Extra!
HIV/AIDS – a workplace issue
The loss of workers, and their skills and experience, due to AIDS, can increase the burden on the remaining workforce, lowering morale and reducing productivity.
First osmosis power plant opens
In November 2009, the Norwegian company, Statkraft, opened a prototype power plant that generates electricity using the natural process that keeps plants standing upright and the cells of animal bodies swollen, rigid, and hydrated. Osmosis occurs when two solutions of different concentrations meet at a semipermeable membrane.
At the osmotic power plant at Tofte, near Oslo, [...]
Spotlight on Bhutan
The Kingdom of Bhutan is a small, landlocked country in South Asia, located in the eastern Himalayas, and bordered by India and China. Bhutan is home to a population of about 687,000, spread over an area of approximately 47,000 km², with about 70% of the land area under forest cover. Much of the population lives [...]
Greening the UN
Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), reckons, “It is incumbent on every country and every organization, including the United Nations, to first measure, and then measure down, its environmental impact.”
And it seems that the rest of the UN is starting to get the message.
Hydrogen vehicles – could they really be happening?
In the rush to embrace the transport fuel options of ethanol and rechargeable batteries, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have been largely forgotten. But now, across the globe, there are indications that it’s not only the idea that is making a comeback: it looks like hydrogen vehicles really are going to hit the street.
The world’s ten leading geothermal cities
Copenhagen, Denmark: Having set a target of zero carbon emissions by 2025, the city could meet 50% of its heating needs by using its geothermal resources.
Larderello, Italy: Boasts the very first geothermal power plant, which opened at the beginning of the 20th century.
Reykjavik, Iceland: Abundant geothermal resources provide heat for approximately 87% of Iceland’s buildings.
[...]
Did you know?
…that in CHILE the per capita personal disposable income (at 2005 prices) increased from US$1,863 in 1990 to US$4,118 in 2008, and the percentage of the population living in poverty fell from 39% in 1990 to 14% in 2006.
…that BOTSWANA has maintained one of the world’s highest economic growth rates since independence in 1966. Economic [...]
Doubts about CCS
With industrial production estimated to be responsible for an ever greater proportion of global CO2 emissions, the International Energy Agency is advising that the world needs more than 3,000 Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) plants by the year 2050.
Nick Otter, chief executive of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, is upbeat, telling the Financial [...]
Business matters: Trends
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that manufacturing industry can improve its energy efficiency by an impressive 18 to 26%, while reducing the sector’s CO2 emissions by 19 to 32% based on proven technology.
If governments continue to make good on pledges to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, and businesses maintain investments in climate [...]
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