trails, ideal for hiking and biking, its pretty whitewashed villages. So much so that, with his wife Claire, he has spent four years renovating a remote, 150-year-old cortijo, which has just opened as Casa Olea. Now a pristine, eco-friendly guesthouse with solar panels and a biomass boiler that runs on waste olive pellets, it has six simple white rooms with splashes of colour provided by Guatemalan ponchos and other treasures collected on their travels.

Equidistant between Granada and Córdoba, it stands in splendid isolation, surrounded by olive groves in every direction. I stayed there in December when the nighttime temperature can fall below zero, but days are often T-shirt warm, the sky brilliant blue – the perfect conditions for walking.

Tim and Claire have mapped out several routes in the surrounding hills. This area was the frontier of Al-Andalus, which explains the medieval watchtowers dotted about the countryside – they once served as Moorish lookout posts. We followed one of Tim's walks, passing locals harvesting olives, and up to one of the towers. From there, regimented groves fanned out as far as the eye could see, with no interruption bar the occasional crumbling tower or Roman ruin.

Now, the Subbética is at the frontier of a different kind: tourism. The Costa de la Luz, Almeria, the Alpujarras, Granada . . . all have been infiltrated by holidaymakers and expats to varying degrees. But the Subbética remains an almost lost world of authentic Spain. If you want beaches and bars, forget it. If you want to immerse yourself in a Spain that has barely changed in centuries, Casa Olea is the perfect base.

When we weren't walking, we took day trips to the pretty town of Priego de Córdoba, with its tree-filled square and cobbled walkway snaking round the town, providing more views of . . . you've guessed it, olive groves. We stopped for lunch at La Fuente in the deserted village of Zagrilla which, like every restaurant in the area, sold the local green nectar. We picked up two bottles of extra virgin for €6 each. On our last day we visited Córdoba itself – in summer it's an oven thronging with tourists, in December we had its iconic sight, the magnificent Mezquita, almost to ourselves. Started in the 7th century and once Islam's grandest mosque, the staggering interior is a forest (23,000sq metres to be precise) of columns, its soaring red and white striped arches enough to make you dizzy.

But the most jaw-dropping thing about it is the audacious baroque cathedral bang in the middle of the mosque. Dripping in gold, this is religious one-upmanship on the grandest scale. It should never have been built – even Fernando III, who authorised its conversion from mosque to cathedral in the 13th century, said, on seeing it: "You have built what you and others might have built anywhere, but you have destroyed something that was unique to the world." Its intrusive presence is disturbing, but it's also part of what makes the Mezquita the most extraordinary building I've ever visited.

Back at Casa Olea, our evenings were quiet and cosy: healthy suppers cooked by Claire, hot chocolate by the open fire. In summer, I imagine Casa Olea feels very different with the doors thrown open to those views and wine served on the terrace. One evening we had a tasting, trying every type of oil from the finest to the undrinkable dregs made from the damaged olives. We bought another bottle of extra virgin.

The only downside of the trip was becoming an olive oil snob. Now, if people come round and ask why we have so many bottles, I sound like an M&S ad: "It's not just any old oil, this is Priego de Córdoba's finest. . ."
> B&B at Casa Olea from €79 (+34 696 748 209). Ryanair flies to Granada from Stansted and Liverpool. A week's car hire with Europcar (0871 384 1089) picking up from Granada airport costs from £145.

news20100130reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Vithoon Amorn
BANGKOK
Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:33am EST
GM to spend $455 million on Thai expansion

BANGKOK (Reuters) - General Motors Corp announced plans on Friday to spend 15 billion baht ($455 million) in Thailand over the next two years, reviving plans for a new diesel-engine plant and retooling existing production lines.

The expansion at its existing plant in Thailand's Rayong Province, a region dubbed "the Detroit of Asia" for its large concentration of global carmakers, will be financed by 13.5 billion baht local syndicated loan, GM executives said.

The rest will be provided through injection of equity by the Detroit automaker to its wholly owned Thai unit,

Bangkok Bank, Siam Commercial Bank and Tisco Bank signed contracts pledging to provide GM (Thailand) Ltd the credit line.

GM executives said the company would spend $150 million building a diesel-engine plant with a 106,000-unit annual capacity and another $330 million retooling the plant's machinery.

"After the retooling process needed for our next generation pick-up trucks and special utility vehicles, our annual capacity would be around 120,000 units," Steve Carlisle, GM chief executive for South East Asia, said.

GM had shelved the diesel engine project in late 2008 after the global financial crisis forced its Detroit head office to seek a U.S. government bailout.

With the downturn of the auto industry in 2008 and 2009, GM's Thai car and truck output plunged to around 40,000 units in 2009 from 104,000 a year earlier.

Industry data showed GM sold 15,111 vehicles in Thailand in 2009, down from 22,204 in 2008. GM executives said on Friday they expected the recovering auto sector would help raise its output to about 60,000 units this year, of which about 60-70 percent are to be exported.

Tim Lee, Shanghai-based president of GM operations outside the United States and the European Union, told Reuters his firm and its Chinese joint venture partners expected to sell over two million vehicles in China this year, up from 1.83 million in 2009.

"China's recent decision to curb bank loans has not yet affected our business and we are prepared to participate in the industry's further growth in this big market," Lee said.

China is the world biggest auto market with total vehicle sales of 13.6 million units in 2009.

(Editing by Jason Szep)


[Green Business]
Laura Isensee
LOS ANGELES
Fri Jan 29, 2010 12:10pm EST
OriginOil CEO expects revenue in 2011

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. algae biofuel start-up OriginOil expects to start generating revenue in 2011 as the renewable energy firm starts to lease devices to extract oil from algae for fuel and other products, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Chief Executive Riggs Eckelberry said the company may see some revenue from services this year but said the firm is not rushing to produce revenue and has not disclosed when it expects to turn a profit.

"There's a rush to getting it right," Eckelberry said, referring to finding an affordable way to convert algae to fuel on a commercial scale.

OriginOil, which trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board, is among a slew of algae-to-energy companies working to replace traditional fossil fuel with fuel made from lowly pond scum.

The emerging sector has drawn attention from oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and BP Plc as well as the U.S. military and investors.

Yet the fledgling industry faces a series of hurdles to compete with traditional fossil fuels -- from finding the best strain of pond scum to developing efficient ways to harvest oil.

At OriginOil's warehouse in Los Angeles where 1,200 gallons of algae brew in vats, Eckelberry said the technology issues are largely resolved. What's needed, he said, is for different players to combine their methods so that the industry can take off.

"It's not going to be one company," Eckelberry said. "The Internet showed us that at the end of the day, it's this cacophony of all these technologies."

The executive sees OriginOil's place in the industry as an Intel -- selling or licensing its black boxes that emit electromagnetic pulses, zapping algae so that the oil, water and biomass separate and making the harvest faster and more energy-efficient.

The company has developed other components, such as bioreactors, to optimize the entire process of producing algae-based biofuel. Eckelberry said the components are designed to work with different types of algae.

"We want to be the Switzerland of strains," he added.

Shares of OriginOil ended trade on Thursday at 28 cents each, against a 12-month high of 48 cents and a low of 22 cents.

(Editing by Eileen O'Grady, Gary Hill)


[Green Business]
Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta
Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:24pm EST
Noise edict could kill Mackenzie pipeline: Imperial

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A panel's recommendation to enforce strict noise limits at a bird sanctuary has the potential to shut down development of the C$16.2 billion ($15.1 billion) Mackenzie pipeline in Canada's Arctic, the project's backers said.

The contention is among several by Imperial Oil Ltd and its Mackenzie partners in written responses to proposals made by the Joint Review Panel, which assessed the massive project's environmental and socioeconomic impacts in a report issued at the end of last year.

Canada's National Energy Board will use the report, and responses to it, in deciding whether to approve the Mackenzie project, which has been plagued with delays and rising costs. It has planned final arguments for April.

The JRP said the proponents should be required to design any facilities within the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary, located on the northern end of the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories, to keep noise levels below 50 decibels at 300 meters (984 feet) from the fence line.

Imperial said such a measure has so far proved impossible, and is not needed to protect birds in the sanctuary from adverse effects. Enforcing it could prevent development of two of the natural gas fields that will feed to pipeline.

"To make this a condition for any approvals for facilities in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary would have the potential effect of preventing development of the Taglu and Niglintgak anchor fields, and therefore, the entire Mackenzie gas project," Imperial said.

In two letters of response, the company urged regulators to reject several of the JRP's recommendations.

The panel gave its support to the line, which would run 1,220 km (760 miles) through the territory, saying it would bring benefits to Canada's North if 176 recommendations are followed.

They include a diverse range of measures covering such things as analysis of the impact of climate change on facilities buried in permafrost, monitoring grizzly bear dens and assessing if alcohol and drug abuse programs in the sparsely populated region are adequate.

Fewer than half are aimed at the pipeline's backers. The rest target the federal and territorial governments as well as other regulators.

"Our responses were directed at measures that we believed would have the net effect of increasing regulatory complexity or might affect regulatory timing, etcetera," Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser said.

"Then we had a number of comments on specific recommendations pertaining to specific aspects of the project, including the one dealing with noise levels in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary."

The Joint Review Panel urged the NEB to refrain from granting approvals for future applications for projects or activities until some actions are completed. This should be rejected, Imperial said, arguing that such applications should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Another recommendation, that proponents complete certain tasks prior to any construction, would be unwieldy because work takes place at different locations over four years.

"It is not practical to expect that all plans, manuals and specifications for all construction activities at all locations will be made available before the first right-of-way or site preparation activity begins," the company wrote.

Imperial said many JRP recommendations are "far-reaching and apply to activities that are not associated with the Mackenzie Gas Project."

It did not address them directly, but said the governments should avoid adopting any that have the potential to discourage development in Canada's North.

Imperial's partners in the project are Royal Dutch Shell Plc, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp and Aboriginal Pipeline Group.

($1=$1.07 Canadian)

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson; editing by Rob Wilson)

news20100130reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN
Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:20pm EST
Italy solar industry wants improved incentive plan

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian government should improve its new incentive plan for booming solar sector including tariff cuts and cap on subsidized capacity to ensure investment flow and steady industry growth, an sector body head said on Friday.

The government, which works on a new incentive plan as the current one is due to expire this year, has said it would cut incentives to ease the budget burden. It is expected to present the new scheme in mid-February.

Cuts in a key feed-in tariff proposed by the government for 2011 and the following 2 years are sharper than the industry has counted on and a cap on new capacity to be covered by incentives is too tight, Assosolare Chairman Gianni Chianetta said.

One of the main sticking points is an up to 18 percent cut in the feed-in tariff for large-scale photovoltaic installations -- which turn sunlight into power -- in 2011 included in the latest draft of a government decree circulating in the industry.

Assosolare, which represents about 70 companies active in the photovoltaic sector in Italy with a total turnover of about 1.6 billion euros in 2008, and other renewable energy bodies would accept a 14 percent cut but not more, Chianetta said.

"We agree that there should be a reduction (in incentives) but ... 14 percent is a maximum cut which can be accepted," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

A 6 percent average annual cut seen by the government from 2012 in an expected three-year plan is also sharper than a 4 percent cut proposed by the industry and would bring returns on investment bellow a 10 percent floor, Chianetta said.

"Returns on investment should not be lower than 10 percent. Otherwise it would be more interesting to make an investment in real estate," he said.

Returns on investment come at about 8-12 percent in Italy with greater yields seen in the sun-lit southern regions, according to several industry sources.

Investors, from families to sports car maker Ferrari and banks, have piled into Italian photovoltaic (PV) sector since 2007 when the current incentives, seen among the most generous in Europe, were launched.

The scheme expires when the total PV capacity covered by incentives reaches 1,200 megawatts.

The government plans to put a 3,000 MW cap on the new subsidized capacity in 2011-2013 is too stringent for the rapidly growing industry which counted on a 4,000 MW limit, Chianetta said.

Italy's total installed PV capacity is expected to exceed 900 MW in 2009 and hit the 1,200 MW cap in July, according to the state energy management body GSE.

Chianetta said the government would improve the incentive package in the final talk with the industry representatives expected in the next few days.


[Green Business]
DAVOS, Switzerland
Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:57am EST
Novozymes to launch ethanol product in Q1: CEO

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Danish biotech company Novozymes would launch in the first quarter this year a new enzyme to produce transport fuel from agricultural waste, its chief executive Steen Riisgaard told Reuters on Saturday.

That was the company's firmest guidance yet on the timing of the release of the new product, called Cellic, said Riisgaard.

Novozymes has a 47 percent market share in the global enzyme industry, for use for example in the food and washing products industry, as well as bio-ethanol.

U.S. ethanol producer POET has trialed the Novozymes enzyme on a limited basis for a couple of months, but following the launch it would be available generally on a commercial basis.

"It's going to be ready in commercial quantities. You have to be able to do it at a big scale. We are building a facility at a new factory in Nebraska just for this purpose," Riisgaard said.

He said the company could show that its new product would be competitive with corn-based ethanol and gasoline.

"We can demonstrate ... a total cost including the capital cost for building a factory will be in the order of 225 cents (per gallon). In the U.S. there is a subsidy of 101 cents which makes it certainly competitive with corn-based, where the subsidy is only 46 cents.

"It's going to be a good business ... if they (ethanol producers) can rely on the continuation of the subsidy," he said.

He expected a widespread commercialization of cellulosic ethanol production by 2013, "in the best case."

Riisgaard was positive about demand from China, where he said senior executives at oil company Sinopec had told him they would be credited for increasing efficiency and using low-carbon fuels.

The purpose of alternative transport fuels is to cut dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions compared with burning fossil fuels.

Ethanol derived from corn has faced criticism for increasing pressure on agricultural land, stoking food prices, leading to a hunt for potent enzymes which can break down tough fibers in wood chips or agricultural waste - called cellulosic ethanol.

Novozymes made sales of about 1.2 billion euros ($1.69 billion) last year, and was retaining its long-term target to grow 10 percent per year, said Riisgaard. It expected 2 to 6 percent growth this year, in local currencies, following 2 percent growth in 2009.

"Listening to many of the economists here I think we have reasons to be cautious," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Hans Peters)


[Green Business]
Gerard Wynn
DAVOS, Switzerland
Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:16pm EST
World may not do climate deal this year

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Global climate talks may have to continue into 2011 after failing last month to agree on a Kyoto successor, the U.N.'s climate chief and Denmark's new climate minister told Reuters on Friday.

The world failed to commit in Copenhagen last month to succeed or extend the existing Kyoto Protocol from 2013. The U.N.'s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, could not guarantee a deal in Mexico, the next scheduled ministerial meeting.

A lack of trust and the economic crisis complicated prospects for a deal in Mexico in December, added President Felipe Calderon, the prospective host of those talks.

"Whether we can achieve that in Mexico or need a bit more time remains to be seen and will become clearer in the course of the year," de Boer said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where executives said they would invest in low-carbon technologies regardless of a global climate deal.

"It's very difficult to pin down. One of the lessons from Copenhagen was don't rush it, take the time you need to get full engagement of all countries and make sure people are confident about what is being agreed."

India's top climate envoy Shyam Saran said on Thursday that that the world would "probably not" agree an ambitious deal this year unless the global economy improved.

Deadlock last month centered on how far big emerging economies should follow the industrialized world and enforce binding actions to fight climate change.

Denmark holds the presidency of the U.N. process until the Cancun meeting. Its new climate minister, Lykke Friis, agreed it was too soon to be sure of success in Mexico.

"The ultimate goal is to reach a legally binding deal but it's too early to say if it will be done in Mexico. No-one has the complete game plan to get to Cancun, that's what we're trying to find out now."

Denmark still did not know how much each industrialized country would contribute of about $30 billion to help developing nations fight climate change from 2010-2012, as agreed in the final "Copenhagen Accord," she added.

Mexico would do their best, said Calderon.

"My perception is that the lack of consensus is related to the economic problems in each nation, because there are economic costs associated with the task to tackle climate change.

"We want in Cancun a robust, comprehensive and substantial agreement," by all 193 signatories of the U.N.'s climate convention, he said.

"We need to try to learn from our mistakes ... we need to return trust and confidence between the parties."

The U.N.'s de Boer said countries must arrange additional meetings this year, in addition to the two already timetabled in Bonn in June, and then in Mexico if they wanted agreement.

De Boer said he was "very happy" to receive confirmation yesterday from the United States that it had beaten a January 31 deadline to submit formally its planned carbon cuts, to be written into the non-binding Copenhagen Accord.

For a factbox of all pledges submitted so far to the United Nations, double-click here -- [ID:nLDE60S0UY]

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Mike Peacock)

news20100130reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
SANAA
Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:06am EST
Al Qaeda man captured wearing bomb belt in Yemen

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni forces on Saturday captured an al Qaeda militant wearing an explosive belt who was planning a suicide attack on "economic facilities," a government official said.

The man was detained while driving a motorbike in the Khals area in the Hadramaut region, the Ministry of Interior official said in a statement sent to Reuters. He was named as Saleh Abdul-Habib Saleh Shawash.

"The primary interrogation of this terrorist (revealed) he was planning a suicide attack against economic facilities in Hadramaut ... the interrogation is ongoing to reveal more information about this and to see who else might be involved in the plan," the source said.

Yemen has gained a reputation as a haven and a training and recruiting center for al Qaeda militants since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Authorities stepped up operations against the group after its Yemeni wing said it was behind an attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on December 25.

Yemen is also fighting a war with Shi'ite rebels in northern regions bordering Saudi Arabia and facing simmering separatist sentiment in the south.

The Shi'ite rebels, known as Houthis, made a truce offer last week and said they had withdrawn from all Saudi territory.

Yemen said on Saturday that the Houthis' claim to have left Saudi territory was "a new attempt to evade, lie and deceive."

The rebels said on Friday that Saudi air and artillery attacks had continued despite the truce offer.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; editing by Andrew Roche)


[Green Business]
Dominic Evans and Lisa Jucca
DAVOS
Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:23am EST
Bankers, regulators hold constructive talks

DAVOS (Reuters) - Bankers and policymakers held constructive talks on Saturday about how to reform the financial system and prevent future crises, drawing a line under weeks of recrimination and political uproar over reining in bank excesses.

The closed-door informal meeting, held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, reached no firm conclusions or specific proposals but marked an incremental step forward, participants said.

Duncan Niederauer, chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, said there had been "positive discussions and practical suggestions."

Britain urged leading U.S. and European banks, policymakers and regulators to move quickly on areas of accord. British finance minister Alistair Darling told Reuters there was agreement on the need to increase capital and so-called living wills, which would allow a quick wind-down of a failed bank.

"What has changed is there is an acceptance on the part of banks that they need to make changes and they need to make changes quickly," Darling said in an interview.

"They have moved from a position of almost resenting public interference to one accepting the need to put their house in order."

Bankers attending the meeting said there was no agreement on a global bank levy to pay for bailouts, contrary to a weekend press report.

That was only "one of a number of ideas," Darling said.

One top banker who took part in the discussions also confirmed talks had broached the creation of a global "resolution fund" to enable the system to absorb the shock of a bank failure, but said this was an existing proposal and was not the focus of Saturday's discussions.

"The purpose was not to reach a specific agreement, it was to discuss a range of issues," the head of Britain's Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, said after the talks.

Brian Moynihan, Chief Executive of Bank of America, described the talks as "robust" as he emerged from a room in which journalists could glimpse white boards covered in writing headlined "Capital Requirements," "International Regulatory Cooperation" and "Risk Assessment."

Saturday's talks follow behind-the-scenes discussions between leading European and U.S. banks at Davos, at which they failed to reach agreement on how to fight back against a global push for tougher financial regulation.

(Additional reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Martin Howell, editing by Stella Dawson)


[Green Business]
Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:28am EST

DAVOS-Novozymes to launch ethanol product in Q1-CEO

* Enzyme to produce transport fuel from agricultural waste

* Says enzyme makes cellulosic ethanol competitive with corn

* Commerical ethanol roll-out not expected before 2013

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Danish biotech company Novozymes would launch in the first quarter this year a new enzyme to produce transport fuel from agricultural waste, its chief executive Steen Riisgaard told Reuters on Saturday.

That was the company's firmest guidance yet on the timing of the release of the new product, called Cellic, said Riisgaard.

Novozymes has a 47 percent market share in the global enzyme industry, for use for example in the food and washing products industry, as well as bio-ethanol.

U.S. ethanol producer POET has trialled the Novozymes enzyme on a limited basis for a couple of months, but following the launch it would be available generally on a commercial basis.

"It's going to be ready in commercial quantities. You have to be able to do it at a big scale. We are building a facility at a new factory in Nebraska just for this purpose," Riisgaard said.

He said the company could show that its new product would be competitive with corn-based ethanol and gasoline.

"We can demonstrate ... a total cost including the capital cost for building a factory will be in the order of 225 cents (per gallon). In the U.S. there is a subsidy of 101 cents which makes it certainly competitive with corn-based, where the subsidy is only 46 cents.

"It's going to be a good business ... if they (ethanol producers) can rely on the continuation of the subsidy," he said.

He expected a widespread commercialisation of cellulosic ethanol production by 2013, "in the best case".

Riisgaard was positive about demand from China, where he said senior executives at oil company Sinopec had told him they would be credited for increasing efficiency and using low-carbon fuels.

The purpose of alternative transport fuels is to cut dependence on imported oil and cut carbon emissions compared with burning fossil fuels.

Ethanol derived from corn has faced criticism for increasing pressure on agricultural land, stoking food prices, leading to a hunt for potent enzymes which can break down tough fibres in wood chips or agricultural waste - called cellulosic ethanol.

Novozymes made sales of about 1.2 billion euros ($1.69 billion) last year, and was retaining its long-term target to grow 10 percent per year, said Riisgaard. It expected 2 to 6 percent growth this year, in local currencies, following 2 percent growth in 2009.

"Listening to many of the economists here I think we have reasons to be cautious," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Hans Peters)