Japan has one of the highest installed renewable energy capacities in the world. The country is also one of the world’s largest consumers of energy. Lacking its own fossil fuel resources, it relies on imports for nearly all of its supply. This dependence on imports makes the country vulnerable to …
ALTHOUGH most modern attempts to harness tide wave power have failed, there is new optimism in the air. Scientists could soon start power generation with the help of underwater version!; of wind turbines. Efforts are on to set up "tidal farms" in coastal waters from the southwest of England to …
Researchers at Japan's Marine Biotechnology Institute at Shimizy City are currently conducting sea trials of a new nontoxic paint that prevents fouling of ships' hulls by mussels and barnacles. Made from tribromogramine (TBG), a com-pound that mussels and barnacles detest, the new paint does not release damaging chemicals into the …
FISH in the Sea of Japan have been found to have high levels of toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) and dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (DDT). A team of researchers led by Shinsuke Tanabe, professor at the Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan, found blackfish, striped dolphins and killer whales with high contents …
The idea of aroma-emitting televi-sion sets is being extended to Websites by Ricoh of Japan, which wants to equip both television sets and computers with devices that would eject smells that will go with the programme or website that the user might have chosen. Ricoh says Web pages could carry …
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an independent scientific and technical body under the sponsorship of UNEP and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) which provides the world with the 'science' of global warming. But with politics getting increasingly separated from science it is important to review what this …
A review of the positions of these three groups shows important differences in approach towards trading, as well as their approach towards the three mechanisms laid out in the Kyoto Protocol: Joint Implementation (Article 6), CDM (Article 12) and Emissions Trading (Article 17). There are important differences between the Free …
"Meaningful participation' is being defined in many ways, depending on the interests of the party involved. One such approach is to use the (cdm). • The purpose of the
The Costa Rican government has recently agreed to swap its tropical rainforest with a Nebraska-based power company, Tenaska Inc. The deal would mean that the us power utility would pay the Costa Rican government
The Kyoto protocol provides that industrialised countries can agree to invest in carbon efficient projects in each other's territory. The first such deal, post-Kyoto, has been struck between two most likely partners: Russia and Japan. Japan has to meet a difficult target of six per cent cut from 1990 levels. …
Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol says that the conference of parties (COP) shall define the relevant guidelines for emission trading. But without waiting for the COP to define principles, emissions trading is starting to take place. • British Petroleum (BP) is going to use its sprawling oil company as …
Six months after the Kyoto meet, governments convened again to deliberate climate-change affairs. The United States led an attempt to set up a free market trading system which would enable the us to do zero at home and allow other developed countries to meet their emissions reduction commitments by paying …
one area of research that has seen tremendous progress over the last few years is phytoremediation, or the use of certain plants to clean up toxic chemicals and elements. To give us a cleaner world, scientists are unleashing the amazing gene genie on these plants, genetically modifying them to fight …
After the digital pets, Japans latest contribution to alternative technology is the "lovegety', which aims to get lonely hearts fixed up with blind dates. It is basically a thumb-sized transmitter-receiver. If a man's lovegety picks up a signal from a woman's lovegety (and vice versa) less than 10 metres away, …
Do you want to know what your baby or pet is trying to tell you? Well, thanks to Japanese inventor Yamamoto Masomi of Yokohama, understanding baby or pet talk will never be difficult again. He is patenting a system that might help you comprehend what exactly your baby or pet …
A high-quality Video Home System (VHS) video machine has been developed by Japan's electronic giant JVC. Around a decade back, the company had tried to launch a superior video system, called Super-VHS, but this flopped as it was not compatible with the existing VHS tapes and recorders. Like the Super-VHS, …
A massive under-sea earthquake in Japan's southernmost Okinawa islands recently set off a tidal wave scare, briefly disrupting the summer vacations of thousands of holidaymakers enjoying the "Golden Week." This period is one of Japan's most popular holiday periods, falling at the start of summer when there are three consecutive …
a smart card that can pretend to be a floppy disc is due to be launched in the uk soon. It will allow the user to programme numbers into his or her cellphone simply by slotting the card into the floppy disc drive of a computer. The card fits into …
More than 200 airships will be launched into the stratosphere by the year 2000, the Japanese government announced. Floating 20 km above the Earth's surface, these 260-m-long zeppelins will be used like normal communications satellites, specially for mobile phones. Costing one-tenth the price of a conventional communications satellite, these airships …
japan' s largest carmakers, Toyota Motor Corp, has a team of 40 researchers working to come up with plant varieties that can absorb some of the toxic gases emitted by cars. This is Toyota's attempt at dealing with the looming threat of global warming. Toyota also hopes to establish its …
