AFP
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Japanese schoolchildren in yellow scarves, blue hats and red caps buzzed through an eco-products fair - a green show-and-tell for high tech companies seeking to enthuse a new generation.
Educational workshops and corporate booths at Eco-Products 2010, one of the country's largest environmental exhibitions, last week showed off ways to save and sustain the planet that these youngsters will soon inherit.
"Do you know how we can separate different plastics used in a refrigerator after it is crushed?" asked an engineer from Mitsubishi Electric, one of more than 700 exhibitors that filled the large trade fair hall.
A lot of blank faces stared back - but soon the children tried the process for themselves, shaking up clear plastic bottles filled with water and a mixture of scraps of different plastic components.
"If we put the plastic scraps in the water, some float and others sink, so you can make an initial separation," said the engineer, explaining the concept behind Mitsubishi Electric's industrial-scale recycling processes.
In the next stage of the experiment, the children spun the remaining scraps in a second, dry bottle, with some bits sticking to the side because of static electricity and others sliding to the bottom.
The theme of the exhibition - held at Tokyo Big Sight, a futuristic harbourside conference centre topped by a giant inverted pyramid - was "Green x Clean Revolution! Expand the power to connect lives to the world".
The fair drew a record of more than 180,000 visitors in three days, including some 20,000 students from in and around Tokyo, organisers said.
To stay true to its green message, the fair was powered by wind, solar and biomass energy sources, and paper entry tickets were replaced with bar-codes emailed to guests' cellphones and scanned on the way into the fair.
On display were eco-products from home appliances to hybrid and electric cars, but also energy and chemical applications, and sustainable and non-polluting methods of making paper and other materials.
Also pushing eco-education with games and quizzes were other electronics giants such as Sony, Fujitsu and Toshiba, which showed off green products from mini-wind farms to solar-powered toy cars.
Many of the stands also featured manga and anime cartoons - including hugely popular "future cat" Doraemon - as well as pictures and pronunciation guides for tech jargon to teach their impressionable young audience, many of whom embraced the message.
"The Earth is being degraded and we must fix it," said one of the students, nine-year-old Ryunosuke Takagi.
"Coming here, I can really learn about new energy sources, and I am really amazed at the techniques that have been devised to better preserve the environment. It's frankly very interesting," he said.
Nature, the need to preserve it and, occasionally, its destructive wrath, are ever-present in Japan - a volcanic island-nation that is regularly battered by earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.
With precious few energy and mineral resources of its own, Japan was hard hit by the 1973 oil crisis, which sent its companies and citizens scrambling for ways to save on oil, water and electricity.
They have helped make Japan a leader in green technology - from hybrid and electric cars, to light emitting diodes, solar cells, new power systems, and even water-saving electronically-controlled toilets.
Companies have found that ecology sells.
"Our goal is to sell products that are less polluting - in the production phase, during use and when they are recycled," said Machiko Miyai, director of Panasonic's green electronics and appliances division.
Another student, Genki Watanabe, 10, said he was captivated by the cutting-edge environmental technologies: "It's awfully nice to be here, we are taught so many things. I want to come every year."
Sunday, 19 December 2010
The IoS Christmas Appeal: Solar power frees thousands from risks of search for water
Simple pumps have saved villagers from a dangerous job
By Raymond Whitaker
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Imagine that, instead of turning a tap, you had to walk more than 10 miles every time you wanted water. And that you then had to descend into a crumbling pit dug in a dry riverbed, to scoop out dirty water with your bare hands, knowing that it could make you and your family sick.
In the drought-stricken areas of Africa where the charity Practical Action works, this is the fate of thousands of village women. They are also at risk of rape, attack by wild animals – or, in Sudan's Darfur region, where Practical Action was one of only a handful of aid organisations to remain throughout the conflict, death at the hands of marauding militias.
Even in Kenya, normally considered more stable, lingering drought in the northern Turkana region has led to violent clashes over water sources. No wonder that Eshe Emase, of Namoruputh village, said: "Every time I am forced to fetch water, my legs shake with fear." But women like her, whose men are often away seeking work, have no choice. If they bring back no water, their families face not only thirst but eventual starvation, because their animals would die.
Practical Action, which is being supported by The Independent on Sunday's Christmas Appeal, exists to find appropriate technological solutions for problems such as water supply. The answer for Namoruputh was brilliant in its simplicity: if climate change has left Turkana with too much sun and not enough water, use solar power to pump water up from underground reserves. The village now has a solar pump which brings up to 10,000 litres of water an hour from a 100m deep well, serving more than 10,500 people.
"We used to have regular cases of water-related disease, including diarrhoea and typhoid, but that's a thing of the past," said Mark Amojong, the village chief. Ms Emase and her children no longer have to spend two hours a day collecting water, carrying containers weighing 20kg over long distances. The children now go to school, and their mother can grow more food, such as cow peas, kale and pumpkins, for the family. "Soon I won't be going to the market to buy vegetables," she said. "I will be going to sell my own instead."
While the initial investment in solar pumping, at nearly £7,700, is relatively expensive, that is only 74p a person. Practical Action makes sure that local people are trained to keep the system running for as long as 25 years.
Many of the charity's techniques are as cheap as they are ingenious. In Sudan, where fresh food quickly perishes in the blinding heat, the charity has devised an earthenware "fridge" called a zeer pot, which can keep 12kg of produce fresh for up to three weeks. A small clay pot is fitted inside a larger one, with a layer of wet sand in between. Fruit and vegetables are stored in the inner pot, which is covered with a damp cloth and left in a very dry, ventilated place. As the moisture evaporates, the temperature in the inner container falls several degrees, preserving the contents. The improvement in diets is dramatic. The zeer pots cost just £12.50 to make.
No people are more vulnerable than those who have lost their land because of drought. Living in camps, dependent on food handouts, they are easy prey for armed groups. Yet with help from Practical Action, communities across Sudan have built dams to capture such rain as does fall, enabling thousands to stay on the land and improve their lives. Many can now eat three meals a day.
Lubna Mohammed Adam, who lost her husband in the Darfur conflict, helped carry blocks of stone to build a dam near her village of Abu Degaise. "Now there is water where there was none," she said. She can grow sorghum, watermelon and cucumber – some to eat, some to sell. One of her neighbours, Mohammed Yahya Mohammed, said people could previously grow crops for only four months of the year, and had to migrate to the capital, Khartoum, in the summer to look for work. Since the dam was built, the growing season had doubled to eight months, transforming the community.
In eastern Sudan, Mohammed Nor faced leaving the farm that had supported the family in the time of his father and grandfather, but another dam, built with Practical Action's help, saved their way of life. "For too long we felt forgotten," he said. "I was determined that my family wouldn't move, but we were struggling to find a way to survive. Now we are farming, growing crops to sell at market: we can rely on ourselves."
These people are testimony to the effectiveness of Practical Action's methods. Your donations to the IoS Christmas Appeal will enable the charity to deliver direct help where it is needed most.
What your money can buy
You could help transform poor families' lives. So please, give whatever you can to help lift more people out of poverty today.
£60 helps 80 people get clean water from a solar-powered pump.
£125 buys ploughs and tools for a community to irrigate their land.
£200 pays for zeer pots for 16 families.
£570 could purchase two sets of sluice gates for earth dams.
By Raymond Whitaker
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Imagine that, instead of turning a tap, you had to walk more than 10 miles every time you wanted water. And that you then had to descend into a crumbling pit dug in a dry riverbed, to scoop out dirty water with your bare hands, knowing that it could make you and your family sick.
In the drought-stricken areas of Africa where the charity Practical Action works, this is the fate of thousands of village women. They are also at risk of rape, attack by wild animals – or, in Sudan's Darfur region, where Practical Action was one of only a handful of aid organisations to remain throughout the conflict, death at the hands of marauding militias.
Even in Kenya, normally considered more stable, lingering drought in the northern Turkana region has led to violent clashes over water sources. No wonder that Eshe Emase, of Namoruputh village, said: "Every time I am forced to fetch water, my legs shake with fear." But women like her, whose men are often away seeking work, have no choice. If they bring back no water, their families face not only thirst but eventual starvation, because their animals would die.
Practical Action, which is being supported by The Independent on Sunday's Christmas Appeal, exists to find appropriate technological solutions for problems such as water supply. The answer for Namoruputh was brilliant in its simplicity: if climate change has left Turkana with too much sun and not enough water, use solar power to pump water up from underground reserves. The village now has a solar pump which brings up to 10,000 litres of water an hour from a 100m deep well, serving more than 10,500 people.
"We used to have regular cases of water-related disease, including diarrhoea and typhoid, but that's a thing of the past," said Mark Amojong, the village chief. Ms Emase and her children no longer have to spend two hours a day collecting water, carrying containers weighing 20kg over long distances. The children now go to school, and their mother can grow more food, such as cow peas, kale and pumpkins, for the family. "Soon I won't be going to the market to buy vegetables," she said. "I will be going to sell my own instead."
While the initial investment in solar pumping, at nearly £7,700, is relatively expensive, that is only 74p a person. Practical Action makes sure that local people are trained to keep the system running for as long as 25 years.
Many of the charity's techniques are as cheap as they are ingenious. In Sudan, where fresh food quickly perishes in the blinding heat, the charity has devised an earthenware "fridge" called a zeer pot, which can keep 12kg of produce fresh for up to three weeks. A small clay pot is fitted inside a larger one, with a layer of wet sand in between. Fruit and vegetables are stored in the inner pot, which is covered with a damp cloth and left in a very dry, ventilated place. As the moisture evaporates, the temperature in the inner container falls several degrees, preserving the contents. The improvement in diets is dramatic. The zeer pots cost just £12.50 to make.
No people are more vulnerable than those who have lost their land because of drought. Living in camps, dependent on food handouts, they are easy prey for armed groups. Yet with help from Practical Action, communities across Sudan have built dams to capture such rain as does fall, enabling thousands to stay on the land and improve their lives. Many can now eat three meals a day.
Lubna Mohammed Adam, who lost her husband in the Darfur conflict, helped carry blocks of stone to build a dam near her village of Abu Degaise. "Now there is water where there was none," she said. She can grow sorghum, watermelon and cucumber – some to eat, some to sell. One of her neighbours, Mohammed Yahya Mohammed, said people could previously grow crops for only four months of the year, and had to migrate to the capital, Khartoum, in the summer to look for work. Since the dam was built, the growing season had doubled to eight months, transforming the community.
In eastern Sudan, Mohammed Nor faced leaving the farm that had supported the family in the time of his father and grandfather, but another dam, built with Practical Action's help, saved their way of life. "For too long we felt forgotten," he said. "I was determined that my family wouldn't move, but we were struggling to find a way to survive. Now we are farming, growing crops to sell at market: we can rely on ourselves."
These people are testimony to the effectiveness of Practical Action's methods. Your donations to the IoS Christmas Appeal will enable the charity to deliver direct help where it is needed most.
What your money can buy
You could help transform poor families' lives. So please, give whatever you can to help lift more people out of poverty today.
£60 helps 80 people get clean water from a solar-powered pump.
£125 buys ploughs and tools for a community to irrigate their land.
£200 pays for zeer pots for 16 families.
£570 could purchase two sets of sluice gates for earth dams.
Britain's new generation of green power plants 'are caught in planning delays'
CBI and unions call on government to clear logjams delaying 37 major energy schemes that could create up to 50,000 construction jobs
by Terry Macalister The Observer, Sunday 19 December 2010
The opportunity to create up to 50,000 badly needed jobs in the construction sector by building a new generation of "greener" power plants is being thrown away by long delays in the planning process, ministers have been warned.
Union leaders have joined the Confederation of British Industry in pressing the government to clear the logjams that have led to almost 40 major energy schemes being held up.
"We are calling on ministers to act now to ensure projects get under way, not only to meet Britain's energy needs but also for the valuable jobs these projects will create in the construction industry," said Tom Hardacre, national officer for the construction industry at Unite.
The call comes just days after energy secretary Chris Huhne promised to push ahead with wide-ranging energy market reform but also follows a warning from the CBI about the need to deal with the delays.
Environment consultants Atmos added to concerns this weekend by questioning whether major job cuts in local authorities and advisory bodies could lead to further postponements.
Among the 37 schemes listed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change as awaiting decisions is one by Warwick Energy that needs permission from Lib Dem-controlled North Norfolk district council to connect Dudgeon East offshore wind farm to the local electrical grid.
John Sulley, a director of Warwick Energy, said more than 400 construction jobs and around 100 operational posts would be created by the £1.5bn wind scheme, which has waited more than a year for consent to put in the power cables.
"It seems a long time to wait and it is clearly vital if we are committed to renewable energy that schemes like ours can progress as quickly as possible," he added.
But the Warwick scheme is only one of many, with Ecotricity waiting to hear about an application to build an onshore wind farm at East Heckington in Lincolnshire and Dong Energy waiting for news on Westermost Rough wind farm at Hornsea, Yorkshire.
Innovative biomass and wave schemes such as ones put forward by Drax and Wave Dragon Wales are on hold. Meanwhile, EDF is waiting for planning permission for its new combined-cycle gas turbine project at New Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, and E.ON is delayed on a similar scheme at Drakelow in Derbyshire.
The coalition government, which inherited many of the delays from the previous administration, has promised to speed up planning consents through the use of a newly created Major Infrastructure Unit. But John Cridland, the CBI's director-general designate, said that changes to the planning system had themselves created a mood of uncertainty among investors.
"An effective planning system is at the heart of building the low-carbon infrastructure needed to transform our economy... This government has great green ambition, but we need to see swift action if it is to fulfil its green promise," he said.
The CBI's "climate change tracker" charts progress in decarbonising four areas: power, buildings, transport and industry. Of the 13 indicators, one is green, showing that progress is on track (nuclear); three are red, meaning little progress (homes, buildings and industry); and nine are amber, showing good ambition but insufficient delivery, the business organisation reported on Friday.
by Terry Macalister The Observer, Sunday 19 December 2010
The opportunity to create up to 50,000 badly needed jobs in the construction sector by building a new generation of "greener" power plants is being thrown away by long delays in the planning process, ministers have been warned.
Union leaders have joined the Confederation of British Industry in pressing the government to clear the logjams that have led to almost 40 major energy schemes being held up.
"We are calling on ministers to act now to ensure projects get under way, not only to meet Britain's energy needs but also for the valuable jobs these projects will create in the construction industry," said Tom Hardacre, national officer for the construction industry at Unite.
The call comes just days after energy secretary Chris Huhne promised to push ahead with wide-ranging energy market reform but also follows a warning from the CBI about the need to deal with the delays.
Environment consultants Atmos added to concerns this weekend by questioning whether major job cuts in local authorities and advisory bodies could lead to further postponements.
Among the 37 schemes listed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change as awaiting decisions is one by Warwick Energy that needs permission from Lib Dem-controlled North Norfolk district council to connect Dudgeon East offshore wind farm to the local electrical grid.
John Sulley, a director of Warwick Energy, said more than 400 construction jobs and around 100 operational posts would be created by the £1.5bn wind scheme, which has waited more than a year for consent to put in the power cables.
"It seems a long time to wait and it is clearly vital if we are committed to renewable energy that schemes like ours can progress as quickly as possible," he added.
But the Warwick scheme is only one of many, with Ecotricity waiting to hear about an application to build an onshore wind farm at East Heckington in Lincolnshire and Dong Energy waiting for news on Westermost Rough wind farm at Hornsea, Yorkshire.
Innovative biomass and wave schemes such as ones put forward by Drax and Wave Dragon Wales are on hold. Meanwhile, EDF is waiting for planning permission for its new combined-cycle gas turbine project at New Sutton Bridge in Lincolnshire, and E.ON is delayed on a similar scheme at Drakelow in Derbyshire.
The coalition government, which inherited many of the delays from the previous administration, has promised to speed up planning consents through the use of a newly created Major Infrastructure Unit. But John Cridland, the CBI's director-general designate, said that changes to the planning system had themselves created a mood of uncertainty among investors.
"An effective planning system is at the heart of building the low-carbon infrastructure needed to transform our economy... This government has great green ambition, but we need to see swift action if it is to fulfil its green promise," he said.
The CBI's "climate change tracker" charts progress in decarbonising four areas: power, buildings, transport and industry. Of the 13 indicators, one is green, showing that progress is on track (nuclear); three are red, meaning little progress (homes, buildings and industry); and nine are amber, showing good ambition but insufficient delivery, the business organisation reported on Friday.