European Nations Environment permits

European Union Member Countries Ten European Union member nations have failed to keep environmental permits up to date. That means industries and municipalities in those nations report pollutant air emissions and water discharges in dissimilar ways. After missing an October of 2007 EU deadline, final warnings were sent to "Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, after which they face the prospect of court action. Denmark and Ireland were sent first warnings.

Effects of Climate Change - Will it increase eco-warfare?

A few years ago the Pentagon-sponsored report, Abrupt Climate Change Scenario warned of the need to strengthen US defenses against "unwanted starving immigrants" from the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. In January 2007, the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root won a contract from the US government to augment existing immigration detention and removal facilities "in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the US."

Some worry that climate change issue is being looked at the wrong way. Rather than looking for solutions to help mitigate climate change backlashes around the world, developed nations are only looking out for their own short-term interests. Some fear this mindset could be used as an excuse for the US military to justify more overseas interventions, especially in Africa. American defense officials are currently citing the threat of climate-induced disorder and to legitimize the establishment of AFRICOM, the Bush administration's controversial new regional military command for Africa. The CNA defense think tank's influential 2007 report "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change" focuses on how resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change are likely to trigger violent conflict in Africa.

The nations predicted to be most affected by climate change are those with the least capacity to adapt or cope. This is especially true in Africa, which is becoming an increasingly important source of US oil and gas imports. Already suffering tension and stress resulting from weak governance and thin margins of survival due to food and water shortages, Africa would be yet further challenged by climate change. The proposal by the Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a new Africa Command reflects Africa's emerging strategic importance to the US, and with humanitarian catastrophes already occurring, a worsening of conditions could prompt further US military engagement.

By the year 2100, global warming likely will cause the extinction of numerous species by eliminating the climate zones in which they are able to live, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy Of Sciences earlier this year. But not only will animals be forced to move or die, people will be faced with this same dilemma as well.

With the planet heating up, and global warming predicted to redefine world climates, and some places will be harder hit than others. A new study shows that as climate change intensifies droughts, storms and floods, this will undoubtedly lead to environmental migrations and potential conflicts in the areas migrated to.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the US, large populations were forced to find refuge elsewhere. Rafael Reuveny from Indiana University says these types of displacing natural phenomenon will only grow. His new study takes a look at the role environmental degradation on population migration, or ‘ecomigration’ will play in the future. The study in the journal Human Ecology examines the potential impact on areas receiving migrants and the resulting violent conflict that could follow.

The study underlies the fact that people facing environmental disasters are usually forced to leave the affected areas to avoid death. However understandable this might be, the larger the migration and the shorter the period over which it occurs, the harder it is for surrounding populations to absorb the migrants. Reuveny says this will dramatically raise the likelihood of conflict. For example ecomigrants may clash over jobs with locals, as well as over resources and culture. Violent interactions such as theft, seizure of resources and property, murders and insurgencies are likely to rise, he predicts.

Reuveny asserts that in order to minimize the impact of these future environmental migrations, developed countries should already be involved in creating preventive strategies both at home and in developing countries to mitigate these likelihoods. The time to come up with game plans is now, he argues, because climate change is expected to degrade the environment considerably during this century.

Reuveny’s analysis of three case studies – the US Dust Bowl in the 1930s; Bangladesh since the 1950s; and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, shows that although climate change can spur large population movements, public policy does have the power to alleviate the pressures of ecomigration. If a country can invest in areas affected by environmental problems, the scope of ecomigration can be reduced and transitions will be smoother, he argues.

According to Reuveny, “minimizing climate change-induced migration and violent conflict in receiving areas requires an engineered economic slowdown in the developed countries, and population stabilization and economic growth in developing countries financed by the developed countries.”

Scientists have largely concluded that by 2100, climate zones will have likely changed across 12 to 39 percent of the Earth's land surface, based on a model that presumes a continuation of current patterns of fossil fuel use and carbon emissions. Climate change will affect world migration trends and inevitably cause some amount of conflict, but exactly to what extent remains to be seen. However, wars would only add to the world’s collective suffering. Rather than looking at ways to protect our own assets, we would all be better off to look for more holistic approaches to mitigating these issues from a global perspective.

Courtesy: Casey Kazan - Daily Galaxy Editorial

B Zero EV - Not a Prototype

Meet the electric car B0 (pronounced B Zero and not BEE-OH) - the offspring of a partnership between French industrial giant Bolloré and Italian car firm Pininfarina. It looks oh-so-sophisticated, and has already received a rave review from CarTech, which called it the best looking small car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.

The four-seater, four-door hatchback has a 153-mile (246 kilometres) range and a top governed speed of 80 mph (129 kilometres per hour) and nifty looking solar panels build into the roof and hood. Originally conceptualized in 2004 as a two-door model, the B0 today has added more doors and shrunken the battery size.

The B0’s secret weapon is its lithium polymer (LMP) battery, which is paired with an ultracapacitor. The latter stores energy and allows for regenerative braking and acceleration capabilities. The battery can recharge in a few hours and, although not confirmed, early pricing reports place it around $23,000 - not including the price of leasing the lithium-ion battery packs.

Best of all, B0 is not a prototype but an actual production model. More will roll out of its Turin factory by the end of 2009.

Project Orion - Secret Atomic Spaceship

World renowned physicist Freeman Dyson's son, George Dyson, tells the spellbinding story of Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft the size of the Empire State building fueled by atomic bombs with the power to destroy half of Planet Earth. The mission was to take us to Saturn in five years. With an insider's perspective and a cache of documents -many still classified-photos and film, Dyson brings this dusty Atomic Age dream of the early 1960's to life.

The project lives today in limbo at NASA possibly to be activated should an asteroid arrive with our name on it.

Here is the VIDEO

Eliica - 8 Wheels, 370 hp - Totally Electric

The Keio Advanced Zero-Emmision Vehicle (KAS) has surfaced with a second-generation model named the Eliica, which stands for electric lithium-ion car. Developed by a team at Keio University headed by Professor Hiroshi Shimizu, the Eliica has four axles with eight wheels. No reason for the extra set of axles is given, though perhaps they're needed when the vehicle is traveling at its top speed of 230 mph, which actually was reached one day last year at the Nardo in Italy.

The Eliica takes 10 hours to charge and will travel 125 miles on a charge. It can accelerate to 62 mph in 4.1 seconds, after which we imaging you'd need to recharge it again. The team's goal is beat the top speed of the Bugatti Veyron and produce 200 units of the Eliica for people like George Clooney and that ex-Baywatch babe who still drives an EV1.

Though it looks to be limousine length, the Eliica actually only seats the driver and three passengers – small consolation is that at an approximate US$320,000 a unit in prototype form, the car will still be in a limousine price range when manufactured in production quantities.

The Eliica was shown in two guises at the Tokyo Motor Show recently – one a roadgoing prototype and the other a record-breaking speedster.

Naturally enough, the Eliica roadgoing prototype aims to offer the ultimate environment and safety standards – power will be available by plugging into the mains electricity where it will take 10 hours to take on a full charge which should offer the 2,400kg Eliica a range of 200 kilomtres.

The final configuration of the Eliica is supposed to be either a four seater sedan that outperforms a sport car, or a sport car that offers the space and ride comfort of an SUV or "cross-over vehicle".

The 370km/h record-breaker was also on show in Tokyo boasting an acceleration time from 0 to 100km/h of 4.1seconds and 0 to 160km/h of just 7.0seconds.

Corn Ethanol - Analysis, Enhancements

Net energy yield (NEY) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction compared to gasoline from different types of corn-ethanol systems used as default scenarios in the BESS model. NEY includes ethanol plus coproduct energy credit minus energy inputs. A closed-loop biorefinery with anaerobic digestion (CL) reduced GHG emissions by 67%. Credit: Yale Univ.

Direct-effect GHG emissions from corn ethanol are equivalent to a 48% to 59% reduction compared to gasoline—a twofold to threefold greater reduction than reported in previous studies—as a result of recent improvements in efficiency throughout the production process, according to a study by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

The team of UNL researchers evaluated dry-mill ethanol plants that use natural gas. Such plants account for nearly 90% of current production capacity. An open-access paper on the study was published 21 January in the Journal of Industrial Ecology.

The direct-effect emissions assessment considered the energy used for feedstock production and harvesting (e.g., fossil fuels for field operations and electricity for grain drying and irrigation) as well as upstream costs for the production of fertilizer, pesticides, and seed; depreciable cost of manufacturing farm machinery; and the energy required in the production of fossil fuels and electricity.

Detailed report : Here

Regional variability in corn-ethanol system performance due to differences in inputs to and outputs from crop production: (A) Net energy yield of the corn-ethanol production life cycle, given a new natural gas biorefinery. (B) Greenhouse gas intensity of corn production (kg CO₂e Mg^-1 grain), and life cycle GHG reductions of corn-ethanol compared to gasoline (%), given a new natural gas biorefinery. Results were calculated with the BESS model. Credit: Yale Univ.

Anti Cancer Plants - Ultimate Green Tech

Scientists have created a plant that naturally produces anti-cancer chemicals, and I have to ask: if they have any wishes left in the magic lamp that made this dream possible I'd like a warp drive or some kind of robot Angelina Jolie cheerleader. Seriously, this idea is the greenest technology since Captain Planets recycling bin.

MIT researchers led by Professor Sarah O'Connor have genetically engineered a periwinkle plant to produce anti-cancer compounds. She also appears confident that she can evade SKYNET - you might think that sticking an 'O' in your name isn't much defense against Terminators, but you have to remember how fussy computers are about syntax.

Periwinkle naturally generates useful medicines like vinblastine, but the team have altered it with mutant enzymes to produce new and improved artificial elixers. At this point we have to hope that it doesn't turn evil, because seriously: curing cancer. That's the sort of thing that always has scientists screaming "But think of all the good it could do!", preventing anyone from destroying the vegetable-muto-murderer while it's vulnerable and next thing you know it's grown ten foot tall and killed half the (strangely isolated) research station.

Such pharmaco-ferns could pull the best pun in medical history, replacing expensive pharmacological production plants with actual free growing plants - producing vital medicines for a fraction of the cost. The team currently have one mutant periwinkle plant, with plans to design and produce many more. So the next time someone says that things don't grow on trees, point out that it's only because we haven't genetically engineered them yet.

Electric Cars in India

The driving force behind electric cars in India is the high cost of fuel - much higher than US. Not any love for the environment. Well, whatever is the reason, electric cars pollute much less (especially if the electricity is produced from hydro-electric projects) and cost a lot less to run.

Tata Motors, who showed off the $ 2,500 car Tata Nano to much acclaim, have announced their plans to launch an electric version of the Nano. Many others too have spoken of their plans in the electric car market in India. Let us take a look at who is doing what.

Reva Electric Car Co

These guys have been around for quite some time, though their little car never picked up sales. Reva Electric has manufactured a total of 2500 cars in 7 years - out of which 700 were sold in London as the G-Wiz.

In India, the running cost of the latest Reva, the Revai, is 40 paise per kilometer. (100 paise = 1 rupee, 43 rupees = 1 USD). The Revai has a claimed maximum speed of 80 kmph (50 mph) and a range of 80 kms too. After tests in Europe showed the Reva to be very unsafe, the company claims that the car has been strengthened. In Europe anyway it comes in the quadracycle category which means they do not have to pass carcrash safety tests.

In New Delhi, after concessions from the central and state governments, the Revai electric car now costs Rs 2.99 lakh in New Delhi, otherwise it woud put you back by Rs 3.49 lakhs. No wonder it does not sell much, at that price, one can easily buy a Santro or an Alto and get a much more powerful car that carries 4 adults in comfort.

Seating Capacity: 2 Adults & 2 Children below 12 years
Payload: 227 Kgs
Top Speed: 80 kmph
Charge Time: 80% charge in 2.5 hrs, 100% charge in 8 hrs
Availability: Now

The Reva NXG, a concept, shows promise with vastly improved speed, charge time and range. However, yu will have to wait till those features make their way into a standard Reva electric car you can buy.

Hero Electric

Joining the electric car bandwagon in India is Hero Electric, the manufacturer of two wheelers. Hero Electric will introduce an electric car in another five years and is also planning to come out with a battery-driven three wheeler. The company is said to be now busy with research on prototypes of an e-car so that it can meet its commitment. Hero Electric says that its car won’t use conventional batteries but capacitors for instant charging. How that works, I have no idea!

Availability: 2013. You will be an old by then, and you can buy it for your teen daughter!

Mahindra and Mahindra

Yet another Indian major that will see its own electric car in a few years is Mahindra and Mahindra. The SUV maker is working on an electric car for India and is expected to roll out its first electric car by year 2010. The Mahindra car will be a four-seater that will run on lead acid battery initially. The company might opt for nickel metal hydride later on.

The Mahindras have said that the its electric car would be bigger than the Reva and might cost more. Reva currently carries a price tag of Rs 3.5 lakh for the base model in Bangalore, while it sells for Rs 2.9 lakh in Delhi. Mahindra and Mahindra plans to roll out its electric car initially in India and then take it to the overseas market. Electric technology is not new to M&M as it has already tested the market with its electric three-wheeler called Bijlee. It is also working on an electric adaptation of its three-wheeler Alfa.

Mitsubishi Motors

Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors is also said to be making its electric car for the Indian car mart. To be powered by lithium-ion batteries that can be charged up to 80 per cent in 30 minutes with a special charging system, the Mitsubshi e-car would have a motor placed at the back of the car.

The Mitsubishi e-car is expected to run approximately 90 miles in a single charge with the top speed of around 90kmph. Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (MiEV) has already been launched in Japan and Hong Kong, and will be seen in India in a few years.

Tata Motors

Tata Motors’ electric dreams would ride on a Nano, it is rumoured. The Indian giant plans to roll out its electric car as a variant of Tata Nano in the country. To be called the E-Nano, the Tatas will make the car in association with Norwegian electric car specialist Miljoebil Grenland.

There is a an electric Indica car which might appear in Norway within an year. Tata has not said if that would come to India, though.

The electric Nano is something to get excited about, I think. Tata Motors has shown that they can deliver on their promises most times, and once the Nano is available in India, we think the electric Nano plans would be accelerated.

Availability: 2010?

Ajanta electric car

Yes, Ajenta the clockmaker. They are planning an electric car that would be available at the Rs 1 lakh price of the Nano. Currently they are in research mode, and it seems they already have an electric scooter in the market called Oreva - who knew!

Anyway, there is a market in electric cars in India for sure; we would buy anything that saves us running costs. Hopefully, in a few years time, we would have a good idea what is going to be launched, and when.

Reforestation - How beneficial is it really

Reforestation a growing, but complicated, initiative

As the rate of deforestation continues apace — 13 million hectares per year in a global basis — several countries have begun to look at reforesting degraded areas to aid suffering biodiversity, indigenous groups, and small local economies. However most of the interest and activity surrounding reforestation is as a tool to mitigate climate change. A new program just launched by the Nature Conservancy and several local partners plans to plant a billion trees in the fragmented Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The United Nations Environmental Program has already planted over two billion trees worldwide and plans to plant five billion more. China has planted billions more. However effective reforestation is not proving as easy as simply planting trees and waiting for them to grow, in fact, sometimes it may be best to leave the whole process to nature.


In a 'perspective' piece published in the journal Science, Dr. Robin Chazdon argues that the complexities involved in reforestation initiatives require a case-by-case analysis to determine whether natural regeneration or some form of human-guided reforestation is the best way to proceed. Considering the growing interest in reforestation, Chazdon believes it is best if done effectively, positing the question: "At what position along a forest degradation gradient does 'accelerating succession' through planting trees achieve faster recovery of forest structure and composition compared with unassisted regeneration? This question is challenging to address." Challenging indeed: Brazil has attempted 98 forest reforestation projects with only two successes to speak of.


Using the metaphor of a staircase, with the the top being untouched forest, Chazdon says that depending on the state of the forest and its soil, some forest regeneration may benefit from human intervention, but that many secondary forests have proven that nature works better. Puerto Rico is an example: "After 30 to 40 years, natural regeneration following abandonment of pasture and coffee plantations produced secondary forests in Puerto Rico with biomass, stem density, and species richness similar to the island's mature forests".

Chazdon sees commercial plantations as the most problematic of reforestation initiatives--with the highest rate of failure. On her staircase, plantations are the lowest form of forest rehabilitation. In order to succeed Chazdon believes that plantations must be apart of "a heterogeneous landscape mosaic".

Reforestation programs are growing every year. Tropical natural forests are expanding in countries like Cuba, Gambia, and Vietnam. Forests also continue to expand in Europe and the U.S. Much of the interest in reforestation is based on carbon storage and climate mitigation, but Chazdon cautions against quick solutions: "Fastgrowing, short-lived species with low-density wood are favored by many reforestation project designed to provide carbon offsets," she writes, "but long-term carbon sequestration is promoted by growth of long-lived, slow-growing tree species with dense wood and slow turnover of woody tissues".

Despite the positive and growing interest in reforestation, Chazdon is quick to state that new forests are not a solution to deforestation of existing forests: "Plantations and restored forests can improve ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity conservation, but will not match the composition and structure of the original forest cover".

Chazdon says reforestation, like forests themselves, are complex. She believes the best method for regenerating new forests must take into account a wide variety of factors including financial support, soil quality, current vegetation, time frame, and the desired outcome. Chazdon estimates that a combination of reforestation and natural regeneration could allow forests to reclaim 700 million hectares in fifty years time.

Dr. Robin Chazdon is one the world's leading experts on reforestation; she has been studying the regeneration of secondary forest for over twenty-five years.

Robin L. Chazdon (2008). Beyond Deforestation: Restoring Forests and Ecosystem Services on Degraded Lands. 13 JUNE 2008 VOL 320 SCIENCE

12 year Indian boy - IQ 146 - Akrit Jaswal

Just saw the re-run of "World's smartest boy" on TLC. A story about Akrit Jaswal. Check out this video, and if possible the series from youtube:



Years ago, footage emerged from a remote village in India. The video shows a young girl receiving surgery to separate her fingers, which were badly burned and fused together. Why did this operation make headlines around the world? The surgery was performed by a 7-year-old boy named Akrit Jaswal; a teenager from Himachal Pradesh, India .

Now 13 years old, Akrit has an IQ of 146 and is considered the smartest person his age in Indi; a country of more than a billion people. This is an IQ level that beats even that of Albert Einstein. Before Akrit could even speak, his parents say they knew he was special.


"He learned very fast," says Raksha, Akrit's mother. "After learning the alphabet, we started to teach him joining of words, and he started writing as well. He was two." While in class II he cleared exams meant for class V. His mother realized he was special when he would answer graduate level questions.

At an age when most children are learning their ABCs, Akrit was reading Shakespeare and assembling a library of medical textbooks. When he was 5 years old, he enrolled in school. One year later, Akrit was teaching English and math classes.

Akrit developed a passion for science and anatomy at an early age. Doctors at local hospitals took notice and started allowing him to observe surgeries when he was 6 years old. Inspired by what he saw, Akrit read everything he could on the topic. When an impoverished family heard about his amazing abilities, they asked if he would operate on their daughter for free. Her surgery was a success.

After the surgery, Akrit was hailed as a medical genius in India. Neighbors and strangers flocked to him for advice and treatment. At age 11, Akrit was admitted to Punjab University. He's the youngest student ever to attend an Indian university. That same year, he was also invited to London's famed Imperial College to exchange ideas with scientists on the cutting edge of medical research.

A Quick Wiki on Akrit

Honda - unsold cars...believe it !

Carmakers around the world are cutting production as inventories build up to unprecedented levels. Storage areas and docksides are now packed with vast expanses of unsold cars as demand slumps.More here: Auto Voes

Dynamic Renewable Fuel - Filipino perspective

The Department of Energy (DOE) said the local alternative-fuels sector would further grow amid claims that biofuel projects around the world have been placed on the back burner due to the dropping world oil prices.

Mario Marasigan, DOE director for energy utilization and management, said the department remains upbeat about the emerging biofuels sector. He said the DOE’s bullishness is due to the existence of the Biofuels Act of 2006.

Marasigan made this clarification in view of Platts, a world provider of energy and commodities information, which issued a statement that some biofuels projects around the globe have been shelved for the meantime because oil prices have been on the downtrend.

Full Article: Here

Cars of near future - Ecofriendly BYD

China's BYD Co (1211.HK) plans to sell its plug-in hybrid cars, the country's first homegrown electric vehicle, in European and U.S. markets in 2011, BYD chairman Wang Chuan Fu told reporters.

BYD, which is 10 percent owned by U.S. investor Warren Buffett, originally aimed to sell the hybrid cars abroad in 2010 but Wang would not give any reasons for the delay.

Here is a fantastic slide show from TreeHugger: BYD Cars @ Detroit

While electric cars are not a new concept, a lot of innovation and emerging trends have surfaced in recent times. BYD cars are scheduled to it US markets in 2011, they are worth something to look forward in this, "We depend on our roads" - mental frame made up country, at the very least.

Fastest Gunslinger - Bob Munden

Unbelievable accuracy. Although, his style and modifications are up from a lot of controversy, it still is great marksmanship, in my opinion. No wonder he holds 18 world records on fastdraw.



A quick Wiki on him: here

Dont worry Executives....Bailouts will Rescue

Thanks to the US Government for the new concept that they introduced recently to the financial world, "Operation Bailout". After the Lehman Brothers' well known debacle, all the famous banks of US facing the turmoil galore' in 2008, The world noticed what was the first ever, most noticed and tracked Bailout of recent times.

And then we saw another one, to the Automobile Industry this time. The funny part of this bailout is, the money was given to these companies for resurrecting their tumbling down empires (to an extent that is). Instead, GM decided that it will bail out its financial arm GMAC out of the turmoil that its going through, rather than spending most of the chunk to benefit the Automotive sector of the company. So, how did this bailout help to bailout Automotive side of GM?...hush...we don't know how. We at least know that GMAC got a good portion of it.

Well, no matter what, these new ideas will soon need to be mastered, and pretty soon there need to be coursework in B-Schools, Executive education programs, where tomorrow's business leaders and corporate inventors/investors need to taught - The concept of how to build an empire, and 'ensure' that it gets enough public attention and dependency, and finally get it massacred, so that the Govt can bail it out, due to public interest.

One should notice that the Indian Govt is quick to learn and implement, and this situation is no exception. Most of us know about the recent debacle with Satyam Computers Ltd. A service provider company from India, that pioneered and steered the outsourcing Industry for 2 decades now.

What happened: They screwed up, made tons of money, projected fictitious numbers and now confessed to people. (Look at the number of shares of the company that they have traded off every quarter for 22 times since 2001...amazing!)

And now, to protect the public and their interests, the Indian Government is considering to interfere, by doing what? - "Bail Out"!!

Full News Snippet: here

Eco News

33rd Annual Home Remodeling and DEcorating and Eco Expo Show - Salt Lake Tribune
33rd Annual Home Remodeling and DEcorating and Eco Expo ShowSalt Lake Tribune,�United States�- 1 hour agoRegister to win a new Bed Room set from Osmond Design. Visit the 15th Annual %26ldquo;Dream Room Competition%26rdquo; where you can get great ideas from Utah's best experts ...

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Swap It - If you dont need it - Neat concept

Did you get a bunch of junk for Christmas and you don't know what to do with it? Or maybe you want to clean out your closet and wish you could get something in return for all the things you're planning to FreeCycle?

The SwapItShop is an online trading system that lets you trade unwanted stuff for points, which you then put towards other items on the website that strike your fancy.


The system is simple - just pick something you no longer want, post it with a photo, description, and how many point you want for it, and other people bid on it. When your item is auctioned off, you send it off to SwapItShop, and you will then have points to go towards another item on the site you do want.

It's a pretty great way to barter instead of buy, have a better selection of trade items, and to keep products in the consumer stream. But it doesn't quite beat the excitement and lower carbon footprint of taking your things to the local swap meet.

Europe's climate change package

Europe's climate change package - it ain't so bad after all

So it looks like Europe will get its climate change package after all.

According to various reports, heads of state will today agree a compromise deal, dispelling fears that intransigence from Poland and Hungary, and to a slightly lesser extent Germany and Italy, would scupper legislation that has been years in the making.

And yet even before the deal is finalised the chorus of disapproval from all sides has already begun.

Green groups have slammed proposals that would allow countries to meet large chunks of their emission reduction targets using carbon credits bought in from overseas, while the industrial lobby will undoubtedly claim that they deserved still more free pollution permits under the emissions trading scheme.

Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner, Robin Webster, led the catcalls, claiming that "huge loopholes" would allow big energy-users "to carry on polluting and nations to buy offset 'credits' from abroad".

The concerns over imported credits are undoubtedly valid, particularly given the mechanism for buying these credits, the UN's CDM, is itself still struggling to iron out some pretty fundamental flaws. Moreover, the whole package is likely to be dogged by similarly unsatisfactory compromises with many of the original proposals - such as the fines for car firms that fail to meet new emission standards - having already been watered down.

But politics is about nothing if compromise and there is a strong case for the green movement to focus on what is in the final package as opposed to what has been removed.

It is easy to forget when looking at the minutiae of the proposals exactly how historic they are.

The binding targets to cut greenhouse emissions by 20 per cent, generate 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources, and deliver a 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency have been retained and will drive massive changes in the way Europe operates over the next 12 years. They really will provide the foundations on which the low carbon economy can be built.

New car emission standards, for example, mean that in five years time many of the vehicles on the road will have to be far greener than they are today, while the way we generate energy and use much of our energy is likely to change beyond recognition over the next 12 years.

Across the entire green business movement concrete certainty that there will be demand from government for low carbon products and services will allow clean tech firms to invest with more confidence than ever before. Wind turbine and solar manufacturers can continue to scale up production capacity, smart grid innovators can accelerate development plans, electric car firms can press ahead with new models, and green consultancies can start hiring, all relatively safe in the knowledge that demand for their products will strengthen.

There have also been some improvements to the package resulting from the lengthy negotiations.

The electric car sector has received an unexpected boost from its inclusion in the targets for renewable fuel use, and the proposed "solidarity fund" that has been designed to help poorer eastern European states build low carbon infrastructure is entirely right and proper.

Even where it looks like the proposals have been watered down it can be argued that the deal is not as bad as it first seems.

Allowing governments to buy in billions of euros worth of carbon credits from overseas should not become an excuse for inaction at home, but the model, flawed as it is in practice, does help accelerate the transfer of low carbon technology to the developing world.

Equally, the likelihood that more industries than originally expected will receive free pollution permits under the EU's emissions trading scheme will weaken the carbon market and deliver huge windfalls to some pretty undeserving industries. But the emission caps imposed under the scheme will still be much lower in the next phase than they are at the moment and the fears that some sectors would simply decamp to China, where they would carry on polluting at will, were genuine and had to be addressed.

But most of all, detractors should remember that any deal would have been worthless if it did not include the whole bloc.

As the UK's increasingly assured climate change secretary Ed Miliband has been keen to explain of late the low carbon revolution cannot happen unless you bring everyone with you.

Concessions simply had to be made to get everyone on board.

Deep down those politicians who believe the scientists warnings know the 20 per cent target does not go far enough, just as they know that some of the compromises agreed over the past two days are unsatisfactory. But they are equally aware that they will never get anywhere if they set targets so ambitious that some countries and businesses immediately dismiss them as impossible to achieve.

What they have delivered is a set of goals defined not just by the art of compromise but also the art of the possible - and for that this agreement should be welcomed.

Courtesy businessgreen.com

Save Planet

How Many Humans Does it Take to Save the Planet? - mediabistro.com
How Many Humans Does it Take to Save the Planet?mediabistro.com,�NY�- 8 hours agoby hourigan The World Wildlife Foundation (of Canada) hired DraftFCB Toronto to get you to think about what goes into making those fancy energy efficient ...

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Green Living

Plainfield to host Green Living events - Plainfield Sun
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Tree hugging

A Tree-hugging car in all-American garb - Danville News
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Earth

NASA Marks 5th Year for Mars Rovers - Voice of America
Boston GlobeNASA Marks 5th Year for Mars RoversVoice of America�- 3 hours ago... to last three months in the harsh Martian environment, but they remain operational and are still relaying data they collect to scientists on Earth. ...The Mars Rovers' Long and Fruitful Journeys TIMEMars Rovers Still Working After Five Years ScienceBlogsMars rovers hit 5-year mark MSNBCXinhua�- Arizona Republicall 240 news articles

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Green Tips

Mischa Barton Reveals 3 Everyday Tips For Going Green - Examiner.com
EcorazziMischa Barton Reveals 3 Everyday Tips For Going GreenExaminer.com�- Jan 1, 2009As 2009 begins and millions draft resolutions for the year ahead, Mischa Barton is offering some Green Tips that just might help everyone be a little more ...MISCHA BARTON - BARTON'S Green Tips Contactmusic.comall 12 news articles

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