The International Energy Agency (IEA) regularly conducts in-depth peer reviews of the energy policies of its member countries. This process supports energy policy development and encourages the exchange of international best practices and experiences. Since the last IEA review in 2015, Spain has solved a long-standing issue of tariff deficits …
Ecosystem service assessments have increasingly been used to support environmental management policies, mainly based on biophysical and economic indicators. However, few studies have coped with the social-cultural dimension of ecosystem services, despite being considered a research priority. We examined how ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs emerge from diverging social preferences …
India's initiative in the renewable energy sector has received praise in the report on renewable energy trends in 2011, launched, on Monday, by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century. India's National Solar Mission helps the country spur an impressive 62 per …
Greenhouse gases from the European Union rose more than 2 percent in 2010 when a cold winter and a rebound in many economies drove up energy use, breaking a multi-year pattern of emissions declines. The year-on-year rise in the official EU data released on Wednesday was slowed by emissions declines …
Europe's economic slump is allowing utilities in some countries to burn increasing amounts of cheap, highly polluting coal for electricity generation and still meet legally binding targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters research shows. The EU's carbon scheme, its main tool to fight global warming, caps CO2 emissions on …
What was once hailed as an endless source of desert electricity has now fallen by the wayside in the profitability race. Is concentrated solar power condemned to remain a niche player in the energy market.
All the relevant risk factors contributing to breast cancer etiology are not fully known. Exposure to organochlorine pesticides has been linked to an increased incidence of the disease, although not all data have been consistent. Most published studies evaluated the exposure to organochlorines individually, ignoring the potential effects exerted by …
Exposure to environmental contaminants may result in reduced reproductive success and long-lasting population declines in vertebrates. Emerging data from laboratory studies on model species suggest that certain life-stages, such as development, should be of special concern. However, detailed investigations of long-term consequences of developmental exposure to environmental chemicals on breeding …
Britain's energy plans call for tapping Iceland's geothermal resources in a move that could rekindle talk of creating a "supergrid" for electricity linking the continent, UK, North Africa and Iceland. But experts say the project is too expensive and technically challenging to be feasible in the foreseeable future. "Interconnectors in …
Marine species with relatively low migratory capacity are threatened by habitat alterations derived from human activities. In November 2002 the tanker Prestige sank off the Spanish northwest coast releasing 70,000 tons of fuel and damaging biota in the area. Despite efforts to clean the damaged areas, fuel remnants have affected …
European Union ambassadors were due to meet on Wednesday in an effort to settle a dispute over the allocation of seats to member states on the United Nations' Green Climate Fund (GCF) board, sources close to the matter said. U.N. climate talks in Durban last year agreed on the design …
Expanding cities threaten to eat up a swath of land the size of France, Germany and Spain combined in less than 20 years, putting the world under even more environmental pressure, experts said at a climate conference on Tuesday. Cities are growing to accommodate a rising global population and as …
The technology for biodegradation of pig manure by using houseflies in a pilot plant capable of processing 500–700 kg of pig manure per week is described. A single adult cage loaded with 25,000 pupae produced 177.7±32.0 ml of eggs in a 15-day egg-collection period. With an inoculation ratio of 0.4–1.0 …
Airbus and Europe’s biggest airlines on Monday called on the European Union to find a compromise on aviation carbon curbs, warning that Europe’s emission limits on foreign carriers could lead to retaliation. Airbus, the world’s biggest maker of civil aircraft, and eight airlines including Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways …
European Union industrial carbon emissions rose by up to 2.4 percent last year, analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated, below the market cap and keeping the 27-nation bloc on track to meet its 2020 climate target. The EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) limits the emissions of over 12,000 installations, including power …
On behalf of 92 pension funds, asset managers, insurers and banks, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which holds the world's largest collection of self-reported corporate environmental data, has sent letters to the CEOs of 415 of the world’s largest public companies calling for cost-effective management and reductions of their carbon …
The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8 percent from a year ago, according to a report issued Tuesday. Roughly 160 million hectares, or 395.2 million acres, were planted …
Oil prices rose modestly on Monday after the EU slapped an embargo on Iran's crude exports as part of tough new sanctions aimed at stopping Tehran from funding its disputed nuclear program. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery gained $1.25 to $99.58 a barrel after …
Pest control is one of the areas in which population dynamic theory has been successfully applied to solve practical problems. However, the links between population dynamic theory and model construction have been less emphasized in the management and control of weed populations. Most management models of weed population dynamics have …
Although climate is known to be one of the key factors determining animal species distributions amongst others, projections of global change impacts on their distributions often rely on bioclimatic envelope models. Vegetation structure and landscape configuration are also key determinants of distributions, but they are rarely considered in such assessments. …
If Europe is to achieve its renewable energy goals, its power grid will have to grow accordingly. New studies point to a need for expansion on land and at sea. The greatest challenge lies in coordination between governments.
