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 …
A talking refrigerator will go on sale in Japan very soon. Developed by one of the nation's technological giants, Matsushita, this "hi-tech' fridge warns its user if the food stored inside is in danger of going bad. Sensors linked to a microprocessor monitor the energy efficiency of the internal cooling …
bailing out: Reliance Petroproducts (RP), a Reliance Group company, will help fish out Indian Polyfibres Ltd. (IPL), from troubled waters, according to an alliance between the two companies. IPL has already given the nod for the proposal, which will now be referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, …
the book drives home the point that pollution prevention is more economical than pollution control. Japan attained economic success through modernisation and rapid industrialisation. But this also resulted in large-scale pollution. In the rush for rapid industrialisation, Japan faced industrial air pollution mainly of dust, soot and sulphur oxides. This …
The government is gearing up a national drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions in line with the agreement reached at the international climate-change conference at Kyoto in December last year. Japan's Environment Agency ( ea ) and the ministry of international trade and industry ( miti ) are working separately …
An "intelligent bandage' that will administer antibiotics only when required has been developed by Japanese researchers. The bandage contains antibiotic molecules hooked up with a peptide attached to a polymer film. If the wound becomes infected, the organic tissue material around the injury decomposes releasing oxygen which reacts with the …
from the flat-panel screens of laptops to huge liquid crystal displays (lcd) at sports stadiums, transparent electrodes find innumerable applications in the consumer electronics industry. But now, scientists feel that lcd screens, more sophisticated than ever before, can be developed using newer materials like that recently developed by Hiroshi Kawazoe …
Most of the Earth's hydrogen might be trapped in the core, says Takuo Okuchi at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. The finding may help explain the puzzle of low density of the Earth's core. Studies had shown that the core is nearly 10 per cent less dense than believed. …
More than 2,800 residents living near the us Atsugi Naval Station, used jointly by the us Navy and the Self-Defence Forces, in Kanagawa prefacture near Yokohama have filed a lawsuit against the government seeking compensation for noise pollution. The lawsuit, third since 1976 and the largest-ever lodged against the government, …
a microchip is helping people in Japan to deal with a crime wave that has hit the ancient Japanese art of bonsai. Bonsai is a Japanese practice of cultivating artificially dwarfed plants or small trees. Thieves have been stealing beautiful miniature trees that are very costly and take many years …
japan's largest producer of pulp and paper has said that the paper industry plans to expand its overseas forest plantations from 93,000 hectares last year to 550,000 hectares by the year 2010. Masahiko Ohkuni, president of Oji Paper, said that the supply of wood fibre from natural forests could be …
some people get drunk after consuming a small quantity of alcohol, whereas others stay calm. A team of researchers led by Hiroaki Niki at the riken Brain Science Institute, Wako city, Japan, says the variation could be linked to an enzyme that modifies brain receptors for alcohol. According to them, …
A camera primarily built to assist golfers study their swing, is helping traffic police cut the number of accidents in Tokyo. Mitsubishi Electric in Japan has developed the camera. The microphone of the camera picks up the sound when a golfer takes his shot. Instantly, the system activates to keep …
For 10 days in Kyoto the world saw highly moral arguments put forward by world leaders to save the planet. But behind all those arguments was murky national self-interest. Anil Agarwal and Anju Sharma give an eyewitness account of the widely-publicised squabbling between the governments of the world
global warming is not imaginary. Most scientists agree that greenhouse gases have been accumulating in the atmosphere, leading to the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases ( ghgs) such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are produced naturally. However, industrialisation has led to a steep rise in their emissions. Since they …
the Kyoto meeting ended in high drama with environmen-talists across the world on tenterhooks. The conference went on through the night of December 10, its last day, trying to resolve the major disagreements between different parties. Ultimately, the conference had to cobble together an agreement in time to allow participants …
The Berlin Summit at first appeared to be a no-win battle between the environmentalists and the oil and coal lobby. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), supported by environmentalists, pushed the industrialised countries to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2000. But the proposal failed to get support …
A poll conducted by the New York Times barely a fortnight before the Kyoto negotiations found that people in the US are far more willing than their government to take early action on global warming. About 65 per cent of those polled said that the US should take steps now …
The British Meteorological Office (BMO) announced that November 1996 to November 1997 was the planet's hottest year on record. The BMO's Hadley Centre for climate research and scientists from University of East Anglia's climate research unit in the UK said that they estimated the average surface temperature of the planet …
for the Kyoto municipality, it was going to be a big event. Though its finances were in a bad shape, the people of this ancient capital of Japan had agreed to host an international conference on combating what appears to be the world's biggest environmental threat. A Kyoto protocol on …
