Brussels (AFP) June 06, 2007 - Malaysia, a leading palm oil producer, sought Wednesday to dispel concerns in Europe that palm oil plantations endanger tropical forests. Malaysia and Indonesia are leading a campaign to fight environmentalist claims that the plantations destroy vast swathes of tropical forest, pushing endangered animals like the orangutan towards extinction.
Salt Lake City UT (SPX) Jun 05, 2007 - University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars. We are converting waste heat to electricity in an efficient, simple way by using sound, says Orest Symko, a University of Utah physics professor who leads the effort. It is a new source of renewable energy from waste heat.
Vancouver (AFP) Jun 05, 2007 - The airline sector must aim for zero carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050, an industry association says, but not everyone is heeding its call for a joint effort by aircraft manufacturers, carriers and public authorities. We have to move all forward in the same direction toward reducing CO2 emissions to zero percent, the International Air Transport Association said in Vancouver Monday at the annual IATA conference.
Manaus, Brazil (AFP) June 05, 2007 - Brazil's sprawling Amazon state on Tuesday enacted the country's first law to fight global warming by selling carbon credits from communities that limit deforestation and environmental degradation. The law creates a jungle fund or forest scholarship that rewards jungle communities for protecting their habitat and reducing deforestation, said Amazon Governor Edouardo Braga.
Sweetwater TX (SPX) Jun 05, 2007 - GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric, has agreed to invest in its biggest wind farm, the 241-megawatt Sweetwater 4 facility, along with a sister project in Texas. The announcement was made today at Universal Studios California at GE's Green is Universal exhibition, a celebration of GE customers' improvements in operating and environmental performance.
Elk River MN (SPX) Jun 05, 2007 - Great River Energy has issued a request for proposals for renewable energy resources (RFP) and other power generation resources with low or no net carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Great River Energy is subject to the Minnesota Renewable Energy Standard, which requires electric utilities to supply an increasing percentage of their energy sales from renewable energy, reaching 25 percent by 2025.
Columbia MD (SPX) Jun 05, 2007 - LPP Combustion has demonstrated that the patented LPP Combustion System will allow soybean oil-based biodiesel to burn as cleanly as natural gas, with no net greenhouse gas emissions. During testing this month, LPP Combustion obtained emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter comparable to natural gas level emissions using a commercial state-of-the-art dry low emission gas turbine combustor.
Muscat, Oman (AFP) Jun 05, 2007 - A cyclone packing huge winds of up to 260 kilometres an hour advanced towards the Gulf state of Oman on Tuesday, posing a potential threat to the key route for oil exports from the energy-rich region. Oman has evacuated about 7,000 people from coastal areas in the sultanate, where the weather service said Cyclone Gonu was expected to make landfall by early Wednesday.
Albuquerque, NM (SPX) Jun 05, 2007 - Sandia National Laboratories and Boeing are collaborating on a project looking at the feasibility of using a hydrogen-powered fuel cell for providing backup power in aircraft. Commercial and military aircraft use a variety of techniques for providing backup electrical power to critical subsystems during emergency scenarios. Depending on the aircraft, these may include dedicated battery power, in-flight operation of the auxiliary power unit, a ram air turbine, or other technologies.
Beijing (AFP) Jun 04, 2007 - China said Monday it would not back efforts to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius, which UN experts have warned is the threshold-level to stop the worst impacts of climate change. Whether or not we can set a limit on a two-degree (3.6 Fahrenheit) rise in temperature I'm afraid still lacks a lot of scientific evidence and dependable and feasible research, China's top economic planner Ma Kai told journalists.
Atlanta GA (SPX) Jun 04, 2007 - A GE Energy ecomagination-certified Jenbacher landfill gas engine is powering the world's first commercial landfill gas (LFG)-to-liquid natural gas (LNG) conversion facility designed to create alternative fuel for vehicles. The LNG produced at the new facility is primarily targeted to be used as fuel for mass transit and other large vehicle fleets in the Los Angeles, Calif. region.
Universal City CA (SPX) Jun 04, 2007 - GE Energy Financial Services has announced that it would double its renewable energy investments by 2010, and has become one of the first financial institutions to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions from its power plant equity investments.
New Delhi (AFP) Jun 04, 2007 - India said Monday that it would not agree to any commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions under growing international pressure, and instead pressed for greater collaboration on clean technologies. New Delhi has already said it would reject such calls at this week's Group of Eight summit, where climate change will be a key topic, because stricter limits would slow its booming economy.
New York (AFP) June 02, 2007 - The world's airline industry opens its annual meeting in the Canadian city of Vancouver Sunday with the link between increased air traffic and global warming front and center on its radar screen. This year, one of the top issues is going to be the environment, said Anthony Concil, spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. IATA represents some 250 airlines, or 94 percent of scheduled international air traffic.
Charlotte NC (SPX) Jun 01, 2007 - Duke Energy announced that it has acquired the wind power development business of Tierra Energy, a leading wind power development company located in Austin, Texas, from Energy Investors Funds for an undisclosed amount. The purchase includes more than 1,000 megawatts of wind assets under development in the Western and Southwestern United States.
Universal City CA (SPX) Jun 01, 2007 - GE and BP have formed a global alliance to jointly develop and deploy technology for at least five power plants that could dramatically reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from electricity generation.
