news20100311gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC)]
UN brings in top scientists to review IPCC report on Himalayan glaciers

Moves aims to restore public confidence in science of global warming after mistake over melting rates of glaciers
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 March 2010 21.13 GMT Article history

{{The IPCC had stated, wrongly, that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035.}
{Photograph} Subel Bhandari/AFP/Getty Images}

The UN called in the world's top scientists today to review a report by its climate body, four months after public confidence in the science of global warming was shaken by the discovery of a mistake about the melting rates of Himalayan glaciers.

In an announcement at the UN in New York Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, and Rajendra Pachauri, the much-criticised head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the InterAcademy Council, which represents 15 national academies of science, would conduct the independent review.

The announcement follows months of controversy which, while not altering the scientific consensus on climate change, has given fresh ammunition to opponents of action on global warming.

Pachauri has faced calls for his resignation, a controversy he acknowledged obliquely today. "We have received some criticism. We are receptive and sensitive to that and we are doing something about it," he said.

The review, which is to complete its work by August, will not undertake a dissection of the 2007 report, which has been pored over by climate sceptics, or re-examine the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, said Robert Dijksgraaf, the head of the InterAcademy Council.

"It will definitely not go over vast amounts of data," he told reporters. "Our goal will be to assure nations around the world that they will receive sound scientific advice on climate science."

Instead, he said it would focus on putting in place better quality control procedures for the next report, which is due in 2014.

These would include guidelines for dealing with material that has not undergone peer review such as the item on Himalayan glaciers.

One focus of the review would be the role played by Pachauri who has been criticised for his handling of the error when it first came to light.

Djiksgraaf also said the panel, likely to be made up of 10 experts, would also look at procedures for making corrections in a timely and transparent manner.

The report has been pored over by climate sceptics for errors since last November when it emerged that the IPCC had stated, wrongly, that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035. As Pachauri and Ban noted today, the solid body of the 3,000 page report remained unchallenged.

The discovery of the error goes to the core of criticism of Pachauri whose first response to questions about the accuracy of the IPCC's prediction on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers was to dismiss it as "voodoo science".

Pachauri had also rankled critics by refusing to apologise for the mistakes.

But a spokesman for Pachauri today said the IPCC had initiated the independent review, and had pressed the UN to call in the scientists.

In his brief comments, Pachauri said the work of the IPCC, which shared a Nobel prize with Al Gore in 2007, remained the gold standard of climate science. "We believe the conclusions of that report are really beyond any reasonable doubt," Pachauri said.

Environmental and science organisations supported the UN's decision.

"This is the right move," said Peter Frumhoff, the science director for the Union of Concerned Scientist and a lead author on the IPCC report.

"If this independent review is carried out with rigour and transparency, it will help strengthen the IPCC's commitment to robust scientific assessments and restore public confidence that has been shaken by an aggressive campaign to sow confusion about climate science."

---

[Environment > Nuclear power]
Academics demand independent inquiry into new nuclear reactors

> Lobby consists of 90 academics, politicians and experts
> Claim appropriate information has not been made available
Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Thursday 11 March 2010 Article history

{{The lobby has called for Ed Miliband to organise an independent inquiry into the new nuclear reactors.}
{Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA}

Pressure on the government to organise an independent inquiry into a new generation of nuclear power stations will intensify today with a call for action from a group of 90 high-ranking academics, politicians and technical experts.

The huge lobby says the "climategate" email scandal and other events have shaken public trust in the scientific governance of environmental risk, making a wider assessment of nuclear power more important than ever.

Paul Dorfman, an energy policy research fellow at Warwick University who has been coordinating support for an inquiry, said more debate was needed for a decision on nuclear to have full democratic backing. "The kind of consultation we have had so far has been flawed and inadequate. The government has put the cart before the horse by wanting endorsement before either the design of the reactor and the way waste will be treated has been decided. There is a democratic deficit here that needs correcting," he said.

Nuclear consulting engineer John Large, another campaign signatory, agreed. "The public consultation has been a failure because the appropriate information has not been made available for the public to make a proper assessment of the benefits and risks," he said.

"We need Ed Miliband [the energy and climate change secretary] to organise an independent inquiry as he is entitled to do under the justification regulations," he added.

These two critics are standing alongside a long list of academics, such as Jerome Ravetz of Oxford University and Mark Pelling of King's College London, as well as MPs including Simon Hughes of the Liberal Democrats, Michael Meacher from Labour and Jane Davidson, the environment minister in the Welsh assembly.

A "justification" process is a requirement under European Union law but Miliband will himself be able to decide whether he needs an inquiry or not. He is believed to want to take this step as soon as possible so that new nuclear power stations could come on stream in 2017, in time to meet an expected energy shortage.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change was unable to comment on the matter last night.

---

[Environment > The Cove]
Sushi chef charged with serving illegal whale at California restaurant

Makers of The Cove, an Oscar-winning documentary on Japan's dolphin slaughter, drew authorities' attention to alleged whale meat smuggling operation at a Santa Monica sushi restaurant
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 March 2010 10.11 GMT Article history

Federal prosecutors filed charges yesterday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant following allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat.

Typhoon Restaurant Inc, which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered species product.

According to a search warrant, marine mammal activists were served whale during three separate visits to the restaurant. Tests confirmed the meat came from a Sei whale, an endangered species protected by international treaties, documents said.

Agents also seized some suspected whale meat during a search of the restaurant Friday but are awaiting test results to confirm it was Sei whale, US attorney spokesman Thom Mrozak said.

In October, two activists posing as customers went to The Hump and ordered "omakase," which means they let the chef choose the choicest fresh fish. They also requested whale and pocketed a sample.

The young women worked with Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, to record the meal with a hidden camera and microphone.

"These are endangered animals being cut up for dinner," Psihoyos said. "It's an abuse of science."

Psihoyos took their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which started an investigation.

Activists claim the whale meat came from Japan's scientific whaling program and was illegally exported, but the US attorney's office is still investigating the source of the meat.

Japan kills hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters each year under its research whaling programme, which has triggered violent protests by conservationists and caused strong objections by diplomats in recent years.

An attorney for Typhoon, Gary Lincenberg, said the restaurant accepts responsibility for serving whale and will agree to pay a fine. If convicted, the company could be fined up to $200,000.

Court records say agents interviewed Yamamoto, a Culver City resident and a chef at The Hump for the past seven years, and he admitted serving whale to two young women.

Yamamoto's attorney, Mark Byrne, declined to comment on the charges, saying he hadn't had time to review them. If convicted, Yamamoto could face a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

news20100311gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Conservation]
More than two extinct species a year in England, report reveals

The biggest national study of threats to biodiversity has found that nearly 500 species have died out in England - almost all in the last two centuries
Juliette Jowit
The Guardian, Thursday 11 March 2010 Article history

A corncrake, once common in the UK, is now under threat. Hundreds of animals and plants are threatened, according to a report by Natural England. Photograph: RSPB

More than two animals and plants a year are becoming extinct in England and hundreds more are severely threatened, a report published today reveals.

Natural England, the government's agency responsible for the countryside, said the biggest national study of threats to biodiversity found nearly 500 species that had died out in England, all but a dozen in the last two centuries.

The losses recorded compare with a natural rate of about one extinction every 20 years before humans dominated the planet, but are almost certainly an underestimate because of poor records of any but the "biggest, scariest" creatures before the 1800s.

The high rate at which species are being lost is set to continue. Almost 1,000 other species face "severe" threats from the same problems that drove their relatives extinct – hunting, pollution, development, poor land management, invasive species and, more recently, climate change – says the report, Lost life: England's lost and threatened species. This represents about a quarter of all species in the best-studied groups, including every reptile, dolphin and whale species, two-thirds of amphibians and one-third of butterflies and bumblebees. In total, the report records 55,000 known species in England.

"Each species has a role and, like the rivets in an aeroplane, the overall structure of our environment is weakened each time a single species is lost," said Helen Phillips, the agency's chief executive. "We seem to have endless capacity to get engaged about rainforests but this reminds us conservation begins at home."

Tom Tew, Natural England's chief scientist, called for a "step change" in conservation, including more "targeted" schemes to protect individual species, better safeguarding of protected areas and better management of land outside the protected areas, especially farmland.

"This report is not all doom and gloom, but we're losing species at an alarming rate and many of our species are seriously threatened," he said. "These species could the tip of the iceberg unless we take action."

Matt Shardlow, head of Buglife, said: "The report [confirms] we are in the midst of an extinction crisis and it is happening here in England under our very noses."

Dozens of scientists trawled records going back to the first century AD from official lists and books. They identified 492 species recorded in England that could no longer be found, all but 12 of which disappeared after 1800.

A further 943 species are listed under the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) as plants and animals under threat. These include a number of species now extinct in many counties or regions of England. One statistic that shocked the experts was a study of nearly half of English counties, which showed one plant species going locally extinct every two years.

So widespread are the problems that some once prolific species are under threat, including the common toad, common frog, common skate and the corncrake. "They are not common any more," said Tew. "Our ancestors used to lie awake at night unable to sleep because of the noise of the corncrake."

Four of the species extinct in England also became extinct globally: the penguin-like great auk; Mitten's beardless moss; York groundsel, a weed only discovered in the 1970s; and the Ivell's sea anemone, last seen in a lagoon near Chichester.

Many more English animals and plants are also on the threatened list, including the whitebeam, a tree with young leaves like "white candles", said Tew: "That signals the start of spring; it can be found nowhere else in the world and has disappeared from much of England."

The remaining extinct and threatened species exist in other countries, though the agency warned that reintroducing species was not reliable because the threats still remained, and national or regional extinctions led to the loss of genetic diversity.

Last year Natural England also published a report highlighting the economic cost of not protecting natural ecosystem services such as clean air, clean water, productive soils for crops, carbon storage, flood defence and natural resilience to climate change.

Other benefits were beyond value, said Tew: "Lots of you, like me, feel the worse for not hearing the corncrake in the country, or the flash of a red squirrel. When we lose wildlife we lose something priceless, and that effects our quality of life."

The report calls for better conservation, especially following successful schemes to reintroduce or bolster populations such as the red kite and large blue butterfly.

Of the hundreds of species on the BAP list in the 1990s, seven have since become extinct but 45% are now stable or recovering. The government has also ordered a review of protected areas.

"Species loss is not inevitable; we can do something about it," added Tew. "But we need to think ambitiously if we're to meet the needs of this and future generations."

This week, Simon Stuart, who oversees the team of experts that declare species globally threatened and extinct, said humans were causing extinctions faster than new species could evolve for the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared.

Winners and losers
Going: Species facing "severe" threats in England
Red squirrel
Northern bluefin tuna
Natterjack toad
Common skate
Alpine foxtail
Kittiwake
Grey plover
Shrill carder bumblebee

Recovering: Recent conservation success stories
Pole cat
Large blue butterfly
Red kite
Ladybird spider
Pink meadowcap
Sand lizard
Pool frog
Bittern

news20100311nn1

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 10 March 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.116
News
Genomes for the whole family

Sequencing of families' genomes offers insights into rare genetic diseases.
By Janelle Weaver

{{Sequencing the genomes of family members could lead to better treatments.}
Getty Images}

By sequencing the genomes of three patients with rare genetic disorders, and comparing them with genetic information from unaffected family members, two studies have managed to narrow down the causes of the diseases.

Between them, the analyses bring the number of individuals who have had their full genomes sequenced from seven to twelve.

A team led by David Galas of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington, sequenced the genomes of a family of four in which the two children had extremely rare genetic disorders ┄ Miller syndrome and primary ciliary dyskinesia¹. Miller syndrome causes facial and limb abnormalities, and primary ciliary dyskinesia prevents hair-like structures in the respiratory tract from removing mucus.

By comparing the genomes of the children with those of the unaffected parents, the team was able to pinpoint the specific recombinations of parental genes that led to the diseases, and eliminate other parts of the genome that previous studies had associated with the disorders. The researchers conclude that just four genes underlie the two diseases.

Scientist studied

And in a second analysis, author James Lupski became a subject of his own study. A molecular geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, Lupski has a rare variation of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes a loss of muscle and nerve function in the limbs, hands and feet. Having come up with no firm results in previous screenings of Lupski's family, scientists had puzzled over the genetic cause of the disease. But by sequencing Lupski's entire genome and comparing it with snippets from his family members, Lupski's colleagues have identified new mutations associated with his disease².

First, Lupski and his colleagues compared his genome to the human genome reference sequence to identify places where single bases of DNA had been substituted. Of the genes they identified that had these mutations, called SNPs, the team focused on one known as SH3TC2 because it had been linked to other types of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Then they sequenced portions of this gene in family members with mild nerve impairment in their hands or feet. The team discovered two mutations in SH3TC2 that were associated with different forms of nerve impairment, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

"The fact that these studies are coming out at once tells you where the field is moving," says Eric Topol, who studies the genetic basis of human disease at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. "It's exciting to see that there are lots of ways to go after what were undiagnosed molecular abnormalities using pinpoint-precision sequencing."

Keep it in the family

The family-based approach has also provided researchers with another way to estimate the rate at which parents pass mutations to their offspring. Galas and his colleagues estimate that each offspring will have 70 new mutations, less than half the number obtained with previous approaches. "It is really important to know this number because it represents the source of all genetic variation we have, for good or bad, for health or disease," says Joseph Nadeau, a human geneticist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Although whole-genome sequencing might be highly accurate and getting cheaper, it isn't yet within practical reach. Lupski and colleagues, for instance, estimate that their study cost around US$50,000. Less complete forms of sequencing can provide similar information about the genetic underpinnings of diseases such as Miller syndrome and primary ciliary dyskinesia. Last year, scientists used a less intensive method to identify the role of DHODH and DNAH5 in these diseases³.

Ultimately, scientists may realize they don't have to sequence the whole genome, Topol says. "Another way may be cheaper and equally effective; we just don't know yet."

References
1. Roach, J. C. et al. Science advance online publication doi:10.1126/science.1186802 (2010).
2. Lupski, J. R. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. X, XXX-XXX (2010).
3. Ng, S. B. et al. Nature Genet. 42, 30-35 (2009).

news20100311nn2

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 10 March 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.113
News
Einstein passes cosmic test

General relativity fits survey observations but there's still room for its rivals.
By Zeeya Merali

{{General relativity has passed its most rigorous test yet.}
Sloan Digital Sky Survey}

It's another victory for Einstein ┄ albeit not a resounding one. General relativity has been confirmed at the largest scale yet. But the galactic tests used to put the theory through its paces cannot rule out all rival theories of gravity.

General relativity has been rigorously tested within the Solar System, where it explains the motion of planets with precision. But its reach between galaxies has been harder to verify and should not be taken for granted, says cosmologist Alexie Leauthaud, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. "It's actually a tremendous extrapolation to assume that general relativity works on cosmic scales," she says.

If general relativity does break down at large scales, it could help cosmologists to explain away one of their biggest headaches: dark energy. In the 1990s, astronomers were surprised to discover that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. That runs counter to the predictions of general relativity, which suggests that gravity's grip should be slowing the expansion. To explain this, cosmologists now invoke a 'dark energy', a force that makes up almost three-quarters of the matter and energy in the Universe and pushes it apart. But the origin of dark energy remains a mystery.

The accelerated expansion could be explained without dark energy, however, if general relativity is wrong and gravity weakens at cosmic scales. Several candidate 'modified gravity' theories take this line but, until now, no one has come up with a way to test them at large scales.

Relative success

Now, Reina Reyes at Princeton University in New Jersey and her colleagues have compared some of these models using data on the position, velocity and apparent shape of 70,000 distant galaxies mapped by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey¹. The rival theories make different predictions about the degree to which light travelling to us from distant galaxies will be bent by the gravity of intermediate galaxies. This process, called 'gravitational lensing', distorts the apparent shape of the galaxies. The theories also make different predictions for both how fast galaxies grow and how they cluster together.

{{Data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are in line with the predictions of general relativity.}
M. Blanton and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey}

No single prediction can be used compare the theories directly, says Reyes. Because all the models include assumptions about whether dark matter ┄ the invisible substance thought to make up the bulk of matter in the Universe ┄ exists and if so, how it clumps together, relative to visible matter. Instead, the team had to combine all three measures ┄ gravitational lensing, growth and clustering ┄ into one ratio, called EG, in such a way that any uncertainty introduced by dark matter assumptions cancels out. The team found a value for EG of about 0.39 – a good match to the general relativistic prediction of around 0.4.

Scott Dodelson at the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Batavia, Illinois, who was part of the team that proposed² the EG test in 2007, says that the work is "exciting and important". "It's impressive that the team has shown we can rigorously test general relativity at large scales with data we have now," he says.

Open question

General relativity's rivals, however, returned mixed results. The team's test rules out a version of the tensor-vector-scalar, or TeVeS, model, proposed in 2004, which modifies gravity using a set of interacting fields to mimic dark matter. This model was already struggling to explain observations of galactic collisions that seem to show direct evidence of dark matter³, says Reyes. "Our test is another blow to TeVeS," says Reyes. However, she notes, more complicated versions of TeVeS could well pass the test.

The team also failed to rule out the set of so-called 'f(R) models' that slightly tweak the parameters of general relativity at large scales to explain away dark energy.

"The question of whether modified gravity or general relativity will ultimately prevail is still very much open," says Dodelson.

Glenn Starkman, a cosmologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, says that EG "will be a useful addition to the battery of tests that modified gravity theories are already subjected to". Starkman and his colleagues have been testing the viability of a third modified gravity model, dubbed 'Einstein-Aether' theory, which uses a single new field to replace both dark matter and dark energy. Their analysis concludes that Einstein aether cannot explain the patterns seen in the cosmic microwave background⁴.

Leauthaud thinks that within the next two decades various planned experiments will have collected enough observational data to discriminate between general relativity and its competitors using EG. "Either we'll find general relativity is wrong, or we'll discover a new type of physics to explain dark energy," she says. "We're looking at a paradigm shift, either way."

References
1. Reyes, R. et al. Nature 464, 256-258 (2010). | Article
2. Zhang, P., Liguori, M., Bean, R. & Dodelson, S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 141302 (2007). | Article | ChemPort |
3. Clowe, D. et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 648, L109-L113 (2006). | Article | ChemPort |
4. Zuntz, J., Zlosnik, T. G., Bourliot, F., Ferreira, P. G. & Starkman, G. D. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1002.0849 (2010).

news20100311nn3

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 10 March 2010 | Nature 464, 148-149 (2010) | doi:10.1038/464148a
News
Outcry over scientists' dismissal

Following years of acrimony, two high-profile researchers in Mexico have been expelled from their institute.
By Rex Dalton

To the scores of scientific luminaries who support them, the Terrones brothers are two of the brightest stars of Mexican science and have raised the nation's profile in nanotechnology. Yet the federal Institute for Scientific and Technological Research of San Luis Potosí (IPICYT) fired Humberto and Mauricio Terrones Maldonado in December, and their future in their home country is now looking dim.

{{Mauricio Terrones is an established nanotech researcher.}
R. ROMERO/NEWSCOM}

International science leaders say that the case serves as an example of how entrenched scientific bureaucracies in developing nations can drive away promising researchers, especially those who have been trained abroad.

"This is a major loss for Mexican science," says Mildred Dresselhaus, a nanotechnology researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, who has advocated on behalf of the Terrones.

David Ríos Jara, IPICYT's director, rejects these arguments. "The foreign scientists' perception that Mexican science is in imminent peril is a flat misconception," he says, adding that "there are about 20,000 researchers in the country carrying out high-quality research in many areas".

Ríos says that he was forced to terminate the employment of the brothers because they had violated institute rules and Mexican laws. Scientists outside Mexico have heard only one side of the story, he says.

After receiving their doctorates in the United Kingdom and doing postdoctoral work abroad, the Terrones returned to Mexico and established the country's first nanotech lab, located at IPICYT, about a decade ago. They secured several large grants, collaborated with top researchers abroad and published well-cited papers on carbon nanotubes and buckyballs in high-impact journals.

But several years ago, disagreements arose between the Terrones and the administration at IPICYT over the operation of their lab (see Nature 454, 143; 2008). Tensions between the two sides came to a head late last year, and the brothers were expelled from their lab in December.

"I won't work in a developing nation again," says Mauricio. "Other Mexican universities are afraid to hire us," adds Humberto.

Centre of attention

In an e-mail to Nature on 25 February, Ríos accuses the brothers of several "irregularities": failing to include IPICYT in four technology patent applications, not securing proper authority to travel extensively last year and improperly working for a private university. The Terrones deny any impropriety and blame professional jealousy for their firing, a charge that Ríos rejects.

In 2008, the Terrones brothers' situation attracted the attention of prominent scientists, including British researcher Harold Kroto and Mexico's Mario Molina, both winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They unsuccessfully lobbied for a compromise with Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and other top officials. Kroto and some 70 other scientists are again petitioning in support of the brothers (see Correspondence from H. W. Kroto et al., page 160).

The appeals by researchers outside Mexico have not calmed the situation. In a written response to enquiries from Nature, Rosaura Ruiz Gutiérrez, president of the Mexican National Academy of Science, said that the letter sent to President Calderón in 2008 "created a great deal of unease in the Mexican scientific community, since its arguments lack sufficient knowledge of the regulations in Mexican institutions". Ruiz said the case has divided the Mexican scientific community and that "proper channels exist for resolving this disagreement".

Some are pessimistic about the chances for resolving the dispute. Ljubisa Radovic is a Spanish-speaking materials scientist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park who visited San Luis Potosí in an unsuccessful attempt to broker a compromise. He blames the impasse on the IPICYT administration. "If you have stars like the Terrones," he says, "you take care of them."

Dresselhaus got a personal view of the escalating conflict in mid-December, when she visited IPICYT to participate in the doctoral defence of Jessica Campos-Delgado, one of the Terrones' students. An unusual number of uniformed guards were present, apparently to head off a disturbance by students supporting the Terrones, according to the brothers and Campos. The Terrones were intermittently called away for discussions with their lawyers and administrators. Around that time, their e-mail accounts were shut down, and by the end of December, their pay cheques stopped coming. "The whole event was bizarre," says Dresselhaus.

Kroto, who oversaw Mauricio's doctorate at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, says that he worries about the Terrones' remaining students. In an e-mail addressed to the "International Community" in late January, several students and staff in the Terrones' nanotech group said "we remain extremely worried that we might be fired on a whim" and that they had been pressured to retract their criticisms of the administration.

Ríos says that the IPICYT administration has offered its full support to the remaining students. The current students declined interview requests from Nature.

Campos, who received her degree, says that she remains shaken by the Terrones' firing. She will soon leave Mexico and head for a postdoctoral fellowship in Brazil. "I don't know if I can or will return, if I have to deal with the people who did this," she says.

That will be a loss for Mexico. During her doctoral training, Campos spent six months in Dresselhaus's lab at MIT, providing a key contribution to a method to enhance graphene nanoribbons for mass production as semiconductors (X. Jia et al. Science 323, 1701–1705; 2009). MIT, in conjunction with IPICYT, applied for a US patent application on the technology, and MIT now is seeking licensing agreements.

Helpful discussions

Two of the patents that Ríos says the Terrones failed to disclose involve Mexico's largest juice producer, Grupo Jumex in Tulpetlac. The other two are owned by institutions in Japan: the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba and Shinshu University in Wakasato.

The science for the patents was "partly or fully developed" at IPICYT, Ríos wrote, and "it goes without saying how serious stealing intellectual property is".

Gerd Reiband, a head engineer at Jumex, says that the company filed the two patent applications on its own because the work was conducted there, not at IPICYT. There was no agreement to financially reward the Terrones and their names were included as a courtesy for their helpful discussions. Scientists at the two Japanese institutions say similar conditions applied to their patents.

Ajayan Vinu, a materials scientist at NIMS, worked with Mauricio when the Mexican scientist was on a fellowship in Japan. Vinu says that he was astounded to hear that advice that Mauricio had offered had played a part in his dismissal.

"Tell them they are crazy," says Vinu, who was not contacted for details by IPICYT officials. "This is dangerous for science."

The brothers remain in San Luis Potosí and are considering legal action to fight the termination of their employment.

news20100311nn4

[naturenews] from [nature.com]

[naturenews]
Published online 10 March 2010 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2010.115
News
Blame it on the B cells

Immune cells seem to spark recurrent prostate cancer in mice.
By Brian Vastag

{{Treating prostate cancer in mice (above) could lead them to develop more dangerous forms of the disease.}
Macmillan Publishers Limited}

Hormones used to treat prostate cancers could trigger a chain of events that leads to even more dangerous cancers down the road, a study in mice suggests.

However, questions over the role of inflammation in the process and the potential relevance to human cancers are proving controversial.

Oncologists often treat the early stages of prostate cancer with hormones that knock down testosterone, which prostate cells require for growth. Such treatments typically enable patients to survive for extra months or even years, but the cancer almost inevitably comes back as tumours that are tougher to treat and much more dangerous. Prostate cancer is diagnosed in one in six men in the United States and one in ten men in the United Kingdom.

The latest study¹, published in Nature today, is the first to note the involvement of immune-system B cells in this process. It suggests that these cells can infiltrate the prostate gland and trigger the dangerous recurring cancers in mice.

The team behind the work suggest that the hormone treatment — known as androgen ablation or chemical castration — sparks intense inflammation in the prostate and attracts B cells. These then dump the signalling chemical lymphotoxin into the gland, which further damages the prostate cells so that they no longer need testosterone to grow, says molecular pathologist Michael Karin of the University of California, San Diego, who led the study.

When this happens, hormone therapies stop working and the prognosis grows grim.

Inflammatory findings

Karin says that he and his team stumbled on the finding while exploring the general role of inflammation in prostate cancer. They noticed that prostate tumours returned more slowly than expected in mice that lacked certain immune cells. After excluding a role for T cells in this process, the team focused on B cells. Depleting the mice of all their B cells using an antibody led to longer cancer-free intervals than in mice with functional B cells, as did implanting irradiated mice with bone marrow that lacked B cells.

But why was B-cell removal beneficial? B cells normally guard against infectious disease by churning out pathogen-squashing antibodies.

Karin says that it seemed improbable that the cells were somehow generating antibodies that triggered cancer recurrence. So he focused on the other job performed by B cells: producing immune-system signals called cytokines. The levels of one cytokine, lymphotoxin, spiked in the prostates of mice that received hormone treatment.

Further experiments showed that removing B-cell-produced lymphotoxin by various methods extended the cancer-free interval in the mice by 3–4 weeks. That equates to 2–3 years in humans, Karin and his team report in the paper¹.

The idea that B cells have such a turncoat role in prostate cancer is "a totally new idea", says Matthew Rettig, a cancer researcher at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the research.

Progression paradigms

Earlier research in 2001 from a team at the Loyola University of Chicago, Illinois, found prostate inflammation during and after androgen ablation². But Eugene Kwon, the urologist and immunologist who led that work, and who is now at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says that a debate rages in the field about whether inflammation promotes or discourages prostate-cancer recurrence.

The latest study suggests that at least one component of the inflammatory response — lymphotoxin — does promote tumour recurrence.

But Kwon says that his work on inflammation in human prostate cancers throws Karin's report into question. "We didn't see an abundance of B cells in prostate cancer, either at the beginning [of the disease] or during metastatic progression," he says.

Kwon is also sceptical of the mouse model used by Karin and his team: "The paper does introduce a new paradigm for progression [of prostate cancer] after hormone treatment, but the hardcore smoking gun will be finding B cells in human metastatic disease," Kwon says.

Karin agrees that his findings need to be tested against data from late-stage human tumours, which are difficult to obtain, but if his results holds up, he says "the road to therapy is very short". A commercially available lymphotoxin-depleting protein used by Karin in his study is a candidate for potential clinical trials, as is rituximab, a B-cell-killing antibody drug that is already on the market and is used to treat various blood cancers.

"Targeting lymphotoxin directly or indirectly may prove to be a viable strategy," says Rettig. "The work in this paper is absolutely beautiful, but the question now is how relevant is it to human disease?"

References
1. Ammirante, M., Luo, J.-L., Grivennikov, S., Nedospasov, S. & Karin, M. Nature 464, 302-305 (2010). | Article
2. Mercader, M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 14565-14570 (2001). | Article

news20100311bbc1

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

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 22:06 GMT, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Scientists to review climate body

{UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says climate change remains a major threat}

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the world's science academies to review work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Work will be co-ordinated by the Inter-Academy Council, which brings together bodies such as the UK's Royal Society.

The IPCC has been under pressure over errors in its last major assessment of climate science in 2007.

Mr Ban said the overall concept of man-made climate change was robust, and action to curb emissions badly needed.

The Inter-Academy Council will convene a panel of experts to conduct the review, and will be run independently of UN agencies.

{{One issue that was raised at the UN news conference was how independent the scientists on the Inter-Academy Council's review panel will be from the scientists who contributed work to the IPCC in the first place}
Richard Black}

"Let me be clear - the threat posed by climate change is real," said Mr Ban, speaking at UN headquarters in New York.

"I have seen no credible evidence that challenges the main conclusions of [the IPCC's 2007] report."

Nevertheless, he said, there had been "a few errors" in the 3,000-page report (known as AR4), and there was a need "to ensure full transparency, accuracy and objectivity".

Inside and out

Robbert Dijkgraaf, the council's co-chair, said the review panel will be chosen so that it includes both inside knowledge of the IPCC and outside perspectives.

"The panel will look forward and will definitely not go over all the vast amount of data in climate science," he said.

{{REVIEW'S TERMS OF REFERENCE}
> Analyse the IPCC process, including links with other UN agencies
> Review the use of non-peer reviewed sources, and quality control on data
> Assess how procedures handle "the full range of scientific views"
> Review how the IPCC communicates with the public and the media}

"It will see what are the [IPCC's] procedures, and how can they be improved, so we can avoid certain types of errors."

But Roger Pielke Jr, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado who has recently criticised the IPCC over its assessment of the costs of climate-related disasters, said the terms of reference appeared to have some significant omissions.

"How will it deal with allegations of breakdowns in procedures in the AR4?", he asked.

"The terms of reference say nothing about looking at the AR4 procedures, but it would be difficult to do a serious evaluation without actually evaluating experience," he told BBC News.

"Should it ignore the AR4 issues, then it will risk being called a whitewash."

Prof Pielke also suggested the panel might look at apparent conflicts of interest within the IPCC's staff.

Lessons learned

The conflict of interest charge has been levelled against the IPCC's chair, Rajendra Pachauri, over his business interests.

But standing alongside Mr Ban, he welcomed the review.

"The IPCC stands firmly behind the rigour and reliability of its Fourth Assessment Report from 2007, but we recognise that we can improve," he said.

"We have listened and learned from our critics, and we intend to take every action we can to ensure that our reports are as robust as possible."

The review was demanded by world governments at last month's meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) Governing Council.

The Inter-Academy Council has been asked to finalise its conclusions by August, in time that its recommendations can be discussed and adopted at October's IPCC meeting.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 10:46 GMT, Thursday, 11 March 2010
Japan protest over proposed bluefin tuna trade ban

{Japanese traders held a protest at the main fish market in Tokyo}

There has been protest in Japan over a proposed ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, a day after the European Union agreed to back the plan.

Wholesalers held a protest at Tokyo's fish market, while a top official said Japan was likely to opt out of any ban.

The EU agreed on Wednesday to back the proposal during next week's meeting of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

But Japanese opponents say it would hit the country's massive tuna market hard.

Bluefin tuna, which is used in sushi and sashimi, is highly prized in Japan.

But a recent scientific assessment concluded that stocks have declined by 80% in the past 40 years.

Nations will consider whether to suspend fishing - until stocks recover - at the Cites meeting opening this weekend in Qatar.

Japan has previously indicated that it will opt out of any trade ban, as it is entitled to do under Cites rules - and its top government spokesman said that nothing had changed.

"The Washington Convention [or Cites] is basically to protect endangered species, but I personally doubt that bluefin tuna is currently facing such a situation," Hirofumi Hirano said.

"Japan will claim its unchanged position that resource control should take place" instead of a trade ban, he said.

Market forces

At Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo - the world's biggest - a group of traders protested against the proposed ban.

"I don't think it's appropriate to discuss bluefin tuna in the forum for endangered species, because you can preserve the species with appropriate resource control," said Tadao Ban, president of the tuna traders' association at the market.

"We want to protect Japanese food culture and to prevent tuna from disappearing as a food source," he said.

Japan consumes about three-quarters of the bluefin tuna caught worldwide, and imports large amounts from France, Italy and Spain.

Countries accepting a Cites suspension would not be allowed to export bluefin caught in their waters, and would not be able to fish in international waters.

The EU is backing exemptions for traditional fishers and deferring the ban for a year. The US prefers an immediate suspension of fishing.

Japan is not opposed to bluefin conservation, but believes such matters should be regulated by regional fisheries bodies such as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat).

news20100311bbc2

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

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 12:08 GMT, Thursday, 11 March 2010
By Huw Williams
BBC Scotland reporter
Scientists solve half-cock chicken mystery

Researchers say they've solved the mystery of why some chickens hatch out half-male and half-female.

About one in every 10,000 chickens is gynandromorphous, to use the technical term.

{Half-and-half chickens give a unique insight into how birds develop}

In medieval times, they might have been burned at the stake, as witches familiars.

But now these chickens are shedding important new light on how birds, and perhaps reptiles, develop.

It used to be thought that hormones instructed cells to develop in male or female-specific ways.

That's what happens in mammals, including humans, and it leads to secondary sexual characteristics like facial hair for men or breasts for women.

But scientists at the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh say they have discovered that bird cells don't need to be programmed by hormones.

Instead they are inherently male or female, and remain so even if they end up mixed together in the same chicken.

It means a half-and-half chicken will have totally different plumage, body shape, and muscle structure on the two halves of its body.

It even affects the wattles on the bird's head, and the spurs on its legs. They will be larger on the cockerel half, and smaller on the hen half, of the same bird.

Practical uses

Dr Michael Clinton of the Roslin Institute led the research, which has just been published in the scientific journal Nature.

He said the findings were a surprise.

Dr Clinton explained: "We looked at these birds initially expecting them not to be half-male and half-female. We thought there'd be a mutation on one side of the body.

{Dr Michael Clinton of the Roslin Institute led the research}

"But we found that they were half-male and half-female and that's what actually showed us that the system was different in birds and mammals."

And researchers tested their theory with delicate and demanding experiments.

"If you put female cells into a male body they'll develop into the normal tissues, but they'll behave as female cells," Dr Clinton said.

The hope is that these findings might have immediate practical uses for the poultry industry.

Dr Clinton said: "If we can understand what the differences between the male and female identities are, then we can imagine making female birds with the same growth characteristics as males. That would increase productivity, and food security."

But if there are vestiges of the same mechanism in mammals, inherited from our reptilian evolutionary ancestors, then the research could help to answer long-standing mysteries of human health.

Like, for example, why women live longer than men, or why men are more at risk of heart attacks.

"But that will require much more investigation," Dr Clinton insisted.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 20:57 GMT, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Bluefin tuna trade ban gains European Union backing

{Large modern tuna boats have revolutionised the industry}

EU nations have decided to support a ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna until stocks recover.

The bloc has agreed to back a motion for a ban during next week's meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The US has already given its support, but Japan - where most bluefin is eaten - may opt out of CITES controls.

The EU is backing exemptions for traditional fishers, and deferring the ban for a year.

Malta was reportedly the only EU member to vote against supporting the ban proposal, which was originally lodged by Monaco last year.

Conservation groups were generally pleased.

{{We have long argued that this threatened species should be given the protection it urgently needs}
Huw Irranca-Davies, UK Marine and Natural Environment Minister}

"With the two largest holders of bluefin tuna fishing quota on either side of the Atlantic - the US and EU - now supporting the trade ban, other countries should follow suit," said Sergi Tudela, head of WWF's Mediterranean fisheries campaign.

"The EU must now push for widespread support of this proposal during the CITES meeting."

UK Marine and Natural Environment Minister Huw Irranca-Davies also welcomed the move.

"We have long argued that this threatened species should be given the protection it urgently needs," he said.

Change of heart

Last year, scientists reporting to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat) - the organisation responsible for managing the fishery - said the bluefin's decline had been so stark that a trade ban was merited.

They calculated that the stock is now at about 15% of the level it was in the era before industrial fishing began.

Iccat's member states, however - which include EU nations with tuna fleets such as Spain, France and Italy - decided to continue fishing, but with lowered quotas.

Initially, those three countries along with Cyprus and Greece had lobbied against a CITES ban, but have now changed their positions.

Compensation packages, as yet unpublicised, have been offered to operators of the EU tuna fleet, which is now dominated by modern, industrial boats.

Conservationists are less happy with three elements of the EU proposition:
> Implementation would be delayed until 2011 rather than taking effect immediately
> If Iccat implements stronger action at its meeting next year, CITES governments could revisit the issue and choose to downgrade protection from a full ban to a system of monitoring and regulation - in CITES jargon, moving from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 listing
> The EU wants exemptions for fishers using traditional methods, without defining what they are.

Dodging the issue

EU support alone will not secure approval for the ban within CITES, where motions need a two-thirds majority to pass.

At the last meeting, in 2007, Japan and other nations opposed to using CITES to regulate commercial fish species blocked measures aimed at safeguarding sharks.

{{ CITES EXPLAINED}
> Threatened organisms listed on three appendices depending on level of risk
> Appendix 1 - all international trade banned
> Appendix 2 - international trade monitored and regulated
> Appendix 3 - trade bans by individual governments, others asked to assist
> "Uplisting" - moving organism to a more protective appendix; "downlisting" - the reverse
> Conferences of the Parties (COPs) held every three years
> CITES administered by UN Environment Programme (Unep)}

Japan is not opposed to bluefin conservation, but believes such matters should be regulated by regional fisheries bodies such as Iccat.

Japanese officials have blamed European governments for the bluefin's decline, arguing that governments have allocated unfeasibly large quotas to their fleets and turned a blind eye to illegal fishing.

Most bluefin is sold to Japan for use in sushi and sashimi restaurants.

Under a CITES ban, EU member states would not be allowed to export bluefin caught in their waters, and would not be able to fish in international waters.

CITES rules allow any country to lodge a "reservation" against measures it does not like, thereby opting out. Japan has indicated it may take this option if the meeting endorses a trade ban on bluefin

Conservationists and some EU states are concerned that other Iccat countries around the Mediterranean - the principal fishing ground - could also opt out of a CITES ban.

That would allow those countries to continue fishing and exporting the tuna to Japan.

The CITES meeting, in Qatar, opens this weekend.

news20100311reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Tue Mar 9, 2010 12:18pm EST
Factbox: China and India endorse Copenhagen climate plan

(Reuters) - China and India signed up to the Copenhagen Accord for fighting climate change on Tuesday, joining almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters in endorsing the non-binding pact.

Russia is the largest greenhouse gas emitter yet to make clear if it wants to be associated with the deal, reached at a summit in December, which has strong backing from the United States.

The accord sets a goal of limiting a rise in world temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F), but does not set out how to achieve the target. Rich nations also aim to give $100 billion a year in climate aid from 2020.

The number of backers has risen to just over 100 of 194 member states. Of these, more than 60 have also issued domestic goals for reining in climate change by 2020. A U.N. analysis indicates these pledges will only be sufficient to limit global warming to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4F).

Following are details of national plans published on the website of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat -- an asterisk (*) shows nations wanting to be listed at the top of the text.

INDUSTRIALISED NATIONS -- EMISSIONS CUTS BY 2020 (FROM 1990

LEVELS UNLESS STATED)

* UNITED STATES - 17 percent from 2005 levels, or 4 percent from 1990 levels.

* EUROPEAN UNION (27 nations) - 20 percent, or 30 percent if others act.

RUSSIA - 15 to 25 percent.

* JAPAN - 25 percent as part of a "fair and effective international framework."

* CANADA - 17 percent from 2005 levels, matching U.S. goal.

* AUSTRALIA - 5 percent below 2000 levels, 25 percent if there is an ambitious global deal. The range is 3-23 percent below 1990.

* BELARUS - 5 to 10 percent, on condition of access to carbon trading and new technologies.

* CROATIA - 5 percent.

* KAZAKHSTAN - 15 percent.

* NEW ZEALAND - 10 to 20 percent "if there is a comprehensive global agreement."

* NORWAY - 30 percent, or 40 if there is an ambitious deal.

* ICELAND - 30 percent in a joint effort with the EU.

* LIECHTENSTEIN - 20 percent, or 30 percent if others act.

* MONACO - 30 percent; aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.

DEVELOPING NATIONS' ACTIONS FOR 2020

* CHINA - Aims to cut the amount of carbon produced per unit of economic output by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels. This "carbon intensity" goal would let emissions keep rising, but more slowly than economic growth.

* INDIA - Aims to reduce the emissions intensity of gross domestic product by 20 to 25 percent from 2005 levels.

* BRAZIL - Aims to cut emissions by between 36.1 and 38.9 percent below "business as usual" levels with measures such as reducing deforestation, energy efficiency and more hydropower.

* SOUTH AFRICA - With the right international aid, South Africa says its emissions could peak between 2020-25, plateau for a decade and then decline in absolute terms from about 2035.

* INDONESIA - Aims to reduce emissions by 26 percent by 2020 with measures including sustainable peat management, reduced deforestation, and energy efficiency.

* MEXICO - Aims to cut greenhouse gases by up to 30 percent below "business as usual." A climate change programme from 2009-12 will also avert 51 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

* SOUTH KOREA - Aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent below "business as usual" projections.

OTHERS' PLEDGES

* ARMENIA - Increase renewable energy output, modernize power plants, restore forests.

* BENIN - Develop public transport in Cotonou, better forest management, methane recovery from waste in big cities.

* BHUTAN - Already absorbs more carbon in vegetation than it emits from burning fossil fuels; plans to stay that way.

* BOTSWANA - Shift to gas from coal. Nuclear power, renewables, biomass and carbon capture also among options.

* CONGO - Improve agriculture, limit vehicles in major cities, better forestry management.

* COSTA RICA - A long-term effort to become "carbon neutral" under which any industrial emissions will be offset elsewhere, for instance by planting forests.

* ETHIOPIA - More hydropower dams, wind farms, geothermal energy, biofuels and reforestation.

* GABON - Increase forestry, bolster clean energy

* GEORGIA - Try to build a low-carbon economy while ensuring continued growth.

* GHANA - Switch from oil to natural gas in electricity generation, build more hydropower dams, raise the share of renewable energy to 10-20 percent of electricity by 2020.

* ISRAEL - Strive for a 20 percent cut in emissions below "business as usual" projections. Goals include getting 10 percent of electricity generation from renewable sources.

* IVORY COAST - Shift to renewable energies, better forest management and farming, improved pollution monitoring.

* JORDAN - Shift to renewable energies, upgrade railways, roads and ports. Goals include modernizing military equipment.

* MACEDONIA - Improve energy efficiency, boost renewable energies, harmonize with EU energy laws.

* MADAGASCAR - Shift to hydropower for major cities, push for "large scale" reforestation across the island, improve agriculture, waste management and transport.

* MALDIVES - Achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2020.

* MARSHALL ISLANDS - Cut carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent below 2009 levels.

* MAURITANIA - Raise forest cover to 9 percent by 2050 from 3.2 percent in 2009, boost clean energy.

* MOLDOVA - Cut emissions by "no less than 25 percent" from 1990 levels.

* MONGOLIA - Examining large-scale solar power in the Gobi desert, wind and hydropower. Improve use of coal.

* MOROCCO - Develop renewable energies such as wind, solar power, hydropower. Improve industrial efficiency.

* PAPUA NEW GUINEA - At least halve emissions per unit of economic output by 2030; become carbon neutral by 2050.

* SIERRA LEONE - Set up a National Secretariat for Climate Change, create 12 protected areas by 2015, protect forests.

* SINGAPORE - Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent below "business as usual" levels if the world agrees a strong, legally binding deal.

* SIERRA LEONE - Increase conservation efforts, ensure forest cover of at least 3.4 million hectares by 2015. Develop clean energy including biofuels from sugarcane or rice husks.

TOGO - Raise forested area to 30 percent of the country by 2050 from 7 percent in 2005; improve energy efficiency.

Other nations asking to be associated, without outlining 2020 targets: Albania, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Fiji, Guatemala, Guyana, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, Palau, Panama, Peru, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay.

Ecuador, Kuwait and Nauru reject association. The Philippines will support the Accord if developed nations make deep and early cuts.

(Compiled by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Kevin Liffey)


[Green Business]
NAIROBI
Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:10am EST
Kenyan wind project firm to offload 70 pct stake

(Reuters) - Kenya's Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) said on Wednesday it will offload a 70 percent stake in its wind energy project to South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation and London-based energy firm Aldwych International.

LTWP is building a 300 megawatt wind farm in Kenya, with the first 50 MW feeding into the national grid by the end of June 2011.

"The structure we are looking at is that by the time we reach financial close and we move into construction phase, the shareholding of Lake Turkana Wind Power will be 51 percent Aldwych, 19 percent for IDC South Africa and a 30 percent by KP&P, the original owners," said LTWP's Carlo Van Wageningen.

The LTWP chairman declined to say how much the stake sale would fetch, but said it had committed undertakings in the form of joint development agreements.

"The final situation will be known only a few weeks before the expected financial close with the lenders. That is the time when the final valuations will be known," he told Reuters.

LTWP has an exclusivity deal with Denmark's Vestas Wind to supply 360 wind turbines for the plant, which will be situated in the remote northwest.

It also has a power purchase agreement with Kenya's electricity distributor at a feed-in tariff of 7.22 euro cents.

(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by George Obulutsa and Louise Heavens)

news20100311reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
LONDON
Tue Mar 9, 2010 12:09pm EST
Factbox: Unraveling the voluntary carbon market

(Reuters) - Buying activity in the voluntary carbon market remains slow due to weak demand in the first quarter.

Voluntary carbon offsets allow individuals and companies to compensate for their own greenhouse gas emissions by funding projects that reduce emissions, often in developing countries.

Projects can include land-use, methane, biomass, renewable energy or industrial energy efficiency.

The unregulated voluntary market operates outside mandatory emissions reduction schemes such as the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme.

It evolved largely in the United States as a market-based mechanism to address climate change and in Europe as a by-product of implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

Carbon credits totaling 123 million tonnes, valued at $705 million, were transacted in the global voluntary carbon market in 2008 -- a fraction of the $126 billion global carbon market.

Some of the jargon used in the voluntary market is unraveled below:

VERIFIED EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS (VERs): A VER represents one tonne of carbon dioxide reduced. The credits can be generated from projects that fall outside of the scope of the CDM, from a country which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, or they are specifically developed for the voluntary market.

PRE-CDM VERs: These credits are generated by CDM projects that have been operational but have not yet been registered with the CDM Executive Board. They may not become CDM credits, called certified emissions reductions, but they can be sold in the voluntary market.

Pre-CDM VERs are a major source of supply to the voluntary market because they provide an early revenue stream crucial for project development.

VOLUNTARY CARBON STANDARD: The VCS is a global standard for voluntary offset projects and ensures they have real environmental benefits. It operates a registry system to track credits from issuance to retirement. The founding partners of the VCS are The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

VOLUNTARY CARBON UNIT (VCU): VCUs are credits created under the Voluntary Carbon Standard Programme.

GOLD STANDARD: The Gold Standard Foundation is a non-profit organization which operates a certification scheme for premium quality carbon offsets. The Gold Standard quality benchmark is considered to be the highest in the voluntary carbon market.

VER+: The VER+ Standard was developed by international certification organization TUV SUD. It was the main standard for offset credits before the VCS began in 2007 but has since declined in popularity.

'EXOTIC' CREDITS: The term 'exotic' refers to the location of the emission reduction project, usually in countries with smaller project numbers.

VINTAGE: Vintage refers to the year the carbon reduction takes place.

CLIMATE RESERVE TONNES (CRTs): CRTs are traded under California's Climate Action Registry. Members of the registry include over 300 of the world's largest corporations, universities, environmental organizations and government agencies. They voluntarily measure, monitor and publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions using the registry's protocols.

CHICAGO CLIMATE EXCHANGE: The CCX is North America's only voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system.

CARBON FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT: The CFI contract is the commodity traded on the CCX, each of which represents 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide (or equivalent).

Sources include: www.cdmgoldstandard.org; www.v-c-s.org; www.climateregistry.org; www.chicagoclimatex.com (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Amanda Cooper)


[Green Business]
Jeff Mason and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
Tue Mar 9, 2010 6:21pm EST
Obama to push climate change in White House meeting

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama inserted himself into Senate efforts to pass a climate change bill on Tuesday, gathering Republican and Democratic lawmakers at the White House to jumpstart efforts to overhaul U.S. energy policy.

Obama called the meeting with influential senators and members of his cabinet to reinvigorate one of his top domestic and foreign policy priorities, which advisers admit has suffered from the president's focus on healthcare reform.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would require the United States to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases 17 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels, roughly the same goal Washington has backed at international talks to combat global warming.

But the Senate has not passed a similar measure, and a bipartisan group of senators including Democrat John Kerry, Republican Lindsey Graham and independent Joe Lieberman are expected to produce a bill soon.

"I want to hear what Democrats and Republicans say about how you can move forward," said Graham, when asked whether he would present an outline of a new bill at the meeting.

Graham told reporters he hoped to have the outline of a compromise bill completed by the end of the month and said the discussion at the White House would touch on a sector-by-sector approach to controlling carbon emissions.

Lieberman left open the possibility of a controversial "cap and trade" system for the utility sector -- under a new name.

"We don't use that term anymore," he told reporters about cap and trade. "We will have pollution reduction targets."

A U.S. law is seen as a key ingredient for an eventual U.N. agreement to follow up on the emissions-capping Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012, and the Senate's failure to pass a bill hampered the U.S. position at December talks in Copenhagen.

Obama's meeting on Tuesday -- his first with lawmakers on a broad scale to discuss the Senate legislation -- comes just as China and India joined almost all other big greenhouse gas emitters in formally signing up to the non-binding climate accord that was reached during the Denmark summit.

Invitees include key players on climate as well as some senators whose support the White House wants for a bill.

CAP AND TRADE?

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama wanted to get an update on the Senate's energy initiatives at the meeting.

"The president believes ... strongly that we need to get something done," Gibbs said.

Expectations appeared low that the meeting would lead to concrete breakthroughs, however.

"The president asked several of us to come down there and discuss what the future is for enacting energy and climate legislation," Senator Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, told reporters. "I think it is a useful thing to do."

Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, said the meeting may be an attempt to try "to accelerate activity in the energy area."

Acceleration would be helpful if the bill is to get air time before summer, an unofficial deadline that looms before intense campaigning will begin for November elections, which could change the balance of power in Congress.

"To me it says the president is sending word ... that this energy independence, curbing carbon emissions is a major goal of his for this year," Lieberman said of the meeting.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska who has frustrated the administration by backing measures to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, told reporters she would speak up for a bill that would focus squarely on mandates for renewable energy rather than a cap-and-trade market on power plants and industry.

"If (I) could only bring in one point, I'd put a plug in for energy only," she said.

Obama has resisted calls to split the energy and climate aspects of a "comprehensive" bill, just as he has opposed splitting his healthcare reform measures into smaller steps.

Key aspects of a Senate bill remain a mystery, however, including whether cap and trade will be used.

Senator Thomas Carper, the Delaware Democrat who chairs a clean air subcommittee, voiced strong support for using the carbon pricing mechanism for the utility sector.

"Utilities are used to working in a cap and trade world," citing the long-standing system used to control acid rain from coal-fired electric power plants, Carper, who is not invited to the White House meeting, told Reuters.

The meeting brings together five Democratic senators who chair committees with oversight of various aspects of a climate change and energy bill, along with the senior Republicans on some of those panels.

Democratic Senator John Rockefeller and Republican Murkowski likely will want to discuss their bills to slow down or prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.

(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Russell Blinch and Cynthia Osterman)

news20100311reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
CARACAS
Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:17am EST
Chavez trusts God and nature in power crisis

(Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez is confident that God and nature will pull Venezuela out of a power crisis battering both the economy and his popularity.

Rationing and blackouts have afflicted the South American oil exporter since late 2009, due mainly to a drought that has cut water levels at hydroelectric installations normally supplying more than two-thirds of power needs.

The crisis may cause a second year of economic contraction in Venezuela and is also weighing on Chavez's approval ratings ahead of a legislative election in September that he and opponents are casting as a referendum on his rule.

"The squalid ones are hoping it won't rain," Chavez said late on Tuesday, using his usual term for the opposition.

"But it's going to rain, you'll see, because God is a 'Bolivarian.' God cannot be squalid. Nature is with us," the socialist leader added during an event with athletes.

In power for 11 years, Chavez portrays his "21st century socialism" as a revival of the ideals of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, even changing Venezuela's name to the "Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."

Venezuela's next rainy season is due around May, although meteorologists say there may be delays this year due to the El Nino weather phenomenon.

The government has introduced rationing across Venezuela and is threatening fines and cutoffs to large consumers who fail to reduce power use by 20 percent.

"I apologize to all the people who are suffering electricity rationing. But I've said it since the start of the year, we have to do it. It's like being put on a diet, in this case an electricity diet," Chavez said.

Authorities say the main reservoir, El Guri, is close to "collapse," possibly in May or June, if there is no rain soon.

"Guri is 13 meters (43 feet) away from what they call the level of collapse," Chavez said. "It would just shut down. We'd have to close the Guri plants which supply electricity for half of Venezuela. That's the reality."

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Eric Beech)


[Green Business]
Jana Mlcochova
PRAGUE
Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:25am EST
Czech renewable energy exceeds grid safety limit

(Reuters) - The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country's electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday.

The Association of Czech Regulated Electro-Energy Companies (CSRES) said the installed capacity of all projects approved by the end of January was 8,063 MW.

The limit from solar and wind projects that won't overload the grid is 1,650 MW until 2012, which corresponds to installed capacity of 2,200 MW, according to estimates made by the CSRES.

"We are obliged to connect to the grid or distribution system anyone who asks if it does not threaten a safe operation of the system. So our options are limited, it is up to lawmakers to resolve this," said Petr Zeman, chief executive of grid operator CEPS and a member of CSRES.

He added it was necessary to adopt legislation that would help eliminate applications which looked unviable.

The gap between the installed and actual output from renewable resources is so wide because production is affected by changing weather.

Meanwhile, projects with installed capacity of 2,352 MW have already signed connection contracts with operators, the association said.

CSRES includes the distribution units of central Europe's largest power utility CEZ, Czech power group PRE and grid operator CEPS.

BOOM IN SOLAR POWER

Generous feed-in tariffs -- which guarantee prices far higher than current market levels -- have led to a boom in solar plants which guarantee high return thanks to a drop in prices of photovoltaic panels.

The Czech parliament is debating a bill to reduce regulated prices for solar energy by more than the 5 percent a year than they are allowed to fall under current law.

CEZ Chief Executive Martin Roman wrote in an opinion piece for daily Mlada Fronta Dnes that current prices are around 10 times higher than those determined on power exchanges and said the situation was unsustainable and would cost consumers up to 1,200 billion crowns ($63.59 billion) over the next 20 years.

The country's grid operator has also warned that a lack of legislation regulating connection of renewable sources could threaten stability of supplies because sudden swings in output pressures the system.

"We need to have some reserves to balance out the distribution system and the grid...to make up for the various outages and volatility mainly in production of renewables," Zeman said.

Eastern Europe, which relies mainly on coal and nuclear energy for its electricity production, is lagging behind its western neighbors in meeting EU renewable energy goals.

The EU wants 20 percent of its energy sourced from renewables by 2020, from under 10 percent now. It also wants to reduce dependency on Russian gas imports, amid recurrent tension over gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine.

(Additional reporting by Robert Mueller; editing by Michael Kahn and James Jukwey)


[Green Business]
TOKYO
Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:36am EST
Japan fish merchants protest proposed tuna trade ban

(Reuters) - Dozens of fish wholesalers protested at a market in Tokyo on Thursday against a proposed ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna trade ahead of a meeting that could decide to protect the valuable fish used in sushi as an endangered species.

The meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) from Saturday will consider whether to list species including the Atlantic bluefin tuna, whose stocks have depleted rapidly, as endangered and prohibit international trade in them.

Japan, the world's biggest Atlantic bluefin tuna consumer, is against the proposal and a senior fisheries agency official has said the country would not comply if a total trade ban were imposed.

Merchants at the Tsukiji fish market, where some 2,000 tuna fish are auctioned each day, said the Atlantic bluefin would not become extinct if just the larger ones were caught and blamed the use of so-called round haul nets for overfishing.

"We want to protect Japanese food culture and to prevent tuna from disappearing as a food source," said Tadao Ban, president of the Wholesalers Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market.

The protest comes a day after the European Union agreed to propose the ban on international trade in the fish.

Stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can fetch up to $100,000 for a single fish, have declined by more than 80 percent since 1970 to about 3.2 million, according to CITES. Some 80 percent of the fish is consumed in Japan as sushi and sashimi.

"The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species aims to protect species that are endangered. I personally wonder if bluefin tuna are in such a condition now," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told a news conference on Thursday.

Japan produced and imported about a total of 411,000 tonnes of tuna in 2008 and around 5 percent of that was Atlantic bluefin tuna, an official at the fisheries agency said.

Some 175 nations are due to vote at the Doha CITES meeting and a two-thirds majority is needed for the trade ban to be adopted.

(Reporting by Hyun Oh and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

news20100311reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:18pm EST
by Stacy Feldman, SolveClimate(solveclimate.com)
Report adds fuel to Senator Schumer's stimulus feud

(SolveClimate) - The United States should act fast to build up the country's manufacturing industry for renewable energy systems or risk losing green jobs to China and other low-wage nations, according to a new report by advocacy organization Apollo Alliance and Good Jobs First, a labor-oriented research group.

The report's recommendations include fixing the nation's renewable energy stimulus funding so recipients who relocate operations overseas are forced to repay their hefty government handouts.

"We don't currently have the capacity to supply our own demand for clean energy products and systems," Sam Haswell, spokesperson for Apollo Alliance, told SolveClimate.

The U.S. is currently importing about 70 percent of its renewable energy parts from foreign countries, according to the report. If that continues, the report estimates, the U.S. will lose out on 100,000 clean energy manufacturing jobs and nearly 250,000 by 2030.

To gauge the direction of renewable energy manufacturing in America, the authors analyzed the list of winners of the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program, known as 48C credits. The $2.3 billion program, part of the 2009 Reinvestment and Recovery Act, provides a 30 percent tax credit for investments in new, expanded or re-equipped advanced energy manufacturing projects making materials for cleaner power generation.

The report focused on wind and solar plants, which accounted for about 68 percent of the payouts. Ninety domestic and foreign parent companies have received funding to build solar and wind plants in America, the report found. Of that total, 25 are investing in similar factories in America's clean energy competitors: China, India, Mexico and Malaysia.

In fact, several of these companies — including Colorado-based Advanced Energy Industries, Arizona-based First Solar, China-based Suntech Power and California's SunPower Corporation — are making low-wage nations their primary manufacturing hubs.

This is especially true of China, the current global leader in the manufacture of wind and solar components.

The pattern is a cautionary tale, the report suggests.

"While the 48C credits are likely leading these companies to pay more attention to U.S. production, it is also possible that their American manufacturing activities are little more than fig leaves meant to hide the fact that they are mainly relying on offshore low-wage activities," the authors wrote.

Stimulating U.S. Jobs Only

The report recommends the 48C program be extended by $5 billion, as President Obama proposed in his 2011 budget, but with a catch: a "clawback" provision that would allow the feds to take back taxpayer dollars from stimulus winners if they close up shop too soon in the U.S. and create jobs overseas.

"A clawback provision would only punish those companies that accepted a credit and then did not sustain their operations in the United States for some minimum period of time — say five, 10 years," Haswell said.

A group of Democratic U.S. senators has gone further.

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) launched a campaign last week to suspend a related section of the Recovery Act, the section 1603 cash grant program, indefinitely. "until the law can be fixed." The program allocates 30 percent cash grants to renewable energy projects.

Schumer cited reports from the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University that calculated 79 percent of $2.1 billion given out in clean-energy cash grants had gone to foreign companies.

Along with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), the senators introduced a bill that would put a "buy American" provision on all projects getting government money under section 1603.

"Our domestic clean-energy sector has the potential to emerge as a global leader and it is counterproductive to invest U.S. stimulus funds in Chinese companies rather than our own," Schumer said.

Supporters of the program, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, are not convinced. They said that while some jobs may end up overseas, the grants are creating thousands of U.S. jobs at a time when construction and manufacturing unemployment is in the double digits. A "buy American" requirement would mean stopping projects where two-thirds of the work is American and only a third is foreign and losing those American jobs.

"This proposal would torpedo one of the most successful job creation efforts of the Recovery Act, which has already preserved half of the 85,000 American jobs in the U.S. wind industry," said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). It "would cost 50,000 American workers their jobs."

One high-profile target of Schumer's campaign is a West Texas wind farm project that is being built by a U.S.-China coalition with over $400 million in cash grant help.

Opponents of the plan said its parts are being made in China, and that 85 percent of the 2,800 jobs expected to flow from project will end up there.

The group, comprised of the U.S. Renewable Energy Group, Cielo Wind Power LP and China's Shenyang Power Group, vehemently disputed that figure.

"A minimum of 70 percent of each wind turbine in the 600 MW project, including the massive towers and blades, will be wholly manufactured in the United States and made entirely of American steel," said Cappy McGarr, managing partner at U.S. Renewable Energy Group.

McGarr said analyses have wrongfully assumed that jobs that do not qualify as either construction or operation of the wind farm would naturally go overseas. That is "incorrect," McGarr said, though he did not divulge any figures.

Job creation aside, cutting off the incentives would be a death knell for the U.S. renewables market, McGarr added.

"Without the incentives, these projects would never materialize," he said. "The foreign investment would go to Europe or Asia, and America would be at an unfair disadvantage."

Comprehensive Climate Legislation Key

Haswell said Schumer's intention was "good." However, he added: "It is not simply enough to impose 'buy American' provisions on stimulus funds, especially since many of these programs are set to expire at the end of 2011."

"The key to ensuring long-term job growth in the U.S. is through a combined strategy of increasing domestic clean energy demand by passing comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation," said Haswell, "while simultaneously making direct investments in clean energy manufacturing."

The jobs potential from a cap-and-trade bill, for instance, is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands if not more.

A study by a network of renewable industry trade groups found that just a strong Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) of 25 percent by 2025 would create 274,000 jobs compared to doing nothing, with every state seeing job creation. Of those jobs, 50,000 would be solar related and 116,000 would go to the wind industry.

Currently, the U.S. Congress is embroiled in debate over America's future climate and energy law, with cap-and-trade and a strong RES falling out of favor.

In a hearing last week before a U.S. senate committee on science and technology, Energy Secretary Chu said a domestic manufacturing boom in wind and solar was largely in the hands of Washington lawmakers.

The "best incentive" is to create home-grown demand for clean energy technology to lure in manufacturers, he said. "That's one of the crucial things that Congress will hopefully help us with."

news20100311reut5

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
HOUSTON
Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:30pm EST
Shale gas could supply 100 years of consumption

(Reuters) - The natural gas shale boom in North America has more than doubled discovered gas resources and can supply more than a century of consumption at current rates, an IHS CERA study released Wednesday said.

"As recently at 2007 it was widely thought that natural gas was in tight supply and the U.S. was going to become an importer of gas," said Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS CERA. "But this outlook has been turned on its head by the shale gale."

Shale gas is not new, but technology like hydraulic fracturing to release it from thick rock far underground has vastly improved producers' ability to tap it. Production involves injecting water and sand under high pressure into the rock to fracture it to release the gas.

The IHS CERA study said growth in power demand in the next 20 years will likely cause natural gas demand to double its current level of 19 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.

Gas-fired power generation produces half the carbon emissions of coal-fired generation, which makes gas a more attractive environmental choice as well, the study said.

But a limited pool of spare gas-fired capacity would prevent wholesale fuel switching, the study said.

Also, such switching won't reach targets of reducing emissions by 80 percent by 2050, the study said. That would require more non-carbon emitting sources, such as nuclear and renewables, as well as carbon capture and storage, or injecting and storing carbon emissions underground.

The study said uncertainties about shale gas include stringency of future carbon legislation and viability of carbon capture and storage technology.

Tom Walters, president of Exxon Mobil Corp's gas and power marketing company, said during a panel discussion that shale gas's future success depends on policies that promote and support its development.

Concerns about how hydraulic fracturing might affect underground water tables has prompted Congress to consider increased regulation.

(Reporting by Kristen Hays; Editing by Walter Bagley)


[Green Business]
Gerard Wynn
LONDON
Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:16am EST
Industry slow to sell biocharcoal climate merits

(Reuters) - Industry has struggled to commercialize a charcoal technology which some say could reverse the effect of manmade carbon emissions, as countries fail to implement incentives and technical problems nag.

Biochar is a form of charcoal made from heating solid waste such as rice husks and farm manure, and as a stable substance when put in the soil may lock up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) for hundreds of years.

Supporters say it could dramatically cut carbon emissions, improve soil fertility, boost energy security and combat waste.

But only a handful of companies have sold biochar-making units so far, while firms turn to marketing biochar's secondary benefits as a lightweight fuel or fertilizer.

"To make biochar work you need a credit for carbon storage," said Simon Shackley, a researcher at Britain's Edinburgh University, which has won funding to test its potential.

Biochar is a stable form of carbon, and because it is derived from trees and other plants which originally sucked the carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, plowing it into soil could reverse emissions from burning fossil fuels.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in 2008 that global greenhouse gas emissions were so out of control that avoiding more dangerous levels of climate change depended on driving so-called negative emissions later this century.

An Edinburgh University farm trial had shown yield benefits from applying biochar to the soil, Shackley said, but additional government incentives to reward its climate benefits were needed to make it economic. Some studies have also suggested it could help retain soil moisture.

Slow rollout may reflect wider difficulties in generating distributed energy from waste such as woodchips and manure, which are more expensive to transport than oil and natural gas.

"I'm still fully convinced we need to explore it to the fullest," said Cornell University's Johannes Lehmann, a leading advocate. "We don't dare make predictions of what's possible, we're just probing the technical potential."

MANURE

One possible way to reward farms for turning their manure into biochar may be a carbon offset scheme where polluters pay for projects which cut carbon emissions. A draft U.S. climate bill had proposed just that for biochar, but is stalled in the Senate.

A lack of standards is also a problem.

"It's still a bit of the wild west," said Debbie Reed, executive director of the lobby group the International Biochar Initiative, which wants to compile guidance for the production process and materials, to aid testing and certification.

"We're not ready for a large-scale roll-out. Right now anybody who's creating a product that looks like ash or charcoal can call it biochar," she said. "That's one of the things in the commercial space that will hold up the entire industry."

Making biochar involves heating organic matter without oxygen, called pyrolysis. That process also produces a high-energy gas which can be burned to generate electricity.

Slow pyrolysis creates various acids, tars and other chemicals which suppliers must show they can extract and use or dispose of, said Aston University's Tony Bridgwater.

"The question of what farmers will do with condensed tars from 'charvestors' needs more work," said Timothy Langley at New Zealand-based Carbonscape, referring to their own microwave-based biochar units. "We acknowledge the problem and intend to solve it in the not too distant future."

Texas-based MaxWest Environmental Systems is one of a very few companies worldwide which has sold units to manufacture biochar. A major motive of the buyers was to sanitize poultry manure, saving on tipping fees, and turn this into a saleable fertilizer, said the company's Robert Erwin.

Among other companies with plans to sell pyrolysis units, whether for energy or biochar, is JFBioEnergy Inc. The company's John Flottvik said it can turn dead trees destroyed by the pine beetle in Canada into a useful resource.

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Keiron Henderson)


[Green Business]
TOKYO
Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:19am EST
Japan weakens climate bill after industry pressure

(Reuters) - Japan watered down legislation to fight climate change on Thursday after weeks of wrangling within the government over plans for an emissions trading system that has met stiff opposition from industry.

The climate bill, set to be enacted by parliament by mid-June, said the government would consider using emission caps per unit of production in the planned trading scheme, which would allow rises in emissions when output grows.

Environmental groups had called for the government to stick to an earlier pledge to set caps on absolute emission volumes, but companies have worried that volume caps would restrict growth.

The bill, to be sent to parliament after being approved by the cabinet on Friday, also called for the government to spend the next year drafting separate legislation to design the trading scheme, Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa told reporters.

A national scheme that sets targets on greenhouse gas emissions could be a major boost for the carbon market, depending on the design.

The climate bill also includes Japan's goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels on condition a global climate deal is reached, along with its plan to consider imposing an environment tax from 2011.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Paul Tait)


[Green Business]
LONDON
Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:03am EST
EU carbon falls in selling ahead of UK auction

(Reuters) - European carbon futures nudged lower in early trade on Thursday, likely on speculative selling before next week's UK auction, one trader said.

EU Allowances (EUAs) for Dec-10 delivery were down 11 cents at 1200 GMT, at 13.12 euros a tonne.

"I think people are selling ahead of the auction, it feels like its going short," said one trader.

"There's very little industrials activity," he added, referring to buyers who have to buy carbon permits to balance their emissions under the European Union's emissions trading scheme.

European carbon prices often rally on the day of the monthly British auctions of emissions permits. The next auction of 4.5 million EUAs is due on March 18.

Each month a trading pattern had emerged where market participants sold large volumes of EUAs ahead of the auction, driving prices lower, hoping to buy back and make more money in the expected subsequent rally, the trader said.

Oil futures rose by some 8 cents to $82.17 a barrel remaining below an eight-week high hit a day earlier as a spike in Chinese inflation had investors mulling prospects of monetary tightening in the heart of energy demand growth.

British natural gas contracts for April rose by 0.46 pence or 1.5 percent to 30.50 pence per therm while German Calendar 2011 baseload power was up 5 cents at 46.35 euros per megawatt hour.

Benchmark CER futures were down four cents at 11.74 euros a tonne, setting the EUA-CER spread at 1.38 euros.

news20100311reut6

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Dana Ford and Christoph Steitz - Analysis
LOS ANGELES/FRANKFURT
Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:13pm EST
German solar subsidy cuts muddy 2010 outlook

(Reuters) - Global solar demand has surged on brisk buying from Germany, but analysts are split over whether the market will break down once incentives in the world's largest solar market are pared back.

The recent surge in sales has helped the industry recover from a brutal 2009, when prices for the modules that turn sunlight into electricity tumbled by more than 40 percent as a glut of supplies and difficult financial markets slowed growth.

That rebound may be short-lived. UBS, in a recent report, forecast strong German growth throughout the year, but predicted a steep drop after midyear.

The investment bank said it expected new German solar installations to reach 2.5 gigawatts in the first six months of this year, but that figure will shrink by as much as 60 percent to between 1 GW and 1.5 GW in the second half.

Berlin is set to reduce the mandated prices to be paid for electricity from German solar arrays from July, with proposed cuts of 16 percent for roof-installed panels and a drop of 11 percent for conversion sites like dumps and unused army bases.

That has pulled projects forward as developers try to bring them online ahead of the cuts, helping to boost sales for key solar players like Suntech, First Solar, SunPower and Q-Cells.

Still, Germany, which made up 50 percent of the global solar demand in 2009, will continue to be a major buyer, other analysts said.

"You'll see a temporary disruption in Germany, which will cause a bit of a hiccup in demand," said analyst Adam Krop with Ardour Capital Investment in New York.

Cowen & Co analyst Rob Stone said fears of a sharp drop were overdone.

"The impact inside Germany will be less than people are imagining," he said. "There will still be attractive opportunities (there) in the second half of this year."

RAYS OF LIGHT?

Stone, Krop and many solar executives are betting new demand in up-and-coming markets such as Italy, the United States and Japan will help offset the slowdown in Germany, but others are skeptical.

"It remains to be seen whether those other major markets will demonstrate strong growth in the second half of 2010," said Gabelli & Co analyst Hendi Susanto.

Q-Cells, now the world's fourth-biggest maker of solar cells after handing the top spot to First Solar last year, warned in February of an uncertain 2010 as countries cut financial support for solar power and low-cost producers pressure prices.

Demand in Italy, Europe's third-largest solar market, has been growing, and is expected to balloon briefly at the end of this year before the country trims its own generous feed-in tariff -- the price power distributors are required to pay generators for renewable energy -- gradually by up to 20 percent starting next year.

Even under ideal policy scenarios, European countries excluding Germany are expected to expand only by 2.7 GW of modules in 2010, according to industry association EPIA, lagging estimates for Germany, which is expected to grow year-on-year despite the cuts.

Fears that demand in Germany will fall sharply in the second half of the year have triggered concerns that prices for modules will decline dramatically again.

Ardour Capital's Krop said he expected prices to fall 10 percent in the first half of 2010 and up to 15 percent in the second half.

Suntech, China's largest solar panel maker, is more optimistic and recently said it does not expect the average selling prices (ASPs) for its modules to drop significantly after Germany's subsidy cuts.

Cowen & Co's Stone said the fall in second-half demand will likely pressure prices for modules down between 5 and 6 percent from levels in the first six months -- but that decline could be a benefit.

"In the same way they did last year, falling prices should stimulate demand," he said.

(Additional reporting by Matt Daily in New York, editing by Matthew Lewis)


[Green Business]
Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO
Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:12pm EST
Arctic seed vault sets record, over 500,000 samples

(Reuters) - A "doomsday" vault storing crop seeds in an Arctic deep freeze is surpassing 500,000 samples to become the most diverse collection of food seeds in history, managers said on Thursday.

Set up on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard two years ago, the vault aims to store seeds of all food crops deep beneath permafrost to withstand threats ranging from a cataclysmic nuclear war to a mundane power cut.

"New seeds ... are taking us over the milestone of half a million samples," Cary Fowler, head of the Global Crop Diversity Trust which runs the vault with the Norwegian government and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center in Sweden, told Reuters.

A statement said thousands of new arrivals this week made the vault "the most diverse assemblage of crop diversity ever amassed anywhere in the world." It overtakes the diversity in a U.S. national gene bank in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Among arrivals were a bean from South America that may have strong resistance to diseases, a strawberry from Russia's remote Kuril Islands in the Pacific and samples of soybeans from the United States.

Only about 150 crops are grown widely around the world but all come in a wide range of varieties -- potatoes, for instance, come in an array of sizes and colors.

The $10 million facility opened in 2008 with 268,000 varieties of seeds from more than 100 countries.

The three vault rooms will be able to house 4.5 million samples, or 2 billion seeds since samples usually comprise many seeds, such as of rice, maize, wheat, cowpea or barley.

Blasted out of icy rock 1,000 km (600 miles) from the North Pole, the air-locked vaults would stay frozen for 200 years even in the worst-case scenario of global warming and if mechanical refrigeration were to fail, designers say.

Fowler said the vault was becoming more important after a U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in December failed to agree a binding treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

He said the collection could help in work to develop new crops that may contain traits able to withstand rising temperatures, floods or droughts that may be caused by rising temperatures in the 21st century.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)


[Green Business]
BRUSSELS
Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:18am EST
EU to exceed 2020 green energy target: forecasts

(Reuters) - New forecasts suggest the European Union will exceed its target of getting 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020, the European Commission said Thursday.

The latest national projections submitted by governments to the EU executive suggest the 27-nation bloc could reach an overall renewable share of 20.3 percent by the end of the decade.

"These forecasts show that member states take renewable energy very seriously and are really dedicated to pushing their domestic production," EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

Spain and Germany forecast the largest surpluses in 2020, predicting they will exceed their national renewable targets by 2.7 and 0.7 percentage points respectively.

This will help to make up for projected shortfalls in several EU countries, including Italy, which expects to miss its 17 percent target by 1 percentage point.

EU governments that miss their 2020 targets will be forced to buy surplus renewable production from other countries to make up the difference, or could face legal action from the Commission, a spokeswoman for Oettinger said.

(Reporting by Charlie Dunmore; Editing by Jon Boyle)

news20100311reut7

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Scott Malone
BOSTON
Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:17pm EST
Time for next stage of sustainable business

(Reuters) - Corporate America needs to track its use of energy and resources as closely as it does its hiring and cash flow if it wants to keep pace with social concern about climate change and other sustainability issues, an activist U.S. investor group argues in a new report.

Population growth and a rising standard of living across the world will bring opportunities -- but also risks of higher energy costs, scarcer water and other possible consequences of climate change, the Ceres coalition of socially concerned investors, companies and public interest groups said.

Over the next decade, investors and consumers will expect more comprehensive disclosure from businesses about what climate-related risks they face and what they are doing about them, the Boston-based group, whose members oversee some $7 billion in assets, said.

"It's time for a new generation of best practices, new expectations of what sustainability is," said Mindy Lubber, president of the group.

Leading U.S. businesses ranging from top conglomerate General Electric Co to No. 3 railroad CSX Corp to the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, have already gone public about their efforts to make their products and operations more environmentally friendly.

"The next step is moving into a comprehensive set of practices, from the board room to the copy room," Lubber said. "Companies need to take sustainability into account, just as they would other major risks and opportunities in the marketplace."

"Environmental and social issues are core to business performance in the 21st century," Anne Stausboll, chief executive officer of the California Public Employees Retirement System, the biggest U.S. public pension fund and a Ceres member, said in a statement. "We are looking for companies that are managing these risks and developing opportunities."

ROADMAP

In an 84-page report, the group spells out 20 practices it believes investors and consumers will come to expect from companies by 2020. The report is called "The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability" and is set for release on Thursday.

The practices it urges range from tying executive pay to progress on sustainability, to providing greater detail on the environmental impact of products, to setting firm targets on improving energy efficiency, such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

The credit crunch and financial scandals of the past two years have shown investors that businesses can make choices that are far riskier than their executives may consider them to be. That has made some more attuned to the dangers that climate change may pose to business, Lubber said.

Ceres' report also cites some examples of what it considers the new decade's standards in corporate sustainability. Among them are a McDonald's Corp drive to install energy efficiency control systems at its restaurants and Wal-Mart's adoption of a sustainability index intended to help shoppers pick environmentally sensitive products.

Further evidence of corporate America's changing thinking on climate change came last year, when companies including Apple Inc and utility PG&E Corp broke ranks with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation's top business lobbying groups, over its opposition to pending U.S. legislation intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit climate change.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Gary Hill)


[Green Business]
Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent - Analysis
WASHINGTON
Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:04am EST
Political ads: new weapon in U.S. climate change war?

(Reuters) - Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists.

But it is not yet clear whether corporations have the will or the budgets to use the advertising weapon the climate change wars that emerged in January when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right as individuals to free political speech, including spending on advertising.

The decision could affect every issue and every political race in this congressional election year, but those pushing for a federal law to limit greenhouse gas emissions say it will hit them harder because business interests have much more money to spend on these campaigns.

"Environmental voices are already far outspent by voices of all sorts of polluting interests, but the Supreme Court decision has really now opened the floodgates for big oil and dirty coal to spend ... much, much more money in the electoral arena," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

Green groups -- including even the powerful Service Employees International Union, which has pushed for cap-and-trade measures as a spur to clean-energy jobs -- are at a disadvantage.

"What will happen now is corporate CEOs will be able to freely raid their corporate till and spend their shareholders' money to advance this political agenda ... to give an even larger voice to corporations and their profit margins," said Lori Lodes of the employees union.

Legislation to battle global warming is stalled in the U.S. Senate and there is growing pessimism that a law can be passed before November's elections. A defeat of pro-green candidates could doom the initiative for some time.

Another factor working against those seeking a global warming law is the shrinking of traditional media, according to Bob Deans of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Environmental groups used to be able to get free media coverage by pitching stories to reporters. Now many journalists who wrote about those issues are gone, and the space available for coverage of the environment is shrinking.

"When you combine that with this ruling ... it just makes it harder and harder for the real interest of the public to be expressed in that way," Deans said.

TAKING AIM AT CANDIDATES?

The Supreme Court ruling makes it possible for businesses, unions and interest groups to take aim at political candidates because of their stance on a specific issue.

It is impossible to predict spending on candidate-specific climate change ads, but energy interests spent about 10 times as much as environmental interests in the last election year, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

In 2008, corporations in the broad energy sector made $77.7 million in political contributions, with $35.5 million coming from the oil and gas industries. Republican candidates, most of whom oppose carbon-capping legislation, received 66 percent of the total.

By contrast, environmental groups spent $5.5 million on political contributions in 2008, with 87 percent of that going to Democrats.

In addition, the Service Employees International Union contributed $2.7 million, with 95 percent given to Democrats. The union and environmental groups together donated $8.2 million, a bit more than one-tenth the energy sector's tally.

But this is more than a simple financial contest. One energy lobbyist noted that many big corporations, including energy firms and automakers, have joined the push for a bill to cap greenhouse emissions and trade allowances for them.

"Nobody wants to not be green," said Josh Zeib, a lawyer and lobbyist with the firm Bracewell and Giuliani, which handles energy industry clients.

"Nobody wants to wander out alienating the public and legislators and making things worse, and that risk is out there for companies who move too aggressively" in political advertising, Zeib said in a telephone interview.

This year, neither he nor other corporate sources saw a big influx of advertising money targeting climate change.

One oil industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the impact of the Supreme Court's decision would be minimal.

"At this time we don't plan on using corporate funds for this purpose," the source said. "Everybody's tightening their belts and looking where they can be economical in their spending."

(Editing by Russell Blinch and Chris Wilson)